Getting back into detecting.

Im about to get back into detecting, gold and relics, im going to resurrect my old Minelab Goldseeker 15000, ive got a couple of questions,
I thought i saw someone mention about making home made coils? if so how?
I want to buy a new detector as well, i was thinking of a new Sovereign, but ive seen a few second hand SD2200's for sale, any thoughts from anyone who has used both, the main use will be gold here in the Bathurst area.

JeffH wrote:Im about to get back into detecting, gold and relics, im going to resurrect my old Minelab Goldseeker 15000, ive got a couple of questions,
I thought i saw someone mention about making home made coils? if so how?
I want to buy a new detector as well, i was thinking of a new Sovereign, but ive seen a few second hand SD2200's for sale, any thoughts from anyone who has used both, the main use will be gold here in the Bathurst area.

Gday Jeff

The Sovereign gt is an excellent choice for a coin and relic detector, great for beaches, parks, rubbishy areas, but would not be as useful for chasing small gold, I use mine for all those things and have used it from time to time to hunt old goldfield town sites, it is nowhere near as sensitive to small gold nuggets as the sd 2200 will be, but I am confident that a largish shallow nuggets of a few grams or more would be within its range in ground that is not too heavily mineralised.

It really will depend on what type of detecting you want to do the most of, if you were more interested in just coin/relic hunting rather than solely looking for gold then its a great machine for that purpose alone, excellent descrimination, depth, and a submersible coil make it pretty much and all round detector.

If gold is your main aim then the sd2200 would be the better option and more viable, a second hand one will cost you a little more than the new sovereign gt, but sometimes they will come up cheaper, the other thing about the older sd machines is that theres always lots of second hand accessory items available on ebay and the like for them at reasonable prices.

You still have your gs15000 so if you decide you want to mainly look for gold you can always use that as your coin/relic machine, by memory they had a pretty effective descrimination on them as well, so it would be useful for doing that with and you will always have it as a backup machine if the sd2200 gives trouble.

cheers

stayyerAU

Ive still got the 15000 but it needs a coil and lower leg, itll be ok of the beach and the kids to use, im watching a sd2200 on ebay at the moment, the other machine i was thinking about is the Garret Infinium LS, still probably not as good as the 2200 but its water proof, the weather and detecting around the creeks here it might be better. maybe

Interested to note your looking at a 2200. I still run a 2200 - as a back up and when i want to use a bigger coil on deeper ground. I rate them highly and I know of several very experienced prospectors who have updated but still use and rate them highly as well. Dead simple to use and very robust. As for weather proofing - I just close it up in a plastic bag - does the trick. And I make sure I tape around the edge of the coils -I have never had any wet weather problems. Good luck. I do aggree I would not got near a creek though!! For that I use an older VLF.

There's a couple of sd's on ebay but they look like they arent going to be cheap, i'll play the wait and see game, i do admit theres a lot of accessories avail for them, im not sure if id like the noise they make when being used especially with mono coils.

Hi Jeff
What sort of money are you looking at spending on the SD2200, I have a mate who is retiring (73) he has a very good 2200 with a few extra coils & lucky lark, it has been looked after works great & I have seen him pick up small gold with it useing a 17" x 11" nf mono.
He put an add in in our club newsletter I will see if I can copy and paste it here so you can see what there is.
If anyone is interested in it I am sure I can get it looked at by Peter from Gold City Detecting (QLD Sandy)
Let me know
cheers
Lee

I guess im like everyone, the cheaper the better, im sort of watching the ones on ebay to get an idea of what they are selling for, for the right machine and extra coils i could scrap up 2G, do you know what your mate wants for his machine?

Follow up on the 2200 and accesories - mono coil - you are correct, they are noisy with the mono. I would go so far as to say on highly mineralised areas like the Triangle - I dont use them. Great on nice clear pipeclay though. I just run DD on them - fixed, deep, both channels and the discriminator off. I tend to keep away from trashy areas and love using the 2200 with a big coil on new ground and have had some success. Still love the occassional play on mullock heaps. I use a mates 5000 with the mono - sweet machine and deadly on the smaller stuff. I have run a 2200 over some of my great patches that i was sure were finished. took the mates 5000 back over several of my old patches and have had success - mainly sub-grammers but very, very impressed.

Hi Jeff
This is what is up for sale, I will give him a call & see what he is after.
For Sale:

1 x Minelab SD2200 Detector, complete with:
4 x 6V Batteries, 1 x 7.2V lithium Ion battery
1 x Sound Enhancer, 1 x power regulator (battery)
1 x 11’ DD Commander Coil, 1 x 11’ mono Commander coil

1 x Garmin Rino 520 (UHF radio & GPS combo)
3 x prospectors picks
1 x 17’ Mono elliptical Nugget Finder coil
1 x 10’ DD Commander Coil
1 x 18’ DD Commander Coil
1 x Honda 1KVA generator
1 x Solar panel
1 x 12v/240v fridge
1 x 2008 Mazda Bt-50 Utility with Canopy & storage drawers. ( 38,000 km)
cheers
Lee

Hi All
The price on the 2200 which include the items in the first 4 lines and a pick is $1850.00 firm. the 17" NF mono is quite new & is $250.00.
If you are interested pm me & I can pass your details onto the owner.
Lee

Ok thanks, i'll let you know, im not sure what i'll do yet. It sounds like a good deal if its in good shape. thanks again.