Thinking of getting a "back pack" dredge ,Question

[Goldwasher]

1-1/2" & 2" dredges are a waste of time. The best of the best of the backpacker's is the little Dahlke 2.5. You may be able to shovel faster to a point but you won't completely wear yourself out dredging. Plus you can shovel with one hand, while dredging with the other. Sorry I haven't been on much this month... but we bought a new house and I'm just about done moving in now, I've had my hands full. After 40 years of gold mining, I'm still dredging, still running a trommel, and still having a blast
Now that we're in Arizona, we can legally gold mine in every way, shoot any kind of firearm and have all kinds of fun... lol. Moving into a new house has not been the most fun but I've got a smile on my face again today, now that most of the work has been done. This week I'll be setting up the little trommel here and I already have 15 buckets of high-grade to run.

You can't go wrong with the little 2.5" Dahlke for packing in quick and easy, then a 4" Dahlke 4B these days has come a long way. These 2 dredges, now that I'm over 60, are going to be my next purchases.
16 years ago, I bought a new Dahlke Micro 4B that needed work, but these days, they have it together. I've come a long way since the old Tom Ashworth/ 49erMike forum days of old, but a lot of my old articles are still worth reading. If you're going to buy a Dahlke, then this is some good old info, Bob listened to me before he passed away and made the changes that they still use today. He has had great dredges since long before I bought my first Dahlke and his 7" is still one of my personal favorites over 30 years later

Should you buy a Dahlke Micro 4B

I'm an Arizonan now

Yep, I should clarify. I do in fact own and use a 2.5 and a 4" that has sat for years now(2.5 gets used)

The thing is as you know it must be used for the right spots. Shallow good bedrock. I break up..raake chuck cobble shovel overburden etc.

Then its detail the bedrock. No floats just a stand for puddle jumping.

Anyone claiming that you can run more with a dredge that size than with a shovel is showing their experience level...simply by not talking about..?!!!

The fact that you will also be shoveling a lot of tailings as you work upstream....

Or do you dredge those too?

[N-Lionberger]

Oh yeah those tailings that stack up behind the dredge, don't forget a shovel or you're going to be messing about pushing them out of the way with your hands and feet. Fond memories of losing suction to go look and find the box full up to the brim with gravel the tailings having stacked up all the way to the header LOL how long had I been running like that? how much gold did I lose? More than just safety reasons not to dredge alone.