Best detector for small gold

Slowtaknow

Sr. Member
Oct 27, 2015
372
430
Kannapolis nc
Detector(s) used
Fisher f2, Tesoro vaquero, Nokta Simplex, Garrett Csi 250, whites gold master 2.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just seen some advertising for the nokta au gold finder i believe it's called, seems to be the pick for desert gold. Any thoughts on it?
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,410
30,023
White Plains, New York
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1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Small Gold - Minelab Gold Monster 1000 / Fisher Goldbug II / Whites GMT

Small Gold & Coins - Minelab Equinox 800 / Tesoro Lobo Super Traq
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
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Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Been looking at Gold Bug 2,Trying to find the best and easiest detector for small gold.Also can they pick up coins.Thanks

Be aware that ANY machine, designed for pinhead sized nuggets, will easily find coins. I mean ... go figure, if they are sensitive enough to find grain of rice and pinhead sized nuggets, than a coin-sized object will be NO PROBLEM too, doh :)

But be aware, that if you have a strict "nugget machine", that ....... they might have p*ss-P**r discrimination. In other words, you might have no way to knock out iron (beyond the first couple of inches anyhow). Or if you have a machine that promises to be a cross-over (ie.: go back and forth between venues), then be aware: There are going to be compromises in each depth. Eg.: there will be better nugget machines, and there will be better coin machines.

Because, when you think of it, the goals of each venue are practically OPPOSED to each other. A nugget guy WANTS the "bells of notre dame" to ring over each staple, pushpin, speck, pinhead, etc... Whereas the coin/relic guy DOESN'T want to hear all that junk. Thus machines are designed, from the ground-up, for their purpose. So if a machine touts ability to go back and forth between both venues, then, ... rest assured: There are going to be compromises.
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,410
30,023
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Before the Equinox 800 Tom, I would have agreed with you. Minelab has hit a home run with the Equinox - a true "All Purpose" machine!:occasion14:
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Before the Equinox 800 Tom, I would have agreed with you. Minelab has hit a home run with the Equinox - a true "All Purpose" machine!:occasion14:

Ha. Well .... even with the Nox 800: There was compromises made. So there will be better nugget machines than the Nox 800. And there will be better coin/relic machines than the Nox 800. But yes, it's a *better* compromise.

Some of the other past cross-over attempts in the industry were wimpy in one, or both departments.
 

cactusman

Full Member
Nov 15, 2015
233
541
Western USA
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Gold, AT Max, AT Pro, Ace 350, GTI-2500, Infinium LS, Scorpion Gold Stinger, Pro-Pointer AT, Fisher F75 LTD2, Gold Bug 2, F-Pulse, Whites 24K, TM-808, Schonstedt Maggie, Falcon MD 20
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The Fisher Gold Bug 2 is probably the best small gold metal detector around. It'll pick up coins easily, but it's made more for gold nugget hunting. It also does extremely well on meteorites if you ever get the urge to hunt for space rocks.

If you want to hunt coins too, maybe buy a basic machine just for that purpose. When I was getting back into the hobby after an absence that's exactly what I did and I never regretted it for a second.
 

Back-of-the-boat

Gold Member
Apr 18, 2013
6,874
8,472
California
Detector(s) used
AT GOLD/Garrett /C.Scope cs4PI/Garrett(carrot) pro pointer/ 5x8 double d coil and sniper coil/Lesche digger/Lesche "T" handle shovel.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Be aware that ANY machine, designed for pinhead sized nuggets, will easily find coins. I mean ... go figure, if they are sensitive enough to find grain of rice and pinhead sized nuggets, than a coin-sized object will be NO PROBLEM too, doh :)

But be aware, that if you have a strict "nugget machine", that ....... they might have p*ss-P**r discrimination. In other words, you might have no way to knock out iron (beyond the first couple of inches anyhow). Or if you have a machine that promises to be a cross-over (ie.: go back and forth between venues), then be aware: There are going to be compromises in each depth. Eg.: there will be better nugget machines, and there will be better coin machines.

Because, when you think of it, the goals of each venue are practically OPPOSED to each other. A nugget guy WANTS the "bells of notre dame" to ring over each staple, pushpin, speck, pinhead, etc... Whereas the coin/relic guy DOESN'T want to hear all that junk. Thus machines are designed, from the ground-up, for their purpose. So if a machine touts ability to go back and forth between both venues, then, ... rest assured: There are going to be compromises.

With iron being a heavy material it would be in cracks and crevices along with gold so I don't think you would want to notch out or discriminate out iron otherwise you are probably going to miss out on gold.IMO
 

Oct 5, 2014
31,886
35,424
Massachusetts
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1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett: AT Pro, AT Gold & Infinium; Minelab: Explorer SE, II; Simplex; Tesoro: Tejon & Outlaw; White's: V3i
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
I do not know if it is the best :dontknow:, but I sure have found a lot of very small, medium and large gold with the Tesoro Outlaw. :hello2: Now it doesn't compare (i believe) with some of the more expensive gold machines as others have mentioned. :dontknow:
 

Jim in Idaho

Silver Member
Jul 21, 2012
3,313
4,684
Blackfoot, Idaho
Detector(s) used
White's GM2, GM3, DFX, Coinmaster, TDI-SL, GM24K, Falcon MD20, old Garrett Masterhunter BFO
'Way Too Cool' dual 18 Watt UV light
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Before the Equinox 800 Tom, I would have agreed with you. Minelab has hit a home run with the Equinox - a true "All Purpose" machine!:occasion14:

Not to mention White's GM 24K...it has very good iron discrimination, along with great sensitivity to really small gold.
Jim
 

Iffy Signals

Sr. Member
Sep 17, 2018
484
730
Rhode Island
Detector(s) used
Current-Deus & Equinox 800. Past - CTX, F75, AT Pro/Max, F44, Patriot.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Anyone mention the Deus with HF coils?
 

Gare

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2012
7,366
13,876
Canton Ohio Area
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Presently using Deus 2's & have Minelabs, Nokta's Tesoro's DEus's Have them all . Have WAY to many need to get rid of some
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I would think the BEST detector for SMALL gold would be a MINELAB GPZ 7000 Anyone agree with me ?
 

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