:) age old question of what detector to get.

[mthunter22]

so i know it has been asked before and thank you all for your patience and knowledge but here is my particular situation.. i live in montana near missoula.i have found small gold and a few small pickers panning in the river and have done quite a bit of studying on gold bearing areas in the state. i own a minelab sd 2100 and have taken it out quite a bit and have cleaned the local areas of lots of nails,bullets,pulltabs,and the normal junk along with a few interesting buttons ,tools and odds and ends. but i have never found gold with my detector,so i am thinking that i should have originally bought a detector that hits on very small gold instead of my 2100 that is a great detector just probably not what i should have started with in my area.so i am looking for a companion to it that i can use to hopefully locate very small gold. gold is my number 1 target but my wife does like to look for odds and ends around old homesites ,so a iron discrimination would be nice to have.also i would like to use it in the river for checking bedrock 1 to 2 feet below water and am not sure if they all have waterproof coils?from my research i have come to the conclusion that the gold bug 2 will find the very smallest of gold but not very deep and doesnt work that great in highly mineralized ground,im not sure how mineralized the ground here is but i assume that will possibly be a consideration.i know that i have found "Hot Rocks" with my 2100. seems like the gold bug pro might be better at ground balancing and almost as sensitive on small gold but possibly better depth and better for coin and relic hunting? . and to stir the pot more ,recently i have been reading a lot about the whites gmt and sounds like it might be even more sensitive to the tinies than the pro and possibly just as good or better than the pro on ground balancing and better depth on bigger and littler gold.. what i am wondering i guess is just how tiny gold am i going to be missing by not getting the gb2,and are the advantages that the others offer worth it? also is the whites gmt 100.00 better than the pro? anyways looking for people that have actually used the mentioned detectors opinions and thoughts,, as always Thank you very much for your time and sharing your knowledge..and if anyone is ever in the area and would like to teach a rookie and go do some detecting please give me a shout.again Thank you.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[Ausgoldhunter]

That 2100 is a great machine... but you're right, if the gold is small you need something with a high Freq... I personally own and use both the Gold Bug 2, and Whites GMT.. and until a week ago the Gold Bug Pro.. and have had great success on small gold with all three units..

From what You've said, I would recommend the Gold Bug Pro.. You mentioned doing a little relic hunting, and the pro is ready to roll as a relic/coin machine as well as gold.. it is also awesome on small gold, and the larger stuff at depth.. TrinityAU is the man to speak to about the Pro.. check out some of his posts.

Now if its a flat out gold machine you want... then its a choice between the GMT and GB2... I would recommend the GMT over the GB2 as its ground grab, and auto tracking is amazing, with the ability to manually balance also.

I'm in the same situation down here in Australia.. mostly small pickers and fine gold, I took the gold bug pro out for 2 days of detecting... came back with a single nice nugget.. Went over the same area with the GMT, and came back with over a gram in small pickers.. maybe it was just good luck.. but for my money.. I'd go with the whites... GB2 is better on smaller gold, but lacks depth.. the GMT has the edge and i might add, with its stock 10" coil the GMT is AS sensitive as the GB2 with its 6" (in my opinion)

Anyway, best of luck.
Happy Hunting.

 

[mthunter22]

thanks ausgoldhunter it was your and steves posts mostly that got me thinking about the whites ,, do you know if they all have waterproof coils..does the pro have a better iron id or what makes it better for coin/relics?and i have read a lot of trinityau's posts and i guess that is why i am confused on how people that are very experienced with the machines are getting slightly different results.also if you had a chance could you post a pic of a nugget or flake that the gb2 could hit and the whites or pro couldnt,kind of curious how small exactly will i be missing by going with the pro or gmt,also does anyone know if the 6x9 elliptical on the gb2 would go on the pro? or do they make one of similar size,it seems to be a very good size for sensitivity and good depth.also seems like it would fit in small places nicely.again thanks everyone for your thoughts.

 

[Hard Prospector]

Whites has great customer service and they(Jim and Jim Jr.) like to talk about their machines and nugget shooting. I have the GB Pro and it has handled hot ground well(for a VLF), user friendly, super light weight, breaks down and fits into a day pack. I would like to get another VLF and plan on having a GMT by the end of the month.

 

[mthunter22]

thanks,, why are you going to the whites?

 

[Hard Prospector]

thanks,, why are you going to the whites?

Only because I would like to have 2 of the best VLFs in the market today from different companies to play with. If I already had the Whites GMT, I would buy the GB Pro. Plus my wife gave the OK to buy it so I need to blow the dough before she changes her mind.

 

[Ausgoldhunter]

thanks ausgoldhunter it was your and steves posts mostly that got me thinking about the whites ,, do you know if they all have waterproof coils..does the pro have a better iron id or what makes it better for coin/relics?and i have read a lot of trinityau's posts and i guess that is why i am confused on how people that are very experienced with the machines are getting slightly different results.also if you had a chance could you post a pic of a nugget or flake that the gb2 could hit and the whites or pro couldnt,kind of curious how small exactly will i be missing by going with the pro or gmt,also does anyone know if the 6x9 elliptical on the gb2 would go on the pro? or do they make one of similar size,it seems to be a very good size for sensitivity and good depth.also seems like it would fit in small places nicely.again thanks everyone for your thoughts.

Picture tells the story.

 

[63bkpkr]

mthunter22, I think Ausgoldhunter's picture fairly well summed it up however I will offer another:

I found the gold and lead shot(round and flat) on this dime with my GMT. Most of the gold was detected under 4-6" of solid rock, the gold flakes had floated into tiny cracks in the bedrock and settled between the broken chunk of rock and the unbroken bedrock. The detecting was done with the 4" x 6" DD shooter coil with the gain and SAT up near maximum. This is a highly mineralized sierra river detecting situation.

This gold was in a pay streak on the side of the same river area the of the 'dime' picture. The 8" x 10" stock coil was on the machine so I could not swing it where the gold was at due to all the boulders and the size of the coil. I brought out a bucket of raw sample dirt at a time, poured it on a spot I'd detected that did not have a signal, I then detected the sample dirt and if no zip zip signal I did not put any more time into that sample. When I got a zip zip I panned or sluiced the sample and it always had gold in it. I did test some of the no signal sample and no gold was found. The 4 x 6 coil is what I now take with me even though it's small size forces me to go slower but then again that is ok as I know it finds gold at a deep enough depth and swings easy in small tight spots. I also own the Sierra Gold Max coil ~ 14 x 11 inches. It is a heavy coil that can only be swung in wide open areas and yet it will still pick up fairly small pieces of gold BUT not as small as the 8 x 10 or 4 x 6 coils will. The Pro and GMT are both good machines and both require learning/practice and getting them over gold. Hope this helps...............63bkpkr

the 2nd picture uses a U.S. half dollar as a display piece

And this is the age old answer you've gotten from me

 

[Ausgoldhunter]

Agree with the above... depth per inch on the 4x6" is awesome on the tiny stuff.. and surprisingly deep on the larger pickers.. I got a .53g picker at just over 6".. I should add that the gold bug 2 missed it completely, the 71kHz = loss of depth..
pro caught it no problem..

Anyway short list.

Gold Bug 2 (Gold Machine)
Whites GMT (Gold Machine)
Gold Bug Pro (Do it all)
Garrett AT Gold(Not the best gold detector around, but does a good job) add the 4.5" hockey puck coil and you're all set..
Whites GMZ If you can stand the silent search (not many can)
Minelab eureka (Wife loves it, I love it.. but its not $1190 worth of detector)

In my opinion the GMT and GB Pro are the best bang for the buck..

If you go with the GB Pro, think about picking up the 10" elliptical coil great for covering a little extra ground, adds some depth on larger stuff..

 

[mthunter22]

Aus, your picture was just what i was looking for.. thank you. i was wondering why you think the pro would be a better relic/coin hunter than the gmt? do you know if the gmt's coil and shaft are waterproof?and it looks like the gmt comes with a 10inch elliptical coil and i would probably want the 4x6 for the fine stuff?,,and 63bkpkr i have seen your pics but assumed that you had detected one of the nuggets and then just panned out all the material in the same crack.. it is truly amazing that a detector will pick up some of the teeny tiny gold you have on that dime. thank you for the pic and thoughts..

 

[Ausgoldhunter]

I don't believe the coil is waterproof but don't quote me on it.. i've only had it a week..

I recommend the Pro, because the GMT is not a relic detector... the 48kHz freq will pickup every tiny flake of trash in the area.. and it has no iron disc MODE, just iron audio.

 

[63bkpkr]

mthunter,
I'm not certain the GMT will find that teen tiny gold either. What is on the dime is there because the GMT found a good signal. There were always larger pieces of gold in each pan and the teeny tiny pieces were there as well. Of course none of those pieces are that large but I'd need to do a test to confirm that the 4 x 6 DD coil on the GMT will pick up the teeny tiny specks on the dime. To do the test I have to locate the sample and my shoulder will not allow me to do that at this time.

The GMT's coil is water proof. The shaft is not so one need's to use caution to not accidentally soak the electronics box by holding the machine upside down or placing it on the ground with the coil elevated allowing the water in the shaft to travel downward to the box. One could put a plug in the upper end of the shaft and that would keep the water from draining backward towards the box.....................63bkpkr

 

[Ausgoldhunter]

Okay, so... I've been playing with my GMT all day, in regards to the VERY TINY gold.. setting V-S.A.T to 10, Sensitivity to 8-10 where ground will allow.
Anyway tested the fly spec shown in this image..

depth is lost running V-SAT up higher, but hey... if you're dead set on picking out those TINY flyspecs .. give it a try.

 

[mthunter22]

wow very impressive. i imagine that is with the 4x6 coil? another quick question, how smooth is your threshold,,i have been watching a few videos of people detecting with them and on some it seems like there is a lot of noise fluctuation.. is this just the way they have theirs setup? i also saw videos however where it was just a nice hum..my sd2100 has some fluctuation and it would sure be nice to get a nice smooth hum..especially when you are after the tinies that are just going to slightly change the threshold.

 

[63bkpkr]

With the settings at the factory indications it just hums. With higher gain/vsat it gets noisy but those are useful settings as I've found gold with them. I also use the Grab button when I have a good target signal to cancel out the background, when I wave the coil again if it still goes zip zip then the target is either gold/lead/brass.

Thank you for the 'fly speck' test, that is interesting..................63bkpkr

 

[Ausgoldhunter]

One thing I learned very quickly was, Automatic tracking is good on large targets, anything smaller than .1 gram it will just balance out..
I tend to run in manual with a hot on the down stroke for small gold.

Threshold chatter is pretty crazy with the V-SAT all the way up, worse with audio boost on. its all about the fine tuning. GAIN is only good if you can hear your targets.

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Ausgoldhunter.... I feel compelled to tell you that I really like most of what you are posting to this forum. It is good to see your interaction with others posting questions and refreshing to get your take on these metal detectors from testing in your area.

That's it for now... about as complimentary as I can be on a forum... but you deserve a hearty "well done"!!! Many thanks

Jim.

PS: You can tell by the number of "likes" I've given you. Could have given you plenty more, but that can get overdone... something I'm already guilty of doing to some extent.

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Mthunter22… below is a partial “cut and paste” from an earlier post I made about the White’s GMT. Could be you might enjoy the video featuring an electronic prospecting pro who knows his business.

“The GMT strictly as a nugget hunter is an excellent choice with a proven track record. The dedicated high frequency gold units… GMT and Goldbug2… see the very tiniest sub-grain pieces. Each unit has advantages and disadvantages… it is up to you to research them.

For example… the GMT has a full ground balance range …with a visual readout, and three ground-balance options that in concert with the variable SAT control will cover just about every ground mineral scenario you will encounter… short of using a suitable ground-balancing PI unit over tough magnetic susceptible ground. It has an audio / visual iron ID for shallow ferrous trash, adjustable threshold, and a visual black sand (magnetic susceptibility) indicator.

Compare these features to other models when researching… and consider how each unit will handle high magnetic susceptible ground minerals, hotrocks, iron trash, and to what size gold it will respond.

If you haven’t seen the GMT in action, preview the video below and take note that Gerry McMullen is using preset control settings including the gain, and is using the stock 10” elliptical DD. Nonetheless, listen to the signal produced over that small piece…



Metal detection technology has improved sufficiently that some modern mid-range frequency units… especially those equipped with small “shooter” coils… have good sensitivity to shallow sub-grain nuggets and offer an advantage over the high frequency units on deeper larger pieces. These mid-range units offer additional relic / coin versatility as a part of the package… if those pursuits interest you.”

That’s it… good luck with your decision-making…

Jim.

 

[Ausgoldhunter]

Great demo of the GMT, I would recommend every new GMT owner check it out. and seriously.. Ignore what the damn meter reads, I got a .47 gram nugget last weekend when i switched to Iron Audio it was grunting every second swing, If i had gone by what the meter was reading and ignored it.... Ya know? ...

Anyway if you go with the pro, the story doesn't change.. this info still applies.. to a degree..

 

[mthunter22]

thank you jim and again auz.. it was actually this video that i watched that i thought the unit was fluctuating fairly badly.. when he crossed that first nugget the first time i couldnt hear the difference between it and the ground noise and it wasnt until he moved over it back and forth a few times that i could definitely hear a target.. i am taking all this information in and watching every video on the different detectors i am interested in.. was hoping to hear from trinity as well,as he seems to favor the pro..anyways thank you all for your time and effort i am always excited when i see i have a new post to read your thoughts.