Inexpensive detector for placer flake concentrations?

[CO2]

Hi, after doing a bit of prospecting I can tell that my eye isn't really good enough to find the exact spot I should dig for flake. I could do test pans but that takes a while and you could end up wanting to dig at your first hole you tested an hour ago and skip the rest. Then when you've dug some you have to decide, should I keep digging down or should I go lateral? So I'd really like a detector but the issue is, I'm already over budget on my new sluice, so my detector budget is pretty much I can't afford a detector right now. But if I can find a good one less than say, $300, I'm willing to make it work for the peace of mind that I'm digging the right spot. Especially when out scouting, digging the wrong spot gets old fast.

Out in my neck of the woods the placer is in the range of flake to flour with concentrations frequently in the 1-9 inches down range, and the flour really is everywhere. But the flake isn't. I'm not expecting to detect pickers but they might be out there. And I'd definitely need a watertight coil (I could watertight it myself if I had to). I was thinking maybe I'd go on the cheap side and pick up a BFO to detect the iron sands concentrations with my fingers crossed for luck, but maybe I can pick up a decent VLF in that price range? I'd rather detect the gold than the iron if at all possible but I don't know what's on the market and I certainly can't spend $700 on a detector. Not at this point in time.

Thanks for the assistance; I don't want to go pester the guy at the detector shop all the way to the other side of town unless I'm sure he can sell me something I'd appreciate.

 

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[Slingshot]

I'd recommend an older BFO, Whites or Garrett, as the newer ones aren't quite up to snuff IMHO. The older units are still available and still work as originally intended even with component value change due to time, as the variable capacitor lets you tune them in to the sweet zone despite component change. If you find the patches of the iron sand concentrations the flakes should be there, as far as I know only a BFO can locate these type of mineral deposits and it can find some pickers too.

 

[CO2]

If older = used then I don't know where to look. Craigslist had a Garrett A300 but it looks like it sold yesterday. There's a Cabela's Adventure 5500 by Bounty Hunter available new for $100 but I don't know anything about it.

 

[Jason in Enid]

No metal detector can detect gold flake or flour (unless it's a giant flattened nugget). As was said above, you need an old-school detector, like a Garrett MasterHunter or GoldHunter. These can be set to detect mineral concentrations which is what you are looking for. Find the black sand streaks and you will have better gold in them.

 

[Jason in Enid]

If older = used then I don't know where to look. Craigslist had a Garrett A300 but it looks like it sold yesterday. There's a Cabela's Adventure 5500 by Bounty Hunter available new for $100 but I don't know anything about it.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

Only a few will find crumbs or tin foil flakes

 

[CO2]

I've decided to get a Blue Bowl so it looks like I'll be down at the detector shop soon enough anyway. Is it a hard fast rule that the modern BFO's don't perform like they used to? Not sure what the detector shop sells, but if so... eBay?? Thanks

 

[CO2]

I'm looking at a vintage Garrett AM-2 with a groundhog coplanar coil, can't tell if it's a 7 or 10 inch. The guy says it works great, it's got knobs to fiddle with, looks good. If you were me would you buy that for $125? Garrett's got lots of models...

 

[Slingshot]

The newer detectors using BFO circuitry are mostly kids detectors, and wouldn't really do what you need to be done. I am not aware of any serious BFO machines being manufactured in the US in the past 35 years. That Garret AM-2 is a newcomer and is not a BFO, and I think it's a VLF, if I remember correctly, as I had one and let it go as it was not a very good detector. My White's Coin Master-2 BFO was built around 1965, works with two 9 volt batteries, and pretty much the same machine as the Whites Gold Master of the same era, just a different decal on the box. The Whites BFO's built before the mid-60's used a 63, or 68 volt battery plus a 9 volt, and they have very long cases, as that 60+ volt battery is big, and expensive also, if you can even find one. I would avoid any of those. Garrett phased out BFO's around 1975, but their Master Hunter was built as a BFO up until they phased the BFO circuit out, and to add to the confusion still used the Master Hunter name on the later TR and VLF machines. The early gold colored Bounty Hunters, #'s I, II, and III are all BFO units, though I never used one, they should be OK for what you intend. Bounty Hunter also produced a model called the Outlaw, that is switchable between BFO & TR, the only machine I know of with that feature.
The old BFO's are real bears to use, and will work you as hard as picking cotton, just so you know up front, but they can do things the newer machines can't, like finding black magnetic sand deposits which can be loaded with small gold.
I'd try eBay, or put a wanted to buy on Vintage Metal Detectors, and get one guaranteed to work unless you are skilled at old time radio repair. On eBay I'd pay $20 - $30 for a beater Whites unit that is working, expect to pay more for a Garret BFO, up to $150 if they have a small and large coil. The Bounty Hunters can run $20 - $80, just depending. There is a small community of collectors, but they usually are only interested in more pristine units for display, so a beater that works shouldn't cost nearly as much, I paid $20 for my latest CM-2, and that included the shipping, another one I bought about 10 years ago cost me .01c on my bid & $9.99 for S&H. Vince Migliore paid me $20 for a picture of it for one of his books, and then I gave it to a gold hunting buddy of mine and it's done him real good in the North GA gold fields. Of course the sellers think they have a rare item, and usually are asking too much, so shop around and be patient.
I still use mine to shoot coins, and love that old motorboat beat which seems to connect me with my intuitive side for some really nice finds. Good luck!

 

[Red James Cash]

Inexpensive detector for placer flake concentrations?

Garage sale,flea market,thrift store.If you like holding what youre going to be buying.i never buy unheld by me.Buy used save some bucks.

 

[Hoser John]

Tr are horrible ,bfo also, as antiquated(ground balance useless) and not worth squat for small gold. You need ground balancing VLF technology such as Gold Bug series or Tesoro Lobo Super Traq THEN the tiny gold will come. The new NEL coil on a 5000 Minelab(pulse) was MOST amazing performance out on my claims run by another fella. TR is good for ID of metal vs mineral so not useless. The only thing useless is any detector that's a closet queen covered in dust.John

 

[CO2]

John, thanks for the info, you have answered my question about detecting flake however those detectors are definitely not inexpensive. Maybe one day I'll have the right tool for the job. Until then I think it's going to be more useful to pick up a vintage BFO to find where the magnetite sand rings louder than the clay. If I don't like it I can always try to flip it for most of my purchase price. Unless of course I do what James won't, buy sight-unseen, and then find out it doesn't work. I'm pretty sure I'm not interested in scouring every nook and cranny in this city for a vintage detector that's not price gouged and that still works fine. I'd rather be digging the placer fines I know are littering most every square foot of the bars around here.

Slingshot beautiful info in that post, thank you very much. Pre-1975 for any Garrett, gotcha. I saw a comprehensive list of Garrett models and it was a curious thing that the list stopped saying "BFO" years before the AM-2 popped up. Again great info; I'll take a look at the Whites and the other models you mentioned and see if I can get some good bang for my buck. Lots of research to do. Will update.

 

[shovelready]

Listen to John Hoser, dont waste your money on buying cheap. save your money and buy a good machine, it will save you a lot of wasted time and headaches. buy a gold bug pro or lobo super traq, you will be glad you did. remember.....If you buy the best you only cry once....HH

 

[goldenIrishman]

I agree with the others. It's better to hold off and save up for a good unit than to waste money on a dinosaur closet queen. There are several units in the $550 to $750 range that will work much better than any of the old units. Remember that good things come to those that wait. Be patient, save your money up and get something that will do the job you want it to.

If you bookmark several of the detector sales companies web sites, you can learn about the different detectors and will also be able to find when different units are on sale for good prices. Example: Several sites are listing the MineLab X-Tera 705 gold pack for $600 right now. Usually priced in the $725 range.

 

[CO2]

I ran into this discussion:

(Deleted by mod No links to other forums)

Particularly useful was the 4th comment down, by Reno Chris. Basically everybody who says don't waste your time detecting for gold by detecting black sands is probably right. Plus, not only would I have to spend a bunch of time not digging in learning how to use the thing and tuning it just right for my target material, but the potential for getting ripped off on a sight-unseen vintage detector is very high. So I've decided I'm not going to get one.

Instead, I'll have to wait until the day I can afford a $600-$700 detector and find gold flake by actually finding gold flake. In the meantime, I think the best bang for my buck is going to come from replacing my sample pan with a cheapie ribbed mat sluice or something. That's probably going to be way less frustrating finding the flake than an old BFO looking for black sand. Besides, if I had the detector I'd still need a little sluice to find out what's in my shovel, because I am sick of panning!! Lol

Thanks guys for saving me a good chunk of money. Much appreciated.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hi there,


The Falcon MD20 is a tiny detector that will easily detect flake gold and very tiny stuff as well, and it's not that expensive.

The down-side is that it won't detect with much depth, and the coil head is very small, plus it won't work for covering large areas at all.

The upside is that if you do get to your pay layer, it will certainly sniff out the flakes and tiny stuff. (I've made my Flacon pay several times over as it's such an excellent little sniper of a detector, plus it's waterproof.)

So, if you're after a "swinger" to cover large areas quickly, follow the above advice to save your money to get a detector with the proper technology, well worth the price to specialize. As well, chasing the black sand may or may not prove effective: my Gold Bug Pro will find black sand concentrations and show the bars on a graph, but there may be a close cousin (can't recall the name right now), or the digital Gold Bug (it's less expensive) that might do the trick as well if you don't need the extras of the Bug Pro

All the best,

Lanny

 

[IMPDLN]

Probably the most sensitive detector for small to tiny gold would be the Gold Bug 2. Next would be the Whiites GMT. Both with the small elliptical sniper coils. Now for a good unit that will find gold, and although I don't recommend trying to follow black sand deposits with a detector, does have an iron readout which I suppose you could use this way.....Gold Bug SE or non pro version. They are digital and retail for $500. Now if you have a Cabelas near you they sell them and some get returned and end up in the bargain cave cheap.....like under $300. This is the least expensive detector I recommend and I can assure you it is just as capable as the GB Pro at finding gold. However if you get a metal detector I recommend you look for nuggets with it. You might be surprised what you could find, and what you have been missing. Don't waste your money on anything less. Dennis

 

[CO2]

As of the last post on the first page, I have given up on the idea of detecting the black sands, so no vintage BFO for me. I just checked out the Falcon MD20 and although it looks like a pretty neat device it doesn't seem like a good use of $250 of my money at this time. As for a returned Gold Bug non-pro at Cabelas, that's the best lead yet for something that fits my original specifications. It's a 2 hour roundtrip to Cabelas and I might have to do that sometime. Thanks for the help.

 

[meMiner]

My two cents - save your money and forget about a detector for the kind of prospecting you are describing, unless you stumble across a somewhat new one at a really good price (you can always flip it when it does not work out). If you want to find concentrations of black sand and other iron heavies, as an indicator where to dig in a gold creek, attach a rare earth magnet (about $20) to a stick and drag it over the target area. I am not opposed to metal detectors (I have 2 gold detectors), but just providing a different option.

 

[CO2]

The guy at the detector shop was kind enough to demonstrate his personal Falcon that he owns and uses. It's a nifty little device but there's no way I would take that to the creek. Instead of spending money on gear to find the best gold where the best gold isn't, I think I would be better off saving for a dredge and hitting the low-water channel. Then I should be able to get the kind of results I'd really like to see. That's the idea at least.