Whats the best detector for hunting gold nuggets?

[Keystone]

I am looking to purchase a detector to begin nugget hunting, but I am having trouble trying to determine which model would be the most accurate and efficient for the money. Any info or advice anyone would be able to give me would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time and HH to all.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[Woodland Detectors]

That would be the Minelab gpx4500 Hands down. Back ordered for up to 3 months USA due to gold rush in Africa

That baby will cost you $4,495 MAP

Some guys are willing to pay up to $7,000.00 if you had one in stock no complaints.
Here's one someone is selling....Geeesh!

http://cgi.ebay.com.my/Minelab-GPX-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a55ffc975

We require a deposit down and patience.

 

[thrillathahunt]

You can find gold nuggets with the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq!

$639 brand new.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Oops!

Not exactly the right answer. The right one is:

White's TDI with it's best discrimination capabilities; Does well on a wide range of nuggets. A bit smoother-running than any other gold nugget hunter. A typical PI, but with the best discrimination.

or,

Minelab gpx4500; Does best on LARGER nuggets. Real heavy, but POWERFUL. It's a PI and that's why it does not like tiny nuggets.

or,

Fisher GoldBug2; Does best, I mean the VERY BEST on small-to-minute nuggets. The best sold, most popular, most used (especially in Arizona and Nevada) nugget-hunter ever made - after the now defunct but infamous and equal Compass 52 Khz au52, and au2000 with it's choice of 52 Khz or 17.77 Khz toggle-switch choice. Even right next to White's main plant here, the GB2 is the most popular and most bought and used of ANY nugget hunter currently made, bar none, and the multi-brand detector shop owners here in gold country prefer it too, even when they hunt in AZ or NV.

or,

Garrett Infinium; Covers a wide range of nugget-hunting but is tough to operate. Heavy, but makes a good salt beach machine.

So the ALMOST CORRECT answer is:

Gpx4500 for large nuggets..

and Fisher GB2 for small to tiny nuggets.

But there is no "most accurate and efficient for the money". They are all good, but different from each other, just like blond bikini models.

Both the old Compasses AND the Fisher GB's can find a nugget the size of the dot on an "i". The PI's can't do this and neither can a White's GMT. I know, I've tried it.

My professional views are posted here soley to help. And yes, the new Fisher GoldBug (3) can find tiny nuggets... and LARGER nuggets better and deeper than the GB2 - but it has some issues to work out before people need to be lab rats for it.

Hope this helps.

LL

 

[gary in idaho]

Larry pretty much hit the nail on the head. I used to detect out at Gold Basin AZ. For the money the Fisher Gold Bug II is your best bet. I also liked the old White's Gold Masters especially the GM 3, very good for small nuggets. The SD's are very good but very expensive and heavy. What's your budget for a machine? Also did fairly well drywashing out there. After I found a good spot drywashing I'd always go over the area with my detector or visa versa. If you decide to buy a new SD contact Doc there in Vegas and I'm sure he'd take you out and show you how to use the machine, he's a very nice person.

 

[discovery_bound]

My professional views are posted here soley to help. And yes, the new Fisher GoldBug (3) can find tiny nuggets, AND larger nuggets better and deeper than the GB2 - but it has some issues to work out before people need to be lab rats for it.

Just wondering what kind of issues you are referring to regarding the GB3....I'm interested in checking out this detector, but am trying to get some reviews before I decide. Any info is appreciated, thanks.

HH
DB

 

[Sandman]

For nugget hunting I would rely on Lucky Larry's suggestions and order from 4-H.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

I'm going with thrillathahunt,

Lobo Super Traq! Proven personally to me by --------- me!


B

 

[Tank69]

thats it end the thread Mrs. O has spoken (insert heavenly sounds here )

 

[gary in idaho]

http://www.thetreasuredepot.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds_config.pl?read=147419

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

 

[LuckyLarry]

DB

The last I heard/read on another site, (maybe something Jim Straight or another man wrote?), the new GB(3) is sometimes having troubles with electrical connections of some kind, but the exact info was not completely disclosed as to what the detector's problem is/was..

As Fisher already said, the new GB3 is not a replacement of the GB2 though, it's a completely different animal and should run smoother no matter where it's used. It will also work well as a relic or coin hunter. If it all goes well, it and the F-75 will probably be the most popular detectors made or sold in all detector history, we'll see. In another month we should have enough answers to make a rational decision, but it's a bit early for that now. An 11" coil sounds like a primo idea though, and it makes me wonder just how similar it could be compared to the F-75? If it doesn't match the GB2 for tiny nugget depth, then maybe buying both could be a very good idea. I have serious questions as to weather it could find big nuggets quite as deep as the gpx4500 though.

I like the White's GMT but I like the GB2 even better.

LL

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

I'm not trying to put the Gold Bug down - I am asking a serious question, though.

Back, several years ago, I bought a Gold Bug. I also sold it after a few months. Tuning it to detect was a bear, and, had to be done on a frequent basis.

With that in mind (the time lapse), have they improved that aspect of the Gold Bug? Do they now have a "turn on and go" during an upgrade over the last few years, or is it the same?

If Gold Bug has really worked out the tuning issue, it is also a good detector.

B

 

[LuckyLarry]

Mrs. White Gold..

The original GB was a bit too testy, and the GB2 was refined a bit because it's high freq needed it. The super-high freq created problems with high-mineralization operational smoothness and depth. Such is the (old) problem with super-high freq's being used in Super-High iron soils such as yours and most of the western USA. The GMT has similar problems but the old Compasses did not. Why not?

Because Compass invented DD coils, auto-retune, and auto-trac, and it had the patent on it too. Fisher couldn't scavenge the circuitry so they did the best they could while the Compasses beat them for nugget hunting, etc. Compass Electronics was the KING of nugget hunters for more than 10 years straight. In fact there is still a 5 inch piece of quartz on display in some casino in Nevada somewhere - in fact found by a Compass au52, because there is a speck of gold about the size of this little dot (.) inside it.

No other detector is capable of that feat but the GB2 does come close to it.

Fisher eventually was able to "explore" the new Compass circuitry after the Compass patent rights ran out, so they then created the GB2, a huge improvement, but still waning a bit in some ways - compared to the Compasses. Now though, a super-high freq is not necessary any more to find the tiny nuggets. 19 or 20 Khz works almost as well. Hence the invention of the new GoldBug3. Tesoros can find some realy tiny nuggets and earring studs, but can't quite match the GB's and various Compasses on such tiny items, not yet anyway. Even with my my Compass GS Pro and R&C I have found #8 shot in high-Fe soils up to 6" deep.

What a shame that company had to close it's doors, but Fisher is still in operation and they seem to be doing rather well too.

LL

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Thanks LuckyLarry,

Thanks for the info. If they have that issue worked out, I might be willing to try them again (you can never have too many good detectors ).

I've not had that issue with the Tesoro (which is probably why I have 2 of them), as, when we go to a highly mineralized area, the SuperTraq's "Black Sand" switch has always done the trick, without making it half deaf. (I cannot remember which detector we had once, but it did have a way to discriminate out black sand mineralization, but, when you switched it on, it would discriminate out LOTS of stuff I would rather have found - don't have that one anymore, either). I really hate having to retune, and retune, and retune................................. I guess I'm lazy - really, quite often, time is limited, and you don't want to take any more time than you have to, setting up.

A detector, regardless of brand, that can find gold (I never put a value on a gauge that says what's in the ground, to me, its moot, because I'm going to dig it anyway) - but if it can find gold without me spending lots of time preparing, and doesn't need to be reset everytime it taps a stone, can be a good detector.

B

 

[LuckyLarry]

Mrs OB

Momento, por favore, gotta be careful with this big cup of coffee I have sitting here..

I have always appreciated the Tesoro line of detectors, but some of the higher-priced ones tend to run a bit too much power for really high-Fe soils. This is not true with their nugget hunters though, such as the SuperTrac.

A woman who went with me exploring an old town using her Cortez had a heck of a time getting it to handle the bad ground. And yes, her sensitivity was too high too, but the gain (power) was the real bad boy. After 30-40 minutes in one area she found 1 penny and two bolts, and I found more than 30 coins (one wheatie) with my cz-70. I also found lots of scrap lead, copper, brass, and even a bit of iron. The cz L-O-V-E-S brass, lead, and copper. She was constantly re-setting the GB and discrimination in order to compensate for the depressing ordeal. The Cortez and Tejon for example, have real fits in such nasty soils. But the cheaper ones run smoother and actually go deeper. Too much gain in bad ground achieves a real bad experience without some tools to quell all the madness. The SuperTrac was MADE for bad soils. It's not my first choice for deep nuggets but it will suffice.

A best rule of thumb for anybody wanting to find gold,, is to buy one with an expanded iron range, and ignore it completely as long as you dig everything. Yeah this was a dumb joke, but it's true. Gold and small iron cross paths, regardless of which detector one uses.

A detector that goes awry when the searchcoil hits something either has a loose searchcoil from smacking it, or it's inferior to begin with. But either way there is something wrong. Good detectors and searchcoils don't normally act that way any more. One time smacking a rock and the whole searchcoil can be toast though. They aren't designed to be whacking rocks, grass, or bushes, rather they are designed to be run (continually) 1-2" up off the actual dirt.

BTW, I found more goodies with my old Silver Sabre on high black-sand/magnetite beaches than with any other machine, including my Minelabs, Whites, Garretts, Compasses, other old detectors, and other Fishers. But for all-out depth in those conditions the cz70 went the deepest, and yes, because I ran it in disc with EVERYTHING notched in. Only in the Puget Sound area in WA State did I do any better for depth, and that was with a mid-70's Garrett Deepseeker, sometimes finding old crusty pennies 10-13" deep in some of the nastiest soil in America.

Time for

LL

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

LuckyLarry,

Thanks for the info.

I do use the Lobo Super Traq - maybe I have developed an affinity with it, but I never have an issue with it (except maybe the occasional battery change, of course). (actually have 2).

I think I said that the experience I had was quite a long time ago - and, since the LST, (and the other detectors I own), have never felt the need to buy a different one (that exception would be a water detector).

There may have been something wrong with the one I bought, and then sold, but I returned it to the factory first - and it acted exactly the same when it got back.

I think they may have just improved their product - which is a good thing.

I guess I cannot help loving my Lobo Super Traq. It has never let me down, and it just does most anything I ask. I love the "turn on and go" factor in ANY detector.

My only want, now, like I said - is one that can go in the water. Haven't decided on one for that yet, though.

B

 

[thrillathahunt]

Now I am going to have to go with you Mrs. B It mostly boils down to how well you are in tune

with your detector. Now, we know an ST will find nuggets, but if you put the ST in the hands of just

anybody, they will not be as efficient in finding gold as say you or me

Happy Hunting!

 

[rmptr]

Good to see Larry back in action...

Best
rmptr