Gold Detecting with the Sovereign gt

[thadious]

Hi guys the finds were slim this year at the parks and beach's. Reasons I suspect were lots of hunters in the area, the economy and limited hunting time. I am wanting to expand my hunting to gold detecting both here in California and in Nevada if I move there. I have a 15 inch wot coil and the standard 10 inch coil that comes with the sovereign. I suspect the wot is too big not sure about the stock coil. I guess I am asking which coil would be best to hunt gold best, places to hunt and what equipment I should have with me besides the coil. I know nothing about Gold detecting. thanks for any advice. Ted

[goldentruth]

I have read from distributors the concentric 8 inch to 10 inch coil works great for sensitive pin pointing to finding the most common 7,or 8 grain gold nuggets. The double D, I was told is good... but not as sensitive as the circular "Open Center" Mono type. (A sound tip.)
Many times we get "Crazy Cool Luck" Many times we have to put in effort for things to turn up.
Happy Hunting & good luck, may 2012 be the best year to come, my friend.

[Keppy]

I have been told that any detector will find gold if it is a big enough nugget and not to deep.......... About a year ago a rep from Minelab office told me that the Sovereign was not a detector that was the best choice for prospecting.............. So i took his word for it and that is all i know about it..........

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

For gold nugget detecting a more sensitive coil would be better. Rings and such it will do great!

Holler if you have questions!

[Tom_in_CA]

The Sov was designed as a coin/jewelry/relic machine. Not meant as a nugget machine, unless the nuggets are bigger than a grain of rice (which are extemely rare, d/t most nuggets in nature are smaller, like BB sized, and so forth).

And conversely, a dedicated nuggett machine is going to be too squirelly sensitive to use for coins.

[goodmore]

The Sovereign is great for finding gold rings. But for nugget hunting it just wasn't designed for it. There are good nugget hunting machines out there. But not the Sovereign.

[Keppy]

The Sov was designed as a coin/jewelry/relic machine. Not meant as a nugget machine, unless the nuggets are bigger than a grain of rice (which are extemely rare, d/t most nuggets in nature are smaller, like BB sized, and so forth).

And conversely, a dedicated nuggett machine is going to be too squirelly sensitive to use for coins.

Tom_in_Cal & goodmore................. That is the same thing that the rep from the minelab office told me......... So you two Tom & good....... Gave the right answer to his question..............Not a lot of BS..

[thadious]

Is there a decent gold detector in the 600 dollar range. I thought of getting a tesoro sand shark for water detecting since it is pulse would it be ok to nugget hunt.

[goodmore]

I'm sure that a dealer or sponsor will chime in. But there are some like the 705, MXT and a few from the Fisher families that will fit your needs. Even the new AT Gold isn't that far from your price. I love the Sovereign for beach hunting. It might be the best at that particular job. Work a deal and find that gold.

[Keppy]

Take a look at the Fisher Gold Bug Pro or the Garrett AT Pro......They are in your price range .. and i never heard any one say one bad thing about the Fisher Gold Bug Pro.......... On the Garrett AT Pro don't buy a used one the first one's to come out had a lot of problems........

[goldentruth]

I see this topic turned into what is a better detector, I was only making a comment which may improve the detector you have is a more sensitive coil, use a smaller coil like a 7 of 8 inch concentric/mono coil will help you get "Deeper signals". I hear the doudle D cuts the depth.
I would never bad mouth anyones MD. Please note the quote: "Gold is where you find it".
Last week here on T.Net ... A guy said his grandpaw took him to Alaska and he had a modest $100 MD. They hit some large nuggets! The guy went back and last year he found nothing smaller than 1 1/2 Oz nuggets and the year brough in 60oz total!!!!! He was right on top of the gold! Any MD would have worked.
Many sales guys to make a sale on a high priced make it sound like "their" model or brand is the one to get.
Sure some out produce others but it is the guy behind the MD and the knowlege location or dumb luck is may be what counts. My Advice is to get good at using your MD and experience by the sounds & when you are in the market, then up grade to suit you. (When it rains or the weather is too cold I do research Youtube on Gold, Metal Detecting and then videos of other MD's. Happy Hunting my friend, best to you in 2012.

[goldentruth]

Have fun, go after those targets. Good Luck.

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Is there a decent gold detector in the 600 dollar range. I thought of getting a tesoro sand shark for water detecting since it is pulse would it be ok to nugget hunt.

Gold bug pro is an excellent nugget and coin machine! Feel free to give me a call. We can work out a deal!

[BrianLV]

I have some extensive detecting experience with the Gold Bug 2, and the Minelab 16000. I suggest locating the areas where the largest nuggets are found, and getting access to those claims, and detect where people dig the most, Drywash, highbank etc. I have made all my finds after the heavy rains or right after someone disturbed a bunch of dirt, drywash piles etc. I like the Gold Bug 2, my Minelab is older, but it was about $150 and I found a small nugget my first time out with it.
It takes hundreds of hours to locate a single nugget usually. It takes some people years for their first nugget. I'm 3 nuggets in, and I have witnessed people find 3 in a day.
You have to really study the areas where the nuggets are near the surface and theres a lot of them.