What Detector do i need if i only want to dig up gold but no other metals ?

[merlin01]

Hi,


My recent experiences of Gold Nugget searching with a borrowed detector include a lot of digging out old junk like nails, bits of cans or little iron pieces.

I want to buy my own metal detector.

Is there a metal detector that can be adjusted so it only gives a signal if it's gold and remains silent if it is any other metal ? So i only dig up gold, and don't waste energy and time to dig up other stuff ?

Thanks in advance

 

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[merlin01]

I personally don't care about coins. Nobody here buys coins or similar for more than the gold material weight. It has no value to me, because it is too much work to convert it to money. Apart from me doing something illegal if i keep them, because that would be an archaelogical find i'd have to give to the state, it's very hard to find buyers around here. I've been through that with similar stuff and it's not for me.

I understood that i can't have a detector that prevents me from digging trash. I got it, it's okay now.

NO matter what machine you use.

Finding Gold is Site dependent...I try and put myself in the place with the highest chances of find it. Then do a lot of (unnecessary"?) digging to raise the odd's.

If that's the case i'll go with a 150 Dollar detector.

 

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[RW]

I personally don't care about coins. Nobody here buys coins or similar for more than the gold material weight. It has no value to me, because it is too much work to convert it to money. Apart from me doing something illegal if i keep them, because that would be an archaelogical find i'd have to give to the state, it's very hard to find buyers around here. I've been through that with similar stuff and it's not for me.

I understood that i can't have a detector that prevents me from digging trash. I got it, it's okay now.



If that's the case i'll go with a 150 Dollar detector.

Can't dispute the wisdom in that. More realistically, $250 on a used machine. Maybe an X Terra with HF coil?

 

[merlin01]

Yes something in that price range, probably used. Might be my best bet.

I'm the kind of person that wouldn't go into the water as long as i can't swim.

I'll just get something decent, maybe used, and see from there.

 

[RW]

Yes something in that price range, probably used. Might be my best bet.

I'm the kind of person that wouldn't go into the water as long as i can't swim.

I'll just get something decent, maybe used, and see from there.

Just try to lean towards a machine with a higher frequency. Some are as low as 2, 5, 7, 12... I'd go with 15 minimum, higher the better for goldfield.

 

[merlin01]

I'm learning about detectors as much as i can by reading.

If every detector will tell me there's a metal, possibly gold, and no detector can "filter" out anything that's not gold, did i understand correctly then that the differences of the detector models are the depth it can detect metal in the ground, and the adjustability to the grounds properties (mineralization) ?

 

[BillA]

post #31 describes the difference, it is the response (magnitude)

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I'm learning about detectors as much as i can by reading.

If every detector will tell me there's a metal, possibly gold, and no detector can "filter" out anything that's not gold, did i understand correctly then that the differences of the detector models are the depth it can detect metal in the ground, and the adjustability to the grounds properties (mineralization) ?

No one said that you cant filter out some targets, your original question was detector that will filter out all targets and only respond to gold nuggets.

It depends on what size gold nuggers you don't want to dig, what is too small for you. Many detectors will find small nuggets and you can filter many trash targets, but not all targets. Take Minelabs Multi freq detectors, they will filter out or tell you when target is iron, but are limited to how small of a gold nugget they can see, targets below a half a gram are hard to see unless your using a high freq detector 20 khz and higher works best for small nuggets.

Figure out what your budget is and go from there, if your only going to hunt gold nuggets and will never beach hunt or coin and relic hunt and want just one detector buy a high freq dedicated gold detector. If you want detector that can be used to nugget hunt and also beach hunt or coin/relic hunt get a good multifreq detector.. . ,

 

[nomad 11]

if life were a piece of cake ? i would be too fat. but am i ?

 

[merlin01]

No one said that you cant filter out some targets, your original question was detector that will filter out all targets and only respond to gold nuggets.

It depends on what size gold nuggers you don't want to dig, what is too small for you. Many detectors will find small nuggets and you can filter many trash targets, but not all targets. Take Minelabs Multi freq detectors, they will filter out or tell you when target is iron, but are limited to how small of a gold nugget they can see, targets below a half a gram are hard to see unless your using a high freq detector 20 khz and higher works best for small nuggets.

Figure out what your budget is and go from there, if your only going to hunt gold nuggets and will never beach hunt or coin and relic hunt and want just one detector buy a high freq dedicated gold detector. If you want detector that can be used to nugget hunt and also beach hunt or coin/relic hunt get a good multifreq detector.. . ,

I will only search for gold nuggets. I would actually still like to see below 0.5g, with small i meant super tiny dust-like gold.

So if there are these detectors that can tell me if it's iron, then that's a great feature that will prevent me from digging up iron when i actually want to find gold.

But let me guess, it's not 100% safe and in order to be safe i'd have to dig every signal ?

So let's say my budget is 1000 Dollars, which detector would be the best for only gold nugget searching ?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I will only search for gold nuggets. I would actually still like to see below 0.5g, with small i meant super tiny dust-like gold.

So if there are these detectors that can tell me if it's iron, then that's a great feature that will prevent me from digging up iron when i actually want to find gold.

But let me guess, it's not 100% safe and in order to be safe i'd have to dig every signal ?

So let's say my budget is 1000 Dollars, which detector would be the best for only gold nugget searching ?

At that price range look into the Minelab Gold Monster 1000, a dedicated gold detector from the leader in metal detector technology.


https://www.minelab.com/usa/metal-detectors/gold-monster-1000

 

[merlin01]

Thanks for the recommendation of the Minelab Goldmonster 1000.

I informed myself intensively with this model, and after watching many youtube videos where it can be seen detecting for gold nuggets i come to the conclusion that this detector won't fit my "style" of searching. It is because of the automatic adjustment to the grounds mineralisation.

I don't like that it if you let it stay in one place for 5 seconds that it has to be "re-calibrated" by moving it over some ground, because it now thinks that you're still moving and will assume that spot where you leave it for a few seconds is the average it should cancel out. That's time consuming and what comes with this is that if you'd get a signal from a nugget, after 3 or 4 swipes over the target, it will start to cancel it out and it gets quieter and quieter until it disappears. The detector cancels it out because it thinks that's the grounds mineralisation. I don't know about your way of doing it, but what i like to to is trying to locate the target as best as possible by moving at it from different sides and then form a map in my head with an area of about one square foot where the target has to be. How else would you know where to dig. That doesn't work with that detector because the signal will go away after a few times you go over the target. That would make me go crazy.

The other thing is it has iron rejection, but only in shallow mode. So if i go out and look for gold nuggets, i'm already walking around and did all the effort, so i will search in deep, and therefore all-metal mode. You could switch to shallow-iron-reject mode then, but if the signal goes away then, it means you have iron, gold, or something else so deep that the detector can't tell me anymore what it is. So i see why it's a little more expensive than others, but that feature doesn't help me that much since once you're already out, you will detect in deep mode to not miss anything, which will lead to digging up anything anyway.


I don't know if i'm being overly complicated but i think i would prefer manual adjusting and less comfort in exchange of more accuracy and stability in the signal.

 

[BillA]

whether your detector is good for you or bad, you will in any case not know until you have spent 100+ hours swinging the coil
and digging to learn what the detector is telling you

I suggest you stop reading, stop discussing, -> and start swinging and digging

get a good digger, enjoy

 

[RW]

Have you looked into the XP ORX with elliptical coil?

 

[ARC]

whether your detector is good for you or bad, you will in any case not know until you have spent 100+ hours swinging the coil
and digging to learn what the detector is telling you

I suggest you stop reading, stop discussing, -> and start swinging and digging

get a good digger, enjoy

No truer words.

 

[merlin01]

Have you looked into the XP ORX with elliptical coil?

I did, and what i can tell from my research, it shows the same problems. What's also problematic for me is that it doesn't make sounds like i want it to make, it only beeps in different tones and intensities. What i want is that "true" electronic "wave" sound. I mean that "weeeew". I think learning to interpret these signals has much more potential.

I see that many detectors have automatic ground balancing.

What's your experience on that feature, does it have the effect that i'm afraid of ? Maybe i am understanding it in a wrong way.

At 11:20 you can see what i meant with the difficulty to locate a target, because the detector will quiet it down because it thinks it's the grounds mineralisation. His detector doesn't quiet the target down, allowing him to move it over the target as much as he wants.



At 11:50 he describes a similar system on the gold bug pro. I think if it's only when i press a button, it makes much more sense.

 

[Megalodon]

You've received some excellent advice to your questions here. It appears that you are leaning toward the Fisher Gold Bug Pro. IMO, that is a fine choice. Pay particular attention to the 13:00 or so of the second video for discussion about coil size.

For about the same price or just a little more money, the XP ORX with the HF elliptical coil will give you more choices for higher frequencies.

Both machines have 5 year warranties if bought new and both have good records of durability.

If you find an older gold specialist like the original Fisher Gold Bug, that would be a good budget option and starting gold detector that could become a spare when you upgrade or when you hunt with a partner who doesn't have a machine.

 

[merlin01]

Thanks for your advice.

About coil size. Let's say i'd know an area of about 1 square mile that has been known to have gold. It's a hill with trees on it.

If i put on that small coil he talks about at 13:00, that would take insanely long because it covers so little area.

Even the bigger one seems on the lower end of size to me if you'd be out in an open field and have to search a huge area.

Is that where the price also comes into play, a more expensive detector can cover more ground, have a bigger coil and not lose too much sensitivity, unlike the Gold Bug Pro does with the bigger coil, as he states in the video ?

 

[Megalodon]

Thanks for your advice.

About coil size. Let's say i'd know an area of about 1 square mile that has been known to have gold. It's a hill with trees on it.

If i put on that small coil he talks about at 13:00, that would take insanely long because it covers so little area.

Even the bigger one seems on the lower end of size to me if you'd be out in an open field and have to search a huge area.

Is that where the price also comes into play, a more expensive detector can cover more ground, have a bigger coil and not lose too much sensitivity, unlike the Gold Bug Pro does with the bigger coil, as he states in the video ?

I believe the smaller coil is a 5" ? That does not seem too small to me for an area as small as 1 square mile. Do you only have one day to search the site? (IMO, you need to spend some time to master the detector - whichever one you buy.)

 

[merlin01]

No i'd have more than one day. But it would take less time if i had a bigger coil. At least i never saw someone out in the open fields searching with such a small coil.

 

[BillA]

No i'd have more than one day. But it would take less time if i had a bigger coil. At least i never saw someone out in the open fields searching with such a small coil.

reminds me of a past experience
a friend in AK referred an acquaintance to me as I was then messing around in the SW/Mexico
this fellow had bought a Whites something and was visiting active mining sites in AK asking to poke around
at one the owner told of watching a small potato sized nugget going through a 4' trommel and out the stacking conveyor
they struck a deal and an hour later the guy found it !
so he chatted with me about sniping in the SW with a 3 wheeler - many pounds in the offing as he was expert
his only real question was how to tie 5 gal buckets to a 3-wheeler

Merlin - I sympathize with you as I am a gearhead and have spent more time with specs than in the field
-> why I have found nothing of note

I repeat, words are not actions; get out and start digging - nothing jumps into the hand because the specs are good