where do i start?

[Matt.L]

Hello all! So i have been debating doing this for a few years but i have decided to pull the trigger I'm looking to get the best for my buck on a Gold Detector
my budget is 300$.

Apart From that have most people been able to at the most make back there money that they have spent purchasing the detector?
And what is the honest answer to finding small gold nuggets etc thanks appreciate it.

 

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[Peyton Manning]

hmmm, what to say?

if you don't like the search, you won't like the results
you will never make money at detecting
do it for the fun, the hunt, the being outside in nature

I have found things of value, but have sold nothing and have no intentions of doing so
I am in it for the fun

 

[releventchair]

Are gold nuggets common where you intend to hunt?
$300 kinda light for a dedicated/ better known for nugget detection detector.
Use a sample nugget( while realising wild nuggets may not respond the same) and run some tests on the detector you are considering.

Research those hunters who have detected nuggets. Gold can be tricky ,even if in range of a detector.

Your learning the detector,the sites you research ,gain permission on ,will factor in what return on investment happens.
More ...the time you put in to it will matter too.

Expecting to pay off a detector with your finds is a risk. Like many things are when they are performance based , ( yours as well as the equipment) .
Having to ,or expecting to make a detector pay for itself, risks taking the fun out of it.
Some people have. Most of them earned it by putting in the hours , and hunting the right places consistently and correctly.

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Once you have read enough, studied enough and compared enough...you'll be able to answer your own question with the best answer. I encourage you to start ASAP...right now those gold nuggets are being discovered by someone else!

 

[sherm]

Hey Matt, Glad you're interested metal detecting in the great outdoors. My wife bought me a bounty hunter detector from Cabela's, oh probably 18 years or so ago. I was all pumped to go metal detecting after watching the shows from the GPAA. Joined the group and headed to Arizona. a total Greenhorn. Went to the GPAA claims around Dolan Springs area, had no idea what I was doing or how to do it. After days of frustrating searching and finding only a couple of nails that were laying on top of the ground. I was ready to go back home. I saw another fellow prospecting and as we worked our way towards each other, he waved me over to him and said, not finding anything are you and you probably won't either. This ground has been detected many many times. If you don't have a detector that goes deep, you're just wasting time. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of duct taped painted lime green and thru it on the ground. Said there was a small nugget inside it. Wave your detector over it, I did and it sounded off. Now I'm feeling pretty good about then. Now raise it up about six inches, nothing, not a sound. You're wasting your time he said. He also told me, you have to slow down. The slower you move the better. If you want to make you money back from buying a metal detector, your best bet is to spend 5k to 10k and I doubt that you''ll ever get your money back. You need a detector that will reach at least a foot deep and the deeper it will reach the better. Unless you have your own gold bearing property, where you prospect, most likely the ground has been gone over and over again. I don't want to disillusion you, but I don't think you'll find a good used one for $300. Wish I could show you a friend of mine from Wyoming nuggets he found using a minelab, I believe it was a 7000. I'd say, $5000-$10000. Gold is just to hard to come by, so I would never sell what I have found. It'll be passed down so my grandkids can show there kids that there grandfather was a gold prospector. Well, hope I was helpful and you do get a metal detector and prospect the great outdoors. Wish I could go with you, Butch

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Make money?

The bucks I've spent on detectors and equipment will likely never be recovered.

As Jeff said above, it is the love of what I'm doing. Sometimes I find things which truly delight me, that's what makes it worth it. My cool finds will be passed on to my kids.

The modern coins get tumbled and dumped in a Coinstar a handful at a time so that I can check the reject tray without feeling guilty

 

[dsrtdwg1]

Fisher non manual GB Gold Bugs are in your price range. They are effective and easy to learn. I do not believe I have ever read anyone regretting buying one and the prices have just been reduced.

 

[Indian Steve]

The best way to make money from a metal detector is to buy one cheap and sell it HIGH.

 

[luvsdux]

The most value I've re-cooped from detecting has been thru prize tokens and winning new detectors at several competition huts I attend each year. Early on, I had won numerous sliver rounds when silver was 3-4$. They were pretty and not worth much when I started so I just kept putting them in a drawer. Then, several years back, when sliver got up to the $50 range I decided they weren't THAT pretty and unloaded. Beat the down turn when everyone unloaded and ended up with a nice sum. Have won 5 detectors and several gold coins at these hunts and made lots of acquaintances with folks that detect.
luvsdux

 

[cudamark]

Used Gold Bug.