Detector Purchase Help!!

[Pebbles141]

Hello,

I'm looking for some help deciding on a MD. I am new to the detecting world. I plan to use it for gold prospecting. Id prefer a fully submersible unit that is able to operate in fresh and salt water.

Problem is I can't seem to find very many options that are capable of this?

So far I've got on my list
Garrett Infinium LS
Tesoro Sand Shark ?

Am I missing something? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

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[Sandman]

Both the Infinium and Sand Shark are Pulse detectors and both are waterproof, not just water resistant. But neither of these has the gain necessary to prospect with for tiny nuggets. All the manufacturers advertise their MD's a able to find nuggets, but how big is the key. Either of these will find all sorts of metal and some smaller nuggets too, but not the "pickers." You can go to far into the sensitivity field too and find the pickers and also the bird shot, BB's.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Neither of those will work well for gold hunting, unless you are hunting big nuggets. I don't know any really good gold hunters that are waterproof in more than the coil.

 

[Longhair]

Since you're new to the hobby and haven't bought anything yet, if I were you I'd change my strategy. Plan on two machines...one for water, and one for land.

Heck, for as addictive as this hobby is, you'll end up with more than one machine eventually anyway.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Whites DF PI and the Headhunter PI work well (VERY deep!) for smallish gold, and considerably deeper (5 or so inches deeper on a dime) than the Sand Shark, but neither are exactly what I would call nugget hunters. Although the three work smoothly on beaches, I don't consider any of them to be 100% reliable as being fully submersible either. The Whites DF is probably the best bet of my above mentioned, but they have to be monitored for changing beach conditions, and you have to learn them well, plus they are not prospecting units at all. The Teknetics G2/Fisher Gold Bog Pro are both excellent (tiny) nugget hunters, handle salt/non-salt beaches fairly well, but they are no depth demons like the CZ series for half-dime size and larger gold jewelry. I have gone head-to-head against an MXT on salt-high black sand beaches and the CZ makes the MXT look embarrasing for coin hunting. The Garrett Infinium can wear someone out fiddling with the settings and its weight, and so can its Minelab counterpart equal. I too would opt for two (different) detectors because none will serve well as ideal dual-purpose units. So far though, the CZ series Fishers have proven to (me) to be about 1" deeper hunting coins on salt/high black sand beaches than any other dual or multi-frequency detectors, but they aren't made for diving, nor gold hunting. Of the non-nugget hunter PI's I'd chose the Whites DF, it's the least of the PI evils overall, and it finds stuff the size of a 22 pellet at 4-8", depending on the salt beach soil or other soil conditions. But as a prospecting unit, it too is not the way to go, it's not made for that. There is no detector made that can cover both bases. You need two different types, a beach machine, and a dedicated tiny gold nugget hunter like the g2 or the GBP. The AT Garretts don't quite cut it as nugget hunters (or) beach machines, even though they have lots of toys to play with.

 

[liftloop]

how come no one is telling him a bought the atpro or the atgold.....Haha

 

[panewbie]

Yes the AT Pro is both waterproof and will find nuggets as small as 10th of a gram or so they advertise. I personally haven't used it for prospecting yet but hope to next spring. It's also submersible up to 10 feet and can use it for relic hunting coin shooting or jewelry.

 

[Terry Soloman]

The AT Pro, and AT Gold - ARE NOT gold nugget hunting machines. Nor are the Infinium, Sand Shark, or Dual Field. In fact, none of the machines listed even come close to being gold nugget hunters. You are looking for a machine that does not exist.

If you are a serious "nuggetshooter," there are only about five machines you need to look at: Whites GMT; Fisher Goldbug; Tesoro Lobo Super Traq; Minelab SD machines, and Minelab GPX machines. The closest you can come in a fully submersible FRESH water machine, is a Tesoro Tiger Shark, but it will only find pickers that weigh at least 0.4-grams+.

Good Luck!

 

[ezzz1]

The AT Pro, and AT Gold - ARE NOT gold nugget hunting machines. Nor are the Infinium, Sand Shark, or Dual Field. In fact, none of the machines listed even come close to being gold nugget hunters. You are looking for a machine that does not exist.

Terry , i though you knew what you were talking about on these for forums but i was wrong.. you don't know nothing ,, and you are also misleading people on here...just to point them toward Tesoro........ that's bad business
If you have done any kind one on one with all the machine you will find out that tesoro is at the bottom of the list
check this link maybe this will help educate you
Garrett AT Gold Introducing Video
geeeeeeeesh why do people post on here when they don't know what their talking about

 

[Jason in Enid]

"you don't know nothing" is a double negative which literally means he does know something.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

The AT Pro, and AT Gold - ARE NOT gold nugget hunting machines. Nor are the Infinium, Sand Shark, or Dual Field. In fact, none of the machines listed even come close to being gold nugget hunters. You are looking for a machine that does not exist.

Terry , i though you knew what you were talking about on these for forums but i was wrong.. you don't know nothing ,, and you are also misleading people on here...just to point them toward Tesoro........ that's bad business
If you have done any kind one on one with all the machine you will find out that tesoro is at the bottom of the list
check this link maybe this will help educate you
Garrett AT Gold Introducing Video
geeeeeeeesh why do people post on here when they don't know what their talking about

IMHO, Terry's advice was right on the money. For small gold you want a high freq. machine. Those he mentioned have a great reputation for finding tiny gold.
Jim

 

[ezzz1]

IMHO, Terry's advice was right on the money. For small gold you want a high freq. machine. Those he mentioned have a great reputation for finding tiny gold.
Jim

gold bug pro 19 khz
garrett gold 18 khz
tesoro lobo 17.8 khz
now go and dig a hole about 4 inches deep drop in a piece of gold the size of a BB and do the test
or use a picker if that makes you happy and you will see

 

[Jim in Idaho]

gold bug pro 19 khz
garrett gold 18 khz
tesoro lobo 17.8 khz
now go and dig a hole about 4 inches deep drop in a piece of gold the size of a BB and do the test
or use a picker if that makes you happy and you will see

Actually, if you would accurately read his post, he didn't saY GoldBug pro...he said Gold Bug, and the Gold Bug, and Gold BugII both operate at 73khz....he also mentioned the White's GMT, which operates at 48khz...all 3 terrific prospecting units. I'm not familiar with the others he mentioned, but would bet they all operate at relatively high freqs. He sure didn't deserve being juimped-on.
Jim

 

[ezzz1]

My point is the AT gold is a very good gold machine ,, gold is what it was design for ,,i have use it several times here in Ga.and have found several pickers... It is second to none using it in high mineral soil,, it can also ground balance out ... I also have used it for civil war relic here.
i havent used the Whites GMT much... but im not going to talk down about it.im sure its a good machine
Any of the gold bugs are good for gold........No machine can do it all,,,its a give and take...almost like a Ford or Chev...

 

[signal_line]

My advice is get a VLF machine for your first detector. The pulse induction units go deep but they pick up so much trash you will most likely be overwhelmed in the first five minutes. When you spend the majority of your time digging trash, you don't have much time left for digging the good stuff. Yes, if you have a gold-producing area a pulse may be what you want AFTER you have gone over it with a VLF machine. And there is a MUCH steeper learning curve with the pulse machines. Also I suggest you check to see how old the metal detector design is--some mentioned here are over ten-year old designs. Go with the new technology--that's a no-brainer.

 

[Pebbles141]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all of the help. I ended up getting a whites mxt pro to get started and I feel like I've learned a lot from this machine. Planning to add at least a couple more detectors to my arsenal including the infinium l/s as well as a more gold specific vlf -- still debating gold bug pro// GMT / or lobo supertrack. Any chances of a Waterproof VLF gold machine to come out anytime soon? I have to say hunting the streams worrying about keeping the unit dry is a pain.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Every time I read this I laugh. The man wanted a "gold prospecting" machine. The only ones made for that are the various Minelabs (some good, some bad), a couple of marginal and somewhat poorly made, designed, and functioning Garretts, the G2, the GB's, and even a couple of Whites that don't quite match the capabilities of the best Teknetics, Minelabs, and Fishers. The Tesoros are marginal at best, compared to others of other brands. The MXT is not a decent gold nugget hunter, nor a good prospecting machine. Tesoro does not nor has it ever made a prospecting detector that equals even the GMT. But after all is said and done he settles for an all-purpose detector instead. I just think it's funny, that's all, it all wound up in a completely different direction..... Ironic almost fits it all precisely. Thanks again folks for making me smile one more time again..

 

[Sandman]

Yeah Larry, he got good advice and settled on a detector that does not find the tiny gold. But he is learning.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Yeah Dennis, same thing with cars. I was going to buy a Porsche, and I wound up with a BMW instead.