Good points. The designer, Red Wilcox, carabiners the bucket to his belt in swift water. Some say that is unsafe but it works and I'm in better shape than him so I figure it's fine for me for sure
I tried using carabiners on the pants also. I wear overalls when I prospect. The pressure of 20 to 30+ lbs hanging on your pants is about as comfortable as it sounds. If you are waist high in water, this is can be worse or better. If the stream is swift, imagine the thrust of water against this heavy object hanging on your pants.
The idea of the design would be great for times when river levels are low and you can put the bucket on rocks while you excavate holes and cracks that a regular dredge would not be designed for. Even my gold sucker needs a reducer nozzle to get into smaller cracks. I admit that. But, overall, this device concept will piss you off a lot. It will also lose time from your prospecting day by unclogging the hose. Also..... Changing the nozzles that are hard to come off (and they have to be this way or they will just fall off) takes time away from your day.
The transfer of material to a bucket is faster with my gold sucker ..... and .... I get more pressure to suck from deep levels.
The flip valve will always let you lose material. There is no way to determine which device will lose less material as you bring it out of the water. With the gold n sand, I could clean out a hole a bit better I think. My gold sucker will get it done just as well. There is no way to time something like this to determine which is better overall. I just like not having to worry about clogs in the hose and the darn bucket continually falling over even with material in it. Just jerk the hose the wrong way and you can put the bucket on the ground sideways in the stream. It was just a frustrating experience.
If you use both as I did, you will be less frustrated with the gold sucker type of device. I am strong and tall. I would like to make my own about a foot longer. This basic gold sucker is for the average height person..... but ..... it works fine still. I just use a bungee cord and attach it to my back by hooking the handle on the top and bottom and it is hands free to carry like a gun sling strap.
This frees my hands up to carry two buckets to fill up, a shovel, a backpack for tools & food, and a sluice. I put one bucket on top of the other with my concentrates from the sluice in the bottom bucket to carry home. Then I use my blue bowl at home to classify the concentrates after looking for pickers, nuggets, and larger alluvial pieces etc. When you pan your concentrates at home you never lose a thing like you might do at a stream. You can get really ticked off if you work all day and lose gold by accident trying to pan your concentrates in a stream.
The gold sucker is cheaper also. Try both and then figure out which device you like best. Believe me, the less you carry in to the river the less you have to take back to the vehicle. Making two trips stinks if you are by yourself. Just remember you will have concentrates to carry out at the end of the day. Two or three cleanouts of a sluice will put a lot of concentrates in a 5 gallon bucket.
The bucket was no problem for me as this small stream isn't too swift ( like me ) and IMHO when the bucket is full of water and after some material is pumped into the bottom it pretty much held itself in place and upright. I just let it sink to the bottom and only hauled it out when I figured it was about half full. As far as it being hard to change nozzles it was no big deal for me and only took 20 seconds and I was back dredging again. I liked the different nozzles for changing the conditions on the creek/river. I agree about the hose as it is really pretty stiff and the ribs might hold some gold but if you are careful to put the hose in the bucket, hold it up high and run some water through it at the end of your prospecting it will wash out any trapped into the bucket.
