Minelab Eureka Gold - Questions, should I buy it?

[NeoTokyo]

Heya everyone;

A local guy with the Shasta Miners Club is selling his Minelab Eureka Gold, it comes with a couple extra's like a set of black widow headphones, the bag and a Coiltek All Terrain Coil.
We settled on about 15 grams of gold and a small specimen for it, spot is about $852 today and the specimen could fetch anywhere from $75-200 depending on the buyer.

Of course I only have time and fuel into that figure, but is that a decent price for a 2 year old detector that has hardly been used? It was purchased locally and the warranty transfers over.
He was asking $1000 for everything.

Also, I do know about Kellyco and their $1050 sale price and it comes with a butt load more items with it, should I cash in, buy from Kellyco and get it new and all the new items?
Minelab Eureka Gold Metal Detector For Sale - Kellyco Metal Detectors


I was originally strongly considering the Garrett AT Gold because it is waterproof and I wanted to underwater snipe nuggets and paystreaks with it.
I researched the AT Gold more and people seem to say that it just isnt that strong of a detector and that it misses a lot.

I also want to go out MD'ing with TrinityAu some time when I get some more free time.


If I cash in, is the Minelab EG the best gold detector out there for around its price range?
From what I have read it seems like it is pretty much between it and the GBII, but I dont want to deal with Fishers customer service issues so the GBII is not on my list.


As far as being waterproof, the Minelab is not.
What are the best gold coils out there that are waterproof? Most of my searching is in less than 3' of water.
Is there any way to easily waterproof the entire unit?


Thanks everyone, your advice and experience will help me make my next move.



-Eric-

 

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[NeoTokyo]

I also meant to ask if the Coiltek All Terrain Coil is good for nugget hunting too, I see that it is waterproof so I could get into the shallows with it.

Thanks!

 

[nuggetshooter323]

I personally have never used one, but I've heard a lot bad comments about them over the years and few good ones. It's got some cool features, but it just seems pricey compared to a Tesoro Lobo Super Traq or even a Whited GMT. I know your going to say that I'm just saying that because I have an LST and a GMT, but the reason I went with them in the first place is because more people use them and their performance is proven. At todays price your 15 grams is $792(93% of spot price of $852),and you said the specimen is worth up to $200, so right there your paying retail for the detector. You might as well cash in your gold to a refiner and get a new detector. Why is this guy selling it? Is he dissatisfied with the performance and he's off loading it on you? That's why I never got a Eureka Gold, too many if's.

 

[NeoTokyo]

Thats what I have seen a lot of while reading, people just are not as happy with it as others.
A lot of people saying that the gold signals are very quiet and easy to miss too.

I am going to give it a try today and see what I think, toss down a couple of my nuggets and see what they sound like.

The reason why he is selling it is because he started a DJ business and needs more cash, though he said he has not found any nuggets with it.

I know they have coil problems too, which is another reason why I am testing it out.

I have heard a lot of good things about the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq and the GMT.

 

[NeoTokyo]

I havnt heard back from him today so I dont think I will be testing it out today.

I have been thinking it over more and cashing in the gold to get a new unit w. 3yr warranty PLUS all the other stuff Kellyco includes, including a pinpointer just seems like a better idea.
I can also upgrade to an underwater metal detector (the viper hybrid trident) for $164 dollars more and those things bring around $350 on ebay after checking the sold section so it seems like a good deal.

Anyone know how the Viper does for underwater gold detecting?

The second detector would be for my wife.

I am still up in the air though, maybe if he comes down to 14 grams and no specimen then I would probably do it, otherwise KellyCo's prices and goodies are just too good.

Now on that note, if he does not budge on the price I would still like to hear what everyone else has to say about this and other detectors in the same price range.


Thanks.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Before you consider buying from him, call one of the forum sponsors and ask what their best price is on the Eureka, as well as any other gold detectors you may have your eye on. Their PHONE price may surprise you. Personally, I wouldn't pay almost full retail for a 2 year old detector.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I havnt heard back from him today so I dont think I will be testing it out today.

I have been thinking it over more and cashing in the gold to get a new unit w. 3yr warranty PLUS all the other stuff Kellyco includes, including a pinpointer just seems like a better idea.
I can also upgrade to an underwater metal detector (the viper hybrid trident) for $164 dollars more and those things bring around $350 on ebay after checking the sold section so it seems like a good deal.

Anyone know how the Viper does for underwater gold detecting?

The second detector would be for my wife.

I am still up in the air though, maybe if he comes down to 14 grams and no specimen then I would probably do it, otherwise KellyCo's prices and goodies are just too good.

Now on that note, if he does not budge on the price I would still like to hear what everyone else has to say about this and other detectors in the same price range.


Thanks.

OMG, don't fall for KellyCo's scams! Their add-ons are crap. That Viper is a piece of Chinese junk, and I aint talking about a boat.

 

[trinityau]

Hey Eric, the Eureka Gold was and is an excellent unit for gold. I used one for many years and found pounds with it. It does have a learning curve though and for some people that takes a bit. I never had any coil problems with a Eureka. To me it is how you take care of your unit. I do not think it is any more susceptible to a coil going bad than any other unit. The three frequencies are nice but I never used any but the 60. The thing is that there are newer detectors out there now that do far better. I have been using the GB Pro and it is an excellent unit, not only for gold but coins and relics. The GB Pro will find the same tiny pieces that the GBII will find. The discrimination cannot be beat I dont think. If you go the Arizona Gold Prospectors Forum and sign up you can go to all my most recent posts many of which are about the GB Pro. It is excellent for following black sands also. There is an on going battle between the GBII and the GB Pro as to which is best. I prefer the GB Pro myself and many of my friends have changed over from Eurekas, GBII's, Lobos, Whites, you name it the Pro is an outstanding unit. Like I said , read all the posts on the detecting forums and you can make a better decision. The three forums I am talking about are the one mentioned above along with the Nuggetshooter Forum and the Nuggethunting Forum. These three forums have members that have been detecting for gold for many many moons. You will find lots of info there on any detector. I used my GB Pro this year a lot to hit hot areas in the bedrock before sniping, these are covered in my articles in the California Mining Journal and in my posts on the the mentioned forums. Hope this helps, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[nuggy]

As an ex Eureka owner; I would recommend The Gold Bug Pro. Nuggy

 

[trinityau]

Hello Eric, Here are a few of my thoughts, you may like some and you may not like some.


From what I have read it seems like it is pretty much between it and the GBII, but I dont want to deal with Fishers customer service issues so the GBII is not on my list.

I read about what happened with a member here a while back and I have to tell you that there is not a company out there that has not had a few problems with customer service. Besides Garrett I dont think any one else has been around as long and kept a quality detector available to the mining community. The Fisher GBII has been around for over sixteen years I think without any changes. There has to be a reason for that. As far as I am concerned Fisher has always gone overboard for it's customers. The customer service department has to know that there is a problem. I would never send a unit back to the company to be told by a technician that there is nothing wrong with it. If that was to happen I would be talking to Customer Service after that and not the technican. I take my detecting very seriously and I want the best equipment that I can have, the best that is on the market.


As far as being waterproof, the Minelab is not.
What are the best gold coils out there that are waterproof? Most of my searching is in less than 3' of water.
Is there any way to easily waterproof the entire unit?

There are only a few coils on the market for a Eureka Gold. For the use that you are intending you need a waterproof detector that has a very good discrimination and is also very sensitive. You also want a unit that has a small coil. I have not seen any way of waterproofing an entire unit without voiding the warranty. Unless a coil is made for water I would not use it. Think about this, a piece of electronics that creates heat inside itself that you are going to immerse in a cold mountain stream, what do you think is going to happen inside that coil. That is why waterproof coils are specially made. There might be some tech get on here and say I am wrong and that is okay. This kind of runs along the line of leaving your detector outside overnight by the truck, hot or cold, wet or dry. I spend a lot of money on my equipment and it sleeps with me when I am on a trip. Would you take your stereo or TV, that cost less than many detectors, and leave them outside till you need them again?Also, I do know about Kellyco and their $1050 sale price and it comes with a butt load more items with it, should I cash in, buy from Kellyco and get it new and all the new items?
Minelab Eureka Gold Metal Detector For Sale - Kellyco Metal Detectors

If you are looking at buying from KellyCo then you are really going to get an eye opener on customer service. A bit about all the "extras". There is virtually nothing that you will be able to use while out detecting. You need to get out with someone who detects and see exactly what you need and do not need.

I know they have coil problems too, which is another reason why I am testing it out.

I have never heard of a problem with the stock coil which comes with the Eureka Gold. I will also tell you that a few hours with a detector is not going to tell you anything unless you are very familiar with all the gold units that are out there and have been detecting for a few years.


I can also upgrade to an underwater metal detector (the viper hybrid trident) for $164 dollars more and those things bring around $350 on ebay after checking the sold section so it seems like a good deal.

If you want an underwater detector then you need to be willing to spend lots of bucks and Minelab is where you will be heading. There are a few other companies that make good underwater detectors but you are still going to be paying. As far as I am concerned these detectors are not going to meet your goals in the use that you intend. After narrowing down all the VLF's you are going to come down to a very few that will work for you. You need a very good discrimination, you need to be waterproof, you need to be very sensitve. You also need to be lightweight, you need to have a rugged build and the batteries need to be light and go on for ever. These are the reasons I use Fisher products, they work and they work well. You my friend have a decision as to whether you want to use the best equipment for the mission or something of lesser quality because you think you may get bad service. I am not making excuses for what happened to Kuger's friend but I think I would have handled it a bit differently. Again, experience with detectors can make a difference. If you have a detector then you should know everything about that detector and there should be no question in your mind if you have to send it in.

These are just my opinions and I am sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes. And by the way I am not affiliated with Fisher in no way I just like the product. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[nuggetshooter323]

Here's something else to think about; you can get a GB Pro or a Lobo Super Traq plus a Tesoro Tiger Shark for the same price as a Minelab Excaliber II. Also, the price of that EG is only a few hundred less than the above mentioned combination and the warranty for Minelab is only three years, while the Tesoro's are lifetime for the buyer. I'm not really sure what the Fisher warranty is, but it's probably better than the Minelab. The Tiger Shark is well known as a nugget machine on land as well as water, and much higher quality than anything that comes out of China.

 

[maipenrai]

Thanks Trinityau, for your very good report. Im not a gold hunter yet, but I will keep in mind your points about what type of machine I need.

323, The Excal is not a gold machine, so this doesnt even have to be considered.

I think when considering a detector, the service part should be one of the lesser concerns, not because it isnt important, but that everyone has their own stories, and sometimes, not quite true. Minelab is supposed to be one of the worst for service, but I had very fast service from them, considering international shipping also. Once a company gets some bad PR, then everyone wants to chime in with their own stories.

If you want a detector that you dont have to worry about service, just get a shovel, they are almost service free.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

I've seen the excal II used for gold nuggets, and it works very well. But the Tesoro Tiger Shark works as good or better, and is less than half the price. Service is a huge concern, because I'm not buying from any company that can't backup their product. Everything mechanical or electrical will break, it's just a matter of when.

Thanks Trinityau, for your very good report. Im not a gold hunter yet, but I will keep in mind your points about what type of machine I need.

323, The Excal is not a gold machine, so this doesnt even have to be considered.

I think when considering a detector, the service part should be one of the lesser concerns, not because it isnt important, but that everyone has their own stories, and sometimes, not quite true. Minelab is supposed to be one of the worst for service, but I had very fast service from them, considering international shipping also. Once a company gets some bad PR, then everyone wants to chime in with their own stories.

If you want a detector that you dont have to worry about service, just get a shovel, they are almost service free.

 

[NeoTokyo]

Thansk for all the great replies everyone, you all have really helped to give me some insight on what I should be picking up.
Thanks to Ray I think I am going to change my standing on the Gold Bug.

I never did meet up to test out that Eureka Gold, he changed his mind and said he wants $1000 firm on it and showing him what it retailed for at KellyCo did not change his mind so I wont bother with him.
It works out best this way though.

As for the pinpointer or viper from Kellyco, I just wanted something for my wife and my oldest daughter till I could get another quality detector for them.

Jason, thanks for the info, I will call around first before picking anything up.

Ray, if someone could make me look past what I have read about their customer service it would be you.
I trust what you have to say fully, Chip over at the Miners Cache said I would be not so bright to ignore what you have to teach.


Nuggetshooter, thanks for all the info, I never heard about Tesoro till I came to these forums, these seem like a great quality detector.
How do they stack up against the GBII?

Maipenrai, true, bad reviews spread 10x more than good ones.

Thanks again everyone, you have helped a million.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

I don't have a GB II, but I know that it will find smaller gold than the LST. But, because of the operating frequency of 17.8Khz of the LST, it should find small gold deeper than the GB II at 71Khz. The higher the freq the smaller the gold, but more shallow. That's why 14-20Khz is considered optimal, it's a good compromise.

 

[trinityau]

Hello all, I am not a techician but I know how my detectors work in the field. All this talk about a higher or lower frequency means absolutely nothing to me. The unit I use for a clean-up VLF is a GB Pro, very low freq. I use to use a GBII, very high freq. As far as I am concerned the GB Pro will detect tiny pieces of gold just as good as the GBII, at times better. It may have some bearing as to what part of the country you are in. Here in Redding, Ca my GB Pro will pick up sub-grain pieces that sometimes take 10 or 12 pieces to make a grain. My GBII will do the same. Those are pretty tiny pieces. With the advent of new micro-processors this is what has evolved.On the other end of the spectrum I have found one gram nuggets and larger at a foot or so. These new chips it seems to me are helping some detectors overcome the high ground sound also allowing me to hear fainter signals. I really dont think low or high even has an argument anymore or should even need be considered in buying a VLF for gold. One should buy a unit on it's merit's. Does it do the job or not? I know everyone wants to break everything down and rediscover the wheel on their own but I really think that there is plenty of info on all the units to make a good decision. Myself, I would not purchase a detector that I have not tried first, and I don't mean for a minutes. It takes me a few days to come up with my opinion of a gold unit unless something just slaps me in the face, and I have been detecting for gold since the BFO's came out, and that was many many years ago. I hope this helps someone, these are my opinions. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[Jason in Enid]

I trinity is partially correct. The physics can't be changed; frequency matters. However, the newest updates in signal processing and ground rejection have done a lot to make tiny gold much more detectable by a wider range of gold machines.

 

[trinityau]

"However, the newest updates in signal processing and ground rejection have done a lot to make tiny gold much more detectable by a wider range of gold machines."

This contradicts what you said "The physics can't be changed; frequency matters."

For anyone that is learning to prospect/detect for gold, that person needs the best unit out there. Detecting for coins is a far throw from detecting for gold. There are so many differences that books are written on both subjects individually. When it comes down to detecting for small, tiny gold it becomes an even harder task. Many of the gold VLF's that are currently on the market will hear grainers and some sub-grainers that are sitting on a flat surface.

However, when it comes to bread and butter there are only a few really good units for sub-grain and below. I have found sub-grain with the Eureka Gold, GBII, GB Pro, all the Whites V-Sat series, and Tesoro's along with a few others that are no longer around. These units run the gamit of frequencies so again I would buy a unit based on its performance by individuals that use that particular unit almost everyday.

Again, with the influx of units being built with this new micro-processor technology, that really work better, why would I care about frequency?

All I am trying to do is cut that learning curve a bit with hard earned experience for people wanting to get into detecting/prospecting for gold. I am not alone on this as all you have to do is ask what works, who is buying what, and are they finding gold? In almost all mining shops across the West you are going to see the same units coming up and they are the low/high VLF's of the day, the ones that consistently hear tiny gold irregardless of frequency. I know many will say so what, I dont want to hear/dig those tiny signals (the same faint signal that could lead you to a drywashing, sluicing, or detecting bonanza. The same faint signal that can lead you to that piece of ore that is going to guide you to a jackpot.) I have done this many times over the years and it is partially because I use equipment that works in my area, the best equipment and I don't care what frequency it is. These are just my humble opinions after detecting for gold at almost forty years now. Wow, time sure flies, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS


Here are a few pictures of gold that was found with a low frequency VLF unit. All of these same pieces could have been detected with a high frequency VLF unit except for the fact that I could not balance those units on the same ground. Why would I try and use my GBII and just get a headache along with no gold instead of grabbing my GB Pro and detecting with ease and be able to hear these targets? The lower frequency units are already making it easier to detect tiny gold in highly mineralized ground. These new chips also allow for discrimination to work alot better.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

Part of electronic prospecting is interpetation, so you can say nugget hunting is part art and part science. That means that what each individual hears through their headphones and see's with their eye's is subject to interpetation through their accumulated experience. Also, it depends how well that person can put together visual as well as audio evidence to determine whether they actually heard a "zip" or just chatter. Some people, no matter how much experience they accumulate cannot put together the various elements as well as others. That's alright though, experience will always help, and prospectors can always get better. That's why we practice. So, no matter how good signal processing and ground rejection get, some people will always be better than others at interpetation of the signals.

 

[trinityau]

I will definitely go along with that statement nuggetshooter, I will even go one step further and reccomend that anyone wishing to get into detecting should get a simple hearing test. I have seen so many people over the years find out to late that they cannot hear as good as they thought. Even with tone control that is quite common on most new detectors there are just some sounds that some people cannot hear. A simple hearing test will let you know your tone and decibel ratings. This also goes for headphones. Depending on your individual hearing you may not need a $200.00 set of headphones, as the $20.00 set may work fine. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS