Call me Crazy but...

[Tom Emery]

See if you can follow my logic. I am an absolute beginner. I want to find gold. No matter what detector I get there will be a learning curve.
Now, the way I figure it is all the easy gold has been taken. All the pretty hard to find gold has been taken also. All that's left is the deep, hard to find gold, or the very small pieces.
I already bought a Goldbug 2 used. I was going to pick up a Gold Monster 1000 used. I would spend right at the thousand dollar mark, but the I got thinking.
Why not buy the best gold detector money can buy, the Minelab gpz 7000.
Yes it is complicated. Yes it is expensive, BUT... it will find the the hard to find gold better than anything else.
So, that's what I did. I figure if I can hit it hard and get competent with it by using it 8 hours a day for about 3 months in an area that is known for gold...it will pay for itself and start making me money.
So anybody want to weigh in to question my sanity?

 

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[releventchair]

No need to question your sanity if gold is your goal.
You're looking to find it with a detector and don't expect to trip over nuggets on top of the ground. Annd. You are not starting with the cheapest detector.
Seems realistic to me.

Other than learning your detector as you already plan on doing , (hopefully with a gold sample or two to test yourself on) getting your detector over gold after getting familiar with your detector ; and being where you expect gold to be based on logic is the only thing left.

 

[GoDeep]

I hope you live in Australia and have adequate funds to support long back country trips.

Good luck!

 

[Tom Emery]

No need to question your sanity if gold is your goal.
You're looking to find it with a detector and don't expect to trip over nuggets on top of the ground. Annd. You are not starting with the cheapest detector.
Seems realistic to me.

Other than learning your detector as you already plan on doing , (hopefully with a gold sample or two to test yourself on) getting your detector over gold after getting familiar with your detector ; and being where you expect gold to be based on logic is the only thing left.

Thanks for the encouragement. I have a tendency to go straight at something. It has served me well so far.

 

[Tom Emery]

I hope you live in Australia and have adequate funds to support long back country trips.

Good luck!

What happened to Alaska? Have they run out of gold.... oh damn.

 

[Ocean7]

well a new
Minelab GPX 7000 is $7,999.00
Minelab GPX 5000 is $3,999.00
I'd probably gone middle of the road with the '5000' and then if I find that finding gold nuggets
is not as easy as I thought - I saved myself $4000. Even that is no small sum to put out if you
find buzzard's pay. It does not sound like a wise choice to me if you are an absolute beginner.

 

[Tom Emery]

well a new
Minelab GPX 7000 is $7,999.00
Minelab GPX 5000 is $3,999.00
I'd probably gone middle of the road with the '5000' and then if I find that finding gold nuggets
is not as easy as I thought - I saved myself $4000. Even that is no small sum to put out if you
find buzzard's pay. It does not sound like a wise choice to me if you are an absolute beginner.

Hello Ocean 7
I taught myself to ski. Been doing it for 60 years. Taught myself to surf. Been doing it for 46 years. Taught myself to sail. Been doing it for 44 years including 6 years cruising the planet. Taught myself mechanics, electrics, carpentry, drywall, plumbing, roofing...well you get the picture. I'm getting too old for all that. I'm pretty confident I can teach myself to successfully prospect for gold. A man once told me, "you're only as good as your tools". Recently I've been researching every publication I can find from the early.1800's on for the area I plan to investigate. I'm studying mineralogy and geology. I don't plan on being a novice for long. Then again, I could be nuts.

 

[Ocean7]

well I admire your passion for gold. Here's to your first nugget worth more than your GPZ 7000.
Note this guy was using same in Oz (australia). Good luck with it!

 

[cudamark]

There's also the argument to get the best tool for the job at hand, not just what is perceived to be best overall. Depending on where you're going to search for gold, and the size and depth of the gold, you may be better off using the new GPX6000 instead of the GPZ7000. From the folks I've been in contact with, it's much lighter and easier to use, especially in salt mineralized ground, will find tinier pieces of gold, and goes almost as deep on bigger nuggets. If all the nuggets you expect to find are 2 feet underground, by all means, get the 7K, but, otherwise I would get the 6K. JMO

 

[crashbandicoot]

Do what you want,I sincerely hope you find what you seek.They said the airplane would never fly too,and night football was a pipe dream.If you never try you,ll never know.Just my take. No you,re not insane.

 

[CreakyDigger]

Hello Ocean 7
I taught myself to ski. Been doing it for 60 years. Taught myself to surf. Been doing it for 46 years. Taught myself to sail. Been doing it for 44 years including 6 years cruising the planet. Taught myself mechanics, electrics, carpentry, drywall, plumbing, roofing...well you get the picture. I'm getting too old for all that. I'm pretty confident I can teach myself to successfully prospect for gold. A man once told me, "you're only as good as your tools". Recently I've been researching every publication I can find from the early.1800's on for the area I plan to investigate. I'm studying mineralogy and geology. I don't plan on being a novice for long. Then again, I could be nuts.

You could be nuts, but you'll have fun being nuts!

 

[Tom Emery]

There's also the argument to get the best tool for the job at hand, not just what is perceived to be best overall. Depending on where you're going to search for gold, and the size and depth of the gold, you may be better off using the new GPX6000 instead of the GPZ7000. From the folks I've been in contact with, it's much lighter and easier to use, especially in salt mineralized ground, will find tinier pieces of gold, and goes almost as deep on bigger nuggets. If all the nuggets you expect to find are 2 feet underground, by all means, get the 7K, but, otherwise I would get the 6K. JMO

Hey..don't rain on my parade ha ha
I bought a Gold Bug 2. It was my first detector. I have used it once. I found some junk, but I got a big charge out of it. Im investing in my future. I did not buy this thing retail. I won't tell you what I paid for it, but even if I use it then resell it I will be okay.
That has been been my modis operandi. I bought my first boat (old wood powerboat with no engines) to live on because I didn't want to pay off somebody's mortgage. Lived on it 6 years including 2 years in a field in Pacific Beach, California. Saved a ton of money and it helped jump start my marine related businesses.

 

[Tom Emery]

You could be nuts, but you'll have fun being nuts!

I had a boat once. Old wood powerboat with no engines. I put it up on 55 gallon drums and lived on it there for 2 years. Got kicked out. The bottom planks had worpped badly. I got out the fiberglass and the grinder.
They called me crazy. It will never float. Two years later after dropping it into San Diego Bay a guy bought it. I used the money to buy my first sailboat and eventually (years and boats later) sail around the planet.
Ain't life a hoot!!!

 

[Tom Emery]

There's also the argument to get the best tool for the job at hand, not just what is perceived to be best overall. Depending on where you're going to search for gold, and the size and depth of the gold, you may be better off using the new GPX6000 instead of the GPZ7000. From the folks I've been in contact with, it's much lighter and easier to use, especially in salt mineralized ground, will find tinier pieces of gold, and goes almost as deep on bigger nuggets. If all the nuggets you expect to find are 2 feet underground, by all means, get the 7K, but, otherwise I would get the 6K. JMO

Thanks Cudamark,
I better get out there before they invent one with 5 ft. penetration. God only knows what they would charge for that.

 

[Tom Emery]

Do what you want,I sincerely hope you find what you seek.They said the airplane would never fly too,and night football was a pipe dream.If you never try you,ll never know.Just my take. No you,re not insane.

Thanks Crashbandicoot,
My original plan was to get a gold detector and fart around with it. The more I read and the more videos I watched I became convinced that the guys out there pounding the desert all day for little or nothing .... Well, sorry guys but to me, that's insane. It will be interesting to see if my thinking holds up in the real world. I love a challenge. Always have, always will.

 

[Tom Emery]

I had a boat once. Old wood powerboat with no engines. I put it up on 55 gallon drums and lived on it there for 2 years. Got kicked out. The bottom planks had worpped badly. I got out the fiberglass and the grinder.
They called me crazy. It will never float. Two years later after dropping it into San Diego Bay a guy bought it. I used the money to buy my first sailboat and eventually (years and boats later) sail around the planet.
Ain't life a hoot!!!

I want to clear something up. I reread that reply and it seems like it took me 2 years to glass the bottom of that boat. If I remember correctly, it was less than a month. They gave me 30 days to get it out of that field, so that's what I did.

 

[Tom Emery]

well I admire your passion for gold. Here's to your first nugget worth more than your GPZ 7000.
Note this guy was using same in Oz (australia). Good luck with it!

Yeah buddy!!! That's the kind of cra,y I can live with.

 

[Ocean7]

and at least you are using a detector/company with a proven track record for finding gold!

 

[Tom Emery]

and at least you are using a detector/company with a proven track record for finding gold!

So I'm watching this video of a guy in Australia digging DEEP. It must have been 18-22". So he pulls out a 20 gram flat nugget. He was downright pissed off. Because it was flat, it gave off a signal like it was a 3 or 4 ounce nugget. How much gold to you have to get to be upset about a 2/3 ounce nugget? It's no wonder Minelab is located in Australia.

 

[Tom Emery]

There's also the argument to get the best tool for the job at hand, not just what is perceived to be best overall. Depending on where you're going to search for gold, and the size and depth of the gold, you may be better off using the new GPX6000 instead of the GPZ7000. From the folks I've been in contact with, it's much lighter and easier to use, especially in salt mineralized ground, will find tinier pieces of gold, and goes almost as deep on bigger nuggets. If all the nuggets you expect to find are 2 feet underground, by all means, get the 7K, but, otherwise I would get the 6K. JMO

Did a little research on the 6000. Everything I researched said the 6000 was built to replace the 5000. The 7000 is a stand alone dedicated top of the line gold machine. Yes, the 6000 is good. If you could buy a 7000 for the price of a 6000, would you do it?