I think ive decided!

taternut

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Location
Northern CA
Detector(s) used
Hand sluice, Gold bug pro
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
From what I've gathered whites gmt and gold bug pro are the two best nugget shooting mds In my range can anyone point out some pros and cons between the two? I'm leaning more towards the gmt at the moment. After I get some feedback I think I'm going to order on Monday :D
 

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FWIW, here's my thoughts on the GB Pro after having it out a number of times
now. I am not an experienced nugget shooter, but do have many years of detecting
experience, and IMHO the GB Pro is the most simple machine I've ever had the pleasure
of using.

So far I have spent 99.9% of the time in All Metal mode, as it's simply turn it on and set
Sensitivity to about the 12 O'clock position, and then adjust the threshold to just the
slightest sound, use the Ground Grabber (GG) to balance and you're good to go. Takes
all of 30 seconds, if that. Ground balancing adjustments can be made in a snap with
the GG, and so far I've not been able to improve the GG balancing very much by using
the manual adjustments (+ and -). The GG's a massive time saver, so you're nugget shooting
instead of spending time making constant adjustments.

If you're in real hot ground (heavily mineralized) it may chatter a bit, but dropping the
Sensitivity a little bit usually takes care of that.

I've yet to find a nugget, but that's not the machines fault. I simply need to pass it over a
spot where there's a nugget..lol. I have found very small bits of lead, small shotgun pellets
and also some very small iron bits, so it's very sensitive.

I've never used the GMT, so can't speak to that unit, but from my perspective the GB Pro
is all I need in a VLF nugget machine.
 

taternut - Whatever you decide - please consider buying one from one of
tn_02.gif
's Supporting Vendors.
 

I tried a GMT and it was ok , found small stuff but no gold next mo. i got the GBP and its so light , one battery , and cheaper , I found a one grammer nugget my 1st trip out .
 

The GMT will find the same gold as the GB Pro can, but the GMT will go deeper for sure. H-2 CHARLIE, just about any quality gold detector will find that 1 gram nugget, you just have to put the coil over it. The GMT can be adjusted to give a much better response to small nuggets than the GB Pro, but an expert like Ray can compensate for this with his experience.
The four types of ground balancing, and the VSAT adjustment on the GMT, gives the user a huge advantage. As for ease of use, a first time user can set it up in 2 minutes and be detecting. As you get more proficient, you can change various settings and increase your likelihood of finding gold. The GMT is $150 more, but it has more and better features, and comes with the elliptical coil as a standard feature. I'm not sure about now, but Whites used to include a gold nugget on a card, so you could tune your detector for the ground your hunting. I got one with mine, if they don't anymore, it's a good idea no matter what detector you get, to get several test nuggets on cards or poker chips to tune your detector when you go out.
 

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taternut,
The GB Pro is the only detector I've ever used and I've only had it for 4 months so I'm not nearly an authority on detecting. However, among the many factors involved in choosing a detector, the geology and the occurrence of gold in a given area should be taken into consideration. I have read the geology books, biked the trails and hiked all around our area of Northern California and have found that this area has experienced much erosion, leaving plenty of shallow and exposed bedrock which is great for the GB Pro. On the downside, I am finding that this same erosion has filled gullies, washes and other waterways with auriferous sediments that have ultimately been too deep for me to detect. More experienced detectorists in this forum have suggested that the 10" elliptical coil is more capable for the often deeper and more course gold that occurs in our area and for this reason I'm looking into getting the larger coil. There are many tricks you can learn to find gold with the GB Pro in this landscape, and I have detected some nice pieces. If you decide on the GB Pro, see if you can swap out the 5" coil for the 10" elliptical, even if you have to pay a bit more.
 

Yeah I've talked to a few guys in our area and I actually ordered the gb pro from Arizona outback today. He said it should be here by Friday if not earlier. I've heard a lot about the 10" as well and if I actually get into it as heavily as I have prospecting I'm sure ill get the 10" after a few outings. Especially if I start to understand it ;)
 

taternut,
The GB Pro is the only detector I've ever used and I've only had it for 4 months so I'm not nearly an authority on detecting. However, among the many factors involved in choosing a detector, the geology and the occurrence of gold in a given area should be taken into consideration. I have read the geology books, biked the trails and hiked all around our area of Northern California and have found that this area has experienced much erosion, leaving plenty of shallow and exposed bedrock which is great for the GB Pro. On the downside, I am finding that this same erosion has filled gullies, washes and other waterways with auriferous sediments that have ultimately been too deep for me to detect. More experienced detectorists in this forum have suggested that the 10" elliptical coil is more capable for the often deeper and more course gold that occurs in our area and for this reason I'm looking into getting the larger coil. There are many tricks you can learn to find gold with the GB Pro in this landscape, and I have detected some nice pieces. If you decide on the GB Pro, see if you can swap out the 5" coil for the 10" elliptical, even if you have to pay a bit more.

Carry one of those stiff metal rakes, and use it to rake back layers of those sediment piles. This will get you by until you get the bigger coil.
 

I only have about 220 to 250 to work with and im going to definitly get a garrett ace 250( heard too many good things lol) and amazon has a kit for 250, with garrett headphones and a trowel. The detector is 212$. Are the headphones and trowel worth the extra 40 bucks?
 

Btw not sure if im in the rigt thread for my issue, for i am brand new to the forums :P sorry!
 

Yeah I've talked to a few guys in our area and I actually ordered the gb pro from Arizona outback today. He said it should be here by Friday if not earlier. I've heard a lot about the 10" as well and if I actually get into it as heavily as I have prospecting I'm sure ill get the 10" after a few outings. Especially if I start to understand it ;)

Bought my GB Pro from Chris at AO a while back. The first hour out with it on club claims produce this 1 gram nugget. If your in an area that you can use headphones make sure you get some good phones. They make all the difference at taking away the background noise and allows you to concentrate on what's below the surface. I did not use headphones last week due to the rattlers in the area and high grass, the only thing I brought home was brass. I did have Gaiters on though... As DDigger said its the easiest MD to handle and with its single 9v battery its not a power hog. While using All Metal Mode I prefer to set my Sensitivity to 11 O'clock position, and then adjust the threshold to just a slight buzz.

bananagold.webp GV5.webp
 

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Hate to sound prejudiced but had a gmt before I got my MXT and it was great! Finds the goods real well as that's what it's designed for,period! Good luck and HH......
 

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