Panman
Jr. Member
- Sep 8, 2013
- 45
- 29
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Looking at a small high banker. The Keene Mini Max and the Gold Hog mini are about the same price. Looking for performance and versatility . Comments ...
Keene Mini Max vs Gold Hog mini
- Thread starter Panman
- Start date
AU79 Prospector
Jr. Member
What type of material are you trying to run? dry? creek bed? clay rich?
arizau
Silver Member
- May 2, 2014
- 2,518
- 3,947
- Detector(s) used
- Beach High Banker, Sweep Jig, Whippet Dry Washer, Lobo ST, 1/2 width 2 tray Gold Cube, numerous pans, rocker box, and home made fluid bed and stream sluices.
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
No experience but for versatility the keene can be used two ways, as a high banker or as a stream/hand sluice if you get the flare. The gold hog is a dedicated high banker so single purpose. If you already have a sluice or if you are planning on buying one for future use in more remote locations then maybe the gold hog is the better choice largely because original purpose equipment (gold hog is highly touted for it's high bankers) usually works better than retrofit which, in essence, is what the keene is.
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I have kenee minimax since summer and it came with one 2200 gph pump. I only use it as a highbanker, what can i say about:
1 really fast and easy to install, less than 10 min
2 it took me 4 months to find the right pitch - 15 test runs - (now working at 14,1 degree)
3 deals great with the fine/flake gold
4 i can deal arround 500 kg/ of material per hour easy,
5 i changed the 2200 gph pump to 3000 gph ( i like more water flow)
I am pleased with minimax, before that i worked with goldhog matts, They work good too
Hope this info helps a bit
1 really fast and easy to install, less than 10 min
2 it took me 4 months to find the right pitch - 15 test runs - (now working at 14,1 degree)
3 deals great with the fine/flake gold
4 i can deal arround 500 kg/ of material per hour easy,
5 i changed the 2200 gph pump to 3000 gph ( i like more water flow)
I am pleased with minimax, before that i worked with goldhog matts, They work good too
Hope this info helps a bit
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I have had the gold hog mini for over a year it has been amazing. before i used a stream sluice that had carpet matting i have really liked the gold hog mats they are way easier to clean out then carpet. I also like that its small enough to carry in easily but i can still run allot of dirt. I recently got the extension and i am converting it to a dredge i haven't gotten a chance to use it yet but the extension is easy to put on and take off so if i want to run more dirt i can and it doesn't make it to much harder to carry in. hope this helps.
I started out with a Royal folding sluice that I put Gold Hog mats in. Last summer I bought a Gold Hog Piglet & attached the Royal as an extension. Very happy with it. It will handle all I can put in it & catches flour gold.
Hamfist
Sr. Member
- Aug 1, 2014
- 264
- 432
- Detector(s) used
- SDC2300, Whippet, 151, GH, shovel, brain
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
The amount of water they use correlates to the amount of material they are capable of processing. The Keene comes with a 2200 GPH pump. The Hog doesn’t come with a pump but seems happiest with about 4000 GPH.
I went with the Piglet and used it all last season. Even without the extension, it handles a shovel load every 10 seconds. That’s over a cubic yard per hour. It’s definitely a higher capacity piece of equipment and has been proven to have very high capture rates. Cleanouts are faster and easier with the Piglet as well. Adding the extension makes it a beast. There’s no way that the Keene will hang with the Piglet in terms of yardage, but you do need to factor in the cost of a pump if you don’t already own one. Unless you go gas-powered, the big 3700 GPH electric bilge pump required for the Piglet uses lots of amperage and requires a big deep cycle battery.
They are fairly different machines. It just depends on what you want them to do. If budget is a concern and you have no other equipment, the Keene might be the best choice. If you want to run as much dirt as you can shovel and have been doing this for a while, the Gold Hog may work better for you.
It’s also worth noting the advertising used for these pieces of equipment by their respective companies. Reading descriptions on the websites for each, the Mini Max looks more like it’s aimed at someone who is new to prospecting.
I went with the Piglet and used it all last season. Even without the extension, it handles a shovel load every 10 seconds. That’s over a cubic yard per hour. It’s definitely a higher capacity piece of equipment and has been proven to have very high capture rates. Cleanouts are faster and easier with the Piglet as well. Adding the extension makes it a beast. There’s no way that the Keene will hang with the Piglet in terms of yardage, but you do need to factor in the cost of a pump if you don’t already own one. Unless you go gas-powered, the big 3700 GPH electric bilge pump required for the Piglet uses lots of amperage and requires a big deep cycle battery.
They are fairly different machines. It just depends on what you want them to do. If budget is a concern and you have no other equipment, the Keene might be the best choice. If you want to run as much dirt as you can shovel and have been doing this for a while, the Gold Hog may work better for you.
It’s also worth noting the advertising used for these pieces of equipment by their respective companies. Reading descriptions on the websites for each, the Mini Max looks more like it’s aimed at someone who is new to prospecting.
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Hamfist
Sr. Member
- Aug 1, 2014
- 264
- 432
- Detector(s) used
- SDC2300, Whippet, 151, GH, shovel, brain
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
It depends on how long you plan to run and how far you have to carry it. Get the biggest one you can if you can drive to where you will dig. You can get a 100 AH deep cycle battery and run for nearly three hours but it weighs 64 lbs.
I have a small Optima D51, which is a yellow top designed for a Toyota Prius. It’s 26 lbs so I can hike it into my spot, but it only has a 38 amp hour capacity. That’s good for about 45 minutes of run time with enough reserve voltage to keep the battery healthy. It will go longer but even deep cycle batteries shouldn’t be completely discharged. I have the extension for my Piglet which allows you to nearly double the feed rate so it will eat as much as I can shovel for those 45 minutes. A cubic yard is around 320 rounded shovel scoops (40 five gal buckets) and I can get past that mark if I have stockpiled dirt ahead of time, but it’s real work, especially after digging it out of the ground.
Hamfist
Sr. Member
- Aug 1, 2014
- 264
- 432
- Detector(s) used
- SDC2300, Whippet, 151, GH, shovel, brain
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
No problem! Out of curiosity, I just checked the the price on that Optima on Amazon. The price has gone up $90 since I bought mine just over a year ago! Maybe we should start mining lead! Not sure I'd be willing to pay $240 for it now. That's half the price of a Honda WX15 pump.
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utah mason
Hero Member
I run the goldhog piglet and have been extremely happy with it. I didn't get the extension, I run my A-51 equipped with goldhog mats on the end. I don't find a lot of gold in it, most is captured in the top. The piglet has Great capture rates, great weight and made very well. I run a Johnson 4000 gph bildge pump. It was kind of spendy but a good pump. Seaflo makes a 4700 gph one for 99.00 seems like a good price not sure the quality of it though. The battery is heavier than the sluice and the rest of the gear I pack in, but if you were using a gas pump it would also be very heavy plus you have the gas to pack as well, which isn't light. The plus side of running battery power is it's quiet and probably cheaper in the long run to operate.
I have a couple of videos of my set up on my prospecting journal.
I have a couple of videos of my set up on my prospecting journal.
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utah mason
Hero Member
So pretty much similar weight. If the pump weighs 20lbs and you want to run 4 hours (which my smaller battery will easily do) 4 gallons of gas @ 6.3lbs each =25.2lbs
so appox 45 lbs.
I wonder what the cost would be to charge the battery, vs the cost of the four gallons of gas.
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