Looking for advice on pan size

Campngolf

Full Member
Feb 4, 2014
167
256
NorCal
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I'm a newbie and looking for any and all advice on what size/type of pan I should get to start my new hobby. I've learned of the years to spend a little more to get good stuff and things will be more successful and enjoyable. I've seen pans with big riffles, little riffles, no riffles, many riffles, multiple size riffles. About the only kind of riffles I haven't seen are automatic gold-finding.

Thanks,

Camp
 

Upvote 0
I was recommended to get the garret pans my plan is the 14 inch and the smaller clean up pan. Im in the same boat and completely new to gold mining. I will tell you this i doubt either of us will find a better group of guys to help us. If you look through some of my threads you get alot of info they have all gave me. Welcome and good luck buddy
 

I started with a low priced metal Ewing pan.
Then I went with a Garrett 14 inch.
The a Garrett 7 inch for sampling.
Now have another 14 inch Garrett super sluice.
Also have a Keene 14 inch super pan.
Have another Black pan, 14 inch, that has no name and has triangle shaped ridges.
The ones I like best are the Garretts, and the keene. Large ridges(riffles).
I have been told that blue is the best color. Do not have that color yet.
 

Hi campngolf and welcome to the net. I prefer the Garret because of the edge in the bottom of the pan. It is another trap for the gold to settle in. I have heard arguments for the blue pans, green pans, black pans and even red pans. I prefer green or black but actually any color other than yellow or white will allow you to see the gold just fine. It is mostly a personal preferance.Metal pans are the hardest to learn but once you do you can use a frypan and keep gold. My first pan was a steel pan. I sure love my garret now. Just for Sh*ts and giggles I will use my old steel pan.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector
 

The choice is yours but make sure the size of the pan is such that it fits your hand(s) well. If you start spending hours panning you're going to be finding muscles you didn't know about. It's even worse if the pan is too large fro your grip. Other than that... The Garret pans are hard to beat. Like B.H. I like the little ledge on the bottom as another trap for the gold. I've got several pans but for the most part I only use the garret. The others are relegated to holding samples or transporting materials from the crusher to the garret pan at my work station.
 

I'm a big fan of the Proline "Professional". I like the Garret SuperSluice too but it's awfully heavy. I would say it's not for newbies but great for a confident experienced Panner in non area where there is no flow for a sluice or where they are banned.
 

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