Nugget hunting newbie help for detector

[midas777gold]

Am new to nugget hunting. Will be hunting in streams and rivers of Vermont. Also will be using the detector for general coin hunting. Been considering a Minelab Eureka, but they say the stock coil is NOT waterproof. What's a good recommendation? Thanks.

 

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[El Cooter]

Doesnt the Xterra 70 work on gold

Cooter

 

[thompy]

Xt 70, MXT, T-2, F 75 any of these would be ideal, the first 2 a little more specifically tailored to gold all very sensitive and good general purpose use machines

 

[Willy]

Having used both an MXT and XT70 for prospecting (and have found a fair bit of gold), I'd say that either of them would make for a decent nugget detector, though I I think that the XT 70 might be a bit better in many respects. ..Willy.

 

[extractor]

mxt or gold bug2. I have seen a fair amount of prospecters have these in there aresonial

 

[Willy]

The MXT with the 5x10" DD will get down to abt. 1/3 grain running at max sensitivity and hypersat in bad ground. The XT 70 should find stuff a bit smaller with the HF DD coil. I'd say that the XT 70 has a bit of a depth advantage though. ..Willy.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

In the under $1000 range, I would say the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq or the Fisher Gold Bug 2.
I don't own a Gold Bug 2, but it's a really good machine. It's made for gold and it operates at 60 Khz. Which means, the higher the freq. the smaller the gold you will find. To compare, the MXT operates at 14 Khz, not bad, but just about any metal detector will find what an MXT will find. Most professional nugget hunters use the Gold bug 2 if they arn't using a Minelab. Another good thing about the Gold Bug 2 is the coil selection, 6", 10", and 14".
A little less expensive than the Gold Bug 2 is the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq. I can speak from experience with this one. It a three position soil condition switch; normal, black sand, and alkalie. It has three modes; full range discrimination, all metal, pin point. It has an auto tracking ground balance in all metal mode, and fixed ground balance in discriminate.

 

[Willy]

Yup, the Goldbug 2 will find tiny specks..and will basically shut down over bad ground. The Minelab PI's are popular, overpriced, and are all but unusable over ground containing a multitude of high-iron hotrocks (Champion Crk, Tulameen, Iron Mtn, Lodestone Mtn). Most detectors will NOT find what an MXT will; I've done many a comparison test with different detectors (with the same targets) and they have borne this out. There are also detectors that can equal the MXT in AIR TESTS, but I've found very few (more like none) nuggets in the air. Being able to find a 1/3 grain nugget in hot ground (84-86 on the VDI) while running at maximum sensitivity is beyond 'most' detectors. On the other hand, many a detector can make for a fine nugget machine, even though not designed as such. A lot depends on the specific situation. For instance, a stock Garrett Infinium PI will blow away a stock Minelab GPX 4000.. when nuggethunting in near neck deep water (mountain river). On the other hand, the 'positions' are reversed when hunting in the Az. desert. A GMT or GB2 will leave an MXT in the dust when chasing specks over bedrock.. but it's a whole different story when hunting over nasty ground in hotrock/iron hell. Context, context me boy! ...Willy.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

So it sounds like it depends where your going to hunt nuggets. Here in Colorado and the southwest, like I said, everybody runs a Gold Bug 2 or a Minelab, they work perfect here. Tone only machines are the way to go for deep nuggets, you dig much more and you find much more. Numbers on a screen are ok if the gold is on the surface, but beyond several inches the display is useless. With my Lobo Super Traq I find really, really small gold in hot ground.

 

[Willy]

Yup, I've found that visual ID, while nice to look at, loses a lot of it's accuracy as the ground gets nastier. Really ticks me off to read some of the ad hype about 'knocking out the iron while leaving the gold'.. what a bunch of kife. I had an LST a number of years back.. didn't give it a fair shake and am kinda leery about getting another due to the preset GB in disc. I wish that the ground over here was as nice as down south, would make detector choices easier. Nice thing about the challenging environment here, on the other hand, is that there's still plenty of gold to be found. ..Willy.

 

[Keppy]

In the under $1000 range, I would say the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq or the Fisher Gold Bug 2.
I don't own a Gold Bug 2, but it's a really good machine. It's made for gold and it operates at 60 Khz. Which means, the higher the freq. the smaller the gold you will find. To compare, the MXT operates at 14 Khz, not bad, but just about any metal detector will find what an MXT will find. Most professional nugget hunters use the Gold bug 2 if they arn't using a Minelab. Another good thing about the Gold Bug 2 is the coil selection, 6", 10", and 14".
A little less expensive than the Gold Bug 2 is the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq. I can speak from experience with this one. It a three position soil condition switch; normal, black sand, and alkalie. It has three modes; full range discrimination, all metal, pin point. It has an auto tracking ground balance in all metal mode, and fixed ground balance in discriminate.

Nuggetshooter,.. You gave me some info. on pinpointers the viba probe... Now i see you use the ...Tesoro LOBO Super Trac.... and like it............. So what do you think of the... Minelab Eureka Gold... for prospecting in the south west.....I know you like the ..LST.. but just what you might Know about the..Eureka.. ==Jim==

 

[nuggetshooter323]

In the under $1000 range, I would say the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq or the Fisher Gold Bug 2.
I don't own a Gold Bug 2, but it's a really good machine. It's made for gold and it operates at 60 Khz. Which means, the higher the freq. the smaller the gold you will find. To compare, the MXT operates at 14 Khz, not bad, but just about any metal detector will find what an MXT will find. Most professional nugget hunters use the Gold bug 2 if they arn't using a Minelab. Another good thing about the Gold Bug 2 is the coil selection, 6", 10", and 14".
A little less expensive than the Gold Bug 2 is the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq. I can speak from experience with this one. It a three position soil condition switch; normal, black sand, and alkalie. It has three modes; full range discrimination, all metal, pin point. It has an auto tracking ground balance in all metal mode, and fixed ground balance in discriminate.

Nuggetshooter,.. You gave me some info. on pinpointers the viba probe... Now i see you use the ...Tesoro LOBO Super Trac.... and like it............. So what do you think of the... Minelab Eureka Gold... for prospecting in the south west.....I know you like the ..LST.. but just what you might Know about the..Eureka.. ==Jim==

Jim,

I'm sorry, but I don't know anybody that uses the Eureka Gold, and I have never seen one being used in the gold fields. I would go for the tried and true machines, Tesoro LST, Whites GMT, MXT, DFX, Fisher Gold Bug 2, Minelab 2100 v.2, 2200 v.2. If you like Minelab, and your looking for a dedicated gold finder, get at least the 2200 v.2. I don't think that you would be sorry.

 

[El Cooter]

GMT I repeat GMT with auto ground ballance cant be beat.. The P.I. detectors go deep but the GMT will pick up all the little stuff and keep you happy. The big stuff too.. I use the little 4by 6 coil most of the time and smoked the Gold Bug and he went and bought a GMT...



Cooter