Pin Pointer for Gold Prospecting

T

TxGoldDigger

Jr. Member
Feb 17, 2015
22
4
Texas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro, Proline 2.5" combo
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
After scarring a nugget in a tight place, I am considering giving in and getting a pin pointer. There are lots of opinions out there, but mostly from coin hunters. So I am appealing to my gold detecting masters for advice. I have the following considerations:

1. Reliable / good warranty
2. Sensitivity
3. Waterproof as I may hit some cali streams, and or use it to search tailings behind my highbanker
4. Compatible with a minelab...if possible

I have heard good . bad things about
Garrett Carrot, Whites TRX, Makro, Nokta, XP Deus, Minelab and deteknix Xpointer.

Any and all help would be appreciated.
 

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Garrett carrot is only one I'ved used works great on small stuff .Im sure the others work good too
 

My two cents. I have had multiple pinpointers and usually they were freebees when I bought a new detector. For detecting nuggets, you want something that is sensitive to very small gold. The thing to do is take a gold sample with you and test it at the shop before buying. I currently have a Garrett and a Minelab pinpointer that were for coin detecting. The thing is, they will work on nuggets (that are big enough or close enough) and more important on junk (you normally dig more junk than gold). I would not leave home without them. The Minelab is marginally more sensitive. The Garrett is a bit more reliable (sometimes the Minelab falses and has to be powered off/on to reset). In the past, I had a whites and it broke. I also had one of the specialty gold pinpointers and it broke rather quickly and for what I was doing was too sensitive. I have never had an underwater pinpointer and could see the advantages in some situations (like a creek). When you say compatible with a Minelab, it will depend on the model. I typically use a GPX5000 and there can be crosstalk, but that can be tuned out by picking a different frequency. Hope that helps. Good luck.
 

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TxGoldDigger said:
Would you say Pro Pointer, Pro Pointer II or Pro Pointer AT(carrot) ?
Click to expand...

Not sure about Terry, but in my conditions (underwater crevices, etc.), I use the AT.

All the best,

Lanny
 

I picked up a carrot for checking the highbanker rock pile. If it's in the rock pile it's larger than 1/8". While the beach gold is generally 16 mesh and smaller, there's a chance of copper/silver float that could get up to fist sized or larger.
 

TxGoldDigger said:
After scarring a nugget in a tight place, I am considering giving in and getting a pin pointer. There are lots of opinions out there, but mostly from coin hunters. So I am appealing to my gold detecting masters for advice. I have the following considerations:

1. Reliable / good warranty
2. Sensitivity
3. Waterproof as I may hit some cali streams, and or use it to search tailings behind my highbanker
4. Compatible with a minelab...if possible

I have heard good . bad things about
Garrett Carrot, Whites TRX, Makro, Nokta, XP Deus, Minelab and deteknix Xpointer.

Any and all help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I just picked up a Falcon MD-20 Tested it out in the woods yesterday. Made it real easy to locate the fragments of a 'spreading target'. It will discriminate between metal objects and mineralized objects. Sensitivity is the absolute best available. It will detect gold almost too small to see. 5 Year limited warranty once card has been mailed in. Fairly simple and strait forward layout inside. The probe is waterproof, the box is not. I'm going to have to do something about that. Yesterday I just kept it in a ziplock bag when not in use.

I'm very happy with it so far and am confident that it will pay for it's self over time. Wanna know if a vein or outcrop is mineralized? Just probe it!
It detects anything picker sized at a few inches, tiny specks it has to be right on em. Has a long handle option that I plan to modify as kind of a walking stick that I can just poke at suspect rocks and cracks and holes in the creeks.

So that's my vote.
 

The Garrett works good at the highest sensitivity setting, not perfect though, because some of the sub-grain nuggets have to actually touch the end of the probe.. The MD-20 is a little inconvenient and unwieldy with the stiff cord and manual GB, but it won't miss any gold if you have it set-up right. I check first with the Garrett and then use the tried and true handfuls-of-dirt-over-the-coil method.
 

I don't see how you can go wrong with the Makro pp. They come in a package deal with the gold racer which is a dedicated gold machine. Mine is super sensitive and no interference with my gold racer Detector
 

ive had good luck with the nokta pointer. I believe it is the same or similar as the makro pointer. it is very sensitive for tiny tiny gold. you don't even have to touch it. it has a 1-10 sensitivity setting. it is best at 9. on 10 it can get alittle noisy. it is the most sensitive pointer i have ever seen for tiny gold. you could actually use it for sniping underwater in cracks. I have a few videos on my californiagold metal detecting adventures channel on youtube using the nokta pointer. i haven't used it in the water, even though it is waterproof so i can say much there. good luck.
 

Lol haven't heard this nickname before, but my two cents worth, is the Garret Carrot. I don't know if the others are capable of being tuned to the ground your working. But this factor alone makes it reliable for working mineralised ground.
 

I use a pinpointed all the time detecting for gold nuggets and the only one out on the market that is worth a Damon for this task is minelab profound 25. It is the most sensitive for tiny gold nuggets. The Garrett pointer is a toy compared to the minelab.
 

Hello
Any pin pointer is better then nothing. Sounds like all of the above pin pointers work on nuggets.
 

There is no pinpointer that can compete with the Falcon MD-20 for seeing the smallest gold at depth. I've had both the model with the separate probe and then got the model with the probe built into the box which is the way to go. Nice thing about the falcon is I also use it to detect the black sand layer to know if I'm on the paystreak when doing placer mining. Next it's great for checking rocks for gold content for crushing purposes. Can you Pinpointer do all these functions?

 

Seden said:
There is no pinpointer that can compete with the Falcon MD-20 for seeing the smallest gold at depth. I've had both the model with the separate probe and then got the model with the probe built into the box which is the way to go. Nice thing about the falcon is I also use it to detect the black sand layer to know if I'm on the paystreak when doing placer mining. Next it's great for checking rocks for gold content for crushing purposes. Can you Pinpointer do all these functions?
Click to expand...
Just asking if the MD-20 has a good cable for the probe that does not fail like the older MD-10? Yes the MD-20 is hard to beet on smaller gold.
 

Assembler, if you can get the MD-20 with the probe built into the box thereby eliminating the cable issue which is why I ordered one that way. I got tired of the cable problems. Now-no falsing and very reliable. Easy to use.
 

Seden said:
Assembler, if you can get the MD-20 with the probe built into the box thereby eliminating the cable issue which is why I ordered one that way. I got tired of the cable problems. Now-no falsing and very reliable. Easy to use.
Click to expand...
Sounds like both models had issues with the cable. Thanks for the tip.
 

Seden said:
Assembler, if you can get the MD-20 with the probe built into the box thereby eliminating the cable issue which is why I ordered one that way. I got tired of the cable problems. Now-no falsing and very reliable. Easy to use.
Click to expand...
Did not know about the newer units that have the probe with the base box unit. Has anyone put in a plastic box both units?
 

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