Which Detector for Xmas?

[abishiai]

I'm pretty new to this game and am looking at getting myself a metal detector for Xmas. My detecting goals are about 85% weighted towards gold nuggets and 15% towards relics. Would someone who is knowledgeable about the various machines available please answer some questions I've got:

1. Can a metal detector see a concentration of gold flakes/dust or do they see just nuggets?

2. What makes the difference between the detectors that are listed for $5-600 and those in the $3-4,000 range?

3. How much depends on the coil you are using? Will a cheap dector with a good coil do better than an expensive detictor with a bad coil?

4. Which is the best detector money can buy for finding gold nuggets?

5. Which detector is the best value for your money?

Thanks in advance. I look forward to reading the responses.

Cheer,

Kevin

 

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[neilo]

Minelab are the leaders in gold hunting machines the new GQ series of machines are top of the range but you ill have match the right coils for the ground conditions the cost of some of the coils can be expensive look at Coiltek for coils to suit.These machines will pick up small gold but not down to flake size. For tiny gold go for the Minelab Eureka gold machine this runs on three frquencies and the highest 60 khz will pick up that tiny gold. The machine also has a discriminator and can be used for coin and relic hunting on the lowest frequency . I have used one of these machines and have no hesitation in recommending them for their versatility most of my nuggets i found with this machine.
go to the Minelab site, www.minelab.com.au hope i have helped
Neilo

 

[abishiai]

Thanks for the info. Your post reminded me about another question I have--what about the frequencies?

Do you use lower frequencies for detecting coins and higher frequencies for gold? Or is it lower freqs. for large objects and smaller ones for small objects?

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[neilo]

The lower the frequency the deeper the detector goes but it will miss out on tiny targets eg small gold. The higher the frequency the better for tiny gold but at the cost of depth. Also the smaller the coil the smaller the gold is it will pick up but once again the small coil will not go a deep as a big coil.But once again the big coil will go deeper but will not pick up small targets. Dont expect to pick up small gold at depth, you wont be able to no matter what detector you use. If you are hunting tiny gold flakes even with the high frequency machines they will only be picked up in the top inch of soil.What i
do when onto small gold is to detect an area about 6 foot square then scrape off the top inch of soil and go over it again and do this repeatedly until the gold runs out its surprising how much small gold is missed by other detectorists who dont do this. Usually if you find one small piece and scrape the area around it you will find otherpieces close by.I can remember getting one tiny piece scraping around it and walking away with 24 small nuggets.You must also run your coil at ground level very slowly and listen very carefully even a flicker in the threshold noise can be and indication of a small peice of gold
I hope i have helped
Seeya Neilo

 

[abishiai]

That's great information. Now a follow-up question...

Are there "combo" coils that the detector can swtich between?

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[neilo]

On the big gp series of gold detectors there is a switchable coil which can be changed from a double d coil to a monocoil this does this by turning off one side of the double d configuration. the mono coils are more sensitive and will pick up smaller targets than the d double d but are more prone to noise in highly mineralised ground.
are you getting confused seeya neilo