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Another " Which Detector " Question From A Newbie....


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Hi Y'all!  Great forum!

Sorry if this has already been covered a zillion times, but.....

I'm self-employed and am fortunate enough to be able to live and travel in an RV full-time.  I live on a barrier island on the east coast of Florida during the winter and travel in the summer/fall/spring.  My main places are Florida, Tennessee, and Montana (home of most awesome grandchild on earth).  I love to metal detect.  I don't have much room to store those 10 different detectors that I would love to own (RV).  I have room for 2 or 3 at the most (if I want to have clothes and shoes too), and am loathe to part with my antique DFX, which has been my buddy for 10 years.  Even though it's great for dirt-diggin' in Tennessee...and not much else. I've tried it on the beach here and it doesn't seem to like that wet salt sand very much. It positively seems to hate that mineralized dirt in Montana too.  Maybe I didn't have it set up right. I've been researching for weeks and here is what I've almost decided on.  If you guys could tell me if I'm on the right track, I'd be very grateful!

1. Garrett Infinium LS- Double duty for the beach/salt water hunting + a low-cost PI machine to find me tons (LOL) of 1+ gram nuggets in Montana.  I usually dig everything at the beach and targets of any kind are few and far between in the places we camp in Montana. (Yeah, I kinda know where to look-presently working on a ghost town/mining camp book).  I'd also kinda like to try sniping in some of those 38 degree creeks and rivers (certified diver/have wetsuit/will travel).  Hubby thinks I'm nuts.

2.  Gold Bug 2- Maybe I could go back over those tailing piles in Montana and find those hundreds of -1 gram nuggets that the Infinium will miss.

3.  Keep my friend, the DFX.  Every time I think of selling it, it tosses me a merc or two....no joke.

Thanks, guys!

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 I think you're smart realizing that one detector has to compromise too much to reach a balance between coin & jewelry vs. gold nugget hunting. I would try to get 2 detectors one for nuggets one for coins/jewelry. The Minelab GPX series (4000, 4500, 4800, 5000) can be bought at very reasonable prices used and there are lots of after market accessories for them. There are folks here that are much more qualified to recommend a VLF detector as I mostly nugget hunt. With tons of gold coming to you soon money should be no object.

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Since I still have a DFX myself I can vouch for it as a good detector. Being dual frequency it actually is a decent beach detector, better than the Beach Hunter ID. But also not waterproof.

Then if you can get the SDC 2300 for just one other detector instead of the Infinium and Gold Bug 2. The SDC is as hot as a prospecting PI gets, and in bad ground will do better than a VLF so you get best of both worlds. The SDC is actually waterproof for saltwater use also.

Anyway, I think your DFX and the SDC would be a killer pair.

Oops almost forgot - welcome to the forum!

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Thanks, Steve and Klunker!  Not sure if I can talk Hubby into a $3000 SDC (used on eBay).  Maybe after that ton of gold nuggets magically appears he'll be more reasonable.  :smile:   The ATX would probably be ideal except for that part about weighing in at 7 lbs!  I think it would probably wear me out pretty quick!

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5 hours ago, MontAmmie said:

The ATX would probably be ideal except for that part about weighing in at 7 lbs!  I think it would probably wear me out pretty quick!

First off, welcome MontAmmie.  Second, you don't sound like a 'newbie' to me.  Third, IMO you are wise to take detector weight seriously.  There's a reason Minelab sells a harness for use with its Pulse Induction (PI) units.  Wonder how comfortable that would be on a hot Florida beach....

If I were you, I'd 1) hang onto the DFX.  From all I've read it's still a capable detector and your familiarity with it has value.  Might want to review ground balancing techniques -- Steve uses his in tough ground in Reno.  2) Don't under-rate buying used, for examples: Ebay, DetectorProspector (this site's) 'Recent Classified'. I've read other metal detector forums also have pages for members to buy/sell.  Typically, not counting recent releases, the selling price for good used detectors is about 60% to 67% of new prices.  3) Last but maybe most important: prioritize your expected uses.  For example, you mentioned the Gold Bug 2.  From what I've read (a lot here) that is primarily for very small native gold.  It's possibly the best detector ever made for small/tiny gold (still almost a quarter century after Dave Johnson designed it), but you wouldn't be using it for anything else.

I just got finished with a purchase decision myself.  I made an Excel spreadsheet and compared the features/capabilities, ergonomics, prices, etc. that I wanted for about a dozen candidate models.  I read everything I could find (especially here but also on Treasurenet, Findmall, and Dankowski forums) and watched a bunch of YouTube videos.  Having your priorities crystallized will help you narrow down the finalists.  Pick one and have fun hunting with it!  It's still dark here and I'm getting my gear together to start early and beat the summer heat today.  Next best thing to metal detecting and making a nice find is metal detecting and not finding a damn thing!  I'm an expert at the latter.  :wacko::biggrin:

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Hi MontAmmie

Try to buy a new SDC as the used prices aren't too far from it.The SDC would be a great choice as its easy to use and yet magic on the gold,just try to remember it does like small shot so there is a compromise like everything.The price is very good value when you consider this detector can find some yellow every day with a little practice.

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Hi GB and Deutran.  Nice to meet ya'll!  GB-that spreadsheet idea is awesome.  I think I'll do that too.  Deutran-I really, really like that SDC, but Hubby is not into metal-detecting.  Last summer in Montana I pulled out the DFX near some tailing piles in an old ghost town.  Long story short-It refused to even ground balance, Hubby rolled his eyes and laughed, then he told me all the gold in Montana was gone by 1920 and I was basically wasting my time. Men. His eyes glaze over every time I start talking about mineralized ground, PI machines, hot rocks, etc.  I did get him to agree to a new (to me) metal detector-as long as it's not over $1000 and it rides in MY personal cargo space. Yes, the RV is pretty crowded after we load the ATV.  I think he would be more amendable to the expense of the SDC if I could wave some yellow rocks under his nose and prove to him it can be done. He had no problem whatsoever with a $3800 Nikon-but that's different since it deposits money into his bank account every month!   (His philosophy is that I can spend all the money I want on my "hobbies" -as long as they pay for themselves.) Personally, I think my chances for gold in Montana are pretty good, since most of it hasn't been gone over 1000 times already.  In all of my summers up there I have seen exactly one other person with a metal detector besides myself.  Maybe that's because all the other detectorists found nothing, gave up, and went home? Anyway, I digress. I'm now looking at the Nokta Fors Core.  I could hunt the wet sand with it and it might do ok on the rusty dirt in Montana?  After using the DFX for so long the lack of disc on a PI might shortly cost me what few marbles I have left.

Thanks Ya'll!!!!

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Hi again, Steve!  I'm so tickled to be actually "talking" to you!  About my DFX.  I've basically tried every program I can find, including the "Fox Beach" one.  Coins, silver jewelry, bottle caps and pull-tabs- no problem.  I've never been able to cajole the DFX into finding me some gold.  Maybe our beaches are the problem (Thanks, Brevard County Beach Re-Nourishment Program). The sand is deep and plentiful, even after Hurricane Matthew last fall.  I'm guessing that anything good is sinking to China pretty fast!  Anyway, thanks so much for all your help!

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The DFX is about as good a beach machine as you will get in a VLF, where multifrequency is king. The only other route is to go to PI but I honestly think you overestimate the joys of digging bobby pins a foot deep. The more likely explanation is that It's getting harder to find jewelry on beaches for various reasons.

You clearly like your DFX and I think you would miss it. It really is a decent beach detector, so what you really need is a better nugget detector. The Gold Bug 2 is a classic and if mastered hard to beat. 

It is a tough question really. There are lots of great "do-it-all" detectors on the market but when you try and mix nugget detecting and beach detecting things get complicated. Salt water responds like a weak gold target. So you can get machines that play nice in salt water, or machines hot on small gold nuggets, but you so far can't get both in one detector.

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