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What Separates Gold Nugget Detectors From Other Types Of Metal Detectors?


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As you know I have been metal detecting for 30 years. I still consider myself a newbie. However, it is with the same old machine. Back when I purchased my machine we were told it will detect everything, it's a do all machine. I new of prospecting machines, but never knew the difference or seen the demand until I came to this forum. So if you have time, please answer these question. I am going to throw these out as I don't really know how to ask the correct question. What if the difference in a gold machine vs a regular machine? What makes them stand out? I know there is a frequency difference, but what make them stand on when looking for gold? Are they just not tuned for gold?

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Mike,

Steve has made a guide to gold detectors which he updated in May of this year.  That would be a good place to start.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-guides/steve-guide-gold-nugget-detectors/

 

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Here is a personal perspective. I use a GPZ 7000 for nearly all my nugget detecting. However, I do have uses for a VLF type detector. The first is when I get into some really trashy area, like an old camp. The old miners often put the camp right on top of the best ground so they could just walk out the door and get to work. Old hydraulic pits and tailing piles are often thick with deep nails that will have a GPZ owner digging two feet or deeper holes for as long as the back holds out.

A really hot model running at 30 kHz or higher can aid in sniping tiny gold in low mineral ground and gold in quartz specimens. Checking quartz on a mine dump is a good example.

These machines can also make good scouting detectors in very rough terrain, especially when ferrous trash is present. A good example is in logging areas in the Sierra Mountains, where steep terrain and tiny ferrous trash from old logging operations is the norm.

The big problem is in trying to find the machine that handles bad ground and hot rocks in some fashion while still retaining some sort of decent ferrous discrimination. Hot VLF detectors do not like bad ground and hot rocks, and ferrous discrimination gets less reliable as the ground conditions decline.

It is hard to find one detector that balances it all well. For me the Gold Bug 2 is the standard benchmark for performance and the only detector I have used consistently for over 20 years. A couple years ago I started using the Makro Gold Racer more than my Gold Bug 2, but that was really more about my being able to use it around town also because it does have a more extensive feature set making it more useful for general purpose detecting. I would be the first to say that a dedicated unit like the Gold Bug 2 has a slight edge over detectors aimed at more general use. The differences are small but in practice single minded focus on one task does help a detector engineer in the final goal.

Now I have tossed the Gold Monster and Deus V4 elliptical into the mix. The Deus on paper looks great but again it struggles a little due to it really being a coin and relic detector that is trying hard to be a gold nugget detector. It hits targets well enough but so far I am struggling to get clean ferrous/non-ferrous identification on really tiny bits of gold, an area where the Gold Bug 2, Gold Monster, and even Gold Racer seem to have the edge over the Deus. Jury still out there. The Gold Monster is winning some points versus my Gold Bug 2 for handling variable ground efficiently. Jury still out there.

What I will do is continue to use all these detectors for the rest of the year. In the end it is lots of things like feel on my arm, sound to my ear, and even types of batteries used that all come together. Sooner or later I look at the same set of detectors, and since I can only use one at a time, I will get to where there is one I would rather grab then the others. Certain detectors just click and some do not, and it is not always about splitting hairs over performance. They all will find gold. The question comes down to which one I personally like best, and the fun part is somebody else doing exactly the same thing with the same machines could come to a different conclusion. Think of it like you and I both go to Cabelas looking for a good pair of hiking boots. We have the same foot size and general build. Turns out though I like high tops and you like low tops. Both are valid choices. Such is the world of detectors.

The good news for me is that is all a sideshow. Day in and day out under normal circumstances my main gold getter is the GPZ 7000 with 14" coil.

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