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Hello From Canada! Best Budget Gold Detector Options


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Hello from Canada!

Long time lurker here from Canada reading up on many many pages on here (and others) on detectors and needed some advice/user experiences that people have had (and thank you in advance as i appreciate any reply taking the time to do so!).

This would be a first time detector for me and ideally i would like to spend around $400usd and can maybe stretch it to $600-800usd if i wait, although i'd really like ideally something in the $400 range.

My primary use would be for small tiny gold nuggets in my area (~0.1g-~1/2g) mainly hunting placer gold in rivers/riverbeds, and some relic/coin hunting on the side if possible with coil swaps.

 

A couple of detectors that made my short list:

-Bounty Hunter Time Ranger (non pro) ~$300usd (Pros: comes with 8-inch search coil and 4-inch Gold Nugget coil   Cons: Operating frequency 6.6 kHz) Seems like it can get the job done and used for both gold nuggets and coin/relics, price hard to beat, only downside is the 6.6 khz on smaller nuggets i think.

-Minelab Vanquish 440 ~$300usd (Pros: Multi IQ Frequency 5-40khz   Cons: Not specifically designed for nugget hunting, no small 4-5" coils) Also seems like it could get the job done with the v8 coil although more geared towards coin/relic, still with possibly playing with sensitivity and no discrimination could be a viable option and was thinking about this one heavily.

-Fisher Gold Bug 2 ~700usd (Pros: 71khz frequency   Cons: Specifically designed for gold nugget hunting, high price, not multi versatile as not many coils) On the higher end of the budget with price, not really versatile in the sense that i can only really use it for nugget hunting, on the other hand excels at nugget hunting but that's all.

-Minelab Gold Monster 1000 ~700usd (Pros: 45khz frequency  Cons: Pretty much the same as the Gold Bug 2) Again high end of the budget, same as gold bug 2 except lower khz but easier to use.

-Minelab Explorer 2 ~300usd used! (Pros: 1.5khz-100khz, multiple coils  Cons: Discontinued, Not designed for nugget hunting) I found a user Minelab Explorer 2 that comes with a carbon fiber shaft, 10" coil, 7" coil, 2 battery packs! I think for the price it's a steal! I also read that although general consensus is that it can't do gold nuggets, however a couple people had tweaked the settings and were still able to pick up nuggets that were as small as 2grain (0.1gram) with small coils!

 

Please let me know what you guys think would be a good fit, as well as any others that you can think off, and again thank you in advance for reading this and replying!

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3 minutes ago, phrunt said:

The best place to start is

A few notes on your selection.

A 6.6kHz Time Ranger isn't a good choice for small nuggets, the new Time Ranger Pro is more capable, of even better a Fisher F19 as it has the better coil for prospecting.  Both can be used for coins also.

Vanquish lacks manual ground balance meaning if you detect in mineralised ground where gold often is you may encounter issues, it is capable of small gold but due to the ground balance maybe an issue.  Time Ranger Pro is a better choice at the cheaper end, Gold Monster is a far better choice overall if you just want to use it for gold.

Gold Bug 2, tried and tested, can't go wrong, harder for a new user to learn, Gold Monster is VERY easy to use, so more likely to have success quicker.  Not good for coin/relic hunting at all.

Explorer 2 would be a pretty good coin detector for you, not recommended for nugget hunting.

Gold Monster, best choice for small nuggets, especially seeing its so easy to use.  Good for professional and amateur users.

And last but not least you forgot the obvious choice, Equinox 600 or 800.

You mentioned searching in rivers, Equinox is waterproof.  Equinox 600 and 800 even with the stock 11" coil will find gold as small as the Land Ranger Pro/F19, most likely smaller, with the accessory coil they'll equal the Gold Monster on tiny nuggets, we are talking 0.00X of  gram.

Equinox 800 is better than the 600 due to it's extra features, wireless headphones and it has gold specific modes.  600 can still use used for gold but not quite as good overall.

The Equinox is not only one of the best gold nugget vlf''s it's also one of the best coin machines on the market.  I think you would benefit saving a bit longer, then not out growing your detector quickly and wanting a better one.

Thank you so much for your reply and insight!

I will take a hard look at both the Time Ranger Pro and the Equinox line up!

Thanks again to both Mxt Sniper and Phrunt for your replies!

 

 

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2 hours ago, speedman2049 said:

My primary use would be for small tiny gold nuggets in my area (~0.1g-~1/2g) mainly hunting placer gold in rivers/riverbeds, and some relic/coin hunting on the side if possible with coil swaps.

Welcome to the forum, speedman2049!  You've gotten some good advice so far and Phrunt's explanations are quite good.  I will add a couple things:

1) you mention 'coil swaps'.  Do you have added budget to buy more coils?  If not (now or if not until later) then you shoud get a detector whose coil best fits your needs/wishes.

2) If you can go over budget by $50 then the Fisher F19 should get consideration.  It is the same detector as the Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro except you can buy it with the closed 5"x10" coil which will be better for nugget hunting and is still a good performer for coin, relic, and jewerly hunting.  (One of the threads Phrunt linked to might already have addressed this.)

3) If you can go over budget by $250 then that puts you in range of the Minelab Equinox 600 which Steve Herschbach has shown is a quite capable small, even tiny gold detector.  It does come with the open 11" coil (unfortunately none of the three Eqx coils is closed :sad:) which probably isn't the first choice for small gold, but Phrunt has tested it and said on multiple occasions it's still very good at that.  (The 6" coil which retails for about $180 USd will be somewhat more sensitive to the tiny gold.)

4) I always point out that when budget becomes a constraint, the used market is worth considering.  Sometimes the warranty will still have time left (but make sure it is transferrable -- in general Fisher, Bounty Hunter, and Teknetics are not).  Most of the time (in my experience, anyway) warranties aren't needed.  It's certainly a tradeoff, though.

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26 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Welcome to the forum, speedman2049!  You've gotten some good advice so far and Phrunt's explanations are quite good.  I will add a couple things:

1) you mention 'coil swaps'.  Do you have added budget to buy more coils?  If not (now or if not until later) then you shoud get a detector whose coil best fits your needs/wishes.

2) If you can go over budget by $50 then the Fisher F19 should get consideration.  It is the same detector as the Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro except you can buy it with the closed 5"x10" coil which will be better for nugget hunting and is still a good performer for coin, relic, and jewerly hunting.  (One of the threads Phrunt linked to might already have addressed this.)

3) If you can go over budget by $250 then that puts you in range of the Minelab Equinox 600 which Steve Herschbach has shown is a quite capable small, even tiny gold detector.  It does come with the open 11" coil (unfortunately none of the three Eqx coils is closed :sad:) which probably isn't the first choice for small gold, but Phrunt has tested it and said on multiple occasions it's still very good at that.  (The 6" coil which retails for about $180 USd will be somewhat more sensitive to the tiny gold.)

4) I always point out that when budget becomes a constraint, the used market is worth considering.  Sometimes the warranty will still have time left (but make sure it is transferrable -- in general Fisher, Bounty Hunter, and Teknetics are not).  Most of the time (in my experience, anyway) warranties aren't needed.  It's certainly a tradeoff, though.

Hey there, thanks for the reply!

 

Ya Phrunt has given me some good info there as well as you and also Mxt Sniper as he and i are having a nice conversation going back and forth over private messaging! He's been giving me a lot of nice info and tips!

 

One that i was looking hard at was the Vanquish 440 as it uses the same multi IQ frequencies (5-40khz) and looks to be a dumbed down, less optioned and cheaper quality built Equnox. Unfortunately as Phrunt said, there is no manual ground balance and also there are only 3 coils smallest of which is a 8" coil.

I was thinking about the potential of using it in non discrimination all metal mode maybe dig all targets (since it's a river area in the middle of nowhere) and correlate any potential nugget finds to the ID# coming on the screen and over time get a feel with it.

Still the issues on coils and no ground balance are issues.

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28 minutes ago, phrunt said:

The Vanquish v8 coil is not an issue, perfect for small gold. I am sure many wish that coil was available for the Equinox, I'm one of them 🙂 

The big issue is the lack of ground balance, for me it doesn't matter as I'm in mild soil, but if you are in mineralised soils you would benefit from it, it may not work well at all where as a detector with an ability to ground balance will.  For this reason the Equinox 600 would be better, and the 800 of course better again.  Hunting on bedrock in a creek or river it might well be perfectly fine but it's not water proof or even resistant where as the Equinox is.  The F19 might be the better pick over the Vanquish for the gold due to the ground balance, for coins I'd go the Vanquish.

Vanquish 540 Pro Pack is a good deal though, I've got one.

The Equinox wins as it's pretty good at everything.

Hey Phrunt,

Thanks for the reply!

Ya i was originally really looking at the Vanquish 440 for the multi frequencies that are the same on the Equinox, as a general all around detector that could be used for gold nuggets and some coin/relics, as there is a huge price gap here for both in Canada. The Vanquish 440 going for $370cnd and the Equinox 600 for $860cnd and the Equinox 800 for $1200cnd!

It's looking more and more that it might be iffy going with the Vanquish (as i don't know how mineralized the soil is in my area) and the better choice (although more than double the cost) would be a Equinox.

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5 minutes ago, phrunt said:

The F19 is a good option too, while not waterproof the coil is.   Here is it for sale for $401 USD I believe

https://www.cabelas.com/product/Fisher-F-Camo-Metal-Detector/1937215.uts?slotId=0

For gold I'd pick that over the Vanquish 440.

The Equinox is obviously better again but price is obviously higher.

What are your thoughts on a used Minelab Explorer 2?

I have one around me here for sale with 2 coils and it to is multi frequency (1.5 - 100kHz).

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Hi SM2049

Since the Early 70's I have updated my Gold Detectors with new Minelab units roughly every 3 or 4 years,  Ditto SWMBO, coin machines similar as I wanted to get a coin detector that  could be used on the beach/parks etc and in mineralised ground  in the gold fields, I'm over 65 and think that the  GPZ will see me out along with the Nox 800. Recently the Nox found some very old coins in trashy mineralised ground in the Victoria OZ goldfields.

To me if you purchase a detector you have mentioned above sooner or later you will consider/purchase a Nox800 and this route may be more costly, but less painfull, and you may also wonder if you had purchased a Nox would you be finding more gold.

I appreciate your situation as years ago, I met a female new to detecting who purchased a Minelab 4500 Gold detector ( $4400Aud) as her first detector something that I do not think I would do.

Below is a GM and Nox Comparison, I do not know these operators or the location in Victoria but to me the Nox seems better value.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITSYb4Tts_8

 

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Phrunt,

As always you have covered everything I would have suggested, and explained some of the differences between the units.

Speedman is lucky to have the information that you have suggested to him.

For me I would have to go with the Vanquish and the spare coils that go with it, because of its capabilities. Even though it is not waterproof it is still a great machine.

Good luck on your decision that you are about to make and let us know the outcome on what you get please.

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