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Best Detector For Up To 6in And Not Very Small Nuggets


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So if the GM1000 with its limited coil choice can't be desensitized to ignore small targets, does that mean there is a sweetspot of lower frequency (even possibly down into the coin detector frequencies less than 10 kHz) combined with larger coil size?

 

 

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22 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

So if the GM1000 with its limited coil choice can't be desensitized to ignore small targets, does that mean there is a sweetspot of lower frequency (even possibly down into the coin detector frequencies less than 10 kHz) combined with larger coil size?

 

 

For what Lachie seems to be wanting to do (only detect larger 1 gram sized and up gold) he could use the Gold Monster in its iron discrimination mode on lower sensitivity/Auto 1. 

He could also do some testing and put some 1 gram lead targets in the ground at different depths and see how the GM 1000 does on different settings.

Another option would be to use a 15 to 20 kHz single frequency detector or something like the Equinox 600. If the Vanquish 440 would ground balance in his area it would be a good choice for 1 gram and bigger gold that is 6" or less deep. But he might have to reject -9 and -8 just to get it to quiet down and some of the deeper gold targets could register as -9 or -8 depending on how bad the mineralization is. 

Personally, here in the US I have found 4 nuggets in the last 2 years that would fall into his search parameters ............doesn't happen very often for me anyway. That sized gold here is already been picked up or is deeper/harder to detect and get to. I have found plenty of .1 to .5 gram gold in that depth range but have also dug pounds of other targets in the process.

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8 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Personally, here in the US I have found 4 nuggets in the last 2 years that would fall into his search parameters ............doesn't happen very often for me anyway. That sized gold here is already been picked up or is deeper/harder to detect and get to.

That's something else I was wondering about but felt it was better for an experienced detectorist like you to bring up than I.

But I do understand not wanting to stress joints, etc. and if that means only very occasionally finding a keeper while preserving one's health, that may be the best solution for some individuals.

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He'll be missing out on plenty of fun if he only wants 1+ grammers.  Dug 8 more tiny little bits today that might weigh up to 1/3 gram?  Used the "skunk buster" (gold monster) and the SDC got zippo today.  I'd much rather go home with something rather than leaving the bits in the ground....  Bigger stuff will show itself when it's ready too.  Until then keep banging out the smalls....jmo

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The Equinox basically sorts targets by size. Play around and find the VDI cutoff for 1 grammars, leave a little slop, block the lower VDI numbers. Guessing maybe block 4 and lower? In the UK I was hunting Celtic coins of several grams, and blocked 6 and lower to cull the tiny targets.

The Vanquish is about the same performance as Equinox, without a ground balance, but that is less critical with multi iq, use the smallest coil. It’s a better gold machine than might be imagined in average to lower mineral ground. Same idea as above. Since you seem unconcerned about finding gold, just looking for a larger nugget, this will work as well as anything, which is to say, probably not all that great.

I only want to find silver dollars when I coin hunt, and can set up for that, but I’d not generally recommend that for a coin hunter. What you are suggesting is no different.

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I agree with Oneguy, the monster is your detector of choice. It sounds to me that with your age and lack of being able to dig deeper or lack of wanting to dig deeper, you are severely limiting your ability to find gold. Take the gold you are able to find, even if they are tinky dinks. Non of us live in a perfect world when it comes to gold bearing ground. Better to change your thought process in regards to choice ground and what the ground gives up and be happy it gives anything up at all. I have a friend who is 87 now and he is still gets out there swinging his Gpz7000, Gpx5000 and Equinox800, he is happy with any size gold he gets because he is happy he can even get out there to still do what he loves. There is no magic detector out there still be be bought to do what you want to do that you don't have already.

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9 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The Equinox basically sorts targets by size. Play around and find the VDI cutoff for 1 grammars, leave a little slop, block the lower VDI numbers. Guessing maybe block 4 and lower? In the UK I was hunting Celtic coins of several grams, and blocked 6 and lower to cull the tiny targets.

I have successfully used this technique in areas just too loaded with shotgun pellets, blocking out numbers below 5 and was able to weed out some gold without wasting my day digging pellets and frustration with endless target signals.  If I was digging every pellet I may have found some tiny bits of gold in among them with similar ID's, but perhaps I would have missed these bigger bits as my time was wasted digging all the pellets, one of the bits was over a gram.   This is partly why I still find VLF's very good as a detector to use for prospecting in my hunting areas, sometimes it's just not viable to use an all metal detector and the ability to notch out targets is invaluable for my sanity and the ability to notch out hot rock's ID numbers is also something I really like.

It's worth giving the Vanquish a go for 1 gram nugget detecting as Steve suggested, it's not as sensitive to small stuff as the Gold Monster which is what you're wanting and you can set a discrimination pattern to block out the targets you don't want to find.  If it handles your ground it should easily get 1 gram nuggets at 6 inches and below.

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I confirm Steev's experience, and also Simon's experience ... in a similar situation, I applied discrimination to Equinox up to level 10 ... because the targets  the  size 1/1.... weighed around 5 grams / 14-18 VDI / ...

 Higher set Discrimination ... will severely limit the digging of unwanted small targets ../small non-ferrous metals and aluminum foil / .. without losing the depth of detection on the required objects ... because you do not have to take away from the sensitivity of the detector ...

the only reservation can be on terrain ...heavily infested with large iron ../VDI 15-20/

In the field, with a heavy load of iron ... I also use a VLF detectors/ my Whites,Rutus and AKA/-with an adjustable Mix Mode as an alternative ... because it greatly facilitates the rapid audio identification of all big ferous targets that are undesirable for me ... and the use of discrimination will also allow you to quickly restrict more  others signal ..

 And the efficiency of such detection is high ....

well set ..Etrac ... is also one of the alternatives...

Today, medium and top class detectors, when set correctly, make it possible to detect 1Gram gold targets relatively well even at a depth of 15 cm / 6 "even in relatively heavily mineralized terrain ...

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