Beginner Gold Detector?

[Hard Prospector]

SDC2300;  simple to use, excellent small gold detector and actually a pretty good beach machine for gold jewelry.

[wltdwiz]

gold monster 1000

[IronDigger]

 IMHO  2000 bucks these days will buy you a good used Minelab 4500, many coil options ( aftermarket ) with the  12x8 Evolution coil your  getting a sdc 2300,  and larger to mid size coils you have great depth. If you go with a vlf or sdc 2300 soon  you will wish you had the Minelab 4500  Power. 

[Gerry in Idaho]

On 10/3/2021 at 12:34 PM, TnRebel said:

What is a good detector $2000 or less to begin gold prospecting?

Buddy that is an open end question and you have some great answers.

1st of all, as a dealer who knows gold detectors and also knows gold, I'd like to ask a few questions before I give advice as your answers will direct us to the right unit.  .

Where do you plan on doing the majority of your gold hunting?  Desert virgin ground needing best depth or dredge tailing piles where good discrimination and lighter/faster detector is most important.

If you are wanting to go PI, learn it's weaknesses as well so you don't spend the time searching the wrong kind of gold (many people do and even I did for a number of years, to many years).

You mentioned already owning a GB-2, so if you have not had success with it, could mean the manual GB is not suited for you and if you only go a few times, maybe a detector that is most User Friendly, like the Minelab Gold Monster 1000 or if you want to grow into it, a Garrett 24K or Minelab Equinox 800.

As for $2000 and if you want a PI, yes a used GP-3000 or above can be had.  The GPX series 4000/4500 can be picked up at that price, but their learning curve is not as easy as the older 3000/3500.  I have a used 3000 and a used 5000 if you want to chat more, just call me.

Not knowing your preferred areas to detect, the kind of gold are are after and or how much time you plan on devoting to this Prospecting hobby really does make it hard for me to give a 1 detector answer.

Good luck either way and if you want to chat in detail, just ring me (Gerry's Detectors) as I'm a slow typer.

[Hobo]

On 10/3/2021 at 11:34 AM, TnRebel said:

What is a good detector $2000 or less to begin gold prospecting?

A gold pan and a book on geology