What To Buy?

[Fortunato]

Hi,

I''m somewhat experienced and have owned metal detectors on and off for 20 years, mostly Whites.  I am done with relics and coins (except gold).  I want to strictly prospect mines, stream beds, tailing's, etc. for gold.  I do not care about #19 lead shot size nuggets.  I want larger.  I live in California and will detect in CA and western states.

My wife is new and I will be purchasing her a Fisher Gold Bug Pro for, general searching as well as beach etc.  I have the dilemma of weather to purchase the...

Whites MXT All Pro

Whites TDI-SL or

Fisher Gold Bug ll

I'm leaning towards TDI-Sl for gold and prospecting.

 

Any comments or help and guideline on the subject?

Thanks, Doug

[Nevada Brian]

Fortunato, if your looking for large gold nuggets then purchase a detector that will see the most ground at one time.  Im not referring to coil size, but how deep your detector will penetrate in the ground.  A PI in my opinion will see the most ground and will handle the mineralization out west.  I too hunt in CA and have seen all three of these machines in action.  What I like about the MXT is versatility.  Tailings contain gold and relics, so why not detect both while your there.  You can hunt can dumps and camps one minute and the next, back to gold hunting.  The TDI whether it be the Pro or SL does a good job but can be a little noisy in highly mineralized ground from my experience but will see the most ground.  The GB is a VLF with a frequency of 71, mineralization will make this machine a bit noisy until you learn how to adjust, but you should go home with gold almost every time.  It can find the smallest flakes of gold at depth and the quartz and gold rocks hiding in those rock piles.

If your only looking at these three machines, I vote for the TDI as I want to detect the most ground, with the MXT as my second choice for versatility.  I know you said your done with coins and relics but its nice to change things up.

My setup is a Minelab 5000 and a GMT.

Hope this helps, Brian.

 

[Fortunato]

Hi Brian,

Thanks so much.  Helps a lot and I really appreciate your opinion.  Have a good one!

Doug

[Steve Herschbach]

You say you will have a Gold Bug Pro at your disposal. That being the case you have a very good VLF. I like my machines to be as far apart in capability as possible instead of having two machines that are nearly the same. So I agree a PI would be a good idea.

[auminesweeper]

If you are going to look at the SL please remember that the battery life is limited and we have a fix for that also if you run it on Energizer Ultra lithium disposable batteries you will give it a great power boost and be able to run it for over 12 hours and more.

Heres the cheaper solution right here on the forum and if you don't like messing with stuff you can have the one I have just to get you up and running, But I would wait and see what the Guys recommend first.

 http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/786-batteries-and-the-tdi-sl/

good luck,, john