Jump to content

A Question For Steve Herschbach From Ecuador


Recommended Posts

Hi steve, i don't know if you remember me, i'am Franck the French living in Ecuador and i asked you for some advise last year (november 2015) about gold detector to prospect gold in rain forest and mountain (Llanganati mountain...), after study the differents possibilities you suggest me, i took a sdc2300, very good detector that allow to find very small nuggest, but i encountered un big problem not expected in rain forest...the trash...i had to dig a huge quantity of metallic trash, result of various centuries of wood exploitation, farming etc so there is plenty of claws, barbed wire, pieces of sardine can, beer caps etc...so much than i expected... it's not possible in that conditions to prospect with pulse induction material, moreover the ground is not so mineralized that i thought (volcanic region but no many hot rocks..) so i have to reconsider my prospecting strategy and change the detector for Gold VLF ... .... here in Ecuador i have the choice in this list of detector :

Garret : AT Gold (1300$) - AT PRO (1300$) - GTI 2500 (with coils 9.5" & 12" and Eagle Eye - 2000$) - GTAx 550 (900$)

Fisher :  Gold BUG PRO (1150$) - F5 (1400$)

Whites : TDi PRO (2300$)

Minelab : XTERRA 705 (GOLD Pack - 1000$)  - Eureka GOLD (900$) - CTX3030 (3000$) - SAFARI (1400$)

Nokta : FORS CORE (2000$) - FORS GOLD (2000$) - Velox One (2000$) - CF77 (with 3 coils c23 c28 c45 - 2000$)

Other : DELTA PULSE 2 (650$) - DETECH SSP 5100 (1750$) ??? do know something about those ones, seem to be  ground Radar more than detectors.....

I read a lot about all those detectors but a never used them so the choice is hard....

Importants things for me :

1 - I will make ONLY Gold Nugget prospection, here there is no coins nor Jewelry so i'am only interested to Gold nugget prospection capabilities of the detector... and i need one that can discriminate very well that huge quantity of metallic trash i encountered !!!! it's so borring to prospect in all metal mode and spent my time digging trash....

2 - I need one that resist hard rain with coil avaible for water, no need of a real underwater detector, just one able to detect banks of lake and river and dry land too

3 - Ground is low to medium mineralized 

Can you suggest me detectors in the list below for various kind of price ???

Thanks,

Franck

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Hello  Franck - yes I remember you!

If all you have used is the SDC 2300 the ground may be more mineralized than you think. The SDC ignores nearly all bad ground, one of its best features. If you use a VLF things may change dramatically.

I spent most of my career detecting in Alaska in the rain. Any good metal detector will work in rainy climates with just minimal care. However, being waterproof is a plus in a rain forest, no doubt about it.

Any VLF gold detector listed at http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-guides/steve-guide-gold-nugget-detectors.htm will do the job and people all have their favorites. My favorites change year to year, so it is not the sort of thing there are firm answers about. To my mind nearly all 13 - 15 kHz detectors are close enough I would use any of them and be happy, and the 19 kHz group has a bit of an edge on the tiny stuff. Rather than go on about it all day though I will offer a couple picks.

The Gold Bug Pro (19 kHz) is one of the most popular VLF nugget detectors ever made and used all over the world. A very safe choice. If waterproof was desirable, the Garrett AT Gold (18 kHz) is a very good alternative, one I might use myself in a very wet environment.

Just my opinion as others will have other ideas, no less valid. There are simply too many good detectors these days and that makes it confusing, but at the same time hard to go wrong. The real difference does lie more with the proficiency of the person using the machine than in the tiny differences between the detectors themselves.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...