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What Detector Would You Get?


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phrunt,

I went and read some about the sdc2300 and it seems to be an awesome machine but like you said it has a fixed coil and Steve also pointed out the dig all downside to PI machines. Which is not a big deal in soft ground but the stuff in Colorado is rocky and super hard where I am at. also after reading a bunch of Steve’s reviews this morning I may have it knocked down to Equinox 800 or XP Deus with HF coil .They both hit well on small gold and I can use them elsewhere if I want. I will read some more about them and hopefully make up my mind. 

 

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My vote would be White's GMT -- it's competitively priced at just over $700 and does everything the Gold Bug 2 does, plus it has automatic ground balancing, rather than manual which is what you must do with the GB2. If you're in moderately to highly mineralized areas this is a key selling point because it's your ground balancing settings that make or break success. If GB2 is in hand it's you who must make those decisions on what the settings are. Whereas White's GMT does it for you.

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All of the detectors you are looking at are great and I believe once you narrow it down based on the best fit you will be happy as you become one with your new toy. I was doing a tiny bit of research preparing to visit my son in Denver and You have lots of areas with interesting history to hunt and at least a few places open to the public with good history for nugget shooting detectable gold up into the mineral belt areas. 

My primary nugget hunting detector (I'm still new at this also) is the gpz and dig it all can be a impossible in trashy areas, where i can dig it all the feeling that I'm not missing much with pi/gpz is reassuring. Also have the Deus with 11" lf and 9" hf coils. For me another consideration for the Deus was the promised two box cache coil that's now become something of a mystery, someday. For gold I've run my Deus alongside the gm1000 both in difficult ground running similar frequencies and my impression testing side by side was they seemed very similar. Another  time I coin hunted against another gm1000 swinging my 11" lf and the Deus in my novice opinion had a clear advantage. I've not had a chance to play with the nox800, seems pretty amazing for the money, I guess it really boils down to the fine points and how much they matter where you want to hunt.

pretty sure you are going to love whatever you get

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1515Art,

I am leaning towards the Deus a little bit over the Equinox and not so much because it is better then the Equinox but more because it has been out longer most bugs are probably worked out. The advantage I see the Equinox having is that it is waterproof with out having to have a case and coils might be cheaper. I read tons of Steve’s reviews today watched a million videos. I am coming to the conclusion that any high end detector is going to suit me well as long as I take the time to learn it. Also I would not mind hearing about some of your research you did. 

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This is one link with some places to begin looking for gold, as you read the history of these places there are lots of stories about the mining camps   that sprung up and people who lived there. I didn't get to do any hunting, but I think the mineral belt starts in the area of central city/Blackhawk where the Casinos are and runs through Breckinridge to snow bird. Google searches about gold prospecting and ghost towns will get you a wealth of info on hunt areas.

http://raregoldnuggets.com/?p=5077

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1515Art,

Thank you for the link That will give me something to read. My days are about as boring as you can get. Currently bobbing in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. 

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Hi 

I also live in Colorado where much of the dirt is highly mineralized and can challenge many vlf detectors both depth wise and in target separation. Most detectors can accurately detect down to about 5 inches effectively IF they can unmask a target that deep from the iron rich soil. I have used three of the detectors on your list: XP Deus, Makro Gold Kruzer/Multi Kruzer and the Equinox 600/800. I also have experience on the Teknetics G2+ (Gold Bug Pro), Makro Gold Racer, Minelab Xterra 705, Garrett ATGold and the Whites MX 7/Sport. I can honestly say that the only detector of those mentioned that has totally impressed me is the Equinox. The Multi Frequency feature of the Equinox is truly a game changer. The 800 can pretty much do it all in experienced hands. It is very good on small gold at depth as mentioned by others  The Deus is also a great detector for Colorado. The rest of the detectors mentioned in this post either suffer from lack of important features or are adversely challenged by the soil conditions. Some of them: the Makros, Teknetics and Whites are too noisy and can overload easily. The Xterra 705 suffers from depth loss in all but prospecting mode and has the weirdest pinpointer I’ve ever used. Just my opinions from at least 20 hours on each detector. 

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On 6/30/2018 at 4:27 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

You can find descriptions off all your likely options including Gold Bug 2 and Goldmaster 24K at:

Steve's Guide To Gold Nugget Detectors

The Equinox 800 and XP Deus are general purpose detector designed for coins, jewelry, relics.... and also gold nuggets.

The Gold Kruzer is more of a nugget hunter that can also be used for jewelry, relics, and coins.

The Gold Monster is pretty much for nugget detecting only.

Gold Monster comes with an extremely useful 5" coil and really does what it is supposed to do.

Regarding what one can find with it, I actually also find small modern coins with it plus what I usually would find with a "relic and coin detector". In trashy areas, looking for e.g. a coin where there is lots of tiny, thin fragments of foil and wire, it can be a bit of a pain finding a good signal among the distractors. Other detectors just do not detect these (too thin, too small). 

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Jeff,

Thank you that was pretty helpful. I a novice with metal detectors so I am learning as much as I can. With the high mineralization would you recommend a PI machine in Colorado over a vlf. Steve had pointed out that if I got a PI I would dig everything which pushed me away but if the vlf will struggle that would be less productive then digging all. The equinox is on the short list with the Deus. So many choices and I hate spending my money on things that don’t perform well so I usually research things to death before I decide. 

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