Ollygold

I have had the 3500, 4000 and currently the 4500 which I have had for a long time now. I'm 69 now so hopefully the lighter weight will stil keep me activley enjoying being out there, as such I'm not so concerned that it won't measure up to some of the other minelab machines.

Hey Bootscrape i'm from southern vic. Just on the topic of coils/depth, being a ex avionics and controls techie we need to remember that our detectors are fundamentaly transievers, that is they transmit a rf signal then recieve the bounce back. This means that another factor that influences depth is how much power is avaliable to be transmitted. The electronics and batteries of our detectors are relatively small which will limit available power if you want the battery to last most of the day, also they are sublet to the Inverse Square Law of Physics as well there are restrictions and limits placed by the Radio and Communications Act. I see depth as being controlled by power transmitted, coil size and construction, frequency of the transmitted signal and the type of soil mineralisation. At the end of the what seems to really count is what works for you, experience and actually walking over the stuff. Sorry for the techie stuff.

Got my Algoforce the other day, only tried it out in the backyard at the moment. Won't be able to get to the goldfields for a few weeks yet. Backyard testing with some tiny pieces (about .25 gram) and some speciems with only a trace of gold in them and all seems well. Coils used were 12" evo round , 14 x 9 nugget finder and a old 14" round white spoked nugget finder. I intend to use the Algo after the mornings detect with the 4500 and the evo coils. Then use the Algo in the afternoon to give my aching back and shoulder some respite. (the joys of getting old). Thats the plan anyway I'll see how that pans out.

Thanks to all for the welcome. Pete

Hi lobokai, Southern Victoria.

Hi All, Mostly been a Lurker on various forums over the years but on browsing this forum it seems to be a good place to be. About myself I have been chasing the gold since the early 80's both detecting and dredging, and as most of us older fellows have seen some pretty good days chasing the colour. Nowadays with the colour harder to get I seem to be enjoying the scenery much more. I have used a lot of different machines over the years starting of with a Whites Coinmaster, through most of the Garrets to Minelab. However I have been using the 4500 since the day it came out and just cannot part with it. Anyway enough of all that and I hope I can contribute in some way. Cheers Pete.