Have You Paid For Your Detector?

[fredmason]

Beautiful country and gold...reminds me of the pilbra/nullagine country...

wish I was there 

fred

 

[mn90403]

RDD,

Thanks for adding in the 'extras' from being out.  As we know much of what we do is 'priceless' but what I was trying to get at was the effectiveness of a detector.  It is not possible to make that direct of a connection because years ago you could have paid for any and all detectors if you went to the right places ... often enough.

Have you posted up your meteorite finds on a thread over there in that forum section?  Are they one offs or have you found any fields?

Mitchel

[flakmagnet]

Here's the thing; if you are Red Dirt Digger or Reg or JP who not only have the inclination and the time to get out and detect, they have the know-how and they have the ground where success (i.e. paying off their detectors), is possible.

Don't think most of us are in that situation. There is no way I will ever pay off my detector(s), and that was never the hope. If you try to be economically prudent with buying detectors and hunting for gold, you are in the wrong hobby. What my detector allows me to do is to get out into areas that I would not usually go, to test my skill and luck and try my hand at finding something…it is the hunt that you cannot put a price tag on. 

I am lucky in that I have been able to pay for my detectors mostly with gold I have found. But the majority of the gold I have found comes from about three summers of dredging in the Mother Lode of the Sierra Nevada's in the late 70's, spending 10 hours a day underwater. As a friend once commented it's like voluntarily going to Leavenworth under water (a famous prison where they used to crack rocks all day). At one time I had accumulated about five pounds of gold and at todays prices, because I saved most of it, that has helped pay for most of my detectors. Nowadays I do not have anywhere near that amount of gold, but I do have years of fantastic enjoyment of new places, new experiences and new people. That has been worth everything.

[geof_junk]

My wife and I have paid all our detectors off with Gold but have also paid them off with coins and jewelery from park,schools and sea side. On one lucky holiday trip to a beach in Queensland I got over 50 gold rings and the wife got a share too. But all up, the bad part is the hourly rate was less than a dollar an hour. At least we did not run out of having fun.

[flakmagnet]

33 minutes ago, geof_junk said:

I got over 50 gold rings and the wife got a share too.

Just wow...

[jrbeatty]

I only paid money for my first (GT16000) after that, I traded gold for all my later detectors. 

The only exception was a Garret Infinium. I never found anything with that and quickly traded it for an SD2100. This (attached to Jim Stewart's 36" Bismarck") found an awful lot of big gold.

Haven't bought a detector for years now, mainly testing new QED prototypes for Howard. These always earn their keep very quickly.

[Norvic]

Right back from the RB7 in 79 to the Z, only two gold detectors have not paid for themselves and that is my SDC. Not because it can`t but simply because I got it after the Z, because of the magic of the Z I simply have not used the SDC enough. The other was the XT1800, which was too quickly replaced by SD2100, like the SDC the 1800 didn`t see enough use.

It is not a necessity that my detectors pay the way, it is just my good fortune to live where I do, the thrill of the chase and find is what drives me to spend many 100s of hours each year chasing that heavy stuff. 

[Winterwood]

There has been another way for Minelab (Codan) to assist paying for a detector - if you own their shares.  They're doing pretty good at the moment, I imagine gold hitting a high in AUD and getting close to highs elsewhere is helping with the detector sales.

 

 

[Lanny]

On 1/10/2020 at 4:05 AM, RedDirtDigger said:

I detect for gold alot and have paid off my detectors since the 2100 many times over. My best was the 4500...paid off 40 something times over. Its my backup detector after the Zed which is catching up to the 4500 in times paid off.

While spending time wandering deserts other income opportunities come along, meteorites, gems, ornamental stone deposits. Detectors also lead to taking out leases and paid detecting from mining companies. 
But whether your obsessed like me and many others on this forum or just a hobbyist its great just to get out in the bush/desert with friends or family.

 

Great post, love the pictures.

All the best,

Lanny