The "Prospecting" Forum

What a great read! There is a tonne of information to absorb in that manual. It looks like VLF still has its place in the detecting world. Although there wasn't much emphasis on the New Gold Bug, its was a neutral position taken by the author which is good to see.

http://www.akmining.com/forums/showthread.php/13-Latest-Nugget-Detector-Recommendations-for-Alaska

Try this link, he gives some good info and really likes the MXT. I believe he liked the xterra705 also. Look for the posts from B.T. on the xterra 70/705.
I bought a 705 for coins and will use it for nugget shooting also. I bought it with the 5x10 18.75khz DD coil and have also gotton the 6" 18.75 DD and the 10.5" 7.5khz DD. These coils should hit multiple sizes and types of gold well. The 7.5khz runs contrary to popular freqs for gold but there are guys here who say it does real well in tailing piles and other places for larger nuggets.

I'd go with the MXT or the 705, but I knew I would hunt coins more. From what I have read if you learn either machine they will serve you well. The 705 is lighter that the MXT, but some parts in the 705 are made in Malasia. I do not know where besides the US that whites parts are made.

$450 is a good deal on the MXT.

Jeff

I wonder how small of gold the Xterra 70 will pick up? The gold that I am after will be grain gold, anything in the gram range would be a bonus. I have some ideas now. Where to focus my research, and my focus has narrowed, to the GMZ, Eureka Gold, and MXT. I had some good input from a forum member to purchase a Prism 4 for coin/jewelery. I donlt know anything yet about the Prism 4. So more research!

I forgot the Garrett Scorpian Gold Stinger.

The one thing I forgot to ask you is the size of gold you are going after. Now that you have stated it is grain size, that narrows your options down some more.
For gold that small you need a high frequency machine like the GMZ, GMT, or Eureka. The MXT, TDI, and any other machine that operates under 15 Khz won't pick them up that small in bad ground unless you have the machine tuned perfectly and know what to listen for.

Digger Bob

It is grain size and a gram nugget would be like hitting the mother load. All the gold that I found has been grain size, no larger. I was wondering about that. So the higher frequency detector narrows down the palying field. Makes my decisoin a little easier.

You aren't going to get a PI that will do what you want . So with that said if I could only own one machine and I was mostly looking for coins and such it would be a GTI2500 Garrett. If I was mostly wanting to nuggets shoot 1st would be a "Nevada Bob" Modified MXT with the 10x5 elliptical, but also the Lobo Super Trac could be a good choice.

There is a dealer in Langley B.C. who sells whites.
http://whiteselectronics.com/component/dealer/page/1279.html

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David in G.P Alberta

Hi GH, thanks for the link. As life would have it, I lost my placer claim with all the bed rock that I had planned to hit with a detector. Someone beat me to the punch on Mineral Titles Online. I know who it was that staked it on me. So, alas, I scored a different 1km stretch on the Fraser River, accessible by ATV, Mule or flying lol. I am going to purchase a quad this year instead of a gold detector. Unless of course, my high banker can spit out lots of gold on this claim. My fingers are crossed. Supposed to be platinum in the area so we will see. I have everything that I need to make a good go of it, minus the quad. Managed to find a 125cc quad that will fit in my van and which has a pay load of over 300lbs. Just perfect for me.
I guess that after I get my quad, I will look at buying a detector to tinker with in the parks around my area here!.

Thanks for all the replies to my post!

The MXT WILL pick up sub-grain gold in bad ground. Actually, it might pick up smaller gold than the high frequency detectors in such ground. I was picking up gold down to about 1/3 grain whilst up in the Brooks range.. in ground that, aside from a CZ6a running in salt mode, was only really hunt-able with ML SD2200d's. The white's GM4, Compass AU32, Fisher GB1, Scorpion Gold Stinger detectors that the other guys had were basically unusable. I've also played around on the Coquihalla with a number of detectors and found the MXT to be the 'winner'. ..Willy.

I cant believe no one here mention the Infinium to you. I paid for mine in 3 months with gold nuggets from California. its $1012 at mashdetectors.com

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Garrett GTI 2500, Infinium LS, Ace 250, Scorpion Gold Stinger, AT Gold.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2010 04:25AM by bearkat4160.

Yup, no response about the infinium. This is the first that I have heard about it. Its frustrating that everyone has their own idea on what is best for sub grain gold. I have to wonder if its mroe about the operator then the machine. Again, time will tell. I have yet to make up my mind on what machine to go with. Of course, finances always play the biggest role!


Cheers

Definatly a VLF should be used for sub-grain gold. Infinium is good for .5 gram gold. Which is fairly large compared to a sub-grain nugget. The TDI I think will get down to .3 gram. Other than that both Infinium and the TDI are same in depth on larger targets with their stock coils in comparison.

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Garrett GTI 2500, Infinium LS, Ace 250, Scorpion Gold Stinger, AT Gold.

Basically if you want one machine that does both small nuggets and coins I would buy an MXT or an Xterra70-705. I have both and they are both excellent detectors. The advantage of the MXT is you do not have to have more than one coil to optimize the machine for either pursuit. I also have an Ace 250 that I use to quickly hunt school yards and tot lots for coins. There is nothing wrong with the ACE but it will not hunt side by side with a high end silver coin machine like an explorer. If you buy a GMT, GMZ, Gold Bug or other dedicated gold vlf rig you will go crazy digging tiny foil bits in any park, school, beach etc. Both the MXT and X70 will hit small one grain size nuggets at an inch or two and nuggets of a gram or two at 6 to 8 inches which is all you will get out of a Gold Bug or GMZ-T. They excell at tiny stuff close to the coil and frankly unless you are just "prospecting" an area you will soon get tired of trying to even find the targets. Much better to isolate the target in a plastic scoop and pan it out at home. That said I find myself using the x-70 more than the others as I find the lightweight a huge benefit for me. I have the 18khz on it at most times(5x10DD). It is just a good fun detector. The MXT is based on the GMT electronics so it has the advantage of being based on a gold machine and it is a very good coin and relic detector also but I find it heavy after a bit. The ACE is just a great cheap unit but don't take one to the gold camp. PI units I would get an Infinium or GPX Minelab. Infinium for water works well. Australia gold fields=GPX 4500



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2010 10:21PM by wwace.

For better or worse, I am going to hold out another two weeks or so, for the Gold Bug Pro. Although I will be using it for coin hunting on the weekends that I cannot get out to my claim, my primary target will be grain gold. I will be working the bedrock slowly, taking my time. Also, will be buying the Pyramid Pro pan. Two weekends ago I was out panning and found a small 8 grain picker). Put the biggest smile on my face I tell ya!