Falcon

[Leapin Larry]

Anyone here familiar with the Falcon MD 20? Wondering if it's worth the $300 price?

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I bought one last summer. I like it fine, though i'm still experimenting with it. I'm also in the process of building a little larger coil for it. I bought mine for checking anthills for gold, and platinum.
Jim

 

[Smigo]

I bought one last summer. I like it fine, though i'm still experimenting with it. I'm also in the process of building a little larger coil for it. I bought mine for checking anthills for gold, and platinum.
Jim

Ok, now I'm curious. You check anthills for gold? Actual or something else given that term?

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Actual anthills, of a specific, but widespread, species of ant. Known as harvester ants, they are red, and have a nasty sting. In the northern cold country, they build conical hills, that are hollow. They move their larvae in and out of the mound to control their temperature. They also use the mound to keep the seeds they live on, dry. Don't want them to germinate. To protect the mound, they range out a couple hundred yards, bringing back heavy minerals to place on the mound to protect it from the weather. By checking the mound, you are seeing the minerals that are in the surrounding area, without wandering over the entire countryside. The mounds may be as much as 50 years old, and should not be destroyed. Bad Karma!. The native Americans said anything removed from a mound should be replaced with something else. I've found many garnets, ilmenite, and chrome diopside on mounds in Wyoming. Have yet to find gold or platinum, however, but the ants are apparently genetically programmed to bring back the heaviest items they can locate. Obviously, they can't carry anything very big, so you need a really sensitive detector, like the Falcon, to locate a tiny piece of ant-sized gold. Only problem with the Falcon is the tiny search head.
Jim

 

[woody86]

I've used one, and while it can find very small gold, I found it more of a pain than it was worth as it would also pick up any iron mineralization or other responsive non-precious metals. The only reason I'd purchase one again is if I was actively ONLY detecting hard rock.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Well, I like mine. Wouldn't be without it. I've found gold with it that no other detector could see.
Jim

 

[sepoinak]

Love my falcon. It has its niche place. I use it in crevicing with great success. But most importantly it is excellent for scanning quartz/gold ore specimens. It sounds out differently on iron (pyrite) vs. gold.