steve herschbach
New member
argyle made an excellent post at http://www.findmall.com/read.php?27,1805770 that really got me thinking. Specifically in the post he stated:
"How good is the Eureka Gold on hot ground compared to other detectors? That question is quite often asked by those who have a true want for that knowledge, and they deserve a straight answer. Utilising both tracking speeds, when well set up and with the right coils to match the frequency in use, and the right add-ons to make them sing ...They are deeper, more versatile, more sensitive and far easier to use on hot ground than some self styled experts would have anyone believe. But I do not think that it is intentional, or misleading on purpose ....they simply do not know, as most have only heard one for a short time, either wrongly set up, or may even feel obliged to take a stab at repeating old wrongful opinions."
Contrast this to my statement at http://www.findmall.com/read.php?80,1783061,1797058#msg-1797058 :
"I have used the Eureka and honestly it is a heavy, overpriced detector. If you gave me one I would not use it. I doubt it will be on the market much longer as it is a holdover from the days of big and clunky."
Recently I know another very knowledgeable person who claimed a Gold Bug Pro could do anything a Gold Bug 2 would do, just better. I very strongly disagreed with him.
So what gives?
Well, first off, I do not regard myself as an expert so it could simply be they are right and I am mistaken or possibly delusional. But the reality highlights an important truth we all would do very well to keep in mind when discussing detectors. Really, most of us actually do know this, it is the confused beginners that need to hear it.
argyle offers the explanation in his post. He twice uses the qualifying statement "on hot ground". And since he is in Australia, when he says hot he means really, really hot ground!
I am in Alaska, and I often hunt the mildest of ground by comparison. I also often hunt bucketline and dragline tailing piles where tons of iron and steel are buried at great depths in very difficult to dig material. I hate digging in cobbles! Think digging a hole in a swimming pool full of loose golf balls.
Simply put, what works well for argyle in Australia does not work well for me in many locations in Alaska. I did very well with my XT17000 but after that the new breed of units that began with the White's MXT came along and the XT18000 and Eureka Gold became a rare sight in Alaska. It just never did well in our tailing piles compared to lighter, faster units with better ferrous discrimination.
I follow lots of forums and I can simplify things into three broad locations. Australia, the western US, and Alaska. What works in one of these regions often does not translate well to one of the other regions. I know I had a bunch come from Arizona and Nevada once to Alaska and I swear that try as I may I could not get them to believe me when I told them their Minelab GP units were not going to work out for them. You see, they all knew their stuff, and I just was not making sense to them. But sure enough they got here and were fish out of water at Ganes Creek. Years later at my place at Moore Creek things changed, as the Minelab PI units rule there.
Mineralization is paramount, but gold size and the amount of trash are also very important. The mineralization may call for a PI, but the amount of trash may give the VLF operator the advantage. How we hunt also matters, as we have different detecting styles. Some people like to cover ground and others like slow and methodical, and different detectors favor certain styles and detecting strategies.
Anyway, always keep this in mind when reading posts about this detector versus that detector. Comparing detectors out of context is in reality almost meaningless. What works oh so very well in one place is almost worthless at another location. You also get situations where several machines may serve just as well, but people do have their favorites. And this accounts for many heated discussions that occur on the forums.
That, of course, is just my opinion. I may not be an expert, but I have an opinion on just about everything!
Steve Herschbach
"How good is the Eureka Gold on hot ground compared to other detectors? That question is quite often asked by those who have a true want for that knowledge, and they deserve a straight answer. Utilising both tracking speeds, when well set up and with the right coils to match the frequency in use, and the right add-ons to make them sing ...They are deeper, more versatile, more sensitive and far easier to use on hot ground than some self styled experts would have anyone believe. But I do not think that it is intentional, or misleading on purpose ....they simply do not know, as most have only heard one for a short time, either wrongly set up, or may even feel obliged to take a stab at repeating old wrongful opinions."
Contrast this to my statement at http://www.findmall.com/read.php?80,1783061,1797058#msg-1797058 :
"I have used the Eureka and honestly it is a heavy, overpriced detector. If you gave me one I would not use it. I doubt it will be on the market much longer as it is a holdover from the days of big and clunky."
Recently I know another very knowledgeable person who claimed a Gold Bug Pro could do anything a Gold Bug 2 would do, just better. I very strongly disagreed with him.
So what gives?
Well, first off, I do not regard myself as an expert so it could simply be they are right and I am mistaken or possibly delusional. But the reality highlights an important truth we all would do very well to keep in mind when discussing detectors. Really, most of us actually do know this, it is the confused beginners that need to hear it.
argyle offers the explanation in his post. He twice uses the qualifying statement "on hot ground". And since he is in Australia, when he says hot he means really, really hot ground!
I am in Alaska, and I often hunt the mildest of ground by comparison. I also often hunt bucketline and dragline tailing piles where tons of iron and steel are buried at great depths in very difficult to dig material. I hate digging in cobbles! Think digging a hole in a swimming pool full of loose golf balls.
Simply put, what works well for argyle in Australia does not work well for me in many locations in Alaska. I did very well with my XT17000 but after that the new breed of units that began with the White's MXT came along and the XT18000 and Eureka Gold became a rare sight in Alaska. It just never did well in our tailing piles compared to lighter, faster units with better ferrous discrimination.
I follow lots of forums and I can simplify things into three broad locations. Australia, the western US, and Alaska. What works in one of these regions often does not translate well to one of the other regions. I know I had a bunch come from Arizona and Nevada once to Alaska and I swear that try as I may I could not get them to believe me when I told them their Minelab GP units were not going to work out for them. You see, they all knew their stuff, and I just was not making sense to them. But sure enough they got here and were fish out of water at Ganes Creek. Years later at my place at Moore Creek things changed, as the Minelab PI units rule there.
Mineralization is paramount, but gold size and the amount of trash are also very important. The mineralization may call for a PI, but the amount of trash may give the VLF operator the advantage. How we hunt also matters, as we have different detecting styles. Some people like to cover ground and others like slow and methodical, and different detectors favor certain styles and detecting strategies.
Anyway, always keep this in mind when reading posts about this detector versus that detector. Comparing detectors out of context is in reality almost meaningless. What works oh so very well in one place is almost worthless at another location. You also get situations where several machines may serve just as well, but people do have their favorites. And this accounts for many heated discussions that occur on the forums.
That, of course, is just my opinion. I may not be an expert, but I have an opinion on just about everything!
Steve Herschbach
