Results Of Nugget Detector Survey

[steve herschbach]

A week ago I started an informal survey on seven US metal detecting oriented prospecting forums including this one.

The survey was not meant to prove anything per se. I was basically just curious to see what the detectors were that were employed to actually find gold nuggets in the last year.

The survey has many shortcomings. It only polls people who were on the US forums in the last week who cared to respond. The forums have tended as a whole to be Minelab oriented and so it is not surprising results might skew in that direction. Still, I got a large number of responses and so some conclusions can be drawn.

I eliminated duplicate and joke responses. I eliminated a couple borrowed units. It was winnowed down to just detectors that found gold for their owners in the last year. Everything else was pretty straight forward. The only thing of note is I put a couple Gold Bug SE responses under the Gold Bug Pro because they are basically the same detector. The SE was just a precursor model. Everything was compiled on a spreadsheet and totaled.

114 people responded as having used 220 detectors to find gold nuggets. That is an average of a couple detectors per person but the reality is a lot of people owned three detectors, and then quite a few just one detector. In general you could say many nugget hunters own a couple PI detectors (or a PI and a GPZ) plus a good VLF detector. If you really want to generalize things your could say people own a couple Minelab PI type detectors and a Fisher VLF. The Gold Bug 2 and the Gold Bug Pro were the runaway favorites in the VLF category.

Tesoro is conspicuous in their absence. Only one Lobo ST listed. I was a bit surprised to see not one Garrett AT Gold listed. Except for a few ATX units Garrett is pretty much a no-show. White's does a little bit better but still only just over a dozen units out of 220. The TDI PI models are the most popular alternative to the Minelabs with 8 listed.

As I noted Fisher totally dominates the VLF detectors with the Gold Bug 2 and Gold Bug Pro. And I was surprised at the very large numbers for both the SDC2300 and GPZ7000. The GPZ in particular due to it being very expensive and out for only the last 6 months. The adoption rate is phenomenal in my opinion.

Here are two sets of results. The first is simplified for easy digestion. I have lumped similar models together and not listed onesies and twosies. The second list is the full per model breakdown. Make of it what you will, and thank you for participating!

Simplified Results:

51 GPX5000/4500/4000
33 GPZ7000
33 SDC2300
32 Gold Bug 2
15 Gold Bug Pro
13 GP3500/3000/GPExtreme
8 White's TDI/DIPro/TDISL/SPP
5 White's GMT/GM3/VSAT
5 Nokta FORS Gold
4 Makro Racer
4 X-Terra 705
3 Garrett ATX
3 XP DEUS

Full Results:

33 GPZ7000
33 SDC 2300
32 Gold Bug 2
31 GPX5000
15 Gold Bug Pro
11 GPX4500
9 GPX4000
6 GP3000
5 GPExtreme
5 FORS Gold
4 Makro Racer
4 X-Terra 705
3 Garrett ATX
3 White's GMT
3 White's TDI
3 TDI Pro
3 XP DEUS
2 GP3500
2 Fisher F19
2 CTX3030
1 TDI SL
1 White's SPP
1 Troy X5
1 XT17000
1 SD2200V2
1 SD2100V2
1 Tesoro Lobo ST
1 White's GM3
1 White's V/SAT
1 Minelab F1A4
1 Garrett Scorpion

 

[au79]

I know it is not the case but it seems I could go down the list and attach a price to determine which detectors find the gold. (or the most used)

I just purchased a GMT but looks like I should have gone to OZ! Not one bit sorry about my purchase tho - the GMT is a great machine. No gold yet but up here in Northern Vermont the pickers are few and far between.

If I lived out west I would definately go to OZ.

Learning my new toy for now, next summer - NorCal or bust!

Thanks Steve - once again, great work!

 

[doc holiday]

Interesting and thanks for your effort.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

Maybe you can take these same who responded as having found a nugget and with what machine and gather more information on if the nuggets were simply found on Public Lands, Private lands, or Club and or private Claims for example. That is interesting that the AT Gold was a no show but I have never really thought of it as a real Gold machine either.

 

[goldpanner3]

Thanks for doing this survey, Steve. I seen it on TNet and it was one of the reasoning factors for me to lately decide to "splurge" and get a Gold Bug 2, along with an article I read on your site and a few other reviews and whatnot here and there. Now if I could just find a good deal on one! Haha, it seems as though Fisher sets the prices for their authorized dealers and they can't budge much. Learn something every day! Oh well, I'll find a deal sooner or later. Thanks again for doing the survey. I'm not new to metal detecting or prospecting, but nuggetshooting is something that is very new to me.

 

[JoeinMemphis]

That is some great research, thank you for going to the trouble.
HH
Joe

 

[woody86]

Thanks Steve!

I have a feeling the Makro Gold Racer is going to make a good splash into this pool over the next year, hearing a lot of positive things about it, dare I say the Fisher Gold Bug II may have finally met its successor?

 

[amberjack]

good to see the GBP/F19 up there also , thanks for posting that up!

AJ

 

[goldseeker4000]

For anyone that does not think that the X-terra 705 is a good gold machine or coin machine, here is proof that it is great on both. All coins and gold found with 705. With the 15" HF DD. Coil I can hit on a 1 3/4 Oz. Nugget at 24" set on sensitivity of 22 and at 30 sensitivity, though a little noisy, 26"-27". It is a very deep and amazing detector for tailing piles. Put the 15" coil on, switch to coin/treasure mode, set discrimination to wipe out -2, -4, -6, -8, 48, and crank up sensitivity to max (30) and go at it. This method is very effective for nuggets in dredge tailings. I have owned Garrett detectors, Fisher gb2 and Fox 4000 and I have found more gold with 705 than all the others combined. As well my oldest coins came from 705, including my oldest 1758 Isle Of Man Penny. If you learn this detector very well and give it a chance, you too will be convinced it deserves a much higher ranking.

 

[goldseeker4000]

Believe it or not this 705 will tell you if you have a junk target, like a nail and a good target such as a silver dime or a wheat penny etc under coil at same time. If you want to know how to do this then I will explain. The 705 is under estimated, and it should not be. It is a serious contender for coins jewelry and gold nuggets of all sizes. My smallest piece of gold found with it was just under 1 grain.

 

[goldseeker4000]

My first post on this thread had typed in Fox 4000. It should be gpx4000. Stupid phone keeps inputting words I don't want. Lol.

 

[BillNEWAST]

Steve, I would like to thank you first off for all the work you did on this survey.
But to gather any meaningful conclusions from this Raw Data you need to first State what is purpose for this Survey and then ask the correct Questions of the Respondents in order to be able to parse the Data to come up with Meaningful conclusions.

Such as:
Is this Survey to Help others make decisions on Which Detector to buy and Why?

What were the Machines you used in the beginning and what do you use now and why?

Are you Successful, and what is YOUR definition of Success?
Some do it for a living and others just for fun!

Where do you go Nugget shooting and how often?
Has to do with the Availability/Access and Frequency of Nuggets from different locations?

How long have you been nugget shooting and with which machines?
I could state I have been nugget shooting for 35 years but only gone out 5 or 6 times, but what if in all those years I went out 5 or 6 times a year, or possibly I live there and go out 5 or 6 times a month or a week.

How often do you go out nugget shooting and with which machines?

How long before you found your First Nugget and with what machine?
This will tell you the Experience Factor. In all my reading on the Nugget Shooting Forums, for the past 15 years, the people who are Successful, get lots of nuggets repeatably, Stay with it Doggedly for 1-2 years before they find their FIRST Nugget and then go on to consider themselves Successful. By Successful I mean Repeatably in finding nuggets, wherever they are Hunting.

After finding a Patch did you take your other machines there and look for Bigger or Smaller pieces?
Did you use different Size and Type of Coils on the patch and did it yield more or less pieces?
This will give you an indication of the reliability of different machine and coil combinations, BUT only for that Patch of ground, as each place or patch is Different, Slightly more mineralized or maybe less.

I would go on but as anyone can see this could become Extremely Convoluted.

I would suggest that a NEW person get a USED VLF and maybe a Used Pi if they can afford it. The reason is that the VLF's have proven that with the higher frequency they can pick up Smaller Sub Gram pieces, which there are Oodles More of them than the +plus sizes, except if you are walking on the streets.

Then WHEN you get proficient and find your First Patch GPS it and take your gold and buy an older used PI machine and then Hit the patch again and use the gold you get to buy more coils for the PI and then hit it again, IF your patch has the bigger stuff in it, then you are making the Gold Pay for It's Tools. After you have done the above YOU will be able to Make an EDUCATED Decision as to what machines are Needed and Productive and at what places.

BUT you haven't even considered the Availability and or Access to Any Gold Fields. IF you can't get Access to Nugget Patches , that aren't Trashed OUT, then ALL of the ABOVE is a MUTE Point. You have to gain the experience to know WHERE to Look.












?

 

[amberjack]

agree with all of the above, like any detecting spot is key, then experience and then detector. of cause everyone has done it the other way around

AJ

 

[BillNEWAST]

As I have also AJ.

 

[freepistol]

Great info for us Newbees, thanks!