Hi there everyone, thank you for allowing me to join the forum. This is my first post.
I am in Arizona and I am looking to purchase a metal detector to use in gold prospecting, find small gold, flakes, and pickers in dry washes, old mine tailings, and over bedrock.
I am looking for your advice on the machines mentioned below and my concerns and goals.
I don't expect one person to address all these points, any thing you can share will be appreciated.
Location: Arizona, small washes that are full of sand and smooth rocks and bedrock. I am very eager to start scanning these for any gold that may be there. Also other areas with black sand, heavy mineralization, decomposing granite, and quartz. Rocks from old mines.
Goals: The main goal is to scan the washes i have access to for any small gold that I can pick with tweezers or my fingers, or any other larger gold pieces if they exist, gold prospecting in the desert. Secondary goal: To find if there is gold in rocks such as rocks dug out from abandoned mines I have collected quarts samples that look promising, and also wondering if these detectors could tell me if there's gold inside.
Budget: Between $500 and $750
Experience: I own a Garrett Ace 350, but it has not yet found any gold. I also have a Garrett (orange) pin pointer which I tried using but didnt find any gold ..... so I assume if something does exist that it is smaller than the pin pointer or the ACE 350 can detect. I own a Falcon MD20, this is very sensitive and indicates some metal in the rock samples. I did crush a couple rock sample and panned them, found gold dust. My hope is to find gold flakes and pickers, not dust.
I am trying to decide between these, looking for your advice and opinions based on your experience:
1- Nokta Gold Kruzer
2- Garrett Goldmaster 24k
Observations: This is what I have learned so far, I do not mean to offend any fans of these machines mentioned here, I am only a newbie sharing what he has read and heard from others. So with all due respect to all the detectors out there, here's what I have learned so far (and I am here to learn more from you, plz correct me if i am wrong)
Concerns and nice to haves:
1- The main goal is to find pieces as small as ones I can pick with tweezers while gold prospecting. The 2ndary goal is to be able to tell if there's gold flakes inside rock samples, but this is a nice to have, not a must have.
2- Ground balancing: I have a concern about highly mineralized soil and ground balancing, I know gold monster is the quietists of the machines, but that also takes away from the functionality. I dont mind hearing the threshold noise while detecting, it seems all the experienced detectors are ok with this sound or find value in being able to hear it. I don't want to spend lots time re-adjusting ground balance manually.
3- Small coils: I want the use smaller coils for better discrimination and accuracy.
4- Customer service: for a new machine to have warrantee and good customer service in case it breaks.
5- Ferrous: It would be nice to be able to clearly tell iron from others, so i can avoid digging out iron targets. Not sure how these machines handle that.
6- Holding its value: I have a concern about single frequency detectors going out of style in favor of the multi frequency ones.. I would like a detector that will hold its value, in case I decide to sell it, swap it or upgrade in a few yrs. Should I wait and save more $ and get a multi frequency machine? <- Keep in mind i am after the best machine for small arizona gold prospecting, but if it does other things that's nice to have.
7- Water: It seems the Kruzer is more water proof, while i am in the desert now, this is a nice feature to have in case i end up using it in other locations with more water in the future to look for gold in streams, or jewelry on a ocean beaches. It's not a deal breaker or a must have, but a nice to have. If i ever go to a beach, i can use my Garret Ace 350 for jewelry (but not gold nuggets). If I go to a beach or stream i may be in 1ft of water, not more.
With the above, which detector would you recommend I purchase?
Thank you very much
I am in Arizona and I am looking to purchase a metal detector to use in gold prospecting, find small gold, flakes, and pickers in dry washes, old mine tailings, and over bedrock.
I am looking for your advice on the machines mentioned below and my concerns and goals.
I don't expect one person to address all these points, any thing you can share will be appreciated.
Location: Arizona, small washes that are full of sand and smooth rocks and bedrock. I am very eager to start scanning these for any gold that may be there. Also other areas with black sand, heavy mineralization, decomposing granite, and quartz. Rocks from old mines.
Goals: The main goal is to scan the washes i have access to for any small gold that I can pick with tweezers or my fingers, or any other larger gold pieces if they exist, gold prospecting in the desert. Secondary goal: To find if there is gold in rocks such as rocks dug out from abandoned mines I have collected quarts samples that look promising, and also wondering if these detectors could tell me if there's gold inside.
Budget: Between $500 and $750
Experience: I own a Garrett Ace 350, but it has not yet found any gold. I also have a Garrett (orange) pin pointer which I tried using but didnt find any gold ..... so I assume if something does exist that it is smaller than the pin pointer or the ACE 350 can detect. I own a Falcon MD20, this is very sensitive and indicates some metal in the rock samples. I did crush a couple rock sample and panned them, found gold dust. My hope is to find gold flakes and pickers, not dust.
I am trying to decide between these, looking for your advice and opinions based on your experience:
1- Nokta Gold Kruzer
2- Garrett Goldmaster 24k
Observations: This is what I have learned so far, I do not mean to offend any fans of these machines mentioned here, I am only a newbie sharing what he has read and heard from others. So with all due respect to all the detectors out there, here's what I have learned so far (and I am here to learn more from you, plz correct me if i am wrong)
- It seems the above 2 are more specialized for small gold prospecting and possibly do better with mineralized ground and noise, than the Gold Finder 2000, Legend, Apex .. and they can be purchased for around $500-750 on amazon.
- Based on conversations with people that used Kruzer, they think it is more specialized than the Legend for small gold prospecting. Legend seems interesting but i am worried about the lack of videos showing people using it for small gold prospecting. What do you think on this?
- The gold monster (GM) seems too simple without much ability to control settings, also it's over the budget. Not being able to make adjustments, while is nice at first, may become an issue in the long run. People seem to like it, and it retains it's value.
- Gold bug 2 has very good history, and finds small gold, currently it seems like old tech and is still expensive, I rather not have to adjust ground balancing manually with knobs.
- The Equinox 800 seems good but is over the budget, same with Deus.
- The Equinox 600 is closer to the budget (still over budget) and I am not sure how it compares to the Kruzer and the Legend for small gold. Do you have an opinion on this?
- The Kruzer with a small coil would match the GM, but with that constant threshold noise (while GM is quiet), but it also seems to handle mineralization well, and with the adjustments I can learn and grow with this machine. It also seems people are using it in parks.
- I am not sure what holds value better, or what's in more demand, the Kruzer, Goldmaster24, or GM.
Concerns and nice to haves:
1- The main goal is to find pieces as small as ones I can pick with tweezers while gold prospecting. The 2ndary goal is to be able to tell if there's gold flakes inside rock samples, but this is a nice to have, not a must have.
2- Ground balancing: I have a concern about highly mineralized soil and ground balancing, I know gold monster is the quietists of the machines, but that also takes away from the functionality. I dont mind hearing the threshold noise while detecting, it seems all the experienced detectors are ok with this sound or find value in being able to hear it. I don't want to spend lots time re-adjusting ground balance manually.
3- Small coils: I want the use smaller coils for better discrimination and accuracy.
4- Customer service: for a new machine to have warrantee and good customer service in case it breaks.
5- Ferrous: It would be nice to be able to clearly tell iron from others, so i can avoid digging out iron targets. Not sure how these machines handle that.
6- Holding its value: I have a concern about single frequency detectors going out of style in favor of the multi frequency ones.. I would like a detector that will hold its value, in case I decide to sell it, swap it or upgrade in a few yrs. Should I wait and save more $ and get a multi frequency machine? <- Keep in mind i am after the best machine for small arizona gold prospecting, but if it does other things that's nice to have.
7- Water: It seems the Kruzer is more water proof, while i am in the desert now, this is a nice feature to have in case i end up using it in other locations with more water in the future to look for gold in streams, or jewelry on a ocean beaches. It's not a deal breaker or a must have, but a nice to have. If i ever go to a beach, i can use my Garret Ace 350 for jewelry (but not gold nuggets). If I go to a beach or stream i may be in 1ft of water, not more.
With the above, which detector would you recommend I purchase?
Thank you very much
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