Joshua Hopkins Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Hi everyoneGlad that I found this forum. I am looking at buying a medal detector mainly for nugget hunting. I have looked at a few but not sure what is right for me I would like to keep the price around a grand if I can get a descent one for that amount. Any help will be appreciated. I am from central NC close to the Uwharrie National Forest if you have ever heard of it. There is several mines inthis area Im sure the creeks and streams around them have been hit to death but I am going to try them anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredm Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Josh;your question is a little too broad...read through the back pages of this forum, check out the stories Rob has on his site...if you are after very small gold or specie gold you can get a good used GMT or GOLDBUG-2 for way less...you can get either for @1000 bucks brand new...if you are after gold-coins-relics consider an Xterra or Lobo ST...Rob deals in Minelab xterras so consider giving him a call as he provides this forum for our use and pleasure...Fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whats4supper Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 right on! no one ever gets ALL of the gold. However, the easy to get gold is probably not there. meaning get a backhoe, or get somebody to dig for a potential share. There is a lot about metal detectors already posted. If it was me, I start out with a moderately priced nugget-shooter such as a GB2, Tesoro, or some of the minelab lower priced models, and once you get the hang of it, tuning and settings and all, and actually find the goods, upgrade to the more sophisticated models. Of course, you could always start out with the best minelab right from the start, as resale value is good, so you wouldn't be losing much money if you decided to cash in.You may also think about getting a relic-based detector, as there are lots of coins, battle gear, jewelry, and other finds of worth, located in trashy areas where you may need discrimination and different locating frequencies. There are many on this site that have 2 or more detectors, depending on the potential targets and search strategies. There are some that only have one detector as they have found one niche among many that brings them the rewards they want. One has to look at detectors in a similar manner that carpenters look at hammers. A 20 oz smoothface is the happy medium. it may not work for all types of finish work, but will work. It may not be the best for framing, but is good enough to build forms. one thing to note is that a detector setup to find relics is a completely different design than one to find natural gold. there is always crosslapping in object location potential, but ideally, gold detectors work better using higher frequencies or through Pulse Induction, where relic detectors work better with lower frequencies and discrimination ability to navigate among trash. As for gold detectors, the ideal target ground won't contain a lot of iron trash, and other metallic trash. The problem is, is that white people tend to be big litterbugs since the first prospectors or pioneers roamed the wilderness. besides the detector itself, plan on additional outlays for sophisticated headphones, batteries, coils of variable sizing, digging implements, maps, and something to fill the ice cooler, along with a chair or lounger. I'll tell you, it all starts out simple enough, but soon enough, you'll have to invest in other goods like a pickup, a quad or two, maybe a cargo trailer, camping gear. having enough of anything and everything starts clutter in your garage, shed, man cave. It goes on.One way to shore up funding for all of this is to look around local and university libraries that want to discard their geology books, offer to purchase some of it at really low pricing, and then list it on amazon (no fee) or Ebay (fee). you can also sell your gold and relics. old bottles, electrical insulators, battle finds, bar tokens, old documents, and all sorts of other junk. make your clutter some other man's treasured keepsake. If none of that works, make sure the ice cooler is kept in operating condition so that you can have an ice cold beer after a day of searching (for more clutter), or when you feel threatened by the wife to clean up your cave. I have treasures that are treasure to me, and some that are worth more to somebody else. Surrounded by all my stuff is still pretty comforting, and I thoroughly enjoy going to my cave to think, meditate, and dream of the next day that I can go out into the sticks and find some other interesting thing to bring home or research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlakMagnet Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Whats4supper,I have said it before and I will say it again.You have a way with words.Flak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Hopkins Posted September 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Thanks for the advice. I am waiting on Rob to give me a call. I am a natural stone fabricator by the way I have liked rocks since I was a kid. So it is funny how I got into dimensional stone fabrication.Looking forward to learning a lot more from you guys.ThanksJosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigahertz21 Posted September 10, 2009 Report Share Posted September 10, 2009 Thanks for the advice. I am waiting on Rob to give me a call. I am a natural stone fabricator by the way I have liked rocks since I was a kid. So it is funny how I got into dimensional stone fabrication.Looking forward to learning a lot more from you guys.ThanksJoshI asked the same question as you not too long ago, check out the links below for advice on metal detectors, headphones, and a pin pointer. I was just like you a few weeks ago, I ended up going with the Minelab X-Terra 705 because I wanted something for all around use. Since you said you will mostly be doing gold hunting, you might want to check out the White's GMT Goldmaster since it already comes with an elliptical gold search coil or even the Tesoro Lobo SuperTraq. The Minelab X-Terra 705 is a more all around unit, it comes with a stock 7.5kHz concentric coil so if you wanted to do gold hunting with it you would have to purchase the $150 18.75kHz Elliptical DD gold search coil. I purchased a used Minelab X-Terra 705 off e-Bay for $430 after my discount, then I purchased a used elliptical gold coil off eBay for $90 after my discount. So if you want to save some money, just keep on searching on eBay for used detectors that are still in good condition.http://www.nuggethunting.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6325 Best Detector Head Phoneshttp://www.nuggethunting.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6328 Recommendations for a Gold Metal Detectorhttp://www.nuggethunting.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6333 PinPointerGold metal detector recommendationshttp://www.bigvalleymetaldetectors.com/bestgold.htmThe eBay discount I mentioned is the current Bing cashback discount Microsoft is offering. Right now you can save 8% off any buy it now price on eBay with a max of $200 off. So let's say you find a metal detector with a buy it now price of $600 on eBay, using the current 8% Bing cashback will save you $48 right now on eBay. When I bought my metal detector it was at 14% cash back, last year there was times it was at 25% off. I bought a bunch of stuff with that kind of savings I've saved a little over $2,000 so far on my eBay purchases using cashback. Screen shot to show you, http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/8634/cashbackq.jpgIf you want to figure out how it works read these, you must have a PayPal account and eBay account:http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/questions/cashback.htmlhttp://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.as...hreadid=2327674 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Hopkins Posted September 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 Gigahertz thanks for the help and the pm. I purchased a minelab xterra 705 I think it is what I am looking for and will probably get a 18.75 kh coil also. Has anyone got any tips or pointers they would not mind sharing? I really appreciate the help you guys have given me so far.Thanks,Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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