X-Terra 705 Gold for coin/relic and the Gold Bug DP for gold?

Hi guys.

First newbie question as I try to get it sorted out. I'm about seven/ten days into research and I'm in the elimination phase. I've given several manufacture sales reps a call to see if I could figure out which best suits our needs. I will be buying for the wife and I. She for coins and relics and I for prospecting. Of course, I'll join her for coin/relic hunting and yes, we expect to occasionally hit the sandy beaches of Northern California in the Eureka coastal area.

We're located up in the Sierras above Chico, California in Magalia which is ground zero for Gold Country. We're retired and looking to buy two MD's. For the normal and many various reasons, the choices have been narrowed down to:

Teknetics T2LTD (not as much chatter as the Fisher F75SE...which, according to Fisher CS, makes it the more stable choice over the F75 Special Limited Edition)

Fisher, Gold Bug 2 or the Gold Bug DP (According to Fisher CS, Gold Bug 2, more sensitive to gold than the Gold Bug DP but the Pro uses LCD screen technology and is versatile for beach and coin/relic hunting.

Minelab X-Terra 705 w/Gold Package (Not chatty, has multiple head choices making it very versatile for gold or coin/relic hunting and has auto ground balancing)

With waterproof coils, my understanding, all will do wet/dry, mineralized sandy beaches and can get their head wet and go into streams and rivers.

For the wife, I'm leaning toward the Teknetics T2LTD, the Minelab X-Terra 705 with the small, HF (18.75kHz), waterproof concentric coil or the Garrett, AT Gold. My wife will take the time to learn tones but she's more a hop on the bike and ride kinda gal for the rest of it. I'm a curl up with the manual for a week or two kinda guy that is happy to share what he learns with his loving wife.....kiss, kiss. Our choices are based on not wanting to upgrade so we're in for the Full Monte as MD'g fits our lifestyle and personalities; lone wolves that love the mountains.

For myself, I'm not sure if I should go with the Minelab X-Terra 705 w/Gold Package or the Fisher, Gold Bug DP and a couple of coil heads with the understanding that the Gold Bug 2 is more sensitive to very small gold when compared to the Gold Bug DP. We have lots of rivers, creeks and dry washes to check out with lots of federal and state lands that are open to non-destructive prospecting. Close by we quite literally have a ton of abandoned mining areas.....don't tell anybody as we're trying to keep the Gold Country a secret. :p

I've been through search functions, a boatload of reviews and did several days of forum searches, here and elsewhere. Based on this research,
In my opinion, we'd have to step up to higher end units such as the Minelab, Eureka Gold or the E-Trac with questionable improved abilities to beat this selection of MD. Hopefully one will see I've done my reasonable best to research MD's before posting this forum request.

Based on the limited information in my above, can anybody sort through the above and share insight in which to help us with the decision making process?

TIA

(Thomas)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2013 07:33PM by BeeMan458.

I'm in calaveras county and use a gb pro and love it. Go to arizona outback forum and look up post by Trinityau (Ray Mills).

Your research has done you well......... as your selections are right on target for your intent. Only stipulation: Your selection(s) will not work well in wet salt (beach) environ. There are very few units that are truly designed specifically for the wet salt environment (due to the conductiveness of wet salt); that being the top-end Minelab's and the Fisher CZ series.
For your primary intended purposes.......... the Minelab Eureka Gold or E-Trac would only be equally suited for your intent...... and not an upgrade.
Research well done.

Deathray, thanks for the forum/poster recommendation. Can you post any insight regarding your GB Pro use? Of all the gold centric MD's, the GB Pro and the GB2 seem to be what I term the esoteric middle. Cheaper and you're hurting yourself and more expensive, the law of diminishing returns seriously kicks in. Do I go with more sensitive or do I go with more features? As a newbe, I lean toward more features but I'm afraid as I become more familiar with tones, I'll wish I had gone with tones and sensitivity. Buy once, enjoy twice. That sort of thing.

My attitude, this is a hobby and nothing breeds happiness more than success. If you follow baseball, as an example, the Giants baseball team cannot be a happy team right now. Bailey pitched a great game yesterday and Blanco was the last Giant standing. The game made me feel bad because on the last pitch, I wanted to see Bailey get the shutout but as a Giant's fan, I wanted to see Blanco crush it over the walls.

Well, anyhow, the point, as a hobby, I want to make sure I'm doing everything I reasonably can (good choices) to enhance future success. Happy, happy, happi.

...................

NASA-Tom. Thanks for the support. It's good to read that my research was correct when you post: "...the Minelab Eureka Gold or E-Trac would only be equally suited for your intent...... and not an upgrade."

They seemed like fine MD's but researched reviews by users left me with the impression they weren't a big step up and you're saying they're more a lateral movement then a step up which agrees with everything I gleaned from my reading of MD reviews.

For the most part we'll be sticking with the local soil conditions which consists of highly mineralized red dirt as far as the eye can see but we have a ton of washes and streams, all within an hours drive. We can walk to some of the streams as good hunting is all around us. The point, the beach conditions are for the days we decide to go on two-three day outings. Fisher and Minelab CS, both suggested that either of our choices would work at the beach and that's where I got the beach idea from. I haven't given Garrett CS a call yet.

At the reader's level, I understand the whole beach, mineralzation/wet sand/dry sand/density/black sand/washing surf thing and how PI is better than VLF heads. As to personal experience, other than what I've read, I got nothing.

If we wanted to stick with a two MD solution, other than what I've posted, can you make a recommendation that is gold specific or do we need to go with a third/fourth MD solution to enhance the beach experience. Again, beach MD'g is more a secondary thing to do when going to the ocean's edge. In advance, I've discussed the problems beach conditions create as opposed to what we'll expectedly find in the mountains with the wife. She understands (lucky me) and fortunately, we're open to a third or fourth MD solution.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 02:00PM by BeeMan458.

Beeman, do you prospect now? Are you succesful ? I ask because nuggetdetecting is the hardest type of detecting there is, in my oponion. Its common for someone to work hard at it for a year, before finding gold. Either of those detectors are good, and let me add the gmt and lobo too. But most important is having a gold bearing area and knowing where to look.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm in Gold Country. I'm in Magalia, California and we're surrounded by 1850's mining centers. We have washes and rivers aplenty surrounding us. I've many years coming to this point. If someone wants to help with my choice, I'd love to read what they have to say.

My experience level? None. I've read books and nothing more. One can laugh but an education supercedes ignorance. I've spent my time collecting and reading up on the area. I have spent money and time learning about and collecting prospecting gear. We have driven around the area to familarize ourselves with the territory; education. It's now time to buy a gold detector and coin/relic hunter for my wife and get dirty. Life it much easier if one reads and familiarizes themselves with the manual.

The point, I really don't want to read what a "Debbie the Downer" has to say on anything.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 05:51PM by BeeMan458.

Hey, good luck to ya, seems like you got it all figured out. I wasn't being a downer, read some prospecting forums, bet you get the same oponions. Not telling you not too do it, just trying to prepare you. With that bay area attitude, the pepper spray may come in handy. Good luck!

Update:

We've settled on a Minelab, X-Terra 705 with an added concentric 6", HF coil and upgraded Koss headphones for the wife who wants to do coin and relic hunting but can prospect dry washes with me.

Myself? I'll go with the Fisher, Gold Bug Pro and an added ground coil with upgraded Koss headphones so I can do coin and relic hunting with my wife.

With these rigs, we'll both be able to do wet/dry beach sand.

Thanks for the input.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 08:19PM by BeeMan458.

Sounds like fun and like you made some good choices in machines for the type of hunting you'll be doing :-)

Have fun and good luck to you.

P.S.

Post some pics of some finds when you get a chance - we don't see many gold nuggets/etc. being posted here!

MRH

I did rather well prospecting in the late 80's. Used a Gold bug a bit but found it to be maddening without the ability to track the ground out here. I used a White's Eagle with a tiny head to check my prospect and the surrounding area at the end of the day which was the best use of it. Most areas nugget shooting is a fool's errand but you have to learn that--it ain't in the book. So are mine sites --too much miscellaneous iron around and in all metal and you're going to be looking for those bb size targets or you will get skunked. Finding that 4 oz. nugget in a tailings pile just doesn't happen too often and the world is blanketed with nails and shoe tacks.
I displayed my brilliance in the early 90's when I sold my gold at the "top" for $480/oz. and then found out how much simpler it was to buy it at $280
Like fishing you'll learn to keep your expectations in check.
You posted a link on another thread to the blm----it's all propaganda-----this is what you really need to know and who is going to tell you what you can do and you will understand my reluctance when people start suggesting "permits/licensing" as solutions.



American Antiquities Act of 1906
16 USC 431-433
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated, shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for a period of not more than ninety days, or shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 2. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected: Provided, That when such objects are situated upon a tract covered by a bona fied unperfected claim or held in private ownership, the tract, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the proper care and management of the object, may be relinquished to the Government, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to accept the relinquishment of such tracts in behalf of the Government of the United States.

Sec. 3. That permits for the examination of ruins, the excavation of archaeological sites, and the gathering of objects of antiquity upon the lands under their respective jurisdictions may be granted by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and War to institutions which the may deem properly qualified to conduct such examination, excavation, or gathering, subject to such rules and regulation as they may prescribe: Provided, That the examinations, excavations, and gatherings are undertaken for the benefit of reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, with a view to increasing the knowledge of such objects, and that the gatherings shall be made for permanent preservation in public museums.

Sec. 4. That the Secretaries of the Departments aforesaid shall make and publish from time to time uniform rules and regulations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

Approved, June 8, 1906



[wilderness.org]

If one were to go with a tone only MD such as a Fisher, Gold Bug II as opposed to a Gold Bug Pro with an LCD screen, what is a reasonable acclimation time frame for one to get use to the different sounds.

It seems to a neophyte, the benefit of the LCD screen is, it tells the user what the MD is pinging on and how deep; doing the thinking for you.

The reason I'm asking, my interests have been piqued by a Minelab, Eureka Gold, [www.minelab.com] which has three different frequencies; 6.4kHz, 20kHz and 60kHz for the really, really, small stuff.

Do I lose the ability to switch out heads; small shooter, tight, gold seeking heads vs large, wide, deep seeking, coin/relic heads? According to the Minelab website, none of the available heads for the Eureka are waterproof and the couple of available heads are water resistant. What's with that as everybody knows to look in the water?

My concern, as a neophyte, will this be too much MD (too much sensitivity) for me or with headphones, will I be able to quickly acclimate to what the sounds are trying to tell me?

It reads like Minelab is making my mind up for me as in I would have to go to another unit if I want versatility and a waterproof head.

I'd like to buy smart and buy once but if out of frustration, I throw the darn thing away before I learn how the "stupid thing works," I'll be giving away any chance of succeeding with either.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2013 01:46PM by BeeMan458.

A VDI screen can be somewhat helpful; yet, 'guesstimation' is the best explanation for depth readings and ID readings. If a dime is 4" deep .... and a silver dollar is 8" deep.......... the detector will report the same depth for either target. Same goes with a 1/2-Gm nugget or a 2-Gm nugget. Only the audio will sound slightly different. (Different elongation audio response).
As with any unit ...... there is a learning curve with 'audio'. Once the audio skill is acquired, time & intelligence efficiency will be the resultant.
The Gold Bug-II is substantially more sensitive to TINY flecks/flakes of gold...over any other detector on the open market today. There's many pro's & con's to this. Beware! The iron Disc of the GB2 is exceptionally accurate; yet, in severe mineralization..... nearly everything will ID as 'iron'. This holds true with most (current day) VLF technology.

With your above in mind, am I better served with the FBS technology of the Minelab, E-Trac or am I better served accepting I'm a beginner, bite the bullet, start with a Gold Bug Pro, learn the in's and out's of what the sound is telling me and upon successfully obtaining my advanced beginners permit, upgrade to the E-Trac?

At my age one gets so darn tired on being told, patience my young cricket. Patience my butt, at my age, I'm going die before I have a chance to give it a whirl.

Love it. As to the "time & intelligence efficiency" co-efficient, I'm a fast aging 157. What does this mean? It means that the older I get, the longer it takes to understand what took me seconds as a young-in to understand.

.......................................

How many fingers am I holding up?

Don't rush me.

You will best served with the 705 for what you want to do..

And no matter what you read it's different in the field LOL!!

Keith

When we do this, we'll have two machines. A his-n-her's combination. She on the 705 and me on the Gold Bug Pro. The plan, assemble them, read a book on MD'g, hit the power button and see what we can find on our property.

The problem, one spends two weeks researching all they can find on what's available, comes to a settled decision............and then starts reading more reviews. Not a good idea.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2013 03:45AM by BeeMan458.

Quote

BeeMan458 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
With your above in mind, am I better served with the FBS technology of the Minelab, E-Trac or am I better served accepting I'm a beginner, bite the bullet, start with a Gold Bug Pro, learn the in's and out's of what the sound is telling me and upon successfully obtaining my advanced beginners permit, upgrade to the E-Trac? At my age one gets so darn tired on being told, patience my young cricket. Patience my butt, at my age, I'm going die before I have a chance to give it a whirl. Love it. As to the "time & intelligence efficiency" co-efficient, I'm a fast aging 157. What does this mean? It means that the older I get, the longer it takes to understand what took me seconds as a young-in to understand.

I have a Gold Bug Pro -

I also have an E-Trac (as well as 2 other machines currently)

I've been detecting since 1977 (36 yrs) and have owned/used several dozen machines from all of the well known/major manufacturers (ie - whites, minelab, fisher, garrett, tesoro)

when I bought the Gold Bug Pro - I read the manual a couple of times - got a couple of pointers from a member here on the best settings to use, turned it on in the field and after 1 or 2 trips out with it (8 to 10 hrs use) - was using it as well as any one of the machines I've used in the past for many yrs

when I got the E-Trac - I read the manual at least 20xs over - spent night after night reading dozens and dozens of post on how to set it up/use it - watched many hrs worth of videos on its use and after about 30 trips out with it and around 200 hrs of use - finally started to understand what it was telling me & how best to set it up/use it in my soil and that was 2 months ago and I still haven't used it to its fullest potential or used all of the functions/settings on the machine yet!

Some may/will likely disagree but - imo - and from someone with 36 yrs in the field and dozens of machines under his belt - an E-Trac is not the best choice for a "beginner" and certainly won't compete with the Gold Bug Pro for prospecting in the gold fields

Just my .02 cents

HH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2013 05:19AM by MichiganRelicHunter.

Don't be a debbie downer, lol.

MichiganRelicHunter wrote: "Some may/will likely disagree but - imo - and from someone with 36 yrs in the field and dozens of machines under his belt - an E-Trac is not the best choice for a "beginner" and certainly won't compete with the Gold Bug Pro for prospecting in the gold fields "

Thanks. Personally, I'm not expecting to wrap myself up with manuals and practice for the next four or five months.....before going on a first real cruise. That type of demanding behavior will discourage one's ardor.....fast. Your comments are very instructional in that your above tells me this is a 3D based, auditory skill set one will develop. Fortunately, I do well with this type of thinking/behavior. Very primordial. Well, that's my delusion anyways.

The only rub, so my wife has a MD, we need to buy two at the same time and as with most retirees, money is the main consideration and I don't want to waste money on upgraditis. Well, at least not until the hobby becomes productive.

deathray wrote: "Don't be a debbie downer, lol."

My bumper sticker would say: "Just when I tried to man up in life, I got bitch slapped back down."

The above came from an argument my wife and I was having. Out of manly thoughtfulness, I was trying to be the passive male as opposed to being the dominant male and her comment to me was: "Man up!"

My reply: "I'm trying but you won't let me."

LOL ...:p

I would never use E-Trac/Explorer (FBS) for any type of prospecting. They do not have sensitivity to small low conductors like gold nuggets.

Thanks for the usage clarification. As a neophyte, naturally, one wants the best and as one reads more and more personal usage reviews, ignorance to this point lends one to easily stray in many simultaneous directions.

One common point I'm reading is availability of dirt. In the beginning, I'm sure that's not a problem but as time wears on, I can see how convenient dirt becomes more and more rarefied. Out of curiosity, how often do you folks go out each year?

In speaking with my wife, my inexperienced guess would be four to eight times a years. How far off is my guess?

I hunt 4 to 8 times a week. Relying on convenient dirt would be like waiting for cheap steak to BBQ. Hunting whenever and where ever keeps the talent tuned.

Thanks shoveler.

Being in the mountains, we're good in the sense that nature brings fresh gold down from "dem der hills" but finding dirt with coins and jewelery is going be slim pickins where we live as there's just not a big supply of people dropping stuff like one would find every morning at a popular summertime beach destination.

I've seen several comments regarding one selling because of a lack of locations to hustle and kudos towards your effort as four to eight times a week is very impressive to say the least.

To keep costs in line with our newbie status, I'm considering used as craigslist has a boatload of used gear locally in their "chico" heading.

[chico.craigslist.org]

The Teknetics, T2 LTD for the wife and the Gold Bug DP for moi is also looking like a good combination.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2013 05:11PM by BeeMan458.

Don't sell your areas short and every hunt doesn't need to be a half day affair.
I occasionally hunt with a gal who is now 85 and swings an Xterra 70----she caught the opportunity to hunt a rest area under construction in northern NM while her daughter was visiting a friend one day and picked out a silver cob from the 1790's.
Sometimes the biggest fish come out of the smallest pools!!!

Quote:"my inexperienced guess would be four to eight times a years"
Those are the words of someone not bitten by the bug. I think you'll find most folks on here get withdrawal symptoms if they don't get out at least once a week.

Pimento wrote: "I think you'll find most folks on here get withdrawal symptoms if they don't get out at least once a week."

Thanks for the reply.

"Those are the words of someone not bitten by the bug."

At my age, my words/actions are not lent to excess.......for anything. At my age, I'll take three days to decide how I want to turn a light switch on and then, before reaching out to flip the switch, take another day to reevaluate my original conclusions and even when reaching out to flip the switch, question any final conclusions.

Sorry if I'm giving the wrong impression regarding my ardor as from afar. I'm reasonably wanting to try and get a feel for what the rest of the MD'g world is doing.

We all have to make assumptions in life. This despite what some like to tritely say about the word assume. For if we didn't make the assumption that at the end of our day, we'd arrive safely in our bed for sleep, we could never get out of bed. The point, there sure are a lot of used MD's for sale and it sure seems that folks buy a lot of different MD's in their quest to improve their abilities.

So far, research indicates either the Teknetics, T2LTD or the Minelab, X-Terra, 705 for the wife and the Fisher, Gold Bug DP are the machines for our needs with a later upgrade to a Fisher, Gold Bug II when I become familiar with what the sounds are trying to tell me. In the beginning my expectation is, the bio-feedback of the sound (headphones) and the LCD screen will speed the process along to the better gear.

As to our personalities, we're lone wolves (pariahs) and forums such as this is the sum total of our socialization. Hopefully the above will give you an idea of why I (we) go slow and not fast.

Researching MD's makes one want to buy, way above their pay grade as incrementally, outwardly, each increase seems as if it will enhance chances of success as opposed to encouraging much needed skill building.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2013 07:47PM by BeeMan458.

If you choice is between the T2 and the xterra 705 I think you will be better served with the 705....the T2 is an awesoem detector yet its a noisy machine..HYPER PLATFORM...the xterra is a great all around unit...it will actually Gold Hunt in prospecting mode VERY VERY well and you will find it to run ultra smooth for the most part...

and No I dont own a 705 ....So I am not biased..I like alot of machine's...

Keith

Thanks for the comment Keith.

The T2 or 705, which ever is chosen, will be for the wife and a chatty machine will discourage her more than encourage. A light, high quality, full featured machine with auto ground balancing that's not "noisy," would make her VERY happy.

Your thinking to much. First, buy off the used classifieds on the forums, try www.treasureclassifieds.com . Reason being, in case ya haven't noticed, a lot of guys buy sell trade all the time. Your chances of getting ripped off are a lot less. There is a g-2 on there right now for $425. The g2 is basically the same as the gold bug pro, which I use. Now there is coins and relics in your area, every mining camp has them. Now your gonna call me a downer, but if you want gold, go get a couple pans, some old screwdrivers, and a rock hammer. $50 will get you plenty of gold. And you will start to learn where gold hides. Buying a vlf detector for gold as your first detector, is a recipe for frustration, in my oponion. I speak from experience, remember I live in the motherload, bout 100 miles south of ya.Ray

That g2 is on here for 400...it won't last long.

Hey BeeMan......I used to live in Paradise in the 80's and actually did some detecting in the area with an old compass unit. Home of the Willard nugget, as I recall [something like 54lbs?] I found square nails on some trails down to the west branch and plenty of iron ore. Deathray is right in that it is not an easy deal. That west branch and area was completely turned upside down by the chinese laborers. There is still gold there, of course, and maybe more in the water since I hear they won't let them dredge there anymore? There used to be lots of dredgers when I was around. Anyway, just have fun with it.