There is no "one size fits all" in the detector game.  It depends on where you are planning on doing most of your hunting, ground minerialization, size and depth of gold in those areas, etc.  Are you looking for a VLF machine, or a PI unit.  Price range you're looking at as well.  New or good used unit. 

 

I would suggest reading the threads by William Southern, and possibly contacting him

I am selling a Gold Bug 2 Right now if you are interested!

Great gold machine, awesome for beginners too!

Hi Tracy,

A big part of detecting successfully is learning and working with your detector. I'm a Minelab man as many are.....but if I were starting over I would rent or borrow detectors from multiple vendor's.......sure there are pros and cons for each.....also learn why VLF in some conditions can be better and why PI is much preferred in highly mineralized areas.

Cost is something you will have to consider as well......M-Labs are expensive. For me...their worth the extra cost.

I detect with a GPZ-7000 and the SDC 2300 . I spent some time at a recently pushed area in Quartzsite and the folks using the Monster were cleaning up....although it was very small gold. I found gold with the 2300 but think I would have done better with the 1000 in this instance. But again.....what are your goals? Only interested in bigger nuggets, weight, options etc....

Forgive the copy and paste from another thread...think it applies to you as well...))

Hope this helps.

Will

GM 1000 easy to use and finds the gold

Is there anything under $400 that is a good detector? I’d like to get a detector but I don’t have any intentions of using it a lot. Thanks

For $400 I would look at used machines. I've seen Garrett AT Gold machines go for less than that on eBay and from time to time I see Gold Bug II's go for around that much on private sales.

For under $400, I agree - look for used. They ARE out there. I found a "sleeper" on ebay several weeks ago...a used Minelab XTerra 705 Gold Pack was listed with a "Buy It Now" price of $299, but had no bids, and no "watchers". I made an offer of $250, and took the sale. So far I have used it and am very happy with its performance, though I have not attempted using it to find gold here in Kansas :-).

Hopefully,it wasn't a knockoff Minelab,lol they are out there and from i hear and have seen myself they are very, very difficult to tell them apart from the original.

That's what's killing this hobby in N. America
tesoro, First Texas and Now Whites Electronics have exited this once thriving industry, why? The counterfeits are overtaking the industry that started it all.

Watch this video from whites 3 years ago, it's only gotten worse since then. Example, the Garrett carrot Pinpointer can be purchase online for $30, it's insane and so sad. I know this post is a year old but I'm pretty saddened over the news over whites electronics decision to " suspend operations".

https://youtu.be/k3_wiSGYpdg

Make sure if you buy from Ebay or any used one, be sure to check the serial number to make sure it is an original. I bought a supposed new Gold Bug Pro on Ebay. It was fake and quit working in a week. Please verify. Very upsetting to get a fake that doesn't work and was still Over 500.

So sorry to hear about your mishap on eBay. That is exactly what is killing this metal detecting hobby in North America It put whites electronics out of business Garrett minelab is even struggling and other North American makers are also struggling with this counterfeiting operation. It is pretty sad.

Yes, very sad. I am still trying to get my money back from the seller. I am a newbie, so discouraging. I was lucky it died, so that I would contact the FisherLabs that told me to look at the serial number. He knew from that number that it was fake. That is why it is a good idea to check the serial number with the Manufacurer. There is information on the FisherLabs (gold Bug) website, showing a lot of the sellers of fakes.

Hang in there don't let this one incident ruin it for you. There are some minelab and Garret machines out there that are very difficult to identify they are so good at counterfeit the machines anymore. Whites electronics even were putting $2 bills on their machines to assist with identifying,but they started counterfeiting the $2 as well, so it's on ongoing game where the u.s. companies need to be more innovative or join them in making the machines oversees ,that's the only way at beating them at their own game. The Chinese won't be so lenient on the counterfeiters if they get caught and joined the u.s. companies in Making them for us. It's gotten pretty bad out there.

Stick with kellycodetectors.com or direct with your local dealers, this insures you won't get taken again
..

Nokta/Makro Gold Kruzer or Gold Racer are highly reviewed, and run just a little above $400...or some "deals" are available from distributors. White's appears to be gone...