Having trouble determining which Minelab s/hand Explorer ii, 705...

[aussie280]

Hi guys

Firstly I've read through many threads and posts - probably too many. I'm new to MD. I live in Victoria in the Eastern suburbs. I have settled on a Minelab (best for minerised ground) I wish to prospect 30% of the time and 70% beachcombing/parks for coin and jewellery. My budget restricts me to $500 so s/hand has to be the go and probably from the States as they just seem cheaper then buying locally.

Narrowed down to:

* Explorer II
* Xterra 705
* Explorer XS
* Safari
* Explorer SE Pro
* Eureka

What will best suit my needs for local conditions? Someone said if you try for an all-rounder you will get a detector that doesn't do anything really well. Is that the case with the above selection? 8)

Any comments appreciated.

Regards

Aussie280

 

[Goldpick]

If you want to do any sort of prospecting, you can pretty much cross the safari and explorer off the list, as the FBS multi frequency detectors don't do well on small gold, nor really suitable for goldfields mineralisation.

That leaves you with the 705 and Eureka, of which the 705 would probably suit your requirements the best if you want a single detector to do everything- the Eureka is more specialised for gold vs coinage.

An all-rounder detector will always have compromises to a degree, and considering your usage is weighted more towards park/beach detecting, I'd be more inclined to pick up a half decent multi frequency coin detector, and put the proceeds towards a future purchase of a pulse induction gold detector.

I say this, as it is a hell of a lot easier to get decent finds at the beach and parks, than it is to be successful with a VLF on the goldfields these days. You only have to scan the forum pages to see the distinct lack of gold finds from VLF's, other than the more specialised ultra high frequency GMT and Goldbug2, both of which cater for the shallow small gold.

Be careful with purchasing an older minelab explorer, as they had a few issues with the keypads and screens, buy the most up-to-date detector that you can afford if importing. (Better choices are the Explorer SE / SE Pro, Safari or Sovereign XS-pro / GT)

Also if you are doing beach detecting, especially on wet sand, better off with a multi frequency detector vs the single frequency 705.

So the way I see it, the options are:
1. Minelab Explorer SE, Safari or Sovereign, and forget about gold detecting for now, until funds allow for a PI gold detector or GMT/GB2
2. Whites GMT or Goldbug2, and concentrate on suitable sections of the goldfields, plus purchase a cheap coin detector to cover parks/dry sand
3. Buy an all-rounder VLF, with the knowledge there may be some compromises on performance in some areas (705, Whites MXT, Fisher Goldbug Pro, Teknetics G2) The GB pro and G2 would be better beach detectors, but the 705 has the added advantage of utilising different frequency coils for various applications
4. Eureka will probably be out of your price range, even from abroad

Clear as mud?

 

[aussie280]

Hi Goldpick,

Thank you for your detailed response. Very informative.

Parks/beach options : multi freq. detectors better then just single freq therefore minelab explorer se / sovereign / 705 / G2 / GBpro. The latter 2 better at beach.

Forget about goldfields until more money to buy Pi md. If you can find Eureka for price go for it...mainly goldfield good for mineralised ground.

Options now are:

Buy kit surf Pi 1.2 and build for beach work..save to buy ml Pi for goldfields (I can easily build the board)
Or
Buy GBPRO / G2 / 705 / sovereign GT

So I will have a think to determine best value for money verses performance for beach/park.

Any other comments appreciated.

Regards

Aussie280

 

[Goldpick]

Not sure if you got that correct, but the GBPro and G2 would only be better than the 705 on wet sand, all the multi frequency detectors will crap all over the single frequency 705, GBPro and G2 for depth and stability on the beach.

 

[Pro-oz]

I can only speak for the explorer SE mine has the SE pro coil, excellent on the beach. Goldpick said it well. No good in the gold fields, I have a PI machine for that.

Cheers