What detector should I buy

[Daltonstu]

Hi all been doing some research and not 100% on what detector I should buy.
I currently have a tianjin Chinese made one but it isn't strong enough to pick up anything decent.
Would the gold monster 1000 be a good start ?
Cheers stuey

 

[grubstake]

The answer to your thread's title depends on how serious you are about your prospecting and what your budget can stretch to, Stuey. The GM1000 is better than nothing to get started, but if you're going to be out fossicking a lot, you're much better off with a good used Minelab pulse induction detector that's well-proven to do the job.

How much are you prepared to spend???

 

[Moneybox]

I think your choice of detector may depend on the amount of time you have to use it and if you are the sort of person to enoy time in the bush. A good gold detector on good ground can pay for itself very quickly in experienced hands so the price of the detector is not so important. Some people spend thousands of dollars on a detector but can't afford the time to use it. However a cheaper detector might mean that you never find gold anyway so once again you just waste your money.

We started out with one very good detector and one light weight cheaper unit. It gave us a very good chance of finding gold even though it took us some months before finding the first bit but then within a week or two both detectors had found good gold but we had the time to swing them and access to gold producing areas.

A used high end detector is more likely to find you gold than a new base model. We started out with a Garrett ATX and a Whites GMT. The Garrett found our first ounce of gold but within a year or so I sold it and purchased a Minelab GPX4500. The 4500 is still a favorite as is the little Whites GMT but now I usually swing a Minelab GPX6000, one of the most sensitive detectors out there and it would have to be on your list if you can afford it. My wife found good gold with the little Whites but prefers to swing a Minelab SDC2300 for many years and still finds gold any time she's out.

I'm told the GM1000 is very good on small surface gold but like the little Whites GMT it has its limitations. The bigger the better if you have the time and money.