Metal Detectors

Choosing the best metal detector for you can be one of the most daunting decisions you have to make as a prospector.  There are more models out there throwing out more terms, features, and abilities than you could ever take in.  Purchase the wrong one for what you want and you could quite literally be buying an expensive dust collector for your garage.

We’ve all seen the shows where guys swing their detectors and find nuggets that we’ve only seen in pictures.  We drool when we hear the beep of gold detector as it swings over a seemingly unsuspecting piece of ground.   We both cheer and cover as they pull sing the handful of dirt over the detector and open their palm to reveal that yellow rock that has never been seen by anyone before.

But you need to remember that there is a definite physical requirement for metal detectors. So hopefully this information will help you really decide if a prospecting metal detector is right for you.  GottaGetGold has tested many detectors on the market and hopefully we can help you decide which model is right for you, but only IF this prospecting tool is right for you in the first place.

First of all, if you’re dreaming about walking a nice flat area for a few hours and finding an illusive nugget on the surface please close your hand in a dresser drawer.  Hurts right?  Ok, now welcome back to reality.   The honest truth is you can expect days of walking with absolutely nothing to show for it. That’s the cold reality of any kind of prospecting.  Yes the gold is out there, but the easier it is to find, the more likely it’s already been found.  The other downside is that where access is easier, litter is more prevalent, so if your looking for bottle caps, gun casings, and aluminum cans, you will have a ball, otherwise, more than likely, you will be sore and disappointed by the end of the day.

But there is hope.  You just have to be willing to walk off the beaten path and step into areas that seem (and probably are) a little scarier.  Steep hills, dense cactus, poison oak patches, rock crags, and the like are good areas to start.  Just as areas with easy access are more likely plucked over and filled with trash, the opposite is true as well.  The harder and further away an area is, the less likely people have been there and the less trash signals you will pick up on your journey.  It’s not the quantity of ground you cover, it’s the quality.

Practice Safety first and foremost, no nugget is worth your life.  Hopefully you have heard the stories of people who have been bitten by snakes, attacked by bears, or been trapped in mines because of a careless decision and said “I would never do that”.  Well remember, a momentary lapse in judgment, or an over thought is often the culprit rather than someone with a low IQ.  Before you go into a deep inlet in a mountain, or a brush covered area look and test before you leap.  Throwing rocks into those areas will generally get the attention of anything hiding beyond searching eyes.  Make sure you always have at least one ear phone off so you can hear your surroundings.  If something can’t sneak up on you, you are more likely to be able to get out of a situation before you end up on “When Animals Attack”.  Most importantly, never go out alone.  I can’t tell you how many times my own life has been saved because someone else was with me, even the smallest “watch your step” can make the difference between a good day and a helicopter rescue.

All that being said, getting off the path often traveled will generally give you the best results.  But now is where you have to really weight the health requirements, carrying gear and a metal detector can weigh over 25lbs.  Can you walk up and down mountains all day?  Can you continually bend over and dig into hard ground on your hands and knees?  Are you able to move large boulders, fallen trees, and vegetation on a regular basis?  This is the commitment level a successful prospector must weigh before investing hundreds or even thousands of dollars into quality metal detector.  So really decide if this is the avenue you want to pursue or if a different prospecting avenue may b e the better way to go.

If you have decided that you are able to be an effective prospector with a metal detector, you still have a long way to go before you hit the field or hills running.  First understand this; nobody will ever claim that their detector is inferior in one way or the other.  These company’s higher marketers to present their products in the best way possible rather than showcasing their shortcomings.  If you know what to look for a simple one page ad can actually tell you a lot.  For example, if you were to pick up a prospecting magazine you would probably see the company I refer to without saying their name that testifies it’s strong ability to find gold which is what it mainly focuses in on.  This means that you are looking at a device which has been designed primarily for gold recovery and would probably not be your best option for relic hunting.  However others testify to their equally strong ability to look for both gold and treasure.  With new detectors coming out all the time we can’t with certainty say that this isn’t true.  What we look at however is “equally strong” doesn’t testify as to the strength of any one feature.  So if you look at gold prospecting as a fight, does it matter if your fighter has great spelling skills?  When there are too many features, one or more of those features can’t truly be as strong as a machine that specializes in just one thing.  Again, this is a disputable matter and I am sure I just made some manufacturer or diehard purchaser upset but this has been my experience and I have bought more metal detectors than most people will even see in their life.

A side note as an award winning marketer to metal detector manufacturers;  I really believe that whoever is smart enough to come out with a metal detector and advertises it just for gold while stating hat it is not made for relics, silver, or artifacts would do surprisingly well and not really miss the sales you may think.  Something like “We packed every gold hunting feature into this machine, so there was no room for anything else,” Would really get many a gold enthusiast’s blood pumping.

That being said, look for a metal detector that focuses in on the features you want.  Do you really care if it’s waterproof?  Does it really matter that you can change the beep and tone?  The more knobs and buttons that you have to fidget with that aren’t related to finding gold, the more time you spend adjusting knobs and buttons, the less time you are out there hunting the little yellow bugger hiding from the world.

 Not to say that you should go find a one button machine, just make sure it has little more than what you will actually need.  A good gold prospecting metal detector generally has a minimum of three different knobs (or combination buttons for digital display models) that make gold hunting an easier task.  The first knob or switch is generally power, very important ;).  Sometimes the volume control is attached and sometimes it’s a separate knob.  The higher the volume is set the more likely you will hear faint signals that you may have otherwise missed.  Next is sensitivity, sometimes combined with discrimination.  If your ground is not heavily mineralized, (packed with iron ore, or other metals) you generally want this turned on as high as possible.  Discrimination is good to avoid nails and cans, however if you are off the road well traveled this issue will be minimized and I have personally picked up pieces of iron ore that had gold streaked through them.  So with discrimination off, sensitivity high, and volume high you increase your chances of picking up signals that other prospectors left behind.

Next, ground balancing.  There is no way to truly convey how important ground balancing is without covering in some detail how a metal detector actually works.  Through the coil at the end of your metal detector a signal is sent into the ground, where there is metal a signal is sent back.  This echo is what sets off your metal detector with that heart jumping beep that says, dig here.  Well depending on the mineralization (the percentage of minerals) of the soil your detector can be weakened or return false signals that have you digging for seemingly no reason.

You have three real options when choosing a ground balancing option on your metal detector, preset, auto balancing, and manual balancing.  Preset balancing is when you have no say and the manufacturer sets the ground balance based on their generalized expertise.  This is not really a good thing as we all know that the amount of iron in one place is going to be much different than the iron content of another place.  Though fine for beginners or those who only want to spend as little money as possible; for the soon to be metal detector addict, this just won’t work.  Auto balancing adjusts as you use it, compensating for differences in mineralization and offers a greater likelihood of finding targets that may have otherwise been missed by someone using a preset balance unit.  The downside of this is that you are allowing the machine to work at it’s speed and decide what it wants to ignore or pay attention to.  The upside is that this is still usually cheaper than your third option.  The third option being manual balancing.  Manual balancing means that you will have independent control over the signal and sensitivity of it.  You are looking for a constant signal while pumping the detector up and down while the coil stays as level to the ground as possible.  This should be done out where you will be prospecting since that ground will sound different than somewhere else.  Once you have a tone that remains the same no matter if your coil is three inches or three centimeters you are good to go.  This is generally the best option to go with, but is also what can tack a heavy (but worth it for the lifer) price on a metal detecting machine.

The next thing to consider would be a digital display.  I have met prospectors who can tell just by the sound of the signal how big and how deep a target is.  If this is you or you are insistent that it will be someday then steer clear, your going to dig until you find it anyway and are going to dig it anyway even if it says iron right?  If however you want the display that’s fine as well.  A digital display can tell you how deep an item is, the likely hood of what it is, and even the life left in your batteries.  Some models even have a backlight feature so you can read your display in the dark.  Just keep in mind that the more features packed into a display the faster you are going to drain your batteries.  Yes the backlight display looks cool, but if your metal detecting in the dark in the Placers of Northern California someone needs to smack you and remind you that bears and rattlesnakes are nocturnal.  Bears will see a flashing light that says food this way.  Even if you are going to use the detector in caves you should hopefully have a miners light on your head that will light the display when you look at it.  But again, it’s totally up to you and dang it if they aren’t just cool to have anyway.  To its credit, a friend of mine also used his backlight to get out of a cave when his miners lantern died.  So even if you never actually need it, it may be good to know it’s there.  Or you could always carry a backup flashlight.

The next thing you may want to consider in purchasing a metal detector for gold prospecting is the coil.  Coils come in many sizes, shapes, and styles.  Where many novice prospectors automatically think that larger coils are great this may not always be the case.  Yes a larger coil will allow you to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time but there are a few restrictions to this as well.  First of all, when it comes to larger coils, what they make up for in the overall area they cover, they lose in depth.  This is not necessarily a bad thing if the bedrock is only a few inches below the surface but you should check the area you will be prospecting first.  Secondly, larger coils make it harder to accurately detect in small crevices or under certain types of brush without getting hung up on branches.  So really think about what’s more important to you when it comes to choosing the size coil you want to use for your metal detector.

Weight and ergonomics are always important to consider as well before making that final leap.  Sure a weight difference of half a pound may not seem like a big deal to you at first.  However, if you cover an average amount of ground in a ten hour day with an average two second swing, your essentially swinging an additional 150lbs and even the best arm is going to be feeling that difference by days end.  Some manufacturers have bypassed a good portion of this weight issue with separate battery packs which are nice but seem to attract tree branches that grab on to the cord like a kid to an ice cream cone.

Ergonomics are also extremely important in choosing the metal detector that’s right for you.  Arm and hand lengths differ so you want to look at how adjustable the detector is.  Is the forearm rest comfortable?  Can you reach the knobs and controls easily with your headphones on? Is the overall machine balanced in your hand?  These are all very important questions that are again, either answered or not answered by your friendly marketer in the magazine ad.  Look to the hand grip and see if there is a screw underneath that would hint to it’s adjustability.  Is the forearm rest padded or formed.  If it’s a single metal bar that bends to create the handle to save on weight, look for an adjustable forearm rest to compensate for the inability move the hand grip.

One of the final items on your gold metal detector checklist should be answered with a phone call or a field test by another prospector.  How small of an item will it find at such and such a depth?  Will it find a pennyweight nugget 30 inches down?  First off, are you going to be digging 30 inches down?  Most people think deeper is better, but dig 20 holes in hard pack for three feet and decide if that’s really what you need.  Yes a half gram nugget would be worth the dig, but 2 hours of work for a $5 picker?  Be realistic in what you are looking for, especially since this is where cost becomes the biggest factor.  The more powerful the gold unit, the deeper and more sensitive it is, and the higher the final price tag will be.  Not because its just cool to have, but because it costs more to manufacture a metal detector that is accurate at such depths.

So a checklist overview of what you want to think about in a metal detector;

Ask yourself these questions and if you can’t easily answer them, call the manufacturer.  They understand that every machine isn’t for every person and are generally very helpful in getting you the right machine for your needs.

Hope this was helpful and from all of us here at GottaGetGold, good luck!!!