One of your dreams as a child might have been to represent your favourite sporting team. Another dream might have involved striking it rich finding treasure or some gold or even a large gold nugget.
Some of you may have fallen in love with the romance of old movies that involved gold prospecting or gold panning and have decided to have a go at gold prospecting and treasure hunting yourself. You might also love the great outdoors, spending in nature in the wide open spaces and want to act on your desires to go prospecting.
What gold prospecting equipment should you purchase and which brand should you use?
The simple answer is how big is your budget? If your budget knows no bounds then take your pick as to what gold prospecting equipment you can (rather than should) buy. With an unlimited budget you could buy several metal detectors (from different brands) as well as a huge array of gold prospecting accessories.
Unfortunately the reality for most of us is there is a budget and the budget isn’t usually that big.
The equipment choice will then depend on what type of prospecting you are looking to undertake and the brand will also be determined upon how big your budget is as well as what you are looking to get out of your prospecting. Depending on your budget you might also be looking at 2nd hand metal detectors or gold prospecting equipment.
There is nothing wrong with this approach and if this means it gets you into gold prospecting then go for it though definitely do your research on both the 2nd hand product being offered for sale as well as the person (or market place) that is offering the good (or goods) for sale.
For the purposes of this article we will be focusing on new gold prospecting equipment and will be focusing on the brand Minelab. Below we will discuss the Minelab brand and their product offerings for gold prospecting.
Who is Minelab?
Minelab is a world leader in metal detecting and gold prospecting equipment, both on a consumer and industrial level. Based in Australia, Minelab released their first metal detector in 1985, the Goldseekers 15000. Then came the GT 16000, the world’s first automatic ground-tracking metal detector in 1987 followed by the Eureka Dual Ace, the world’s first two frequency detector in 1989.
After being acquired by Codan in 2008. Minelab has grown from strength to strength, releasing one quality detector after another, leading to the development and sale of the GT 5000 and finally the market leading (retail consumer) GPZ 7000 metal detector.
As mentioned above, Minelab is part of the Codan Group, a company that has businesses in communications, electronics, defence and security. Minelab has factories and offices in Australia, Dubai Ireland, Brazil, Mexico and the USA offering a truly global footprint in the metal detecting industry.
Minelab as a dedication to quality and commitment to excellence and will continue to be a market leader in the metal detecting industry for many years to come.
What gold prospecting equipment does Minelab sell?
Minelab’s metal detector range runs from the entry level GO-FIND Series (such as the Minelab GO-FIND 22 and the Minelab GO-FIND 44) through to the top of the line GPZ 7000 metal detector)
Entry level models that are suitable for all prospecting include the GO-FIND Series
The next level up includes the Vanquish Series
The next level up includes the Equinox Series
With the final detector in the general prospecting range is the
Minelab also has an underwater focused metal detector, the
Then we get to the detectors that are more focused on gold
as well the
The next level up from this is the GPX Series
And finally the top of the Minelab range the
Aside from offering top of the range gold/metal detectors Minelab also offers a small range of gold panning equipment via their Pro-Gold range.
Minelab’s Gold Panning range includes:
Riffle pans
Classifiers (for sifting purposed)
Accessories Kits (including suction bottles, iron separator magnet, vials and magnifier
Carry Bags:
Gold/metal detector accessories
These include: Battery Chargers, headphones (both normal and waterproof), replacement batteries, scales, wireless audio modules, replacement coils, armrest covers and carry bags just to name a few.
For a full list of the Minelab accessories, visit the accessories page on the Minelab website.
Best Minelab gold prospecting equipment for a beginner
Minelab has a great range of entry level products, including the GO-FIND range and the to the Pro-Gold gold panning and accessories pack
If you are looking to expand your prospecting activities we recommend that you invest a bit of money in your equipment and that the metal detector that you purchase is one that can grow with you as your experience increases, rather than you needing to continually trade up as you grow your experience. As a result of this we recommend the Minelab Vanquish 540 Pro Pack metal detector as a great introductory metal detector and one that will last you for a while.
(From the Minelab website), the Vanquish 540 Pro Pack features include:
Features:
Simultaneous Multi-Frequency – Why Multi-IQ? Because with Minelab’s revolutionary Multi-IQ technology, you’ve got the combined power of multiple detectors in one — all working for you at the same time. Simply turn on and go. Nothing goes undetected and no terrain is off limits. Silver, gold or jewellery. Park, field or beach. Unearth the power of VANQUISH with Multi-IQ.
All-Terrain – No matter what you seek, VANQUISH has you covered. Simply select one of the four Find Modes — Coin, Relic, Jewellery, or Custom — then start swinging. Each mode is pre-programmed and optimised to give you the best performance, anytime and anywhere: park, field or beach. You can even save your favourite settings to a custom Find Mode.
VANQUISH welcomes tough terrain. It dominates at the beach in wet sand and salt water, outperforming other detectors that can’t compete. 25 discrimination segments deliver ultimate control over what metals you want to accept or reject.
Pack and Carry – 1.3kg light with a unique collapsible snap lock system makes it easy to pack and go.
Iron Bias – More treasure, less trash. Adjustable Iron Bias control lets you switch between High (default) and Low.
Audio Control – Automatic noise cancelling, lag-free audio repsonse and 10-volume settings put you in control, with included bluetooth wireless headphones.
Included Coils – Cover more ground and search deeper or detect more accurately and in tight spaces with both a 12″ and 8″ coil included as standard.
Waterproof – Waterproof coils up to 1m and water resistant control pod (with optional rain cover).
Pinpoint Mode – Included pinpoint mode to help you locate targets with extreme precision.
Backlight – Red LED Backlight to help low-light vision.
The Minelab Vanquish 540 Pro Pack is a high quality metal detector, well price and will provide you with many years of prospecting memories.
Gold prospecting is an exciting hobby to undertake and one that you want to use quality equipment in your prospecting. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for and with Minelab equipment, you will be getting high quality long lasting metal detectors.
In our opinion, you could do a lot worse than use Minelab metal detectors and Minelab prospecting accessories and not only do Minelab offer some of the best products on the market we also believe they offer great value for money.
Minelab equipment also tends to keep its value well so if there is a time when you need to upgrade or you need to sell your equipment, you Minelab gear should holds its value quite well.
We thoroughly recommend Minelab and look forward to seeing you in the outdoors enjoying your next gold prospecting adventure!