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Date Posted: 18:59:14 02/11/03 Tue
Author: Darren
Subject: More thoughts on the Eureka Gold as an all-around detector (a salt mode switch would be useful)
In reply to: Plumber 's message, "Re: Opinions welcomed" on 23:22:35 02/09/03 Sun

I am also looking for info on good multi-purpose VLF detectors that are excellent for gold. Recently the 3 best to be released appear to be the MXT,X5 and the Eureka Gold.
From what I've read ,they all can get small gold...the biggest differences between them appear to be their discrimination abilities and their ground tracking abilities in moderate to difficult levels of mineralization.

As I will be using the detectors occasionally for freshwater and saltwater beach detecting I am considering what the best detectors would be that can perform well on both the beaches and in the nugget fields.

All the very sensitive gold machines seem to suffer some on the saltwater beaches...a price has to be paid I assume for the circuitry being so sensitive.

It seems one advantage on the beaches that the new Eureka Gold has is the 3 switchable frequencies which should help it cope with the salt and possible black sands.

From the little info I have culled from the onlne forums, the Eureka Gold appears to be improved in most areas over the XT18000 in areas like weight,balance,quality of build,discrimination abilities,ground tracking options etc. It appears from the few tests I've read in forums that the detector is quite an improvement and this is what leads me to believe it would now be approaching the status of an all-around dtector like the MXT and X5,especially with the Erureka Gold's ability to swith frequencies and it's ground tracking options which {may} be more advanced than either the MXT or the X5.

The only area that the Eureka Gold sounds like it may lag behind somewhat would probably be in discrimination abilities as it has no visual target ID features like on a MXT or a "target ID test switch" like the one found on the X5. The Eureka Gold sounds like it just has the adjustable iron discrimination abilities. I haven't yet been able to get enough feedback to have a good opinion on whether this discrimination ability is sufficient for beach detecting but my limited opinion is that it lies somewhere between the discriminating abilities of a PI machine and the discriminating abilities of a good VLF machine like an MXT,Explorer,or X5.

I can't help but think that a feature that might be very helpful on the Eureka Gold would be some sort of salt mode switch that would help with the salt beaches,but seeing that this detector is marketed as a "Gold machine" I assume Minelab didn't see a need to incorporate such a feature as few would be using it at saltwater beaches. I personally think that many people would use a detector as sensative and versatile as the Eureka Gold for areas other than the nugget fields if it had a "salt mode" and better discrimination features designed into it.

Heck ...if the Eureka had discrmination on par with the better VLF units like the Explorer/Sovereign, DFX/MXT etc. as well as some sort of "salt beach mode" then it would probably be the best single VLF detector on the market in my opinion because of it's switchable frequencies,ability to find very small gold and it's advanced ground tracking abilities. The availability of optional coils is also decent as there is a 15" WOT coil on the Eureka Gold which must give depth nearly as good or better than any other VLF detector on the market.

I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone who has further info on comparisons between the Minelab Eureka Gold, the X5 and the MXT as I see these 3 detectos as the best out there currently as far as possible mutli-purpose usage with the emphasis on gold nuggets first and foremost.

Thank you.

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