Vallon VMH3CS Mine Detector

[greylourie]

Not Vallon related. But here is my take.

The days of easy pickings for the average person hunting for gold on known ground are gone. Many potential buyers are in reality, inveterate gamblers. After putting in much time on research for likely locations, and expending considerable fuel and precious free time to get to the chosen spot, they are not going to further stack the already high odds against - by use of a product with inferior detection ability.
It seems a certain manufacturer cottoned onto this. If you go to any of the forums/websites where photos, videos and narratives of gold finds are posted, you will see what make and model predominates. And more importantly, what size of gold is predominately found.

Loaming is a well known method for zeroing in on the source. Being able to see and count the specks in the pan indicates whether its time to move to new ground, or keep looking. Same with gold detecting, its a form of electronic loaming. Those small, or weak and faint targets are the breadcrumbs that lead to the heart-pounding "big-uns".

[kingswood]

The days of easy pickings for the average person hunting for gold on known ground are gone. Many potential buyers are in reality, inveterate gamblers. After putting in much time on research for likely locations, and expending considerable fuel and precious free time to get to the chosen spot, they are not going to further stack the already high odds against - by use of a product with inferior detection ability.
It seems a certain manufacturer cottoned onto this. If you go to any of the forums/websites where photos, videos and narratives of gold finds are posted, you will see what make and model predominates. And more importantly, what size of gold is predominately found.

Loaming is a well known method for zeroing in on the source. Being able to see and count the specks in the pan indicates whether its time to move to new ground, or keep looking. Same with gold detecting, its a form of electronic loaming. Those small, or weak and faint targets are the breadcrumbs that lead to the heart-pounding "big-uns".

Yes I agree with this....But recently a 5kg nugget was found not far from here and ounce+ nuggets are found here all the time...its just not "advertised' much

[Ferric Toes]

The days of easy pickings for the average person hunting for gold on known ground are gone. Many potential buyers are in reality, inveterate gamblers. After putting in much time on research for likely locations, and expending considerable fuel and precious free time to get to the chosen spot, they are not going to further stack the already high odds against - by use of a product with inferior detection ability.
It seems a certain manufacturer cottoned onto this. If you go to any of the forums/websites where photos, videos and narratives of gold finds are posted, you will see what make and model predominates. And more importantly, what size of gold is predominately found.

Loaming is a well known method for zeroing in on the source. Being able to see and count the specks in the pan indicates whether its time to move to new ground, or keep looking. Same with gold detecting, its a form of electronic loaming. Those small, or weak and faint targets are the breadcrumbs that lead to the heart-pounding "big-uns".

The make of gold detectors that predominate, is of course Minelab.(not sure why that is a taboo word here). I would be surprised if that were not the case, as they are based in Adelaide, which is within easy reach of what were prolific goldfields in extremely bad ground from a metal detector's point of view. Developing a detector to handle severely iron mineralised ground which is virtually on your doorstep is a huge advantage. They thought they had bad ground in the US but from samples I have tested, Oz ground can be 10x worse in terms of the signal it presents to the detector.

Minelab certainly cottoned on to this and designed the SD2000 which is still revered today as one of the best, and it found a huge amount of gold for those first users. All the follow on models, as far as I am aware, are refinements of this first detector. This success was built on in terms of strong advertising (why not?) and over the years 10's of thousands of Minelab's PI gold detectors have been sold. That has resulted in what you state i.e. "If you go to any of the forums/websites where photos, videos and narratives of gold finds are posted, you will see what make and model predominates". This is advertising building on advertising and it sells detectors; that is what business is all about. There is also a psychological aspect; If everyone and his dog is using a Minelab and finds gold, then they must be good, and I will be at a disadvantage if I don't have one too.

This does not mean, however, that other detectors are necessarily inferior in detection ability. It all depends on what you want from a detector and whether there is a chance of recouping your considerable cost investment in the case of a Minelab.
Although your post was not Vallon specific, it was posted on a Vallon thread and I can see why. Kingswood said that he prefered the Vallon to the new Minelab model which is advertised as being particularly sensitive to very small gold. From the tests I have done, and others like Kingswood are doing, it appears that it does have competitive ability in gold detection in severely mineralised areas. It is also extremely rugged, as one would expect from military hardware, easy to use and a fraction of the price, although a new one would be up there, and probably above, the top Minelabs. One disadavantage of the Vallon at the moment is that the only coil is the truncated 12 x 7in elliptical, unless you want to shell out $1000 or so for a new 12in round.

I have made a few coils of my own for the Vallon and am presently testing a 6in elliptical. This has improved the sensitivity slightly so that I can now detect a 0.2gm nugget at 1.5in and a 0.3gm nugget at 3in. This is the same both in 'normal mode' and in 'mineralised mode' through a lump of Victorian ironstone. A US nickel comes in a 13in on this coil and I am happy with all these figures and would say that they are more than adequate for what I would want to do. I would also look for ground that has not been hunted to death so that only fly spot flakes remain. I know I would not have the patience to go loaming electronically.

Eric.

[kingswood]

Good post Eric
The Vallon will detect nuggets at good depths in highly mineralized soil according to the small ones I have buried. Still trying to find one that I didnt bury
I think you are spot on about Minelab....They have been very clever in cornering the PI market in gold detecting. They realized that many people are just happy to be getting gold of any size and adjusted detectors accordingly. I know a few long term prospectors over here that use the SD 2000/2100 as their primary machine, especially when patch hunting. I also know one prospector who sold his 7000 after 3 months and went back to the 5000...."To heavy, to hard to swing".
The largest nugget detected in West Australia was found with the 2000. The largest nugget in Vic found with a detector was found with an old VLF Garrett . Of course large nuggets are still out here....you just have to be in the right place and walk a lot. Our lease is smack bang in the "right" area for gold...It is right in the middle of a greenstone belt and has all the right geology. Did all the prospectors before me get it all? Judging by the amount of very old lead I am detecting, no they would not have
Gold is where you find it.

[6666]

Gold is where you find it.

Yes thats right, but you may have to strip 20 feet of top dirt off your lease, like they are doing here in Victoria, there have been several recent discovery's of large nuggets here, but they have been in very deep trenches well beyond detectors just used on the normal surface.

[kingswood]

Yes thats right, but you may have to strip 20 feet of top dirt off your lease, like they are doing here in Victoria, there have been several recent discovery's of large nuggets here, but they have been in very deep trenches well beyond detectors just used on the normal surface.

yep...this is very true
I can remove 500 tonnes....by hand...so many blisters ha ha
There is an old dry creek that has been dug in one small area half way down an ironstone/quartz hill by old timers down to bedrock...very small maybe 2 metre area. I am considering digging lower than that, down towards the gully just to see what happens ....if there is any gold, I sure as heck will be applying for a works program to increase my tonnage by machinery

[greylourie]

How deep can the Vallon go in comparison ?

The 23 is dynamite on small things though!...picked up a tiny piece of lead fragment that I struggled to see even once it was in the scoop.
Yesterday, while swinging the Vallon, detected a tiny piece of wire that was less than 3mm long.

Yes it is dynamite on small stuff. But that is all its got going for it. As for a list of things wrong with the sdc, you have already mentioned the loose batteries. A bump or the simple act of placing it on the ground results in re-start. But what about the proprietary audio connection that is prone to failure. Or the famous coil knuckle wear. A heavy lump stuck with a 8" coil.

How would it compare with the vallon on larger deeper targets, buried on your hottest patch ? Ones with longer time constants, like maybe your Oz 1 dollar and the smaller 2 dollar coin. Hopefully results would give us vallon owners a boost.

Please excuse me for asking this Kingswood, but you wouldn't by any chance have an electronic copy of the vallon manual you could bung my way.

[greylourie]

The make of gold detectors that predominate, is of course Minelab.

Yes, they have home advantage, when it comes to developing and testing. (But that should not be an excuse for other manufacturers to bow out of the race and not produce product with matching capability.) The cult of minelab grew in origin from having a healthy local demand for a detector that would produce positive results in their trying conditions. You are absolutely right that it is advertising building on advertising. Satisfied customers bring in more sales, and can also return to buy the next model upgrade. Although, I do feel that detector capability has a great influence on market share and sales. I just wish that other equally capable but more affordable models could be available from a range of manufacturers.

If you had not started this Vallon thread, I would not own a very affordable top notch P.I. So, thank you for that.

[kingswood]

Yes it is dynamite on small stuff. But that is all its got going for it. As for a list of things wrong with the sdc, you have already mentioned the loose batteries. A bump or the simple act of placing it on the ground results in re-start. But what about the proprietary audio connection that is prone to failure. Or the famous coil knuckle wear. A heavy lump stuck with a 8" coil.

How would it compare with the vallon on larger deeper targets, buried on your hottest patch ? Ones with longer time constants, like maybe your Oz 1 dollar and the smaller 2 dollar coin. Hopefully results would give us vallon owners a boost.

Please excuse me for asking this Kingswood, but you wouldn't by any chance have an electronic copy of the vallon manual you could bung my way.

Msg sent.
Yes i will try the 1 and 2 dollar coins...now I have a decent machine to compare the Vallon with, it makes sense to try a comparison

[armstrong]

vallon VMH3CS manual,
a friend of mine has the manual on Ebay....
& would send an electronic link if asked.....

[armstrong]

Vallon VMH3CS Manual

Ebay item 112383963451..i think

[6666]

While the 2300 is a mechanically poor design , they are a vacuum cleaner, been shoulder to shoulder with one and my 4500,
I know of a 2300 getting 15 bits for 1.5 gram, thats why its so hard to find any gold on public gold fields now,
my Vallon is fine down to .2 gram nuggs

[kingswood]

While the 2300 is a mechanically poor design , they are a vacuum cleaner, been shoulder to shoulder with one and my 4500,
I know of a 2300 getting 15 bits for 1.5 gram, thats why its so hard to find any gold on public gold fields now,
my Vallon is fine down to .2 gram nuggs

It did amaze me what the 23 detected....I found a fragment of bird shot that actually gave a good response at about 2 inches...shocked me a bit as it was so small I could barely see it!!
Has your Vallon found a real, live, in the ground nugget yet??...I hope so...I am still wanting to tell my detecting friend "See, I told you it would find gold!!"

[Ferric Toes]

While the 2300 is a mechanically poor design , they are a vacuum cleaner, been shoulder to shoulder with one and my 4500,
I know of a 2300 getting 15 bits for 1.5 gram, thats why its so hard to find any gold on public gold fields now,
my Vallon is fine down to .2 gram nuggs

The 2300 may be finding the tiny bits, but with only an 8in coil, how does it perform on larger nuggets more deeply buried?

I am really pleased that the Vallon works in Australia. I have read many reports on it's good performance in difficult ground in Cambodia, Croatia, Laos, plus the Terra Rossa soils in Italy. However, the published figures for magnetic viscosity in those areas are way below that for Australian ironstone soils and gravels. Initially, I had doubts that it would handle the high ground response in Australia's goldfields, but it seems from the evidence so far, that the Vallon detector is comfortable in those conditions. Thanks to yourself, kingswood, and others who were prepared to push the boat out and try something new.

Eric.

[kingswood]

The 2300 may be finding the tiny bits, but with only an 8in coil, how does it perform on larger nuggets more deeply buried?

I am really pleased that the Vallon works in Australia. I have read many reports on it's good performance in difficult ground in Cambodia, Croatia, Laos, plus the Terra Rossa soils in Italy. However, the published figures for magnetic viscosity in those areas are way below that for Australian ironstone soils and gravels. Initially, I had doubts that it would handle the high ground response in Australia's goldfields, but it seems from the evidence so far, that the Vallon detector is comfortable in those conditions. Thanks to yourself, kingswood, and others who were prepared to push the boat out and try something new.

Eric.

no worries
The Vallon has not had an issue so far with handling the conditions around here. One area of our block is completely littered with black smooth weathered banded ironstone and the Vallon doesnt mind it at all
As I said way earlier, there is a salt lake near me so I plan on getting out there soon too....will be interested to see how the Vallon handles that!