Anyone know much about the Minelab Gofind models?

Rawkfist

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Looking at upgrading for my son who is 13 and I would like something that can hunt saltwater and inland. I heard these do decent at the beach in wet sand and water. Anyone know or have advice?
 
Minelab upgraded the sensitivity, discrimination and the handle buttons on the 22,44 and 66 Go Finds.

I have the older Go Find 40 that my nephew and grand kids use. I have only used it at NC, SC, GA and FL beaches, so fairly mild when it comes to black sand. It works very well in dry sand and OK in wet sand with sensitivity turned down a bit. I did not take it deeper than 1' at the surf edge. It is so light weight that losing it was a real possibility. I would not say that it is comfortable because of the light weight. Actually I found it (and so did my youngsters) to feel pretty unbalanced. They probably did not hunt with it for more than an hour or two. So no big deal. I added an extra elbow cuff from and old Tesoro and some padding and a strap for longer hunts and to give the backend a little more weight. The coil is waterproof. The control box is not. It will go pretty deep=8" easily, and the 20/22 not having a built in pinpointer is a real drawback unless you have a handheld pinpointer. The adjustability and portability is fantastic. I would get the 40/44 model. There is not that much added on the 60/66 to make me want to have the free app usage.

If I was buying a low cost detector that could handle the same conditions I mentioned and was light weight and adjustable enough for young teenagers or shorter grownups I would seriously consider a Fisher F22-weatherproofed control box, or a Teknetics Minuteman/Eurotek Pro-proven beach hunter (they are the same detector but not the same price?????) with a concentric coil. Another would be the Whites TreasureMaster/ TreasurePro. They should be fine on mild SE USA coast beaches. I am not familiar with the low frequency Garrett Ace series. I'm just not into yellow. If you are going to high black sand beaches I'm not giving you accurate info. Maybe someone else will chime in too.

All of these would do fine in mild mineralization inland hunting. The Minuteman/Eurotek Pro however blew me away at how well it handled bad mineralization here in Colorado seemingly with very little depth loss. I don't know where Teknetics set the factory pre-set ground balance range, but it seriously works well here.
Jeff
 
I really like Jeff’s suggestions above. The F22 is a very stable and competent detector. And the waterproofing is a must at the beach. Only drawback I see is lack of ground balance control. Couldn’t do any better for the money.
 
Bought my son a Go-Find 66 for Xmas. I was disappointed, he was disappointed, it was just bad all around. That's coming from a huge Minelab fanboy too. I'm team Minelab but I can't believe they even put their name on this line of junk. I know it's supposed to be a low-end detector but it feels so cheap and the programming is so cheap that it really feels like it's something that was a 30$ purchase at the dollar store. When I bought it I was torn between a Fisher F2 or the Go-Find 66 and after reading that they supposedly made it better, more sturdy, updates, etc I decided to give the 66 a try and now I regret it. For $200 the Fisher F2 is a great little machine that will actually find coins consistently down to 7-8". The GoFind, not so much. Haven't actually used an F22 before, not sure if it's better than the old F2 or not. Kid ripped up the box on the Go-Find so I threw it away but if anyone wants it for $160 shoot me a pm. Only used for 1 hour.
 
Bought my son a Go-Find 66 for Xmas. I was disappointed, he was disappointed, it was just bad all around. That's coming from a huge Minelab fanboy too. I'm team Minelab but I can't believe they even put their name on this line of junk. I know it's supposed to be a low-end detector but it feels so cheap and the programming is so cheap that it really feels like it's something that was a 30$ purchase at the dollar store. When I bought it I was torn between a Fisher F2 or the Go-Find 66 and after reading that they supposedly made it better, more sturdy, updates, etc I decided to give the 66 a try and now I regret it. For $200 the Fisher F2 is a great little machine that will actually find coins consistently down to 7-8". The GoFind, not so much. Haven't actually used an F22 before, not sure if it's better than the old F2 or not. Kid ripped up the box on the Go-Find so I threw it away but if anyone wants it for $160 shoot me a pm. Only used for 1 hour.

Only used 1 hour? Not sure how you learned the GoFind that quick.
Yes, the GoFind initially seems cheaply built, but I've been using mine as a scout detector for almost 2 years now and it still looks and operates like new. Once you learn the machine, it's a pretty darn good little machine. It's been great for my grand nephews, easy to learn and easy to handle. It's not an Equinox or Etrac, but if you give it a chance, it works as advertised. IMO most people just aren't willing to put in the time to learn a new machine.
 
I totally agree with the one hour use and then ditching the Go Find 66. Sorry, but it is not a toy. I put it at about the same level as the X-Terra 305 but with less controls and actually faster recovery speed which is my biggest complaint with the X-Terra series. The Bluetooth connectivity and app are kind of neat. It functions very well at the beach and it would do fine in tot lots and normal park and field areas which is where I have used it most. In a really trashy inland situation or for deep detecting I would definitely choose a different detector.

Jeff
 
Only used 1 hour? Not sure how you learned the GoFind that quick.
Yes, the GoFind initially seems cheaply built, but I've been using mine as a scout detector for almost 2 years now and it still looks and operates like new. Once you learn the machine, it's a pretty darn good little machine. It's been great for my grand nephews, easy to learn and easy to handle. It's not an Equinox or Etrac, but if you give it a chance, it works as advertised. IMO most people just aren't willing to put in the time to learn a new machine.

If insulting my intelligence makes you feel better about that turd of a purchase, go right ahead, but it doesn't make it any better. What exactly are you referring to when you say "learn the machine"? It's not a CTX with 100 user changeable settings guy, there isn't nearly any changeable settings. You quite literally turn the machine on and it shows you a picture of a coin if you're coil is over a coin. The only thing you can adjust is to take out iron and foil. If an adult with nearly 2 decades of detector experience can't figure out a Go-Find in an hour then I don't know, they must be an EXTREMELY slow learner. Just read some of the reviews around the net from SEASONED detectorists and you'll see the majority of them say the same thing. The only 5 star reviews on it are from ladies who purchased it for their husbands or kids and say they "love it" or from guys who have never swung any other detector before. Just take a look at the claim they make on this thing to sell it and tell me you honestly believe this information -

"Step up to the power and performance of the Minelab GO-FIND 66 metal detector. With precision control and maximum depth, you’ll be an expert in no time. Start searching for treasure today! It searches deeper and recovers the treasures other have missed. It’s great value with advanced features!"

Do you really believe any line of that to be true other than the "great value" part? I don't. If it's working satisfactory for you then great, but I would not recommend this thing to anyone when the Fisher F2 and F22 are in the same price category and actually performs like a detector should and with better depth.
 
I recently purchased a Go Find 22, and, couldn't be happier with it. That being said, I feel it is intended to be a supplemental machine, not a primary machine. It is highly portable, takes very little storage space, and handy to keep in a vehicle for quick hunts. It packs along easily on a bike, in a backpack, small enough for airline travel, stashed in your trunk, or behind the truck seat. It's also great if you have little space for storage. If you need a detector for those reasons, I would say get one. However, at the price point, there are many better machines for primary use, if you don't need the portability, and small storage footprint.
 
If insulting my intelligence makes you feel better about that turd of a purchase, go right ahead, but it doesn't make it any better. What exactly are you referring to when you say "learn the machine"? It's not a CTX with 100 user changeable settings guy, there isn't nearly any changeable settings. You quite literally turn the machine on and it shows you a picture of a coin if you're coil is over a coin. The only thing you can adjust is to take out iron and foil. If an adult with nearly 2 decades of detector experience can't figure out a Go-Find in an hour then I don't know, they must be an EXTREMELY slow learner. Just read some of the reviews around the net from SEASONED detectorists and you'll see the majority of them say the same thing. The only 5 star reviews on it are from ladies who purchased it for their husbands or kids and say they "love it" or from guys who have never swung any other detector before. Just take a look at the claim they make on this thing to sell it and tell me you honestly believe this information -

"Step up to the power and performance of the Minelab GO-FIND 66 metal detector. With precision control and maximum depth, you’ll be an expert in no time. Start searching for treasure today! It searches deeper and recovers the treasures other have missed. It’s great value with advanced features!"

Do you really believe any line of that to be true other than the "great value" part? I don't. If it's working satisfactory for you then great, but I would not recommend this thing to anyone when the Fisher F2 and F22 are in the same price category and actually performs like a detector should and with better depth.


I'll stick by my post. I feel fine, don't need to question your intellect to do that. And I didn't in my post. If you don't like the GoFind, good for you. Again, I find it handy as a scout machine and the kid's find it easy to use. It's not my main detector and never would be, but has been handy to have around. Plus the depth is pretty darn good. Just my opinion and if you're triggered by that, not much I can do. Peace be with you.
 
I recently purchased a Go Find 22, and, couldn't be happier with it. That being said, I feel it is intended to be a supplemental machine, not a primary machine. It is highly portable, takes very little storage space, and handy to keep in a vehicle for quick hunts. It packs along easily on a bike, in a backpack, small enough for airline travel, stashed in your trunk, or behind the truck seat. It's also great if you have little space for storage. If you need a detector for those reasons, I would say get one. However, at the price point, there are many better machines for primary use, if you don't need the portability, and small storage footprint.

Good and reasonable post. Thank you.
 
I paid $125 for my f2 two years ago new. I think that was when they discontinued them. I loved it! Great first machine. Upgraded to an AT Pro but still use the f2 every once in a while. Highly recommend one for a starter. So light and easy to use.
 
I have a Go-Find 60 and love it. I prefer it more than my AT Pro because it packs small works in salt water and lightweight. I really like using my phone and tablet with it.
 
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