My Experience:
I sweated three months swinging the Minelab Gold Monster 1000 through creeks and mineralized ground, and I have observations to make. In case you’re interested in having your hands on this detector for gold hunting, I have frustrations and surprises to make it worth your consideration.
I’m not sugarcoating – it’s not new, but I can see why it’s a go-to for many a prospector, including me. I hunted a trash run in a creek recently with temperatures hot enough to boil your boots, and I discovered a little sweetie of a picker most machines would’ve missed. It wasn’t big – a mere 0.05 grams – but that’s precisely what this little beauty is best at discovering. You can purchase the Minelab Gold Monster 1000 for $1049 here: https://amzn.to/42CVzlB
The first and most obvious thing about the Gold Monster is its lack of weight, and I mean that big time. After years of lugging my GPX, I almost forget that I even have it in my hands sometimes. I should mention, of course, one little kink – no, my shaft doesn’t fold to store it in your truck. I painfully learned that lesson when I first tried shoving it in my truck. You can switch in a GPX shaft, I guess, but I’m not fussy enough about it.
Let’s talk about real-life performance. On a recent trip to a hot, well-mined site, I hunted over ground so loaded with minerals, that most VLF machines would whine in anguish at me for even attempting it. The Gold Monster dispatched it with ease, no problem.
Here’s the part I wasn’t expecting: with my buddy’s high-end detector chattering over every piece of trash, my Monster was rejecting most of them in a quiet, almost snobbish manner. Don’t get me wrong – aluminum and lead will still trick it, but 90% of the trash just vanishes.
The machine can operate in two ways – automatic or 10 manual sensitivities with a switch. With Minelab suggesting beginners use automatic, I found I was dialing it into manual level 10 most days. Yeah, it’s louder, but that added sensitivity is worth it when hunting for that little gold that everyone else trips over.
I hunted an old-timer’s tailings one warm afternoon and noticed an interesting idiosyncrasy about the behavior of the detector. Unlike my PI detector’s constant whine with a real “threshold” sound, the Monster is dead quiet until it hears whatever it’s worth reporting on. There’s a simple “unlikely gold” through “likely gold” gauge, and I’ve seen it to be surprisingly reliable when it reads gold – I’d say it’s correct about 8 out of 10 in my hunting spots.
Now, let’s speak of limitations, for all detectors have them. The Gold Monster will not beep a gram of gold at 15 centimeters. That’s not its purpose. So use this one for working in areas with a lot of gold shallow in and near the surface. Those weathered blow-outs everyone tramps over? That’s when this detector rocks.
I have found my waterproof coil (good for 1 meter) most useful. I was working a creek one week when the sky opened and everybody else folded, but I continued swinging. Having a 1-meter deepwater rating for my present meter, I’m not out of places to search.
The power system in the unit is well-designed. That included alligator clip charger has gotten me out of a bind a time or two when I forget to plug it in overnight. Well, clip onto your truck battery, and aha – a 1-meter deepwater rating for my current meter, and I’m in business.
Cost-wise, it’s in a sweet position. It’s not cheap enough to discard but won’t break me out for a second mortgage either. For what you receive – effectively a specialist tool for finding little gold in trashy places – I’d say it’s a fair bargain.
Is it perfect? No. There are days when a constant motion to zero in a target will drive me buggy. Can’t sit over a target – one, but not both, must move – target or coil. And, I admit, sometimes working shallow targets in manual 10 will try your patience with its chatty behavior.
But here’s the reality: if dead serious about hunting for little gold, and in trashy locations nobody else will work, then the Gold Monster 1000 deserves a seat in your pickup truck. It won’t serve in place of a high-dollar PI detector for deep nugget hunting, and that isn’t its purpose. What this is, is a purpose-designed tool capable of doing one thing, and one thing in an exemplary form – finding little gold everyone else overlooks.
A week, or two at most, I saw a newcomer walk past little gold because his high-dollar PI detector couldn’t detect it. Meanwhile, my Monster merrily sings its tune over little pickers all day long. That pretty much describes what this detector’s about – it’s not about finding the big one, it’s about finding the ones everyone else overlooks.
For prospectors willing to spend enough time with its idiosyncrasies, the Gold Monster 1000 can become a real champion for them. Don’t expect it will break down walls and make a big splash, and won’t disappoint in any case. Currently, if you don’t mind, a creek bed’s calling me, and my Monster’s full and ready to rock.
Product Overview:
The Minelab Gold Monster 1000 metal detector is a quantum leap in VLF gold hunting technology, with a 45 kHz pulse in conjunction with a 24-bit signal processor. This metal detector is specifically designed for gold hunting with full-auto, both simple enough for beginners but sophisticated enough for experienced prospectors to demand and enjoy. Its high level of expertise at finding little gold in beat-up gravel puts it in a league for beginners and experienced gold hunters alike.
Key Features and Performance
Most impressive feature of the Gold Monster 1000 is its small gold sensitivity acquired through its 45 kHz working frequency and high-class processing. With an added 5″ DD waterproof search head, the detector boasts an automatic ground tracking function that can work effectively in mineralized ground and an ease-to-use discrimination system with clear-cut visual cues for speedy “unlikely gold” to “possible gold” evaluations, allowing for expert target selection. Two detect modes, namely, Gold and Deep All-Metal, make for a range of prospecting environments.
Real-World Testing Outcomes Real-life tests confirm high performance in high-mineralized soil environments when competing VLF machines fail. Users confirm consistently successful gold coin detection below 0.1 grams, with the detector proving especially useful in trash-infested areas through its high-class discrimination algorithms. Automated noise cancel and ground balancing tools allow for reliable performance even in hostile environments, and a waterproof search head allows successful searching in and about waterways.
Minelab Gold Monster 1000 Review
Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths:
• High gold sensitivity for small gold
• Complete automatic with optional manual
• Professional discrimination capable
• Light in weight for long-term prospecting
• Search head for water (to 1m deep)
• Adjustable power options including Li-Ion battery and AA carrier
Weaknesses:
• Shallower range compared to PI machines
• Not a collapsing shaft model
• Requires target or detector motion for detect
• Talkative in high-mineralized ground
Value for Price:
The Gold Monster 1000 is a gold prospecting metal detector that maximizes its specific purpose at a reasonable price. It boasts a sophisticated feature set of automatic ground tracking, high-performance small gold sensitivity, and efficient discrimination capabilities. Add in included extras, both AA and rechargeable Li-Ion batteries, and AC and car charging, and value is added to an already tremendous value package. For small gold recovery-oriented prospectors, and for an effective, reasonably priced detector, the Gold Monster 1000 is a smart investment.
Check out my review on another gold-hunting metal detector, the Bounty Hunter Gold Digger.
