Minelab Eureka Gold
Price: $1000
Avg. Score: 
3.81
Based on 43 reviews
3.81Based on 43 reviews
Avg. Durability:
5.00
Avg. Ease of use:
4.75
Just purchased, not used mine lab eureka
September 19, 2010
Good thing I didn't see this "review" before I bought my minelab!!It's still with ups...........
All I've seen of this unit was pretty positive till I read this web page.
Overall Rating
Jim from
Ne oregon
728
I agree to high$$$$$$$$$
May 27, 2010
I have read the manual and learned how to use this detector very well, it
is and has been a poor excuse for a gold only detector, the other guy that
is writing good reviews is more than likely a minelab dealer. Look at
Alaska miners web site and they are saying the same thing I am it does not
work as well as an MXT for gold or the GMT or the Goldbug or goldstrike or
the tesoro detectors, I do not care if someone thinks there Eureka works
better when it does not even minelab says that this is an mid level
detector for those that are just learning until they can find out what you
want to do in detecting.This guy has a lot of problems with hot rocks and black sand. My Goldstrike does NOT it outperform this Eureka 3 to one in finds when using them side by side do not believe people when they tout the performance of this overpriced minelab unit and when I have super hot ground on the Columbia river with giant fields of hot rocks and 3 feet of black sand I pull out the elephant gun Whites TDI it will find about 99% of what all other expensive PIs will and also use every coil intended for minelab PIs.
The Eureka needs a lot of work, people that are bragging about this poorly designed unit are more than likely minelab dealers or there buddies, do yourself a favor and try before you buy this detector is not special in any way shape or form, less expensive units can do a much much much beeeeeter job!!
THINK before you put down that hard earned $1000!!!
Overall Rating
Daryl from
Northern IDAHO
8020
Still over-rated!!!
May 18, 2010
Just to begin with the coil IS NOT WATERPROOF, I have been using detectors
for 25 years and have been an electronic tech for 30, repairing alot of
metal detectors and other electronic equipment, the eureka is very very
simple to use! I own 10 detectors at present and I have done a number of
comparisons with the eureka!! I ran a small piece of placer gold under the coil to test this unit and it missed it completly in every frequency setting, so I ran the same sample across my Fisher gold $trike and it hit the target with a loud output, even my Garrett GTI 2500 picked up targets that my eureka missed, I thought maybe the ossci. was off so I sent it in nothing wrong, and when using it at the river it picks up every hot rock in the ground could not tune them out, this is an over rated over priced detector, the mxt will out preform this unit and for less money, so will the fisher gold bug and a number of other detectors.
In this price range $1000 you can purchase a PI machine that will really find gold, do not waste your money on this unit, for this price you could buy two VLF units that would out preform the eureka any day of the week, and still have money left over to go detecting, compare this unit to other detectors test it for yourself before making any decisions on this overpriced detector!! It is a must miss!!
Overall Rating
Will from
Portland, OR
5314
Learn Your Machine!
May 18, 2010
as the owner of a large gold prospecting forums (www.huntingforgold.net)
I've owned several (over 50) detectors, and I always come back to the
eureka gold. The problem Ive seen is everyone who knocks this machine
doesn't take the time to read the MANUAL and learn to use it correctly.
When used as its supposed to be used, the eureka gold has and will make
machines like the GB, GBII, LGMT, MXT and others look like a joke. I live
in northern California where the soil is so hot most other machines just
howl when you put them anywhere near the ground. The eureka golds automatic ground balance and tracking eliminates this problem. I read reviews all of the time on this machine where people say things like "it will find iron, but not gold". One thing you need to remember with the eureka gold is that when its auto ground balancing,(switch in the slow or fast position) its constantly tracking and eliminating junk. If you pass over a signal more than a couple of times in either mode, the machine will automatically TUNE OUT GOLD. The proper way to operate the machine is to search, and when a signal is found, move your coil off to the side away from the signal, sweep the coil a few times to balance the machine and then switch your switch to FIXED. Then sweep back over the target. You'll instantly hear that now, the signals much cleaner and clearer. If its a deep signal or a very faint signal, switch to boost mode and pull it in.
If you actually take the time to LEARN the machine, you'll be very happy in the long run with it. Its actually not hard at all to learn if you study your manual. I always recommend that if your going to buy or use a machine your not 100% familiar with, take it out into the field, and TAKE YOUR MANUAL. Don't be in a hurry. If theres gold there, its been there for a million years and its not going anywhere.
Go thru the manual and test out each and every setting in real time. ONLY USE AS MUCH SENSITIVITY AS NEEDED, you don't have to run everything wide open all the time (this will cause your machine to be overly sensitive and unstable) also, while using gold to test on ( if thats what your hunting, the eureka gold is a great dual purpose machine) is best, remember, lead will work exactly the same and give the same signal as gold. Get yourself some lead, and cut different sized pieces off of it, mold them into different shapes and glue them to poker chips. Bury these at different depths and you'll soon be detecting gold with your machine like a pro.
Overall Rating
Www.HuntingForGold.net from
Northern California
1233
I found gold!!!
May 01, 2010
For the price this is the best gold machine. I found a nugget 1/10th of a
pennyweight. That is small. People who give this detector bad reviews
simply DO NOT know what they are doing.It has automatic ground balance. It has multiple frequency technology. No other company has this technology, and those that do (such as White's leased the technology from MineLab and feature this technology in there more expensive models.)I owned a White's XLT in the past and sold it because it picked up too many hot rocks.
When searching for nuggets, especially smaller ones listen for the slight change in the tone (also called the threshold.) Once you find your first nugget you will never forget that sound, and every thing is easy from then all out.
The main thing to remember is nugget hunting is not instant gratification. But good things come to those who are patient.
Overall Rating
OregonGold.net from
Eugene, OR
534
Good MD, not for technically challenged users.
February 04, 2010
This MD is good for it's main purpose of working gold fields. After one
year use, I sent it to Minelab for cleaning and recalibration. It checked
out OK. Learned to run with volumne and sensitivity full up. Adjust with
threshold.If you want easy, buy another MD. If you want a good 3 freq gold MD this is it. Just take the 20-30 hrs of operating time to really, really learn how to fly it.
Overall Rating
DiggerGuy from
Imlay, NV
334
Borderbandit47
January 28, 2010
I have had mine for three years and have found nuggets each year here in
Az. Take time to learn your machine. 20Hz is what I use most of the time
because of hot rocks, but I use the boost a lot both in 20 and 60 HZ. like
anything else it takes practice.
Overall Rating
David from
Wood Village Oregon
286
Why the Negative Reviews???
January 19, 2010
I bought my Minelab Eureka Gold a month ago and have been out in the field
with it several times. I have thoroughly read the manual. This seems to be
a good solid and sensitive gold detector with a number of nice features.
What puzzles me is the number of negative reviews listed here. One person says it missed finding a 3/4 ounce nugget. I am wondering if those making negative reviews have read the manual. This detector does require you read the manual and learn how to set the controls. There is no question that this detector will find nuggets, both large and small. This is a VLF detector and won't go as deep or work as well in minerlized ground as the more expensive PI units, but I think it more than holds its own in the VLF class.
As far as finding gold is concerned, although I haven't found any nuggets with this detector yet, it is certainly finding very tiny pieces of lead at depth in highly mineralized ground, so I know it can find nuggets easily, even small ones. And the depth it gets is excellent. When I find gold with it I'll add that to my review!
Overall Rating
Mark Swarbrick from
Arizona
353
One of the worst!!
June 04, 2009
A $1000 and no performance it did not find several 3,4 ounce nuggetts in a
tailing pile in gold country, bearley picks up small placer gold in any
frequency, over priced and under preformance is what you will get with this
cheeseball unit, do not get ripped off like I did!!! I am still pissed but
I had enough money to purchase a PI unit from Whites a much better machine
and company minelab has a real problem standing behind there warranty, also
there is almost no gold in Texas and it only takes 1-2 minutes to setup and
ground balance a Eureka gold not 3-4 hours to set it up only if you are
mentally challenged.
Overall Rating
Ronald from
US
3052
Eureka Gold minelab
April 20, 2009
Not a very good metal detector been using it for 3 years now here in
Colorado, I thought it was made in Australia but mine came from Irelend
from kellyco ebay so I dont know how it ws field tested my old compass
detector is better. It was a wast of money, and it will pickup every hot
rock all the time the 20 dont work at all the 60 works and the 6.5 work
and its not water proof.It loves to pickup black sand, must not be good for colorado maybe good for Irelend? And the detecter has an over load alarm for hot rocks or what the book dont tell you, truely this detector sucks the big one here in colorado, I think only saleman are giving it good reviews not mad just disapointed its a lot of money for this detector I will live and learn Bill Krieger.
Overall Rating
Bill Krieger from
Golden, Colorado
3829