Falcon Gold Probe MD20
Price: $220
Avg. Score: 
3.83
Based on 12 reviews
3.83Based on 12 reviews
Avg. Durability:
3.13
Avg. Ease of use:
3.75
Md-20 it's functional
March 27, 2018
Let's start with the bad. I thought this was a gold detector. It is not.
It's a metal detector. It's detection range is very limited. It is subject
to interference from weird magnetic fields. It functions in 2 modes. In
stroke and Out stroke. If it signals on the way in it's metal. If it
signals on the way out it is a metallic Mineral. It also functions in a
third way, that a solid metal nugget of any appreciable size will sound off
almost continuously. Thus even rich sulfides can be sorted from nuggets
while processing dredge cons for example.
I carry it prospecting, it allows for high grade sampling of ore veins. It also functions to indicate local mineralization in float rocks or in the bedrock. It functions as a pin pointer while metal detecting. It's an amazing little piece of kit, If not a bit crude to master.
You have to play around with it till it does what you want. Just tweak the knobs and settings for your particular purpose. It's not the be-all, end-all but it's a hell of a first generation unit. For the money you probably cant beat it if you are a serious prospector. And, Oh yeah!, it will detect a speck of gold smaller than you can imagine when it's adjusted right.
Max Depth: 4 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Matt Harris from
Salkum, Wa
10
Works great
November 11, 2015
Adjust the copper ring for the mode you want. Ground balance knob to 1:00
Sensitivity knob to 1:00 Make small adjustment to stop buzzing. Use test
card to make sure. Done Can detect very small specs of gold!!! What is not
to like? No volume control for speaker. Awesome!
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Dennis from
CA
11
Falcon md 20
September 07, 2015
I got my falcon 20 about a year from now. This device is an excellent tool
for people that need to find fine gold on rocks that metal detectors will
not detect. I got some very small pieces of gold flares and tested with
falcon that confirm loud and clear the presence of gold, that of course was
not detected with Fisher Gold Bug II and Whites TDI. Sorry for my English.
Max Depth: 3 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Nelson from
Santiago, CHILE
31
Disappointed
June 23, 2015
I had very high hopes for the Falcon MD20, after reading all the mostly
terrific reviews. But after spending $285 on the whole setup (extended
handle set, holster) I feel like I wasted my money. At home I get mostly
false positives (single beeps that don't repeat), and in the field I get
nothing but noise (I turn it on and nothing I do will make it stop
blaring). It's been completely useless. Even when it's not giving me
non-stop noise, the settings are constantly changing. Frustrating.
Max Depth: 1 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Julia from
Rathdrum, idaho
57
Not pleased
March 26, 2015
I "had" one of these units and it was less than a year old but was falsing
constantly so I got in touch with the supplier who in turn asked me to
contact Wally DeShon. After getting me to change the pot settings and
voiding the warranty he asked me to send it in. Once it got there it took 2
weeks to access the problem and finally after 2 weeks he answered and said
that it needed a new probe and it would be $100 plus $17 USD for shipping.
The unit at this time was less than one year old so I asked if warranty
covered it and he asked to see the warranty card. The supplier never did
include a warranty card so Wally would not honour the warranty on the
product.
I sent him the bill of sale with the serial Number and store info with it but it made no difference as he wanted the warranty card. I then asked him to send the detector back and it took a long time for him to respond back so after many attempts at trying to get in touch with him, I contacted the BBB and filed a report.
After this, he no longer responded back to me and after 1 year he still has the MD20 that I shipped to him and he no longer answers my emails. To potential buyers, BEWARE of this company. The probe has been the weak point of this detector and the problem has never been addressed. I want my MD20 back but he will not respond back to my requests. I shouldn't have to contact the police to get him to return my product.
Max Depth: 2 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Kevin from
Canada
100
Handy thing to have around.
October 21, 2014
I have lots of birds and got this after freaking out about a missing
staple. My thoughts went to: Did somebody eat it? Should I take 20 birds to
the vet for xrays? Everybody looked fine, so I found this gadget on the
internet and purchased it. BTW I found the staple, on a table, after
ordering the md20.
Anyway, even though there is a bit of a learning curve and I didn't get any instructions, this detector has helped me many times around the house. Including checking a pvc trap, from the outside, for a missing metal object. That would have been a yucky job otherwise. Though it's very pricey for a household metal detector, the sensitivity is phenomenal. You can actually detect the iron in your blood. If you have one of these, adjust the sensitivity and place it near a major artery... You'll hear a beep. Since I don't use it often, I can't comment on the battery life. I've had it a few years and changed the batteries once. I gave it 5 stars for durability, however I don't bang it around a lot so I can't really comment.
If it came with easy instructions, I would have given it 5 stars overall.
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
The Crazy Bird Lady from
Illinois
34
The best of two
May 25, 2014
I used to own the old MD10 and I will tell anyone that would listen that
its the best thing going in the detection of fine gold and very fine gold
as in DUST. Now I had that detector right after they introduced and used it
on a dry claim for about three years and never had a real problem with it,
I knew as I went from one area to another that the settings would change
but it is not hard to reset or set up this detector.
Now here we are about 12 years later and I have bought my second MD20 and I have found out that adjusting it to run well is just as easy as the old style and if anything I have found out that it is more sensitive than the MD10 I have used it around the Deadwood area and it has done well and now I will turn it lose on a claim that I own in Rockerville there the gold is mostly DUST and small particles so it will be exciting to see if it does as well as its old partner the WD10.
This is truly the best in the locating of fine gold and those of us who have spent a day or so looking for gold know that there is more fine gold dust than there is nuggets. This and a Minelab make a pair of detectors that can not be beat by the others they rate Hands Down as a number 1 choice in Gold Detection.
Max Depth: 4 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
D.G. Bailey from
BH South Dakota
51
Unstable setting
June 17, 2013
I have not long received a new falcon MD 20 I have found it to be very
unstable, you get the setting right then they seem to alter without
adjusting, it does pick up small pieces of gold if the setting could be set
and locked in would be a better unit.
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Len Redenbach from
Broadford Australia
56
Miner
March 30, 2012
Unbelievable . . . this is a great product. when I first got it I ran the
probe over some blond sand concentrate I had that I knew had gold bingo it
detected it. I set both the setting at 12:30 when running screenings and
down to -50 100. depending on were I am mining the setting change. my wife
made me a chest holster out of a blue jean pants leg, with elastic straps.
looks like a radio vest that wild land fire fighters use or a real small
front baby caring thing
Overall Rating
Dennis janka from
Miles city montana
208
Knob adjustment fix
October 27, 2010
I love mine. I also had a problem with the knobs being too easy to bump off
setting. I tried the trick suggested by Falcon and used 2 fat 1/4 O-Rings I
got from ACE Hardware .49 each, put them under the knobs. Great Fix
Overall Rating
Mike Wilkins from
Mt. Home, Wyoming
826