Hand Dredge - Gold Mining Equipment (Hand Dredge + Spare Cups, Valves)

Good tool. The bucket is rather small. I would have preferred if it came with a lid that could snap onto a 5-gal bucket. I made one which works great. Also, because the hose is (too) short, and the bucket is small and light, the possibility of pulling the bucket over, is real.The bad news is that the top cap (which is made to be removable) is too loose and just falls off anytime I pull the suction plunger even a little bit. The friction from the plunger rod pulls it off. A threaded cap would be nice but I understand that sand, debris, and repeated removal would cause it to eventually fail. I have to use electrical tape on the tube to make the cap fit more tightly.

This really is a great hand dredge. However there are a few quirks. Logically the material bucket needs to be lower than the output from the hand dredge. When you are working a moving river, this can be a challenge. I was able to attach a rope around the material bucket to my waist to make it a one person setup. It somewhat works once you get used to having an anchor attached to your waist. The bucket should have some harness to accomplish this as I doubt my setup will last too long. There is an in-line screen that seems like it was glued together wrong and makes it unable to be put in place. Lastly, the main pipe seems to have black dye coming off of it, but I’m not really sure what started causing it to have a black residue all over it.Primed and working! Once the system is primed, the bucket is in a low spot, and the dredge is moving water…this hand dredge works like a champ! It moves a lot of material into the bucket.Overall, it’s a great system and well thought out. I’m concerned the hose will be brittle and crack soon and the bucket isn’t going to last long with a rope attached to it. Otherwise two people need to be working the process with one keeping the bucket from going wild.

The instructions were not clear and after a week of struggle and asking 4 different friends and relatives for help me figure it out I managed to assemble the thing and it works.

You won't be replacing your shovel with this. That said after you have dug as far as you can this is great for cleaning up your hole. I don't like leaving gold behind so u use thus for cleaning up the bedrock and those tight spots my shovel can't get to. My advice is don't use the inline screens and just use the tips. They already have pins in them that do the same thing. If it ever gets hard to pump you have a rock jammed in tip or the 90 elbow to bucket it, it's easy to remove them in seconds and makes a world of difference. Also when it's new you wave to soak it for at least 30 min for it to work really well after a couple uses that time drops to about a 5 Min soak.

Only 2 minutes into opening the box and I'm kinda pissed. Shame on me for not seeing the photo that says most of this whole assembly ISN'T included or the one short line in the description that says you have to buy most of the important parts yourself.I fully intended on having to assemble the whole thing as that's a great way (for me) to learn how it works to help diagnose problems in the future. I was NOT expecting to have to go on a scavenger hunt for parts that don't even seem to exist in "most hardware stores" as it claims. The whole reason I decided to drop $100 on this was so I didn't have to do that, because I don't have much free time to get to a store (instead of actually getting gold) and because I failed at an attempt to make one myself (with no real knowledge of how to in the first place).The time I already have invested on this trying to just price out or find the pieces needed has now exceeded the value of what I have purchased AND it's nowhere near being put to use to recoup any cost. The bucket is cheap and thin as expected, the hose is also extremely flimsy and the fitting to attach to the bucket lid already seems like it'll be a huge problem.I had high hopes for this but sadly have been disappointed before even getting to use it. I recommend either spending the extra 30-$40 to get the "whole thing" or just going a whole different route and saving time and aggravation.If and when I can get the missing pieces I will update in regards to functionality.

Item and dimensions are as pictured on Amazon. This pump has great suction and due to the various extra components your able to set it up in several configurations. The price seems a little steep but the manufacturer used good materials and assembled a really good product for gold prospecting and other uses as well.

Wasn’t bad for what it is, kept clogging up even with the attachments. Moves water well

I haven't had a chance to use it yet. So, I can't give an assessment of the product in real time application. I can say that it was easy to put together and it provided good suction and delivery, in a back yard test. I believe that it will make a difference in reaching hard to reach and clean out locations between rocks and under rocks where its difficult for me to go.