Not many gold panners around Bladeforums it seems. Let me give a quick rundown of the pans I chose, and an initial impression of each. I've run a dozen pans of material through each of these.
The sample material is a mix of stones and clay-silt that gets thick and muddy when wet, and is full of black sand (magnetite). The only gold present is tiny microscopic pieces - visible with a 10X hand lens. Some pans probably do better or worse with different raw material, but this stuff seems like an appropriate challenge.
Name of each pan, initial impression, and stock photo:
10" Jobe, dark gray. Bought this one for my son to use, since a 14" pan would be unwieldy and too heavy. It's easy to spot the gold flecks against the dark gray but the black sand is somewhat disguised. Doesn't hold much material, so I wouldn't recommend this size for normal use. There are only two ridges, but they are nice and sharply undercut. The bottom of the pan has a small drop, which I like.
Gold Grabber, blue. This is a rectangular pan with ripples on one end. The ripples are undercut more than any other pan on this list. Makes it easier to trap heavy material, but more difficult to clean. The bottom has a deep 1/2" drop, plenty of room for collecting black sand. Not digging this one, guys. Just feels awkward. It does seem to pour off large rocks easier than the round pans.
Trinity Bowl. Wanting to try something more complicated and fancy, I picked a blue one of these. It's not horrible as far as black sand recovery, but I have a few gripes about the design. I like the idea of a recessed "gold trap" area, but the small grooves fill with thick mud, and are difficult to clean out. I would like the sluice strip better if it were wider.
Garrett Gravity Trap, 14". From online reading, this seems to be the most common and well-known pan on the market. Ordinary, but perfectly functional. There are three riffles on one side that are deep with sharp edges, but not aggressively undercut. The bottom of the pan has a 1/4" drop, but with a rounded edge. Of the pans tried, this one also has the largest and most rounded rim, more comfortable to hold. I like this one and recommend it based on my limited experience.
14" ProLine Professional, blue. This one might be my favorite. It has six large riffles on one side that are sharply undercut - I'm reasonably confident no heavy material slips past these. The blue color is the best contrast for not only tiny yellow flakes but for the black sand as well - you gotta keep an eye on this stuff. Unfortunately the bottom doesn't have a drop (which might be an advantage if using for finish work), and the rim isn't as comfortable as the Garrett.
A couple of other items purchased:
Garrett plastic classifier. This has a 7/16" plastic screen to sample out the largest rocks before panning. It's made to slip over a 5 gallon pickle bucket, and I rinse the caught rocks with water to remove any material that might be stuck to those rocks. I'm not convinced this tool is necessary since large rocks are easily picked out out of a gold pan, but it might save some time especially if working with material that includes a lot of 1" or larger rocks.
Falcon Finishing Pan. Not used for the same thing as the above pans, so cannot be compared directly. I use this at the kitchen table for final removing of blond sand, and to separate the gold flakes from the black sand. The Falcon pan has tiny grooves, smaller than grooves on a 45 record, on the entire interior surface to help hold micro-materials in place. This is a great tool, and I wouldn't finish with any of the other pans. It's made from thinner less flexible material, and not designed for rugged outdoor use.
To summarize, to get panning as simply and inexpensively as possible, just buy a 14" ProLine pan and a Falcon finishing pan for a combined cost of around $20.
So I haven't gotten to try, and have no intention of doing so, every gold pan on the market. There are a few I'd like to give a whirl though, namely the Keene, the le Trap (another square pan), and the Roaring Camp Gold Saver.
