Every video I watched said the same thing: the pick is the one tool you don’t skimp on. That bit of gold is always just out of reach, and a decent pick is the difference between prising it out and walking straight past it. I went for the Longreach — at 92cm it’s the longest Walco makes — because at my age I’d rather not bend down any more than I have to. I’ll flex my back for an actual nugget, not for every rock.
What sold me was the steel. It’s Bisalloy — high-strength Australian steel, built to take a beating and shrug it off. Buy cheap, buy twice, and a pick that blunts on day one is no pick at all. I grabbed the short Walco as well, for the close-in work where bending isn’t optional.
I haven’t swung it in anger yet — that’s what August is for. But it looks like it came straight out of Minecraft, which makes it the one bit of kit my grandsons fully approve of.