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Here in Washington, in the off season we have size restrictions on sluices. I really wanted the larger River sluice but I would have had to cut some wood and plug a couple riffles on the bottom end to stay even with the law. Then I would probably have to listen to DNR goofs tell me I was still out of compliance so I chose the one that there was no question about.

The sluice is very light weight. Running the A52 and this one is a whole different world. Also one less trip to the car lol. This really impressed me but I was still worried some.  And I found out there was a learning curve to setting up the lightweight sluice in fast water.

Being used to the A52 which seldom needed anything to hold it in place and usually just leveler rocks underneath, the stream sluice required 4 points of wedge on the edges, 2 on each end to keep it down and level. Again I ran it in fast water, so if it was going to catch gold at all it was getting a work out.

5 min into the feed I saw a large flat golden flake half the size of a dime bounce across the riffles and out the tail end. And of course with the speed needed to catch a fly in mid air my hand automatically slapped onto the sand pile at the end and brought up a handful of sand. There it was. Tiny gold piece of candy wrapper.....  So I decided to just chill out and run my cons later lol. 

I pulled the sluice 3 times to collect cons. Once after the 1/4" screened material, and again after 2 buckets each of 5 gal 1/8" material. I was absolutely thrilled each time with a pan or two of water collecting everything in a bucket in about a minutes time. Pull flush and back into the river and set in the stones so fast it was amazing. In reality the end results told me I dont have to pull it ever, till I go home. It can actually work all day and not lose anything, unlike the A52 which fills with dense material and loses its riffle action on this part of the river. Does OK in other places though.

These are drop riffle sluices. One piece mold, and no extra parts or mat to mess with. The Stream model has 3 V shaped inspection drop riffles. Designed to flush to the next set and reveal any pickers or fine build up. Then it transitions to 3 wide drop riffles to catch any larger chunks that bounce down that far and pull any small gold down. Then it follows up with 7 more narrower drop riffles so none of the flour exits the tail end.

Even with all that to be honest, I was very skeptical it could catch flour gold on the river, under the conditions I described in the bucket classifier review.  I have the bucket concentrator and it works incredibly well catching 98 or 99% of all flour down to many times below 100 mesh. But that is under very controlled conditions of angle and flow rates. Not in a river full of variable sometimes violent flow and bouncing rocks and boulders in the heavy rains.

I finished up the test holes in the bench and found it to be barren. So I dropped down to finish the point of the bar which I was sure was also barren but wanted to get it off my mind and done with. That is the material for this whole test.

And here we can see it has no problem at all capturing even the finest gold from nearly barren material. with -100mesh and smaller in the final pan:

http://www.goldprospectorsspace.com/photo/march10?xg_source=activity

Was I happy with it? Very much so. If I had the chance to run my A52 and this one side by side I wouldn't own an A52. Now that this one is in the picture the A52 doesnt have any place anymore till I get dredge gear and some floats and even then I think this drop riffle design may end up getting pop riveted onto a dredge frame instead of the A52. Makes a lot more sense to add a live hydraulic trap and punch plate to this one and let the rocks just slide across the drop riffles, than trying to pack a couple hundred pounds of dredge around. Thank God the world is changing and tech is making a difference.

The one mod I intend on doing is holes in one side flange for a shoulder strap with snap clips. Not sure its needed, but if I have my hands full it might help.

Dollar for dollar this sluice is clearly the best money I have spent for river equipment. Very pleased, once I got past the learning curve. There isnt any turning back at this point.

The "stream" model here:

http://www.casluicebox.com/SLUICE-BOXES.html

As always this is a purchase made with my own money and the sole decision is mine. I dont call up and talk to salesmen. I look over the specs and click if im interested. When I try it, its either good or bad. No one has any control over my real world reviews but myself.