A little more testing with my Cabelas Gold Bug 3

[azsh07]

I returned the original one I bought as it was not quite what i wanted for prospecting.

Between then and now my wife and I have decided to move back to NH ( where we moved from 3 years ago). With this change the GoldBug has some applications I want to use it for.

I know the rumors that the new Gold Bug PRo is going to be different...but I have heard that before with the F5 and F70 series and well...hogwash...never seen a difference. Well....the first F5 I had from cabelas was a disaster but that was a first series release and it was defective.

Now I am not saying there is or is not going to be a difference...i don't actually know...and certainly Fisher would not say anything to me...so believe what you want. I am not concerned with what may or may not be different between the two.

Now I want to make a short video as it will shake you up a bit to see what this machine does compared to an F75 LTD. It was rumored that Fisher had leaked out that it was testing as hot as an F75...yah well..................?

I have a Nikon D5000 DSLR camera and it has a 5 minute HD video capality and I may try to do a youtube with the F75LTD and the Goldbug3 side by side....kinda spooky.

Now I don't have a larger coil yet...going to order an 11DD frm Kellyco tomorrow for the Ohmega series and test it.

But I will say this. I have several coins in my test garden here in Arizona. Pretty much standard stuff, a silver dime at 7", a quarter at 10" , an indian head at 5" another at 7" and a wheatie at around 8.5".
Soil is about 82 on both machines and the iron only lghts up a couple bars...nothing too tough...failry moderate soil numbers that i have seen in the Nodtheast and even in Va ( well accept for Manassas....ughh...hideous red clay).

Well with the 5" coil on the Bug and 5" coil on the F75 LTD...it was a bit weird to see the Bug hit deeper than the F75 in DE mode ( sens at 90, disc at 4, 2 tones)...and dare I say ( Dare..Dare)...a bit stronger hit than the F75 LTD did even in BP mode.
Was not expecting that....oh the Bug was max sens...not much chatter...the F75 LTD at 90 was a bit chattery.

I could hit the 7" dime, the two indian heads, could not hit the quarter at all with either machine but duh...with a 5" coil. The Wheatie was iffy on both and nothing you could discern from noise...but hey 8-8.5" with a 5" coil....kinda pushing your luck a bit.

Now I had suspected this was going to happen...just had to be sure again.
I will be interested to see what happens with the 11" Ohmega DD.....hope the darn thing works. I tired the f75'S 11"dd on the Bug and it would etect fine but the GB was always positive so you could not use it in the field.

If I can get my hands on a GB PRo when they come out I would be interested to see any differences. I know they say they are going to fix the hotrock issue but for 99% of people you would not have any issues. only those that live in places like AZ and then only in places where the bedrock is hot hot hot....and loaded with hotrocks.

Gotta go and figure out how to shoot a video with my Nikon and then how to do a youtube post.
Sure wish i was back east now...just not any real relic hunting here.
scott

 

[azsh07]

I forgot the first time I tested this.
The ID meter on the GB3 is alot more expanded on the lower range..meaning it has more resolution between iron and gold. This is rather obvious since it was designed for gold prospecting. But it is nice for those who liked the T2 better as it had way more resolution on the iron end.
So for those civil war relic guys they may find a use for that feature.
Also, when in true all metal mode it does ID the target in the top meter which is a set of three bars that travels around the upper scale. The middle VDI numbers are used for current ground phase so are not useable for VDI in all metal. They change in Disc to a VDI number but in all metal they display ground phase.
Last...it is a alot more stable machine than the LTD...alot less chatter. I hope this holds up in relic hunting although...I am in the city and EMI is pretty rough here and can drive my LTD nuts but the GB# is very quiet!!!
scott

 

[Jessgo33]

That sounds cool. How do you think it will do in Nor-california along a stream. Its sounds like it will find nice nuggets in soil around 4-5 inches deep.

 

[Shenandoah Digger]

Great report Scott. I live in Manassas so we'll see how it'll do here. Fisher says the Omega DD will fit it. I have an Omega with the DD, so I'll have to see how it does on the Gold Bug when I get it.

 

[azsh07]

I would be all over it for nugget hunting in moderate soil. I have not been able to get up to our north country yet as e had alot of snow...but I would expect it to do great up there. The soil is not bad and the hotrocks are not crazy like down here in the desert.
It really was very close to the GBII for small nugget accept for those micro nuggets...it lost a bit to the GBII in that area....like those smaller than a grain or so. But to me...i do not want to chase that small stuff...I could drywash and get that stuff easier than picking one and two out at a time.
scott

 

[azsh07]

I ordered a 11"DD today...should be here midweek (nextweek) kinda stoked to see how it does compared to the F75 LTD. I hope to get the Fisher dealer version too and see if there really is any difference between the two.

 

[Jessgo33]

Yea same here, I don't want to chace stuff to small that I can't roll it around. I wan't to find some big stuff. I have never owned a detector, and started prospecting for fun last year. Iv seen the old gold bug on you tube and that thing rocks. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Jessgo33]

Let me know about the 11 inch coil for the gold bug. I went slucing yesterday and found some nice color and had a blast. Jess

 

[azsh07]

my 11" should be here tomorrow I hope.

 

[Jessgo33]

Im still waiting for the new gold bug, their are so many rumers about it. I even herd that the price is going to rice to like 650 plus.

 

[rick in mi]

Just talked to my local dealer today,he says they should be in the 500.00 dollar range.Got my name on the first one in!!! Still cant find solid info on the diff. between dealer gb3 or cabbella,basspro etc.I dont think there the same.

 

[azsh07]

Well the question is..if there is a difference...is it noticeable. I know they wanted to address the hotrock issue I reported....but that would only affect a person using it in places very similar to Arizona.
I am going to try a Gold Bug Pro from Bill and see if there is any differences a user can tell.
scott

 

[rick in mi]

You are absolutly right scott,and the hot rock issue shouldnt effect me in michigan.Let us now what you find out.

 

[willy]

Do either of these detectors retain their settings when the power is turned off and/or battery removed? ..willy.

 

[azsh07]

n/t