g2 at the beach

[rollie29]

Firstly, I want to thank Steve who has been imparting some of his G2 knowledge with me as a new user. If any of you have been using in the wet/dry sand, I would appreciate and tips/advice. I took my first swing (no pun intended) at it yesterday and I just didn't quite feel comfortable. The G2 is unlike any other machine I've owned previously. Firstly, should I be balancing the machine down close the water if I'm wet sanding? It seemed like when I GB closer to the top of the wet sand the machine would start falsing as I neared the ocean. Is anybody finding that the gain is too high at 12 o'clock in the wet sand. I think if I had a $1 for every bottle cap I located I would be rich. Unfortunately, the beaches I hit have more newer caps than old rusty ones so it's a challenge not to want to dig them in case I miss something good.

 

[sgoss66]

Sure thing Rollie. I know there are guys here who have used the G2/Gold Bugs at the beach with success, so I'm hoping you'll get some good help.

Steve

 

[amberjack]

hi Rollie

great machine in the dry sand deep on coins and no problems with falsing on dry sand wet sand you can run it but shallow like 1 or 2 inches which wont find you much these machines are not made for wet sand hunting dry sand it kicks butt wet sand i don't use it brought a PI machine for that they are made for wet sand and if you by one get a big scoop they told me, sure sure i thought until i used it wow get a big scoop.

i don't think i would be upsetting anyone with my input here about wet sand and the gold bug pro/ G2 as that's not what its made for. its made to find super small gold that the big PI machines miss i.e minelabs so one day will try that out, but as you can see many people use it for parks, dry sand beaches relic hunting. and it works great for those things wet sand no.

keep digging those bottle tops disc at 40 on the dry sand dig everything and soon you will start to understand what the bug is telling you, as Steve will keep reminding me didn't you say it hits hard on round things and it does!!

i been using it in parks new for me but getting better at it but those flattened aluminium tops still get me but am digging less of them, what i keep reminding myself is this is a machine it doesn't have emotions so i need to look at the facts it tells me and not my wishful thinking like if there are signs its a cap it probably is but i want it to be a coin so i get down to look and its a cap then i have to learn a little bit more about the machine and what its telling me, nothing like using energy to learn fast i also learn a little bit more about me and my hunting style and personality and i think this is a bigger learning curve that learning the machine learning about me and how i respond to no targets around or heaps of targets around funny how a machine can teach me about me??

so in short greatest machine for everything except wet sand which isn't bad for the money it comes everywhere with me

have found heaps of coins on the beach and silver rings and a gold ring in the park!

my advice would be go out and have fun only ever a swing away from the jackpot and hunt everywhere but the wet sand otherwise you may get upset and stop hunting, dry sand, parks plenty on room to swing there?

wet sand get a whites surf duel field PI a dig everything depth monster. check here http://www.findmall.com/read.php?26,1465410 for wet sand using the PI

any other things i can help with just let me know? think about 1500 bucks your set up to go anywhere and find anything with the gold bug pro/ G2 and the whites PI they come with me everywhere

cheers AJ

 

[BH_Landstar_]

Hi Rollie,

You need to ground balance the G2 for dry sand and wet sand, when the detector starts to make a noise as you get closer to the water / wet sand you need to ground balance it. The same is true if you move from wet sand to dry, it needs to be re-balanced for the dry sand.

You should be able to run the G2 at full (90 - 100) on the gain setting without to much noise in DISC mode in the wet sand. If your running in All Metal Mode, depending on how much trash / iron there is, the G2 will sound off all the time, this is where you need to alter the threshold to make the G2 run as quite as possible, some like to hear a slight hum, others like to run silent.

All trial and error, but I can tell you this, the G2 and the Gold Bug Pro are ideal for Jewelry hunting on land and on the beach, and they are also killer units for coin hunting, better than my F5 is.

 

[BH_Landstar_]

amberjack, you must be doing somethng wrong with wet sand hunting, I've not had a problem with it, found coins as deep as 8" in the wet salt sand here on the coast of Maine ! BTW, this was in DISC mode with the gain at 100 and and a DISC setting for 42.

 

[Neil]

same here on the wet sand, no problems at all. I wish my F75 was as smooth/quiet.

I can run the sens all the way up in disc but need to turn it down a bit in all metal. I would ground balance it near the water for the wet sand and then again in dry sand as BH landstar suggests.

 

[amberjack]

what sort of ground balance numbers you get in the wet sand guys?

i need to punch deep in the wet sand here bug doesn't do it for me just my personal choice to run a pulse in the water and wet salt sand. i like to find gold and silver deep

where i am there is now way i can run 100 sense in wet sand not going to happen, not saying you cant there but no way i can it acts up no end must just be the down under conditions

 

[JimGilmore]

I would think that the gold bug may have trouble on calif, beaches especially Malibu in the wet areas When I've hunted there prior to owning the GB.,It has always had vast areas of black sand right on the surface.

 

[goldman55]

Here in Ohio i run the Gold Bug Pro along the river and side creeks, Their is a lot of black sand here in my county. I go to this spot were the sand collects in the bend its about 50% brown & 50% Black sand. I GB it, way i go run 80 sen and 30d in the dic mod runs great. The sand is always a little wet. Hope this helps you. I move were its dry, black dirt and sand & gravel then it will be wet have no problem. Maybe the beach is different wont know until June going to Florida on vacation. Also at the Park, Volley ball court sand was wet, and compacted hasn't been used since last year, found penny 11' down but i always GB in the sand from the grass.

 

[amberjack]

i don't think anyone is right or wrong here ??

we share our experience of what works for us??

i am not loyal to any one brand i buy what works for me, and i share my experience if any one wants it that's great if not that's great too! as long as i am happy with my choices what else is there?

well time to go learn some more!!

AJ

 

[John(Tx)]

I ground balance on the wet salt sand and have found dimes 6-8", no problem. John

 

[Neil]

what sort of ground balance numbers you get in the wet sand guys?

i need to punch deep in the wet sand here bug doesn't do it for me just my personal choice to run a pulse in the water and wet salt sand. i like to find gold and silver deep

where i am there is now way i can run 100 sense in wet sand not going to happen, not saying you cant there but no way i can it acts up no end must just be the down under conditions

I cant remember right now, I know its single digits on my F75. Im taking the G2 tomorrow to the ocean and will write it down to remember, Im still new to the G2. I havent found anything deep in the wet sand with it yet, might not have come across anything yet thats deep. I mostly hunt minelabs and also use a pulse(dual field) but Im hoping this G2 will give decent depth as its light as a feather and the sensitivity to small items is remarkable. It should be outstanding this summer for recent drops at least, might have to hunt the deeper stuff with something else?
different locations seem to give different results, I think your in Australia?

 

[JimGilmore]

Depth at the beach can change drastically.
I love outgoing tides that are creating cuts because they are removing much of the soft sand that has built up.
But sometimes the incoming tide will dump many inches right on all recent drops...

 

[amberjack]

yep in Australia Neil, i was ground balance .01 so it pretty much drove me crazy on the wet sand i use it for the dry sand works great there for me, i have to use the DF PI in the wet sand other wise i am pushin it up hill but i hope no body thinks i am bagging the bug i love it just use it where it works for me dry sand TOT lots parks.

 

[Furious T]

Hi, I dont have the G2, but have the Gold Bug Pro.I have used it at saltwater beaches a few times. The first couple of times I used it I stuck to the dry sand and was using it in disc. mode....I have the feeling that I didn't ground balance properly, but was still impressed with the finds I made. I then re=read the manual, made sure I was ground balancing properly, and used it in all metal mode, and I have used that mode ever since, at the beach. Bottle caps with the DD coil (large coil) are a nuisance, but I've found that most times, a bottle cap will give a varied reading on the scale (i.e. the cursor will jump around a bit). Sometimes it will only do it once or twice, and you have to be watching to catch the movement...other times it will jump every second swing or so....usually, with coins or rings it does not do that. I have moved from dry sand to wet without re=balancing, but I am sure that is a loss of depth, although I have still found targets in the wet sand. I am very happy with the depth reached in the dry sand (includes areas containing black sand) and have found coins which have been in the sand for some time, which leads me to the conclusion that they have been missed by others. I dont get to the beach very often, but from now on the Gold Bug is included as a "beach machine". Withe the light weight, it is very comfortable to swing for long periods. HH

 

[JimGilmore]

Anybody here used the gb/g-2 on southern california's black sand covers wet sand ?
Malibu has a lot of black sand so I'm wondering how it does?

 

[Neil]

same here on the wet sand, no problems at all. I wish my F75 was as smooth/quiet.

I can run the sens all the way up in disc but need to turn it down a bit in all metal. I would ground balance it near the water for the wet sand and then again in dry sand as BH landstar suggests.

Ok, just got back in from some wet sand hunting at the ocean. forgot to take some small gold to see how it would respond in the wet sand, will try to remember next time.

when I ground balanced down at the wettest part of the beach, where the waves are actually coming up on, that part of the beach I was ground balancing to a number of around 6. It varied from about 5 up to 8 but mostly hung in around 6 or 6.5.
go up 3 ft higher and I ground balanced out at 18, same thing, give a few numbers either way.
top of the wet sand where waves reach at high tide, mid 50s for ground balance.
dry sand it was in the 70s.
so thats the range I had here at this beach in NJ. This is in Seaside Heights.

detector quiet as can be in disc with sens all the way up, in all metal I had to reduce the sens a bit, to about 75%.

 

[amberjack]

Hey thanks Neil

its good info! and am sure will help plenty who want to use the bug in the wet sand i am down to .01 in the real wet sand anyway my bugs not for the wet sand i love my PI unit down there that's why i brought it 10 scoops latter out pops a nice ring or bracelet that's why i use the PI the bug cant do that, but its sure stayin in my kit bag and my go to detector in tot lots and hopefully i will get out and use the bug with 5in coil on the mullock heaps for some small bits of gold with the minelab as back up tesoro for big areas once i work it out i am happy now!!

4 detectors has me covered where ever i go not to bad really as i have many more fishing rods for catching different fish now i just have to work out how to detect and fish at the same time and heaven is close