Gold Bug Pro, First Impressions

[Smudge]

Ok, I took my Gold Bug Pro to a flea market area that's been in use for years and I have permission to hunt. It always produces several good finds every time I go.

I have been metal detecting for a couple of years now. Not long enough to be expert, but I've used enough machines to gather a pretty good feel for their strengths and weaknesses.

I believe the Gold Bug Pro, when used in certain environments, is an outstanding detector. In other environments, it can become a nightmare of a machine very quickly.

This is not an insult to the detector. Remember it was designed to hunt gold nuggets down to the size of a BB. The fact that it be used in other applications, like relic hunting, is gravy.

With its dual processors and lightning quick recovery, this detector will lock on to metal targets harder than any machine I've ever seen. This detector definitely does what it was deisgned to do: find the smallest pieces of metal.

But taking a super sensitive detector like the Gold Bug Pro, even with its small coil, into a trashy environment like this flea market, and you will exhaust yourself digging every single bottlecap (some you can identify, many you cannot), ketchup package, piece of foil, piece of tin, piece of can slaw...you get the picture. This is with the detector properly ground balanced and the discrimination set at 40.

If its metal, this detector will find it and will lock on, giving you numbers that hardly waiver. If there's gold jewelry in the ground, it WILL find it. But you might might end up digging so much trash in the process you'll become exhausted first, especially in high trash areas.

Again, I am absolutely not knocking this detector AT ALL. In cleaner ground, or in relic hunting, I can easily see how this machine will excel.

Also, I'm looking forward to taking it to the beach to do some jewelry hunting, where the digging is easy, and with a long handled scoop, even easier. Reports are that it handles the wet salt sand very well when properly balanced. I can't wait to find out! I think this detector will do excellent there, and I also have the bigger 11" coil to help.

If I ever get the chance to go relic hunting, this machine is coming with me, no question.

But if I ever go hunting an area I know or suspect will be trashy, I'm bringing a backup detector because this is the one area where the Gold Bug Pro does not excel.

No one detector can work well everywhere, no one detector does it all.

The Gold Bug Pro has its place in my arsenal of detectors and I'm glad its there. For some applications, I know this machine is just what I've been looking for.

 

[autopilot42]

I usually relic hunt due to the area I live in. I find the GB to be very effective even with the 11dd coil. I usually set my disc to 27 to knock out most nails and then listen for high peeps in between the iron grunts. You have to dig alot of iron but that is part of the game. I do only have the F5 and the F2 to compare it too but it does a better job. One of the bullets I dug last time out stayed high on the GB where the F5 would fall off to iron using the d2 setting compared side by side in the field. Would I have dug with either machine, yes I would have. The GB can hold a tighter TID on deeper targets and that helps a little bit. I also had an 11dd on the F5 not the stock coil. I have great finds with both machines and they compliment each other. Since I live near the Atlantic I have had both in dry and wet sand and they both balance down to salt and run fairly smooth. If I had a choice over the GB or the F5 I would pick the GB due to its better sensitivity, and low emi interference. If I was to coin hunt might go with the F5. Some of the old house sites I hunt every time you swing the coil it sounds like a machine gun due to all the iron and trash in the ground and it seems to separate abit better than the F5 with a little faster recovery. This could be just me but that is what I have found. I do like the audio on the GB with everything under the six inch mark with a strong return, it helps get my attention and investigate more. When I go to the beach this summer again I will take both and see how they due but you definitely loose small gold on both machines when your Ground phase is below 15 and you can test that even with an air test. I guess that is why the CZ series and the PI's do better.

Take Care
Bob

 

[sgoss66]

Hey smudge -- nice write-up.

I'd like to add one idea, though. You said that taking the GB Pro to a "trashy" site may not be a good idea, and I fully understand what you are saying...bits of aluminum, copper, lead, etc. hit very hard on the machine. BUT -- I wanted to add a nuance, and that is to say that IF your "trashy" site is "trashed" with bits of HIGHER-CONDUCTIVITY (i.e. non-ferrous) metals, then you make a great point. BUT -- if your "trashy" site is "trashed" with IRON -- then give the GB Pro a shot. It is so good at discrimination, that you can easily disc. out the IRON trash. It does a very nice job in IRON trash, picking out the non-ferrous targets from the ferrous trash (though -- I fully agree, if your trash is small bits of non-ferrous trash, you will fill a pouch full of that little stuff!) Just adding a nuance, to say that if you have an iron-trashed spot, don't write the GB Pro/G2 off, until you give it a chance!

Steve

 

[Smudge]

Steve, thank you for the clarification.

Yes, the GB Pro does wonders on iron trash.

It is high conductivity trashy sites that creates the problem.

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

Yes maybe it does but since I ran it over several different coins first to get an idea of their target ID numbers and in the manual it says what some coins will ring in on the ID number as I find because of the extremely fast seperation speed due to the dual processors that even with the 11"dd coil on I can still sniff out the coins from the trash due to locking on pretty good to those ID numbers and not jumping around like some machines do.

I with my G2 in the trash in a small nearby park down the street from me was able to pull out the coins without digging much trash at all.
Now I will try going back soon sometime and digging some of the other ID numbers in the 40's and 60's and low 70"s and see what's left there.
Nothing real deep mostly 6" or less there. Once in a while you'll find an 8" deep target but not too often.