Gold Bug Pro (GBP) - Lessons Learned at the Beach

[berryman]

I've had my GBP for about three weeks now and have been to the beach with it several times. Here are a few of the lessons I've learned so far -

1. I get better depth with the 11" eliptical DD coil here on my SoCal beaches than I do with the 5" x 10" coil.
2. I get better depth searching in all metal mode than I do searching in discrimation (relic) mode.
3. When hunting in all metal mode, I use the VDI numbers (instead of sound) to distinguish between good and bad targets.
4. VDI numbers for good targets are higher when hunting in relic mode than they are when hunting in all metal mode (e.g., a quarter registers in the mid-80's in the relic mode but in the mid-50's in the all metal mode).
5. When encountering a lot of falsing, don't forget to turn down the sensitivity level (e.g., reducing the sensitivity level from 100 to say 80 or below often eliminates most of the falsing thereby enabling me to locate targets I couldn't hear before because of all of the noise).
6. Re-ground balance often, especially when going from the dry to the damp or to the wet.
7. When VDI numbers jump around alot, the target is almost always trash.
8. Carry a pro-pointer and/or use a scoop with smaller mesh. Otherwise you run the risk of loosing some of the smaller jewelry items you'll now be finding with your GBP.

 

[Tom Slick]

Berryman, When you say "Relic" mode, do you mean Discriminate mode?

 

[berryman]

Yes, I meant discriminate mode. I'd seen others refer to the discriminate mode on the GBP as the relic mode and thought that most other GBP owners would identify with that term. However, per usual, it looks like my assumption was incorrect.

 

[Tom Slick]

Your assumption was probably correct, just some of us are rather dense.

 

[tabman]

Berryman those are some great lessons learned. Thanks for sharing.

I wished they would have the same ID numbers in both the discriminate and all metal mode like the Omega has.

The Gold Bug Pro and G2 have great audio modulation and is a great tool to use to help ID targets.

A lesson that I have learned is if the audio modulation is really weak and the numbers are in the high range and bouncy ----- Dig, because it's usually a deep good target breaking up!

On the other hand, if the audio modulation is strong and the numbers are in the high range and bouncy ---- Don't dig, because it's usually trash.

tabman

 

[j piddle]

I've had my GBP for about three weeks now and have been to the beach with it several times. Here are a few of the lessons I've learned so far -

1. I get better depth with the 11" eliptical DD coil here on my SoCal beaches than I do with the 5" x 10" coil.
2. I get better depth searching in all metal mode than I do searching in discrimation (relic) mode.
3. When hunting in all metal mode, I use the VDI numbers (instead of sound) to distinguish between good and bad targets.
4. VDI numbers for good targets are higher when hunting in relic mode than they are when hunting in all metal mode (e.g., a quarter registers in the mid-80's in the relic mode but in the mid-50's in the all metal mode).
5. When encountering a lot of falsing, don't forget to turn down the sensitivity level (e.g., reducing the sensitivity level from 100 to say 80 or below often eliminates most of the falsing thereby enabling me to locate targets I couldn't hear before because of all of the noise).
6. Re-ground balance often, especially when going from the dry to the damp or to the wet.
7. When VDI numbers jump around alot, the target is almost always trash.
8. Carry a pro-pointer and/or use a scoop with smaller mesh. Otherwise you run the risk of loosing some of the smaller jewelry items you'll now be finding with your GBP.

I have not had my GBP long so this is from a newbie for sure.
#4 on your list raises a question on my part. When in all metal the numbers that would otherwise repesent vdi numbers in disc. are really ground phase numbers which can reflect the type target also but are not really vdi numbers.If you look at the graph above the numbers you should see that the graph hash marks give the same reading as the vdi numbers in disc. mode.
I guess my only real point is that if you run in all metal and the diffrence between the vdi and ground phase numers confuse you which would be two diffrent set of numbers to try and rember just look at the graph and you get the same reading as you would in disc.

If i am mistaken in this someone please let me know.
thanks

 

[berryman]

Your observation is correct. My statements in #4 were incorrect.