Three Fishers and a Minelab

[steve herschbach]

Winter refuses to go away in Alaska (it is snowing right now!) but spring will come sooner or later. I head off prospecting June 15th for the summer. Good old fashioned stuff, just shovel, pick, sluice, and rocker box. Plus some 21st century technology. I will be relying on my detectors a lot this summer.

Four units that shade from one end to the other with a little overlap just in case. From top to bottom:

1. Gold Bug 2 with 6.5" coil. This will be for detecting bedrock cleaning up the tiny bits.
2. Gold Bug Pro with 10" x 5" DD coil and 11" x 8" DD coils. General purpose tailings detecting.
3. F75 Special Edition with 13" DD coil and 11" DD coil. General purpose tailings detecting.
4. Minelab GPX 5000 with 8", 11", 16" and 18" mono coils. The "big gun"! For use anywhere there is not too much junk.

The Gold Bug Pro and F75 are redundant. For most people the Gold Bug Pro is the way to go. But I get a tiny edge with the F75 on larger gold in tailing piles and I like the large target id that pops up on the screen while in all metal mode compared to the tiny indicator on the Gold Bug Pro. The Pro is a tad hotter on small gold than the F75. The bottom line is I could narrow it down to three machines by leaving the F75 behind but can't quite bring myself to do that. The machine has been too good to me so it goes along and I will be using it for much of my detecting.

Now if summer would just arrive in Alaska. Only a few more weeks to go!

Steve Herschbach

 

[Robert2300]

Are you going to settle for taking JUST ONE of those detectors?
Have you used the AT Gold ever in your prospecting?
Robert2300

 

[steve herschbach]

Why settle?

Yes, I have used the AT Gold. http://www.findmall.com/read.php?27,1750412,1769238#msg-1769238

 

[surfman]

I'm jealous, very jealous. Good luck prospecting this summer. Something I've always wanted to do. Joe

 

[hershey1]

Good luck Steve. Looks like you are armed very well for gold. Keep us posted. Don't forget to eat your veggies. HH

 

[Bryan V]

Steve have you tried a 13" DD on the Gold Bug Pro?
I have the 5" and 5 x 10 and thinking about adding the Detech 13" DD.
I'm just not sure what kind of gain I would get out of it.

 

[Robert2300]

I misspelled Seattle and wrote settle. Stupid.
Robert2300 -)

 

[D&P-OR]

Yeah Steve--and don't do like Sierra did and pull one of those nuggies out of your shirt pocket & swallow it thinking it was a vitamin tablet. ------BTW, great looking arsenal! ---------Del

Good luck Steve. Looks like you are armed very well for gold. Keep us posted. Don't forget to eat your veggies. HH

 

[steve herschbach]

Yes I have. It adds a small amount of depth on larger targets like 1/4 oz nuggets or larger. Unfortunately those are few and far between, and it screws the balance of the machine up too much for the benefit in my opinion and so I prefer the 11" DD as the larger coil on the GBP. I do like the 13" on my F75 however. The underarm battery pod acts as an offset to the coil weight and so it balances a bit better on the F75.

If you do not have the 11" DD then it is a lot tougher question. Then the 13" may be a good way to go for you, as long as you have a strong arm. The 13" coil is very light for sure, again, just a balance issue.

 

[steve herschbach]

It is interesting when looking a a summer of nugget detecting in diverse locations as to what I want to take when it gets right down to it. I thought a lot about taking a White's GMT in place of the three Fishers, as it would do pretty much what they would do in one unit and get me down to two detectors. In the end it came down to the GMT itself weighing a pound more on my arm, and the 14" coil also being heavier than I like. I wish White's would slim the GMT down. I am still kind of mulling that one over.

Eventually I am going to pick up a detector for use with a mask and snorkel sniping creek bottoms and am leaning Garrett Infinium right now. But I am putting that off until fall hoping something newer appears.

 

[steve herschbach]

I have had a fantastic year so far. Two months of detecting in Alaska got me a pile of gold, and more to come I hope down south. But having these four detectors along day in and day out did focus my thoughts on what gets used. And the F75 did indeed prove to be redundant. The Gold Bug Pro did the job well and what it might lack in the tiniest way on large gold versus the F75 in some ground it makes up for in superior overall gold capability. That, and it lacks all the extra bells and whistles I do not need on the F75 and is far more resistant to EMI (electro magnetic interference). The kicker is the new 6" x 10" DD for the Gold Bug Pro. I just love that coil. So I sold my F75. It was a good detector that made me many good finds, but for what I do I am comfortable on just keeping the Gold Bug Pro. The only thing I will really miss is the big target id numbers the F75 displays on the meter while in all metal mode.

So now I am down to the Gold Bug 2, Gold Bug Pro, and GPX 5000 as my prospecting package. But I am looking to add a waterproof machine for mask and snorkel sniping. It was down to AT Gold if I went VLF but I am leaning PI so was going Infinium. But now I am holding out for the new Garrett PI which will hit the market soon.

 

[HaroldILL.]

What no Whites GMT? They have an awesome iron grunt!

 

[steve herschbach]

Great detector, I really like the GMT. I almost picked another one up recently, but again, given what I already have, it would be a bit redundant. If Whites would shave a pound off the GMT I would be more interested.

 

[dirtmaster]

The Whites M6 is a truly powerful sleeper detector. Reminds me of the simplicity of the CZs