Any F19 owners formally or currently own a Gold Bug Pro?

[silverman]

I'm a coin hunter, and wanted to see if the F19 handles coins (especially silver) as well or better than a Gold Bug Pro (or G2). My specific questions are:

1. How do the depths compare? (Stock vs. Stock, or 5" vs 5")
2. Does the F19 find coins in iron as well as the GBP?
3. Is the audio on deep silver better (louder) on the F19?

Thanks!

 

[Tom Slick]

1. The same
2. Yes
3. No
That's what I think for whatever its worth.

 

[silverman]

Haha, short and sweet. I like it. Thanks for the information.

 

[Monte]

I also had a G2 since they were released and I borrowed it and a Fisher Gold Bug Pro. I used only the 5X10 DD and 5" DD coils. I mainly search older-use locations, generally abundant with trash, especially iron-based junk like nails, washers, rusty tin, etc. I parted with my G2 because I had other detectors in my arsenal that worked better in dense iron nail conditions, and while I hunt for anything of interest, I am mainly searching for older coins and trade tokens.

I'm a coin hunter, and wanted to see if the F19 handles coins (especially silver) as well or better than a Gold Bug Pro (or G2).

I found coins with the G2 I evaluated and posted a review on back in October of 2010. It worked fairly well in old house tear-down sites with a lot of metal debris, mostly smaller pieces, but in the end the G2 was at-its-best with the 5" DD coil that I left mounted, but in the nastiest of iron trash, it was no match for some models I already owned and used.

I was most let down by the poor performance on the higher-conductive targets, to include the better copper cents, and all clad and silver dimes and quarters. It was just a sub-par performer on silver coins, especially if modestly deep in some bad ground, even let's say at anything over 4".

My specific questions are:

1. How do the depths compare? (Stock vs. Stock, or 5" vs 5")

The F19 was very similar in depth.

2. Does the F19 find coins in iron as well as the GBP?

I didn't think the G2/Gold Bug Pro were that good in dense iron, but I did find the F-19 quite improved, even to the point where it gave reasonably good performance on my Nail Board Performance Test, which had an Indian Head 1¢ or silver 10¢ placed in the center of four iron nails that surround it. The G2/GBP usually got 1 good hit out of 8 possible responses, and the F19, using the exact same search coils produced 6 good responses on the coin. 6-out-of-8 is good performance on this tough iron nail condition field test.

3. Is the audio on deep silver better (louder) on the F19?

No. None of these models are what I call excellent, very good, or even just good on audio responses to 'deep' silver dimes and quarters. I don't have good hearing, but even with my White's Pro Star and Killer B 'Wasp' headphones, I certainly wouldn't use 'loud' to describe their response on deeper coins, especially higher-conductive metal types.

Monte

 

[silverman]

Wow,
Thanks for an amazing response Monte. I'm hunting a location that is without without question the worst iron trash I have ever experienced, but I pulled out a USA Calvary button, as seen in the whatzit forum, with my Etrac and a 6" coil. This was pretty much the only response I received all day, the rest was just nulling. I've tried the TTF on the Etrac, but all that audio drives me half crazy. I'm dying to see what else this place gives up, and being primarily a coin hunter, I'm not looking for relics, so I need something that hits well on high conductors. I'm hoping the new F75 with the FA mode will help on this situation, but my old F75 falsed on iron more than I liked, so I'm hoping this has improved. I'm just needing a deeper seeking detector with a fast response in iron, but can't afford a Deus, so looking for something close to its ability in iron .
Thanks again !

 

[Dertnc]

U have the machine that will do the job, but, you'll have to get used to the TTF mode . The Etrac will out perform the Deus in iron , there's a lot of people that will disagree with this but I've hunted many times side by side with people with the Deus and they just won't see what my Etrac will see in TTF, that said TTF is very hard to get used too and at times it still drives me nuts .

 

[silverman]

What coild do you prefer in heavy iron using TTF? Also, do you use fast on, deep off, low trash?
thanks

 

[Dertnc]

Sent you a PM

 

[michaelnc]

I have found that the G2 is awesome for deep higher conductive coins. I love the whisper signals that repeat as they let you know its a good deep target. The coin signals are so small and tight that they are unmistakable

 

[silverman]

What coil do you like in really bad iron trash? To make my mind up for sure, I pulled the trigger on an F19 today.

 

[mike5853]

I have found that the G2 is awesome for deep higher conductive coins. I love the whisper signals that repeat as they let you know its a good deep target. The coin signals are so small and tight that they are unmistakable

Remember, you can't fault a detectors performance if by design, being a 19kHz machine, the G2 will not hit high conductivity items like dimes, copper pennies, quarters, etc as hard as lower conductivity targets like gold, nickels, etc. With that in mind I still find it to be an excellent detector. The F19 has some additional features that make it an excellent choice as well. Also, keep in mind that 90% of coins and jewelry are only down 5 or 6 inches or so, so both will still do the job in parks and recreation areas, but remember, you will lose a little depth on the high end of the conductivity scale.

 

[silverman]

I've enjoyed your videos and posts for years. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

 

[2 Much Trash]

I have found that the G2 is awesome for deep higher conductive coins. I love the whisper signals that repeat as they let you know its a good deep target. The coin signals are so small and tight that they are unmistakable

Remember, you can't fault a detectors performance if by design, being a 19kHz machine, the G2 will not hit high conductivity items like dimes, copper pennies, quarters, etc as hard as lower conductivity targets like gold, nickels, etc. With that in mind I still find it to be an excellent detector. The F19 has some additional features that make it an excellent choice as well. Also, keep in mind that 90% of coins and jewelry are only down 5 or 6 inches or so, so both will still do the job in parks and recreation areas, but remember, you will lose a little depth on the high end of the conductivity scale.

Well stated Mike. That's why the f19 is marketed more toward the relic hunter. But on the same hand, there's been tons of coins found with a so called relic machine and tons of relics found with a so called coin detector

 

[silverman]

The reason I like the G2's, Gold Bugs, ect. for coins is that they tend to false in iron less than other machines I've used. I wish I found a lower kHz machine that sniffs out coins, but like I've mentioned, they false too much for me.

 

[mike5853]

The reason I like the G2's, Gold Bugs, ect. for coins is that they tend to false in iron less than other machines I've used. I wish I found a lower kHz machine that sniffs out coins, but like I've mentioned, they false too much for me.

Great point! It's cool when you hunt a site over and over and think it's all clean, then go back with a different detector and find additional targets. I guess there's no such thing as "hunted out".

 

[mike5853]

I have found that the G2 is awesome for deep higher conductive coins. I love the whisper signals that repeat as they let you know its a good deep target. The coin signals are so small and tight that they are unmistakable

Remember, you can't fault a detectors performance if by design, being a 19kHz machine, the G2 will not hit high conductivity items like dimes, copper pennies, quarters, etc as hard as lower conductivity targets like gold, nickels, etc. With that in mind I still find it to be an excellent detector. The F19 has some additional features that make it an excellent choice as well. Also, keep in mind that 90% of coins and jewelry are only down 5 or 6 inches or so, so both will still do the job in parks and recreation areas, but remember, you will lose a little depth on the high end of the conductivity scale.

Well stated Mike. That's why the f19 is marketed more toward the relic hunter. But on the same hand, there's been tons of coins found with a so called relic machine and tons of relics found with a so called coin detector

Yup. I have to get a '19. Looks like a pretty simple, cool machine.

 

[garrybk]

According to the manual,". While the F19 makes for a highly competent coinshooting
detector, its user interface and features are not specifically
designed for this purpose. As a coin-shooter, you will notice that the
F19 exhibits slightly lower sensitivity to high-conductivity coins,
like a U.S. quarter; this is a result of its specialized design to
emphasize sensitivity to smaller, lower conductivity metals like relics and
gold nuggets."

It does love dimes and nickles.

Garry

 

[woodchiphustler]

Higher frequencies no longer mean less response to high conductive metal. The deepest target so far was the Spanish one re ale on par depth wise with the deep buttons I dig. Besides VCO tone is just that. Deep sounds deep no matter the type of conductor.