Fisherfinder
Member
[size=large]Original Gold Bug[/size]
[size=medium]I would like to learn more about the Original Gold Bug.
Does anyone have any stories, advise, or tips on using this classic machine?[/size]
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Original Gold Bug
- Thread starter Fisherfinder
- Start date
[size=medium]I would like to learn more about the Original Gold Bug.
Does anyone have any stories, advise, or tips on using this classic machine?[/size]
steve herschbach
New member
Sweet detector, a real breakthrough in the day, especially for the physical design. It may have been the first nugget detector to come with the now standard elliptical coil. My best Gold Bug story was me having and quite proud of my new Gold Bug 2. I ran into a very hot bedrock area where it refused to ground balance. So I left that spot to hunt ground that was not as mineralized. My sister goes in with her original Gold Bug, and it easily handled the ground. You could get a good ground balance on almost anything with the old Bug. In any case, she finds a 7 pennyweight nugget in the area I walked away from. Proof more sensitive is not always better.
Really, the only problem with the old Gold Bug is no iron discrimination. You dig everything. A small coil is a must for it to get better hits on small nuggets. If I ever find one in pristine condition at a good price I may pick it up. It really is a classic detector.
Steve Herschbach
Really, the only problem with the old Gold Bug is no iron discrimination. You dig everything. A small coil is a must for it to get better hits on small nuggets. If I ever find one in pristine condition at a good price I may pick it up. It really is a classic detector.
Steve Herschbach
Fisherfinder
Member
[size=medium]Thanks so much Steve
I feel that a person is well prepared if they have an Original Gold Bug and a Gold Bug II
With the original bug being a 19Khz machine and the GB II being a 71Khz machine you are covered for different conditions and nugget size.
I heard that the GB II will give a signal on a piece of gold as small as the head of a pin.
The smallest gold nugget ever found with a metal detector is the size of the peroid at the end of this sentence.
[/size]
I feel that a person is well prepared if they have an Original Gold Bug and a Gold Bug II
With the original bug being a 19Khz machine and the GB II being a 71Khz machine you are covered for different conditions and nugget size.
I heard that the GB II will give a signal on a piece of gold as small as the head of a pin.
The smallest gold nugget ever found with a metal detector is the size of the peroid at the end of this sentence.
[/size]
steve herschbach
New member
Nostalgia tends to kick in. When I get my hands on an old Gold Bug I will be surprised if there is any reason I would prefer using it compared to the new 19 kHz Gold Bug Pro. The Pro is lighter and offers ferrous discrimination. The Gold Bug Pro is hotter than the old Gold Bug so the only interesting area of comparison would be on how the two units compare in very hot ground and on hot rocks. If I recall correctly the old Gold Bug had an exceptional ground balance range.
Steve Herschbach
Steve Herschbach
Fisherfinder
Member
[size=medium]Yes Steve it does
It has a 2 stage "16 turn Ground Balance"
It would be interesting to see a side by side comparitive test of some of the classics vs. some of the new wonder machines.[/size]
It has a 2 stage "16 turn Ground Balance"
It would be interesting to see a side by side comparitive test of some of the classics vs. some of the new wonder machines.[/size]
Ed in SoDak
Member
I have one, bought new in the early 1990's. It sits pretty much unused for many years now. My wife and I did give it a lot of use till we upgraded to something with discrimination and more importantly, target ID. The lack of any iron ID finally did me in, but it handled our bad ground no problem. It does work well as a meteorite detector, since it will signal on the low-iron stonys with a null signal and everyone knows how well it loves iron. 
-Ed
-Ed