New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

I dont know which is best steve..but if you are wanting to hunt GOLD..and coins/relics then you wont go wrong with the Fisher goldbug...i know guys down in central otago that have them for gold hunting and do very very well with them...and i had one for 7 months here in CHCH for coin relic hunting and have found plenty of silver coins and rings as well as a few silver bangles and 2 9ct gold rings..also alot of diff badges and buttons and older coins..and of course the newer coins such as the 1 and 2 dollar coins...

HI STEVE If you are thinking of bringing any detector back to NZ ask the seller or shop owner what warranty there is on it. Can it be fixed in NZ or do you have to send it back to UK MINELAB are a AUSSIE DETECTORS ALSO THEY ARE PULSE INDUCTSION // P/I made for gold more so than coin detecting These detectors start as SD2000 up to SD2200v2 appox $2000 AU ////GP 3000 ///$2000 to 2800 then GPX 4000///GPX5000 which is top of the line at $62500 If you are buying off Ebay in Aussie or Trade me in NZ make sure you buy from some one who has a warranty and i cannot stress more so that there are alot of dodgey seller out there If buying in aussie allways buy from a aurthoisd mine lab shop ///Watch out for cheap copies from china at cheap prices donot be temped ex kiwi living in AU

But if you have money nothing will beat a decent minelab detector. In the meantime a gold bug will have to do for me!

It is perhaps favoured by people like myself. In an area where the gravels and soils carry little mineralisation and we dont have a great deal of spare money. If you got to an area with a lot of black sand or a lot of mineralisation such as magnetite in the rock the gold bug will pretty qickly begin to struggle. In fact even the x-terra and other Vlfs that are produced will have problems in these areas. This is what the new PI machines are able to cope with, coupled with that they also get much better depth. The other side of the coin is a modern PI machine is probably 10 times the price of a gold bug. So if you dont have the money for a PI then you will be limited to gold that is buried less than 20cm deep (unless its large) and has to be in an area where a sufficiently low amount of interference comes from the rock/blacksand. If you have the money (which I don't) get yourself a PI and with it all the deeper gold that the gold bugs miss and all the gold that is in areas with too much mineralisation. Of course detector capability has to be multplied by operator skill and dedication. Swing a detector regardless of model in the wrong places and you wont get anything. Just my views.

yup i know yours is designed for gold also...lol..and i saw your first 8 grams you found with it when robert and i were down at the rock and mineral show in dunedin..lol...and i think that is were you and i arnt talking about the same machine....you and i and graham all have the same goldbugs...... i am talking about the one that has no digital readout and is made only for gold...no discrimination on it..just an iron switch that you flick off and a thresh hold knob on the back and robert sells for 1135.....totally diff machine from what you and i have..lol...and has been around for many many many many years..lol....they havent changed the design of the goldbug 2 since it came out because of it's ability and popularity in the fields...
here is a link to the one i am talking about..lol http://www.fisherlab.com...bug-2-metal-detector.htm