Gold Bug Pro - Thoughts on S.E.F. DD coils

[NeoTokyo]

Heya everyone;

I have been looking to upgrade the stock 5" coil that came on my Gold Bug Pro to something deeper as I dont mind digging for what others have missed.
Ray (TrinityAu) helped me out by letting me know to go with one of the larger elliptical coils that Fisher sells (Thanks Ray ) but I saw something on youtube that has me interested.

Now I will be grabbing one of he larger elliptical's but I wanted to see what you guys thought about this coil.

It is a SEF 12X15" DD coil.

Sure it may be great for relics but what about nugget shooting?

Here is a video of it, they claim up to 30% more depth over the 11" DP coil.

 

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[Oakview2]

I would defer to they guy who has more success and more beep'n time on a gold pro than anybody in the state... Looks like a good coil, and I am sure it has a place in your arsenal, but you have such a good resource, I would sure run it by him... JMHO

 

[trinityau]

Hey Neo, the coil that I told you about, 10 inch eliptical, is the only other coil that I would use on the GB Pro if you are detecting for gold. Coins, relics, that is a different thing. The Bug is my only weapon for shallow ground and exposed bedrock. This goes for tiny crumbs to larger nuggets. I have found crumbs to four inches and a six dwt nugget at twelve inches. The six just happened to be on its belly. If you are wanting to get the in between then you need to have two detectors and one should be a PI. You will not cover all ground effectively without both a VLF and PI. I have heard all the talk about the new 5000 and the tiny pieces people are are starting to find with it and I would say that these people need to learn how to operate a detector. I have been finding grainers and smaller with my 3000 and a eight inch coil for years. I am sure that the 5000 has many improvements over my unit but to me that is not one of them. This is just my opinion. You must learn your machine, VLF or PI. I will also tell you that almost all the gold I have detected over the years in the Clear Creek area could have been found with a VLF. In fact much of that gold was found with a GBII, Eureka Gold, and Tesoro. I am now using the GB Pro because it a very good VLF with newer technology. I am finding more gold again because the discrimination works and this unit will punch through mineralization better than what I had before. However...

However, I still go over some ground with the PI. There has been a long standing argument that a VLF will hear some stuff that a PI will not. I am not a technician but I have put from fifteen hours a week to over forty hours a week for the last twenty or so years on the units mentioned above. Yes a VLF will hear some nuggets on edge better, will hear some specimen pieces in quartz better, will hear some irregular shaped pieces better and will find sub-grain gold better. The break is that my PI will find a few sub-grainers that are extremely shallow but will go twenty or so inches on a two dwt nugget in hot ground that my bug cannot come close to.

One other item is that when you get used to a coil and then change it out you are basically starting all over as far as what you are hearing. I have been doing this a long time and I really like to get the optimum coil for the job and stay with it for this reason. I prefer a seventeen inch eliptical mono on my 3000. It is surprising how many tiny pieces I hear at depth with that thing. Some people may disagree but you will get a different signal when changing coils. The response time may be slower or quicker and there is a difference.

Another item is headphones, when using headphones you are going to get a distorted signal opposed to not using headphones. I dont care what anyone says you have to have a good set of headphones that suits your individual hearing. Yes, you want a quality set of headphones that offers all the good stuff and you will pay for that quality but you better make sure you have the ears to hear it otherwise it is doing you no good whatsoever.

I would stick to the five inch coil and listen to it, it does work, it was optimized for the GB Pro. Enough of my whining today, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[trinityau]

Hello all, I have to apologise as I reread my post from this morning. It has been edited to read "Enough of my whining today".TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

It had read enough of whining today, implying someone else was whining. I am sorry if anyone took this wrong as I take myself as a whiner if I talk too much on any one subject. Again I am sorry fellows, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[NeoTokyo]

Thanks Ray, I would have liked to talk to you over the phone but this weather kills my service (Boost Mobile) and I couldnt get through to ya, heck my service is spotty on a clear day. heh

One of the reasons that I am looking at another coil is because I would like to buy another Gold Bug for my wife, that way we can have two different coils to hunt with but I would like the larger one for the deeper stuff as she does not like to dig as much.

The headphones that I have are awesome, tones really cleared up well for me when I used them.
My hearing was damaged slightly from a couple jobs and hobbies (Loud Cars) that I have had. I worked for Solo Cup for years and they would give us hearing tests every 6 months, over the years that I worked there my hearing went down quite a bit, even with hearing protection.

With the headphones I found deeper, smaller targets, still not gold but I knew that I was doing better.

It sucks to be 30 and ask people "What" all the time.


Ray I value your input greatly but I see that something happened this morning, I did not see the original post but I want to say that if I have annoyed you or rubbed you the wrong way some how, I am sorry.

 

[trinityau]

No Eric, you did not do anything. I read the post again this afternoon and did not write it the way I wanted to say it this morning, thats why the apology to all above. I just meant that I was whining and going on. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[NeoTokyo]

Thats good to know, I had hoped that I didnt do anything wrong.

We have all said something that sent a different message than we were trying to project, its no big deal.

So back to coils!

Why not the 14" fisher coil over the 10"?

 

[Hoser John]

Call fisher, like Todd did ,and talk to them

 

[nuggetshooter323]

I've seen people use the SEF coils for relics and coins, but not for gold. It might work, but if it doesn't work well on small gold your stuck with it. I have heard they really stabilize your GB and allow you to get deeper targets.

 

[trinityau]

I would stick to the five inch coil and listen to it, it does work, it was optimized for the GB Pro. As light as the GB Pro is you will lose the great balance of that unit with a big coil. As stated in my other post, if you are after it all, then you need to get a PI along with the GB Pro. That larger coil is not going to help you at all. The sounds on the big coil opposed to the sounds from the five inch coil are DRAMATIC. If you are not ready to purchase some sort of PI then look at getting another GB Pro. You already know the GB Pro works. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[Gravelwasher]

Thanks for all the helpful info you post Ray and Lanny. Have followed your threads for a long time and finally picked up a detector (GP3000) no gold with it yet but still learning the unit. The difference between coils is noticeable, I switched from the stock 11" rnd to a 11x17 walleby coil and it made a big change, the larger coil seems more stable and less chatty. Drop me a line if you guys ever make it to the Placerville area.

 

[Ca70]

I dont want to hi-jack this . But..I stumbled on this thread. Im happy to see others still singing praises of the GP3000. I love mine. Upgraded it , Gold button , Li-ion batts , Screamer amp.. Its hard to justify the $5500 +/- price for a unit I hunt with, next to with others with the 5000, and keep up with just fine, or better.

As stated in previous reply , guys are learning their detectors. It can take alot of field time to really understand what it is trying to tell you. That will out do any coil or upgrade in the short-term. Each time you put on a new coil, it really is a new learning curve. You are so right about that. Every time a new GP came out I held back thinking "i'm still learning 'this' unit. That following season finds went up. Hard to justify starting from almost scratch.

I have the Wallaby DD 11x17 . It's a great coil very stable. Stick with it . It will put gold in you pocket. The 8" ML round mono has been my biggest producer since I've had the 3000. ( 7 years ) I started using the NF Advantage 14" elip' mono this past year. So far so good. very very stable. Giddy stable .

Nonetheless , I had to chime in .
I run whites , tesoro, fisher and minelab. But it's fun to see guys still digging great targets with the "old" 3000.

My Gold Bug has lots of miles on it . It's kinda beat up, but runs fine .Maybe time for the Pro, maybe.

The only SEF coil I own is the 15 x 18 for the MXT. Once I learned it ,it pokes deep, with good separation. Cant comment on the GB version.

Good thread.

Btw 'Gravelwasher' My pop lives in Camino, I do get up there time to time. Im usually in Plumas NF.

 

[Unknownroad]

I've seen people use the SEF coils for relics and coins, but not for gold. It might work, but if it doesn't work well on small gold your stuck with it. I have heard they really stabilize your GB and allow you to get deeper targets.

Apologies for resurrecting this old thread, but I am debating between the 13" ultimate coil or the 15" SEF coil for my Gold Bug to use for gold jewelry hunting on some beaches that are not trashy. Why would the 15" SEF not work well for gold? would the 13" be better?

 

[Featherdfishead]

Welcome to the Forum Unknownroad. I'd look at the NEL coil line at Colonial Detectors - there very well built coils and have 2 yr warranty. If CalGolds not dead from the killer gold zombie virus he may chime in. I know he's used all the different coils and would agree the NELS are the best around and priced great.

AjR

 

[Unknownroad]

Thank you, Feather! Wow that adds another option to the mix...

 

[Unknownroad]

Those NEL coils have some great reviews, I think I am definitely going that route! Now I just need to decide between the Big 15x17 vs. the Attack 15" NEL coil... like I was saying, gold jewelry hunting at the beach. I wonder what the depth difference is between the Big and the Attack...

 

[meMiner]

I am only guessing, but suspect the depth would be about the same, but the sweep with the extra 17" would be wider and pinpointing a touch more difficult.