Little worried about the GB2 depth

[wjbell]

I started to make up a poker chip with a picker glued to it like someone suggested and decided to drop it on the floor and test it. I ground balanced my machine to my floor and made sure there was no noise coming off the floor. Dropped the picker you see in my hand from the picture below and ran the GB2 over it. I had to get within an inch over that picker before there was even a faint change in signal. At 1 1/2 inches there was no indication of gold under the coil! Really? If this is an indication of the GB2's sensitivity I'm going to put this up for sale right now and look toward a PI. There must be something I'm doing wrong or something wrong with the machine. It's a controlled environment with a piece of gold under the coil at 1 1/2 inches and it doesn't see it. That's crazy... I could be wasting hours out and passing over gold that's less than 2" deep. Jesus christ...

[dutch john]

Gosh wjbell... Great photo!

The Gold Bug-2 is very sensitive to small pickers and that is one small picker... Under ideal conditions the 6.5 eliptical coil could be able to "beep" it. But the most likely at 1.5 inches the 10-inch eliptical would be pressed to beep it...

Now a quick question.. how did you ground balance the GB-2 to the floor?, and what were the other settings... and do you know the weight of the picker?

[wjbell]

Gosh wjbell... Great photo!

The Gold Bug-2 is very sensitive to small pickers and that is one small picker... Under ideal conditions the 6.5 eliptical coil could be able to "beep" it. But the most likely at 1.5 inches the 10-inch eliptical would be pressed to beep it...

Now a quick question.. how did you ground balance the GB-2 to the floor?, and what were the other settings... and do you know the weight of the picker?

John, thanks for the reply.

I ground balanced it to the floor like I would ground balance it anywhere. Bounce it up and down off of the surface roughly from 1/2" to 4". If you hear it change on the downstroke, you need to adjust. If you hear it change on the upstroke, you need to adjust. When you don't hear any change, it's balanced.

The other settings were the two toggles were at normal and sensitivity was at 5. (tried the sens at all levels)

Now I've heard people talk about the GB2 picking up gold the size of a pinhead. So I'm a little bothered by the fact that I spent almost 500 bucks for a machine that can't even signal you when you wave a piece of gold big enough to pick up with your fingers underneath the coil at 1 1/2 inches. It actually detects the salt in my hand before that picker. If I was looking for salt I'd love this thing!

And I don't know the weight. I could weight it if needed. But the way I see it, if it's big enough to pick up with your fingers ANY detector should recognize it from 1 1/2 inches with nothing but air between them.

Oh, and I have the 4x6 coil, the small one.

[Sean.C]

There's a good chance even a GPX 5000 wouldn't be able to pick that up. A Whites TDI wouldn't. There's a reason its called nugget shooting and not flake shooting. You wouldn't do any better on that size gold even with a Minelab PI. Does that piece of gold even register on a scale? It might be frustrating to you but you are looking at the lower limit on size that any detector is capable of detecting. Stick with it and set your sights on slightly larger gold. If you find some really tiny pieces consider it a bonus

[JimGilmore]

There's a good chance even a GPX 5000 wouldn't be able to pick that up. A Whites TDI wouldn't. There's a reason its called nugget shooting and not flake shooting. You wouldn't do any better on that size gold even with a Minelab PI. Does that piece of gold even register on a scale? It might be frustrating to you but you are looking at the lower limit on size that any detector is capable of detecting. Stick with it and set your sights on slightly larger gold. If you find some really tiny pieces consider it a bonus

There is one detector guaranteed to detect that but the name eludes me at the moment.but you would be crawling across the desert floor using it. I has like a 1/2 inch coil and is like 6 inches long...

[sawmill]

The Gold Bug should hear that picker

easy. My GM3 would pick that up at two

or three inches ,so would a GMT.

Try it outside on the ground. If you

can pick it up with your fingers the

gold bug will hear it in the ground.

A 4000 or 4500 would hear that picker,

with a NF 14'' E mono. Testing a detector

on a floor is not a good idea.

[Huego 1]

If you are "ground" balancing on a concrete floor it probably has reinforced steel mesh through it. If ground balancing on a wooden floor it is probably near nails. Either way these could be desensitising the detector.

That "picker" to me looks like its between 50 and 100 mg (0.05 to 0.10 g) so should be near the lower test limit.

Let us know how you go on a retest.

Cheers, Huego

[frank c]

Get the HE!% OUT of the BUILDING, Go outdoors away from any building or steel or aluminum sheds and do you testing NEVER INDOORS. My GMT will hit on that easily like Sawmill said, and the Fisher Gold bugs should also.

[wjbell]

Ok thanks guys. I'll do some test today after work outside and see. I still think it should pick it up at a couple inches while the coil is in the air and the gold is in my hand.

[LuckyLundy]

wjbell,

You have the correct coil to find that size of gold and much smaller. Everyone is correct test it outside of any building. Sounds like your ground balancing correctly. You can hunt with your Sensitivity in a higher number, make sure your Volume is maxed out, and that you have a little sound with your Threshold. Then check your test picker in Normal and then flip it down to Boost to test it again and then up to Disc. You have a great machine for them little guys and there is a learning curve to any detector. Your well on your way...if that don't work you can drive over to my house and I'll show you how to run it.

LuckyLundy

[wjbell]

wjbell,

You have the correct coil to find that size of gold and much smaller. Everyone is correct test it outside of any building. Sounds like your ground balancing correctly. You can hunt with your Sensitivity in a higher number, make sure your Volume is maxed out, and that you have a little sound with your Threshold. Then check your test picker in Normal and then flip it down to Boost to test it again and then up to Disc. You have a great machine for them little guys and there is a learning curve to any detector. Your well on your way...if that don't work you can drive over to my house and I'll show you how to run it.

LuckyLundy

Thanks Lucky, and I appreciate the help offer!

Now one thing, the earbuds I bought don't have a volume control. But they are very loud. I actually have to put the volume of the detector on 1. I've heard max your volume on the detector and use a volume control on your headphones. Does maxing the volume on the detector allow a wider range of frequencies to come through or something? It seems like I can hear everything the way I'm doing it now but let me know.

[El Dorado]

Thanks Lucky, and I appreciate the help offer!

Now one thing, the earbuds I bought don't have a volume control. But they are very loud. I actually have to put the volume of the detector on 1. I've heard max your volume on the detector and use a volume control on your headphones. Does maxing the volume on the detector allow a wider range of frequencies to come through or something? It seems like I can hear everything the way I'm doing it now but let me know.

You cannot max volume with headphones, max volume is for the internal speaker.......

[LuckyLundy]

wjbell,

I'm kind of hard of hearing, so I run my GB2 volume very high. I'm thinking your Threshold is your problem, either you have it to high or no sound at all. Your Threshold sound can very, but you'll want it running/humming just loud enough to pickup the different sounds of the ground you are detecting. Don't test your little test picker in your hand, your GB2 will pickup the salt in your hand/body and give you a signal. Use your plstic scoop or that poker chip test. Wish you luck!

LuckyLundy

[Reno Chris]

The overall weight of the piece of gold is actually very important when it comes to detector response. Since the photo is blurry, I have no idea if this gold is paper thin or an eighth of an inch thick. If its paper thin, 1.5 inches is about the right depth. If it has some good thickness, then you should be able to detect it deeper.

Threshold – the threshold needs to be set at a point where you can hear it. Not loudly, but as Lucky says soft but loud enough to hear when the threshold changes.

Ground balance – ground balancing near metal reduces the performance of your detector. Tape a small nail to your coil, ground balance and then try detecting! You’ll find your detector hardly works at all. So you need to ground balance over a clean, trash free spot with no metal nearby. With all the nails in the walls, etc. you can’t find a place like that indoors.

Earbuds – these may not give a good enough performance. I know its hot out but over the ear headphones block out the outside noise which can both district you can cover up gold sounds. Remember you are listening for those faint targets. Targets that scream are usually bullets or some other form of trash.

Finding gold with a metal detector aint an easy walk in the park. In another post I mentioned to you that in old hydraulic sites you need to be either on bedrock (looking for little pieces that got embedded into the partings in the rock) or in shallow gravels only a few inches thick. The GB is not a detector for hunting big nuggets buried under 2 foot thick gravels. If you do come on a thicker layer of gravel that’s gold bearing, you take all you can off the top, then scrape off about an inch and a half, redetect and get all you can, scrape off another inch and a half, detect again and repeat until you reach bedrock. Check out: http://www.akmining.com/mine/jour162.htm

Chris

[Digger Bob]

WJ - I'm going to be up in La Porte this Saturday if you can make it up there I can show you how to set the machine up and what to look for in a hydraulic pit.

Your machine should have no problem picking that up at a couple inches. And I have found them that small with my Minelab 3500 AND my TDI. Not deep, but they will pick them up just fine with the right loop and settings. Yes, even bird shot with my TDI. Your GB should zip good on that.

PM me or email me if you want to meet up on Sat.

Digger Bob

[JimGilmore]

Hello Chris. Just a question. While he is listening for the softer changes in signal and bullets will be louder. If he were to go over a 1 ounce nugget would it be soft or loud ?

I've never hit one so I have no point of reference here. I use the gmt and have found a few small pickers with it.

[wjbell]

WJ - I'm going to be up in La Porte this Saturday if you can make it up there I can show you how to set the machine up and what to look for in a hydraulic pit.

Your machine should have no problem picking that up at a couple inches. And I have found them that small with my Minelab 3500 AND my TDI. Not deep, but they will pick them up just fine with the right loop and settings. Yes, even bird shot with my TDI. Your GB should zip good on that.

PM me or email me if you want to meet up on Sat.

Digger Bob

I tried to PM you but it said you can't receive any new messages.

Edit: just emailed you.

[Sean.C]

WJ - I'm going to be up in La Porte this Saturday if you can make it up there I can show you how to set the machine up and what to look for in a hydraulic pit.

Your machine should have no problem picking that up at a couple inches. And I have found them that small with my Minelab 3500 AND my TDI. Not deep, but they will pick them up just fine with the right loop and settings. Yes, even bird shot with my TDI. Your GB should zip good on that.

PM me or email me if you want to meet up on Sat.

Digger Bob

Bob, just curious, but are you using a smaller loop on your TDI to pick up birdshot? I have a few 0.1 dwt pickers and none of them will sound off with the stock 12" dual field coil.

[Digger Bob]

Bob, just curious, but are you using a smaller loop on your TDI to pick up birdshot? I have a few 0.1 dwt pickers and none of them will sound off with the stock 12" dual field coil.

I have actually gotten bird shot with all the loops I have; the stock, the Jimmy, and the Digger. Mind you, they weren't much of a signal and were surface targets. I usually use more gain that most, 3/4 to max, depending. You have to be moving slowly and listening carefully. Pinpointing and recovery can be a chore too with the larger loops.

But it can be done if the conditions are right and the machine set up right. Here's a pic of a couple small ones I got with the stock loop. I don't have one of the smallest one found but it was smaller than these.

Digger