New to the game and thinking of buying a detector to combine a bit of prospecting with some hiking. so have been looking around. (confusing!)
I saw that Aliexpress were selling a ‘Fisher Goldbug Pro’ at a reduced price. Looking at the info on site I noticed in amongst the details given they had it was a ‘High copy’. This is pretty misleading advertising if it’s not a genuine Fisher. (the images shown looked like an original Fisher)
Anyone had any experience of these ‘copy’ detectors?
Thanks for any advice.
There’s a genuine 2nd hand one for sale on here if you search it should come up.
Don’t buy it, you’d regret it the performance just isn’t there of a real one. Buy yourself an Equinox rather than mess around with older model detectors with less performance.
Thanks for the replies.
Will keep looking - but price is a consideration too!
I see the Minelab GoFind 66 is collapsible which would be useful for carrying in a pack. Any opinion on these?
Hey mate, I’m the person selling the goldbug on here. I can hand in heart say it’s the most sensitive detector I’ve owned and that includes Minelab Vanquish multi frequency machine that I’ve had. It’s in great condition if your interested.
I have a go find 44 and it’s handy in some ways but I never use it. for gold detecting you want something that runs at a high KHZ.
Don’t waste your time with the go-find, it won’t cut the mustard for gold prospecting. A Fisher gold bug would be OK, but personally I would get either a Minelab Gold Monster 1000, or a Minelab Equinox 800. Do a search of this forum and you’ll find that each has its pros and cons. Other Paydirt members have had success with both of these machines. Buying new gets you a warranty, and if you decide the hobby isn’t for you, resale value will still be good. Good luck!
Id pay off the gold bug much quicker than an equinox. If someone is on a budget then the gold bug will definitely find them gold. And it’s reasonably useful for land based coin hunting. I should know, I’ve been running a the same gold bug ever since I started detecting 10 years ago!
Yes, I have two Gold Bug Pro’s and a Gold Bug 2. The Gold Bug Pro will find some gold, as will most detectors with 12kHz or higher frequency, it’s just no match for higher frequency detectors, especially on smaller gold. It’s certainly not a match for the Equinox, Gold Bug 2, or GM1000 on gold. On coins the GB2 and GM1000 are obviously useless. The Equinox is good at everything.
The Gold Bug Pro is a reasonable coin detector, especially with the Detech Ultimate coil, picks up coins petty deep with reasonable ID’s, still not a match for the Equinox though.
I’d avoid the Go-Find, I have one too, it has no Target ID’s so useless for coin hunting unless you love digging a lot and it’s frequency is too low to be any good for gold. The Gold Bug is MUCH better than the Go-Find and is a good detector.
I’d say if someone can afford an Equinox 600 or 800 get that, if they don’t want to spend that much the Gold Bug would do the job, but beware of fakes, they’re everywhere and certainly don’t buy one off Aliexpress or Ebay. Fakes.
If price is the limiting factor a used genuine Gold Bug with small coil is reasonably good on gold and with a bigger coil for open areas decent on coins and jewellery and the small coil for junky areas but keep in mind the Gold Bug is a very old model, and re-released as a Bounty Hunter (Fishers entry level brand) as a Time Ranger Pro which has more features (the features of the Fisher F19) and a cheaper price. All three detectors are the same detector with the F19 coming out later as a better Gold Bug Pro and then later again the Time Ranger Pro came out as an entry level detector which is in fact a rebranded F19.
https://www.amazon.com/Bounty-Hunter-Detector-Waterproof-Searchcoil/dp/B085S5WC58
So rather than buying a second hand Gold Bug I’d buy a new Time Ranger and get the newer model with back light, notching and so on if I was insisting on buying that line of detector.
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Thanks again for all the replies and advice. The Equinox looks good but maybe a bit pricey for me starting out. The Time Ranger Pro looks reasonably priced with some useful features and decent reviews, so I’ll probably be giving that a shot.
Gold Monster 1000 then. Loves bedrock gold 
JW 
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The gold Bug will not even come close to looking at the gold that the Equinox and Gold Monster 1000 will find. I have all three and find that the Equinox is too fiddly though my son prefers it.
To a dummy like me the Gold Monster is a winner. I pointed out one spot to a member of Paydirt to go to and he got 15 grams with the Gold Monster…in fact it was because I was so impressed with his that I got the Equinox and the Gold Monster.
I paid off the Gold Monster in one day - I kid you not.
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That is because there is gold all over your place. You don’t even need a detector. You trip over it & stub your toe on the bloody stuff. 
JW 
Cant be - someone on this forum told everyone that there is no gold on my place and I tend to believe him - hes convinced me!
They were Henrys painted pebbles - you know the ones on the mantlepiece. There were two of those bottles and someone actually believed it was gold and stole a bottle…in Latin ‘Moronicus fuckwitus retardus’
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That bloody Henry has a lot to answer for. 
Blame everything on Henry. I was staying with him last week. The fish and chips down there are far better than Dunedins fish and shit which are cooked in rancid fat!
But then no fish and chips are anywhere as nice as those at Manuka fish and chip shop in Glenfield on the North Shore.
I thought the fish & chips you got at Tairua were good.
You are going to be jellyarse of me. When I was up north I got a couple of drill core samples from the Martha Mine. One has amethyst through it with a vug of crystals. 
JW