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Date Posted: 16:08:24 03/11/02 Mon
Author: Steve Herschbach
Subject: Here goes...
In reply to: Clint/Idaho 's message, "Fisher Gold Strike, anyone want to give an honest opinion?" on 07:00:12 03/11/02 Mon

Hi All,

Well, in celebration of the forum being back I might as well throw in my two cents worth on the Gold Strike. For reference, I currently own a Gold Bug, Gold Bug 2, GMT, and SD2200D and a pile of coils. I've used various other makes and models in the past.

You should also know I'm a multi-line dealer. It's a wonder, as I say things about all the brands that seem to keep me in hot water with them. All I can say is that when I give my opinions they are as a user, not a dealer.

This opinion is based on bench testing and a black sand filled test tub. So I'm not going to offer a definitive answer until I get to use the Gold Strike more in the field. Still waiting for the snow to melt here in Alaska! I did use one in the field for a short while just before snowfall, so this is not all theory.

The simplest way I can express my feelings about the Gold Strike is that it feels like a nugget detector designed by a coin hunter. Imagine a guy that never has used other nugget hunters, but has used top end coin detectors building a nugget detector. The Gold Strike would be the result.

I'm not saying that is good or bad. But the way the machine acts compared to other units is dramatically different.

First, the real intent is for the machine to operate without a threshold. This could be a real boon, theoretically. You just go along until the machine goes beep, and you dig up the nugget. Think Gold Bug in Motion Mode or Gold Bug 2 in iron id mode.

You can get a threshold with the detector, but if you do you introduce problems.

The threshold control really is not. They should have called it a "target response" control. If the detector is giving spurious signals, you are to set this control more negative to eliminate the false signals. My tests and those of people I have communicated with indicate the detector runs well at high sensitivity settings and with the "threshold" set as low as -40 or -50.

One oddity is that you adjust the "threshold" lower by hitting the up arrow on the pad. Fisher insists this denotes "increasing negative numbers"! So if you are wanting to get an actual threshold noise, you have to push the down arrow to get "decreasing negative numbers". Confused? I was... it just seems backwards and the explanation seems like one of those "this bug is a feature" things.

So I decided the way to look at it is - hitting the up arrow increases the signal strength a target must have to get an audio response. Hitting the down arrow decreases this "target response" point until eventually you can hear a threshold noise.

Hopefully that makes sense, because here is where I have an issue with the Gold Strike. Most of us who have nugget hunted for awhile have come to see threshold not as an evil but as the way the detector communicates with us. Not just about the gold, but variations in the threshold tell us what the ground is doing. Any serious nuggetshooter is hunting by ear. What the machine sees electronically is most or less faithfully reported to you directly.

But on the Gold Strike the signal is processed before you get to hear it. The signal goes to the processor. The machine tries to determine if the target is gold or not. If not, you get a nice single low tone signal very much like a nugget would sound like on a regular Gold Bug.

If the target is deemed to be gold (or non-ferrous metal) you get the low tone followed by a higher tone beep. My first thought on hearing that was - "Wait a second, hot rocks and nails double bleep"! Not with the Gold Strike. "Zip-Zip" means iron or hot rock. "Zip-Bleep" means gold!

And so part three. The "threshold" or target response control lowers the level at which these "Zip-Bleeps" occur. If I set for an actual threshold tone, I got "Zip-Bleeps" on practically everything. Black sand soil bleeped every few inches. Hot rocks bleeped. The only way to get rid of the bleeps is to "raise" the negative "threshold" setting in combination with finding the right sensitivity setting.

It remains to be seen how well this all works in practice. But I am concerned that the circuitry tends to fire off and bleep when it should not. It's very much like using a Fisher CZ-5. Either no sound, or the "bad sound" or a "good sound".

Now, this may be the absolute greatest thing for someone used to coin detecting, with no preconceptions about nugget hunting. But I've grown to like the threshold tone and what it tells me. It "talks" to me. And I found not having it disturbing.

Maybe with enough field use I could change my old habits and learn to trust the machine more. In some areas it may really be fantastic. Just walk along and wait for the "Zip-Bleep". Headphones become less an issue, as you are not listening for faint variations in signal.

Notice I am not talking about depth or iron id performance here. Frankly, I think that is secondary to what I am talking about. It is a "feel" issue for me more than anything. The Gold Strike does not feel like any other nugget detector I've ever laid hands on.

Again, this may be good or bad depending on your point of view. I'll leave it up to you.

As far as depth, the Gold Strike gets very good depth on larger nuggets, in line with what you would expect from a 30 kHz unit. It will no doubt get lots of debate over which units are better. It certainly out-performs a Gold Bug 2 for depth on larger gold in mineralized soil. But I do not look for it to make me sell my SD2200D. It seems more in line with what my XT17000 did on larger gold.

On small gold it does better than one would expect of a 30 kHz unit. Very close to the Gold Bug 2... but I still think my Gold Bug 2 holds the edge. Maybe that is just my experience with the Gold Bug 2 talking versus my inexperience with the Gold Strike. Frankly, it's not a giant issue with me. What seems more important is that Fisher seems to have struck a good balance between larger deep gold and shallower small gold performance.

But will this prove to be so in hot rock infested ground? I do not know... yet.

The iron id seems fine but unremarkable. The GMT offers more information in a friendlier format.

Finally, the packaging of the Gold Strike is vastly superior to the GMT in my opinion. Optional rod, hip, or chest mount. But it seems a step down from the Gold Bug 2. Larger and with the battery access lids covered by the handle plate. It's a CZ-7x series box and rod assembly. The faceplate appears to have no waterproofing at all, unfortunately. Turn on the backlight in dim lighting, and you can see light around the edges of the faceplate.

Making control adjustments requires multiple button pushing instead of turning a knob. The machine makes up for this by retaining the last settings and storing optional settings in memory for recall.

Hopefully no one will take these observations as an opinion as to whether the machine is "good" or "bad". They are just my observations and opinions. Let's face it, all that really matters will be results, and there has been little time for people to get these units out and really learn them. I'm most curious about how it handles hot rocks.

My prediction is that the guys used to CZ and equivalent coin detectors will take to the Gold Strike like ducks to water. I think reviews by experienced hunters will tend to be more of the "love it or hate it" type. But in the end, we simply need more serious field comparisons, and I am unable to provide that as yet.

Steve Herschbach

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