Gold Bug II or Makro Gold Kruzer advice before buying

goldmine1

Tenderfoot
Apr 21, 2003
6
1
Glasgow, Scotland
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hi folks,
I'm looking for some help before I buy either the Gold Bug 2 or Makro Gold Kruzer for hunting small nuggets in Scotland. I'm a competent gold sniper and panner of 30yrs experience hunting Scottish Gold, but detecting for small gold nuggets is new territory for me. Can anyone offer any cons and pros for buying either machine?

One is 71khz, the other 61khz. One chap I've spoken to in the UK, swears by the MGK, but I'm drawn to the fisher for some reason.

Look forward to any comments.
 

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Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
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Flip a coin Brother! :occasion14:
 

Gravelwasher

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Jan 3, 2011
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El Dorado County
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Makro newer of the two with a few more options on it, maybe fewer people have swung it over the ground your thinking of hunting. Very impressed with my friends capable Makro machines, good builds, nice and solid and very impressed with sensitivity to small gold and good target ID. Water proof if you drop it in the creek too. I wouldn't hesitate to get a Makro kruzer.
 

Goldwasher

Gold Member
May 26, 2009
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Service on the Makro is closer... maybe less on shipping too..

Probably easier to use than a Gold Bug 2

Gold bug 2 is the hotter of the two machines and may be more sensative yet it will pick up more ground noise.

It will probably come down to how much you've ran a detector as far as ease of use.
 

AZADAM

Jr. Member
Jun 26, 2013
63
27
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The key here is what you said. " small gold nuggets" The Gold Bug II will win. Give serious thought to the new Whites GMT 24K as well. If you get a MGK , then you have no one to blame but yourself.
 

Grumpie

Full Member
Oct 23, 2016
205
136
Cedar Park, Texas
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Nokta fors gold plus, tesoro lobo supertraq, Makro gold racer, Nokta Makro Anfibio
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Hi folks,
I'm looking for some help before I buy either the Gold Bug 2 or Makro Gold Kruzer for hunting small nuggets in Scotland. I'm a competent gold sniper and panner of 30yrs experience hunting Scottish Gold, but detecting for small gold nuggets is new territory for me. Can anyone offer any cons and pros for buying either machine?

One is 71khz, the other 61khz. One chap I've spoken to in the UK, swears by the MGK, but I'm drawn to the fisher for some reason.

Look forward to any comments.
You might want to wait and take a look at the new and improved :BangHead:Gold Monster 2000 when it comes out. Its gonna be multi frequency up to 100khz. Supposedly it can sniff out 1/10 of 1/10 of a grain. Now that's impressive!!
 

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jmc24

Full Member
Feb 24, 2020
123
195
Colorado
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I am with Terry on the choice between the GB II and the Makro Gold Kruzer. The GB II is an old favorite and definitely will get small gold if you get the coil over it. Ergonomics and features are its only drawback compared to the Makro Gold Kruzer which is fully waterproof (I dunked mine several times with no issues), has a very nice display and three other search modes including Micro which is a fantastic multi tone micro jewelry mode and can work for small gold in milder mineralization.

The only issue I ever had with the GB II, Makro Gold Kruzer (the earlier Gold Racer) and the Whites GM 24K and its waterproofed version and the Gold Monster 1000 was handling high mineralization which often accompanies gold deposits. All of these detectors could experience coil overload, coil knock and difficulty ground balancing in really tough dirt........nothing new here. So, you can't go wrong with either one unless you have highly mineralized dirt. If you do......right now, the Equinox will handle really bad mineralization that those others will struggle in............If the Equinox can't handle it, a pulse induction detector is your only alternative.
 

Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
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Keep in mind I’m using the Gold Racer for comparison.
I’m of the understanding the Gold Kruzer is basically a GR with slightly different interface and water resistant/rechargeable.

I don’t think you will realize much advantage with the Kruzer other than being water resistant, rechargeable, some basic discrimination for coin/relic. It’s not going to be the magic bullet for gold finding.

You do get away from the foam handle and expensive 9volt batteries that don’t discharge equally, having to put plastic bags around detector to detect in a sprinkle hoping the speaker doesn’t get soaked, the toggle switch replacements…the headphone jack issues…heck headphone cables, centering mode…probably a bunch more things..etc.

With that said, the GB2 is a better small gold machine by a small margin.
I’d likely buy the Kruzer. I actually don’t mind being able to skip over the really small #8 shot that makes the GB 2 go crazy.

Both very good nugget shooting detectors outside the PI type detectors.
 

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Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
1,245
1,933
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I am with Terry on the choice between the GB II and the Makro Gold Kruzer. The GB II is an old favorite and definitely will get small gold if you get the coil over it. Ergonomics and features are its only drawback compared to the Makro Gold Kruzer which is fully waterproof (I dunked mine several times with no issues), has a very nice display and three other search modes including Micro which is a fantastic multi tone micro jewelry mode and can work for small gold in milder mineralization.

The only issue I ever had with the GB II, Makro Gold Kruzer (the earlier Gold Racer) and the Whites GM 24K and its waterproofed version and the Gold Monster 1000 was handling high mineralization which often accompanies gold deposits. All of these detectors could experience coil overload, coil knock and difficulty ground balancing in really tough dirt........nothing new here. So, you can't go wrong with either one unless you have highly mineralized dirt. If you do......right now, the Equinox will handle really bad mineralization that those others will struggle in............If the Equinox can't handle it, a pulse induction detector is your only alternative.

Per the coil knock comment….I believe it has to due with faults in the design. I keep threatening to take a couple apart to see physically why they become useless while still being technically functional. I think it has to due with not being resin/epoxy filled….the tension in the wires relaxes which causes false signals when the coil is bumped. There might be a tensioner screw in there that just needs tightened.
 

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