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I recently ran across one of these fisher gold strike gold detectors not sure of the history of these other than fisher didnt makem for long whatever there reasons were it seems to perform very good depth and sensitivity wise, my buddy and I tested against his gold bug 2 and they seem very similar, it is a pain to adjust but it is what it is I have one and wondering if anyone knew if fisher made a coil other than the little 6" it came with that's avail or if any of the other model coils are compatible I'm trying to find a bigger coil for it. Thanx

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As noted at the link above there only were two coils made for the Gold Strike, the 10” elliptical and 6.5” elliptical. A 14” elliptical was planned but sales for the machine were so poor it was never produced. No other coils are compatible on the Gold Strike.

Another thread about the Gold Strike

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Rigidy,  The Gold Strike is a very capable VLF gold detector and when I was testing it for Fisher (about 20 yrs ago), I had a gut feeling it would not sell well.    Not that it did not perform, but the fact most folks were so used to the GB-2 and its manual Ground Balance and they were not into the digital stage of gold detectors yet.  I felt Engineering was just a little ahead of the times with this model.  A well known couple figure in the detector industry in the day was Fred and Lilly Brust.  In the photos, they met me at Rye Patch, NV so I could test one of the Gold Strike proto types.  Yes it worked well for those who would take the time to learn it.   Fred and I did find gold in NV with it and a couple months later it was released to the market.  

My fondest memory of the GS (and Fisher as well) was a really cool smurf nugget I found in Oregon.  Fisher used the photo of that find in their ads for the Gold Strike.

As some has mentioned, most folks were expecting an improved GB-2 of the GS and that is part of the reason sales were not there.  I applaud Fisher for trying, as those who attempt new and future detector models (even with an occasional failure), will eventually get better products in our hands.  Years later, the Fisher Gold Bug, GB DP and GB Pro, (2nd generation) came out and today it is still a very popular seller

Here are some photos of Gold Strike Success I was able to catch.

Good luck with your detector.

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That’s a real beauty for sure Gerry!!

It’s too bad Fisher did not listen to actual prospectors in the development phase of the Gold Strike... things could have turned out different. The machine had depth. I hunted with Fred up at Ganes Creek in 2002 and witnessed him recover a 1.48 ounce nugget elbow deep with the Gold Strike. It did well on large gold but was not as sensitive to tiny bits as the Gold Bug 2 so was perceived as a step backwards by some. I lobbied endlessly for a switchable dual frequency Gold Bug 3 but it took other companies to finally make that happen.

My buried report on the Gold Strike was quoted by Dave Johnson as being instrumental in the demise of the old Los Banos Fisher. A vast exaggeration, tongue in cheek I am sure. The old regime committed corporate suicide. It’s true though that I did my usual honest assessment and the blowback from Fisher was so strong I apologized and pulled it. That’s always stuck in my craw a bit as I actually had nothing to apologize for, but felt bad as if I had gotten Fred in trouble. Now that time has passed I will dig it out and repost soon as a tidbit of lost metal detector history.

Here is Fred and his grandson Brian and the 1.48 ounce nugget found with the Fisher Gold Strike.

brust-nugget-gnaes-creek-fisher-gold-strike.jpg
Fred Brust and Brian with 1.48 ounce nugget found with Fisher Gold Strike detector

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How funny that was Steve, they did not want to hear negative.  At least Fisher (in the day) was able to find real genuine gold detector users who knew what we were doing, and allowed us to Test them.  Minelab used to do the same here the US and now they seemed to have forgotten the names of us who for so many years helped promote their detectors.

You and I are both very experienced users and I feel our words of recommendation (good and bad) are well respected.  Yes I too, have had to walk the fine line on occasion and tell some great minded Engineer, their baby (new detector) does some fantastic things, but boy does it ever stink in certain situations.  Usually those folks have learned to take our wise words and criticisms and fine tune from there.

It would be interesting to see the fact, field findings you provided Fisher after your testing.

Thanks for always being honest.

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