Dave Johnson Detectors

Hi,

What do the following gold detectors have in common:

Fisher Gold Bug (nugget detector, no longer in production)
Fisher Gold Bug 2 (nugget detector, in production)
Tesoro Diablo Micromax (nugget detector, no longer in production)
Tesoro Lobo Supertraq (general purpose, in production)
White’s GMT (nugget detector, in production)
White’s MXT (general purpose, in production)
Troy X-5 (general purpose, no longer in production)
Teknetics T2 (general purpose, in production)
Fisher F75 (general purpose, in production)
Fisher F70 (general purpose, in production)

Yes, they are all particulary hot on gold - some are as hot as you get. But what they have in common is engineer Dave Johnson. What many people do not know is that only a few people have made detecting what it is today. Dave has been lead engineer or had a hand in many of the best detectors I've ever owned. What you notice is he has worked for many companies. Basically, if you wanted to make a good gold detector, for quite some time the answer was "get Dave"!

So when people talk this brand versus that brand it is kind of funny, as they often have more in common than you think. When it comes to nugget detecting, once upon a time it was Charles Garrett, and now it is pretty much Dave Johnson and Bruce Candy (Minelab) who have left their mark on the detectors that have found the vast majority of gold nuggets found worldwide.

These guys built on the basics of detecting as conceived of by others but stand out for their contibutions to the world of nugget detecting.

For a great short history of nugget detecting see Dave's article at The Fisher Website.