Minelab GPZ 7000 Depth Tests And Charts - Looking Back

[Relichunter]

I am not a gpz user ..yet ! But IMHO....Minelabs  and their products have been proven in the field. Why would any of that change with the ZED. From what I have researched on Google I am convinced that the ZED is a great superior machine.

[Jonathan Porter]

If you look at the graph you can see that Minelab are being brutally honest with the data, there's no gilding of the Lilly just plain percentage performance gains comparing apples with apples. The amount of reports coming in from all over the world also reflects what is written in the graph. 

 

JP

[fredmason]

the charts were produced as part of the GPZ sales and development...real world results by professions such as Jp and Steve; and amateur results such as mine have certainly  verified the ability of the GPZ 7000.

 

fred

[Steve Herschbach]

Well, it would seem the GPZ has in general been a real hit in the U.S. based on the number of people I know that are using it. Harder to say about Oz, I get the feeling more of a mixed result there. It looks like the GPZ does favor milder ground where it can be run flat out. It may not really come into its own in Australia until the fabled larger coil becomes available.

[jasong]

An interesting retrospective, we flogged this horse pretty thoroughly back in March, but we all have a lot more field time in now.

 

My experience pretty closely matches that 2nd graph, especially the right side of it. I get up to 40% on sub 1 grammers pretty commonly in AZ, and I get 200% in NNV on a range of solid nuggets up to about 2 grams. Some places it closer to 5%, just depends, at that point its really a judgement call. Specimen/quartz gold vary wildly with a clear edge to the GPZ as Steve detailed before the US release.

 

Geometry and composition of the nugget makes all the difference from what I'm seeing. I was able to visit NNV for the first time, no prior info, and literally every single old patch I stumbled across gave me nice stuff. Not so in AZ where I have a lot of experience prospecting and should have been doubling or tripling my NNV output, but I gave up hitting old patches here for the most part. GPZ isn't a magic bullet down here in AZ, exploration and prospecting new areas is still vital to make wages.

 

I do think a lot of guys were running their GPX's way too conservatively though, relying on memorized settings, and in those sorts of old patches the GPZ can really clean up. But I can also go into those places with my 4500 and do ok too. So if any guys are on the fence about a GPZ and thinking it might break the bank, make sure you are running your GPX ideal first! And use more coils once you find patches (notice the small coil selection in this Minelab graph? hint). And a hoe/rake/shovel is cheap too. 

 

I'd estimate something like 15-50% of the stuff I found in NNV was GPZ-only (highly varying depending on location) and something like 5-15% of the stuff I'm finding in AZ is GPZ-only.

[goldenoldie]

G'day Steve,

 

When I first checked today in that other thread for any further replies from that discussion I was shocked that they had been removed however to your credit  I now find them here under this thread, so good on ya for that.

 

As you say we can draw our own conclusions and anyone else can do the same to rely on this type of marketing material.

 

As I said the charts do not reflect what I have observed although from from the replies so far I may be the only one with that view.

 

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Sorry about that goldenoldie, I should have sent you a message telling you I split the thread. Seemed like it deserved more attention and would not have got it under the old heading.

 

Well, as they say "your mileage may vary". Nothing works perfectly for everyone everywhere and the GPZ is no different.

[Jonathan Porter]

It's kind of like the "STIG" in Top Gear, powerful car needs a good driver to get top lap times. We all need to measure against something, from what I'm reading and hearing around the traps Minelab's marketing is well and truly on the money which is in line with all their previous products offering improvements.

 

I go out detecting sometimes and come away feeling very let down and despondent, the gold has to be there in the first place for my GPZ to find it, even if the prospector in me is always hopeful and convinced there HAS to be more gold hidden there sometimes it just isn't happening!

 

JP

[Norvic]

Whilst I know from experience ML`s graph and promotional gloss on the GPZ are for real, I have just had a two day "mission", do not brush the 5000 aside( and MLs other PI`s). The new Coiltek Elite Mono coils on the 5000 is giving the graphs on depth comparison some serious competition, I`ve never been much of a convert to off-market coils, until the Elite I`ve never believed from the use of the ones I purchased they gave any advantage over ML`s solid coils. I have had to revise that belief, seeing and experiencing is certainly believing.

[jasong]

Same here Norvic, until the latest generation of coils I thought aftermarket coil advertising was all fluff and I was definitely skeptical with the new releases, but I see some tangible difference in these newer ones. Still not as good as the GPZ, but honestly, I'm a little surprised there isn't more chatter about them around here. I made a vid that showed it with a 17x13 NFE (speaking of depth tests) to fairly little response online when if I was still just owning a GPX it'd be my every day coil easily.