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GPZ Settings


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Hello everyone, I am a relative new owner of a GPZ, also my first minelab product. So I don't have much experience with all the different settings. I have been doing really well in the last 6 weeks, but I get the feeling I may not be fully utilizing the capability of the GPZ. I have read the posts on the "insanely hot settings" and a couple on the "low sensitivity" settings. 

I have a few questions.

Do you have settings you like, and stick with?

Are you constantly changing setting during a hunt?

Are there specific situations where you adjust settings?

Any surprises when experimenting with settings?

I am in southern Nevada, the ground is relatively mild. Most of the gold is sub gram to 3 or 4g, with the occasional 10 grammer. I usually run relatively hot up to max sensitivity, I do get lots of warble. I understand the GPZ is relatively noisy (much noisier than my ATX) Is it beneficial to find the smoothest threshold possible? 

Thank you 

Chris

Excited to learn what I can.

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Go with JPs conservative or Steves Insane settings or anywhere in between. All else fails reset to default, it really is a individual thingo. Myself I very rarely fiddle and against most advice very rarely bother with the startup procedure, just let the auto GB do its thing, the Z to me is a turn on and go machine not much diff to the SDC. But as your doing well I suspect you have it nailed.

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If you want to run Audio Smoothing OFF so you can tap into the full depth potential of the GPZ then do not adjust the other settings like Target Volume and Sensitivity too high for your given area. The Target Volume control in particular is the setting that makes the GPZ noisy, use it sparingly.

JP

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I used to think the GPZ was noisier than the GPX.  I have since changed my mind.  The GPZ better allows you to read the ground in my opinion.   I may dig a few more holes for ground noise but now I can better track the mineralization.

For settings I have two.  One setting is similar to JPs but my sensitivity comes down until its smooth.  Often this puts me around 5 on sensitivity.  If EMI is just too bad... dropping sensitivity to 3, I go to Lunk's settings.  I also use Lunk's setting when I know the gold is less than .1g.  They pop out just a hair more in my opinion.

I tried those insanely hot settings once and slipped into a coma for a week.  Not doing that again :laugh: hee.hee.. 

Good luck to you.  If you're using good technique you really can't go wrong.

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I have a small notepad with many settings...my most used is Jonathan's with minor adjustments.

I know guys that find  a lot of gold and still worry there may be just one more thing that will increase their finds...and sometimes that is true. However, as long as the machine is on, it will find the gold.

fred

 

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Yeah, I went for 1 year plus on hot settings to JPs conservative after running around with the 19" coil for a few days for nix on ground I knew had deep gold, one hour after going JPs way on same ground, started a few days fun. Like Andyy says it is really quieter then the Xs, once you have the confidence and trust to turn it back.

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7 hours ago, Chris Ben said:

Is it beneficial to find the smoothest threshold possible?

hey Chris .I think a smooth threshold is one of the most important settings on the 7000.  I have found some nice pieces that were nothing more than a very slight change in the threshold.   If you`ve got a threshold that`s all over the place you`ll miss targets that are just a slight murmur .  cheers Dave

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Best thing to do is test it and see how the settings change the target, ground noise, and EMI. Here's how I do it:

Find some typical ground similar to what you normally run in and bury a couple different nuggets down just past the point which the default settings no longer hear your targets. Now spend a few hours tweaking settings, first individually to see how each affects the target response, then in combinations to see how each setting interacts with the other settings and how the combo changes target, ground, and EMI response.

Find what you think is the best combination, then again dig up and rebury your nuggets to the point you can just barely hear them and then try to tweak the detector again to see if you can brighten up the signal even more if you feel like really maximizing your performance.

It may take a few hours, but trust me, it will save you weeks, or months of wasted time in the end. And you won't be left wondering if you left gold in the ground due to running inefficiently and thinking you need to drive back and redetect again. It instantly builds confidence in your machine too because you know exactly how it's performing on measured and controlled targets instead of always guessing on in-situ targets or waiting for one that just happens to be at the extent of your detection range. People will insist you can't gain useful info from reburied targets, but I absolutely disagree, give it a try yourself and see.

Now you have a good combo of settings that work for your particular area, you can use these as a starting point and then adjust as needed throughout the day as the environment changes and you will have your testing experience to rely on now to make those judgement calls rather than guessing.

Something like this should be done with every new machine before actually looking for nuggets IMO. It gives a good understanding of how the settings work, what they represent in physical terms. But better yet it helps you develop a "feel" for the detector way quicker, and that's important.

Running the GPZ too conservative will render it equal to the GPX in some aspects, or in some cases even less deep, know when this happens and why it does otherwise there is no point in owning a $10k detector instead of a $2.5k one. Testing it will show you where it's better to cut back and where you absolutely never should if the conditions allow it.

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I am more prone to changing detectors than changing detector settings in the ground I work in. My personal settings lean towards producing the strongest target signal, not the quietest background signal. What others hear as noise I hear as a background threshold and ground feedback. Targets just sound different to me. I more often change sweep speed and sometimes coil height as a way of reacting to on ground conditions than the coil settings.

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