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GPZ 7000 Software Update 2 - Ground Smoothing & Semi Auto Ground Balance


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13 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Lunk,

Do you have spots to use this upgrade in the West? :rolleyes:

Mitchel

Mitchel, while I'm assuming your question is rhetorical, I can think of a lot of places the new upgrade will come in handy, chief among them being the damp alkali soils of the Rye Patch region. I'll be testing the new functionality of the Zed tomorrow in some hot spots.

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GPZ 7000 Firmware Installation Procedure (PC or Mac)

1. Download the desired firmware version from the GPZ 7000 Downloads Page. You can update your GPZ to the latest version or roll back to any prior version using this method. IMPORTANT: Ensure your battery is fully charged before updating. Do not turn the detector off at any point during the update process, or the update will not be applied.

2. Connect GPZ 7000 to the computer via the USB cable. A drive called ‘Minelab’ will appear.

gpz-7000-update-drive-image.jpg

3. Transfer the software update file. Open the ‘Minelab’ drive, then copy the software update file into it. The update files end with the extension ".ml3" - anything else is the wrong file. Wait for the file to completely transfer.

4. Disconnect the GPZ 7000 from the computer by ejecting the drive and then unplugging the USB cable. The ‘USB Disconnected’ dialog will be displayed on the GPZ 7000 screen. This can take up to 2 minutes to complete.

gpz-7000-update-usb-disconnected.jpg

5. Upgrade the GPZ 7000 firmware. At this point if the update file was properly transferred to the GPZ, the following dialog is displayed:

gpz-7000-update-upgrade-firmware.jpg

6. Select Upgrade to begin the firmware update. A progress bar will be displayed. If you select Cancel, the software update file you downloaded will be automatically deleted. You will need to download the update again (from step 1) to complete the process. If the Low Battery dialog is displayed, charge your battery and start the update process again.

gpz-7000-update-upgrading-firmware-progress.jpg

7. Upgrade complete. When the upgrade is complete, GPZ 7000 will automatically turn off. When you power on again, the detector will start with the new firmware.

8. Upgrade failure. If you experience any trouble applying the update, try following the update steps again from start to finish. If this does not work, contact your dealer or a Minelab Service Center.

9. You can also check your detector’s software information at any time via the Version Information function on the Reset page.

 GPZ 7000 Firmware June 2017 (Second Update GPZ 7000 Firmware June 2017 (20170630).ml3 - Version Information will display 1.10.8-2052) (11.26 MB)

 GPZ 7000 Firmware October 2015 (First Update GPZ_7000_UPDATE_IMAGE_20151009.ml3 - Version Information will display 1.2.8-98) (9.69 MB) 

 GPZ 7000 Firmware January 2015 (Original Release GPZ_7000_UPDATE_IMAGE_20150130.ml3 - Version Information will display 1.0.8-57) (10.63 MB)

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46 minutes ago, Lunk said:

I can think of a lot of places the new upgrade will come in handy, chief among them being the damp alkali soils of the Rye Patch region

Yeah, Northern Nevada got thoroughly soaked last winter, and most of the low ground and gullies ground are still moaning and groaning. You will see a dramatic improvement on this type of ground using the Salt Mode, but do always remember it is a filter and so the Salt Mode should only be employed where absolutely needed. Still, a lot of people are really going to like this. I will be interested in hearing what people think.

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You can always load it and if you don't like it roll it back. The filters do nothing unless you turn them on so no harm done anyway except for disabling of XChange.

Referring back to the start of this thread you will see this (emphasis added):

Locate Patch

The Locate Patch setting is a great all-rounder. This setting enables you to cover more ground faster. It smooths out unwanted ground noises, allowing you to keep a productive swing speed. With less ground noise it can also be easier to hear the fainter signals.
Mild alkali soils can still be detected in this setting.. The trade-off with Locate Patch is a slight sensitivity penalty (a few percent) for the deepest targets. However, for most targets you’ll find this setting strikes a balance between absolute detection depth and productivity.

Salty Soil

The Salty Soil setting is a specialty setting designed to allow the GPZ 7000 to operate in extreme alkali environments that would otherwise be impossible. It is important that this setting is used only when the soil requires it, as it can have a substantial impact on detection depth. Salty Soil removes the slow audible ‘groans’ from conductive soils and retains the faster responses from gold nuggets. As a result, Salty Soil will have a bit more ‘chatter’ than the Off and Locate Patch settings; and the slow broad signals from very deep targets will be more difficult to hear.

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G'day Steve, Downloaded the update and am i understanding it correctly, The new ground smoothing in the Off ( default ) setting is what the detector was before downloading this upgrade, Only when you select "Locate Patch" or "Salty Soils" will it be different.    So if correct there is no problem using the new downloaded version as your detector is still the same as before, Only when you select Locate or Salty will it all change  ( Hope that all makes sense )

Cheers

Ashley 

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Ashley, that is correct. If you do the update but do not actually activate one of the new options your GPZ should act just as it always has (with the exception that it will no longer interface with the XChange 2 program). By default the new options are "off".

 

Off (Default)

The Off position is the original GPZ 7000 configuration you have already been using  This setting is optimal for seeking targets which tend to be found deep (e.g. greater than 600mm). The trade-off with Off is that it tends to be the most sensitive to soil anomalies, so you’ll achieve the best performance if you slow your coil swing speed to deal with the unwanted ground noises.

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Steve, thanks for the "clear and simple instructions". I completed the update in less than 10 minutes!:biggrin:

Bill

 

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It's been a while since I've posted on here, but life has many things to make us do and  I hope I am not repeating what has already been said. I have used the update for a short while and can make the following observations.

Running in High Yield and Difficult with the 14" coil, at one spot there was some ground feedback with the ground smoothing off. Going to Locate Patch, removed this feedback, and the Salt timing made the detector dead silent. This ground wasn't salty but it was interesting to note what the changes did. I had the threshold running reasonably smoothly at 27, with the sensitivity at 10. Locate Patch instantly made the threshold slightly jittery and the Salt timing made it more so. I guess I could have tuned to be rid of the EMI but wanted to keep the base setting and not waste too much time fooling around as the day was to be short.

Another spot had patches that made the detector moan and the LC (Locate Patch) setting removed it instantly. I found I could run Normal and LC instead of Difficult so that leads to some interesting adventure in the next few outings. There isn't a lot of ground here we can run normal on so it will be good to experiment with it more commonly. I have dug targets in Normal that sounded broadish, but had no response in Difficult and they were deeper nuggets, so it will be a short learning curve.

I haven't had the time to check out what the semi-auto ground balance does, but that will come.

Cheers.

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17 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Locate Patch

The Locate Patch setting is a great all-rounder. This setting enables you to cover more ground faster. It smooths out unwanted ground noises

So it smooths out unwanted ground noise - does it have any effect on unwanted hot rock noise?  I can already slow down my coil speed/ground balance better to assist somewhat with ground noise but it doesn't help the hot rocks.  Am I just hoping for too much??  Hot rocks are the main reason Normal ground mode is not usually a viable option around my neck of the woods - but I hope it can be :biggrin:

This is a question I'm hoping I can answer for myself tomorrow but have a feeling I'm not going to get out.  So I'm wondering if anybody else has experienced this in the 24 hours you've had to use the update :unsure:

Thanks. 

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