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GPZ 7000 Vs GPX 5000


Don71

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I used the GPZ 7000 in the Summer of 2016 (with yellow ferrite ring)  but it had so much ground feedback in my detecting area that I sold it. I found that the ground noise on the GPZ was masking targets over the GPX-5000 running in fine or enhance gold timings. (Damp & salty highly mineralized ground.)

Question: Has the latest software update with Locate Patch & Semi-Auto Ground balance helped significantly to handle this type of bad ground feedback?
I am considering buying another GPZ 7000 this Summer to try again.

Also, I found that the 5000 can match or beat the 7000 on larger chunky gold targets when running the larger coils.
(And of course, the GPZ was superior on some specimen gold types vs the 5000.)

Here is an air test on a 3 ounce wire gold & quartz nugget below.

The 7000 was at maximum sensitivity of 20 with the stock 14" GPZ Coil. (I didn't own the 19" GPZ coil to try in this test.)
I mostly ran in Difficult/General or Difficult/High Yield as Normal mode was impossible here, too much ground noise!

3 Ounce Wire Gold Nugget:  (air test)

GPZ 7000:
Difficult/General:  18"
Difficult/HY: 18"
Difficult/X-Deep: 16"
Normal/General: 21"
Normal/HY: 23"
Normal/X-Deep: 20"
Severe: 15"

GPX 5000:

Fine Gold w/12" NF Round EVO coil: 17"
Normal w/12" NF Round EVO coil: 21"

Fine Gold w/15" NF Round EVO coil:  18"
Normal w/15" NF Round EVO coil: 23"

Fine Gold w/19" NF Round EVO coil: 20"
Normal w/19" NF Round EVO coil: 25"

Fine Gold w/25" NF Round Advantage coil: 20"
Normal w/25" NF Round Advantage coil: 26"

-Don

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Don - I had no problem running your GPZ in hot ground. :biggrin:  For Arizona, it handled it better than my GPX5000.  First thing I did was pounded areas I had with the GPX5000 and I'd say 75% of the time, I found more gold that was either out of reach of the 5000 or way smaller than the 5000 could hear.  But here is what I learned:

1)  forget running the GPZ like the GPX5K.  They are different animals.  Expect a little more noise.  It does not sound exactly the same, does not tune the same, and will pick up some extra ground noise more in a useful way (if that makes sense)  Treat it more like a VLF on crack.

2)  GPZ needs to be moved slower and kept more level.  It is due to the coil design.

3) The one big weakness (which may be what caused your issue-as I have heard it before from others) is not having a salt mode.  I *do* think GPZ fell short with this.  People running in certain places of Rye Patch have encountered this.  As for the new timings (I don't notice a difference at all)  So if you're  mainly running salty soil ... I think you still might be disappointed.  (curious what others might add)   Also damp soil was a problem sometimes on the GPX5000 but the GPZ handled this damp ground very smoothly.  But then again, my damp isn't salt damp.

4) and to be fair, the other big weakness is that there is no small coil size.  (so you will miss the tight places)

So if you can deal with #3 & #4 (and the price tag), I would definitely put the GPZ in the lead.  But if you have all the 5000 coils and you're happy, why change.  I would still choose my GPZ 100 times over myself.  And the people who go out with me know I have found a heck of a lot of gold with it (large and small).  If I had the right coil, the 5000 may have found some of the big pieces.  "If I had the right coil" being the key words.

As for the air test ... don't do it.  It is useless ... means nothing.  Just my opinion and I mean no disrespect.  Just that more than half the work is tuning out the ground for the situation, so why remove it from the equation?  Also, the GPZ is typically run at much lower sensitivity numbers than the 5000.  I typically run no more than 4 or 5.  (unless you're used to vlf machines and then you can run the smoking hot settings discussed on this forum).  For me, those settings do great on the small stuff but can mask out the deep stuff. 

But all this is just my experience with both machines.

 

 

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On 4/10/2018 at 9:52 PM, Andyy said:

3) The one big weakness (which may be what caused your issue-as I have heard it before from others) is not having a salt mode. 

The second software update for the GPZ 7000 includes a Salty Soil mode, in addition to the Locate Patch mode and Semi-Auto Ground Balance mode. New GPZ machines now include these additional features  as standard. I can attest from personal experience that the Salty Soil mode works extremely well in the damp alkali rich soils of Rye Patch.

https://www.minelab.com/usa/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/gpz-7000-ground-smoothing-options-software-update-2

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Thanks for the responses guys, I am going to try another GPZ 7000 and test out the Salt Mode, Semi-Auto Ground Balance, and Locate Patch. I won't know if it works here until I try it for myself.   Anyway, I plan on eventually moving down to Nevada and I know the GPZ will be an advantage there. I am tired of my small area of gold detecting here in Washington State.

Also, I do miss getting some of the strange specimen pieces my GPX-5000 doesn't see. It only accounts for about 5-10% of the gold here but they were fun and interesting to find. My SDC would see some of these specimens but I sold that a while back.

-Don

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29 minutes ago, Stephen newell said:

Can the old gpz 7000 be update to have these new settings?

Stephen, there is only 1 model of GPZ 7000 so yes, they can all be updated to the latest software available.  

The latest update has issues with the storage/transfer of GPS marks though, so a few people have opted to use the prior release software until the GPS issue is fixed. 

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Hey Stephen,

  Like the other guys mentioned, you can update to any version, or even go back to an older version if you decided to.  Here are all 3 updates on this like - 

https://www.minelab.com/usa/metal-detectors/gold-detectors/gpz-7000?view=downloads

Scan down to the bottom of the page, you will see all the firmware downloads.  

Hope this helps,

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What they are worth is dependent on the user .. :p   I know, I am being dodgy.  They are worth whatever you can get them for.  They come down in value pretty quickly once they are used.  Shop around like you would a car and you will soon answer your own question.  But you can find some good deals around if you talk to the dealers.  Don sold me his but if you can, go to a minelab dealer so you get training then you KNOW you are getting a fair price and a genuine gpz.  This training can be extremely valuable.  There is a learning curve and a lot of people do not take the time to learn it.  But getting back to the question, base your price on the warranty left and conditions and extras (like the 19" coil, spare batteries ..etc.)

 

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