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Pinpointers For Gold Prospecting?


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Like jasong mentioned, mine will false almost every time I use it. I have to turn it to less sensitive or off then on to make it work properly. When using my 5000 with the 35, it will make the 5000 go crazy even when placing it several feet away. I have to turn off the 35 to settle the detector. I have retired the 35 and purchased a Carrot to use now days. Not a huge deal but hate to waist money like that. I am very happy with all other Minelab products I have. 

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No complaints about either the Garrett Pro-Pointer AT or Fisher F-Pulse. Both are great, but the Garrett is probably the easier for most people. The F-Pulse is easier to get lost in the menu settings, but also tougher, less tip wear. I tend to grab the F-Pulse as it also handles high mineral ground better, plus I like that it uses AA batteries instead of 9V.

In either case I rarely use a pinpointer while nugget detecting. I always have one around though, as they can be useful for deep trash targets more than gold. Off center nails are my most recovered target, not nuggets. I’m only pulling it out for hold if the nugget sounds very large and is in bottom of narrow hole in hard digging ground. Then the pinpointers helps insure I don’t hit a trophy nugget with my pick.

All detectors - turn on pinpointer first, then turn detector on nearby and noise cancel.

Never lost a pinpointer but use no special tricks in doing so. I just hate losing $100 bills enough that it does not happen. :smile:

garrett-at-propointer-fisher-f-pulse.jpg
Fisher F-Pulse and Garrett Pro-Pointer AT

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If I'd have been thinking I would have bought the XP MI-6 pinpointer to test out. But I saw a new carrot for sale locally for a good price and grabbed it instinctively. But I am curious how that MI-6 performs both around the GPZ and with smaller nuggets. 

The biggest problem I have with the Garrett is it interferes when it's off on the GPZ, even from large distances like 4-6ft so there is no good place to keep it on my person. No amount of noise cancelling will fix that because it's not noise but inductive coupling to the pinpointer loop. Some don't seem to notice it or think I'm just blowing hot air, but I absolutely, positively guarantee that it happens. It bothers me so much that I literally sent my 2nd GPZ back to Minelab thinking it was broken at first (I was just running the stock coil back then too), which was embarassing when I found out it was working fine and simply hearing my pinpointer since I had never considered it would interfere when off. Seems like it'd be a real simple problem to fix, but I guess Garrett engineers probably don't read these prospecting forums.

Minelab engineers do though, and I'm baffled why they don't fix the Pro Find 35 so that it works flawlessly with their flagship detector and fix it so it just works in general at sensitivities that compete with the Garrett. It could be a great pinpointer with what seems like fairly minor bug fixes. Maybe they will read this and do some fixin'? I'll be first in line to buy an improved Pro Find 45 if so because there does not appear to be any (decent) pinpointer on the market which will not interfere with the GPZ when it's off.

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1 hour ago, MSC said:

When using my 5000 with the 35, it will make the 5000 go crazy even when placing it several feet away. I have to turn off the 35 to settle the detector.

This is frequency dependent. If you select a different frequency for the 5000 you wont hear it. Easiest way is turn the pinpointer on then hit the frequency select button

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On 3/26/2021 at 10:49 AM, jasong said:

That pointer is garbage and I have to assume Minelab doesn't actually manufacture them because it's beneath their usual standards.

This has been my feeling for years.  It is the worst product Minelab makes. (At least of the ones I've tried.)

 

 

You need to use the spelling Pro-Find in searching this subject also.

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Sense I consider my XP pinpointer the best l have used it will have to do until some one makes one as sensitive as my GM 1000

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I don't use my pinpointer and detector at the same time, so there is not issue with interference. When I am done with the pinpointer I turn it off before picking up the detector again. Not sure why you want to keep it on while using the detector. Also, the GPZ is so sensitive to whatever creates an electromagnetic field that I am not sure you could even make a pinpointer that is completely stealth to it. Let alone the metal inside the pinpointer.

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Because the GPZ takes forever to reboot and it's a ridiculous waste of time to turn it off and then reboot everytime you use the pinpointer in the hole. Pointers are tools meant to speed up the target recovery process, not slow it down.

We have a pinpointer that doesn't interfere while off but barely works while on. And then every other pinpointer works good while on but interferes with the GPZ while off. That's the problem, and it's completely fixable.

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I agree that there is a long way to go for pinpointers. I like how some folks use the GM with ultrashort shaft, for me this is unfortunately not practical. BTW, I keep the GPZ on at all times, so no rebooting. I just place the coil on the ground and all the way away from the hole and turn the pinpointer on and off as needed. 

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I mainly have two applications for pinpointers: (1) target location in deep holes where the big 14 inch coil can't tell me where the source is (2) for crevices, i.e. underneath bedrock, where the GPZ gives me a target ID but above bedrock with no way to check underneath in small cracks. I am pretty good (at least I think...) in small target recovery under normal circumstances in the open field even with the big coil (often BB's unfortunately...), so I won't use my pinpointer for that at all.  

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