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Attempt At Super Simplified GPX 5000 Settings


Northeast

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Northeast .. simple get him a EQ 800..for what you can sell a used 5000 for you can EASILY buy one ! iT IS SOOOOO much easier to use. If you have fun..that is actually find things with your detector you will be motivated to go out again and again! If you don't find things you WON'T want to go out..make sense? I found a 4.3 gram nugget my first time out with the EQ. I found a silver Diamond ring in Kauai last week with the EQ.  I found coins on dry sand at extraordinary depths...deeper than you think you want to dig. I am NOT exaggerating when I say the 5000 simple won't see some gold specimens ..I saw it demonstrated with my own eyes! 

                As for me...I think I will also buy a 6000 as I saw it in Situ..it's really good1

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I will have to look for the copy I was given.

Now it is time for a night beach hunt.

 

 

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11 hours ago, aerospace guy said:

I wish I had known this years ago..instead the dealer(in Az) who sold it to me said "well look at the price of the 5000..there is a reason it costs so much..because it is a proven detector". Bull Pucky! Buddy you wasted 5 years of my life!

Didn't you buy this used from his classified section?  

I know DOC sells these timing labels.    https://docsdetecting.com/product/soil-timing-labels-2-primarily-for-gpx4800-and-gpx5000/

 

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Hey Guys,

  Well I'm one of those AZ dealers, but I'm not sure if I sold it to him or someone else.  That being said, regardless who sold it, there is no "perfect" metal detector that will find all the small gold, small specimens, have great discrimination and such.  I'm still searching for that perfect detector, reason I have like 3-4 that I use.  

It's easy to rant and rave, but I would recommend the customer to contact the dealer and discuss it, or at least give them the opportunity in all fairness.  

The GPX 5000 is an awesome detector, I found pounds and pounds of gold with it.  I hated to part with it actually, but when the GPZ 7000 came out, I just had to try it.  Many of my best nuggethunting partners/friends are still using the GPX 5000 here in the Southwest with amazing success.  

I'm real surprised that Gerry didn't show you what the GPX 5000 could do over others detectors, with is plenty.  The GPX 5000 is still in my opinion one of the most versatile detectors on the market with the 8 different times, various audio settings and such.  

If you think the GPX 6000 is the perfect detector, then you will realize it isn't, there are things that it's great at, but there are also things I don't like (which is with all detectors, including even the GPZ 7000).  This is going back to my original statement, in my opinion there is no "perfect" metal detector for all situations, but there are the "right" detectors for specific applications.  

For example, if a customer told me they were only hunting mine dumps and inside mines, I wouldn't suggest a PI for the most part.  You would have much better success with a lighweight VLF, super sensitive to small gold and specimens, iron discrimination and such.  Any VLF gold detector would work great in this environment, including something like the Equinox 800 with the smaller coil.  

Hope this helps a bit,

Rob

 

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On 9/29/2021 at 7:27 PM, aerospace guy said:

NORTHEAST..in my opinion( and at my age I feel I don't need to edit my opinions especially) I think you would be doing your friend a GIANT service if you were to tell him to sell the 5000 and use the $ to purchase something else. Especially if as you say he is NOT  a technologically proficient person! You and everyone else commenting here are setting him up for a load of frustration! I owned one for 5+ years and I feel it was a total waste of valuable time gas travel etc.! Gerry of Gerry's detectors gave a demonstration of a "slew" of detectors on several hundred thousand dollars worth of gold in all sizes and compositions. The 5000 simple would not "see" a lot of specimens that a "simple "VLF detector would pick up with ease! I wish I had known this years ago..instead the dealer(in Az) who sold it to me said "well look at the price of the 5000..there is a reason it costs so much..because it is a proven detector". Bull Pucky! Buddy you wasted 5 years of my life! Ask Gerry of his opinion..I know him as a guy "who tells it as it is". Yes, really really experienced detectorists could probably make it work .. but with the GPX6000 out now why would anyone go thru the torture of a 5000 with dozens and dozens of setting? And as for the claim that the 5000 handles mineralized ground better.. again Bull Pucky..you have to detune it so much you may as well use a EQ800 which in fact handles mineralized ground better!

To say a 5000 won’t see gold a VLF will see applies as much to the GPX 6000 and GPZ 7000 as the 5000. It’s always been that way with PI units, although the gap has closed tremendously. That still does not make the 5000 worthless, as many would happily attest. Is still put a 5000 up against either a GPZ or GPX 6000 on larger gold (equinox not even close), just based on largest available coil sizes, and it will handle ground conditions/hot rocks that will completely defeat a GPZ or GPX 6000. It still has a place in the Minelab lineup for good reason.

That said, for most people on most gold in the U.S., buying now, not five years ago, I do think a GPX 6000 is the best choice going. Much as I love my Equinox, I’d not give up having a PI if the 5000 were the only choice. Even if the Equinox had existed five years ago.

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Hey Steve,

  I agree with you.  The GPX 5000 is still a great unit and for the price you can get it at now, $4000 MAP, Minelab don't even have any in stock and the demand for them is now higher than it was when they first came out.  

This kind of reminds me of the GPX 4500, it was around $3999 MAP, then dropped to $2699 and I couldn't keep them in stock and if they were still available, they would sell like hotcakes even today at that price.  

Figuring now, the price structure is $4000, $6000 and $8000 (GPX 5000, 6000 & GPZ 7000).  

I also agree, to compare a Equinox to a GPX for hunting gold on moderate to high mineralization is just someone speaking with very little experience in my opinion.  I love my Equinox 800 also, but to hunt the majority of the goldfields with it over a GPX is just a good laugh.  

To conclude my final thoughts on the GPX 5000, it could be considered the most difficult PI to figure out, or give someone the most anxiety trying to figure it out, reason for many DVD's on it, DOC's timing stickers and Quick Start Guides.  However, once you can get a decent handle on it, it's like an equalizer where you can find tune adjust the timing and settings to various ground conditions. 

Wishing you all the best,

Rob

 

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If someone can't work the GPX out they just need to ask their grand children to do it for them.  😄

A joke by the way...

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Let’s assume I was going to be dropped randomly all over the world into a hundred different gold detecting scenarios. Which Minelab non-VLF would I take, if I could only choose one? There will be locations with gold of any potential size, including very large nuggets at depth. There will be extreme salt lake ground. There will be extreme iron stone ground. There will be really trashy ground. In short, any possible scenario you might imagine looking for gold. Which detector do you take, not knowing what you might get hit with?

I’d make a strong case for the GPX 5000 with a proper coil selection. It currently comes stock with 11” round DD and 15” x 12” mono. Add a Nugget Finder 8” x 6” mono “Sadie” coil, 14” x 9” mono, and 18” round mono. For the extreme depth package, add a Nugget Finder 25” X-Search DD coil and Detech 32” Concentric coil.

This detector will probably find a wider range of gold types in a wider range of ground conditions than any other detector made. The only genuine lack would be very small or specimen gold, and so a good VLF in addition would make it complete. But many serious prospectors will tell you that specking for tiny gold is no way to make a solid income. It’s all about weight, and staying in gram plus gold is the way to put that weight in your pocket. The GPX 5000 Fine Gold setting will handle areas with so many hot rocks you will toss your GPZ 7000 or GPX 6000 in the trash heap. The Salt settings will handle salt lakes with ease. Cancel and a DD handles EMI very well, and adding a figure 8 wound cancellation coil will kill EMI and salt conditions like they do not exist. The GPX 5000 has a reasonably good tuneable discrimination system by PI standards for places that will have 6000/7000 users tearing their hair out. You can even coin, relic, and beach hunt successfully with a GPX 5000, and many would say it is the best relic detector made for highly mineralized ground.

Long story short, I very much hope Minelab continues to make the GPX 5000 for a long time. It’s a bargain priced general purpose powerhouse, and in the right hands targeting the gold and locations it excels with, it will still produce the goods, and then some.

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Every gold detector has it's strong and weak points and knowing what your machine is best at is great.  Knowing what kind of gold your detector is not good at finding is just as important.

Bottom line.  No gold detector from the major manufactures is worthless and not one of them (no matter the price) is the best at all kinds of gold in variety of soils.

Me personally for the areas I like to hunt and the kinds of gold I find, I still feel an Equinox 800 is TOPS.  Now when I want to hunt more solid nuggets that are out of reach of the VLF detectors and deeper,  I need a bigger detector and will usually grab a GPX-6000.   If I go back a few years before we had a GPZ-7000 or the new GPX-6000, then yes I would grab a GPX-5000.

Pics are of my customers and success they had back in the day with a GPX-5000.  I'll never tell anyone their GPX-5000 is not a good gold detector.  I'll inform them and may even show, different kinds of gold it's not good at finding though, so they realize not 1 is best for all.

 

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