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Attempt At Super Simplified GPX 5000 Settings


Northeast

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I find it quite a light detector too, especially after converting it to a full carbon shaft and seeing I'm anti cords I first started using the DD leather cover with battery mounting on the side which I still found light compared to the GPZ.  I've since gone to a lightweight lipo battery on the side which weighs next to nothing.  I then have a JBL wind speaker on it to give me nice loud cord free audio with the speaker cord just running on the detector across to the side mount battery but also have a Bluetooth low latency transmitter if I wanted to use any other bluetooth cordless audio options.  These are all quite cheap things that Northeasts friend can do to "modernize" his GPX" to get it cord free and wireless audio for very little money.  Especially just mounting the battery on the side using a DD leather case and getting rid of the big heavy curly cable and using a short battery lead.   They were the things I didn't like about the GPX and easily fixed.

I do mostly find small gold around here, under a gram is 98% of the gold, with a good 50% or more of that under .1 of a gram. For me the GPX has found 0.05 of a gram nuggets with the 10" round X-coil which I think is quite respectable.  The GPZ obviously finds smaller as I've regularly been getting 0.03 of a gram and sometimes even smaller depending on how solid and round the bit is and the GPZ is certainly deeper on the smallest bits.  Yes, the GPX 6000 is possibly the best on small gold of the high end Minelab options in their stock form, other than using a VLF but is it wise for your buddy to sell his free 5000 and buy a 6000 for the purpose of finding a bit smaller gold when he doesn't even know if he's going to stick with it and is finding that small gold really that important in the cost vs benefit ratio?

It appears we don't have specimen gold around here, so I'm not all that concerned about that side of things but that's what Gerry was talking about, knowing the gold in your area so you know you're not using the wrong detector for the job.  A cheaper VLF like the Equinox. GM1000 or Garrett 24k combined with the GPX can be a reasonable cheaper remedy for that.

The GPX 5000 with an anti interference coil (figure 8 windings) is just crazy how good it is in high EMI areas, you can take it places you'd never expect a detector to work well and still have PI performance, my 11" Coiltek AI coil seems to me very similar in performance as the 11" DD Commander, but with virtually no EMI anywhere showing the versatility of the GPX.

This anti GPX 4500/5000 stance triggered something in me as I find both of them to be excellent detectors and I'm sure your buddy will too Northeast, once he gets over the small learning curve he'll be fine with it and I'm sure he'll start finding gold too.  Just don't let him get lost in the settings as he really doesn't need to.   Advise him to bury a few nuggets and experiment with the settings to see what he finds suitable.

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Hey Guys,

    I have to agree with many of your comments, including Phrunt & Steve.  The GPX series, including the 5000 are some of the most versatile gold detectors on the Planet.   Like Steve mentioned, if you were just dropped into a random goldfield, the GPX 5000 would probably be one of the best detectors to use overall.  There are a gazillion aftermarket coils and accessories for it and it has 8 timings, allow you much more flexibility on ground and gold types.  

The last person that told a few of my friends that a Minelab PI was worthless and a VLF is just as good, as there are specimens and crystalline gold that a PI will not find, I wacked out a Trophy sized, solid gold nugget featured in Minelab GP Extreme ad.  The nugget was 3/4's of a pound, solid, crystalline in nature.  

I tell people to buy the best detector they can, then go out and learn and really use it to it's full potential.  You can't worry about someone showing you a piece you might miss, but rather focus on what you can find and give her hell!  I would need a dozen detectors to cover a patch if I was worry I might miss a specimen, a piece of cornflake gold, a small .05 gram of gold or whatever.  

Just my thoughts,

Rob

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Hey Steve,

  Great post and what an awesome nugget!  I also used to run my GPX 5000 in Sensitive/Extra for the most part with smaller coils up to around 14x9 Mono.  The smaller coils, like the NF Sadie or Minelab 8" Round Mono, I could find them on bedrock under a grain at times, but like you mentioned 1-2 grainers no problem.  

The Fine Gold setting was misleading, many as you stated did think it was best for small gold, but Sensitive/Extra was much better on low to moderate mineralized ground vs. the Fine Gold.  

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I agree that sensitive extra is great, and sharp is magic for running over your ground for the deeper fainter signals, however, I also find a use for fine gold when patch hunting as it is less sensitive to hot rocks and mineralization and thus more efficient at ground coverage when looking for that indicator nugget

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In my experience getting a Nugget Finder Evolution coil for the 5000 was a huge improvement over the Commander coils. We got a 12'' round and it has outperformed the stock coils by a seriously noticeable degree. No doubt. We follow Steve's beginners guide for the 5000 and have had a ton of success. Best of luck to you. 

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yes, Night and Day between a Commander coil and a spiral wound coil and a reasonably cheap upgrade to do that certainly enhances performance especially on small gold, a good point Ryan.

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7 hours ago, Gold Hound said:

Hi guy's here is my take on how to best set up your 5000 for any ground.

Excellent.  Thanks GH.  I'm sure helpful for most that still run a 5000  👍

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