Jump to content

Trying To Decide Between GPX 5000 Or GPX 6000...


Recommended Posts

The question was not how physically complicated the models are or how complicated the tuning is, but what the ground handling capabilities are like. I’d rate the 5000 as superior to the 6000 when it comes to handling severe ground and hot rock situations. The 6000 is great in general but in some places with the wrong hot rock it just bangs away every swing or two. There is almost nothing the 5000 can’t handle with the right coil and setting combo.

09102E9A-1E6D-438E-ACB3-CDD5C5BA615E.jpeg

  • Like 7
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


18 hours ago, phrunt said:

I don't know what all the fuss is about with the GPX 5000 being labelled heavy, it's not too bad at all and you can lighten it up pretty easily.  Once modded it doesn't weigh all that much more than a GPX 6000 and having a bit of weight on the back of it with the battery/control box actually helps if you wanted to use bigger coils to balance out the detector, the 6000 is terrible with the 14" DD, so out of balance.  The 6000 is great and nice and light running small coils though but do you do that with meteorites? I'm guessing you're not really after absolutely tiny targets.

I appreciate all of the information! For meteorites, the sizes depend. The smallest ones I have found detecting are around a gram, but that one was pure iron, so it made the GB2 scream. I assume that if the GB2 could pick that up, then it would also be pretty loud on a PI machine. There are a lot of small irons at Franconia, along with stony chondrites. The chondrites contain a lot of nickel and iron so they set off the GB2 as well. The largest chondrite I found was right on the surface, weighing 16 grams. I may make a post about this trip on the Meteorite hunting forum because it was a lot of fun and I was glad to have some success.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really appreciate all of the comments so far. Lots of great information here. And thank you Steve for detailing the differences between the 2 detectors.

For right now, I think I will go ahead and keep looking for a used GPX5000, as the cost makes more sense for my situation. It will be a good starting point for my first PI machine, and I can always upgrade later on to the 6000. I know that the 5000 comes along with more attachments and will be a little difficult to configure the settings, but I'm sure I can get the hang of it and can always ask more detailed questions in the future here on the forum. I've already learned a lot here so thank you everyone!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A 1 gram target is an easy find for a 5000 that's for sure.  I don't know how the US market is going but if 5000's are going cheaper on the second hand market due to upgrades to the 6000 then it may make sense to go with a 5000, as it's widely acknowledged the 5000 can handle difficult ground and hot rocks significantly better than the 6000, the 6000 geared towards tiny targets I guess has side effects in that regard but in saying that, the 5000 can pick up very small targets, I can't remember my smallest nugget with the older model GPX but I'm sure it was down to 0.05 of a gram type size with a spiral coil.  .1 of a gram and over is where it really starts to go well.   Don't dismiss the 4500 either if you find one at the right price.

It would be ideal if someone who hunts meteorites comes on and helps you out, I know @mn90403 has done a bit of meteorite hunting so he might chime in, he might not have noticed this thread.

It all comes down to price I guess, if you can pick one up cheap you'd be pretty happy I think, second hand coils should be available at good prices too for the same reason. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want to Turbo Charge your meteorite hunting in Arizona then take a meteorite lesson from Lunk.  I don't know the charge for a day and where he goes but it is one of your fields.

He uses a 6000, 7000 and has a lot of experience with the 5000 also.  He might even tell you a place or two to hunt for gold!

I've taken lessons from him a couple of times.  Separately I've hunted meteorites in Franconia and Gold Basin among other places.  I've found chondrites and irons with the 5000, 7000 and Equinox.

Gerry took a pretty recent trip with Lunk and got some larger meteorites.  He might have a deal for you on a used/new detector that would be ideal for what you want.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Gerry took a pretty recent trip with Lunk and got some larger meteorites.  He might have a deal for you on a used/new detector that would be ideal for what you want.

I know Gerry gives discounts on his field training class to customers who buy a new detector.  I suspect if he doesn't do that for used detectors (IDK) he might 'negotiate'.  It's all about supply and demand and if he has a used GPX5000 (or a close relative) sitting there collecting dust he'll have some incentive to find a package that is mutually beneficial.

Sure, the field training is for gold, but you get lots of instruction on how to set up the detector, and mulitple people on his staff have detected for meteorites, likely with the very detector you end up getting.  From my experience those guys don't bite, either.  :biggrin:  Here's his site and he likes to talk over the phone so don't be shy giving him a ring.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/22/2023 at 5:10 PM, phrunt said:

I don't know what all the fuss is about with the GPX 5000 being labelled heavy, it's not too bad at all and you can lighten it up pretty easily.  Once modded it doesn't weigh all that much more than a GPX 6000 and having a bit of weight on the back of it with the battery/control box actually helps if you wanted to use bigger coils to balance out the detector, the 6000 is terrible with the 14" DD, so out of balance.  The 6000 is great and nice and light running small coils though but do you do that with meteorites? I'm guessing you're not really after absolutely tiny targets.

Here is my 5000 next to it's younger brother the 6000.

IMG_0587.jpg.72884720557f350ed930deaac6ec7ebb.jpg

It has a light weight lithium ion battery pack, lasts 13 hours on a charge, 13400mAh, the battery itself weighs 450 grams and just goes in my side pocket on the cover.  I have a full carbon shaft on the 5000 too.

IMG_0589.jpg.1f20eeae28496376c16edfce147cb8ba.jpg

It looks tiny in there as the cover is made for the standard GPX battery.

IMG_0590.jpg.d04d924774d5a5cd57ef9154dc2b9480.jpg

Jut plugs in with a short little attached lead.

IMG_0591.jpg.df4f814348ef77423ea571ae27204e4e.jpg

Has a charge indicator.

And for a speaker I have the JBL wind on there, very loud audio with adjustable volume, way louder than the pitiful speaker they used in the 6000.

The 5000 maybe an oldie but it's a goodie and handles hot rocks far better than the 6000, the 6000 is more sensitive to small gold though, and finds gold the GPX 5000 misses for various reasons not just size.  It may come down to which is best for meteorites seeing that's what you're using it for and that I don't know, hopefully someone else pipes up and lets you know.

I really like the 5000, it's just so versatile, I really like the 6000 too.

IMG_0592.jpg

How do you like that X-coil on your 5000?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, GotAU? said:

How do you like that X-coil on your 5000?

The 10" is fantastic, it's a real shame they discontinued GPX coils, it's the smallest fully spiral coil I own and very sensitive for a GPX 5000 coil.  Blows the Sadie and Joey to pieces for small target sensitivity.  I never did bother with a 14x8" EVO, but I have a 14x9" EVO and the 10" is noticeably more sensitive than it is, mostly with depth on smaller targets than overall sensitivity which are similar.  I have no idea how the 10" would handle very bad ground being so sensitive though , the windings cover the entire coil laid out flat, there is no space to go smaller and even then they had to do some magic to make the windings fit as they wouldn't fit if just laid out flat.  I was privileged to see inside it when they were making mine as it was the first one ever made.

Coiltek have a 9" spiral, I have no idea how they achieved that as looking inside the 10" there really was no room to possibly make it smaller, I'd like to try the Coiltek 9" but seeing the GPX 5000 is no longer a detector I use for tiny gold I can't justify the expense but if the 9" is anything like the 10" it's worth taking a look at.

If I was no longer in possession of the GPZ and GPX 6000 I'd be using that 10" as my primary coil on my GPX 5000, I do really like the 14x9" EVO though, nice coil.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/23/2023 at 11:40 AM, phrunt said:

A 1 gram target is an easy find for a 5000 that's for sure.  I don't know how the US market is going but if 5000's are going cheaper on the second hand market due to upgrades to the 6000 then it may make sense to go with a 5000, as it's widely acknowledged the 5000 can handle difficult ground and hot rocks significantly better than the 6000, the 6000 geared towards tiny targets I guess has side effects in that regard but in saying that, the 5000 can pick up very small targets, I can't remember my smallest nugget with the older model GPX but I'm sure it was down to 0.05 of a gram type size with a spiral coil.  .1 of a gram and over is where it really starts to go well.   Don't dismiss the 4500 either if you find one at the right price.

Hey Phrunt, a couple more options just came up for me. A friend of mine may be selling his 4500, and I could get a good deal on it. There's also a nice 4500 on ebay that is at a good price too. I would save a decent chunk of change here by getting the 4500 over the 5000. In your experience, how would you compare these 2 detectors? I know the 5000 has some additional soil settings, but how does the 4500 truly stack up against it? Do both machines run fine in hotter ground?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As fine gold is one of the settings you will miss that's probably not too big of a deal as it's ideal purpose is finding very small gold in difficult soils, and I am guessing the meteorites you want to find aren't going to be in the very low end of the sub gram weight.

Older 4500's tend to run a bit more rough on the threshold than the newer 4500's which seem to be based off the newer 5000 hardware, and the newer ones appear to run similar to the 5000 with that, my older 4500 was much more wild to tame than my 5000 is.

How old is the 4500 you would be looking at? Some prefer the older Australian made ones as it's thought they maybe slightly more sensitive/deeper than the newer Malaysian made ones, how much of that is a placebo and based upon the theory the older ones run full power and the newer ones have been tamed to make them more stable.  I've done some pretty good testing on my older Aussie 4500 and the newer Malaysian 5000 and couldn't overly find a performance difference in that regard in my soils.

The Enhanced timing was slightly improved on the 5000 too over the 4500 which is a timing often used in difficult soils. 

I don't hunt in very difficult ground so can't tell you exactly how much difference there is, but the 4500 was a very successful detector and appears to have very good difficult soil handling, it sure handles the difficult hot rocks in my area very well compared to more modern detectors like the 6000 or even 7000.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...