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What Backup Detector Do You Carry ?


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We hear about the hot PI detectors so many have to nugget hunt with. Maybe if you don't have far to travel you may not carry a backup. I myself it's a long trip to nugget land in the sky so I have a backup and another backup.

What I'd like to know from you is your backup another PI are a VLF ? Whatever you carry have you had the need to fall back on it ?

Chuck

PS What I read on here it sounds if all own GPZ's.

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99% of my nugget detecting is done with the Minelab GPZ 7000. I have two backup units.

The first is the Makro Gold Racer. It covers me for places where I think there may be very small gold the GPZ is missing. I did see an example just recently where an area hunted to death with the GPZ 7000 and SDC 2300 gave up some more tiny bits running a hot VLF. I have to say however I rarely find it worth my while to chase those remaining tiny bits - better to just keep going with the GPZ and find another larger bit.

Where the Racer really is more useful is if I get into a really trashy location and for lightweight scouting. It is also one of my jewelry detectors.

My backup PI is the Garrett ATX. I have been lax about bringing it along but will remedy that in 2017. It folds up so small it is silly not to bring it along. The ATX can ground balance out basalt or other hot rocks that can be troublesome for the GPZ in some locations. It also can 100% ground balance into the salt range, making it great for salt alkali areas where the GPZ really struggles. It is of course also waterproof, but I have not detected in the rain since I left Alaska, where detecting in the rain is commonplace. The ATX is also my number one beach/surf detector.

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I haven't made the leap for a Z yet as I just don't get out enough to justify the expenditure. My primary machine has been my SDC and it does well in most of the shallow haunts that I hunt...absolutely love the song it sings.  I also have a GB Pro that I use in trashier locations and as a backup. Both of these detectors fit nicely in a decent size backpack which I love!

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Always have the 4500 and the GB2 when I'm out, but each for their own purposes, not backup. Would love to replace the GB2 finally with something like the Deus or Impact.

The 4500 was backup for my GPZ when I had it. But even if I could have afforded to keep the GPZ I'd have probably still sold it though. Ironically, for the very same reason Steve primarily uses the GPZ, which shows how each machine fits a different person.

The only stuff it consistently got that my 4500 missed was the smaller stuff, which wasn't worth my time to chase. And occasional speci gold, which was too far apart to make it worth while to keep. If it ever gets down to about $2500 then I'll make it my prime detector and the 4500 it's backup again because it is nice to have the extra sensitivity when you really want it.

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Yep, the Z is a great machine no doubt about it. I saw your posts, that's about the same experience I had too. I agree with a good selection of coils on the 4500 can hold its ground for lions share of the bigger stuff.

I would occasionally find something like a 3 to 4 grammer than the 4500 totally missed, but it was maybe once out of every 6 or 7 trips if I was revisiting patches. I'd go rebury them and test them on the 4500, and it was just something about particular nuggets, often the Z would see those ones a good 4 or 5 inches deeper for whatever reasons. Conversely I also found nuggets (more rare) that the 4500 heard a good 3 to 4 inches deeper than the Z. One was a 20+ gram tangled chewed up bubblegum mass (gave a nice warble) that you would think the Z would have hit way deeper but actually the opposite. I reported that one to Minelab along with all my settings and the ground conditions as a curiosity.

There is talk about the warble, lately, this is something I covered early on after the Z's US release and is in some of my videos. One thing that my private testing showed was that the only nuggets the 4500 outperformed the Z on were all nuggets with that warble. Not all the time, in fact most of the time it was opposite. But if it happened, those were the ones it happened on. With warbly nuggets it becomes even more critical to run without smoothing from what I saw.

*sorry I'll stop here won't turn this thread into a talk about the Z. :tongue:

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Thanks all that have posted and with great interest I had to read each one. I do hope others find the time to post too.

Thanks Again !

Chuck

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My backup to the Z sort of is the SDC, well it is the only other detector in my vehicle. But if the Z should break down, I doubt I`d grab the SDC, instead I`d head to home to have the Z fixed. Fingers crossed, other then headphones or cables have not had a detector breakdown in the field yet.

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  • 7 months later...

My back-up is a 5000 only because I was lucky enough to find a wonderful deal

on a very clean 7000 without having to sell the GPX.

I also then, have a worthy detector in case someone needs to borrow one.

I am luckier than most, for sure.

 

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