Steve Herschbach

I am writing a series of tips and "how to" blogs on the zed GPS system. Sure it can be improved, but it is actually something I am finding it to be useful. There is something to be said for it being up front and in my face at all times that makes its use compelling. I like it.

Whoa folks! Posting on multiple forums is not a crime. We have a new member, let's give the benefit of the doubt before making assumptions. Hopefully Cindy is legit and if so she is welcome here. If not.... I will handle it. Thanks!

I do not want to collect money or any such thing. Not a bad idea at all, just more than I want to get involved in at the moment. I am up to my neck in alligators, so to speak, at this point in time. People with really great stories they think might be worth a buck should consider submitting them for publication in the ICMJ Mining & Prospecting Journal. Scott and Chris ALWAYS need articles.

Well, I guess I am not sure what you mean. You want to run a competition and offer some sort of prize?

There are no small concentric coils for the Goldmaster series. Well, excepting a prototype I had but sold some time ago. The coils made for the White's Goldmaster/GMT series are pictured at http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-equipment/whites-electronics-gmt-metal-detector.htm

In my case none. The battery gets me through a long day GPS off or GPS always on. I never turn the GPS off now.

I have had separate GPS units and still do, but find using the GPZ map screen as my main hunt screen to work better for me. The screen and current hunt are just right there in front of my face so I can see gaps in my coverage as they develop. I can reload a previous hunt map and work off it. Having a built in method for recording a nugget find location, weight, and depth are also handy. Far from perfect but having it as my main hunt screen makes it compelling for me. I eyeball and use landmarks and boot scrapes to get the best coverage I can but it is easy in some ground to go astray and the screen alerts me to double back and give a missed spot proper coverage before moving on. There is no having to watch a separate GPS screen; it is just right there in front of me at all times.

This year has not been going exactly as I imagined it would. My stated goal for the year was to set a new record for days in the field detecting. So far however, it has been anything but that. No complaint - I have been devoting myself to visiting family and other things that took precedence over prospecting. Weather has also been a bit dodgy this spring leading me to sit out things a little waiting for better conditions. What time I have had for prospecting has mainly been spent in northern Nevada. I am really taken with the desert and am very partial to the sagebrush and grassland country. It reminds me a lot of the time I spent in Australia with huge wide open spaces to wander. I enjoy the idea that gold can be found nearly anyplace, the exact opposite of Alaska, and I love just wandering from valley bottom to hill top because, well, you just never know. There is some old and interesting geology here that leaves nuggets in what might seem to be pretty unlikely locations. I did find one nice little patch that produced about half my gold this spring, but the rest were just strangely random isolated nuggets. I would find one and get all excited, then after several hours of methodically gridding the area wonder why that one nugget ended up there all alone. My largest nugget, at 3/4 oz, was just such a find. I wandered out of what looked to be the "good area" and just lucked into this nugget all by itself on a hillside far above the valley floor. Where did it come from? Why nothing else near it? I like to wander around freely but due to the nature of the gold deposits I am relying heavily on the GPZ 7000 map screen and GPS track to attack areas in chunks. I just start someplace and then use the GPS mapping screen to fill in all the pixels as completely as I am able in a given area. My goal is to completely hunt that area and then write it off forever as being hunted. Each hunt area is dumped to X-Change building my master map of hunted areas. I am approaching it much like building a jigsaw puzzle, each planned hunt taking in a segment and filling it completely. I still like to wander around a lot but the main focus is long term - the many years I have ahead of me hunting these areas. I could just do what I have always done and hunt piecemeal but I decided it is time to switch gears and get more methodical about things. I figure there is a lot of that random "scattered gold" out there and that a slower long term goal to gather it up is a major part of my plan going forward. Using GPS mapping is key to getting good coverage while eliminating the chance I might waste time hunting and rehunting the same locations over the years. The GPZ is also critical to this effort as I have great confidence in its ability to sniff out almost any gold that finds its way under the coil. Small gold, flat gold, wire gold, deep gold - the GPZ is my gold vacuum. All detectors miss gold, including the GPZ. But right now if I have to hunt an area once and once only, and have my best shot at finding what might be there, I do not know of a better option for me than the GPZ 7000. One detector, one coil, one pass over the ground ever - what are you going to use? If gold is found a person of course has the luxury of coming back with different coils and different detectors and trying to find gold missed before. The problem is finding that first nugget. If it does not get found, you just wander on, never knowing that maybe you just missed a great patch, for the lack of finding that first, most important nugget. I am convinced there are many undiscovered patches out there still. The patches with the big easy to find solid gold may be very rare now, but "weak" patches comprised of smaller, or deeper, and harder to find specimen type gold surely exist. They will be found by people hunting outside the commonly known popular areas. That is what I have been doing. Hunting locations where other prospectors are rarely if ever seen. I honestly think I have been a bit lucky as of late but the methodology is sound and it is what I will be doing for as long as I have left to swing a detector. I continue to follow the various posts around the world about the GPZ 7000 and people's experiences with it. Mine are pretty boring. I turn the machine on, maybe do a quick ground balance routine, and go detecting. I may not even go through the ground balance motions. I just turn it on and pick up from where I left off the previous day. I usually run in High Yield, Normal Ground, Gain of 12, Smoothing Off, Ground Tracking On. I leave most audio settings alone. The detector will often run noisy with these settings, especially in alkali locations. I may lower the threshold to 20 to knock out some excess noise, or just lower the overall volume level using my headphones. The GPZ lacks a master volume control that lowers all sounds at once, and so benefits from the use of an external booster with master volume control. The problem for me is that is one more battery operated gizmo, and so I often just use my headphones instead to gain the overall volume control I crave. I tend to run my detectors noisy but like it to be quiet/noisy not loud/noisy. When the ground responses get a bit much, as is the case with ground salt, I react more by slowing down and modifying my swing than changing detector settings. So far I would say about half the gold I found was pulled out of fairly high salt response ground with the attendant moaning/groaning or hee/haw responses the GPZ produces in that type of ground. That seems to be a show stopper for a lot of people but I don't pay much attention to it myself. I have this theory that killing those responses might kill my gold finding capability on this ground to a certain extent, as I know some of these locations have seen other detectors that ignored the salt. They also missed the gold. Coincidence? Maybe. I have plans for more experiments regarding this but have had a hard time tearing myself away from my limited detecting time to do more comparative tests. Later. Anyway, I have quietly picked up just over a couple ounces of gold with my GPZ 7000 so far this spring. The largest nugget is 3/4 oz and there are several other nice pieces I am very happy with. Nice solid, clean gold, my kind of stuff. An odd mix from very worn appearing to rough. I am unfortunately getting waylaid again with things I must attend to before I can go prospecting again and so I decided I may as well post this update now. It could be weeks before I get out prospecting again. Until then, here are some happy pictures to enjoy. More Information on Minelab GPZ 7000 Click photos for larger versions... This post was promoted to an article

My hearing sucks. I have no idea what I am not hearing because - I can't hear it!

The new White's TreasureMaster is now on the White's website at http://www.whiteselectronics.com/treasuremaster and available at select dealers. You can download the owners manual for the TreasureMaster and TreasurePro in this website's download area. It should not be much longer before the TreasurePro is available.

The Nokta and Makro detectors sense the proper coils and give a message on screen if the coil is not right. In theory a 14 kHz Racer coil might work on a 15 kHz FORS but the reality if you try it (I have) an error message appears. I would not be surprised if a 5 x 10 for FORS is made if enough people request it.

Hi Art, That sucks. I do hope it gets sorted out for you post haste and to your satisfaction. I will not be shutting up about the GPZ. I am just not going to get stuck being in the position of being some sort of Minelab apologist. As far as I am concerned, the less people who have a GPZ the better. That would not be good for Minelab, but too many people in my area have one already.

Chris Ralph brought up freq around 30 kHz idea but it was just speculation. We have to wait and see what it is. A dual frequency like you suggest could certainly be done. Can't say it is what I expect but maybe they will surprise me.

The one I had (early version) came without cover but I see new versions of the coil as being advertised as coming with the scuff cover. I would ask any seller to be double sure.

I had to come here to get my "Loving The Zed" fix. Great job Gold Hound, you are well on the way to paying for that detector. Hopefully your hard work continues to produce good results!

Last I heard the Gold Racer is scheduled for release in 2015.... and the year is half over.

Goldbrick at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/599-makro-racer-bluetooth-headphones-and-transmitter-module/?p=11589 asked "Steve, do you have the elliptical 5x10 coil? If so what is your opinion?" The 5" x 10" is a nice coil and looks good on the Racer. It will not catch brush and has a tad better separation than the 7" x 11" coil but the trade of course is a bit less ground coverage and depth. I am used to the more solid feel of the Fisher equivalent. This one is a bit lighter and more hollow sound and feel to it. Not a coil for everyone but the kind of coil I like a lot. I am glad it will be the stock coil on the Gold Racer. At $139 hard to quibble about the price. Nice to see a detector with affordable coil options.

Defending it vehemently? Seriously? Did you not see my picture of the broken footrest? Please review my Reasons Not To Buy a GPZ 7000 http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/725-reasons-not-to-get-a-minelab-gpz-7000/ I am all for reporting facts and have said not one thing here to discourage reporting facts. So to the list of reasons not to buy a GPZ 7000 add that it is not perfect. Having run a service department for decades, I can promise anyone buying anything that stuff breaks and fails for countless reasons. Expecting perfection from devices is unrealistic. I guess my motivations are suspect so I will let others do the talking about the GPZ from here on out. I will just go use it.

Indeed, experiment, try new things - most importantly, do what makes detecting fun for you! Thanks for the detailed post Mark. I think anyone tackling coin detecting with a PI and having any success is doing great. It is not considered a "normal" use of a PI but the TDI due to its manual adjustments can work some magic. Steve's Guide to White's TDI Coin Settings

Well hopefully you change your mind about forums and hang out here. Welcome!

Gold Hound posted something at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1067-loving-the-zed/?p=11514 that really made me perk up: Bogene's settings are not for me. I have my own ideas, I care not about chattery emi noise or a fair bit of ground noise, in fact I like a fair bit of ground noise to tell me whats going on with mineralization under the coil I set mine for deep and small target sensitivity. I like a lot of noise coming back at me, most could not tolerate their detector as noisy as I run mine. But noise is like music to my ears, my gain has hardly ever had to go below 20. You'll hear how noisy it is in the vid. I've found that understanding the Ground Balance is critical with the Zed. I have found that fixed is very useful when you know when and how to best apply it. I've found that the most important thing in all metal-detecting is swing speed/hand eye to ear co-ordination. Most operators never fully master this skill. Once you truly master this skill ground noise or emi doesn't bother you much any more, even if its louder than the target response as the target noise frequency is greatly different to the emi or ground noise to a trained ear, and the target response frequency is directly relative to your swing speed. The swing speed can be varied greatly and used to ID a target from a strong concentrated ground noise. That is how I detect! Though my gain stays closer to 12. I also run my volume levels fairly low so the sounds are more a background sound than loud noises. But real targets just jump out to my ear. I wonder how many people are having fits over the GPZ 7000 and what they see as noise that makes it unuseable, and how many there are like me and Gold Hound who are experiencing the same thing and asking ourselves "what's your point"?

I have now used the Racer Bluetooth headphones a couple hours. The lag is tiny and frankly not something I noticed much as my swing and target perceptions adjust almost instantly to whatever detector I am using. In other words, if I did not think about it I would not notice it and it is a non-issue for me. Others are far more sensitive to this sort of thing going by comments I have seen on other forums. My main issue was with the audio clarity of the Phillips wireless phones. My Sun Rays just sound better to me. But the wireless option is compelling so I will have to play around with these more in the future to get a better idea whether I like them or not. Right now I am ambivalent on the subject.

The Racer wireless phones have been out for some time Tom. http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/599-makro-racer-bluetooth-headphones-and-transmitter-module/

It was not meant to be harsh John so I apologize. I am a rabid fan of detecting so do not consider passion to be a negative.

No John, that is not it per se. However, this is and will remain the forum where calm and reason prevails. You being an admitted rabid owner of a rival brand and non-owner of the GPZ will find there is little credibility to be had by piling on a machine others own. Let the people experiencing the issues speak for themselves. I am all for constructive criticism, but surely owners of any detector are more qualified to comment on any machines perceived strengths and weaknesses than non-owners.