Jin

ok, thanks for clearing up the confusion (Alluvial - from another forum) Seems like some of what i posted from another forum concerning the new detector was a little humor. Dang, I'm always a sucker and get taken. lol.

Anyway, I still think that only one recreational detector is being released. I don't think Codan would have the capability to release 3 recreational detectors plus the anti-mine detector plus the new radio all within a short time frame. Hard to say what it is, so just going to have to be patient.

1 hour ago, Aureous said:

Please note that Codan-Minelab's core tasks from FY16-18 were "To lessen dependence on the GPZ 7000" and create a "Wider metal detector product range" which was done by the R&D team over those 2 years.... the Investor presentations run to end of each financial year and that ends in 7 weeks. Hence the release of the info at the dealer conference a few weeks ago. 2 dealers have now confirmed the replacement of the Zed. When this will happen???... they both say before the end of this year. With 3 machines due out, its a matter of which comes first.

The 2019 Half-Year Results & Update from Codan was only released on 4 March 2019
Clearly states that 3 machines (one of which is a radio) are being released, but only one detector for the recreational user. Could be wrong but id be more inclined to believe a document released from minelab rather than hearsay. Of course, I hope your right. I do recall a while ago someone who knew a tester who said they were working on a lighter version of the zed. For now, I might just wait a little and see if any more news comes to light before. But I hope that happens soon as I'm about to chop the lead on the14" coil and order 2 "X" coils 

The half-year investor presentation mentions 3 new releases by minelab. One is a radio device, the other a counter-mine detector and the other a recreational detector. Might be jumping the gun thinking the gpz is going to be replaced just yet.

Was just having a look at Codans 2018 Anual report and they do seem to indicate the release of more than one detector.

"Recreation – adventure, treasure, and gold

Minelab continues to invest in product development for
recreational markets and has a number of new, improved
metal detectors in the pipeline."

they also refer to another detector for land mines.

 "we are further developing in partnership with the
Australian government to create a new dual-sensing
countermine detector, to be released in late FY19"

"After two years of development, Minelab’s new countermine dual-sensing detector is in final
testing and will be released in this half. This detector was partially funded by the Australian
government and combines ground-penetrating radar with simultaneous multi-frequency metal
detection in a compact, lightweight, high-performance dual-technology detector. It will be the
best dual-sensing detector on the market"."

Love the zed Phunt but wouldn't be happy if the price falls a lot on the zeds if they release a new machine. I'll wait until the 4500 goes tomorrow then advertise the zed. Worst-case scenario is if the talk about a new zed is wrong then ill buy another. not fussed. For once id like to be at the cutting edge of technology and get over ground that hasn't already been flogged with the latest machine. I was hoping JP might have jumped in and dispelled the rumours as he has in the past. But the silence tells me a new machine is coming and ill be first in line to get one.

1 hour ago, Aureous said:

Phrunt, the info I heard was good. You may note that I said there were 3 machines due out by ML before the end of the year. One is indeed a replacement for one of the current lineup of coin/relic units (my bet is the 3030) but the main point is the GPZ replacement, it IS exactly what Jin quoted,even down to the suggested RRP. A handful of testers have been busy with the prototypes for a couple months now. The depth advantages and 'other' features are 'astounding' they reckon. My guess is release within 3 months....

Someones coming to purchase my 4500 tomorrow and I'm going to take a punt and advertise the zed as well now. I can live with a gold detector for a while. I've always got the nox to use. 

39 minutes ago, phrunt said:

How is this unfair advantage coil coming along Reg? To me it seems the Russians beat them to it with their X-coils

 

Id say the unfair advantage would be a 40t excavator. But it could be a ground loop system or one of those Bulgarian concentric coils. Whatever it is ill probably be late to the party. Just bought the zed after 4 years of it being released. And I may be late to the party again if one can believe what's posted on another forum.  Id say it was just a joke, but then again it could be someone that has insider information who has chosen to spill the beans as an anonymous poster.

Part of what was said. "the new Minelab Vanquish will be Minelab's best ever prospecting detector. It will have depth capabilities up to 50% better than the GPZ 7000. And a retail price of $12,995 here in Oz. It will render all current gold detectors obsolete"

Im sure JP said about 6 months ago there was no replacement for the zed coming up anytime soon.

 

 

 

Quote

14 hours ago, phrunt said:

Season 4 has now started! Woohoo!!

 

Yep, always look forward to watching my gold shows on a Thursday night. Sitting back with a pizza and a good drink and dreaming about how good it would be to get an excavator into some of the old-timer's diggings. The shows may be staged and a bit over the top but who cares its more entertaining watching something that highlights our hobby than most of the other rubbish on free to air tv or Foxtel (cable tv - in Australia)  

Gave the 7000 a run for a couple of days this week. Wasnt too concerned about finding gold but more about understanding how to use it better. I took lots of notes from this forum and tried many of the suggestions on how to use the 7000.

I started with these settings using a booster and ear plugs

high yield

difficult

sensitivity 7-9

volume 5

threshold level 26

threshold pitch 40 - lower tone seems to suit my hearing better

volume limit 6

audio smoothing off

semi-auto ground balance - (using ferrite)

ground smoothing off

Then on JP's advice had ground balance mode in user settings, so as to change over to manual when checking a target. Also, didn't scrape the coil but kept it slightly off the ground.

I was pleasantly surprised how quiet the machine was and was trying to concentrate on faint changes in the threshold more so than obvious target responses. I hit some mullock heaps and was surprised at the number of targets still there. For the amount of stuff I got at depth there should have been gold but as we know a lot of diggings were done for little or no gold by the old-timers.

I then went to a spot id found gold at before on a surfaced area. I got a signal on a target that someone had scraped with there boot but never dug. Turned out to be 0.07 gram bit of the good stuff. That was the only bit found over two days but by the end, I really enjoyed using the 7000 and look forward to getting to know it better. The only downside is those pesky shotgun pellets. Reg says that he knows the sound they make so doesn't bother digging them, hopefully in time ill learn the difference as well. For now, I dig everything. I did try increasing the sensitivity but soon reverted back to a lower gain for the moment until I get to know the machine better.

As a side note, the first day of my trip I decided to use my gpx instead of the 7000. I'm a big fan of the 18" elite so used that for patch hunting. Towards the end of the day, I was curious about a set of mullock heaps that id heard had produced some sizable gold. I quickly picked up a soft signal and started to dig. 1.5 HOURS LATER I was 900mm deep, in rock hard ground, had broken my pick (lucky I carry 2 with me) and was expecting at least a 5-ounce nugget. Instead, it was some kind of old spoon. I don't think I've ever dug a hole that was so hard. I was knackered.  

I'm heading over to Canada and the US in 2 months. My wife organized a cash passport card. Got it through the banks. You load up any amount of money and it acts as a credit card. You can top it up via the bank or online. Was suggested by the travel agent instead of using a personal credit card. You pay the exchange rate of the dollar on the day you load up the card minus a small percentage (profit for the bank) My wife tells me its a lot cheaper using the cash card instead of a personal card as there are no ongoing transaction fees. Well also take a small amount of cash to incase credit cards aren't excepted.

Cheers guys, all good information and much appreciated.

43 minutes ago, Northeast said:

I was never a ‘scrubber’ with the Z but certainly ran it occasionally touching or just above the ground.

You mentioned that the GPX got lots of hot rocks and the Z got none.  In Normal mode I found the Z was a hot rock (and hot ground) magnet in my part of the world and in the GT.  The fact you got none makes me wonder what other setting on the Z is dulling it’s performance so much that it is knocking out hot rocks. And could that same setting be knocking out gold? 

 

Could be the case Northeast, although I still did get hot rocks with the zed just nowhere as many. In the future ill head back to this spot and see if it's just a case of user inexperience but I feel I gave the zed a good run using reasonably conservative timings/settings and then had to resort to trying to figure out some more extreme settings as I wasn't finding anything. Funny thing is I showed my mate who has a zed how to use the spo1 (filter 3) and normal timings and the bugger found 9 nuggets not far from my home. He said, yeah it's noisy but when you get over gold it really stands out amongst the chatter/noise of the machine. 

5 hours ago, Nevada Brian said:

Jin, it sounds like you have used conservative and hot settings on the GPZ with the same results.  I think it may be time to scrap off the top 6 inches or more and recheck to see if there are any nuggets at depth. 

Brian.

Hi Brian, I've done that in one section but found no more. I've raked it as well in other areas. It almost seems like the run of gold shedding off the reef is shallow. Only a few bits showed some wear most was prickly and sharp and hasn't traveled far. 

8 hours ago, Reg Wilson said:

Most ground I have encountered will not tolerate Normal mode.

I use Normal mode often with the 4500 although with a low gain, sometimes as low as 1. The ground im more familiar with isn't as bad as some I've encountered but still has ironstone present. Although I've had this discussion with a few that disagree I've found that the Normal timings with a low gain will pick up gold missed with Enhance with a high gain. Probably the only reason I get away with doing this is that I use the sp01 on filter 3 (more compression of the audio response I guess) and turn my audio tone right down. Would I use these settings for everyday detecting? NO, but on a known gold patch what have you got to lose. In one spot no bigger than a room I dug over 20 hot rocks but also recovered 3 bits of gold that when checked in Enhance wouldn't register any kind of response.

13 hours ago, afreakofnature said:

I scrub with my Zed, I don't remember reading that you should not do this.  But can't give you any feedback to your other problem.

I may have misunderstood the scrubbing bit as I was referring to a post from JP sent to me by Northeast. 

JP: Quote - In the case of Normal Ground Type mode on the GPZ 7000, those modes are very aggressive so will saturate more
readily than Difficult mode. I generally keep my coil around the 30 mm mark even in quiet
ground.

My second outing with the zed I tried the factory presets except I used semi-auto ground balance and ground smoothing off. Tried those settings on a patch I've pulled many different nuggets out of over the last year. (4.5 ounces) The zed didn't get any more targets using those settings. 

I then proceeded to increase the sensitivity up a fair bit but still no luck. I tried many settings/timings but alas no more gold with the zed on this patch.

As a last ditch resort to try and justify my purchase of the zed after a 3.5-year wait, I cranked the zed up to the most aggressive settings I could get away with hoping to find something that my 4500 had missed.  

The settings were... Extra Deep, Normal, sensitivity 20, threshold pitch 33, Locate patch, audio smoothing high. (also used steelphase booster with filter 3 to quite it down even more) (ferrite balance etc) 

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the zed handled the ground using these settings compared to the gpx when running flat out. Hardly any hot rocks compared to the gpx. Unfortunately after a day of trying this and many settings and thoroughly going over small patches of ground that the 4500 had success on the zed found nothing. My conclusion is one of three things.

1. I don't know what I'm doing. Although surely it's pretty foolproof using the zed in factory settings with a controlled coil swing and the coil slightly off the ground. 

or

2. Hitting my patch over the last year with the 4500 in Normal and Sharp timings with gain at 15 has done the job. Id previously used enhance with a high gain and done ok. But once i cranked it up in Normal there was still gold left that enhance couldn't hear. It makes me wonder if folk who say that they got gold in past patches with the zed ever bothered to max out the gpx on their patches first.

or

3. The gold was fairly shallow (350mm was the deepest bit found) and all within the range of the gpx so no chance for the zed to prove its worth.

I was a little disappointed with the zed if I am honest but will give it time and look forward to seeing some kind of advantage over the 4500 that I hear about from others who have had 4500/5000 and now swing the 7000. The thing that I didn't like is that it's advised to keep the coil slightly off the ground. I'm a scrubber and like to use the coiltek Elites to push branches/leaves out of the way in an attempt to get right up close to the ground. Sort of defeats the purpose if you ask me to be swinging 3cm off the ground.

Hi Northeast, went and gave it a run today. No gold but dug some pretty deep bits of rubbish. I was up till 2 am downloading some videos and other info on my phone to go over when trying out the zed so got little sleep. Didn't like the pro harness so reverted back to my camel backpack and the hipstick. Connected the bungee and it wouldn't stay in place and the detector was dragging on the ground. Being tired and not thinking straight I thought I must have left a part that holds the tension on the bungee at home. So swung the zed for 5 hours straight with no bungee. My bicep feels like its done 1000 dumbbell curls. Obviously, when I got home I realized my stupid mistake.

The ground in Gippsland wasn't too bad so I ran the zed in General, Normal and sensitivity on 18. Using the steelphase enhancer I switched it over to filter 3 which quietens down noisy settings a lot. I used these settings for about 4 hours and although quite chattery targets stood out.  I got a lead bullet quite deep in some old-timers tailings which got me excited thinking this might be my first zed gold. The last hour I reset and tried high yield, difficult and sensitivity on 9. The machine was nice and quiet but I didn't get any targets with those settings. 

Thanks Steve, All updated now. 

Pardon my ignorance, but if my zed hasn't had any updates do I have to install them all or just the last update?

When you connect the zed up to install updated software does it tell you if you any updates have been previously installed? The machine I just brought has only been used a few times (3 years old) The chap I bought it off didn't know much about prospecting so I'm presuming no updates have been done. 

Phrunt, my 4500 picked up the 0.27gram bit easily just nowhere as deep as the 7000 did. I think from memory i found this bit using the 18" Elite coil.

Hi Nenad, 0.27 gram was the small one. I dug a thin trench about 2" deep gradually getting deeper to around 10" deep. We moved the gold deeper until we felt the zed would recognize it as a target if we were detecting the area. 

One of my mates bought his second 7000 a few weeks ago. We did some testing against the 4500 using both the 11" and 14" coiltek elites coils. (not a lot of difference between a 4500 and a 5000 IMO)

We placed some test bits of gold in some mineralized ground and at another site with less mineralized ground. No matter what settings/timings I used I couldn't hear the small bits of gold that the 7000 could. We even tried cranking the 4500's gain to 15, stabilizer on 20 and audio set to boost. We also tried using sensitive extra and normal timings but it couldn't match the 7000 on the small gold.

On a larger bit of gold, I matched the 7000 but not using Enhance. Had to go to Normal timing and set the gain to 5. However, the 4500 was not really usable in the surrounding ground unless the gain was lowered to 1.

At Gain of 1, it still picked up the test bits but not as clear as Gain on 5 which i felt heard that bit as clear as the 7000. 

Obviously, testing like this is not the same as testing undug targets but unless one machine handles air tests better it seemed a reasonable way to compare machines.

From what I saw it made up my mind that its time to get rid of the 4500 and buy a7000.  

Hi Mitchel

Geovic and geological maps are all you need to find prospecting locations in Victoria. Do your research at home and mark all your intended prospecting spots onto a GPS before arriving here. Otherwise, you'll find yourself driving around in an unfamiliar area and wasting a lot of time. 

Geovic - The youtube videos below show a basic overview of how to use it. If you need help understanding anything related to Geovic just ask. Make sure you activate the reefs and contour layers, they help a lot in understanding where gold may have shed. http://earthresources.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/maps-reports-and-data/geovic

Geological maps covering a lot of the golden triangle http://earthresources.efirst.com.au/categories.asp?cID=30&c=164920

Another good resource for researching - Trove is a digital Newspaper archive that has a lot of useful information from the old mining days. https://trove.nla.gov.au/

Pandora has a lot of information about the history of mining in Victoria. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/col/13063#13065

Hope some of this info helps you out.

Some months back I bought the equinox and struggled to understand how to use it as I mentioned in a rant on this forum previously. The best advice I got was from Steve to turn down the sensitivity. I did that, turning it way down from the factory preset. Things started to make sense, instead of numbers and sounds going off every swing targets were more discernable. Side note: Id never used coin detecting machines before only gold detectors.

After digging up the front lawn and finding many coins I headed of to the beach slowly getting the hang of the 800 gradually raising the sensitivity until in some spots I was able to raise the sensitivity till it was flat out and was picking up some nice coins at depth. I was soon able to work out what was ground noise and targets, similar to the way I operate my gpx. The other thing I tested was using a coin as a test and seeing what changing the recovery speed did. Backing it right off to 1 definitely got more depth.

Recently a mate who has the 800 and me hit an old caravan park set on a beach location that not everyone knows about. We waited till the tide went out and hit the mud flats. Targets were absolutely everywhere. Many where sinkers which helped me replenish my fishing tackle box. We both came home with a gold ring each and many pre-decimal coins. I went back last week and cleaned up again. Working the mud flats was pretty disgusting as we were sinking in the mud and covered from head to toe in it.  Trying to dig mud is not easy but I guess that's where the rewards are lying so well be back for sure