Andyy

Thanks for starting this thread, Fred. I just broke mine last weekend when it slipped out of my pocket and onto a tailing pile. Now I have a few ideas to try

I knew it, Jen!! The Zed isn't going to want to stay in the back seat forever. She likes competition so she'll be giving it to the 5000. Just a side note for pinpointing, I have noticed the Bogenes setup makes for a much tighter pinpointing as well. There's been a few threads reviewing it. I know you'll get the coil over plenty of signals. You can also do what Bill Southern does when you find those feint signals ... switch different settings for a minute and see if there are any improvements you can make. This helped me a lot to figure out what worked for me. Anyways, great to see the ZED gold!!

Funny. I've seen that done with the GB2 a few times. Good luck to you.

Wow... GB2 strikes again with the small coil. I would have thought that you'd miss the good size pieces wit that but you proved me wrong.

Dang ... that's HOT!! I agree, it would be good to get a little more of the story so some of us newer prospectors could learn a thing or two. For example .. I would like to know the method used to track down the pocket ... etc. Thanks.

Well I think it was in the 17th century that tulips were traded in the Netherlands. Of course that was a bubble that didn't last either. Still blows my mind that those people didn't know the value of silver. Of course I invested all of my hard earned allowance as a kid, picking up dog crap in the neighborhood only to buy silver at $6/oz. Not one of my better investments. LOL.

For bugs, just use a green or red light. I prefer green. It is invisible to the bugs.

Yes, very good and detailed report, Mitchel. The way Locate Patch gets rid of some of the ironstones, is interesting. The question I come up with is whether Locate Patch is better to rid of these ironstones or if it is better to go into Difficult. My experience previously, is that Difficult usually doesn't help too much with the ironstones, more with the ground noise. I guess I'll have to build upon your tests and others with my own. Just another reason to get out into the full moon weekend.

Wow, Aussie. Even the 705 should be able to find that size gold . My opinion is as others have stated. You already have detectors that cover the majority of gold types and depths. I WOULD NOT buy another detector until you can semi regularly find gold with your others. Make that your goal and you can later reward yourself with the latest and greatest detector once you know you have good spots. My largest gold has still been found with my GPX5000. The GPZ has since got me dozens of flake gold pieces. But I did not miss much with the 5000. And if you ask me, I tend to like the 4500 more for it's sensitivity to small gold. I believe the 5000 was tuned for larger ... deeper gold. But just my opinion from what I've seen. (I would leave the 705 home :) Good luck to you!

x2 on the Hot Rock issue. Where I am at we have a real nasty grey basalt (that overlays very good gold areas) that you cannot tune out by any method. I almost feel like shipping Bruce Candy a bunch of these rocks with a note saying "What about these?" LOL

Sweet find Mr. Oppor-Tuna. Very cool to hear about those types of finds. The details/clues are very interesting to some of us who have not been prospecting very long. Thank you for sharing!

Marty - I provided some constructive feedback to Minelab in the attached "Wish List" survey. It was interesting to hear what people were looking for. I can only hope they use some of these suggestions for future upgrades. I know many times engineering's hands are tied as to what can be done to a product. Typically, marketing pulls all the strings. But the GPZ is young enough that they are not going to just stop doing improvements. For example, I know they will eventually get to the smaller coil. If I recall correctly, this was documented to be in the 11" range. But with the Gold Monster out there, they are probably spacing out their releases so that they are not competing with themselves.

And still no ZED? I read of the issues you were having, elsewhere. If you were closer to Phoenix, I'd meet so you could test your ZED with mine or just let you borrow mine. In all seriousness, Jen. I wouldn't give up on it. You're someone who I know will really appreciate it when you get an actual working unit.

Jeez, Mitchel ... once I got past the California flake idea, I thought you were talking small gold. But that gold is big compared to what I have been digging up lately. My last 8x finds didn't add up to that weight! Nice work!! Andy

Wow, I can't decide which group I like most!! Very interesting how different the reef gold is from the other hillside sources. I would like to learn more about how that happens.

Thank you all who participated in listing out your wish for future ZED upgrades. Top scores summary: 6x people wanted ability to save settings so they could be switched back and forth 6x people want a clock to show on the front screen 5x people wanted a smaller coil option (elliptical would be a plus) 4x wanted password protection 4x wanted more depth 3x wanted a large wrist strap so you didn't have to wear a t-shirt while detecting 3x wanted better working for Salt and there were many other good suggestions... I'm curious to see in the long run, what direction engineering & marketing will take to improve their most expensive gold detector.

Madhatter, I think everyone has given great advice. I also prefer the ferrite and the figure 8ish pattern. My advice on the small gold, which is mostly what I am likely to get here in the states (Arizona) is: 1) go very slow. (maybe 4 seconds minimum for each direction of swing) With small gold, especially, it is not a race. It takes a lot of time to cover ground, but you'll happy you took your time 2) try not to use Difficult Ground type if at all possible. This will greatly decrease depth. Normal will be best. Slow movement will assist with this. 3) Experiment using a sample piece of gold to determine what settings YOU like. For example, I have a buddy that runs the machine silent (threshold = 6). This will narrow down the signal to almost a pinpointing mode. And it will let you run higher sensitivities. Me, I prefer to hear the threshold but I will turn down the sensitivity (down to 3) so my threshold is silky smooth. Any ripple or deviation is likely a nugget. We both get small gold at least down to .03g. Good luck!!

I have done the same in a few really hot spots. Specifically, red hot schist crossing a wash .. right under a tree root. I came back and hiked in a hand saw so I could get in and under that single root... only to dig down 2 feet without an increase in signal strength. Truth is I came back three times to dig deeper because I knew there had to be something there. But there wasn't. Also, out here in Arizona, I find barrel cactus love to grow in the iron deposits and give very strong false signals. But they don't get louder when you dig in a foot. Seems the cactus absorb those minerals. So I dig a mote around the roots until I can convince myself of this and then grudgingly fill it back in. But then there was that tree root.... maybe I should go back and dig just a liiiiiittle bit farther ....(4rth time is a charm).. LOL

Nice one Klunker. That one gets my goat all the time.

Overall, the GPZ is an awesome tool and I have been extremely happy with it since I purchased one about 6 months ago. But I thought I would gather what things people wish would be included as a future option/improvement such as software upgrades/gps options ... etc. Maybe I will forward the link to their marketing department (since I hear engineers are so difficult to work with ;p) Please list only your top 3 wishes for improvement/options/upgrades in order of priority ... if they are the same as others then that is fine. It shows we want similar things. My wish list: 1) smaller coil option - anywhere from 8-11" 2) software update allowing storage of a secondary settings (similar to GPX5000) 3) maybe a clock on the front screen

Well I was kind of hoping this thread would be about suggestions for Minelab improvements. Instead I get to hear what people really think about engineers.. ha..ha.. I myself am a mechanical engineer and yes I have to look myself in the mirror each day. LOL. Much of what has been said is true, unfortunately. Engineers have an insatiable appetite for learning but in general, are very poor at communicating on the most basic level. But I can still laugh at myself about it and hope that I am outside of the standard histogram ... errrr... (see I just can't hold back)... But it is my engineering background which drew me into metal detecting and studying geology in hopes of finding more gold. Like engineering, there is always more to learn. For me, this hobby is perfect for working off a little steam, making me put down my calculator and getting me out of the cubicle as much as possible. And in the process I get to speak with a lot of bright people on this forum and make some pretty good friendships in the process. Priceless. (well at least until they find out i am an engineer) ;)

You'll just just have to face the sunlight Mitchel and turn your head 90 degrees (for the sunglasses). Everyone will be like... what the heck is that crazy man looking so cock-eyed at? LOL

I agree with Fred. Got mine slightly used in this price range.

Bunk still makes them. I just upgraded a couple months ago since I donated my last pick to the Vulture mtns someplace. (Blessing in disguise) Mark - nice work following YouTube. I laugh wondering how I learned new things without it :)

Looks good, Mark. Everyone seems to have different requirement for their pick. I don't have much rock picking to do where I am at but more dirt removal requirements. Therefore, I have recently upgraded to Calvin Bunk's Hermit Pick. But if I were in a rocky area, I would go for a design similar to yours.