afreakofnature

Let discuss those options in a different thread. Just so we can stay on topic with these controls. Otherwise we will go in a completely different direction. Actually alot of that has been discussed before but never the focus on these 4 specific controls. Thanks Northeast!

I have read them all, believe it or not. It took a hell of a lot of time and I have read them more than once. First when they were posted and then again doing all this research to make a complete GPZ manual. As well as many others posts from this forum too. It was a huge community effort to put all this out and then to take all that and for me to try to summarize it all up. I will have most if not all of JP's posts in that PDF manual that I will eventually share. This has been my winter time goal. To become "completely" knowledgeable in ZVT and GPZ functions so when spring hits I can begin testing all of this and see what I might have missed because of my prior ignorance.

more on Sensitivity: See jasong's post above Hey jasong. That is an excellent way of describing it and I believe we are spot on with each other just described a little different. Yours is much more accurate in the technical jargon, mine probably not so much, but I am nearly sure your FM radio analogy is the exact same. Gain controls the INPUT (antenna strength) and volume controls the OUTPUT (overall loudness). jasong you have made some excellent videos in the past on US Miner (YouTube). Care to make a quick one in regards to these 4 settings? 😉

jasonG and Gold Catcher: Lets stick to these "standard" settings that I first listed just so when talking about the 4 controls of the topic we don't get side tracked, because "Yes" when changing Gold Mode or Ground Type or Adding filters this will affect the 4 controls we are discussing and need to be adjusted accordingly. Just don't want to get off topic is all and go down the wrong rabbit hole. Noise Canceled. Gold Mode: High Yield. Ground Type: Normal. Ground Balanced with Semi Auto. No filters - Audio nor Ground Smoothing.

Northeast, Thanks for the indepth response! I know that had to take some time cause it took me about 6 hrs to write up my summary from what I had researched and learned. Here are some of my comments to your replies. more on Sensitivity: I don't think that more "power" is going to the coil. If that was the case you would have more battery drain. More power, more energy right? In other posts people were thinking this should be like volume. But volume is an OUTPUT control and I think that Sensitivity is an INPUT control. I think of it like a guitar plugged into an amp. The amp has a gain and a volume too. The gain controls what is being sent from the guitar to the amp (INPUT). The volume controls what goes from the amp to the ear (OUTPUT). Yes it does sound louder when you adjust the gain, but like a guitar if you just crank the gain all the way up it sounds distorted and noisy. Bring it down some and you can get the max loudness with the perfect tone. Same with volume on the amp. Once you get that perfect tone with gain you can turn up the volume to get the max loudness before you introduce the noise level but that volume increase is subjective to your hearing. Yes it might be different hemispheres, because this comes straight from the manual made by Aussies 🤣. I think we all think like you do but I wanted to stay consistent with how the manual describes it. It is why I put the numbers with it too so we could all be on the same page. I think we are on the same page here so that is good to see. I use the WM 12 too. I should maybe have said that above. I don't see the need for a booster though when you can boost with the Volume control. Maybe more analog control instead of incremental steps? This should be the topic for another thread though. Also I have not done any research on this yet so everything would be speculation. Personally I just don't want to wear more gear. 🙂

Yes this is well known and posted many times in the forum. However, people can also learn from others. This is what I am trying to promote. Let's SEE what others doing and lets SEE if the certain theories that have been discussed hold true or not. That's my push for some videos. 🤣 I love watching videos of people digging up gold, especially when I can't go out, but how about turning on the camera when you start too so we can watch you set up your detector for the ground you are in. Let's watch the process. 🙂

more on Volume Limit: I used to think this too until I read a couple posts by others on here. They say their experience with Volume Limit is actually more like what volume itself should be. After researching what a volume limit is it should just set what the maximum volume can be (to protect your hearing), but if this was the case the Volume control would not change how much it goes up incrementally based on that limit. Therfore, if you cranked up the Volume control everything would just be complete noise or distortion, because in theory the noise loudness would be the same loudness as a target as it could reach the same limit. Therefore in conclusion, I think it is just a "maximum" loudness level overall setting and not a clipping function of the Volume control. Hopefully someone might be able to test this and show in a video 😉. If not I will be in May when the snow is gone, but the more the better!🙂

Yes, I have read the manual. Over and over. Plus I have also done what Northeast has done and basically inserted a lot of DP, Knowledge Base and TreasureTalk articles based on a couple months of research. I have used the Z for about 3 years now too. I plan on posting this "revised" manual in the future for everyone to have. I am hoping it will be kind of like a wiki that others would want to add to so all the content is in one PDF. But before I do that I want to have a good "grasp" on how to adjust these controls for ZVT perfection (based on the ground you are in). Hopefully some videos will roll in. Fingers crossed.

Hey All. I have been researching this last month or so throughout Detector Prospector, Minelab's Knowledge Base and TreasureTalks so that I can take my skills with the GPZ to the next level and I think in order to do that it involves these 4 settings: Threshold, Sensitivity, Volume and Volume Limit. A lot of forum members talk about these comparing and contrasting, but none really give you a "How to." How do you go about adjusting these to reach perfection, to reach that perfect ZVT zen. Conclusions that I have read are that: it just depends on what you want to hear, or how you hear what is coming out of the detector. OK, but I think it is more to it than that, and if you don't understand what these controls do how can you really achieve the best results. Keeping these setting the same. Noise Canceled. Gold Mode: High Yield. Ground Type: Normal. Ground Balanced with Semi Auto. No filters - Audio nor Ground Smoothing. Lets talk about how we start. Here is what I have researched and summed up describing these controls. These are my "interpretations" based on everything I have read and I think I really have a grasp on it now. This information and dissemination of it came from everyone here, and I mean everyone! Huge Thank You! Sensitivity: aka Gain. Control of the INPUT "strength" of a "sound wave." You don't actually control how "sensitive" the coil is. ZVT is ZVT, that is the tech we are using In order to understand these controls I think of it like a "sound wave". What you control is the "sound wave" coming into the machine. Too much gain and you over modulate the sound wave, cause distortion, and increase the "noise" level. Too little gain and your "sound wave" is decreased (like making it a flatter line) maybe allowing large "sounds" to come through but in return lowering the "noise" level and small "sounds." In Sensitivity is where you want to produce the "perfect sound wave" coming into the machine. You want that sound wave to just barely reach below a distortion level to get the best "sound or tone" Threshold: This is how much of the "noise" level you want to hear. It kind of acts like a bottom or "noise" filter. Increase threshold (lower number on GPZ) and you filter out more of the "noise" level as well as small "sounds." The opposite is to lower threshold (increase number on the GPZ) to filter out less of the "noise" level and hear smaller "sounds." These two setting should play off of each other so that you can achieve the "biggest window" for the ZVT "sound wave" to operate in with the least amount of "noise". Some people use a 20 sensitivity and a 7 threshold. Is that the biggest window they could achieve? Some do a 15 sensitivity and a 27 threshold. Is that the biggest window they could achieve? How come you could not do a 1 sensitivity and a 53 threshold? Nobody has ever commented on that. Boost it? Probably not a good idea. I don't know, never tried. Food for thought, but I hope you get what I am saying about that. In my eyes these two controls are where you should start. Achieve the biggest "window" that ZVT can work with. If you minimize the window you are not taking advantage of the full technology. In turn you are probably not finding the smallest pieces you could achieve or the greatest depth on targets. Don't limit ZVT, maximize it to its full potential. Open the window as far as you can for the ground/mineralization you are in. Now on to Volume and Volume Limit This is where I do not have the best grasp on these controls, even after all the research I am not sure if I am describing these correct. So many people play off of these and have different explanations. This is what I "think" they mean. Volume: aka Audio Boost. Control of the OUTPUT "loudness" of the Threshold and Sensitivity window that you just created. We are told that this acts like an audio boost and that increasing this by one is like increasing Sensitivity by 2, etc. I don't think that is a good way to describe it, at least for me. What I think Volume is doing is increasing the loudness of the "window." Than includes the "sound wave" as well as the "noise" associated with it. If you can not hear the targets you want after adjusting your "window" above, then you need to boost the audio. Doing this though will increase what you hear in "noise" and I "think" this is why some describe this as equivalent to increasing Sensitivity but it is not. The "window" has already been set with your Threshold and Sensitivity, what volume does is change the OUTPUT "loudness" and there by multiplies how big the window is ("sound wave" and "noise"). This allows you to hear hear more, but more of EVERYTHING, in affect increasing overall loudness. This is why it should be used "conservatively." Start at 1 and work up until it is where you "like" hearing it. This is the part that should be subjective to each individual and their hearing. Volume Limit: The Big Mystery. What does this do? How does it help me? Some say that this is actually volume. Some say this is what you should adjust to hear targets better. Some say it is just there to not blow your ear drums off if your volume is set to high. My questions are: Does this affect the "OUPUT" signal or the "INPUT" signal or both? Why would I want a Volume Limit? My thoughts on this...... I think that Volume Limit sets the MAXIMUM Volume (Audio Boost) "level" that can be used. I don't THINK it limits the Sensitivity. So this is an OUTPUT control. Therefore if you set the Volume Limit high you would get a higher (louder) incremental step with each number in Volume (Audio Boost). If you use a lower Volume Limit, you would have lower (less louder) incremental steps in Volume (Audio Boost). So if you want more precise control of your Volume (Audio Boost) you would set a lower Volume Limit. The trade off is maximum loudness. If you need to hear things louder you are going to have to raise your Volume Limit and then adjust your Volume (Audio Boost) accordingly. My thoughts are that people think this actually raises the volume but in the end if you keep Volume (Audio Boost) at 8 and increase Volume Limit, it will get louder per se because you just raised the the maximum loudness level there by increasing the loudness steps for each Volume (Audio Boost) number. Make sense? It does to me, I hope I am right otherwise I am gonna have to relearn this all over again 😉 Well now I need feedback from you all. Am I out in left field on all of this? Am I spot on? Or do I just need some minor tweaks? 🤣 AND if you have the desire to help some, could as many folks as possible make a video of them adjusting these settings to achieve a perfect balance? These are the videos that are missing on YouTube, etc. We see tons of people digging up gold but not many at all on "How" they use and set up their machine. This would be huge to see. You don't have to make a fancy video, maybe just have someone with their phone over your shoulder while you go through it. This would be a huge boon for a lot of people, including myself. Especially us that have to stay in all winter and have to wait to test their own theories. 🤣 So any help in that regard please post! OR if you already found some vids, please share. I have tried every search I could to no avail. Anyways many members on here have said it before. You need to learn your machine. Its only one aspect of being an expert detectorist. I know I am not there yet cause it sure looks like I am still trying to learn my machine. The rest for me seemed to have come easier, researching locations, reading locations, putting the coil over the gold, etc. Now I NEED to revisit a bunch of locations where I got the easy gold by just using preprogramed settings that I learned when I just started. I started detecting at the SDC level. Turn on and go. I never had a GPX so comparing to the old never helped me. I am part of the new school of detectorists and I don't want to be ignorant by having less control. I want to take control. Its time to achieve ZVT zen and see what was left behind. Its time to level up.

Crank that SDC up to 4 and if you can handle the noise 5. Threshold at 3 or 4. Ground Balance and away you go! Listen for repeatables even if they are faint. I found gold near the surface to 4 inches out in GB and I only went once! The secret is to go further and farther than anyone else.

You don’t have to make them on my accord. I’m just saying that I like them better. I don’t take my iPad with me when I am actually detecting. If i need a certain map or reference I put it on my phone. Back at camp I use my iPad. I do field map every day 6 months out of the year with my iPad mini. Been using that for over 7 years now and never broke a screen, keep in a side pouch and only use a Zagg screen protector.

Books in PDF format though would be so handy. It allows you to quickly search as well as keep everything in the right order like the authors are saying. Plus I can store thousands of references on my iPad so when I go in the field, or on a trip, I can quickly look stuff up if I need to. I hope they try to figure that out because it really is the way to go if they can get security somehow. Having a paper book, although it’s nice to have in the house and on the shelf, is not something that is really feasible for quick research anymore. It’s really nice that most of the scientific publications are in PDF format now. BTW Fists of Gold is a fantastic book!

PDF might work as an ebook. Just don’t know how you could protect it from being “shared”

Interesting choice!

It more than likely is not a “booster“ that most people are thinking of. It’s just an external speaker that probably has volume control with it, there are quite a few to chose from. Being that the GPX only has an external speaker attached to the machine or headphones you can use a Bluetooth speaker to attach it to your backpack, GPZ style.

Nice Rob! Not using the ZSearch though?

👍🏻👍🏻 Again thank you.

Boom Jason! You hit the nail on head. I was trying to get at this in my other posts on another thread but you have said it WAY better backed up with science and research that I still need to learn and understand. 👍🏻👍🏻 Thanks for sharing all this!

It’s already out there in for about $7000. However it’s just not built into a metal detector yet

Exactly. Are we dealing with Windows 9.5 or 11? (Being we are on 10). Or is this Vista that was worse than XP. I am with Jason. Is it really going to be better than what we already have on a dollar cost value. That’s the million dollar question. Unless one just buys things just to buy things, questions need to be asked and performance needs to be evaluated.

The SDC3100 😂

I think in the end we all want the new tech. We just don’t want to pay outrageous prices. The GPZ was a massive upgrade and it doubled the price of what a gold detector would cost. People saw the value. Now we have something “inbetween” and are wondering if we should shell out another 6k. Thats half the price of my car that I use every day! If this was another above and beyond detector I don’t think we would be having as much discussion. If Minelab would’ve advertised this as a 7500 people would not be questioning it as much and praising the upgrades. But now people want to know, is it going to outperform the 7000 (and should we sell) or is it truly an inbetween detector?

I bet they make the SDC3100. I mean isn’t that what it’s currently costing right now 🤣🤣. I mean it’s called a super detector who would not want a super detector 🤣🤣

No way! Not until Minelab actually makes an 8 inch coil will you ever see the SDC go away. And we have seen from history that they will not make an 8” coil for any of their new machines. If you want a PI with an 8 “ coil your only choice is the SDC. If you want an 11 inch coil your only choice is the GPX 6000. If you want a 19 inch coil your only choice is the GPZ. I’m actually surprised that the GPX 6000 crosses over a little bit into the GPZ coil size territory. Oops on Minelab 😊

I wonder if there is a way to mathematically figure out the star chart based on consistent coil size. For instance we know the SDC is only an 8 inch coil and we know that the GPZ is a 14 inch coil. So if you bump up the SDC to a 14 inch coil how many stars do you think it would get on a 1 g nugget? You get what I’m saying? Anybody got a way to figure this math out? It can’t just be standard, its probably logarithmic in some nature. I say this because how much “better” are detectors really getting at detecting gold? (General Statement). I say this because my last day out before the snow hit I literally dug the end of a shotgun shell, paper caseing old one, 16 inches down with an SDC. I thought for sure I had a big nugget LOL edit: after I looked back at the chart I got realizing. It never gives us what those nugget sizes are at what depth. They could be a standard depth of 5 inches or 15 inches or maybe just 1 inch. 🤣🤣🤣