Northeast

Yes, forgot to mention that. Noise cancelled about 4 times each time I have had it on - no difference. And I have had times where it you can hear lightning and transmission lines coming through - this is completely different. And yes, even held off the ground, as soon at it is moved it's going nuts. Contacting dealer on Monday - person to speak to not there today. Thanks Chris.

Afternoon forumers, A few days ago I turned on the SDC to check a few hot rocks. It was going crazy with EMI (I thought) and I felt it was the bit of a storm that was happening up the valley. Although when I held it dead still (sat it on the plastic garbage bin) it was fine. Ran the hot rocks over it and they all 'pinged' which was strange because I felt that only the bit of quartz had the potential for actually having some gold. Turned it off, crushed the quartz, no gold, was confused. Turned it on the next night and same thing - very wavering, noisy threshold and would only be stable when dead still. Changed batteries to new, non rechargable - no difference. Took it up the bush today as I thought maybe it was just house, power lines, etc - although I have never had a problem with it near the house. Miles from nowhere in the bush and same issue. Any movement - especially rolling the machine side to side - it just went bananas. Sounded off on anything it went near on the ground. Took the coil cover off when I got home - thought maybe a sliver of wire had got caught. No change. There is no trouble shooting guide in the instruction manual. Tried different batteries again and no better. Re-read the manual and the only thing I could find was to turn the machine on when the sensitivity dial is at '2'. Made sure it was at 2 - no difference. To me it sounds like there is something loose in there or something has made it hypersensitive to any little movement. Any suggestions? Anyone had this issue? There does not seem to be any 'factory reset' type function/button. Feeling like it may be a return to Minelab job

Maybe hire a few different ones first? See if you like it. I took a mate detecting. I offered him to use a detector but he just decided to walk with me. At the end of 3 hours I suggested about making a trip to near Ballarat (near where he lives) to detect for a weekend. He is a very good mate so bluntly told me that he is never detecting again and that was the most boring thing he's ever done. Try before you buy

1/2 a ton JP - congrats and best wishes for the year ahead

Thanks GoldEn. Heading out again Thursday with the Z but might throw the SDC in for a play. These 'no threshold' settings might be enough to entice the Mrs back out into the bush - listening to the threshold wavering about the place gave her the irrates. Even though the SDC is pretty quiet Adam.

Evening all. I went out yesterday arvo and deliberately took the SDC to try these settings as it seemed like a good idea. Not sure if it was just bad EMI but I just couldn't get it to run with a zero threshold. Was constantly popping in and out with noise to the point where it was just hopeless. Tried a few noise cancels but no good. Maybe dropping back to 3 or 4 sensitivity or maybe running it in the morning may have helped - EMI seems worse for me in the arvo. Interested to hear how others go. And GoldEn - when you have yours on sens 5 and 1 dot of threshold is it dead quiet until you get a target?? Thanks, Adam.

Good question. I think I would be. But maybe not as often. And almost definitely wouldn't have bought a Z and an SDC - maybe just the SDC. It's too horrible to even think about Steve

Coota, what machine are you using?

"Severe is a variant of High Yield so has VERY good sensitivity to tiny gold." JP, it is these little snippets that have me checking this forum every day just to see if you've written anything about the Zed. They are the extra info that aren't in the manual. Thanks (again!!). Adam.

Yep, that is a good point. Northeast Vic and more so central Vic have plenty of hot rocks, hard red clay, etc and I've had switch to difficult frequently. Was in difficult most of yesterday as it was just too noisy otherwise. But I find difficult just knocks out such a large percentage of hot rocks, hot ground that I've never needed severe. Have only ever dug 2 hot rocks whilst in difficult - and yes, I smashed them to make sure there was no yellow inside Maybe severe is used on salt lake beds, ironstone patches like I see on videos from Western Australia, etc. Would be interesting to hear if JP had to use it in testing on various grounds during the development phase of the Z.

Welcome to 'Steve's Utopia' Wombat. I have only been here for a few months and have learnt soooo much. I only frequent 1 other forum, have no idea what's gone on in the 'Oz forum from hell' and don't wish to. Many very pleasant and informative people here and it's greatly appreciated by myself. Thanks keeping us drama free Steve

Fantastic start - congratulations

Do like your vids araratgold - keep 'em coming .

Evening all. JP, that is the second mention you have made about turning off the GPS on the Z. I think the other was turning it off to reduce the EMI...if I remember rightly?? Are you able to expand a bit more about the issues associated with using the GPS please? Obviously there are some benefits to using it but not if it is limiting the full capacity of the machine. Thanks in advance (and hopeful ). Northeast.

Have noticed it on mine from day 1 andyy. Sometimes it takes several presses of a button to get it to select too. I thought it would get worse as time went on but if anything it has improved - or maybe I just don't notice it anymore. Certainly not an issue as far as performance, just a bit annoying. Northeast.

Excellent. Will take a look at the link. Thanks Steve and Swegin

Hi Steve, I was going to inbox you this question but I thought others might be interested in the answer too. When we post pics on here are they automatically stripped of the gps info? I think I have read on another forum that they are but have tried to search the answer for here and nothing is coming up. Thanks, Northeast.

"The iron hat sits atop the golden head." And "dig everything". I think I've seen that one about 762 times since I started looking at these forums

16ft. Crikey!!

It's a fella off one of the Oz forums. Been detecting for about 13 years from memory. A fair few of the forum members have met him. He has held a few days to help people read old diggings, hot rocks, ground balance, etc. Members say that he is a thorough gentleman. Not sure why he uses the auto reader voice. Only joined the forum in Oct last year I think. Handy bit of video if you've got a GPX.

Fred - unfortunately your question is too technical for me - I'm a bit lacking in the technical electrical field - nurses aren't required to know such things I do know that near my house I have the standard, run-of-the-mill power lines. The ones I am detecting near are as tall as a 4 story building and have cable as thick as your arm. Your "super-dooper high voltage transmission lines" is probably correct. But no idea what voltage they actually are. Our power point in the wall at home is 240 volt if that helps?? And a bit of an update to this thread. Tried auto noise cancel in the other modes (general and e/deep) as it was picking up too much EMI on my first run there. After noise cancel they worked a treat. Just didn't think of it first day there as HY was fine. But still found no gold

Yep Rege-PA, The fact that they are cooler than head phones and that I could wear a broad brimmed hat were the 2 main reasons I got them. The open audio thing was a bonus I didn't realise I was getting until I tried them. Good luck out there.

Hi Rege-PA. I'm not sure about the booster on the pro-sonic - I would also suggest to wait and get it and see what the volume is like first. But on the earphones side of things I can only suggest what I use on the GPZ which works well. Philips ear phones that have an ear hook, they are very comfortable, do not move/slip/fall out at all and have an open audio design that lets in ambient sound - for when the Pumas are creeping up behind you . They also come with 3 different types of ear fittings to suit your preference. One thing they don't have is a volume control on them but if you have the pro sonic volume control then that may suffice. They work perfectly on the GPZ with the WM12. Link here http://www.philips.com.au/c-p/SHQ1400LF_00/actionfit-sports-headphones Hope that helps. Northeast.

JW. I am mostly running HY and normal, sometimes flicking into difficult and the Z ran great close to the lines. It was was only in general and e/deep that the problem developed. Now if I noise cancelled in these modes would it have made a detrimental difference when I flicked back to HY? I don't know. Will find out next time I'm there - hopefully in the next few days. Myself and the family are heading to NZ in March for 3 weeks. I won't ask for your gold spots JW but I may inbox you about some good tourist and fishing locations near you if that's ok Local knowledge is important

Thinking about this some more, I didn't try to noise cancel in general or extra deep which may have helped. Will do next time.