Gold Catcher

I have a small box with all my nuggets and a large drum with all the garbage I find. I call the drum the "drum of tears"

IMHO, the SDC is as good with small gold as the GB2 or GM1000, especially with the SP01 combo. And yes, where I hunt the soil is highly mineralized (Motherlode). Especially with the ultramafic Serpentine outcroppings that are part of the Motherlode belt. However, the worst soil I have encountered in some areas of the Mojave desert in Southern CA. Some of these areas are so rich in iron that the compass doesn't even work (magnetite, iron-rich basalt, iron ore, etc..). Go figure....

Rarely, can't remember the last time.

I still wonder though why a 12 in coil was chosen as the first model and not a 10 in one. It appears from all the feedback that a significantly smaller coil is the biggest need for GPZ users. Next to weight reduction and a bit more sensitivity, this would be the biggest buying reason for many. The 14 in stock already is a very good coil, so perhaps something that you absolutely can't do with that size coil would convince most to pay top dollar.

Excellent point. And in the elite gold detector category, Fisher is just not anywhere close to a match. The ML brand is so established that I doubt that even if another manufacturer would create an equally high-end/quality/performing detector it would be a thread to ML, not even at a much lower price. Detectorists trust ML to give them the biggest edge in the filed. This trust is worth a premium for most. I bet that if you would analyze all YouTube video's that show gold detecting you will find >90% ML detectors being used. This is a brand advantage that you can't easily beat.

Given the current situation and the high demand I doubt we will get these coils to the US anytime soon. I guess I have to move to Au...

Haven't had one of those in a long time...Awesome, JP!

Great example of how General can give a better response than High Yield for deep targets. I usually use HY as my default gold mode, makes me wonder if I should use more General instead. General still seems to be good at shallow gold but captures more depth, so perhaps a more balanced overall mode? I noticed though that in General the threshold is less stable than in HY.

I could not agree more Gerry, well said!

If you look at Fig 2 of the patent (see my earlier post) it does refer to some sort of memory function provided by GPS when you come back to a spot that you have hunted previously. Well, anyhow, we all shall see. Don't we all love the rumor mill and mystery around ML, almost like what the presents will be for Christmas. ML always has surprised us with big technology leaps. That's why I think they just dominate the detector space with no real competitor. I guess I have to start scraping money together for the 6000 release...

As long as those would not be your own footprints, you have nothing to worry about! Quality always trumps quantity. Awesome finds, as always 🙂

The question is, if you already have a GPZ, would this new GB method be a convincing argument alone to buy the 6000 as well? Assuming coil options would be comparable for both machines.

That's exactly what I think. Most GPZ operators use semi-auto GB. Here, the machine already does a lot of automatic adjustments anyhow all the time with just the X being locked. So, why not having a supercharged version of it? Kind of cool if the GB algorithms factor in locations and remember the ground conditions where you have been. For instance, If you revisit spots where you have already been then the machine remembers the old algorithms and has a better way for further fine tuning, with less dependence on how the operator handles the machine. It might overall give you an edge in the field, since it all comes down to how to make a target stand out better. As long as you still have manual GB, as you say, I am all for it. I like to use manual at times to not track out faint targets when I zoom in on them..

It appears to be a new ground balancing method by implementing locations determined via GPS

Very nice! My early GPZ days were much less successful. I think my first one I found was a sub 0.1g piece and it made me all excited 🙂

Very well done, thanks for sharing

I still think it will all come down to performance. Is the ZSearch really so much better than the 14 in stock? (aside the 300 g weight loss)

Let's see if it is really so much better than the 14 in stock that would warrant that expense. The size difference clearly is not differentiating much.

Good point. Ideally, a machine that has high performance for all applications would be best.

Agreed, $1300 (Au $ I suppose) is a steep price. I guess our Au friends will have plenty of time to test it in depth and post reviews before it even would become available here in the US. Then we shall see.

I think to drive innovation and to come up with a differentiated product you need to focus on the primary intend of the machine. Gold machines and relic machines are just not the same and are not on the same path when it comes to new product cycles. Sure, you can use the GPX or GPZ for relic hunting or for whatever else you want, but when it comes down to performance enhancements over existing products in a highly competitive market you need to look at the primary customer base and what they are using the machine for. And for the 6000 that appears to be the gold freaks 🙂

GPX6000...

I think it all depends on what you are using the detector for. The GPX series, as well as the SDC and GPZ, are traditionally intended to be pure gold detecting machines. Relic hunting is not the primary focus . Hence, for gold-only hunters like me, everything else than gold is your enemy (unless sliver or platinum..). I suppose the GPX600 will also be a pure gold hunting machine, and this is what this thread is about. But Mitchel makes a good point, the findings you show are amazing and absolutely worth a separate thread 🙂

Spot on Gerry!!

All good points. Everybody has their own way of detecting styles and that is the beauty of it. Amazing actually, the GPZ seems to make philosophers out of their owners, me included...I don't think any other detector comes even close of doing that 🙂