normmcq

After getting a new power cord from ML for my 12V charger, I decided to give it a try. Everything worked properly, one problem. I put the charger on the soft surface of the seat cushion and that didn't allow the charger to have any ventilation. The first light on the top left was flashing red, but the battery was fully charged and the battery and charger were both very warm. Second attempt, I put it on a hard surface and no problems.

                                                                    Norm

Fred

 I think you are right on. I didn't have much problem with the wet ground sounds and was able to concentrate on the real target sounds. In an earlier post, I shared the settings that worked for me in that wet soil. When I got back home, I tried those settings here and the ZED was unusable. All soils and conditions dictate finding the best settings for the ground you are presented with.

                                                             Norm McQ

Fred

 I had the same problem with the plug in part of the 12 V charger. The plug in power cord only worked once and then flashing red every time after that. I used the alligator clips directly on the batteries and worked every time. I had a 50 watt solar panel to maintain my batteries and the monitor on them was either full or charged, so I know it wasn't a lack of voltage from the batteries. I contacted AZO about my problem, he sent me a new power cord and it worked and the original wouldn't. I suspect that the wiring on the cord is insufficient to carry the voltage.

                                            Norm

My wife and I have made it to all 50 states and 7 Canadian Provinces. I think we managed to come home with a rock from every one. The biggest problem was, we should have marked each one with the location of it's origin.  We sold our home a couple of years ago to my youngest daughter and now my wife usually brings a souvenir rock home from there 

I recently returned from a hunting trip in Nevada, there were other ZEDs and we were all trying to find what worked best for each individual. I found that I could run with auto smoothing off, normal ground, high yield, sensitivity between 12 and 17. I had my threshold down to 20, target signal up to 20 with max at 2. The ZED ran very stable with clear repeatable signals. I let my friends use my machine and they did not like the high threshold pitch that I used. I think that is a personal preference setting. I have a profound hearing loss and the high pitch makes it easier to distinguish real targets from ground noise. Several times, I switched to auto smoothing only to find that the threshold became more unstable.
There were several times that I was fooled by ground noises, there were several nuggets I found at depth that others either missed or had mistaken for ground noises. I am not saying that they were missed by the ZEDs, but there were several detectors over a small area.
Norm McQ

Good luck Scott!

Not ever been a user of a heavy detector, I didn't have to use any support system but wished I had when using a large coil. Now with the ZED I can't detect with out a bungee being attached to a harness or a Hip Stick. Even a bungee has a learning curve. The habit that I got into was to disconnect it from the machine, as it was always out of the way and I could grab the eye and attach it to the detector with out looking. One problem, I didn't always get the right end, then reversing it and readjusting it was taking away from detecting time. My cure, take some electrical tape and close the adjusting end of the bungee.                                                                                  Norm

You are are a very tough and dedicated individual. Great pictures and nice gold! Congratulations

Fred

 I have been wondering the same thing on the cover.  Good luck on the replacement!

I have noticed when digging a target, if stabbed in to the hole the target signal keeps getting weaker until I think I have dug a ghost signal. It is only after the target is completely out of the hole and am swinging from side to side that the signal gets stronger. I think many people will bury a legitimate target, This beast is different.

I am a fairly new comer to this forum, but have been interested in a quest for gold for a very long time. My mother's grand  parents came to California in  the 1800's in  a quest for gold and my father emigrated from Nova Scotia Canada in the early twenties to escape working in the coal mines there, only to find himself in a hard rock gold mine. As a young child at my grand parent's house, before electricity and all that goes with it, my great uncles would sit and talk about pocket hunting and there successes. A 4000.00 dollar pocket here and a $500.00 there, porphyry dikes, pinching out and lots of terms that didn't make a lot of sense to a five year old. At about the age of 16 , I got interested in gold again because of an old prospector that was pocket hunting on the hill behind my parents home in the foot hills of California. As a result of my tosterone levels rising and falling, I didn't start looking for gold again until my late sixties. I started with a GPX 4000 and have been behind the technology curve every since. Every person that I have talked to that has bought the latest and greatest from Minelab has never regretted it. With having said that, I have great confidence in what J P, Steve, and Chris have posted and if I don't do good with the GPZ, it will be because of operator error.                             Thanks for keeping the dream alive     Norm

Hi Guys

 Thanks for all of the responses. Yes I do have a severe hearing loss and can not function socially with out them. I'm sure there are a lot of other detectorists that share the same problem. I have a good set of hi tech behind the ear hearing aids and wearing them is like a double edged sword. They boost the high frequencies that I am still able to hear, but some are gone and nothing will help that.  They have built in loud noise protection that shuts them down for a short period if a loud noise occurs. There is a fine line between being able to hear a target and shut down, when I do get a signal, I have to wait for a few seconds to make sure they are back in normal mode. As far as feed back goes, I overcame that problem with silicone ear moulds. I will be talking to my audiologist to see if she has more answers and will share with all.                  Norm

Fred

 I use head phones with individual volume adjusters, I have a single external speaker but the head phones work much better with ambient noise, especially the wind. 

 If I turn the tone signal down, all signals sound the same. I would like to have the tone as high as possible and still know that the signal is still in my hearing range.

                                                                           Norm

Paul

 I do set the detector to what I can hear. I prefer to run the threshold just above an audible tone, and don't know if I am missing the faint signals. 

Thanks Sheldon

  The problem is, I have a GPX and a GPZ and I can't hear what I can't hear.

                                     Norm McQ

Does anyone know how to correlate the tone numbers adjustment on detector to the actual tones I can hear? My audiologist knows what tones I can and can't hear.  I think that having that number value would help us hearing impaired detectorists. Adjusting the machine from that number lower, but never higher.

                                                Norm McQ

Great Post! 

 As we reach our sunset years. One can only hope that something will change (technology) to give us senior citizens a chance to find a few more pieces of gold. One thing that always crosses my mind is the fact that I was born naked and will not mind leaving the planet the same way. I will not be having any regrets on spending what it takes to have my fair chance at enjoying this great hobby.

                                                                              Norm McQ