Norvic

It is the sort of detector you seem to either like or dislike, I like mine a lot. Lightweight, very competent and very customable. For coin hunting I suspect right up there with the CTX, my son who has a CTX and been very successful with one, he is on the verge of buying a Deus for his wife. He has worked alongside mine with his CTX, there is nothing between them in their performance, although he nearly always scores more coins as he does more gold when we compete, it is more so because of his youth and better senses.(I hope!!!!!!) I will be very interested in the new coil and version 4 of the software. Certainly XP have been successful with their innovative products, their expansion shows that. May XP and Minelab prosper.

Yeah the detector in coil was something I considered a no no, but I took the plunge and now with the ver 4 upgrade coming out soon, I can see a plus for it in that to be able to use all of Ver4s upgrades you will need the new coil that uses those new features. For less than a complete new comparable detector you can buy the new coil and you basically have a new detector. It has grown on me and I feel we might see more companies adopt this innovation. No doubt horses for courses but.

Couple of months ago on the way home from a fishing trip stopped at a rest area, fellow was detecting around the kids play area. Went over and got talking, introduced myself and he reached under shirt and exposed about a 1.5 ounce nugget on a chain and said this is what you left me. Turned out I`d taken his brother out for a weekend many years back. But that wasn`t the end of the story, the brother turned up for a visit last Saturday and had a photo of 75 ounces in 6 nuggets sitting on kitchen scales. Which he`d found behind me in that same area. Stings a bit but as it has happened fairly often over the years I`m sort of used to it. Thing is I`m still in the same area and still getting the heavy stuff, competitive yes but its what you have in your pocket that counts. The operator who believes he leaves nothing is getting bugger all.

That is the most concise settings explanation I`ve heard for the 7000, I`ve been very fortunate to have recently found a close(1/2 hour away) patch that keeps producing at depth and thus have experimented with settings, and basically have gone down the same path as you, except I keep turning back to Bogenes settings for test now and again and find gold again, which confounds me a little. The only logical explanation I have for this is that my hearing and senses has times when they return nearly to what they were, back last century. My sons returns on this patch with his first 7000 use, after I`d flogged it, help to reinforce this logic. I recall a fair few years back at a ML local demo day, from memory a ML technician felt that if we could have a digital sight response to signals, we`d find the detector is getting a lot more signals then our hearing can process. Perhaps a sort of sights up as per fighter pilots have might be in the future, ie we`ll wear goggles and process signals by sight. The 7000 does bring back some practices from the VLF days for sure. Sort of back to the future.

Hopefully the GPZ have got the manufacturers other than ML motivated towards new tech and can come up with something to compete with the GPZ, a tall ask I fear.

True that probably 10% get the gold, fishing is the same but the price for that is dedication, persistence etc. On search areas, we seem to concentrate on areas that are noted for coarse gold, it is not always true, often have found coarse gold outside such areas even in areas where the gold is reputed to be "locked" up in the ore and not visible. A open mind will get more gold.

Way to go Steve and Dave, if your looking for a someone to test your script, I am here, and I`ll pay for such. As I`ve said from the outset the GPS and map software is way up there with the detector in prospecting tools. The paper map is being replaced, although not completely, it is good to lay out the paper on a table but not in the field. To import and export data simply direct from Xchange or the GPZ into our moving map software on our PCs or notebooks as we can with our handheld GPS`s or droid phone`s, will be a big step in the right direction. A GPZ with a droid screen (as per smart phones) would be a great next step for detector manufacturers. This will come I feel surely as prospectors become experienced with moving map software. We as customers dictate the features of the products we purchase. Not only will this be for gold detectors but for coin detectors also, my son is starting to use the GPS on his CTX as he searches out the old settlement sites in the "big smoke" where he lives. He is finding this and Google Earth powerful productive tools. Whilst I`m no expert, am self taught, I have used Oziexplorer for many years I am here should you require assistance with Ozi.

Root, Totally agree, Steve`s reviews are top notch. Last detector I purchased is a Deus, for coins, Steve`s review got me looking at it. Like the 7000 the Deus is brilliant for the job it is made for, and I thank Steve for the Deus review or I would have never found out what a great detector it is. Now he`ll need a new hat, old one won`t fit.

Lovely, that is a powerfull feature for prospectors.

Steve your not the Lone Ranger, I`ve probably got only 1/3rd of your hours up, I agree totally The GPZ is brilliant for the reasons you point out, other than its "ancient" GPS I love it, it does exactly what ML says. Makes wealth for us as they always have with each machine. But I`m not loathe to give ML wraps, and don`t understand why you are. If people don`t believe your reviews or comments that is their problem. Go steady having that coil right on the ground , that knocking on ground is what buggers up coils, makes them noisy and always has. The gain is only while the coil is new and diminishes pretty quickly as it ages and loosens up internally. My take of course.

So Rednecks are not exclusive to Oz, thought that was a term made for us who live in remote Oz. Sort of your equivalent of Hill Billies. I`m getting edumacated.

Crikey, Klunker, cancel your Rosseta Stone CDs, ya 7000 will learn ya OZ, just listen to the ferret, no worries.

Tis a difficult one to say exactly how to run the 7000, max it out works so does a setting such as Bogenes ie threshold way down sensitivity full. I have found it depends on how I am handling the signals at that time. Whether I`m fresh or tired and whether I`m cleaning up a patch or patch hunting. Either way gets gold and leaves gold. I`d have to say it is the operators call and something that cannot be said which way is best, but broad tree root signals can be deep nuggets. Steve has given a gem, "You have to be fluent in the machines language" so very true.

Just my take on the 7000s GB, have found unless you leave it in auto retrieving a largish target it will retain its tracking for current ground. Just don`t wave it over a large signal in auto GB or you`ll knock it out of whack. (as any detector) or start it up near your vehicle. As I`ve said before I don`t find it necessary to use the quick track button much at all. But the country I hunt in has very few ferrous objects and that may be why I do not find it necessary to quick track. I believe too much "halabaloo" has been made over GBing the 7000, thus introducing a lot of confusion, it is the easiest of gold detectors I`ve used straight out of its box, I have just finished a magic first season with it. My humble take of cos. Since my first post on the software upgrade, further field work (digging up nuggets) has convinced me beyond doubt the upgrade is not a "dumbing down" to make it more stable, it is a positive upgrade that does precisely what ML states it does. It just makes those signals come in more clearly.

I found the pro swing that came with the 7000 a improvement on just using a bungee, but the hipstick licks it hands down no doubt to me.

Well I believe the update for the 7000 is a positive gain, I went back to fairly large patch found with the 7000 from earlier in the year, small gold 2.45 grams largest but hundreds of sub grammers originally, at more depth I picked up one more piece over a gram and many sub grammers all at depth on the main run. Using it on difficult with sens cranked right up I could handle the threshold at 25, most signals were definites that I believe I would have got before if there was not a gain. Saying that it could be I concentrated more because of the sort of "new machine effect", but I don`t believe so. It is not a "OOH AH" sort of gain, not 40% or better but a gain in my take. Re. The ferrite, as before makes no difference in my country, does not give a peep at all, even on first sweep, I have not quick tracked my machine for months believe it is not necessary. The auto tracking will handle the changes providing you take it slow.

Yeah, SS I`ve evolved(so far???) to having my GPZ with either the threshold or sensitivity on instant adjustment, just up or down to suit conditions. Easy, quick and effective. Some times in the mood for a noisy threshold sometimes back to Bogenes, either gets the weight. Way to go, there is more patches out there for sure.

Good stuff, Minelab for gold in combination with the ageless GB2. You are dead right about your 4M being a Minelab refuge, the criticisms here are valid and positive, but a lot on the OZ forums they are just "hate mail". Also thank you for not including Pauls 7 double O 5, gotta keep that weapon under wraps.

Pisses me off but it appears true Minelab is the most hated, yet their gold detectors come up with the goods and always have. True that when you have trouble with a Toyota vehicle or whatever and send them a email you`ll get a customer relation email reply, wheras Minelab doesn`t, economy of scale I guess. Grudgingly I`d rather see their resources go into R & D rather than "fickle" email replies. But this is my view and I`m proud of them, they helped make my life the magic journey it is.

Reno Chris, you nailed it, bloody top post. Like all ML machines have done, it comes up with the weight and for me that is why I bought it immediately rather than wait for the bugs to be ironed out as I did regrettably when the 2000 came out. Just hope they go on with the GPS feature, as again for me a GPS with my mapping is as important as the gold ability, well almost.

Me too, I often have to back track and retrieve my pick. Have even left a few out in the field over the years, a bright orange band of heat shrink around the handle above where your hands grip it might be the go. Never had the problem finding my Eastwing back in the VLF days as it had a tough green plastic grip over the steel handle.

GPZ & Deus

By memory, I have had two days without gold since using the GPZ this gold hunting season, albeit some days only sub-grammers, those sort of results in the field I hunt in were only achieved by the 2100 and the A2B over 30 odd years of detecting. It is without doubt a gold magnet, has some issues and in defence of Minelab I believe those issues come about because they followed the CTX stem setup. Coin detecting is not as demanding as gold detecting on gear, perhaps they should have kept with the agricultural build of the GPX, but than it would have not had the futuristic looks it has to sell to the market that require such. I guess as a proud OZie I`m defending our home grown company but it has given the results as Minelabs detectors always have. By the time my shaft lock has worn beyond repair it will have well and truly paid for complete replacement and a good wage behind it, what other hobby machine gives those results?

I use a Walco of OZ, flat blade pick, gone back to the 22" handle for portability, but carry axe and crow bar in vehicle. Axe for the tree roots and bar for those deep ones. Tis a bit of a bummer when your miles from your vehicle, but then its sometimes worth bush bashing and getting the heavy gear on site.

Yeah, I`m with Steve, leave the GPS on the GPZ, Minelab, just get it up to current specs with industry standard open data format that allows us to use the mapping software of our choice. Once the practicality of a GPS are realised by prospectors, they will be included on all gold detectors. Suspect Rick, you`ve nailed Minelabs marketing ploy, but they do give us new technology, without there R & D over the years we`d be probably be only just getting refined PIs or worse just refined VLFs. Your not crazy Jasong the shaft does twist on mine too, annoying but it is overshadowed by the GPZs capabilities to get gold. I think Minelab may have forgotten the harsh treatment gold detectors receive in the gold field environment. It is the first detector I`ve had I transport protected in my camp mattress, normally they just rattle around loosely.