Norvic

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.

With the GPZ Minelab, have done what they have always done without exception. Their top model has always been the world best gold detector and the GPZ is no different. Other than its GPS access problems which has been well covered in a earlier thread, I`m a very happy GPZ user. It`s coil weight being I guess my other minor bitch, the GPZ is a gold magnet. Minelab should have only made mine, well maybe perhaps one for you too, Steve. Of course this is my take. 10 out of 10 for the GPZs gold ability, 1 out of 10 for its GPS.

I use a 18" wide magnet broom for surface iron, wonder if were to remove wheels and fix a few rake tongs. It has a lever that pulls the magnet away from the Al base for unloading.

Your "weak" John, but for me that`s like the pot calling the kettle black. Crikey you need a bloody big extinguisher for the fire.

Yeah, InReach sounds good. When I originally purchased my pre-paid Istatphone it was $100 for 2 years credit, just repaid and over the years its crept up to $125 for 6 months credit or $600 for 12 months. Get you in and bleed you, sort of.

Crickey Paul, Johns getting to us....... thinking about parting with our Invincibles, jumping ship and getting a Whites, is there no end to our toy quest?.

1515art, Carting heavy scopes around was why I built the observatory, but I`ve sort of planned to go for a bigger scope, but that Godess of Gold will give me no peace so that bloody yellow heavy stuff rules, keeps me away from my "sane" hobbies. Gotta agree Klunker, well sort of!!!!, what`s a Ford?

Tube is a Celestron CPC800, with a 90mm Vixen Catadioptric mounted on it for a spotter when taking video through main scope.

1515art, Wow, your patience and attention to detail are to be envied. Other than detecting, I`m into barra fishing, Astronomy and RC thermal gliding.

My setup is much similar, except I use a droid phone for GPS & mapping, carry a Sat phone. Carry 3 x 1L plastic canteens, plus never without The Hipstick with MLs bungee. I have found it adds hours to my detecting day.

OroSeeker, Like Steve I`ve chased the stuff for 40 plus years but as a amateur, and reading Steves replies, I can`t add any he has said it all, gold has given me a life I don`t think could be bettered, not just the monetary value but the "fever". Gold prospecting is a journey, lots of learning and hard yakka, but a brilliant pastime, I wish you the best and hope you get what I have out of the journey. Enjoy.

Had a bit of a look at my "copy" to see if I could see the diff to top photo. Also appears the light "LED" sticks out a bit more then on the original.

I bought one of those fake pin pointers direct from China a while back, just to see. Well I`m impressed with it but have never used another so can`t compare. No good for sub grammers unless your right on it, but great for that deeper larger stuff as your hole gets near it.

You beauty, have full confidence in the GPZ, I found with threshold down and sensitivity up you get a more distinct signal but only over the centre on deeper stuff, as you turn the threshold up the signal becomes broader and you get more depth. Suggest you advance the threshold up a little to a comfortable level keeping the sensitivity right up, as you find more you`ll find you become more comfortable with the noise. Tis a powerful beast the GPZ. May the Goddess of Gold bless you further but she`s a cantankerous b....h.

Stick to it`s factory settings, until you are comfortable with the GPZ, it is (my take) very capable at the manufacturers default settings, a brilliant gold detector. You`ll find once you have the feeling for it, the manual is easy to follow.

Would not be surprised if we see a lot more of this stuff, there is a powerful vocal "movement" in the world that considers practises that don`t interest them should not be allowed. They got right behind banning our once enjoyable pastime gold dredging, are actively trying to curtail our fishing, I could get on the band wagon and mention more, unfortunately we who enjoy such pastimes are not as vocal as this "movement" is at pushing their agenda.

Crickey, you`d reckon they are having a lend of us, but in this crazy world who knows???