brogansown

You're right LuckyLundy, but us old miners have a saying:  "We're just living on Hope and Beans and the Beans are about to run out!"

Like Scott, I detect for gold because it is a relaxing sometimes rewarding hobby.  I used to golf just as fanatically as I look for little pieces of gold.  But now being out in the cool mountains with deer, elk, antelope and the occasional snake is much more enjoyable.  If I take my 4500, I may or may not find a nugget, but if I have the Gold Bug 2, I always get a few pieces, mostly tiny, but real gold.  My brother and I are on a mission this year to get some gold every month of 2015 and so far so good.  It doesn't matter how much, just some measurable gold.  September, October, November, December yet to go, but we will find gold then too.

A group of us get together for a gold party upon occasion and show off our finds.  And we take our nephews, grandchildren and others out to show them that being away from cell phone for a few hours isn't such a bad thing.  So for us, gold hunting is not dead or sick, just much more difficult.  Cause we know that just six inches deeper, its a whole new world plumb full of nuggets. 

While in Tennessee a few years back I drove through some smoke from brush burning at the side of the road.  I ended up in the hospital for a few days with a poison ivy rash in my lungs.  After some shots and an inhaler I was okay, but I avoid the "leaves of three" completely.  Also learned that the oil stays on tools like an axe for up to a year--that rash was a surprise!  Calamine Lotion doesn't work for me, but Ivy Dry does.  Basically I just totally avoid touching the stuff.

Tom V.,

What Copper Member said.  I bought mine from huntinggpsmaps.com.  They are sold in several versions and by regions and states.  Mine is for Oregon.  They probably sell them for any GPS Unit that will receive the microSD card. Once installed and in the field the unit gives the names of the owners as you walk up to the property line.  This includes BLM, State and Forest Service Land.  I think mine cost $99, but don't know if they all cost this amount.  They were right up to date too and I really don't know how they are able to do that.  Again my unit is the Garmin Dakota 20.

Gary F.

I don't own a GPZ, but do have a Garmin Dakota with the private property chip to make sure I am on property I should be detecting.  By setting the GPS to tracking I could follow my every footstep and know whether I have painted the "patch" completely.  I haven't done this yet, but can see that this would be a great way to know that every square foot of the "patch" gets covered.  The white areas that were missed would stand out and were probably covered by brush, or we subconciously just avoided an area cause it doesn't look right, etc.

I assume the gps in the 7000 can do this too and would, I think, be a great tool for just this purpose. I don't really see a security issue unless the unit gets stolen and the past information wasn't wiped.  

I don't own a 7000, so don't know how it responds in relationship to coil swing speed.  But it seems with my 4500 and definately the Gold Bug 2, I can't swing slow enough.  And of course, as Gerry M. says get as low as you possible can.  If I have the threshold on both machines at just about the annoyance level, the very faint signals can be heard with my declining hearing.

So does the 7000 do better with slow swings and higher thresholds?  I'm still interested in this new technology.

You're right Steve I didn't read the post "Reasons not to buy the GPZ 7000" and it is a good read with a lot of thought provoking information.  It appears that a lot of buyers didn't read or at least didn't take to heart your comments.

I built my first detector in 1965 and have owned one or more ever since that day.  My brother-in-law and I were ham radio operators and formed a company to built "state of the art" detectors back then and we sold a fair number of "Metal Dogs" until we were each transferred 1500 miles from each other. We formed our plastic coil covers in molds in our kitchen oven.  We loaned out or gave friends and relatives experimental detectors to try out and report back on what we should do to improve the units.  Our focus was on ruggedness, reliability and "state of the art" at that time.

So this is where I do disagree with you a little bit Steve-we do have a right to or should  expect perfection from "the most expensive" detector on the market.  Now if it is the cheap model or medium price model we can cut them a little slack.  As an example, for years the Connoisseur Magazine had an article in each issue that profiled "The Best of the Best" item or article in the world and each was expected to be perfect.

I believe Minelab has the reputation for creating the best gold detectors in the world and I own two of them.  But when the Company presented us with the GPZ 7000 and charged $10,000 for it, as an engineer, I expected it to be perfect, as it was advertized as the Best of the Best.  Since I wasn't able to just run out and buy one, I began reading every post in your forum to see what others thought of the detector, what were the drawbacks (and I see now your "Reasons for Not" told of some) and would this thing pay for itself in my area of detecting.  That's why I enjoy the pictures some have posted showing the trash to gold ratios.

So I wasn't impuning your integraty, as I respect you too much for that.  But I concerned with the "reported by others" problems that are occurring with the Zed and will probably wait a bit before buying one.  I am interested in the SDC 2300 as it might work very well in our detecting area. 

Based on Steve's comments, I shouldn't be chiming in on the GPZ cause I don't own one, but here goes anyway.  ( I might someday buy a GPZ if and when it prove itself in all the situations that I espect to encounter and yes I do own a Minelab 3000 and a 4500 and a Gold Bug 2.)

First of all, I'm not sure why Steve is defending the GPz so vehemently, as I thought the forum's purpose was to report our finds, our problems and our freewheeling comments about metal detecting in general.  And I for one, really appreciate what Steve and this forum is doing for our hobby.  I especially like it when Zed owners not only show their gold, but all the trash they had to find to get that piece of gold.

Basically, if a person buys the most expensive metal detector on earth or the most expensive automobile such as a Rolls Royce or any "most expensive" item, he or she has a right to expect that item will be perfect for its intended purpose and not just be a laboratory experiment for the "most expensive" company.

So far, my reading of forum comments made about the GPZ and a small amount of field experience with the unit, many comment on their difficulty with ground balancing.  You can see from this particular topic that there is a problem with the housing and the too heavy coil for the shaft.  From the field, it appears that very wet ground gives the unit a lot of trouble.

The next major problem is the total lack of discrimination, causing all to dig nearly every signal and if the additional 40% is true, this means a lot of deep holes for us "old guys" to have to navigate.

So I submit to you that $10,000 is a lot of money and a buyer should expect perfection.  I'm an engineer, so maybe that is just my overly optimistic expectations.

Nugget65,

I had the same problem, so I went to a junk store and bought a plastic sleeve that golfers use to separate their clubs in the bag. ($1.00)  I slit it lengthwise and slipped it over the whole length of the coil wire and shaft of my 4500.  Seemed to work, but for some reason I've misplaced it and am just complaining about the problem again.  Might work for you, but remember at the top of the golf club sleeve, the rolled edge is covering a small wire used to stiffen the plastic.  So you will need to cut that with some wire cutters.

Yesterday was a nice day here in Eastern Oregon, so I Gold Bug 2'd for a few hours and got 9 small nuggets.  But in doing, so I noticed some new "holes" and none were filled in.  The ranchers on whose land we detect are very generous with us, but I imagine they appreciate it if we fill our holes and I know we should do so on BLM land.

Reading tvanwho's restrictions he will encounter up in the Northeast reminded me that there are folks out there that will use any excuse to restrict or deny our access for any reason.  So I remind everyone to fill them in and even fill in holes you find if you can.

Tip - Swing low and very slow and fill in the holes.

Thanks for showing all your finds Rick.  It is easy to forget that the vast majority of our hits are just trash and the few bits of gold are our reward for all the hard work.

Two finds come to mind.  Two front teeth made out of porcelain set in a vulcanite matrix circa 1870.  found at an old mining site that cease to exist in the 1870's.

The second I didn't find but now have, is a very unique home made gold poke.  It is a 45-75 cartridge that is used as a poke when the carved wooden plug is pushed into it.  The plug is held in place with a copper wire wound around the cartridge.  The 5 nuggets found in it are still there.

Sun Ray Pro Gold with the much repaired Koss UR30 as a backup.  But I would like to try a pair of Sennheiser HD800's at $1500

just once.

Brogansown, would this work for a ML Extreme and 2200? Thanks.

Steve answered the question.  These batteries are also online right now.  Type "six volt rechargeable batteries" and several sites come up.  But of course they charge shipping and handling, but still much cheaper to redo your own.  You can also rebuild the small half size battery too.  Both are six volts of course and the regular size battery is 10 ah or amp hour and the small one is six volts and 4.5 ah.  Use the dome top from the used-up small battery the same way.  I think it is important to know how to rebuild your own, because someday you won't be able to buy one anywhere as Minelab shifts to different models and battery types.

I suspect the Li-ion batteries are a little harder to remake as they have a built-in amplifier and there are either six or eight (I can't remember which) small batteries soldered together inside the aluminum can.  But here again, those small batteries are out there for sale and we may have to make our own when Minelab and others stop selling them.  And they are really expensive, so great savings possible here.

I've had to repair my coiled battery cable many times also and when I do, I make them many times more rigid than the ones you buy. They seem to break right at the connection to the battery.  Just make sure that you get the wires on the right pins.  On the GPs there are two small headphone wires and two larger battery wires.  I haven't attempted the GPX yet, but suspect that someday I'll have to repair them too.  Minelab got smart with the 7000 and all those wires are internal, which is a good deal. 

Just thought I would share some of the money/time saving ideas that we use to make our prospecting trips a little easier.  I'm sure that others have these as well and would like to hear from you about them.

-To hold our daily nuggets we use the Coleman orange match case/safe that costs $1.00 at Walmart.  Can be bought online too and I just got 10 from them.

-The GP 3000 and 3500 batteries cost around $100, but battery stores and some True Value stores have the exact same battery used by Minelab for $19.99.  Simply pry off the black plastic dome on the used up battery and reconnect to the new battery, making sure positive is on positive and wrap with duct tape to secure.  I've done this many times.

-A good friend of mine made me a pick from a truck spring with a two inch piece of 1 1/4 inch pipe welded to the underside. I used a long handle from a sledge hammer secured into this pipe nipple and I use it as both a pick and crutch.

There must be thousands of hints that are used to find, dig, feed and help us get the gold.

I've been using the 4500 with the large mono Commander coil, but take the GP2 along to assure that I get some gold on each trip.  Been thinking about an SDC 2300, but would like to try one first.  Do they allow that?

On 3/3/2015 at 3:25 PM, NuggetBob said:

brogansown...r u kidding me? six inches...that's not far...just get the pick and shovel out and start at the best possible place you can determine! Grid that ol patch off and dig, you'll find more gold. I gotdang guarantee it 

NBob-Although I've done my share of suction dredging and dry washing and I still carry around a sluice and pan in my pickup, I've pretty much settled on my Minelab 4500.  I'm still very interested in all forms of mining and try to keep up with the new equipment, regulations and finds, but I'm just not in your league as far as real mining equipment is concerned.  I agree with you though, if we want to enjoy the outdoors and reap some rewards every once in awhile we have to keep at it as long as our health holds out.   But around my area each year for the last several years we are finding less and less and keep hoping that the metal detector companies will provide the technology that will help us find a few more in the worked out patches.

By and large, Minelab, White and Garrett, etc. have been able to keep just ahead of the curve.  But as Steve H. says, using just metal detectors will reach an end point one day and I for one was hoping that I would get to use a "gold only" light weight detector that was within my budget before I quit.  But like you, I'm not giving up by golly.

Minelab has made a commercial decision to both create a powerful innovative gold finding machine and simutaneously price it out of the reach of 90% of the metal detecting hobbyists.  So as an engineer who built his first metal detector in 1964 and used every trick and innovation to eek out another 1/4 inch of depth, I applaud what appears to be a great leap forward in detection and at the same time I am confused at Minelab's marketing tactic.

Steve is right, we are, at least here in my area, pretty much at the tail end of our nugget finding efforts with metal detectors  and the GPZ 7000 will, it seems, take us to the end and I think the 90% would like to be in on it.  Having said all that, I am reading with great interest the pros and cons of the 7000 and the 2300, which I might be able to afford if I can prove to myself that it will outperform my 4500 and Gold Bug 2.

So I encourage those of you who have the 7000 to provide videos and pictures of your finds, but please mention all the bullets, nails, tin and tobacco tags that come along with the effort.  Most of us devoted nugget finders I believe, have our own secret patches that we think are worked out, but hope that a few more pieces lie just six inches below the reach of our GPX's and I guess that is where we will have to leave them for now.  Maybe I can morgage the house.