goldquest

Congratulations Gold Hound, this is what I like to read, because until now I only read complaints, like I said time will show the real potential of this new coil. Cheers

She posted in Australia also, I do not believe is genuine, wrong forum and for my personal opinion wrong metal detector for treasure hunting.

Steve,Tall poppy syndrome yes, but I disagree with that articles assertion that it came from our convict past, if it had, we`d never developed the way we did in our first 200 years, no it is a more modern disease, we have become a spoilt nation of underachievers who require spoon feeding. Indicative of this, the GPZ 7000 is made in Malaysia, I guess we should be content that at least the R & D and brains behind it are OZies. If you follow OZ news you`ll also note the whole OZ Mining Industry is ridiculed, but hypocritically we ride on its back.No I understand completely JP`s attitude towards the knockers. I only hope the GPZ 7000 can breath some life back into Codan`s (Minelab)share price, I selfishly want a GPZ 7100 in a few years.Giancarlo,"Who does not love me does not deserve me", Can I please flog that saying, tis a ripper, my wife`s Italian, Pleaseeee.

Go ahead Norvic knock your self out.

Cheers

Hi Jonathan, thanks for all the advice that you give us and that you have given us in the past, I personally appreciated the answers you gave to my many questions with either the 4500, 5000 to now with GPZ.

I am seeing the Deteknix Xpointer advertised in dealer websites as a pulse induction unit. The manufacturer website does not say pulse induction anywhere so far as I have been able to discover. These are the most reliable specs I have located so far http://www.mundodetector.com/manuales/detector-de-mano-xpointer.pdf It is a company brochure and no claim is made of it being pulse induction. If it was it would be an important thing to mention.

Operating Temperatures -35 F (-37 C) to 158 F (7o C) Length 9" Weight 240g without battery Thickness 3.8cm (Max) Water and Dust Probe is waterproof. Do not submerge whole unit into water Operating Frequency 95 kHz Tuning Automatic Indicators Audio / Vibration / Audio+Vibration LED Beam Lights Variable Alarm: Audio and vibration will be intense when probe close to the object. Controls Power switch (On / Off) Mode button (Change alarm modes) LED flashlight (Once power on) Battery Use one 9 Volt battery.

The unit is also being advertised as waterproof. The brochure says the probe is waterproof and by that they mean the tip up to the speaker. They state that you need to cover the speaker when washing the detector. This is not a submersible pinpointer. Water resistant, not waterproof.

I am making inquiries as I have concerns about advertising claims being made for this pinpointer. It may be a good unit but if it is not a pulse induction unit we have an issue.

deteknix-xpointer-brochure-page-1.jpg

deteknix-xpointer-brochure-page-2.jpg

Works very well and I am very happy.

I tried with a 4.6 gr. Nugget burried at 1,5" and the signal was very loud, the Pro Point at less than 1".

Cheers

Updates if there will be any should be free, I hope that they do not make a beautiful and easy to use detector more complicate, this is the reason I ordered one in the first place.

If someone like all the features that we had on the 5000, why did they change?

Cheers

For what I read looks like that nobody believes in luck, what about 70% ability, knowledge, skill, 20% the machine and 10% luck, you can be as knowledgeable as you want, have the best metal detector but if you don't have at least a bit of luck in your side, you will be keeping researching, upgrading metal detectors and watching others find gold.

This is only my opinion.

Cheers

I will be very happy with a12"x7", because is the one that I use most with the 5000, I like elliptical coils they fit better under bushes and between rocks.

Thank you for sharing your find, ad, and even more to share the setting, like you said there is a lot to learn and is never too early to start, by the way nice pics.

Cheers 

Hi JP, another question, you propably are thinking why this person ask so many questions when have to wait another two weeks before he get his new 7000, the answer is simple, I am trying to gather more informations I can, I even print my own copy of the Instructions Manual, now that I have nothing better to do, because when I will get my detector I don't want to lose time reading, I will be too busy detecting.

Now the question, there is much difference using a B&Z booster compare to the WM 12 that is provided? is one speaker enough or is better two? at my age I need all the help I can get.

Will your DVD ready soon?

Cheers 

There is a signal from the GPX - JP mentions it himself in the video. But it is extremely weak.

The problem with video of course is people see what they want to see. If the desire is to see proof the GPZ is better, that is what you see. If you are skeptical of the GPZ, you see a dozen reasons why the GPX could have done better. It is one big reason I am not very excited about doing video myself.

For instance if you want to go down the rabbit hole you can just go with the possibility that maybe all the GPX needed was a 16" mono. The GPZ has no coil options at this time. Or if the GPZ hits a small specimen, you can mention that the GPX may have hit it with a small coil. Or different timings.

What gets overlooked is that the GPZ is doing what the GPX can do with a bigger coil, or a smaller coil, or different timings, all at once with one setting and one coil. Yeah, I think the GPX in multiple passes with multiple coils and different settings can give a GPZ with a single setting and coil a run for the money in many cases. As long as you have time to hit the same ground multiple times. And even then, the GPZ will hit some gold a GPX just can't hit.

Any light bulbs?

For me pounding old patches is fine and dandy, but my personal use of the GPX is going to be for patch hunting and knowing that I have the best shot first time no matter what in a single pass of getting what is there. I am going to spend most of my time this summer detecting on ground that has hopefully never seen a coil, and it will see mine just once.

Honestly though, if you have a GPX 5000 and a bunch of coils and know which timings to use and a SDC 2300 and the time to apply it all in various combinations, then you are pretty well set, and no burning need to get a GPZ 7000.

Well said Steve, Isn't this the same problem that we had when GPX5000 come out, every time a good size nugget was discovered, everybody was questioning if the 4500 would ever find the same nugget maybe with a different coil.

People like comparisons especially when few thousands of dollars are involved,

I had the 4500, I was unsure at first, but when I decided to upgrade I did it, no remorses no regrets, we should look ahead not back, is not the end of the world, there is always a new model coming out, sooner or later.

Cheers

PS. sorry if some time you find a spelling mistake, but I am Italian and I am doing the best I can.

Hi Jonathan, as usual your posts are very interesting and informative, I bought all your DVDs and I watch all your videos, watching you everything looks so easy, I wish I had 1/10th of you knoledge and esperience, even if I will never find what you find I still enjoy watching.

Thank you for sharing your settings as soon I can get my hands on my 7000 I will try them.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Why we have to compare everything, I had the 5000, I was very happy with it, I kept it for three years, Now Minelab launched a new model,  the GPZ7000, I never had to regret every time I upgraded in the past, I started with SD2200D, then GP 3500, GPX4500, to the 5000, every single one has been better than the previous.

So I pre-ordered the 7000, unfortunately, because the heavy request I have to wait another two weeks, it is painful but the more I wait the more I will enjoy and appreciate the new machine, it is expensive? yes, it is heavier than the 5000? yes, but it is what I wanted, nobody forced me to change, I don't have to live with the gold that I will eventually find, it is my special hobby, together with Photography and Shooting, all expensive hobbies, but I start working when I was 15 now I am 65, I just sold my restaurant, so this is my time, is time for me to retire and enjoy what is left of my 60s. 

Cheers

The user base for SD/GP/GPX detectors is huge and so a new coil has potential for selling well. The GPZ is just too new and too few in numbers to attract third party interest. That, and just about anyone can make a PI coil. I suspect the GPZ coils are an order of magnitude more difficult to produce. Don't hold your breath for aftermarket coils.

The good news with the GPZ is that by the nature of the way it works a pile of coils is not needed. One smaller coil and one larger coil and I will be happy. In fact it really is just the smaller one I am wanting. I would have to think hard about hanging even more weight off the front of the GPZ. The Aussies though I assume really want that large coil.

For now I will be happy with the 14"coil, in the future maybe I will go for the 11", definitely I will not buy the 20", for two reasons, first and most important is the weight, second and equally important is that at my age I have no desire to dig 3' holes. 

Hi Steve, once again thank you for your honest and very informative review, I agree with you that if you are not happy with the new 7000 you should hang on the machine you are using now, 5000, 4500, etc. but the progress go ahead and technology change every 5 seconds, or we adapt or we miss the train, certainly the older models have their advantages, cheaper and more variety of coils, discrimination, even if I never used, etc. but if we are stuck with the past we will never progress, long time go, when the first model of cars come out people was shocked, horses were much better, no noise, no pollution, more versatility, if they didn' t had the courage to change we will still be 100 years behind. In few months nobody will notice the extra weight, other coils will be on the market, a lot more people will be using the 7000 and slowly slowly the undecided will trade the older models for the newer, this is life.

On 2/24/2015 at 9:06 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

Anyone that knows the history of gold rushes knows they are very limited in duration. To clarify, I mean gold rushes as occur on the scale of the individual prospector. A person working more or less on their own with limited means.

In a classic gold rush a new discovery is made, and the prospectors "rush" to the area. Typically there are very high amounts of gold found early on as easy pickings are plentiful. Unfortunately the easy pickings are soon gone, and the prospectors wait until a new discovery is made. They once again rush to the new area, and the cycle repeats.

Some gold rushes are purely economic. A quiet gold rush occurred during the Great Depression not because new gold locations were found, but because people were desperate to find income of any sort wherever it could be found. The gold rush in the 1980s was a result of skyrocketing gold prices.

Another way a gold rush occurs is when new technology takes hold. The development of the light weight portable suction dredge created a small gold rush as prospectors took to the hills with this ability to work underwater in streams and rivers.

We are in the latter days of the electronic gold rush. It really took off in the 1980s in Australia with the development of decent VLF detectors capable of finding gold nuggets. The VLF Gold Rush. The easy surface gold depleted, but then a second wave developed with the introduction of the Minelab PI detectors in the 1990s.

The Minelab PI Rush has largely run its course. It really has only been kept alive by steadily increasing gold prices as the gold finds themselves dropped off. We can find half as much gold at $1200 as we did at $600 and still pay for beans and fuel. Gold prices have been weakening however, and the technology itself reached a dead end five years ago.

I have seen the end coming for some time. It is not just gold prices and the technology but increasing regulation and ever more difficult access issues.

The entire Electronic Gold Rush has taken place in my adult lifetime and I am likely to see the day when there are only a few diehards left at it. The good news is in my opinion we are on the eve of what may possibly be the last gasp, the last breath of fresh air. The GPZ 7000 really is a new twist on electronic prospecting that promises to give prospectors what it ultimately takes to fuel any gold rush.

Hope. We have to have new hope, a new reason to believe once again we can go out and make worthwhile finds. The GPZ will succeed simply by getting everyone to hit everything one last time, as hard as it can be hit. There is not one bit of ground I have ever detected that I would not give another go one more time, just because I have a GPZ 7000. That means I and others will find gold that until now has gone missing.

People will point out that other detectors may well have found some of the gold. That it simply got missed before and now the GPZ found it. They will in many cases be correct, but in the end I think they are missing the point. It is that renewed hope, that renewed faith that really matters, as once again prospectors hit the field in numbers with what they perceive as being the latest and greatest. And when it comes to gold rushes, perception is very much reality.

I am just thankful I was born when I was. Sometimes I think I should have been born in the 1800s, but the fact is I enjoy all the things modern life offers me. Instead, I got to participate in the 1980s Gold Rush in all its glory, both as a prospector and as a guy selling the shovels to the prospectors. Now, semi retired and living the dream as a full time prospector I have a chance to participate in what may very well be the last chapter of the electronic gold rush - The GPZ Gold Rush. I have to admit I am very happy to be in the right place and time to get in on the ground floor of one last party!

Exciting times my friends. Good luck to each and every one of you now and in the future days ahead.

Very well said Steve, I like the way you write, honestly with your vast experience, I think you should write a book about detecting and prospecting in general.

I am a lot older than you, sometime I too wish I was born in 1850, but then I like the modern things that we enjoy today too much, I am a photographer, I like the outdoor life but with comforts, I don' think I would have survived very long on a real gold rush.

Good job and Keep writing.

Cheers

This is my attempt to explain my own personal opinion of the GPZ 7000 based on what I know so far. The very real problem is I do not know everything and in fact still consider myself a novice with the detector. I have a lot to learn yet, so those thinking I know everything and can answer everything definitively are going to be disappointed. Some things I flat out do not know, other things all I can do is offer a qualified guess.

What I can promise is I am not out to talk anyone into getting one. Not my job. I did not get my GPZ 7000 for free although I did get a great deal on it. Despite what people may think being a field tester does not obligate me to post about the GPZ 7000 and it certainly does not make me a salesperson. I am however more than happy to offer my opinion for those that are interested. Here goes with where I am right this minute 2/18/2015.

I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to field test the new Minelab GPZ 7000 detector. It has allowed me time to make decisions regarding my own use of detectors this season earlier than most people. It also gave me a place first in line and I now have a brand new GPZ 7000 of my own.

My use of the GPZ 7000 combined with what I think I know about how it works made me decide I had to have one. I am in my detecting prime right now and plan on spending a huge amount of time swinging a detector looking for gold now and in the future. I will never use just one detector for everything but the fact is that I can only swing one detector at a time. I need to decide what detector will be my primary unit for the bulk of my detecting. What one machine will best return my investment of time and effort in possible gold finds? I have decided that machine is the Minelab GPZ 7000.

The GPZ with its 14" x 13" Super D coil provides an across the board powerful solution for getting gold both large and small on the first pass. Most ground I pass a coil over I have exactly one chance of finding a target. It has to happen on that first pass. Sure, when I am beating a patch to death I may hit the same area over and over. But most of my detecting is all about being over ground I have never been over before. I have to have confidence the machine I am using is going to give me my best shot at getting whatever is there on the first and likely last pass of the coil.

As far as I am concerned all the percentages and charts and stuff is something others can debate, though I will post some thoughts on that separately. The bottom line is I am convinced the GPZ 7000 does give me a technological edge at this time, and that by applying that edge early and as often as I can I am increasing my odds of finding gold. If I never said another word about the detector that really just sums it up.

I thought very hard about whether I should keep my GPX 5000. I decided any time spent with it would detract from the advantage I would enjoy by using the GPZ instead. It should not have been lost on people that I recently sold my GPX 5000 and almost every accessory I owned for it. I only have a few odds and ends left I intend to sell soon. That alone should tell you everything you need to know about what I think of the GPZ 7000.

I even considered selling my SDC 2300. However, even though more coils will be available soon for now all the GPZ has is the 14" x 13" so I decided I had better keep the SDC just because it has an 8" coil. The reality is I very much like the grab and go super compact nature of the SDC and will probably keep it anyway, but it is a moot point until a smaller coil becomes available for the GPZ. Small coils are a must for nooks and crannies and other places larger coils can't fit.

The GPZ 7000 does not replace or take away from the SDC 2300 and GPX 5000 in the current Minelab lineup. They are both fantastic units. The GPX 5000 and its vast ecosystem of coils and other accessories remains the no-brainer best value for many people. The SDC 2300 will continue to be the hot small gold sniper it has been proven to be. A person who owns both will have much of the power of the GPZ 7000 already at their disposal.

The thing is the GPZ 7000 to the best of my determination so far seems to offer everything those two models offers in a single unit, and then goes farther yet. I can't swear that under every circumstance and in every scenario that the GPZ 7000 trumps the SDC 2300 or GPX 5000. Certainly in the case of the GPX 5000 all those accessory coil options do matter, especially where ground coverage is job one. The SDC does have that little coil.

All I can say is that for that proverbial one pass over any particular chunk of ground I have to pick the GPZ 7000 as my best bet for getting whatever gold is there or missing it forever. And for hitting already hunted ground it is going to find gold both those detectors will miss no matter how many times they pass over the ground. The GPZ 7000 in my opinion is the best overall single solution available. If I was told I had to sell all but one machine and could only use one detector for gold prospecting I would without hesitation choose the GPZ 7000.

In closing, I suddenly see a bright future ahead. I really had given up on there being anything significantly better than a GPX 5000. The GPZ however is not the end of the road but just the beginning. As good as it is it is not perfect and I am certain we will see further improvements as the platform is refined in the future. That first step is often the biggest however, and the GPZ in its way is every bit the breakthrough the SD 2000 was when it was released. Nobody can put back all the gold that has been detected in the twenty years since but the GPZ 7000 is definitely the next step in getting what is left.

My thanks to Minelab for being able to say I had a part in this, small as it has been. Thanks especially for investing the huge amount of dollars and people power it took to make this happen for us, the prospectors of the world. Were it not for Minelab electronic prospecting would not be near what it is today.

Disclaimer - this is just me trying to explain my thought process regarding my use of detectors this season. It is not an attempt to say "here is what I am doing and you should do it also." Just because I am all in with the GPZ 7000 does not mean I am saying that is the best idea for everyone. It is all about prospecting skills, not about the detector you use. The GPZ 7000 will not turn a poor prospector into a good one. It lacks that magic button. At the end of the day it is just another metal detector and it is up to the prospector behind the handle to make it deliver. Good Luck!

Hi Steve, I am a new member from Australia, thank you for your impressions about the new GPZ 7000, I preordered one I am waiting to collect it, in the mean time I appreciate all the informations that I can get.

Cheers

Here you go, this was part of a three way split and the gold has been sold off. 15 ounce, 14 ounce and 13 ounce pieces found with the GPZ.

 

JP

 

P1060016.JPG

JP can I ask if you find this gold in US or in Australia?

Cheers

Beautiful find, JP thank you for sharing.

Hi, is good to see some good find with the new GPZ7000, I am in another forum but the only thing I can see is people winging, about the price, about the weight, comparing with the 5000, never a good news, I ordered one but unfortunately I have to wait three weeks, for what i can see I think is a fantastic machine and I can't wait to get mine.

Cheers