Gold Hound

Don't worry about them there will always be some guy's who think they know what they are doing but really they have no idea. That test new technology with flawed test's and jump to conclusion's after these. It happens with every detector! There are still guy's out there that think the 4500 is better than the 5000! Let them lag behind with there old tech while I clean up with the new! Nice gold there Russ

Hi guys I understand that alot of you want a simple detector. But I want a detector that I can squeeze the most performance out of. And if we had better control like I have asked for I could easily squeeze another 10% extra depth out of thd gpz in most conditions. I also realize that 90% or more of the operators will never learn how to do this, but at least the possibility is there. I like Steve's idea of a pro section in the menu that you can select if you want more control like I do, or leave it switched off if you find it to difficult to handle.

Hi Hawkeye, guys There is no luck but that you make! Every time I make a good find I always analyze how it happened. Mainly so I can learn from it and hopfully repeat it. And not once was it luck! Let me tell you about a patch I found. I was in the Australian dessert prospecting new ground in an un proven area over 150km from the nearest known gold area I was systematically running gullys just trying to find a my first piece, I had already done 2 months for virtually nothing. I was walking from the head of one gully that I had just finished to ward the next one across a hill. When I reached the summit of the hill I serveyed the surrounding hills and noticed in the distance that a few of the hills about 5km away were a different Color, so i decided that I have to check those hills the next day to see why the hills are a different color as they were to far to walk to that late in the day. That night I decided I would move my camp to a place in between the hills and the gully where I left off giving me better position to ether continue my work or investigate the hills. So the next day I move my camp to a spot on a dry creek where I belived the water table should be within 2m of the surface in between the hills and the last gully I finished. I bush bashed my way to the spot in the car and when I got there I dug in the best looking spot to try and find water after about 10 mins of digging I hit the water table.........cool! Now that I had water I could stay as long as food supplys last and could systematically invesigate the surrounds no worries about water. I then grabbed my detector and pick and power walked the 2km to the hills to have a closer look. As I got closer I saw a main creek that fed from in between the hills and decided to run up the creek and try jag my firzt piece. As I was walking towards the hills up the creek I noticed the soil change color, so I hoped out of the dry creek to have a look at the low hills around me and I imedetly noticed that the rock type had changed and it had good fulting and quartz and ironstone out crops and the tops of the hills were covered in broken conglomerate. I started to get excited and decided to run every creek, gully, fedder gully and storm gutter that cut's this geological feature. So i started in the creek I was in and decided to run all of the left side first. So I walked up the main creek until the first left. It was just a storm gutter that fed off the side of a low hill. And right at the mouth I got my first piece about .3 of a gram. Cool the area carry's so I continued up the gutter and got a few more pices for about 2g total. When I reched the head of the gutter I looked at the gradual slopes ether side of the gutter and noticed that the right one has a ironstone and quartz baring fault that goes under the conglomerate on top of the hill. I carefully serched the 2 slopes... Nothing. So i decided that the gold definatly came from the fault but under the cap. So I decide to walk over the hill to the opposit fall of the same hill. I proceded to detect down the gully on the opposit side of the hill and about 100m from the top I got my first bit on that side, a 10g waterworn piece. So I kept going down the gully and picked up about another 40g in smaller pices ranging from .3 to 5g. It was getting late so I headed back to camp for the night. Next morning I went back to the hill again and looked at the terrain and I noticed that the fault came out of the cap and ran allong the right hand side of the gully so I decided to look there first. I walked straight down to the first 10g nugget spot and started zig zag ing the hill side. I started picking up nuggets every few steps so I decided to grid the whole hill side with my 14in coil. After a week of gridding I finally finished the hillside with the 14in coil and ended up with 2351g. Whilst I was gridding with the 14 I built up a mental picture of the depth of the soil and I picked out one area at the bottom of the hill that was deep so I decided that I had to re-grid this section with the 25in coil. After about 10 min I got my first deep target, a 8oz specie at about 850mm. Then only 4m away 2 more a 6.5oz and a 13oz nearly in the same hole at about 900mm. Then 3m away from them a 22oz solid nugget then only 2m away I got another signal after 3 hours digging out poped a 32ozer. To say I was excited would be an understatement I was over the moon! When I had finished I ended up with just over 4.5kg for 13 days gridding. Ok now tell me that I was lucky........ I don't think so! I was methodically working the area I identified an anomaly and and went to investigate, then I found good indicators and followed them, then I followed the gold run. Where is the luck? Just hard work, persistence, and sound operating procedures if you ask me.

There is no luck for me just hard work determination and reserch!

Hi Steve, guy's I would just like to share some idea's of software up dates that minelab could easily make and either sell or supply to improve the GPZ. If minlab is listening I would not mind paying for updates that improve the detector's performance or usability and I'm sure many others would like to be able to purchase updates on an on going basis and that minelab could have an on going income stream without any manufacturing costs only software development costs and by listerning to us the customers and tailoring updates to suit our needs\wants. We the customer would benefit by getting a better detector without having to fork out for a whole new platform. Win win if you ask me! Any way here are a few ideas of mine for changes that I think would improve the Zed and make it even better. I hope minelab is listerning! 1_ I would like more control over the audio settings like on the 5000, I was very disappointed when I picked up the zed and read the manual and realized that I didn't have the control that I had on the 5000. So I would like full numerical 1_20 control of the stabilizer like on the 5000. I would also like to have the audio type setting back as being able to change the audio curve to suit my circumstances and fine tune with the stabilizer, motion and target volume controls. 2_ I would like to have 10 user modes that I can assighn names and program both on the detector and via exchange so I can set up 10 different groups of settings for different circumstances, like on the ctx with the user modes. And I would like to be able to assighn the modes to my user button so i can toggle between one user mode(groupe of settings) and the one one originally seleted. 3_ Full control of the settings in the excange2 software most notably the assighn user button function. I think that the way the timings are setup now is an improvement over the 5k. As once you understand what they (Gold type and Ground type) do minelab have given us more control over the front and back of the timings and we can now independently optimize for the target size and ground conditions so it is definatly a step in the right direction. Any way thats my thoughts for now I would like to hear what you guys think, and hear any other ideas you guys might have. Regards Dale

Hi Steve, guys. I would like minelab to make 11in, 20in and 25in round coils for the Zed. I really want a big coil badly as I have a good number of deep areas where I have found big gold over the 200g and would like to use the Zed with its extra deep mode and a large coil over these area's. And I would like the 11in round for shallow tight rocky gully work. I like the 14in coil that comes standard on the Zed, I think it was a good choice made by minelab to put this size coil on the Zed as standard as you would be hard pressed to find a more versatile coil size! Me as a full-time operator I would never really need a smaller coil than the 14 on the Zed as the 14 is already so sensitive to small gold that I will only use a smaller coil if the terrain call's for it, like in a tight rocky gully.

Hi Steve I will be heading to europe in 4 weeks for 6 to 8 weeks treasure hunting and will be using the gpx 4800, CTX and infinium as my treasure hunting weapons, as I have left them at my mother in-laws house in europe waiting for my return. Should doo really well as I already found a good area and I just have to continue gridding. Then as soon as I get back to Australia its straight back to our area we found last year and we'll continue following the auriferous fault that we were working last year. I'll be using the GPZ 7000, GPX 5000, SDC 2300, gold bug 2 as my gold hunting weaponry and the CTX for coin hunts in the old diggers camps and for modern tailings oversize piles. I'm really looking forward to the coming season and using some new tech its been a long time coming.

Hi Steve, guys I cant wait for my season to start and to use the 7000. One of the major advantages i can see is that the 7k is basically like a 5k with 3 coils on at once! This alone is a major advantage particularly for me as a full time operator, as it will save me alot of time. Because i will no longer have to go over my patches with 3 coils, if you have ever had to use a 8in coil to clean a vast area like i have on many occasion's it is like painting a wall with an artists brush, very slow. This will drastically reduce my work load and increase my productivity by a large margin, this detector is definitely a game changer for me!!!!! I cant wait for the 20in coil to be released! If the 14 is any thing to go off the 20 will be dynamite!! And will probably be nerly permanently attached to my 7k.

Thanks for the info Steve and JP Cant wait to get out and try a few different settings combos I have floating around in my head. The boys are out as we speak testing the GPZ and comparing it to the 5000 on one of our productive areas, will be interestig to see how they go.

Thank you for the warm welcome guys! I really look forward to sharing my expirence and knowledge with you guys. Thanks for adding the link Steve and thanks for sharing all of your knowledge with us via this good forum. Mn90403 I have 3 goto machine's that I leave in europe specially for treasure hunting as they all serve particular purposes and complement eachother. 1_ the minelab gpx4800 2_ the minelab ctx3030 3_ the garrett infinium When I first arrive at my hunt location I get up to a vantage point and survey The area then I grab my 4800 and 18in sef coil and walk around quickly covering ground looking for sighns of settlement or conflict, basicly im looking for period specific junk or items. Once I locate an area with period specific items I ask myself these questions: What is the average depth of the soil? Is there alot of iron junk or other junk? How big is the area? Do I think there is any unexploded ordanence in the ground? Then I make my decisions as to what detector is going to best suit my needs. But most of the time as the ground is relativly shallow where I hunt I use the CTX so if I had to pick one detector it would be the CTX.

Hi Mitchel I have not been to england but have looked in various other country's in europe I have found well over 1000 ancient hammered coins and alot of ancient jewelry letter seal's and other stuff. I love the thrill I get when I dig up somthing old, my three favorite pieces that i have found are an Aleksander the great Hercules lion head coin about 2600 yers old, a late Byzantine silver bracelet about 700 years old and a gold lion earring that is about 2600 also from Aleksander the great era. My wife and I both own zeds now but are yet to swing them as I am currently injured. If you want to see us in action check out our youtube channel 'goldhounds nugget recovery'. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCanm0gYhAZNL6-wNKkSXx8Q

Hi steve and other members. I just joined this forum and would like to introduce myself. My name is Dale I live and prospect in Australia. I have been prospecting for 16 years and have been a full time prospector for the last 6 years. I also love treasure hunting and go to europe every second year to look for ancient coins and treasure, and also enjoy searching for treasure in Australia although there are no pre euopean settlement metallic artifacts. I look forward to sharing my experience's with the members of this forum. Best regards Gold Hound Dale