Search the Community

I made it out to Gold Basin for a couple days of hunting until a high wind advisory chased me out on Saturday with a wind gust forecast of it hitting 50mph in the Arizona desert on high ground. The wind started to pick up around 7pm by morning it was buffeting the trailer pretty good. I picked up camp and found a spot protected enough from the wind I could unlatch and drop the top on my a-frame without a strong gust hitting at the wrong time ripping off the roof. Luckily all went without incident and the drive home was uneventful. the couple pieces I picked up were found on a low bench above the wash at the beginning of the transition from the hillside the larger specimen 19.8g total (tested around 1.5g gold) down about 8” gave a soft deeper mellow high-low, the small piece at .3g with a bit of quartz attached a similar signal down a few inches. the little meteorite also in the same area and down a few inches hit really hard on the GPZ, a small window shows a high concentration of Iron nickel specks.

Hey All. I have been researching this last month or so throughout Detector Prospector, Minelab's Knowledge Base and TreasureTalks so that I can take my skills with the GPZ to the next level and I think in order to do that it involves these 4 settings: Threshold, Sensitivity, Volume and Volume Limit. A lot of forum members talk about these comparing and contrasting, but none really give you a "How to." How do you go about adjusting these to reach perfection, to reach that perfect ZVT zen. Conclusions that I have read are that: it just depends on what you want to hear, or how you hear what is coming out of the detector. OK, but I think it is more to it than that, and if you don't understand what these controls do how can you really achieve the best results. Keeping these setting the same. Noise Canceled. Gold Mode: High Yield. Ground Type: Normal. Ground Balanced with Semi Auto. No filters - Audio nor Ground Smoothing. Lets talk about how we start. Here is what I have researched and summed up describing these controls. These are my "interpretations" based on everything I have read and I think I really have a grasp on it now. This information and dissemination of it came from everyone here, and I mean everyone! Huge Thank You! Sensitivity: aka Gain. Control of the INPUT "strength" of a "sound wave." You don't actually control how "sensitive" the coil is. ZVT is ZVT, that is the tech we are using In order to understand these controls I think of it like a "sound wave". What you control is the "sound wave" coming into the machine. Too much gain and you over modulate the sound wave, cause distortion, and increase the "noise" level. Too little gain and your "sound wave" is decreased (like making it a flatter line) maybe allowing large "sounds" to come through but in return lowering the "noise" level and small "sounds." In Sensitivity is where you want to produce the "perfect sound wave" coming into the machine. You want that sound wave to just barely reach below a distortion level to get the best "sound or tone" Threshold: This is how much of the "noise" level you want to hear. It kind of acts like a bottom or "noise" filter. Increase threshold (lower number on GPZ) and you filter out more of the "noise" level as well as small "sounds." The opposite is to lower threshold (increase number on the GPZ) to filter out less of the "noise" level and hear smaller "sounds." These two setting should play off of each other so that you can achieve the "biggest window" for the ZVT "sound wave" to operate in with the least amount of "noise". Some people use a 20 sensitivity and a 7 threshold. Is that the biggest window they could achieve? Some do a 15 sensitivity and a 27 threshold. Is that the biggest window they could achieve? How come you could not do a 1 sensitivity and a 53 threshold? Nobody has ever commented on that. Boost it? Probably not a good idea. I don't know, never tried. Food for thought, but I hope you get what I am saying about that. In my eyes these two controls are where you should start. Achieve the biggest "window" that ZVT can work with. If you minimize the window you are not taking advantage of the full technology. In turn you are probably not finding the smallest pieces you could achieve or the greatest depth on targets. Don't limit ZVT, maximize it to its full potential. Open the window as far as you can for the ground/mineralization you are in. Now on to Volume and Volume Limit This is where I do not have the best grasp on these controls, even after all the research I am not sure if I am describing these correct. So many people play off of these and have different explanations. This is what I "think" they mean. Volume: aka Audio Boost. Control of the OUTPUT "loudness" of the Threshold and Sensitivity window that you just created. We are told that this acts like an audio boost and that increasing this by one is like increasing Sensitivity by 2, etc. I don't think that is a good way to describe it, at least for me. What I think Volume is doing is increasing the loudness of the "window." Than includes the "sound wave" as well as the "noise" associated with it. If you can not hear the targets you want after adjusting your "window" above, then you need to boost the audio. Doing this though will increase what you hear in "noise" and I "think" this is why some describe this as equivalent to increasing Sensitivity but it is not. The "window" has already been set with your Threshold and Sensitivity, what volume does is change the OUTPUT "loudness" and there by multiplies how big the window is ("sound wave" and "noise"). This allows you to hear hear more, but more of EVERYTHING, in affect increasing overall loudness. This is why it should be used "conservatively." Start at 1 and work up until it is where you "like" hearing it. This is the part that should be subjective to each individual and their hearing. Volume Limit: The Big Mystery. What does this do? How does it help me? Some say that this is actually volume. Some say this is what you should adjust to hear targets better. Some say it is just there to not blow your ear drums off if your volume is set to high. My questions are: Does this affect the "OUPUT" signal or the "INPUT" signal or both? Why would I want a Volume Limit? My thoughts on this...... I think that Volume Limit sets the MAXIMUM Volume (Audio Boost) "level" that can be used. I don't THINK it limits the Sensitivity. So this is an OUTPUT control. Therefore if you set the Volume Limit high you would get a higher (louder) incremental step with each number in Volume (Audio Boost). If you use a lower Volume Limit, you would have lower (less louder) incremental steps in Volume (Audio Boost). So if you want more precise control of your Volume (Audio Boost) you would set a lower Volume Limit. The trade off is maximum loudness. If you need to hear things louder you are going to have to raise your Volume Limit and then adjust your Volume (Audio Boost) accordingly. My thoughts are that people think this actually raises the volume but in the end if you keep Volume (Audio Boost) at 8 and increase Volume Limit, it will get louder per se because you just raised the the maximum loudness level there by increasing the loudness steps for each Volume (Audio Boost) number. Make sense? It does to me, I hope I am right otherwise I am gonna have to relearn this all over again 😉 Well now I need feedback from you all. Am I out in left field on all of this? Am I spot on? Or do I just need some minor tweaks? 🤣 AND if you have the desire to help some, could as many folks as possible make a video of them adjusting these settings to achieve a perfect balance? These are the videos that are missing on YouTube, etc. We see tons of people digging up gold but not many at all on "How" they use and set up their machine. This would be huge to see. You don't have to make a fancy video, maybe just have someone with their phone over your shoulder while you go through it. This would be a huge boon for a lot of people, including myself. Especially us that have to stay in all winter and have to wait to test their own theories. 🤣 So any help in that regard please post! OR if you already found some vids, please share. I have tried every search I could to no avail. Anyways many members on here have said it before. You need to learn your machine. Its only one aspect of being an expert detectorist. I know I am not there yet cause it sure looks like I am still trying to learn my machine. The rest for me seemed to have come easier, researching locations, reading locations, putting the coil over the gold, etc. Now I NEED to revisit a bunch of locations where I got the easy gold by just using preprogramed settings that I learned when I just started. I started detecting at the SDC level. Turn on and go. I never had a GPX so comparing to the old never helped me. I am part of the new school of detectorists and I don't want to be ignorant by having less control. I want to take control. Its time to achieve ZVT zen and see what was left behind. Its time to level up.

For years I ran the GPX 5000 Threshold setting with a faint audible level by following the book; which is condensed as follows; Through a process of dynamic noise compensation, Smart Electronic Timing Alignment (SETA) ensures that the threshold stability is improved and maintained, allowing you to operate the GPX 5000 with maximum efficiency under all conditions. Threshold is the constant audible background hum or noise produced by the detector. On the front panel rotate the variable Threshold control to achieve a very faint but still audible noise level. It should be smooth with only minor fluctuations. The Threshold is your reference point and lets you know what the coil is sensing, whether it may be a target, ground noise, or electrical interference, so it is important to set the threshold so it can be heard. When a target is detected, the Threshold changes in volume and pitch. Listen to the threshold carefully. Concentration is an important part of detecting. A very deep or small target may only cause a very small change to the Threshold noise. Listening for a target signal with a high level of Threshold noise would be like trying to hear a whisper within a crowded noisy room. A high Threshold may also be uncomfortable to your hearing. If the Threshold level is set too low (less noise) very soft target signals, from small or very deep targets, may not be heard. It is important to reset the Threshold level as conditions change. For example, your ears may adjust to the low levels of audio after an hour or so, or the conditions may have become windy. So here are my concerns; With the GPZ 7000 I find it difficult to achieve the low quiet hum of the GPX 5000. I get the trying to hear a whisper within a crowded noisy room effect. The constant high noise level makes it difficult to listen for small changes that would indicate a small shallow or large deep nugget. So I tend to run it far below the default setting of 27. And much of the time I run at a setting of 1. Another problem is related to the control differences between the two machines. The GPX 5000 has a simple variable Threshold control with no numbers to be concerned with. The GPZ 7000 has digital values which appear to be inverted in function. Attached is an edited illustration from the GPZ 7000 manual that displays my view or understanding of how it should be described.

Hello All, Here we are again, a partner and I placering a dry creek bed. The process of placering is to remove all the overburden (rocks, gravel) and process or work the paypayer/bedrock. We are doing that by using rakes, shovels, crevice tools and then using metal detectors to scan the paylayer and bedrock for gold nuggets. This process is back breaking hard work, but can be very rewarding in the right locations. As you can see in this video, we hit a nice crevice that had a hidden beauty in it, a 3/4 ounce gold nugget. The nugget was wedged below the hardpack gravels and wedged in a bedrock crack. In this video we were using the Minelab GPZ 7000 metal detector, Garrett AT Pinpointer and several hand tools, including "Two Toes" nice crevice tool he shipped me. We have gotten a ton of use from this tool, very good on narrow bedrock cracks and holds up well. Contact Gary for more information, or visit his "Two Toes Youtube Channel. Thanks Gary!! Remember, the true treasure is the ability to get outdoors and enjoy your friendship with others that also enjoy this hobby. God Bless, Rob

I’ve done a bunch of research online and I just can’t seem to find this. Does anybody know if there is a detailed video on each of the menu items/settings for the GPZ along with examples in real world environments? I realize that when I’m out in the field now, after continually reading this forum, that I kind of stick to the same settings that I’ve been using for a long time (except for changing between high-yield and general, as well as normal and difficult). It’s winter time, I am bored and I’d like to learn more on my GPZ 🤣🤣. Even if this is not a YouTube video and it’s some thing I can purchase I’d be willing to do that as well!

Hello All, Here in this video a partner and I have been working (placer mining) a dry creek bed for gold nuggets. This process including digging down, raking and metal detecting the paylayer and bedrock for detectable gold nuggets. We were using the Minelab Gold Monster 1000, Minelab GPZ 7000 & Garrett AT Pinpointer along with various hand tools for digging. We dug a lot of old rubbish, not shown in the videos to preserve time and boredom This is part 1 of the entire video, the second part will be up soon. If you like our video, please Subscribe, Like and follow us on Youtube.

Gold is one of natures most interesting and inspiring metals on this earth. I've been fortunate to see, handle and or even find my share of unique pieces but this one takes tops honors. I know there are some legends of gold hunters on here and would ask your help. If anyone has ever found one similar, please let us see. As it stands now, this is a 1 of a kind and I was the lucky one who realized to grab a cell phone and put it on video mode....just in case we found a nice nugget. But what was actually dug up just blew us away. Oh my gosh is all I could manage to stutter from my lips. Now we need to name this beauty and we'll all ears. Please give some suggestions for a name.

Hello Everyone, First, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New year, it's less than a week away. I haven't been out much, nor doing any videos. I figured I probably need to toss something on my YouTube Channel before I lost all my Subscribers.... LOL This spot a friend and I have been working on and off for over a year. It's a dry wash bottom and we are placering it. We are removing the large boulders and gravel and trying to work the bedrock for nuggets. In some spots we have attempted to vacuum up the gravels on bedrock and dry wash them, but to be honest the results were not hot. Sometimes when you're into large gold nuggets, you don't have a ton of fine gold. I'm not honestly sure if it was to do with the particular mining district and geology, but over the years we never found a lot of fine gold or small flakes/pickers to make it worth all the effort of Dry washing. It's seems more productive for the time we have to work it, to just expose as much bedrock as possible and metal detect it very well. We normally use the GPZ 7000 or GPX 5000 as the primary detectors to cover the bedrock, but will pass back over the same areas much slower with the Minelab Gold Monster 1000. That being said, we normally don't miss much, as the small gold is just not there and the Gold Monster really don't clean up much. Well enough of the chit chat, here is the video. Hope you enjoy, if so, Subscribe to our YouTube Channel after watching to follow us. P.S. Nugget ended up being just shy of 1/4 ounce. Very dense, sluggy nugget gold is this area.

I can't remember this being discussed but maybe I've missed it or forgotten it. Given how deep the Zed has been known to find small nuggets it seems to me it could do well on coins. Any experience (or reliable hearsay 😁) on this? As a distantly related sidelight, a couple weeks back on Curse of Oak Island (TV show) Gary Drayton is seen with a GPZ-7000 and it had the ML 19" coil mounted. It's impossible from watching alone to know how long he swung it but in terms of air time it was minimal and I don't recall any footage of them digging a target he found with it. Later he was back to his trusty ML CTX3030, so maybe just a publicity/advertising stunt. (It's also risky to interpret scenes on these shows as reliably chronological, so maybe we'll see more of the 7000 in later episodes.)

Hello everybody. Nice to meet you. Long long long time lurker first time poster. A long time ago I think I might have posted about going to Australia to look for gold with my bike, trailer and f-75... Although everybody says it was crazy, I would have gone, but it wasn't an option unfortunately. After being out of the country for 24 years or something, my family and I moved to Reno from China. And Nevada is such an awesome place, why we might not have the large four or five oz nuggets laying on the ground everywhere, baking in the sun like in Australia... I think we got tons of gold here and awesome history too 🙂 at least my family and I can't get enough of studying with the old timers did, and the beautiful desert, and other places near Reno. If I've ever heard something about Rena it's that one of the greatest things about it is the proximity to other cool places. Anyhow, I don't want to say anything bad about our f-75, but it's always been a dream in fact beyond a dream, to own the legendary gpz7000... Thanks to a knowledgeable modern-day old timer member of the site, we had the Good Fortune to finally make some of our dreams come true. I cannot thank the member enough of this forum, for providing us with the most awesome kit we could have ever dreamed about. Of course there's a couple little things we need to get more, mainly gold nuggets 🙂, and more hours of my day 🙂 Yesterday, was the first day that we could finally use our GPz after putting it together on our coffee table, and continuing to watch every single YouTube video... I told myself I would go out just a little bit with it to see how it works... For those of you parents in Reno you might have noticed yesterday was the first snow day of the year with the ultimate irony. Despite the rain and sleet, I saw some blue sky and that's Good enough for me. Aside from watching YouTube videos, decided to download a bunch of apps from the play store on my phone. Pretty much every app imaginable related to BLM land and USGS mineral maps. I hate to see it, but I kind of ignore the BLM apps, and focus more on the digger app that I paid for unlocking all the resources... Which really didn't provide any other functions so far other than two add more to my excitement.. We happen to live near rattlesnake mountain. Studting it carefully on Google Earth, it's reading about the history of huffaker Hill's, The plan was to check out rattlesnake mountain in even if there isn't gold I was going to find gold their. You see after years of gpz salivation, when you finally get that gpz, theres going to be gold everywhere you look and everywhere you think of looking every second of every hour of every day. Even when there's not, it's still there you just didn't look hard enough yet 🙂 So without incense carpe diem moment, and two of our children in school for a 2-hour school day, and our oldest kid at home waiting for them to return... My wife and I took off to go prospecting rattlesnake mountain. But we didn't know, if you follow the road pass rattlesnake mountain, you go underneath veterans highway. The first thing you notice, is there's a stream that flows through the entire valley along veterans highway. After years and years of watching Jeff Williams, two toes, and every imaginable YouTube video, we know that every single stream and creek is full of gold nuggets by the multiple ounces. We were going to stop on that stream at the end of the road of rattlesnake mountain, where the road disappears and you have to close the gate behind you or you will get a misdemeanor. However, there was wild land and a gate that you could enter without trespassing, and would look like old mine tailings on the distant mountain. skipping over that stream that must truly be filled with gold nuggets which we might go back to this morning as soon as I get finished with this never ending the passage... We entered into the Rocky road headed towards those distance mountains. Luckily I just raised our Volkswagen Jetta sport wagon turbo Diesel and inch and a half or so with tequon front springs and rear towing springs, and put a nice cnc skid plate on the bottom.. preparation for Alaska.. and returning to those sweet desert Roades which we spent so much time bottoming out on in the past.... Well we don't have 4x4 low or anything like that, but we do have a nice little diesel with great torque powered by that magical jet rocket GPZ in the rear. We plowed through the boulders past all the beautiful ponies with their winter coats, to a neighborhood that we never been to before which was at the end of the dirt Boulder Street even closer to those mountains with the trailing's on the horizon. We found the exited in this upscale type neighborhood, as we slowly prowled the streets looking for access to the fields at the base with the mountains full of gold. We finally found an opening between two houses.. proceeded to drive over the curb as close to the fence as possible, and then piece by piece assembled the glorious gpz7000 for its first action. Apparently this location is called hidden valley I believe. Racing the sun, for those of you that don't know, it gets dark about 4:30 in Reno right now.. and the supposed oncoming winter storm, we started to treak across the meadow towards the glorious goldfield mountains. Actually, I always wondered why those mountain ranges never got much love. Every single person in Reno and from the Bay area is all excited about the Sierra mountain range.. so much so, that I don't even know the name of the mountain range. The mountain range opposite to the Sierras seems to be the forgotten Black sheep mountain range... So... As the wind and the sleet picked up, we headed towards red dirt. Which every single person that watches videos from Australia knows that red dirt is full of gold nuggets lying everywhere. Firing up the GPZ for the first time on gold bearing ground, I was able with great skill and the power of the GPZ to find a glorious 22 shell casing. And then like magic, I was even able to find what I guess to be the 22 lead bullet that was once in that casing. What a fabulous trick that was. I was sure than ever that we were going to find lots of gold now. So with my dedicated wife, armed only with a couple beers, and a shovel, not really dressed for the elements, we face the oncoming snowstorm and climb to the top of the ridge. At least the first tiny ridge. Just enough to see there was a little Park we could have parked closer to this ridge, that we could have had more time to find more gold.., I had to explain to my wife we were only on this part of the mountain not looking for natural gold in ravines, because even she knows that every single ravine , valley, and dry Creek bed is full of gold nuggets... But we were here for what looked to be tailings mining tailings. My app said nothing about the mines on this mountain. But they surely must be full of gold. After reaching the top of the first ridge, at the very point overlooking the vast Meadows behind rattlesnake mountain, fired up the GPZ. I forgot to mention, not only gold, but the GPZ will also be finding lots of buried treasures.. pirates, aztecs, Indians, etc etc etc. The GPZ could find it all. And with a beautiful view like this I imagined that this is where the native Indians buried their golden treasures in sacrifice to the gods. Firing up the GPZ, performing the ritual of holding it up to the air, that was when the first tragedy stock. The vital awesome wireless speaker that plugs into your headphones, had somehow mysteriously fell off my rocket pack like GPZ harness. With great sorrow and worry, we went back down the hill to find it. Thank God my wife is 10 years younger than me with eagle eyes sndt hops around like a mountain goat... She found it first. Back up the hill we went to uncover the hidden Indian treasure To our great surprise, after digging a signal, we found miraculously a long lost 22 casing. Perhaps from this peak this is where the JFK assassin was practicing shooting.... Who knows. Well, we could not spare anymore time to get that Indian treasure as the sun was going down quickly, we only had three or four more hours. So we continued towards the pile of gold. So we climbed up the little Hill, which wasn't so little actually to the first ridge.. on the way to the big pile of tailings. I'm pretty perplexed, it seemed to be a huge amount of tailings, however there is no sign of them old timers. No train tracks no old equipment, I couldn't even find the entrance to a mine. Strange to find tailings with no mine.. The whole trip I was questioning my sanity to whether or not those were actually tailings or some natural formation where the Earth threw up its internal self magically and mysteriously. It doesn't matter, miners or aliens, everybody knows from watching the Australian videos and Jeff Williams that every pile of mine tailings, is full of gold nuggets.. Realizing that we forgot our lighter, because we don't smoke, and we didn't know we were going to be on a side of the mountain somewhat freezing asses off trying to start a bonfire far away from all those that hate people that start bonfires.. With the lack of a lighter, I told my wife to go hide behind some trees and pretend she's a cavewoman. And she could even try making the fire with sticks. She made a great effort. At the very tip top tower of tailings, mysteriously jettisoned, I received a signal. realizing this might be the largest gold nugget in Nevada's history, the huge excavation began. I found during this time I was wondering why they don't have much bigger plastic scoops because scoop after scoop after scoop, it was taking a lot of scoops to dig down into the strange pile of gold. Somewhat hollow holes, we're leading me to question whether or not there's some kind of secret passage and was the GPZ actually discovering a closed metal door or something? Well, when you're on the tip of a peak, full of tailings, being careful as you dig as you don't back up off the side of the tiny mountain to your death on the first day of having your GPz, and your wife is in the shelter of the trees, and your dog running around full of bliss, then that's the proper time to open your beer. Which I did, as I digged deeper and deeper, knowing from all the videos on YouTube that when you go deep it means huge nuggets. To my great surprise, the target was actually a bleached aluminum can, mysteriously trapped under two feet of alien mining trailings.... So ... That means I wasn't looking good enough. Yet... I was wondering, was there a hole that was filled in? Is this a natural mountain? What the heck? When in doubt, grab your shivering wife, and climb higher. Not forgetting to sing The Bear went over the mountain song as your head towards what looks to be the real big pile of tailings. The motherload perhaps... As we passed lots of rocks which probably had gold but we didn't have time to get, I stripped away my excessive clothing to help my wife. Happy wife happy life. With my baklavia, she was ready to climb Everest... Unfortunately, we face that enemy no man can conquer... Time.. Realizing, we had no time to make it to all the other pals of what appeared to be tailings on the mountain, and all the mountains from there to Virginia City... So, what can we do,? Well, you know what I'm going to say, come on let's go 🙂 Remembering the great Jeff Williams, we slowly edged away down the ravine realizing that every ravine had gold we would collect the gold as we moved on the ravine like breadcrumbs and the German forest... Underneath the first root and rocks in the dry ravine Creek bed.. everybody knows there's gold nuggets. Unable to pan, because you know all the dirt of all the roots and rocks and dry beds there's tons of flour gold... Well we didn't have time for flower gold we were looking for record size nuggets.... Surely there was no humans there, so we were surprised to find a shotgun shell..... And that's when I started to understand. The GPZ was trying to teach me a lesson, it was trying to teach me it's secret language. The language of gold. What were these mysterious werebels. Intense deep low sound to high... There must be a pattern to this madness and I think I'm starting to recognize it. Which is a very important step. Learning that secret language is what will allow me to truly enter the famed eldorado..... Also, numerous questions arised. I know it might be wrong to turn my sensitivity all the way up to 30. Even less than that, 20 might be wrong. Was I too over eager? I disabled this sound smoothing. I want to hear all the sounds. I turned off the ground locate, that seemed like another filter. Perhaps I'll leave it on later. Is this normal or difficulty land? It's definitely not salty. And I've had harder things in life so it seems to me this was normal ground. Auto ground balance semi-auto ground balance I'm not really sure about yet so much to learn... So we moved down the river of gold. It's suddenly dawned on us, sunlight is running out. My wife was very eager because she's all about pointing out every Creek and every ravine in every mountain and every field is we drive by screaming gold gold gold.. so I knew she was excited.. when we hit what I said would be the last Target. In all actuality, with the never-ending go big or go home gold motivation, we probably should have already left. Beings we didn't have any lighters, or torches... Electric or fire.. But when you're on the gold... Time suddenly stops. Well it almost stopped... I reached into my magic bag to see if I could find the next Target faster and I pulled out my awesome Fisher pinpointer which I think is more complicated than any pinpointer ever created. But it's pretty cool.. The problem is, I think when I turn it on, it must send out some kind of wave that disrupts all gpzs within a 3,000 mi radius.. So reluctantly, I turned off the GPZ. With great sadness. Wow I forgot how much easier it is to use a pin pointer then scoop after scoop after scoop after scoop after scoop after scoop like cleaning the world's largest cat box ... I'm going to have to go home, and do hours and hours of research as if I'm getting a special degree in figure out how to make my Fisher pinpointer work on a different channel than the GPZ . If anybody's still reading this long saga and knows how to make a Fisher pen pointer not cause interference with the GPZ that's great. I'm guessing I'll have to redo the silence detection dance with the GPS with the pinpointer on in the future to make them work together. I don't know if the pinpointer changes its channel every time it's activated... Anyways back to the adventure. The pinpointer allowed me to quickly find underneath the root behind The Rock in the perfect position for the largest nugget of Nevada, a fantastically weathered rusted shotgun shell.... Realizing, everything must be changed, switching from gold to survival mode, if we do not reach the bottom of the ravine before darkness settled, it was going to be a pain in the ass kind of night. Gold, treasure.... So many different kinds of valuables. Endless cat scoops of joy, wind, sleet, and if fort Knox full of golden nuggets.. And even the luck that we made it to the bottom of the ravine before darkness settled. Loading the equipment into the car, we ran into a local and inquired about the history of those Hills. We were told that once they were open to four wheelers and there's some cars that are lost in The ravines... Most of the area there were old Basque people who made their living selling vegetables and stuff to the settlers and 49ers. We heard that those mines were golden copper, although we could not find the entrance to any. even after looking on Google Earth when I returned home I couldn't find the entrance to any of the mines. Strange. Well you might be thinking if you speak German" alles fur nicht" or all for nothing. If I said I just enjoyed the hike in the nature that would be selfish and sidetracked. The reality is the GPZ is going to be the future of our family and the security for my children. There were nuggets found on this trip. Learning the sound of the GPZ, getting some time behind the handle.... I will spend every day like all the others in here and behind that YouTube screen watching and preparing for the next trip. I know I have to go do some work... Some other work... But in the back of my mind, I've got another fully charged battery and it sure would be nice to go back to that Creek that we passed. It's right next to my house... The hardest thing is going to be to not go out for a couple days. Pay some bills. Get that rooftop tent, and Kevlar AT tires.... Then get back out there. You know I'm an Uber driver by profession after 18 years or so of teaching, which is pretty awesome. That means every single place I go I can stop outside my office with the detector.... Until the detector becomes the office. We have some great plans with our rooftop tent if we could get it, to drive up and down in Mexico Arizona Nevada Montana, Alaska... Delivering Uber eats a little bit, and detecting a lot. We need to pick up a gold monster 1000, drywash, sluice and Jeff Williams secret decoder ring. with all the old timer documentary videos on Amazon prime, youtube, in collection of old books found discarded in the Goodwill, I can tell you one thing. Gold fever is a hell of a drug. if anybody ever has any information of good places around Reno post them if you got them 🙂 I look forward to joining the prospector club and learning from all those around. I don't understand how people care about things like NFL football when there's other things like gold and underneath your feet everywhere you walk... It's way too hard to add pictures one by one to this forum so here's a link to our album. https://photos.app.goo.gl/s5AwNp4pHAwF16iv5

Does anyone know how to make coils for GPZ detectors? Or is anyone aware of companies that make coils for minelab detectors???

'ello, 'ello, 'ello, what's all this then? https://www.nuggetfinder.com.au Wonder how the dongle is done?

For the last few times out, I haven't been able to balance the 7000 using the ferrite. The detector continues to sound off as I wave the coil over it (with the q.t. button held in).I haven't had that problem before. The detector seemed to be just as sensitive but I am wondering if there is a solution to it not balancing. (I did read through back posts and the only thing I found was a suggestion by JP that after turning the unit on and tuning satisfactorily, turn the unit off. Then turn it on again, tune and continue on to balancing with the ferrite. - I haven't tried that yet)

U.S. dealers are including the 19” coil free with GPZ 7000 purchases for a limited time. I’m not sure if this is being offered in Australia.

This is welcome news to me and GPZ 7000 owners. Can't wait to find out more information on this. Hopefully 40% lighter and less expensive. 😝 https://www.nuggetfinder.com.au/

Hello all I'm just wondering if anybody has taken a GPZ 7000 battery and replaced the (I'm guessing 18650??) cells? I have two battery packs both out of warranty and have some time on my hands at home due to bloody Rona. Stay safe Cheers BBB

GPZ 7000 Software Update 2 Get increased performance from your GPZ detector! Minelab is pleased to announce the second software update to our GPZ 7000 detector. This FREE update incorporates a new Ground Smoothing function, a Semi-Auto ground balance setting and Chinese/Mongolian language options. This update is currently NOT COMPATIBLE with XChange 2 - see notes below. Ground Smoothing This function implements selectable noise filters that help deal with difficult ground, especially conductive soils. The new Ground Smoothing options provide several advantages: Reduces noise effects of salty soils Allows detecting in previously ‘off-limits’ locations Achieves maximum depth with both coils Maximises your ground coverage efficiency “With the Locate Patch setting, it is now possible to use Normal Ground Type in very ‘hot’ laterite soil… this is exciting!” Field Tester 1 – Kalgoorlie, WA Semi-Auto This update adds a Semi-Auto option to the Ground Balance Mode. Semi‑Auto gives you these great benefits: Additional control and flexibility for expert users Improved ground balance stability Another option to deal with tricky detecting conditions A specialist tool for expert prospectors “In Semi-Auto mode the GPZ is noticeably quieter over the ground in all modes but especially in Normal Ground Type modes.” Field Tester 3 – Clermont, QLD For further details refer to the brochure here You can download the software here Read the Treasure Talk blog about Ground Smoothing here Firmware Installation Guide Important Notes: 1) Both the GPZ control box under the detector armrest AND the GPZ control pod user interface on top of the handle must be connected together and updated as a pair at the same time. Therefore, if sending your detector to a dealer or service centre, to carry out this update, do not send the control box alone. 2) This update is currently NOT COMPATIBLE with XChange 2 and therefore will make XChange 2 inoperable with the GPZ 7000 detector. Transfer and save Geotrails or Findpoints from your GPZ to XChange 2 before doing the upgrade. A new compatible version of XChange 2 will be available within the next few months, at which time full compatibility will be restored. Any data you have stored on XChange 2 will not be lost when you carry out the GPZ update and when this new version of XChange 2 becomes available. 3) When installing this upgrade, the detector will need to have the universal settings re-selected (e.g. language, weight) and the wireless module re-connected. Basics - click for larger views:

So my gpz turned up on Friday and I'm super loving it and my 10"x-coil should be here Wednesday, as soon as I got it out the box I grabbed my we test gold ranging from 0.025 to 1.71 gram and shot out to my we test area that happens to be gravel pit in known gold area.. I found for my area in NZ I was geting the best depth and response on general and high yield with audio smoothing off.. I had a play with the ferrite ring with ground balancing then factory reset and ground balance with no ferrite ring.. So my question is does the ferrite ring gb affect depth and sensitivity at all in low to medium ground. What I noticed was our soil and were I hunt in creek beds you hit pockets of high black sand then less etc. I didn't realy notice any difference in performance but I do think that the ferrite gb did run quieter in the ground over all. Does anyone have any tests or input on ferrite balancing vs no ferrite? I plan to get out this weekend for my first hunt with the 10 xcoil all going to plan. So will be sure to put up a link for the YouTube video when made and my finds if any lol I'm checking out new spot

Hi guys So I have my eye on a gpz 7000 here in nz for sale it's a good price 6500 nzd with 3 battery's and few other extras looks in good condition coil still has original skid plate.. My question is does anyone know the expected life of gpz is buying a 5 year old Machine worth it? Or do I spend extra 3k to get brand new.. Has anyone had any issues on there early model ones through age etc.. Thought I'd just see people opinions before handing over any money etc

Hello! I am somewhat new to metal detecting. I live around the Waco Texas area and Have a creek that runs behind my house that is a deep run off with caliche, quarts veins and lots of iron and pyrite. Have not found any gold yet. Any suggestions. I have a new gpz 7000 that still gives a lot of ground noise which may be due to all the iron????? That may be part of problems. Any suggestions would be helpful : )

I've been trying for a while to get one from my dealer.I called minelab myself. They are backordered. For as good as your detectors are. Other little things you really SUCK at. WTF Minelab. Get me a ferrite ring and make me happy. You spend 10 K on a detector, but can't get a 10 dollar ring.

A common subject that has come up recently with all the coil discussions is X signal and what it portrays. This thread is to put some clarity on what X means to the GPZ 7000 end user and why you should use your Ferrite. When the 7000 was released its software was designed to automatically calibrate for a component in the ground called X signal, there is no need for me to go into the scientific aspects of what X is and nor am I qualified to do so however, in the case of the GPZ, it is NECESSARY that the Ferrite be used and operators, no matter what or where the ground is they are working, should make it part of their daily detecting regime even if they can’t discern or understand the need for it. The GPZ has the ability to ‘balance’ out X signals, to do this you need to activate the Quick-Trak button on the front of the handle. When you press the button you are also activating the regular ground balance that any high end gold specific metal detector uses, initially when the button is triggered tracking is forced or sped up briefly, this also means the GPZ 7000 is doing two things at once when the QT button is triggered. On the first release software the Auto Ground Balance mode was trying to actively cancel out X signals as well as G signals running in parallel with each other, to some extent the G balance will also try to balance out some X signal if the X signal is loud enough but overall the detector requires X balance to cancel out X signals effectively. The issue with the release software was the X balance was too lively and was being too easily dragged away from accuracy by Salt signals and Saturation signals of which WA and Victoria are well know for (most gold fields suffer from these signals). Minelab then released the Ferrite to help operators to let the detector ‘SEE’ what X signal really was in Salty and Saturable ground, during the release WA and Victoria had suffered a long and extended rain event so the ground was water logged, Salt is conductive so therefore is exacerbated by moisture. Because of the water logged ground during this time it caused lots of early complaints from GPZ users. Not long after this Minelab also developed a software update to slow the Ferrite balance down so it would not be so readily dragged away by those pesky signals, this helped a lot but I was still advocating using the GPZ in Fixed GB mode. At a later stage another software release was provided that allowed the user to use a SEMI AUTO mode where once the Ferrite Balance was completed the X balance would be FIXED whilst allowing the G balance to continue to actively track the regular ground balance, this is my preferred and advised mode. X signal in the ground is not like G signal, it is in varying subtle degrees but is not as VARIABLE as regular ground G signal, the reason a GPZ makes a signal on X is because since the last calibration the temperature of the electronics has shifted or if in Auto GB mode other signals in the ground have confused or altered the X balance calibration. The only real way to tell if your calibration is OUT or WRONG is to use the Ferrite to confirm if this is so, which is why it is so vital you make it part of your daily routine. NOISE: Noise is any sort of audio signal that should not be there, noise competes with targets plain and simple. The less noise you have the more obvious targets will sound and the deeper your detector will run or more accurately the deeper you’ll be able to discern a target (assuming you are also using the optimised Ground type and Gold modes for the ground you are searching and the size of nuggets targeted), all targets under the coil are being energised by the Tx evenly at all times relative to coil position, however user choice of settings, calibrations and coil control have a huge impact on the outcome. If the ferrite balance is out then a signal off any X in the ground is going to join the audio and potentially compete with you being able to discern a target signal. X SIGNALS and X COILS The GPZ 7000 is a very versatile metal detector, if can be used even if the Ferrite calibration is WAY OFF as is evidenced by users who refuse to update their detectors or who refuse to use the Ferrite (or both), or if users are using X coils that make a signal on the Ferrite regardless of doing a Ferrite balance. I am a purist so will always check my Ferrite balance because even 0.1% less noise in the audio is an advantage in my opinion. The X coils do actually balance out the Ferrite over the receive winding part of the coil (not as cleanly as a ML coil but acceptable), but they do manifest a LOUD signal in another location that any savvy X coil user will soon identify unless a mod is done during manufacture (I am unsure of coils made in the last month or so but it is easy to tell). The manufacturer was unwilling to do the mod due to feedback from customers not complaining, the resistance was based around the mod adding a lot of weight to the coil (gets the coils up into Minelab coil weight territory, isn’t that interesting?). I am unsure how he went about removing the Ferrite signal or the mod required to do so and am not at liberty to discuss why a ferrite signal happens in the first place. The reason I was pushing so hard for the mod was to try and get the X coils across the line for PERFORMANCE parity with ML coils in the hopes of accessing the dongle, the X coils showed potential but needed to be refined, in the end the current option was decided upon and I was no longer needed. As it currently stands any coil that makes a noise on the Ferrite (especially a LOUD noise) will by default make an unacceptable signal off X signal in the ground, operators will not really notice this signal as it will blend in with general ground noise responses, believe me it is there and it is COSTING you depth!! I do not use the X coils in Clermont because of these main reasons, our ground is saturable and the X coils saturate much more readily than the Minelab coils, most of my coils have the mod so X signal is not such a problem but a couple of them do not so they don’t get used either, with the larger coils I always use GENERAL/DIFFICULT and every X coil I have used makes touch and knock noises, some are acceptable (The Spiral wound ones seem best) but in most cases General/Difficult is out thereby negating the advantage of using a larger coil for larger deeper nuggets. To fully appreciate the differences in the coils I am going to include the settings I use so GPZ operators can benchmark what I am experiencing with their own settings. SETTINGS Audio Smoothing: OFF Ground Smoothing: OFF Sensitivity: 9 Threshold: 27 Gold Type: HIGH YIELD (To experience Knock and rub noise use GENERAL/DIFFICULT) Ground Type: DIFFICULT Volume: 6 to 8 for Headphones (either through a B&Z booster or GPZ direct), 12 for WM12 Ground Balance: SEMI-AUTO Conclusions and Suggestions: At no stage have I said the X coils are unusable just user beware. In quiet ground they should be OK and in variable ground, like I operate in here, they are usable but twitchy. I have found gold with them but choose not to use them full time in my areas due to the above issues and my being fussy about noise. I did during supervised testing (under duress I might add for the very reasons that have been borne out online) find gold in ground I frequent, I expressed that I was impressed that I was able to find gold with them in such a flogged area and that they showed potential which was borne out by my continued involvement till I was no longer needed. I have since been back to that area with customers on training and as always have found gold over the same ground as is typical of Clermont thanks to its high variablity ground. My favourite X coils are the flat wound ones because they seem to handle our ground better and have less touch sensitivity, however they are a LOT heavier. In essence they are what they are and did not meet required standards to be officially recognised, which is a shame because I too desperately want to see more coil options for the GPZ. JP X Coil 2021 News

Has anyone else had this happen? I was using the same settings I use in this area I go to. My tuning process was the same, but the last time I tuned, the ferrite wouldn't balance out. The detector still worked great but I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't balance the ferrite out. Should I have done a factory reset or something and just put in all the settings again? Suggestions? Thanks.

This poll is designed to see who is currently using either the Minelab SDC or GPZ detectors with a component of identifying anyone who actively uses both. (I hypothesize there may be a selection bias in this forum in favor of more detectorists who use the GPZ even though sales of the SDC are much higher.)

An add for the lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement prospector. MWF Gold Radar Long Range Metal Detector - Professional Gold Finder and Deep Seeking Geolocation Tracker - Premium Treasure Hunting by MWF Metal Detectors EXPLORE ANYWHERE: High end professional metal detector that gives you the power to search over multiple terrains. Using superior geolocation technology detect far more then before with the dual functions deep seeking and long-range target locating. GOLD FINDER: Unmatched in gold hunting capability! This detector is designed to accurately locate everything made of gold, like coins & jewelry to older relics and larger treasures. The ability of the Long Range Gold Line is 50 meters deep and 100 meters distance. IONIAN AND RADAR DETECTION SYSTEM: High quality and accurate performance, product manufacturing with the best electronic components and circuits up to international standards. works on a built radar detection system, to detecting and searching for radioactive ionization of the gold buried underground. MANUFACTURER WARRANTY: Guaranteed manufacturer’s warranty on all products. Detector Power is also proud to offer a hassle-free 15-day return policy. NOTICE - Bank authorization may be necessary prior to purchase to prevent order cancellation. Please confirm with bank prior to purchase to avoid order delays. New (1) from $6,999.00 Professional Gold Finders only 🤩.