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Great Treasure Talk blog by Nenad Lonic at http://www.minelab.com/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/comparing-minelab-s-sdc-gpx-gpz-detectors comparing and contrasting the Minelab SDC 2300, GPX 5000, and GPZ 7000.

Purchased a GPX- 4500 package and an additional 12" round NF Evolution coil from Chris at AZO and took it for it's maiden run today. It was toasty in Central AZ today but I just had to give the new set up a go for a few hours. Not a bad first run... scored three little nugs. Totally HOT set up. Dean

Although no gold, I really enjoyed playing with my new GPX 5000 for a couple of hours. Not belonging to a club yet, I went to Lynx Creek just to get familiar with it in hot ground. Tried the Double D 11" coil to play with the discrimination feature. Set it at 3 and then 5 and still got a few rusty iron pieces but not many (Lynx creek is a very trashy area). I feel the discrimination worked really well for a PI. Had a great time, I am addicted to this machine and cant wait to join a club to go out in a more remote area. Here are a couple of photos of what I found. Many were just whispers when I began so I am sure the detector is working perfect just need to get it over some gold!

If you own a GPX I'm sure if you don't already have a battery back up you are probably wanting to get one. Well, that's where I am at. Problem is buying a 2nd battery is some 400 dollars or more. I know Doc's has the Screamer kit with the amp and a couple smaller batteries etc which don't sound bad but it's still over 400 dollars for the complete set up. There may be some other similar set ups as well, I don't know. I could see the option of buying the Screamer amp for 135, the little pouch that goes around the detector for 50 and another 50 for one battery cutting the cost a bit. But then you need a different charger for this battery so probably another 20 or so bucks. So with shipping your probably better than 250 for the set up. Some say the screamer amp is plastic and can get cracks in it easily? I'm assuming too the screamer has a built in regulator but I don't know. Anyone have experience with using the stock minelab set up VS the aftermarket one's?

Above is a quote from Jasong, from another thread that hits the nail on the head. Somewhat a forbidden topic on OZ forums, which I guess says a lot about social media. This matter has been touched on by others when speaking about the "new age" coils on the Xs in other threads. While I`m a confirmed and dedicated Z user, I recognise because I`ve experienced the ability of these coils and how they have closed the gap( in the field on undisturbed gold), plus in some cases exceeded the Zs ability. Saying that I`ve also experienced more cases where the Z exceeds the Xs ability. But it is interesting and really says it all about the dominance of ML, their only true competition to their latest serious gold detector is their model it replaced. This has been so for how many years? What are the other detector manufacturers doing? And why is it sort of "taboo" to post about this subject?

I was searching today for something online and came across this Utube video and thought this was a pretty smart way to put your Deep seeking PI detector to good use. In the video they use it to locate deep targets, mark them and go back over with an etrac to determine whether to dig or not.

HI just wondering if anyone as ever attempted to take a minelab GPX Series metal detector OFF of the shaft and mount it to a backpack frame? i havnt been able to find any images of a modified gpx......Does anybody know if minelab makes extension cables for the ground balance button? or who might be able to make one? Also does Nugget finder have extension cables available for their coils to make it longer? Thanks ahead of time...... just wondering if its doable....appreciate any input or recommendations! Cheers IG

I have a claim that has lots of very tall thick brush. Tired of getting caught on all the branches. So I ordered a Gold Screamer battery kit for my 4800. Since I am very protective of my GPX I thought I would ask for reviews from others before I used the Gold Screamer. Anyone have any problems using it with there GPX? Thanks in advance. Steve

Long time reader, first time post so be gentle. I just received an email this morning from Minelab that announces for the remainder of December they are bundling the GPX 4500 and the SDC 2300 for $3999, just $249 over the regular price of the SDC 2300 alone. I haven't found anything on the site that indicates what is included in the package (like possibly the Commander 15X12 Mono search coil in the current $2699 GPX 4500 package). I'm sure dealers will check in soon as to what is authorized. I purchased a GPX 4500 not long ago, or I would be all over this. In fact, at this price, I may purchase the package, and either keep the additional 4500 as a hot spare, or just sell it.

hi I am a begginer in gpx 5000 prospecting deep targets , I prefer to use coin/relic timings and use a double D 18" coil . What confuse me is ground balance , we have "fixed" and "tracking" in front of panel and also 3 option to choose by setting in GB type . Would you tell me what to choose to gain maximum depth? And is it possible to ground balance on a target and eliminate that size of target in prospecting? Thank you

Hi friends Let's share our maximum depth experience with GPX 5000. I had an detection of a tea spoon in about 2.5 feet with 18" DD and sharp timing.

There are some Ebay sellers right now that have a special on for a GPX 4800 PLUS the Eureka Gold for about $2700. I didn't see any 4800's in Steve's survey. Is that because not many people have them? Are they too close to the 5000 to make a distinction? Seems like Minelab is messing with the dealers who have the 4500 at a special price. I thought that was a great deal until this one came along.

G'day all, Been some time since I posted on this site and have followed the GPZ threads with interest and how it now compares to the GPX. In one particular thread I read the GPZ Audio Smoothing when set to its OFF position is similar to a Stabilizer setting of 20 on the GPX. Therefore my question is in relation to the GPZ Sensitive setting, which is like the Gain setting on the GPX, and since both detectors have their range between 1 and 20 would you say the GPZ Sensitive default 9 setting be the same as running a Gain of 9 on the GPX 5000?, Thanks in advance.

nice gold. just joined and wanting to find nuggets like that. finally found my first nugget recently with my gpx 5000

Bin lurking for a while and based on some of the info floating around like this thread http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1151-reintroduction-of-the-minelab-gpx-4500/, I bit on a used 4500. Will be using in Alaska so wondering if the mono coils will generally be what a person would be using. Comes with one double D and 6 mono's. Glad I can put the Zed out of my mind for a while. Appreciate all the experience that's being shared around here. Has saved a lot of miles.

I run a GPX 5000 and would like to know if there would be any noticeable difference on nuggets at depth of a gram or more with the 4500. Possible back up machine. Any info appreciated.

Just curious how it does on depth and sensitivity. Has anyone tested the Elite with some specimen type gold that the GPX misses but the 7000 screams on? Is anyone even running one over here? Most of the comments I see are in Australia. NF looks to also be coming out with a similar coil. I'm just curious how much and what sorts of improvements they give.

Just so we all don't give up on our GPX 's here is a 49 gram piece I found 2 feet down with my 4500. It was clear and loud and a nice low high tone. I also found a 1/2 ounce flat piece 20" down with the 20" N.F. coil in an old patch. The half ouncer I hardly heard, but decided to scrap off an inch, than another and so on until I was able to identify that it was a target. So to all the people who have not traded up to the ZED, have faith that with proper coils and skill you can clean up your patched pretty good with "old " technology.

It's back!! GPX4500 - brand new and at a bargain price. Now you can own the former top of the line for a great price. This and an SDC would set you back about half of what a GPZ costs. http://forums.nuggethunting.com/index.php?/topic/11573-minelab-gpx-4500-now-available-again-from-robs-detector-sales/

These images are copied over from the thread at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/818-relic-hunt-with-gpx-5000/ It is such a brilliant idea I just wanted to be sure it did not go unnoticed by people and so this thread highlights the idea. It would work well for other detectors - I have considered doing it with my Gold Bug 2. The only problem is the cost of the DEUS rod assembly, a ridiculous $264 at http://www.bigboyshobbies.net/full-xp-deus-rod-assembly

I did a search on this site but couldn't find the answer. I see from Minelab's "coil chart" that the Commander coils are interchangeable between the different series of P.I. detectors SD/GP/GPX (if I am understanding the chart correctly). Does this only apply to the Commander coils? Will a nugget finder coil that is in use now on a GP3500 be compatible with a GPX 5000 as well? Thanks. Dean

Have tested the GPX at an old site and picked up several pistol balls but this really was my first serious all day relic hunt with the GPX 5000, Got out for a day up in gold country, Wasn't planning on going just worked out unexpectedly getting together with a newbie in metal detecting from the area. In fact, I need to get Ray from Ca. and Lawernzo out there too hopefully soon time is against us with snakes and tall grass. With the Newbie, Had offered to help him with his detector in the future and if he was game for relic hunting lessons to give me a call, He calls me 2-3 days ago after getting permission from his wife and turns out yesterday (SAT) was perfect. So up the hill we go packed with our gear, Go over to the property owners home and introduce David to the owner. From there , Off we go into relic tertiary on the 1500 acre property. David did extremely well being his first time relic detecting, He scored four Chinese cache coins, Several pistol balls and his first powder flask top. At the time, I had picked up four cache coins too and a couple of broken pieces of Chinese coins, Several pistol balls and a few other interesting finds with the GPX 5000 using the 5"X10" DD commander coil. Before we new it was getting late, Long hike back to my pickup and as we were starting to leave he mentions let's stay longer. It's getting late and I remember finding another patch of ground 8-9 years ago from a brief sampling digging several square nails, So rather than stay and continue hunting mentioned to David of another site about 1 mile hike away and through a forest of trees was a meadow with great potential. We arrived at the meadow, Unpacked our gear and started to detect. Square nails everywhere great we're on the right ground, David is using a Whites V3 and I'm still swinging the GPX. Later, Switched over from the GPX after working the outer areas going to the Deus to work the inner area of the meadow laced with iron. When I say Laced with iron that's an understatement the inner area is thick with iron and rusted tin about 70-80% of digging was iron or rusted trash, But the new comer to relic detecting didn't care he was digging up gold rush era finds even if it was mostly iron. Somewhere between this mess of iron, got a clean signal and what popped out really surprised me. What looked like a quarter half dollar size coin was the prettiest target I've seen all day, new it was coin but what was it and based from the size it had to be foreign. From help of others on another forum, The coin is a 1793 King Louis XVI 12 Deniers France Coin 18mm and made of bronze my first bronze coin find in my career. Have to share the GPX is one dynamite PI, So glad to have made the investment it's one serious relic machine. Wanted to slap on the 11" DD but was having so much fun with the 5"X10" DD commander for this type of hunting it stayed on. Also, Have heard from several GPX users and even the manual states Coin/Relic mode will not work in mineralized soils. For some reason my 5000 has no problem it handles this poor dirt well in fact was running Gain pretty high normally between 14 to 20 Gain in Coin/Relic mode. Looking so forward to getting out more often with the GPX and my trusty ATX, Both are well worth the investment. An adventures day for sure, Got my first bronze coin in my career. HH, Paul (Ca)

I'm sure this has been asked but do the serial # stickers really need to stay on the coil and detector and the ant fraud silver sticker on the bottom? I'll cover them with something if need be but it seems they'd soon be destroyed if not covered. I noticed i took a good nick out of the silver one on the bottom today and scratched the one on the coil already yesterday. good reason to get the aussi cover i guess. AjR

Hearing positive stories from relic hunters using the later GPX series, Have a couple of questions one with using discrimination the other on a mono coil. Can some form of audio discrimination be heard with using no iron disc? I know increasing iron discrimination will disc out iron but if using no iron disc can a user still determine if the signal is iron or conductive in both mono or DD coil? With the Minelab 12" x 15" Semi-Elliptical Commander Monoloop Coil, Is it deeper than the same size 12"X15" Commander DD coil? and if so allot deeper or better with depth and sensitivity? Appreciate the help, Looks like the later GPX series would be great relic machines. Paul (Ca)

So I was out in the goldfields of California yesterday with Steve Herschbach and another friend who is a detector dealer. We did some quick tests comparing the 5000 and the GPZ on mossy, wiry gold that we had found previously. These were pieces from both Nevada and California. The smaller of the two nuggets shown in the attached photo weighs 3 grams and with an 11 inch mono set on maximum gain of 20, it was totally invisible to the 5000 - even when it was touching the coil. The detector made no response whatsoever. The GPZ on the other hand could see it at about 10 inches, and it was dug from a pounded patch that has seen many GPX detectors (including mine) at a depth of about 6 inches. The GPZ was set for difficult soil at only 12 sensitivity. So what is the performance improvement over the 5000 when one detector is blind to the piece and the other sees it at 10 inches? Mathematically speaking, it is an infinite improvement - a whole lot more than 40%. The larger of the two pieces pictured in this post weighs 18 grams and the 5000 could see it to a maximum of about 10 inches. The GPZ could see it at 20 inches, and it was dug with the GPZ at about 18 inches. Going from 10 inches to 20 inches is a 100% improvement - double the depth of detection and also a lot more than 40%. We also tested some specimen gold Steve had with similar results - the 5000 could not see the smaller specimens of a few grams size. Of course we all know that the 5000 performs very well with more solid nuggets and specimens. I have found lots of gold with my 5000, it is an excellent detector. However, the GPZ is a gigantic improvement over the 5000 when it comes to mossy, wiry, prickly, specimen and other similar forms of gold. Some may say there is not much of this type of gold out there. I would say in response, if most of us are using detectors that perform poorly on that type of gold, how does the fact that we don't find much prove that it doesn't exist? Truth is that there is loads of specimen gold out there and I think the GPZ will be finding a lot of it in the coming weeks and months. Geologically, many of the places where the nugget gold is truly deep are locations where the patch is sitting as a residual over a vein, and having a detector optimized for specimen gold would make very good sense. Some hard rock deposits tend to produce this type of gold. Smart prospectors with GPZ detectors will be using this knowledge to their best advantage. For me, I have been doing research to find places which produce this type of gold and I intend to be using the coming months to leverage this performance increase to the greatest extent.