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Just my 10 cents worth on after market coils. I know this thread was about the coils for the 2300 but someone mentioned the Russian coils for the Zed. I made a small mention last week about me taking delivery of three of their coils. The 10 x 9, 12" round spiral wound & the 15 X 14. Last weekend with Simon I got skunked with the 10 X 9. I had great intentions of trialing all three this weekend but got off to a good start with the 15 X 14 & just stuck with it. Actually it is my 2nd outing with the 15 X 14 & it is proving to me to be doing a very good job on ground I have pounded to death with the Zed & the minelab 14" coil that had stopped producing gold finds. I will do a more in depth post later but just to show you how well this 15 X 14 Russian X coil did for me on ground that was no longer coughing up gold with the ML 14" coil. The depth were staggering. I bang on about how blown away I still am after 2.5 years of swinging the Zed & the ML 14" coil but this 15 X 14 coil is next level. It runs quite a bit more sensitive so I am putting up with a bit more ratyness. I tried to stay in my usual settings of High Yield/Normal & sensitivity up at 18-19. We had quite a bit of heavy rain the other day which made for much easier digging but it livened up the ground a bit. So wasn't able to handle the ratyness all the time. I have got into a good understanding of my Zed running in these high end settings I am pretty good though at dealing with it but it can get fatiguing with all that commotion & reading & deciphering the signals in between it all. But it pays off. 3.3 grams at a good 14 inches. My biggest for ages. Some of the small ones were at around 4-5 inches. & 2 were just .06 of a gram. So small for that big coil at that depth. I think so any way. Total of 12 for 5.5 grams I am loving this coil. It has changed the face of my detecting for me on old flogged Zed ground. Ye Ha. Bring it on. Good luck out there JW

So I titled this as such because when it gets especially hot (here in Arizona) I start my hunts at midnight and go thru until the morning until about 8am. For me, this offers multiple benefits. There is more time with the family on weekends, which for me is #1; I cherish this more than gold. And secondly, if it is hot out, I cannot keep my ground balanced, as some put it. When it starts getting hot, I would tend not to look as hard and rush through areas. Anyways, back to the gold. I was in a wash last week when I ran into some pretty good gold. I found 11 small pcs adding up to almost 4 grams. Now, for my night hunts, I won’t go every weekend, I usually skip 1 or two so that I get my sleep cycle working again. But then there is Mother’s Day coming up and so my wife briefly mentioned that I should go this weekend, too. An hour later I am charging batteries. She walks by and says, “wow, you really have the fever don’t you”. I just laughed. She knows me. She has seen me prospecting for 5 years and put up with it for 5 years. One of the best decisions I made was marrying her. I explain all of this because it was nice to come home and show her the source of the fever. So I went back to this area with my GPZ and started walking through more washes I had marked out on my gps. Nothing for the first one, but the second one, I got a nice strangely shaped 2.75 grammer. Now, I can kinda see a patten on my gps when I look at my finds. I finish the wash and go to a wash that is in the direction of the gold distribution. Good topography … I am in. First couple of minutes of slow hunting in this wash yields, nothing. And then I start focusing on a bench that is maybe a foot higher than the rest of the wash… and I get a signal. A clear, still loud, but smooth signal. My heart jumps as I begin to dig. The dirt just fell away until 15-16” I hit gravel. By now the target was booming. I scrape the gavel back with my pick and I see a large piece of gold flip out! It replays in my mind over and over. Needless to say, you may have heard my scream at 2:15 in the morning (Arizona time). LOL. From there the gold kept coming. I got a couple more pieces farther up the wash and then came back and placered the area for a couple more little ones missed by depth. Wide range of sizes. THAT is why I love the GPZ. And it was nice to see my wifes face change to a smile when she felt the .86oz chunk fall into her hand. Priceless. All in all, my findings came to just over 1oz. Who needs sleep ... Andyy

Hi guys, After the Saturday's success with the X coil 10 x 9 I was keen to try a spot local to me that I have hammered over the years. The last time there with Simon I managed a few bits with the Zed & 14" ML coil. I was keen to target schist bedrock crevices that were a bit beyond the ML 14" coil in the way of it being on the steep drop off face of a tailing race & the nature of the schist crevices to poke the coil into. Bring on the X coil 10 x 9. I ended up E-Biking in to the spot. I started off detecting the easier ground on top of a bedrock schist up lift. Detecting the shallow gravels but was just getting heaps of shot gun pellets. Having had enough of that I went over to the drop off side that was the wall face down into the old timers tailings race. Got a very good hit on a small shelf. Right under where the coil is. No way was this going to be gold. But I gave a scrape that was virtually straight on bedrock. Can you see it? Well I'll be damned No wonder it screamed. I then just shook my head. How the hell did I miss that over the years. GP 3000 & 4500 with the little joey mono & 6" mono. GB2, GM 1000???? Only human I suppose. Oh well....Next As you will see by the photo's this is not easy detecting ground. On another little shelf I got a whisper of a signal In the above pic you will notice older broken out bits of schist from an old dig of mine above the coil. This was from back with the GP 3000 & joey mono coil. On this occasion I got the whisper from that freshly scraped crevice the coil is sitting on. How bloody small is that? Unbelievable.. that's high frequency VLF stuff...but down a good 2" for that coil. Next Further along that shelf & balancing on a knife edge. Another sweet little hit among the schist nooks & crannies. Another little slug Here are a few pics of the surrounding area & looking back on this schist face I am detecting. Autumn (fall) as you can see by the colour of the trees. Even a nice little waterfall. Have always meant to have a scratch at its base & put some material down a sluice box Note the Zed balanced top center Then another signal It was starting to get dark so this was going to be my last one as I had to ride back out. Gosh...having to smash out that block of schist very carefully so as to not send the target flying. Got that down to a fine art over the years in these type situations. Lucky last. Nice wee piece to finish on Making 4 little bits for a total of .84 grams. That total was not as much as my biggest bit of .85 grams from the day before. The smallest bit was just .02 of a gram. Loving this coil & the very reason we all wanted a smaller coil for the Zed in these situations. Come on Minelab......it can be done. Just waiting on Simon to rock up & we are out there....again 👍 Cheers Best of luck out there JW 🤠

Hi guys, Simon & I ventured back to the spot where I got my first gold with the X coil 10 x 9. I was very keen to try the 15 x 14 coil on it to see if there was anything at more depth. We got chased out by rain on our last time in there, so had unfinished ground to go over. Ground I have been over in the past with my GP 3000 & 4500 & with the Zed & ML 14" coil. I left the 10 x 9 coil on as we had had some rain during the week & the ground was still holding moisture & I am a firm believer that damp ground gives me an edge with my detecting. So I went back over the same ground where I found my gold last time. High Yield/Normal. Sensitivity on 19. Coil running as quiet as a mouse. I approached it all in the same ground covering order of the time before. Nothing initially. I then came to that drop off edge that I spoke of before & waving the coil over the end that had some exposed schist bedrock I got a very very faint blemish in the threshold. More one of those hunch type signals that could very well have been nothing as it wasn't always there. I certainly wasn't convinced but something nagged at me give it a scrape. Ended up opening a few crevices as the signal improved. Finally it was out. Moving along this bedrock a bit further, another very faint signal. Scraping the bedrock the signal moved. Small gold Same run of bedrock, another signal Another bit of gold Getting into a bit deeper ground off the edge of this bedrock I got another faint hit. Getting down into & smashing out the bedrock before the signal moved. You can judge from the photos the depth for these small bits of gold. Then things dried up for a while. I covered all that slope that I did well on the saturday before. Nothing more. I was going to try the 15 x 14 on this area after lunch but in the mean time I just carried on detecting ground that I didn't get to last saturday. Again targeting bedrock. I got a good little hit Another small bit of gold. Another wee hit, down to bedrock Another small bit of the good stuff I then wandered onto some deeper ground & got a very loud hit. Thinking it was just going to be shallow rubbish but the signal lived on down to a reasonable depth when suddenly it was out. no bedrock so I feared the worst. But Wooo hooo Ended up getting 5 pieces out of this little glory hole. Decided at this pint to stop for a late lunch. So downed tools & headed to the wagon. Simon off in the distance saw my move, so we met up back at the wagon. Exchanged the usual "How did you do". Nothing Simon said, how about you. Not sure...lost count. WHAT...he said. So I tipped out my bottle & counted out 12 pieces. I felt bad for Simon. As he sure puts in the effort. After lunch he headed back to his spot & I back to mine. Still with the 10 x 9 coil on I got another hit. Another bit of gold. I think that was the thumbs up one that Simon put a photo up of. Two feet away another...but got no pic of that one. At this point I decided to put on the 15 x 14 X coil & go back over all the ground from the previous saturday. Long story short. Not one more piece of gold. I then noticed Simon was working his way over towards me so when he arrived I went over to where he had been. Not 5 minutes into it I got a good signal. I could see many digs & scrapes from Simon but this signal lived on down to a good depth. Signal still there. On to bedrock & it was still there. I was feeling pretty confident now. Scraping the bedrock the signal moved. I didnt even bother with the magnet as I was so sure it was going to be gold. WHAT...a bloody big old rusty boot tack. Couldn't believe it. Back filled my crater & moved on two feet & got the same kind of signal. Again I was down to some depth & even hit the bedrock again. Not getting my hopes up this time I waved the magnet over the bottom of the hole. nothing lept up on to it. So I carried on smashing into the bedrock. Peeling it out I could see a couple of crevices developing. Hooking the pick into that one in front of the scoop & racking it out the signal was out. Well I will be buggered. Biggest bit of the day .85 of a gram for the 15 x 14 X coil. That was the one & only bit on this day for that coil. Nothing more. We were stuffed so called it a day. Simon again got a skunk. Poor bugger. My total was 15 for 3.55 grams Got to be happy with that.👍 Love, love loving these coils. Cheers Best of luck out there JW 🤠

Okay, this may be a seriously dumb question but if you don't ask you won't learn. This is a quote from the original MineLab release describing the audio response on the 7000: "For example, the audio response for small gold will be a low-pitched tone followed by a high-pitched tone. A ferrous signal such as a bottle cap will produce a high-pitched tone followed by a low-pitched one, enabling the user to discriminate the ferrous target." Have you GPZ owners found that smaller gold does indeed signal with "a low-pitched tone followed by a high-pitched tone?" Thank you for any info. you can provide from direct experience.

Hi guys, last Saturday Simon & I were going to head to a spot that Simon has been to quite a few times now, but on hearing the weather forecast was for rain in the afternoon I decided to not go that far. I was scratching my head as to where to go. I then decided to take Simon to an area he hadn't been to before & I hadn't been for ages as it had dried up on the gold take for me. I did well there back in my GP 3000 days & the 4500. Even managed a few more when I hit it with the Zed & 14" coil but even the Zed had come stop producing. I wanted to try the X coil 10 x 9 & break my skunks that I had been having with it on the two previous times I used it. We got there & Simon elected to start with his EQ 800 & 6" coil. I the Zed & the X coil 10 x 9. I had broken my swing arm & the area had a steep bank that I was very keen to run the coil over as I had done well here in the past. I knew it would be very difficult detecting with the 15 x 14 coil without the swing arm working this steep bank. The 10 x 9 was effortless. It looked so strange seeing this small coil on the end of the Zed. There was quite a bit of grass growth on the top area above the steep bank, but this is where I started, working my way towards the drop off down the bank. I was getting heaps of green schist hot rocks & so was Simon. I was slowly going over areas where I had got gold previously. Tell tale dig holes from those times that the rabbits had dug back out again. Running in High Yield/Normal. Sensitivity on 19 the coil was running very stable. I was getting nothing but these green schist hot rocks. I worked my way towards the top edge of the bank drop off. The old timers had ground sluiced the top flat area & had stacked a few rock piles but the shallow bedrock gave me no gold. On the edge of the bank I came across an old dig hole & I got a faint signal from it. MMMmmm...had someone got a bit of rubbish & just thrown it back in the hole? I scraped into the old dig hole & the signal was still in there. got a bit more aggressive with the dig pulling out rotten schist bedrock now & the signal was still in there. My hopes now increased ten fold. My very first bit of gold for the X coil 10 x 9. 👍 Not four feet away I got another faint little hit. Small piece of gold No 2 I worked my way along this top edge but that was it. So I started detecting down the bank. It wasn't long before I had another little hit. Piece No 3 This just continued along this bank. Biggest bit of the day Got two from this dig when I re checked after back filling Tiny The bank is steeper than it looks in the photo. Especially when you are digging & trying to stop the detector from sliding off down plus maintaining your footing. Note the rock pile from the old timers. If you look hard you will see Simon's head at the left end of the pile. The rain then came in so we made a hasty exit. Unfinished business. Unfortunately Simon got skunked. Even when he went back to get his 4500 & 14 x 9 Evo coil. All up 9 bits for 1.52 grams. I was more than happy with that & a good way to break the skunk on the X coil 10 x 9. Third time lucky.👍 Cheers Good luck out there JW 🤠

My second outing with the zed I tried the factory presets except I used semi-auto ground balance and ground smoothing off. Tried those settings on a patch I've pulled many different nuggets out of over the last year. (4.5 ounces) The zed didn't get any more targets using those settings. I then proceeded to increase the sensitivity up a fair bit but still no luck. I tried many settings/timings but alas no more gold with the zed on this patch. As a last ditch resort to try and justify my purchase of the zed after a 3.5-year wait, I cranked the zed up to the most aggressive settings I could get away with hoping to find something that my 4500 had missed. The settings were... Extra Deep, Normal, sensitivity 20, threshold pitch 33, Locate patch, audio smoothing high. (also used steelphase booster with filter 3 to quite it down even more) (ferrite balance etc) I was pleasantly surprised at how well the zed handled the ground using these settings compared to the gpx when running flat out. Hardly any hot rocks compared to the gpx. Unfortunately after a day of trying this and many settings and thoroughly going over small patches of ground that the 4500 had success on the zed found nothing. My conclusion is one of three things. 1. I don't know what I'm doing. Although surely it's pretty foolproof using the zed in factory settings with a controlled coil swing and the coil slightly off the ground. or 2. Hitting my patch over the last year with the 4500 in Normal and Sharp timings with gain at 15 has done the job. Id previously used enhance with a high gain and done ok. But once i cranked it up in Normal there was still gold left that enhance couldn't hear. It makes me wonder if folk who say that they got gold in past patches with the zed ever bothered to max out the gpx on their patches first. or 3. The gold was fairly shallow (350mm was the deepest bit found) and all within the range of the gpx so no chance for the zed to prove its worth. I was a little disappointed with the zed if I am honest but will give it time and look forward to seeing some kind of advantage over the 4500 that I hear about from others who have had 4500/5000 and now swing the 7000. The thing that I didn't like is that it's advised to keep the coil slightly off the ground. I'm a scrubber and like to use the coiltek Elites to push branches/leaves out of the way in an attempt to get right up close to the ground. Sort of defeats the purpose if you ask me to be swinging 3cm off the ground.

Who could help me. my GPZ 7000 works fine, but sometimes I can not turn it off. I keep the button pressed and it display ( turning off), but it will never go off. I used that remove the battery of the detector to get it off.

I`m sure some will remember when the 7000 first came out I was not a big fan of it, but here it is 4 and a bit years later it`s obvious to me the fault was with the operator, not the detector. Just lately I`ve lifted my game again with the 7000, I`ve cranked the gain a bit and cut target volume down to almost nothing and I now always work very slow, and it amazes me some of the pieces I am now getting at depth that I had previously missed. This is not a big piece by any stretch of the imagination, but for the most part, I am detecting ground that in the last 40 years has seen literally thousands of detectors. This one was the tiniest break in the threshold and down about 6 or 7" in very hard ground. Hopefully there is a big bit waiting for me 🙂

My Z’s GPS will not connect to the satellites. I have left this on for days now for it to connect and did a factory reset and left in for a day. No luck. Anyone else have this problem and maybe a solution. Probably gonna be calling Minelab but my warrenty is just out of date.

It is unusual for a WM 12 to take over 24 hours to recharge? That is what I have recently been seeing when I recharge it after being out for about 6 hours of detecting. Does that mean the batteries need replacing? If so, how is that done? I will also take a look at the 7000 threads, but I don't remember seeing anything on this.

Several U.S. dealers are advertising a free GPZ 19 coil with GPZ 7000 purchases though 4/15. I have not been able to find this on the Minelab website so maybe U.S. only? So there is the forum "mission". Is this promotion good in Australia and the U.K. etc. or just something out of Minelab USA?

Hubby evens the Score! 😆Enjoy! Ig

Hello Friends 😁 Someone recommended me to start with a GPX 5000 for my Project. He said its not a big difference between a GPX 5000 and a GPZ 7000. So i have some questions, i hope you can help me. Is it true that the GPZ can measure about 40 Percent deeper comparing to a GPX ? Is the GPZ really so much better that its worth to pay a higher price? Which one of them would be easier to use for me, as a newbie? Is it smarter to start with a GPX or GPZ, what do you think? If i come in rainy wheather is it possible for the GPX to resist? Has he a IP64 code? What about to buy a used one? I read that the older GPZs works sometimes better than the new ones, is this true? Is the newest software ( 31/7/17 NEW SOFTWARE UPDATE ) really always the optimized one? Look here under the category FIND_BLOG, the same you can also find for the GPZ http://www.minersden.com.au/minelab-gpx-5000-metal-detector-11-in-mono-coil-bonus-15-mono-coil ! Are this just storys so that they sell the Detectors better or is this realistic? What do you think? What is the different about the GPZ 14 coil is fully waterproof to 1 m (3 ft) and GPZ 19 Super-D Coil? Is one of them going more deep, or is it more sesitive? What Coils do yu use with yur GPZ or GPX? Thanks a lot for your answers. For everybody who want to know more about my Project look here:

When you connect the zed up to install updated software does it tell you if you any updates have been previously installed? The machine I just brought has only been used a few times (3 years old) The chap I bought it off didn't know much about prospecting so I'm presuming no updates have been done.

We've all had our 7000s for a few years now. Much of the time we keep the same settings. I'm going back to areas where I've used my 7000 and other detectors and not finding the small gold or the deep gold that I see some of my friends finding. I haven't asked them recently about all of their settings. I'll ask the general question now. There is no RIGHT answer. Maybe we all can learn something that will let us find a few more nuggets in our worked out patches. During my most recent gold trip I set up my 7000 like this: HY, Normal, Sen 8-14, Volume 8, TH 26, TH Pitch 53, Volume Limit 13, Audio Smoothing varied, GB Manual, Ground Smoothing Off or Find Patch, BZ Booster Using these settings I've found 15-50g meteorites at 8 inches but no gold (maybe I didn't get over it). Hot rocks were manageable and few.

The 7000 has been out for 4 years now and my original WM12 is taking forever to charge. Somewhere on Steves forums is a parts list for the WM12 and I have no idea how to find it. Could somebody put up a link to the parts list please. Thanks. Dave

Here in the Desert Southwest the local plants respond more to rain than to growing seasons. It's still winter and the last 2 late season rains have caused the Desert to really green up. Areas that are normally barren have ft tall weeds sprouting up and it's giving my GPZ fits. For some reason the GPZ is really sparky when swinging through the fresh green growth. It's not just the first swing it's all swings until I scrape them down to the ground. They're spiking the threshold loud enough that it's near impossible to distinguish a target whisper in there. In the past the GPZ has given off something akin to a single static spark in fresh dead weeds on the first swing then dying off in further swings, but this is consistent, constant and downright annoying. It's only in the weeds, on open ground it's fine. No particular bump sensitivity, just those fresh green stalks. Is anybody else experiencing this, or is my machine acting up? Solutions? I sprayed some static guard on the coil cover, didn't help at all.

Hello all - Going back and reading some of Steve's Journal posts on the GPZ, has got me wondering if the GPZ would be the best bet for finding gold in my area (Virginia). I currently hunt with a GPX4800 but have yet to have success with it. I do extensive research and find areas that have produced large gold in the past, and i use lidar to figure out the vein trends that the old timers were working, and in a number of locations i find large course gold, and specimens dredging. But for the life of me, I have not been able to get a nugget with the GPX. When im out detecting i find plenty of buck, shot, bird shot, small pieces of old square nail and other things that tell me if there detectable gold for the gpx id hear it. I wonder if the thickness of leaf mat (1-2 inches) plus the thickness of topsoil (1-6 inches) is just putting the gold out of reach of the gpx, that plus the course nature of a lot of the gold in VA. Seeing what the GPZ is capable of in regards to detecting small gold at depth is what impresses me the most about it, and i think it is that ability that would give me the best chance of finding gold here in VA. The soil here ranges from mild to fairly hot. The biggest interference issue would probably come from EMI since civilization is never far from any location. Im interested in what everyone here thinks, especially people who have experience with the GPZ and conditions similar to mine. Thanks everyone!

Came across a post on Facebook, about this gentleman testing a few aftermarket coils. This really opened my eyes this morning. I was under the impression that the Minelab coils were chipped and no aftermarket coils could be used. If this was the case? Why did they wait so long? The smaller coil would suit my needs just perfectly. http://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t26022-gpz-18-coil-test-report

I am new here. Want to buy a GPZ 7000, but also want to wait until the next model of GPZ technology coming out. It would feel horrible to buy GPZ 7000, and new model come out in half a year. So does anyone know or hear anything about when new GPZ metal detector will come out? Thanks a great deal.

This year has not been going exactly as I imagined it would. My stated goal for the year was to set a new record for days in the field detecting. So far however, it has been anything but that. No complaint - I have been devoting myself to visiting family and other things that took precedence over prospecting. Weather has also been a bit dodgy this spring leading me to sit out things a little waiting for better conditions. What time I have had for prospecting has mainly been spent in northern Nevada. I am really taken with the desert and am very partial to the sagebrush and grassland country. It reminds me a lot of the time I spent in Australia with huge wide open spaces to wander. I enjoy the idea that gold can be found nearly anyplace, the exact opposite of Alaska, and I love just wandering from valley bottom to hill top because, well, you just never know. There is some old and interesting geology here that leaves nuggets in what might seem to be pretty unlikely locations. I did find one nice little patch that produced about half my gold this spring, but the rest were just strangely random isolated nuggets. I would find one and get all excited, then after several hours of methodically gridding the area wonder why that one nugget ended up there all alone. My largest nugget, at 3/4 oz, was just such a find. I wandered out of what looked to be the "good area" and just lucked into this nugget all by itself on a hillside far above the valley floor. Where did it come from? Why nothing else near it? I like to wander around freely but due to the nature of the gold deposits I am relying heavily on the GPZ 7000 map screen and GPS track to attack areas in chunks. I just start someplace and then use the GPS mapping screen to fill in all the pixels as completely as I am able in a given area. My goal is to completely hunt that area and then write it off forever as being hunted. Each hunt area is dumped to X-Change building my master map of hunted areas. I am approaching it much like building a jigsaw puzzle, each planned hunt taking in a segment and filling it completely. I still like to wander around a lot but the main focus is long term - the many years I have ahead of me hunting these areas. I could just do what I have always done and hunt piecemeal but I decided it is time to switch gears and get more methodical about things. I figure there is a lot of that random "scattered gold" out there and that a slower long term goal to gather it up is a major part of my plan going forward. Using GPS mapping is key to getting good coverage while eliminating the chance I might waste time hunting and rehunting the same locations over the years. The GPZ is also critical to this effort as I have great confidence in its ability to sniff out almost any gold that finds its way under the coil. Small gold, flat gold, wire gold, deep gold - the GPZ is my gold vacuum. All detectors miss gold, including the GPZ. But right now if I have to hunt an area once and once only, and have my best shot at finding what might be there, I do not know of a better option for me than the GPZ 7000. One detector, one coil, one pass over the ground ever - what are you going to use? If gold is found a person of course has the luxury of coming back with different coils and different detectors and trying to find gold missed before. The problem is finding that first nugget. If it does not get found, you just wander on, never knowing that maybe you just missed a great patch, for the lack of finding that first, most important nugget. I am convinced there are many undiscovered patches out there still. The patches with the big easy to find solid gold may be very rare now, but "weak" patches comprised of smaller, or deeper, and harder to find specimen type gold surely exist. They will be found by people hunting outside the commonly known popular areas. That is what I have been doing. Hunting locations where other prospectors are rarely if ever seen. I honestly think I have been a bit lucky as of late but the methodology is sound and it is what I will be doing for as long as I have left to swing a detector. I continue to follow the various posts around the world about the GPZ 7000 and people's experiences with it. Mine are pretty boring. I turn the machine on, maybe do a quick ground balance routine, and go detecting. I may not even go through the ground balance motions. I just turn it on and pick up from where I left off the previous day. I usually run in High Yield, Normal Ground, Gain of 12, Smoothing Off, Ground Tracking On. I leave most audio settings alone. The detector will often run noisy with these settings, especially in alkali locations. I may lower the threshold to 20 to knock out some excess noise, or just lower the overall volume level using my headphones. The GPZ lacks a master volume control that lowers all sounds at once, and so benefits from the use of an external booster with master volume control. The problem for me is that is one more battery operated gizmo, and so I often just use my headphones instead to gain the overall volume control I crave. I tend to run my detectors noisy but like it to be quiet/noisy not loud/noisy. When the ground responses get a bit much, as is the case with ground salt, I react more by slowing down and modifying my swing than changing detector settings. So far I would say about half the gold I found was pulled out of fairly high salt response ground with the attendant moaning/groaning or hee/haw responses the GPZ produces in that type of ground. That seems to be a show stopper for a lot of people but I don't pay much attention to it myself. I have this theory that killing those responses might kill my gold finding capability on this ground to a certain extent, as I know some of these locations have seen other detectors that ignored the salt. They also missed the gold. Coincidence? Maybe. I have plans for more experiments regarding this but have had a hard time tearing myself away from my limited detecting time to do more comparative tests. Later. Anyway, I have quietly picked up just over a couple ounces of gold with my GPZ 7000 so far this spring. The largest nugget is 3/4 oz and there are several other nice pieces I am very happy with. Nice solid, clean gold, my kind of stuff. An odd mix from very worn appearing to rough. I am unfortunately getting waylaid again with things I must attend to before I can go prospecting again and so I decided I may as well post this update now. It could be weeks before I get out prospecting again. Until then, here are some happy pictures to enjoy. 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