Looking For Advice

[Swegin]

4 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

So the previous owner had a problem, sent it in for repair, and it came back with the same (maybe now hidden booby trap) problem which has since revealed itself as a bad circuit board.

Is there a warranty (more than the minimal 30 or 60 days) if you get the unit repaired?  If there is something else wrong with the detector (that hasn't been diagnosed) and it cooks another circuit board you aren't going to be happy (unless it's warranteed).

No it worked for years apparently, then died again so the guy sold it to the pawn shop without a battery which was pretty smart on his part.   I had to borrow a battery from a friend.  I knew what i was getting into kind of.  

 

4 hours ago, Joe D. said:

Gerry, of Gerrys detectors will be selling some used, traded in units soon, if not already! You can price those if looking for a deal! And get 15% off military discount to boot!

That is only good on new products not used.  

 

2 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I'm thinking this is not your first GPX.  Did you buy it to fix it and sell it?

What do you have now?

No I started with a 3500 then sold that during the Sudan gold rush then bought a used 3000 which I still have.  

I think I am just going to get it fixed.  

[afreakofnature]

“The poorman always pays twice”

[Calmark]

I'm in a similar situation with a GPX 5000 with extra coils I bought 3-4 years ago for close to $3,000.  It had no factory warranty left though it did have 60 days from the place I bought it.  Being relatively new to the platform I wasn't sure the random noises and occasional fits it made weren't more than EMI or something like bad ground patches, etc.  After about 6 months and dealing with increasing spurious noise problems I sent it in for a checkup and repair.

There wasn't much found to be wrong by the repair place other than straightening an internal switch pin and I thought maybe I was just being hyper sensitive or something.  But then my dad bought a brand new GPX5000 and it had none of the issues I was experiencing.  So I sent it back for another look since by then the problems had only become more frequent and more intense.  I was told after the second check up my GPX would need a new board at the cost of around $2800.  At that point I stopped taking it out due to how it became frustrating to impossible after the first 15 minutes to use.  I relied solely on my SDC 2300 for future hunts.  The SDC makes a great back up unit and kept me in the game.  ?

Missing the ability to cover more ground and use my 2 NF evo coils, I ended up buying a used GPX 4500 for $1500.  I figured that was about half the price of a repair of the 5000 and I'd be back in the game for cheaper.  My GPX 5000 has been sitting in the garage unused for a couple of years now and I've wondered what I can do with it like get a cheaper repair or sell it off for parts to recoup some of what I spent on it.  I'll definitely be very interested to see what you all can recommend to Swegin to help with his GPX situation.  

 

[schoolofhardNox]

21 minutes ago, Calmark said:

I'm in a similar situation with a GPX 5000 with extra coils I bought 3-4 years ago for close to $3,000.  It had no factory warranty left though it did have 60 days from the place I bought it.  Being relatively new to the platform I wasn't sure the random noises and occasional fits it made weren't more than EMI or something like bad ground patches, etc.  After about 6 months and dealing with increasing spurious noise problems I sent it in for a checkup and repair.

There wasn't much found to be wrong by the repair place other than straightening an internal switch pin and I thought maybe I was just being hyper sensitive or something.  But then my dad bought a brand new GPX5000 and it had none of the issues I was experiencing.  So I sent it back for another look since by then the problems had only become more frequent and more intense.  I was told after the second check up my GPX would need a new board at the cost of around $2800.  At that point I stopped taking it out due to how it became frustrating to impossible after the first 15 minutes to use.  I relied solely on my SDC 2300 for future hunts.  The SDC makes a great back up unit and kept me in the game.  ?

Missing the ability to cover more ground and use my 2 NF evo coils, I ended up buying a used GPX 4500 for $1500.  I figured that was about half the price of a repair of the 5000 and I'd be back in the game for cheaper.  My GPX 5000 has been sitting in the garage unused for a couple of years now and I've wondered what I can do with it like get a cheaper repair or sell it off for parts to recoup some of what I spent on it.  I'll definitely be very interested to see what you all can recommend to Swegin to help with his GPX situation.  

 

I bought mine used and have those random noises as well. But it's usually EMI. Not sure if you can get a smooth threshold anywhere in the USA ? Unless the noise is excessive, I would try the 5000 again and see if you can quiet it down a bit with settings and just get used to a little bit of noise. It's a great machine and if the 6000 eliminates the EMI with out loss of depth, I would say sell it all and get the new one. I'm used to never having a completely quiet, stable threshold, so hopefully you can come up with some settings to use it again.

[Calmark]

I can still use my GPX 5000 and find gold with it. Its quiet enough to use temporarily, but invariably starts to act up. In the same spot on the mountain I have issues, my dad and brother's GPX 5000 will experience a momentary zing of EMI siren noise or pick up a plane overhead as expected but quiet right back down.

Mine on the other hand will go from working ok to siren like wails and beeps with the coil still on the ground and using conservative settings and across various timings.  This can continue for a minute or more at times and I just have to wait and hope it passes quickly.  Does anybody else out there have prolonged problems like this?  I've swapped control boxes with my dad's unit in the field and the issue is definitely in the box itself.  

 

[mn90403]

So, your dad hears the problem after the switching?

I have a 5000 that I use rarely any more.  I know the plane noise and get it less often with my 7000.  

An intermittent problem on the other hand is hard for a technician to fix.  You can't get it to 'act up' on demand.  The next time you or your dad get a target you should go over and see if you can find it also.  You don't want there to be associated problems with your board or circuits that keep you from gold.

A final observation if I might is that you might try to find a new 'box' by itself.  I've heard there are going to be many coming back from Africa because of the 6000.  A box without a coil or anything else is easy to send and would be cheaper than a fix.

As an aside, I just bought a new desk top computer so that I didn't have to buy a new video board to look at Google Earth!  That video board upgrade is just not worth the price as I'm also getting Windows 10/1T ... etc.

Mitchel

[Calmark]

My point comparing my dad's unit to mine was I could swap 1 or all of his known good, new components onto my GPX, including a box swap and still mine would have the issues.  I know I've gone over areas I worked with the 5000 with my 4500 and found missed gold, though I've done that to areas covered with my SDC too.  Conditions, coils and gridding different directions are all variables here along with the use of different GPX machines.

With the GPX 6000 coming out soon I've considered possibly trading in some or all of my gold detectors toward the new GPX.  I've been thinking of my GPX 5000 more lately and wonder what value it has since it doesn't make much sense in a lot of ways to spend $2100+ on a new circuit board.  Its noisy to use for me and tests my concentration.  The 4500 gets EMI too, but not to the same degree.  I have an MP4 audio file of it being noisy but I can't link that here.  I wonder if the 5000 I have sounds defective to other experienced users or not.

Thanks for the help so far.

[Aureous]

There are a few technicians here in Oz that have huge experience with GPX repairs, circuit boards etc. I can recommend Detectronics and Detectormods. The GPX PCB diagram is well known now, thanks to ML being hacked by Chinese spies several years ago. A few hundred bucks might completely repair it and then you have a $3K+ machine that you can trade-in or sell towards a 6000 or 7000. Worth a thought. 

[schoolofhardNox]

2 minutes ago, Aureous said:

There are a few technicians here in Oz that have huge experience with GPX repairs, circuit boards etc. I can recommend Detectronics and Detectormods. The GPX PCB diagram is well known now, thanks to ML being hacked by Chinese spies several years ago. A few hundred bucks might completely repair it and then you have a $3K+ machine that you can trade-in or sell towards a 6000 or 7000. Worth a thought. 

Worth more than a thought. That sounds like a great idea!!! It may cost a bit to send part of it down, but just the box should do it. They have coils, cables, etc... If it were me, I would jump on that offer. They also do a lot of mods too. Something to consider as well.