Older Minelab Pi For Depth?

[Luis]

2 hours ago, RONS DETECTORS MINELAB said:

DD coils really do not have the ability to get the performance in comparison to the Spiral wound coils. So the older detectors SD/GP’s that needed to run DD’s to handle the more mineralized ground are not going to help out in your situation with moderate to heavy ground mineralization.
 

Smooth timings are the way to go in heavy mineralized environments and the mods also do gain even more depth but these are expensive options to get the depth you’re looking for.

If you’re in less mineralization and can run normal or sensitive timings with a mono 15” Evo coil or equivalent then you could do will getting the depth that you have described wanting with the older models.
This is mainly due to the coil size being bigger than what is currently offered on the 6000 and if you went with the 5000 and ran Sharp it’s even 20% deeper yet but only in low mineralized conditions. 😳

I do a lot of comparisons videos and can send anyone a link if wanting to see different coils compared.

Personally the tests I have done for Extra Sensivity coins have always been deeper than Sharp.  If you can share the videos I would appreciate it

[Drillerdave]

Ceril, you are welcome to borrow my 7000 and/or the 5000 to see for yourself if they are any advantage to you on your patches. The 7000 has both the stock and 19” coils and the 5000 has many coils. The largest Evolution is 12” 

[kingswood]

16 hours ago, Dutchman4 said:

Kingswood,

I see in your list that you own the GPX6000 and GP3000 so you would know if the GP3000 with the 24x12 ufo mono would have a depth advantage over the GPX6 on larger gold.  If this advantage is minimal then I will just get the 17x13 mono for the 6000 and hope it adds some depth over the stock 11.

If all you are wanting to do is go over known patches while chaining to see anything missed at depth (and cant afford a 7000), then the 3000 with a large coil is a fairly decent option. The 3000 combo with the 24x12 UFO mono found buckets of deep gold years ago, theres no reason why it wont do the same now. Use whatever you can afford as a second machine.

The 6000 will detect big bits at very good depths....I know of a 1kg bit detected at just over a metre. It all depends on what you think may be down at depth. I have no idea which machine (3000 with big coil v 6000) will detect a 3g deeper as I havent ever tried a test on that. But all things considered, generally bigger coil equals bigger detection depth but drops a bit of sensitivity on smaller bits.

If I were in your situation (and I have been), I would use the 19" on the 7000 over everything else 🙂 But as you mention old machines, then the 3000 with a big coil may be an option as it "should" detected big bits at depth.....My 3000 doesnt really get much of a run these days as the 6000 is my general "go to" detector and I use the 7000 with the 19" as the depth detector on known patches to see if anything missed at depth.

[Dutchman4]

1 hour ago, Drillerdave said:

Ceril, you are welcome to borrow my 7000 and/or the 5000 to see for yourself if they are any advantage to you on your patches. The 7000 has both the stock and 19” coils and the 5000 has many coils. The largest Evolution is 12” 

That is generous of you Dave and I may take you up on that offer when I make a return trip to the patches.  At least it will settle my mind on what could be at depth.

[dig4gold]

That is a very generous offer from DrillerDave. I reckon you should take him with you.

D4G

[dig4gold]

1 hour ago, kingswood said:

The 3000 combo with the 24x12 UFO mono found buckets of deep gold years ago, theres no reason why it wont do the same now. Use whatever you can afford as a second machine.

Agree totally with that. A 3000 was listed on our online auction site for NZ$800 & got passed in but it did sell so a deal must have been struck. I was very tempted myself.

If your spot is virgin ground you are very lucky & a 7000 would be a killer. Even with the standard 14x13 coil. Whack on a 15" cc X coil & you just might be blown away from what I have heard about them.

D4G

[Rob Allison]

Hi Ceril,

   I know this would require a lot of physical labor, but if the patch areas are small and you found a number of nuggets concentrated in a small section of the patch, consider removing all the loose material, rocks and top soil with a good rake.  You can rake and detect a few inches at a time to gain more depth also.  This is a slow method, but if the nuggets were concentrated in a small area, then this method can be very rewarding.  

If you visit locations like Quartzsite, Meadview and other arid desert placers of the Southwest, you will see hillsides, benches and such that have been raked from the early VLF up to modern PI days.  

Rob

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

22 hours ago, Luis said:

On 4/6/2024 at 9:20 AM, RONS DETECTORS MINELAB said:

Personally the tests I have done for Extra Sensivity coins have always been deeper than Sharp

Hi Luis,

Yes, Sensitive Extra works exceptionally well on the mid-sized targets. I should have said the Sharp timing has a 20% more power increase to the transmit field over the normal timings. So if were talking about depth on larger deeper targets this would be a powerhouse with a larger mono coil in mild ground conditions, but also this timing is very receptive to ground saturation and cannot be used in lots of situations.

The sharp timing was added to the GPX series to bring back what the SD series offered with the higher regulated coil voltage for increased depths on larger targets though.

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:51 AM, Dutchman4 said:

Another option I am considering is to purchase an older Minelab PI and combine it with the best coil for depth, so that I can use it to go over patches (that I have cleaned out using the 6k) to find larger (3-5g and larger) nuggets at depths deeper than the 6k is capable of.  So just to be clear I want a machine that is dedicated/configured for increased (at least 3+ inches deeper than 6k) depth on larger gold, has a stable threshold and the ability to handle ground mineralization and hot rocks better than the 6k.

Hi Ceril,

Here's a video with some comparisons of the 5000 in Extra Sensitive with 12" & 15" Evo and the 6000 with 11" & 17" coils.

 

 

Minelab GPX 5000 12 & 15" Nugget Finder EVO Sen Extra Vs 6000 with 11” and 17”

 

 

If you have more difficult ground than this then Fine Gold would be needed and probably have different results from this comparison though.

[Mike C...]

I use to dig deeper holes all the time when I had a 2000 compared to my Gp extreme and 5000 🙂