Excellent Australian Field Report and A Bad GPZ Coil

[Steve Herschbach]

http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t21243-3-gpz-s-in-the-field-for-a-week-review

This is a well written and informative report. Unfortunately, I am not surprised to hear about a bad coil in one respect due to the complexity of the coil. On the other hand, how in the world does a $10,000 detector get out the factory door with a bad coil? I understand a company cranking $500 detectors out the door can't check every one. But for $10K that would seem to be something the purchaser is paying for. Hopefully just early days issues with quality control that will get sorted out.

I have noted elsewhere that the GPZ 14 coil gives really complex targets response up close when the target is near the windings. Double blips, reversing tones, etc. The deeper responses are more even and "normal". Interesting that these blokes have used that as a sort of shallow target discrimination feature, going only for deeper mellow targets and ignoring the complex surface signals in trashy areas. Would work very well in birdshot, for instance. You would miss a very shallow nugget also but the method is a sound one for trashy locations.

[auminesweeper]

Steve, there is an impressive report there, But on page two I can't believe they made the guy pay out for postage after spending $10,700 AUD for a Brand New Machine ??,

I did check out the price over here and it is the cost of a compact Car at £8000.00 / or $12,000 USD or $15,760 AUD so I don't think they will sell many and when I spoke to the Importer he said he is only getting ONE machine,

Still its a Beautiful Thing and Dreams Are FREE,lol

I get a kick out of seeing all the Nuggets the Users post and the stories, It is only a Matter of time before a Monster Nugget is Found and I hope it goes to the Bloke who is down on his Luck, I like happy endings.

John

[Steve Herschbach]

The postage thing works different ways different places apparently. When my CTX 3030 had to go back to Minelab U.S.A. for a GPS fix they paid postage both ways. Best thing is if you buy from a dealer - just take it back to the dealer. Not sure what was up with the situation as reported in Oz but if it were me I would be raising a fuss.

It can be worse and is not as out of the ordinary as you may think. I was the largest Ski-Doo snowmobile dealer in North America, based in Alaska. If you lived in middle of nowhere Alaska it might cost $1000 just to have the snowmobile air freighted out to you. Now after 100 hours to motor blows up under warranty. The warranty states must return item to nearest warranty center at your expense. Why? Ski-Doo did not make you live in the middle of nowhere. Your choice, along with the consequences. So you have to pay to ship the machine airfreight back to town to get your warranty work done, then pay again to get it shipped back out. Huge freight bills. And this was not just Ski-Doo, it was most anything and just life in Alaska.

I conjecture the warranty for Minelab in Oz says return to warranty center for repairs. If that means a short drive or shipping across the continent it could cost. Not excusing it or anything mind you, but do read warranties for big ticket items before making purchases to prevent unpleasant surprises.

I am going to go grab my warranty from my GPZ right now, copy it, and post it on a new thread.

[auminesweeper]

I agree, I would always go back to the dealer purely because they are the people that I buy things from and I think it is a bit Rude Side Stepping them and going over their heads so to speak, Plus the fact the dealers have more clout with major companies than we do, I have found the Best Dealers over here and they are more like family than a company and what ever I need they get and the price is always cheaper than every where else,

I can see how shipping those Ski-Doo's would cost A Quid, Not exactly a small Item but they are part of every day Life In Alaska,

I think it is incredible the Depth that the OP on that site found that 5 gram Nugget, I guess you have started to see the results of this new Technology, and the more time you get out there the more tricks you will discover, I cant wait to see the finds as time goes by,

HH, John

[DDancer]

The author of that post makes some very good observations on the handling and care of the detector as well as its performance.  To bad about the coil but it can be expected from time to time I'll reckon just like the battery issue posted on here.

Hope his mate is back in action.