Minelab GPX5000 tips, settings and questions

[Brumble-Gum]

One piece of gear I never ever leave home without is a wheely bin liner/garbage bag.
If you get caught in a passing shower I simply take my harness off, hang it on my arm rests then place the garbage bag over the whole lot. You can hold it upright or lean it against a tree. The water rolls straight off without harming your control box or harness/battery.
The best thing is a new garbage bag folds up neatly into a small snap lock sandwich bag which I keep in my pouch on my harness. I never take it out unless it rains and when I use it I take it home and replace with a new one.

 

[stevo]

Trouble with the Koss UR30's headphones is they sit very loose on the head and if I look down tilting my head forward they want to fall off, mate has same problem with his set as well.

 

[Guest]

I tried to buy a Rooster Booster from Bendigo miners den - they say they no longer stock them - has anyone else had problems getting their hands on one?

Website still has them for sale $220:
http://www.minersden.com.au/metal-detector-rooster-booster-and-speaker-combo/

 

[condor22]

Both the Garrett & the Minelab pinpointers upset the 5000 - on or off but on is obviously worse. You can stick it between ya bum cheeks & it appears to be not as bad. :lol:
I know the Garrett plays havoc with the 4500 too & demonstrated it for a mate last week. I turned it off & put it behind my back & the 4500 ran quietly. As soon as I moved it out from behind my back the machine played up. I could even get a bit of a tune going by moving it back & forth :lol:
If you use one the key is where you position/carry it when not in use. Obviously not on your front side!
Personally I got rid of both mine, had one of each. Have found some very small sub grammers without using them & pinpointing with my coil.

I carry my pinpointer on the harness (side) It is always off. When I use it, I pull the speaker plug halfway out so that the 5000 makes no sound, turn on the pinpointer and when finished, turn it off and push the speaker plug back in.

I don't hear the havoc, but I should perhaps check that it is not going to damage the detector. I'll refer that to Minelab and post the response, unless someone here knows the answer.

Although it took a little time, I got a response from Minelab re interference. My question to them was "When using my GPX5000, putting it aside and switching on my Profind Pinpointer, the 5000 screams with interference. To prevent this, I pull the speaker jack from the battery, which stops the audio output. However, I would assume the detector circuitry is still receiving the interference, WILL THIS HAVE ANY ADVERSE EFFECT ON THE DETECTOR.

Their response "No it will have no adverse effect, also try to use the frequency tuning, it may eliminate or reduce the interference"

So, I think I will just continue to do as I have been doing on the odd occasions I use the pinpointer - pull the audio jack.
That is until I can get to Jaycar, buy a small 2 way toggle switch and modify the speaker. Much like Jonathon Porter appears to have done in his DVDs.

 

[condor22]

So I went to Jaycar, got a small toggle switch and a weather protector for it and some fine hook up wire. Ten minutes with the screwdriver and soldering iron and I can now turn the speaker on and off.

Should have done it before the last trip.........

 

[Outback]

A GPX 5000 is 2010 technology , think about that ! when paying top dollar

OutBack.

 

[Guest]

Technology that no one else has thus far matched. Think about that when your swinging your cheaper less capable machine :lol:
ATX - revamped surplus mine detector
SDC2300 - revamped surplus mine detector
SPP - unsold rebadged warehouse stock the Africans wouldn't buy
etc. etc. & still we wait for something!
Agree they are overpriced & we are due for new technology but if you want the best that's the way it is just like with most other consumer products. Nothing on the table from the competition yet to get too excited about.

 

[oliver_twist]

agree!! the 5000 is very expensive but it s also a great detector

 

[patchfinderbendigo]

Hi KevanR,I spoke with Shane bgo gold yesterday about the rooster B got the same info miners den had them specially made,there out of stock,and may not be restocking the item,So to me its as clear as mud.Maybe try google signal enhancers or boosters its worth a go.
Good luck.

Cheers Ian.

 

[Guest]

Get a B&Z booster instead then. Same sh1t different smell. I've used both & they both do what they're supposed to. Probably prefer the B&Z cause its got a normal jack connection on the speaker.

 

[KIM-MARGARET]

Hi all bit late on comment but anyway we just got back from 2 week trip up North. hubby has 5000 speaker that came with the 5000 has thrown it in twice, as you would be aware only find this out when your out looking, this trip hubby had no choice but to use the head phones that also came with the 5000 the very small gold in the photo was picked up well down in hot soil and wind don't believe we would have picked up these small ones up using external speaker, meaning the speaker that came with the 5000 its a chucker will let you down.

OK so big lesson learnt where we were yep the 5000 screamed over all service trash kick yep gone don't bother with it. So we meet older fellow and his wife both swinging 4500 we say plenty of trash about old fella says no not really don't kick anything aside no matter how loud 5000 screams, scrap the top and check it, hence comes the leaf gold never heard of it, and yep sitting right on top 5000 screams just like it does on trash on top no different, we reckon we kicked properly a dozen aside big lesson dig/scape all of it. the flat stuff in photo is the wonderful leaf gold worth more per ounce than a nugget. We heard two blokes where we were took out 2oz of leaf gold smart fellows easy work.

Another thing this older fellow picked up a 6oz nugget, using external speaker others who heard the gpx going off ran to assist with the retrieving of the nugget, this took place at the end of the day no more digging light. Right on daylight old mate goes back to clean out his patch but the handy helpers snuck back in the night with torches and beat him to it another 7oz of smaller nuggets. As the debate goes on for us I think if others are in the area head phones are the go. and dig/scrape the lot.

Kim- Margaret

 

[stevo]

I found the headphones I got with my 5000 the Minelab Koss ones fit way to loose on my head, same goes for another fella I detect with he didn't like them either hence we both use external speakers. Can anyone recommend a good set of headphones.

 

[Peko]

Stevo,

Try a set of blackwidow headphones, I use em and love em, can only get them from the States afaik, a little pricey but worth every cent, 100% better than the koss

Peko

 

[stevo]

Thanks for the heads up Peko, I just checked them out and your not wrong about being pricey...lol, might look into getting a set.

 

[Guest]

When using correctly wired speaker's for the GPX4500/5000 they will have a stereo plug but with only 2 wires attached (main to tip & shield to ring - nothing to sleeve). The battery recognises this configuration & trips the inbuilt amp. I have heard of issues with some external speaker's not being wired correctly so don't trip the amp thus they don't get the required power to operate correctly.
When you use a booster the batteries internal amplifier will be bypassed. With a rooster booster there is no connection into the headphone socket to trip the amp & others like the B&Z have a mono plug so it is the only operating amp I.e. you can't run both & even if you did the sound would most likely be distorted. The aftermarket boosters are thought to be better than the batteries inbuilt one & having used 4 different types I tend to agree but others are quite happy with the battery amp.

 

[washgravel]

where I detect I can go for 2 days with no signals,no bullets trash nothing.
I can get almost 2 days with a 11" or a 40" when theres no targets
but if I'm on a patch or trashy area I can only get one day with a 11",17" 25" or 40" it don't matter.
so the difference for me is because of signals using more power.(screamers use the most power)
bit like a phone, if you don't ring it the stanby last ages but start ringing and the battery goes down quicker.

another way of seeing this happen is when you first get the low battery signal, if no targets are gone over the battery warning comes every couple of minutes then with shorter gaps between warnings as the battery goes down, but if you go over a target after the low battery signal then it will give you another low battery warning sooner.
regards trashy

On a few different occasions my low battery alarm has come on during a shorter period of detecting than I had expected so after a review through past replies I came across "trashmagnet" of which I have in part quoted above.

Therefore I believe extra battery drain may have something to do with on how many targets you detect during the day ?

Also as "Mystyk59" mentions under this heading is extra battery drain could be due to the use of an external booster such as a Rooster Booster which I use ?

 

[nuggetino]

Running a coiltek 24" dd pro on the gpx4500 will last me for a full day or until my shoulder breaks off. I use headphones which make a big difference. I don't suppose you ever forget to recharge you batteries?

 

[washgravel]

I use headphones which make a big difference. I don't suppose you ever forget to recharge you batteries?

No.... I always do a recharge as soon as I have returned home and another the night before the next trip.

In regards to headphones I use too always use them before I purchased a Rooster Booster which unfortunately only uses a special type of female phone jack and male jack on the end of the lead to a special type of low feedback external speaker. Therefore you are unable to connect a standard 1/4" phone jack plug into the Rooster Booster for use with either a speaker or headphone.

Unlike the Nugget Booster which uses the standard 1/4" female phone jack for use with both a speaker or a headphone.
As well the Nugget Booster can be switched off or bypass if need be to operate straight from the GPX battery.
However the Bypass option would be more suited for headphones since the GPX battery would struggle to drive the speaker with enough volume without engaging its own internal booster.

Both of these Boosters draw their power from the GPX battery although not sure if one draws more than the other?

I also own a Nugget Booster but yet to try it out as the Rooster Booster seems to be the more popular one however being able to plug a headphone straight into the Nugget Booster, then I may have to try that and see if my battery life can be extended.

 

[diggerdave73]

Has anyone had issues with the supplied Koss headphones for the 5k. I tend to find that I get a lot of movement on my head (maybe my heads out of shape) which i tend to find creates noise and potentially miss out on faint targets. What other brands of headphones are people using with the 5k?

Cheers,

Dave

 

[trashmagnet]

g'day mate
the td 80 headphones are good if you can find a set, they sit tight on the head, maybe too tight at times as they squash your ears and get pretty sweaty on warm days but they let plenty of info through.
regards trashy