Going from a GPX to the GPZ ?

Like to get some honest opinions on anyone that has stepped from GPX series up to a Z ?
Given the Z is basically double the price trying to determine is it worth the outlay ie just how much better is the Z over a correctly set up GPX with a good coil and a competent operator ? Well not yet but working on it

To be honest with you I kept the GPX for 12 months after the Z was out and got the new tech coils and really wanted to keep on with the GPX as I knew her very well but spent 2 days comparing a Z and a X on a patch with loads of depth and really hot red clay earlier this year and was very confident with the GPX after using it for over 3 years. I don't think the Z is 40% better as they claim but where it really beats the X hands down is it's auto ground balance. I am yet to balance out a nugget or metal object and it gets rid of pretty much all ground noise in my fields. I dug about 40 nuggets out of a patch over the Anzac weekend and 2 ground noise holes one being a tree root. About 4 ridges away was another patch I found with the GPX well over 100 nuggets and I reckon 50 plus good sounding ground noise phantom holes from which I mean breaking up the red clay and signal breaks up. You can run the Z hot even with Audio Smoothing Off ie Stabilizer 20 on GPX was a noisy warbling mess at full gain and stabilzer at 20.

But the 2 huge advantage the Z has over the GPX is just shear ease of use, you basically have 9 settings, 3 gold modes, 3 ground modes and 3 audio smoothing modes other than volume, threshold pitch and volume where the GPX has loads of settings combos that can confuse a new operator. And the 14 inch super D coil does the job of about 6 coils on the GPX and is nearly as sensitive as the SDC on the small stuff but punches really deep on the good ones.

But with all that said the GPX is still a great machine and will keep finding gold as long as you swing it over it. Hope this helps.

Goldwright exactly the type of feedback I'm after .................. thanks heaps for reply. Out of pure interest what state do you prospect in ?
Cheers

Hi Bogger,
Goldwright's comments above are spot on, I have both the 5000 and the 7000, that I've had since they were released, the 7000 will certainly find gold that the 5000 will miss,rough reefy stuff similar to your avatar.
I keep any gold found with each detector in different containers and by area in which it came from, comparing the two lots of gold the 7000 collection is for the most part rough and the specie count for the 7000 is way, way ahead of the 5000; the 5000 collection is for the most part solid and well worn pieces, the 7000 does well on this type of gold also.
Having the two detectors, it's handy to cross check various types of gold; on one area that has been well flogged with 5000's and found difficult to work due to the hot ground and with no significant finds; the 7000 is quite the opposite in that it turned out to be a very worthwhile area giving up some nice pieces.
While the 7000 has fewer settings to manage it has taken us, (there are three of us that usually detect together with our 7000's)the best part of twelve months to fully explore and learn the finer points of the machine, nothing major, just fine tuning and listening to the various signals from a year or so's worth of different gold and junk targets, quite different from the 5000 for the most part.
If for some reason I had to part with one detector the 5000 would be the one to go, they are great machines but he 7000 is a lot more versatile; like most 7000 owners, the soon to released 19 inch supper coil will hopefully add yet another dimension to the 7000.
Hope the above is of some assistance.
Cheers, SinHof.

Sinhof bugger you have just about sealed it for me ..................... if I walked over the welcome stranger ( avatar pic ) with a 5000 and the bloke behind me with a Z found it I reckon I'd be a bit pissed
On the serious side thanks once again and the picture I'm beginning to see is that as good as the GPX may be the Z opens up another dimension altogether. The walking over it and not finding it is what bothers me. Reward for effort is always nice and the motivation it creates even better.
Again thanks for comments
Cheers

Mate,go for it; give yourself some time to get to know the 7000 and I'm sure you won't be disappointed, that said though, there still has to be gold under the coil and you have to put the time in looking and the necessary research to find likely gold bearing areas.
Good luck, SinHof.