Minelab GPZ7000 information and questions

G'Day Everyone,
To say the new 19" coil will take a bit of getting accustomed too would be a bit of an understatement, given enough time though to work through the ergonomics to deal with the additional weight compared to the standard 14" coil; harness, hipstick and any other bits and pieces to help spread the load over one's body will certainly make for a better swinging experience. With the bungee, attached to the chest cross bar the coil had a substantial bias to the left and required considerable effort when swinging to the right hand side. Enter the hipstick, this overcame the LH bias and the coil centred up quite well and was able to be swung more freely with much less effort, though after a couple of hours both shoulder and hip began to complain, some extra padding in the appropriate zones should help with these issues.
Pinpointing took some time to work out exactly where the targets were both in the ground and when out of the hole, however this was pretty much sorted after a couple of day's detecting. Pinpointing targets in the bottom/sides of DEEP HOLES and yes be prepared to dig some rippers, caused some issues trying to locate the target position, my GPX5000 with a Sadie attached will/should save a load of digging in the wrong spot to say nothing of the time saved and ware and tear on the body, fortunately the car is generally not too far from the detecting area and it's no great problem to have a break and walk back and pick the 5000.
The new coil certainly seems to run quieter compared to the standard 14" coil, in terms of settings, for the most part I settled for: general difficult, gain 12/14
threshold 23/27 audio smoothing low, occasionally off, normal ground was far too noisy over the hot ground being swung over, that said though I did not try a lower gain setting which may have improved the noise issue.
Long grass over about 90% of the country was a real disappointment as it was near impossible to try the new coil where it should have proved interesting given the amount and size of the gold detected on previous trips, will have to be patient and wait for better conditions next season.
In the mean time playing with different harness configurations and anything else that may make for a better, more efficient swinging experience will help pass the time between seasons.
Only two pieces found with the 19" coil on this trip;see Gold Detecting Show &Tell for further info.
Cheers, SinHof.

aaahhhhhhhhh how nice and quiet it is in here.

Hello everyone, I hope your coils are producing........mine is still in the box sadly, but it will come out soon I hope ! , the better you guys do, the happier I get.

Hi Harb - will be looking forward to your thoughts on it once you get a chance to use it. Hopefully some more info bleeds out to help you before then as more people get time with it. I've got a feeling that there's more to the beast than currently meets the eye. Or I'm hoping at least.

Harb said:

aaahhhhhhhhh how nice and quiet it is in here.

Hello everyone, I hope your coils are producing........mine is still in the box sadly, but it will come out soon I hope ! , the better you guys do, the happier I get.

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Yes .................... quiet indeed especially when compared to the "other place" A lot of head ripping and blame laying taking place
Give it a chance is probably the first thought that comes to my mind and if doub't existed why many didn't just wait until some confirmed feedback was available before purchase ? I guess wanting to be the first kid on the block with the new weapon may be the answer to that? Only very new to this detecting world but learn't very quickly the politics involved and a little surprised that some who are claiming to be caught in the web of deceit (as some are claiming is the case) are seasoned operators with many years under their belts :|
Myself I'll just wait as I'm sure when all the hoo haa dies down all shall be revealed but at present there does appear to be a lot of angry people out there

Thanks guys, I think I am going to take the laid back approach......... when I do get to use it, I am going to expect nothing and just work it slowly and see what I can learn about it.........

Good luck to everyone already out there with them......I hope you all have to make 2 trips back to the car.....1 for the detector and coil, the other for all the gold 8)

Hi all, can anybody advise if there is any difference between a GPZ bought when they first came out and the newer ones you buy now. I've been looking at some used ones but I'd like to know if there are tech advances etc with the newer models.
Cheers, Swain767

Hi Swain,

Nope, all the same machine. The only upgrade that has occurred is the software upgrade that you can download over the net. Same as updating an iPhone software.

Northeast.

Thanks Northeast. Just wanted to check as some OK used ones come up from time to time. Still big $ but if I can save 1 to 2 K on a used machine with a couple of years warranty still left, that may be the way to go. Thanks again, Swain767

BUT, should have mentioned that there are apparently rip offs out there of lots of different detectors.

Someone else might be savvy enough to post a link for you as I am sure there are instructions somewhere about how to check that a machine is a legitimate minelab machine.

Considering the outlay this is one of the reasons I purchased through a dealer.

Good luck

Yeah, I know that I could get ripped off and I may very well go through a dealer as well yet. Are you happy with your GPZ Northeast?

Yes, very happy with the GPZ. Also have an SDC which is more for the better half and using in the river. But the SDC is supposed to be a "small gold specialist" and I have actually tested both on an old wash area where I had got a couple of very small gold pieces from - just as a trial. SDC couldn't locate anything there and the GPZ went on to find another 1/2 dozen or so pieces. And they were very, very small.

I am still learning a lot about the GPZ and also about reading the gold fields, etc. I am yet to find a piece over 1 gram which I think is more to do with me learning the machine and the sounds of deep gold and actually putting the detector over gold more than anything to do with the GPZ.

I am confident it is not the machine because I could simply not estimate the amount of crap that I have found and the size of the hole's I have dug for said crap. 1.2 metres is my deepest hole so far - big old bolt. And lead!!! I hate lead!!

So just need to get it in the right area

I do know that apart from time in the field, listening to the machine and trying to read the fields I have learnt a huge amount through this forum. Minelab Gold and Loamer's posts on where to find gold have been invaluable and will be put to the test this weekend.

Mad Hatter and I are meeting up near Bendigo this Sunday. Not sure where you are but you're more than welcome to join us for a look and a swing.

Mate, I'd jump at the chance to come out and meet other members and learn but I'm in Sydney and haven't bought the GPZ yet. If I did have it, I'd drive down and meet up and maybe stay couple of extra days, maybe next time. Thanks anyway buddy

First big lump found with the 19" coil - http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/2645-first-nugget-4-19in-coil/

Some interesting comparisons to the 14" coil and 5000 with Elite coil

Got 5 hrs in with the Z19 yesterday. Was in hot ground and a mate had found an unusual specie there which gave up 3 bits of leaf gold so I really wanted to stay in HY. Used difficult and still needed a drop of Sens to 7. In General I could run on Sens 9.

Dug lots of targets, then was rewarded with 2 bits. The smaller piece when recovered looked like a small waterworn bit of ironstone, was quite shallow and I suspect the SDC would have whistled on it.



The larger bit weighs 3.42g has gold all the way through but is coated in iron and small bits of quartz. Thought it was another piece of junk for a few seconds until I rubbed it. It was fairly deep sitting on top of a very hard packed wash layer. Suspect it will look awesome after an acid bath.

Nice hunting Nenad, well done.

Nice work Nenad.

Good going there Nenad; as more time passes with the new 19" coil the more the users will grow to understand and like it and the better finds will most probably stare to appear, if so it will be interesting to see what the negative element on the forums have to say, one only has to look back at the comments that were circulating about when the GPZ7000 first appeared, same old story repeating itself again.
Cheers,SinHof.

Surprising what equipment in the right hands is capable of

Hi Sinhof,
Let the comments come Mate, Don't worry about the Sad Sacks,
We are watching with great interest.

SinHof said:

Good going there Nenad; as more time passes with the new 19" coil the more the users will grow to understand and like it and the better finds will most probably stare to appear, if so it will be interesting to see what the negative element on the forums have to say, one only has to look back at the comments that were circulating about when the GPZ7000 first appeared, same old story repeating itself again.
Cheers,SinHof.

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Have had the Miner John coil cover on my Z14 for about 2 months now and have found this cover to be superior to the Minelab one. As you can see in the photos it gives a lot more protection around the edges as it comes up further (might be my imagination but think it stops a lot of bump signals as well), it also clips on alot firmer, does not come loose and it has not moved since putting it on. Also seems to glide over ground a little better with a very rounded edge as the stock coil can catch on stick and grass with all the slots and sharp edges, it is alot thicker material as well and can see it lasting more than likely 10 times longer than the stock cover. I have burnt out 2 stock coil covers this year but do scrape my coil quite a bit, at this point highly recommend them.