ML 4800 vs 5000

[Teemore]

Hi,
Starting some preliminary investigation into my purchase of a detector in the first half of next year.
Seems the only real option is just between which Minelab to buy.
Keen to hear what the real differenceis (apart from the dollars) between the 4800 and the 5000, if spending that level of cash the extra does not seem to warrant going for the cheaper option.
Just interested in the views of those that use them and why they went for one rather than the other.
Will be doing a few 'tours' in the new year to help gain some minor level of proficiency and, naturally to see what these operators suggest and recommend.
Thanks, Tom.

 

[trashmagnet]

hi
the 4800 is designed for relic hunters and the 5000 is designed for gold. out of these two go the 5000
but any minelab p.i will find gold it's just easier with the later modals
regards trashy

 

[Redfin]

A basic cut and paste but sums it up.

The Minelab GPX 4500 was extremely popular and the next model release was delayed to the point that two models came out. The Minelab 4800 was intended as the next release, but before it hit the market developer Bruce Candy came up with a couple new refinements different enough to warrant yet another model, the GPX 5000. The 4800 therefore became a sort of "non-model" as most dealers and users focused on the GPX 5000 as the new top-of-the line detector. The main change is a wealth of new timings allowing the GPX 5000 to get optimum performance in many varied ground conditions. The new Fine Gold timing in particular offers the ability to pull gold out of ironstone hot rocks that previous models missed.

 

[Diggerdude]

hi
the 4800 is designed for relic hunters and the 5000 is designed for gold. out of these two go the 5000
but any minelab p.i will find gold it's just easier with the later modals
regards trashy

The 4800 is a relic machine? Don't know where you heard that but it's totally false. It's almost the same as a 5000 but with a few different timings.

DD

 

[Goldpick]

The gpx4800 has 6 timings, one of which is for jewelery/relics, the gpx5000 has 8 timings including the previous one for jewelery/relics, just has more timings for gold hunting amongst other improvements.

 

[trashmagnet]

hi
the 4800 is designed for relic hunters and the 5000 is designed for gold. out of these two go the 5000
but any minelab p.i will find gold it's just easier with the later modals
regards trashy

The 4800 is a relic machine? Don't know where you heard that but it's totally false. It's almost the same as a 5000 but with a few different timings.

DD

straight from minelab, but they might be guessing :lol:

it was released to suit the European relic market.
regards trashy

edit, diggerdude maybe when I said "designed" in my first post I should have said "released" as a relic hunter as it was being designed as a gold machine in the first place. but something better came along before it's release and instead of shelving it they decided it would be great for eouropean soils with the ground balance off and since they don't need gold settings they released both machines, one aimed at gold prospectors and one aimed at relic hunters.

 

[Teemore]

Thanks guys for your input, seems a bit of a no brainer at that price level.
Have a few months till retirement kicks in so will watch with interest what develops with the new Garratt machine but doubt it will be a match.
The hard part comes now in picking a few "tour" operators to teach me how to use one correctly, will start a fresh post after doing a couple of searches.
Thanks again, Tom.

 

[G0lddigg@]

just saved me the trouble of asking, seems that these days you can pick up a GPX 4800 for $4900 and the cheapest ive seen a GPX 5000 is around $6450 I wonder if the $1550 really makes that big a difference..... I think when I go down that path I'll ahve to go the GPX5000 otherwise i'll kick myself later.

 

[Teemore]

..... I think when I go down that path I'll ahve to go the GPX5000 otherwise i'll kick myself later.

Ditto, probably 3 - 6 months away from making a serious purchase, picked up a Dual 705 to have a play with in the interim hoping it will provide some hands on experience.
Cheers Tom

 

[Guest]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/doc/member-docs/655/1387516411_compare_minelab_4500_5000.pdf
A good side by side comparison 5000 v 4800 v 4500.
My opinion 4500 or a 5000. It doesn't appear that the 4800 was an upgrade from the 4500 - missing things like boost & smooth timings. Don't really know what it's purpose was but would opt for a used 4500 before it, even if on sale.

 

[poppet]

Hi all, I am new to this and in the process of buying a detector. I was just wondering is the Minelab GPX 5000 worth the extra $1700 over the GPX 4800 and if so why?

 

[poppet]

looks like I have to spend the extra $$ thanks again for the info.

 

[PhaseTech]

I'm gonna add my 2 cents on this. Back when there was $500 price different between them, it was really a no brainer, especially considering the gpx5000 has the 11" mono included. However, now that there is a big price difference, the 4800 is worth considering. You can think of the 4800 in 2 ways:

1. Like a 4500 but simplified, as some of the lesser used functions are not available, but on the 5000 platform

2. A simplified GPX5000 without Fine-Gold, and Salt Course instead of Salt-Gold.

At $4900, it is probably more of a question of is the 4800 worth the extra $900 over an SDC2300??

The 4800 with Enhance will not get the tiniest pieces as clearly as an SDC2300, but with a 6" or 8x6" mono it will probably get very close.
However, the big advantage of the GPX4800 is depth, optional timings, and ability to change coils.

 

[Goldpick]

Thats sort of why I am a bit confused over the pricing of the sdc2300, I know it specialises in small gold, but why price it high enough to conflict with the more premium models. A price around $2500 - 3000 would have been more sensible, attracted more buyers, and put it in a more defined mid range pricing bracket.

 

[dean_hamilton85]

I just bought a 4800 and have been detecting with my father who has a 5000. We always use a small gold piece to fine tune the detector to the area we are detecting. I am always able to pick up small signals in noisy areas. After about 8 different trips my detector has found just as much gold as the 5000 and I am very happy with it. It is probably note worthy that I have only been detecting for 11 months.

 

[subgram]

5000, stupid argument..

 

[Teemore]

Thanks for the ongoing feedback and well done dean-h,
As I've lashed out and purchased the SDC I was leaning towards a second hand 4500 for deeper targets BUT as getting a good one under $4000 seems difficult may be just as well to get a new 4800?????
Regards T.

 

[subgram]

You won't be sorry Teemore... I don't think I've seen a single negative report about the SDC so far..
Well aside from the lack of coil options.. but hey, what's better than an 8" mono?

 

[loamer]

You won't be sorry Teemore... I don't think I've seen a single negative report about the SDC so far..
Well aside from the lack of coil options.. but hey, what's better than an 8" mono?

What's better than an 8" mono? For a fossicker - not much I guess. For a prospector, probably a few more bigger coils, both mono and DD.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Can someone tell me what the difference is between these two machine and what are the benefits of one over the other,

Thanks, John