Hi from Nth Queensland

Hi I have just joined this forum and have a question about the GPX 5000 and front and back panel control interaction. But firstly, I bought my 5000 last Easter and finally have started finding gold after retiring the sd2000. The ground where I detect is quite hot and I feel I have the 5000 running quiet but I am a little bamboozled about the General/Special/Enhanced switch on the front and how it interacts with the fine gold/sensitive extra/salt gold setting on the back of the detector. If I am in general on the front and finegold on the back, what is it doing? If I am in enhanced on the front and finegold on the back, what is it doing?

G'day mlee76 ,welcome to the forum ,great to see another Nth Qld'er on here ,few of us on here ,not many ,myself from near Normanton .I'm pressuming that perhaps you bought the 5000 2nd hand ?? and didn't receive a manual  ??. Otherwise I'd of suggested read the bloody manuel !!     Special ,Normal & Enhance are 3 completly different type of Soil Timings , each with there own different unique capability's .Having the soil timings switch in Normal ,whilst on the back it displays fine gold ,means it remains in Normal ,to use fine gold ,the front switch must be in Special . Having the soil timings switch on Enhance ,and then scrolling thru the menu on the back then gives you a choice of several different choices of soil timings again ,which is basically just giving you more options of the type of soil type that your detecting .I have the 5000 manual downloaded in PDF file as a icon on the front of my computer ,it's easy to read , no fumbling around with the paper manuel ,and i'd strongly suggest for around $80 buying GP's DVD  ' Unwrapping the Gpx5000 ' compulsive viewing .Any way once again welcome to the forum ,myself being on here only this year ,cheers Hugh62 

G'day mlee76 and welcome to the forum

What Hugh62 says is right, to be in "fine gold" and have it working and not just displayed in the menu you must have the front panel switch in "Special", there are a range of other settings in the back menu under "special" also like "salt gold" "sensitive extra" "smooth" etc.

If you have the front panel switch in "Enhance" then that's what it is, there is a choice of settings in the rear menu that can be used with the enhance setting which are mainly filters and the like, as in the "Audio" like quiet, normal deep and boost, and RX gain and stabalizer etc, just the things in the Special section show up but are not active.

If the front panel switch is in normal you can use the same filters as in the "Audio" like quiet, normal deep and boost, and RX gain and stabalizer etc, just the things in the Special section show up but are not active.

Just in case you don't have a manual you can download one from the Minelab site.
http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/22591/Instruction%20Manual%20GPX%204800-5000%20%284901-0096-2%29.pdf

cheers dave

davsgold wrote:G'day mlee76 and welcome to the forum

What Hugh62 says is right, to be in "fine gold" and have it working and not just displayed in the menu you must have the front panel switch in "Special", there are a range of other settings in the back menu under "special" also like "salt gold" "sensitive extra" "smooth" etc.

If you have the front panel switch in "Enhance" then that's what it is, there is a choice of settings in the rear menu that can be used with the enhance setting which are mainly filters and the like, as in the "Audio" like quiet, normal deep and boost, and RX gain and stabalizer etc, just the things in the Special section show up but are not active.

If the front panel switch is in normal you can use the same filters as in the "Audio" like quiet, normal deep and boost, and RX gain and stabalizer etc, just the things in the Special section show up but are not active.

Just in case you don't have a manual you can download one from the Minelab site.
http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/22591/Instruction%20Manual%20GPX%204800-5000%20%284901-0096-2%29.pdf

cheers dave

Hi Dave
I have not used a GPX!!
The items above that I have highlighted, are interesting! no wonder people get confused, it makes little sense to have something appear in the menu that is not active, surely this could be rectified easily with the technology that goes into these things?????

G'day Lee

Your right, I have no idea why they set it up that way, if an item/setting can't be used it shouldn't appear until the switch that allows that option is turned on.

Once you get used to it it is not to confusing, but for newbys etc, that I have seen/helped, that think if "fine gold" is selected in the rear menu it is working no matter what switch they have activated on the front panel.

Yes I would hope that little problem can be sorted in the next "Flag Ship" model.

cheers dave

Hi all,
Thanks for the replies. I actually do have a manual as I bought the detector new from George at the Cairns miners den. I have had the detector out on two trips now and find that I have to get the manual out and just reassure myself that what I think is right is actually right. I coined the question to you blokes to make sure that I was understanding what I was reading as I find I have to read the manual two or three times to fully understand what it is saying. There is no better training than getting out and using the detector. On the last trip I was fortunate enough to find a patch with enough gold that I could be reasonably sure the target signal I was getting was gold and then start to have a little play with settings before I dug. Nothing like finding gold to give you confidence in the settings you are using. Nothing like finding no gold to make you wonder if your settings are right. Unfortunately once I got home and thought about it, I thought of other things I should have tried (different coil ect) but in the excitement of it all I wasn't thinking straight. Anyway I'm sure there will be more there so I will have a play on my next trip. As the ground I am detecting in is reasonably hot (Red soil, ironstone and that hot rocks) I have found that the detector is most stable in Fine Gold. The gold I was finding was small 1&2gm bits at about 6 inches. Using fine gold for stability (14x9 blitz coil) could I be missing gold? Should I go over the ground with another setting or coil?

G'day mlee76

I'm glad your having some success with your new detector, I know it takes a bit of time at the beginning and all you want to do is dig up the target,    but some testing in different timings and settings is time well spent, especially on undug targets in an area you are finding gold.

You can have 3 seperate settings they are presetup by minelab to (factory presets). Just by using the first switch (search mode) on the front panel, deep, normal, custom. You can reconfigure them to your predefined settings and then just flick that switch from one to the other to check out a target to work out which is the best setting.

Same with the (Soil Timings) switch, when you get a target go from one to the other, make sure you ground balance properly between each switch position change.

If the ground is getting a bit noisy for the fine gold timing try enhance, it will run a bit better on noisy ground that is just a bit hot for fine gold.

Good luck out there.

cheers dave

rc62burke wrote:

davsgold wrote:G'day mlee76 and welcome to the forum

What Hugh62 says is right, to be in "fine gold" and have it working and not just displayed in the menu you must have the front panel switch in "Special", there are a range of other settings in the back menu under "special" also like "salt gold" "sensitive extra" "smooth" etc.

If you have the front panel switch in "Enhance" then that's what it is, there is a choice of settings in the rear menu that can be used with the enhance setting which are mainly filters and the like, as in the "Audio" like quiet, normal deep and boost, and RX gain and stabalizer etc, just the things in the Special section show up but are not active.

If the front panel switch is in normal you can use the same filters as in the "Audio" like quiet, normal deep and boost, and RX gain and stabalizer etc, just the things in the Special section show up but are not active.

Just in case you don't have a manual you can download one from the Minelab site.
http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/22591/Instruction%20Manual%20GPX%204800-5000%20%284901-0096-2%29.pdf

cheers dave

Hi Dave
I have not used a GPX!!
The items above that I have highlighted, are interesting! no wonder people get confused, it makes little sense to have something appear in the menu that is not active, surely this could be rectified easily with the technology that goes into these things?????

The switch on the front panel referred to is the "soil timing" switch.
The choices are Enhance, Normal and Special.

Enhance timing removes the vast majority of hot ground and hotrocks, and is used on ground that the detector severely moans and groans if you use normal timing, or on ground that you constantly dig hotrocks on. The signal response generated is quieter than what you would expect and any repeatable target should be investigated, no matter how faint.

Normal timing is used on ground that is fairly quiet to mildly mineralised.

Special is the setting you use when you want to run one of the timings in the menu under the special tab. These need to be able to be seen when you access the menu. It is inconvenient if you have to switch to the special position when you want to check what the detector's settings are. Think of them as the headlights on your car. They are always there, you can see them, but they don't work until you SWITCH them on. If "Fine Gold" is the selection then to use this timing the switch needs to be at special.

If "Fine Gold" is the selection and the soil timing switch is at Normal, then you're in Normal. If the switch is at Enhance then you're in Enhance. If the switch is at Special then you're in Fine Gold. You cannot be in Fine Gold Normal, or Fine Gold Enhance as you can only be in one soil timing at a time!
Cheers.

Thanks for the replies folks. I do have another question about soil timings and depth but before I ask it I will search the detector section of the forum and perhaps read the manual one more time and then maybe open the question up there to get it out of this newbie section.