GPZ 7000 : WA : June 2015 - Finding Gold

I have recently returned from 3 weeks on the ground in WA. I really enjoy camping in the WA outback, the weather, the camp fires, the stars, the wild life, the isolation and of course the gold, you blokes in WA have it all.
I found 348 bits for around 115 grams, to say I had a ball is an understatement.
Most of my success I believe is a result of the 7000. Of the 4 people in our group 2 had the 7000, 1 the 5000 and 1 the 4500, we all were working the same areas. We checked some 7000 signals and GPX’s were unable to hear many of them. My biggest bit was about 1.5 grams, a couple of 2 gramers were found by the others so most bits were small.
A 50 gramer was found by the very happy 4500 owner, it doesn’t matter what detector you use you still have to walk over the gold to have any chance of finding it. While the GPX’s were finding 2,3,4 or 5 bits a day the GPZ’s were picking up 15,20,25 or even 30+ bits a detecting day.
I have no doubts the 7000 performs better than my GPX and am very happy with it. (but not the price, but we won’t go there). I got the 7000 about 1 month before going to WA and found 80 bits on my old Victorian hunting grounds in about 6 days detecting. I am finding small bits at the bottom of some deep holes and am often surprised how small they are in relation to the signal given.
1 major difficulty I am having with the 7000 is pin pointing, after over 500 targets I still have no idea where the bit is in the heap and still sometimes take 10 to 20 handfulls or scoops of dirt to locate the target.
In January this year after 11 years of detecting I passed the 500 bits found, in 2 months with the 7000 I have found over 430 bits, I think that says it all.
Cheers
Mark.

Well done Mark , the 7000 is working great for you ..cheers Mick

Good on you Mark, well done.

I got my 7000 last Saturday and I watched a lot of videos of forum members using the 7000 and pinpointing. After using the 5000 and Elite 14" coil for a month I have found the easiest way to pinpoint is with a large pick. Locate the target and dig down until you get very annoyed at not being able to find it. Now go to the car and get the pick and widen the hole. It really works and is a lot cheaper than a Minelab pinpointer, a bit heavy though.

Regards Axtyr.

Thanks for the informative, interesting and well constructed post Mark.

Be lucky.

I wonder how the sdc would of gone ?

Hi Mark, congrats on your finds mate good to hear that you are happy with your new machine

So you are finding roughly 500% more gold with the 7000 than the GPX. That is pretty compelling and I think I will sell my 4000 and buy one.

Axtyr wrote:Good on you Mark, well done.

I got my 7000 last Saturday and I watched a lot of videos of forum members using the 7000 and pinpointing. After using the 5000 and Elite 14" coil for a month I have found the easiest way to pinpoint is with a large pick. Locate the target and dig down until you get very annoyed at not being able to find it. Now go to the car and get the pick and widen the hole. It really works and is a lot cheaper than a Minelab pinpointer, a bit heavy though.

Regards Axtyr.

Must agree on this one Axtyr you know the signals there, somewhere....