GPZ7000 up-date.

Hi fellow 7000 swingers,
I heard on the grapevine today that either tomorrow Friday or next Monday that Minelab will be announcing the release of an up-date for the 7000; something to do with improved tracking/ground balance, the exact details are still under wraps.
Like most here I will be very keen to see what improvement/s they have been able to come up with.
Stay tuned.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Hi Au, is that an update that they will do for free on all our existing Zeds, or are they bringing out an updated model?

Hi Slimpickens,
As far as I'm aware it will be some form of firmware/software update; full details will be available tomorrow or next Monday, not sure if there is any cost involved.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Thanks Au, hope it's relatively painless. Sort of short, sharp and quick.

AUoptimist wrote:Hi fellow 7000 swingers,
I heard on the grapevine today that either tomorrow Friday or next Monday that Minelab will be announcing the release of an up-date for the 7000; something to do with improved tracking/ground balance, the exact details are still under wraps.
Like most here I will be very keen to see what improvement/s they have been able to come up with.
Stay tuned.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

G'day Paul

I will be keen to see what they have got for us.

cheers dave

if it's free and it's from minelab I wouldn’t be expecting to much.
Maybe a line or to of new code to do away with the Ferret at best, cuz sending out all those ferrets must be costing minelab a small fortune.

Well if it rid's me of the ferret and the need to turn my cap around backwards and perform the associated Octopus dance, I'll be a happy man.

Improved tracking/ground balance would imply/lean more towards a software update.None the less anything that improves the speed of auto ground tracking/balance,would be an advantage to coil swing speed.Lets just hope,that the new promising update,don't come in the form of a much larger and more powerful  "Ferrite 2" That will then take the dance out of ya yellowfin.

Cheers gents, Kon.

Welcome back Kon
Haven’t seen a post from you for a while
Oh no please not a ferret2, as it is I look around the bush before I start my Octopus procedure to make sure no 5000 operators are watching.
I'm over the ferret, the sooner its gone the better.

That goes for me too Redfin. Is there room for one more?

Cheers Kon.

Hi Guys & Gals,
I would not be too worried about 5000 operators having a bit of fun at our expense with regard to our 7000/ferrite antics; not so long back a couple of fellows had worked an area with their 5000's and asked if I would like to run the 7000 over an area they had picked up a couple of bits.
Yes, they did have a bit of a comment and a smile about the GB ritual with the ferrite, that said though, the smiles soon faded, replaced with looks of disbelief when they saw the results the 7000 was producing,guess who was smiling/laughing then?
At any rate as long as the grapevine is not speaking with forked tongue all should be revealed come Monday.

Hi Folks,
Well it seems the grapevine was spot on, Minelab this morning have released a software up-date for the GPZ7000.
The new algorithm gives us a new Auto Ground Tracking feature that from the look of the list of changes should overcome most if not all of the Gb/tracking issues that most of us have been troubled with; check out www.minelab.com for the file download or go to the Exchange2 program and look a small icon with an exclamation mark; I believe more information will be available tomorrow afternoon.
With all of the improvements stated; this should make our 7000s the detectors that we had hoped they were when we first purchased them.  
Cheers, AUoptimist.

GPZ 7000 SOFTWARE UPDATE!!!!

Minelab are pleased to announce the first software update to our GPZ 70000 detector. This free update incorporates a new Auto Ground Tracking Algorithm resulting in improved Auto Ground Balance functionality.
This GPZ software update improves the detector’s ability to track to the ground, such that more of the audio you hear is from gold nuggets.
Resulting in -
More stable threshold
Higher sensitivity
Less false ground signal interference
Precision ground tracking
More gold found
This update also maximises achievable detection depth in any given soil type by delivering improved tracking of the yellow ferrite when ground balancing.
When is this happening?
Monday October 12th. Full details of these features will be available via www.minelab.com
How do I upgrade my detector?
Updates can be done easily via Minelab’s XChange 2, or manually via a file transfer method when XChange 2 is not available, e.g. if using a Mac.

On the downloads page I noticed there are 2 updates,
the one being discussed here and one from Jan 2015? or is
this the original software?

http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/286800/GPZ%207000%20Software%20Update%20Brochure.pdf


“We’ve adjusted how the detector accumulates information.
You’ll find that the GPZ is now more stable and consistent over the ground than before. You should
encounter fewer false signals from a wide range of challenging soils.”

Dr. Philip Wahrlich
Principal Technology Physicist,
Minelab R&D Team

----------------------------------------------------------

“Once you set up the
machine’s ground balance
with the yellow ferrite, it now
tracks and stays balanced for
the whole session. ”

Jonathan Porter
Professional Prospector
Queensland, Australia

Top notch Minelab, you are the best, no doubt about it!

Thank you

I gave Minelab a call today asking some questions about the update procedure as I am a little concerned about damaging my machine. This is what I asked.

Q1. Is it OK to turn my detector on inside the house with the coil still connected? That is where the computer I want to use to update with is located.

Answer. Yes it is OK. You need the coil connected to do the update. Turning it on in built up areas won't damage it.

Q2. Will my machine ground balance without using the ferrite ring after the upgrade?

Answer. Not sure. The guy pointed me towards my local dealer for further info.

Mmmmmm......... I wonder if you can roll back the software update if not happy with the new upgarade.

I dont use the ferrite ring now, but will I have no choice if I update it? You know where I am coming from here?

I am going to give it a go tonight with my laptop out bush so I can see what happens. After I pick up the new ferrite ring!

Will let you know how it goes.

cheers

I hope we now get an explanation of changing between gold modes, data dumping etc.
Onward and Upward I hope.

Reefdog they have made the first release available along with the update, so download both, then if you're not happy with the update you can drop back to the January release.

Cheers

Thanks Alchemist! Full steam ahead this arvo!

Cheers

The only way to do that would be a manual download and reinstalling the Jan 2015 file

M.

Update installed, easy peezy.
Now to hope it reducing the false signals as specified.

Just done the up-grade this arvo, WOW, what a difference, it sounds like a new/different machine, purrs like a kitten now. Haven't been out for a proper detect just out the back of the Laanecoorie van park near the lake, and it runs nice and quiet, not like before.

Used the ferrite at the start in tracking etc just like the instructions, and will go for a proper detect tomorrow.

cheers dave

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the feedback and keep us all in the loop after you have had a few hours experience with the new up-date on the 7K, by the sound of it, it should be a real winner, can't wait to try mine out ASAP.

Cheers, AUoptimist.

Hi Everyone, My GPZ7000 runs fairly trouble free, quite happy with it. Two days ago I got a little warbily signal in a heavily detected area, detecting holes and scratchings everywhere, after digging down 2ft or more, out popped a 67.55gm rough looking nugget. I was over-the-moon with that one. After over 80 nuggets this was the deepest one and biggest one. Now, to do the new software upgrade or not? HELP. Cheers, Hermann.
P.S. The thumper nugget was found in the golden triangle, VIc. General-difficult-sens.11

Congratulations on your nice find Hermann!

Seems to me you have the perfect area to test the new release on, that patch has the potential to give up more, and if you don't try, you'll never know what might've been.

Just make sure your battery is fully charged before you attempt it. Most flash devices need a higher voltage to program them so the bootloader will not proceed with the upgrade if the battery is not replete.

I've not tested it in the field yet, but from what I have done so far it does indeed appear more sensitive, perhaps up to an inch or more on gram+ pieces, and given the improved auto-track it should be a sustained maximum depth reach.

The beauty is, Minelab have provided the original release as well as the new one, so if you find that in your area the original ran better, you can always reload it again.

Minelab really have taken us into the future, I can't wait to check some productive ground again.

Cheers
Kev.

Has anyone successfully completed the update on a Mac?

JayMowgrass wrote:Has anyone successfully completed the update on a Mac?

i did mine on a pc, but did the manual method.
Would not expect a mac to differ greatly.
Just make sure the Z is kept on. Safely remove drive: then unplug usb cable for the update to work. Z recognises an updated file, and updates.
I first shut down Z, then turned on to no avail.

Thanks Kev, I will update the GPZ and see how I go. I'm still a little bit worried about doing it. Cheers, Hermann.

Hermann wrote:Thanks Kev,  I will update the GPZ and see how I go.   I'm still a little bit worried about doing it.  Cheers,  Hermann.

Just did mine on the PC . Trust me Hermann, if I can do it, anyone can!

by JayMowgrass Yesterday at 11:10 pm
Has anyone successfully completed the update on a Mac?

Yeah did mine yesterday on a Mac.