Inherited GP Extreme... use it... or Hire a GPX4500 ??

Hi All,

Fairly new to prospecting and relatively new to the forum.

I recently pseudo inherited (ie.. my father upgraded to a GPX5000) a nice GP Extreme (Minelab Upgraded + Quick Trac Button installed + Lucky Lark Battery/Booster). It has the two standard coils that came with this detector, of which the 11" DD is pretty much the main coil used.

Extra coils that I have access to... 14x9 Coiltek Elliptical Mono, 6" Coiltek Round Mono.

My Question :

I am heading to Cue for a week in April, and am in two minds.... should I use the GP Extreme or hire a GPX4500 for the week? In relation to the total cost of the trip (fuel, food, supplies, etc..), and factoring in the fair bit of effort to be able to get away for a week, am I wasting my time with the Extreme?

Many thanks in advance for any replies.

Regards,

Bushy

definately not wasting your time with the GP extreme. on a recent trip to a nearby goldfield i ran into 2 people who had just upgraded from a gp extreme to a 5000 and they said that there hasn't been any gold to date they would not have found with the GP when using the 5000.

i think they said the 5000 just ran smoother and quieter.

i have run the nugget finder 14x9 mono coil on my gp and it seams to run better than the stock 11" DD. a lot more sensative.

Thanks Goldbait for the reply.

At almost $300 for the week to hire a GPX, I guess using the GP Extreme will save me a bit of money. Probably a good machine to learn on as well.

Cheers,

Bushy

G'day Bushy.

Top advice from Goldbait there.Your 14x9 on the extreme should prove a top combination and if the ground gets just to hot to run the mono,your 11" dd will do a good job.A finely tuned GP Extreme is an excellent gold finder.

Cheers kon61.

hey Bushy69, the gp is an awesome detector, if i was you stick to the detector you know how to use for your trip as you know what to listen for and that. the 4000 and the 45s are a great detector but it does take a bit to work out your setting and that.....when you get home think about getting hold off the 45 and taking it out for a day and see what you think.
cheers
stoppsy

Hi Stoppsy,

I spent a few days in Kal with a GPX5000, and got a good feel for what I was doing wrong. :-) I would like to have those 3 days again, but that's the learning curve I guess.

Spent last weekend with the GP Extreme, and I did like it (it is very stable, and pretty simple to use). I am keen to pop on the 14x9 Coiltek Mono and also either the 6" or an 8" mono to try and get some small left overs.

I guess between the two of us, we will have a GPX5000 and the GP Extreme, and I might even hire a Minelab Eureka for my 11 year old boy (light weight, and would be interesting to have a VLF unit in the mix).

Thanks for all the feedback, looks like I will go with the GP, which will leave me with some money for food. :-)

Cheers,

Bushy

Hi Bushy
A good way to look at Minelab PI machines (SD2000 thru to Gpx5000).They are the formula 1's of Metal Detectors.Like F1's there is nothing at present that comes close to them.Every 2 years a newer model comes out that like F1's has a feature or features that slightly improve it on the previous model.All have a basic core timing that will enable you to find smaller nugs near the surface to beer can size nugs at 1 metre.
On the Gpx series timings have been added to handle hotter ground and find smaller gold.Good luck with your detecting.
Cheers Dig

Hi Bushy,

I use GP extreme and am very happy with it. Mine also was upgraded by Minealb to 2007 software and a new voltage regulator.

They are brilliant machines!

I got some good tips for you too.

Settings:

Keep treshold as low as you can hear it. Mine is usually at about 12:30

Keep Signal and Audio at Max.. It will make machine harder to balance and will blast your ears, but you will not miss much (even next to a 45). If balancing is really bad you can turn them down to 90% or so.

Never use "shallow" setting. The loss of depth is so huge that you might as well turn off the machine and just swing silent for a while. Results will be the same but you will not use up the battery -
I keep my machine in "deep/normal" or "deep/sensitive" depending on conditions.

When you come across a really soft-sounding target stop and change TONE. Find the tonality that your ears will hear best. This is diffrent for different people and i keep mine at 3 o'clock while a friend can hear better if it is set to 11 or so.

Technique:

Take about 3 seconds per swing. E.g. go slow!

When stepping forward go only 1/2 of a small coil or 1/3 of a large coil. Coils have sensitive spots and you want to put that part of the coil over every inch of the ground.

Scrape the ground with the coil if conditions allow, but othersise keep it as low as possible.

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One other thing - don't listen too hard. If you use the machine right, the real targets will be obvious.

Also, you sound like a young man, so unless you are hearing impared - ditch the sound booster! These things will cause more problems than benefits. Seriously, the only minelab machine i tried that actually needed a sound booster is 4000. Which is why 4500 had sound booster added into the battery pack. But GP machines will not benefit from booster. Don't belive the hype

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Good Luck!

Thanks for the tips Rtanweb... very handy stuff.

I never tried shallow, and tended to alternate between deep and normal..... will give shallow a miss altogether now on your advice.

Hmmm... not sure 40'ish is that young. LOL I have no option but to use the Lucky Lark Battery/Booster, as it is the only battery pack with the detector (I will see if he has the original Minelab pack). Also, my father is in his 70's and his hearing is a bit rooted, so yer, he needs the booster should he have to use the GP Extreme as a spare.

Seriously... many thanks for the post, I really do appreciate all the help.

Cheers,

Bushy