GP3500 - To modify or not?

Hi all im trying to decide if i should have my 3500 moded cant aford a 4500 so i guess i might as well give it a go.I have been detecting for about 20 months and feel like i might be up against it with older technology just wondering if anybody could pass on some info which might make me decide what to do thanks for your input goinbush

I was in a similar quandary , I ended up going and buying a 4500 as well as keeping my unmoded extreme for my misses.

Yes I have found gold with the 4500, but so has the misses with the old extreme. So I would suggest if you can't afford the latest machine, there is nothing wrong with a standard 3500, it will still find you gold.
Cheers

Mate don't waste your money,
They are only usefull when chasing tiny bits of gold.
They make your unit more noisey,
The 3500 is a good unit the way it is,
i dug deeper gold with my 3500 than i have with my 4000 or 4500.

You would be better of putting the money you were going to spend on
mod's towards maps and getting out to good gold areas instead, you will
be better off in the long run.

but if your into chasing very small bits then go for it, but don't expect
your unit to be as smooth as it is now after you have the mods done.

cheers fencejumper

thanks guys for your help i have found gold with the 3500 as is . Just looking for some depth improvement , thought this might be the way to go but if it makes the detector more unstable ill be leaving it alone thanks again Goinbush

I had my GP3500 modded three weeks ago and I'm Happy.
I agree the 3500 is a good unit anyway but I wanted it to be a bit better and quieter and thats
what I got back,I find it interesting that others here say it makes the units noiser,or only for small gold, thats not what I have found, I can now run mono's in ground where I couldn't before ie 8" 11" and 24"
The depth on large and small targets I would say is better and you have a greater choise of settings.
The only valid point I can see is it might be a bid of a down point on the re sale of unit but I wouldn't sell mine and will up grade later and keep the modded 3500 as a spare unit.
I feel I have a better unit now and don't need to upgrade so soon and will watch closely and save for the next model which gives time to prove the newer technology and any future ML upgrades.
I'm heading off for a week to give it a good test soon but have already put in enough short day trips to make the above statement from actual testing of my own modded unit, against what I had before.
I havent found any gold yet ,but dug heaps of bullets , shells, shot and assorted metal with no trouble with hot rocks.
Regards Mark

sounds good mark, let us know how you go on deep gold,
would be interested in hearing as i've never heard anyone
say it helped them on decent size gold at depth.

did you have all three mods done, if so have you
ran all three at once?
cheers fencejumper

edit
one more? did you turn the mods of before digging targets
to see differance in responce?

Yes I will let you know how I go in vic in 3 weeks.
Its not very good over here in Adelaide and the few areas we have are very well hammered but now I'm digging
lots of missed targets which is a good sign.
I have dug down deeper than I have before on old rusted bolts, buttons and nails so the depth is good,I have also buried 1 to 6 OZ lead weights and I can pick them up better than before and beleive thats because the machine is more stable.
One of the areas I go to , the mil used rifle blank rounds with a plastic 7.62 mm shell with a alloy rim ,the primers fall out and over the years the ground gets ripped { Pine forrest } I pick these up loud and clear down several inches + small shotgun pellets and doser blade chips.
This is much beter than before and the noisy ground is easier to work with monos and dead quiet with a DD on Mono setting.
I got all the Mods done and have two switches , one is One /Off and the other is a three position.
I run the unit mostly in Deep ,sensitive, med tracking and fix when on target.
mark

Hi Mark,
did you get your GP modded by Woody or Ismael? The 3500 I used was (apparently) a bit of a noisy one before it was modded. It still found a lot of gold up to 1gram in a short space of time. I have since seen a few GP Extremes and 3000's done with very good results. I will be playing with an 'uber' modded Extreme in a week or so.

Also, thus far it seems that the mods add a little to the re-sale value of the unit. Cheers, Dwt

Hi Pennyweight
I sent you a PM
mark

Hi Mark,
Its good to see you are having a positive experience with the modded Detector.

Woody.

G'day members,

having read the numerous posts over the last few weeks on 'mods' for Minelab machines that were represented as being excellent in their own time, I have to ask why it's necessary to have modifications worked on Minelab detectors which were represented to be the ultimate machines (always bearing in mind that there's another, even more excellent model just around the corner to catch the eye of he who must have the latest and greatest).

Alright, please forgive the little touch of cynicism in the last paragraph, Now with regard to 'mods', if these modifications are so necessary, why haven't Minelab incorporated them into their latest detectors? Is it possible that Minelab haven't fully field-tested their machines in all configurations before putting them on the market? Is it possible that Minelab are marketing their detectors so quickly, one model after another, that their adherents (you and I) are perhaps being duped?

Or is it that the whole 'mods' deal is a sham? Why would Minelab machines need 'mods' if they're so bloody good? And incidentally, mine is GOOD regardless of what model it is and what year it was produced. Not a problem with it.

OK, so this entire post sounds more than just cynical, I'm just one of those old fashioned bastids with one eye open and one eye half closed to the possibility of bullshit.

See you fellas, I'm off for a cold beer.

Imagine if a company brought out the best possible device for doing a job, there would be no more repeat business from those that want to upgrade. Its just like a new model car, its much the same but it may have Leather seats and surround sound. I have modded so many detectors, (anywhere between 6-10 a week) for the last 12 months and to date I have had no complaints. 90% of mods is word of mouth via detector clubs and a few are from my website http://detectormods.com