5000 and its problems

After reading a few problems on here with the gpx 5000 I now see the lucky few who get a good one straight out of the box others have issues.

My 5000 is now at the bottom of Macintyre brook at goondiwindi i threw it away after hours and hours of frustrating settings and watching a SD2000 beat it in every angle.

My problems-
uncontolable siren noise - replacement battery 395.00 (original battery was faulty) still waiting on the replacement after 4 months
DD coil lead was crimped over unable to plug into the control box- 67.80 to get repaired electronics store
Harness straps come apart from the main belt- 108.00 bux to get re stiched with canvass straps
Car battery charger not working - 89.99 to replace the unit
skid pan fell off the mono coil base first day use in open ground
there was slight cracking from new on the graphite shaft
1 of the lug springs popped out
unable to detect less than 2 grams of gold.

I have purchased another GPX5000 today in hope that its not another lemon. Grats to those who has one and it "works"

so my cost has been high at some of my fault but 13 grand for 2 detectors plus other costs. I contacted Minelab with a "user error" as the problem , fair enough So i emailed Minelab USA and no response as yet..dont expect one either.
Hope others dont have these problems but if you do just look at my checklist and know i have been through it.
Happy hunting
Twobit

I told ya, I would swap it for my extreme, or give u 500 for it...
Heres the words from a pro prospector whom uses a SD2200
Quote " You can have them poofter machines"

.

Plead temporary insanity on this one 2Bit.. Or your gonna fry...

Hi all,

My 2 cents worth !! in under 6months with mild use I have had my Battery replaced ,Mono 11" coil replaced (not faulty batch) under warranty and since then my Handle has Snapped off from working on banks!! and my main lead has failed replaced them myself.

The new coil and battery where like i had a new machine but 6 weeks on i cant bump the ground without machine going crazy (i put it down like a sleeping baby just for peace)

Car charger doesnt work properly it always goes to blink mode instead of solid orange when worn down and shows fully charged after 30 mins....Then i take home too real power and it charges properly..Solid Orange,then blinking Orange green perfect then green perfect..
car charger probably wrecked first battery !! i use my inverter instead safer.


Thx

Have heard intermittent stories ever since I got my 3500 of M/L car charger's wrecking batteries.
I thought they had fixed them by now.
Perhaps not.
If that's true, it's pretty crazy.

This is what the manual says about charging the GPX4500 battery from the car charger cig lighter socket.

"To prevent damage to the battery, do not
start the vehicle's engine while the battery
is connected.Make sure your vehicle's battery is in good condition before using it to charge the
GPX-4500 battery."

Pay particular attention to the first sentence in RED

The instruction manual for the GPX5000/4800 and the GPX4000 all state the exact same thing. This could be where some of the trouble is being caused if this is not being followed.

cheers dave

dave,

does that mean there is a surge to the battery from the charger if the car is started
while it's plugged in?

thanks

G'day Flakmagnet

That's what I'm guessing that the problem might be, but for Minelab to put this caution in there manual from the GPX4000 onwards, when they first started using Li ion batterys there must be something to it.

You would need to attach a voltmeter or such to the car charger, to the Li ion battery being charged to see if there is a spike or whatever as the vehicle starts.

I just do as they suggest and make sure it is not connected while starting the vehicle.

cheers dave

I could be wrong, but i dont think the common multimeter would be fast enough to measure a voltage spike.

fencejumper wrote:

anyone that would throw a $6000 in water then buy another $6000 machine does not have the common sense to work a 5000


don't worry no one actualy thinks you have no common sense

lol I wasnt working the 5000 it was working me hence rage/throw but the new 5000 works far better no problems at all so far. Had i seen a minelab rep he would of followed the old 5000 straight into the river.

Common sense loses all credability once the anger rages through the blood stream

twobit. personally i think you are full of it as no one in their right mind would do that.

on the battery side of things. if you got a UPS (uninterupted power supply), you might get away without having battery issues when charging the battery from the car.

I can believe it, my 5000 almost had a similar fate, I like Narrawa's idea better.

Goldbait I definately threw it I have no value on something that was crap.
The new one works far better than the other mongeral thing. When you have had nothing but trouble with an item and theres a point people get to that is enough, i reached that point and money is only money it can be replaced easily. The point is not about me tossing the other one into the macintyre river its about the over all problems ive experienced with the GPX 5000. Yes 6000 dollars is a lot to pay for it , its all made in china so in a buyers market we are not getting what we paid for especially when parts come out of a box thats supposed to be QA tested are faulty.
Minelab are doing exactley what other larger companies are doing mass production in a chinese industry and we get a mass produced product. Cheap labor cheap components!

Throwing a $6000 machine in some peoples eyes is horrific but in my mind I threw a 200-300 dollar piece of rubbish.

We are living in a disposable society and china has made it so. The TV you brought in 2009 @ 3000 dollars is now worth 499 bux it breaks it would cost 2000 dollars to fix what would you do?
Minelabs option for chinese builds will be the same 2011- 6000 bux for a GPX5000, 2014- 399.00 reject shop or 4000 to repair..

Full of it? No look at laptops the last 4 years from $3000 plus down to $599.00 with a 50 bux cashback ..MADE IN CHINA so yeah i dont feel bad at all it got what it deserved.

Twobit

Oh and the battery was faulty out of the box and the car charger never worked .. never got to use it i use a dick smith knock off instead.

Hey twobit, why don't you come over to WA and I'll take you to some of my best spots.

First we'll hit the old diggings, be prepared to dig a lot of junk.
Then we'll hit the salt lakes, getting pretty warm out there.
Then we'll go to a red hot patch. It's very mineralised so you'll have to run in sensitive smooth and there are heaps of hot rocks there as well.

If you don't find any gold then at least I'll pick up a slightly used 5000

Seriously mate with your attitude you're not going to get far in the detecting game.

wedge? Not sure what u mean there

my attitude? whats wrong with it?

I dont offend people,keep my stuff clean.. if i offended you i guess im sorry.

My opinion is a bit strong but I guess if we are all the same be very boring, ive been detecting since i was 17 or so , i do like to think i have a bit of a clue as far as me throwing something away i thought was worthless than I dont understand why you say my attitude is bad. Ive been on trips with a few of these guys they know me I dont get frustrated or angry in fact i was trying to help byteman with his questions, fatninja maka bullant few others but solo in a fit of rage i threw a detector big deal.

I got a new one now it works well no problems at all

twobit

If you havent raged and havent broken something in your life theres something wrong with you...
Ask my PC. It has been punched and thrown in the last week, and the cords ripped out so hard it broke off the usb ports...
This is a machine with all the top of the line gear in it. 6 core cpu, xfire cards, massive cooling system, fans on everything that needs cooling, blingy flashing strobe lights, etc, all wires hidden.. Custom case, Took me many hours to build. $125 mouse smashed, G19 keyboard punched to death...
I am not rich and cant afford to smash my gear, but when your get frustrated enough, everythings possible...
But its still better than the last PC tower , monitor, cables etc that all went out the window of a 2 story house while the window was closed..
I can relate to smashing anything regardless of price or hours spent building it...
I have heard of guys taking axes to model aircraft that too 600 hours to build...
Stress, testoterone, and frustration can be a deadly weapon against malfunctioning electronics...

anger management !!

No, thats simply the management!

I am so glad i got a good 5000 the more its used the better i get in understanding the potential of it,
On the battery front i have never used the minelab supplied battery as i had just bought a lucky lark from Reeds
when i updated from a 4500 they are brilliant and i recomend them to everyone.
twobits your a brave man to revisit the same machine after your initial horrors, good luck with the new one.

cheers
Marty

Thanks twobit, you have done someone a favour by getting rid of the problem. If you had sold it, someone else would have the same trouble and it could have been me.
I have been a member of this forum for a long time, but your generosity has prompted me to make my first post, so g'day to everyone.
Lastly twobit, DONT TAKE UP GOLF.
Kind Regards,
Pete

ah spinifex...there you are.
was wondering where you'd gone.

Yes the new machine is 10 times better far sweeter everything.

Cant believe the difference and much less frustration , gotta say when its working its working well i got a specially made harness for it as im fairly tall and its beautiful.

Ohhh and the harness matches your eyes, it really brings out the blue... Pity there was a massive electrical storm yesterday or we may have done a little better..
Oh well another spot marked off the map i guess..2 billion more to go....

lol cheers mate, that piece i picked up what i thought was iron is actually an ironstone coated nugget , smacked it with a hammer to my surprised its gold.

thats a trap for young players i was going to throw it....

twobit wrote:lol cheers mate, that piece i picked up what i thought was iron is actually an ironstone coated nugget , smacked it with a hammer to my surprised its gold.

thats a trap for young players i was going to throw it....

in the Macintyre brook at goondiwindi??

no found that at glendon area not in the brook actually its macintyre river at goondiwindi brook is further east towards Inglewood.

The piece was a little flat piece found on the edge of a road close to Glendon near warwick.

Hi Twobit,
I'm with you on the cheap labour mate it breaks your heart when you don't get what ya pay for.
But you've got me worried about this "uncontrollable siren noise" the 5k makes? mine does that it drives me crazy it will do it once a trip but only last a few minutes I hate it.
Can someone plz tell me I don't have a dud because unlike twobit I cant afford a replacement unit.
Plus I'm yet to find anything with my 5k yet but I was hopping that was due to only just taking up the hobby, I'd be gutted if it could be equipment related not experience?
Hoff,

my piece of &#@$ died again so its off to tassie to turf it in the river on that beer ad, hopefully it comes out as a 5500 ,even a 4500 would be fine, long as its not this unreliable piece of rubbish.mines been doin the siren thing too, try adjusting the mantune + or minus 5 ,it works for me but then again lemons could be diff to adjust than yours.havent been fishin for a while .guess i got a couple of months to try the new sounder out waiting for the 5000 to get fixed,if anything like last time

I smell RECALL....
I will be in the market for an upgrade soon, but i think i will get a 4500, and save the headaches..