My recent experiences with the GPX-5000 on a saltwater beach

I earlier made a post on several forums asking for tips on how to setup and hunt on a saltwater beach using this machine. After receiving only minimal input I decided to give it a shot and recently had a couple chances to try it out. I didn't have any issues setting up the machine to operate smoothly, and was able to hunt with a gain of 12-14 with no problems at the Va Beach oceanfront. Here are the settings I ended up using:

Toggle switches: General / Special / DoubleD / Fixed

Settings:

- Vol Limit: 14
- GB Type: General
- Special: Salt-Gold
- Manual tune: Set to local conditions
- Motion: Slow
- Rx Gain: 14
- Audio: Normal
- Audio Tone: 50
- Stabilizer: 10
- Signal: 16
- Target Vol: 8
- Response: Normal
- Tracking: Medium
- Iron Reject: 9

I didn't have any interference problems either. I was using the waterproof platypus coil, but was very disappointed that it would false badly every time the water lapped up on it. The same is apparently true of the new Minelab CTX-3030. So I had to make sure I stayed away from the water. But my partner that day found 5 rings down in the very shallow water at low tide with an Excalibur. That's usually one of the most productive areas so I definitely was at a disadvantage by not being able to hunt there. Other than that I was very impressed with the way the machine handled. I was able to disc out most bobby pins and small pieces of wire. They either nulled out or came in very erratically so after digging a few of those signals I learned to leave them alone. Before heading to the bebach I had done some air testing and discovered that even when using the max iron reject setting I could still solidly pick up even the thinnest of gold bans so I had no fear about that. It also got great depth on coins, but I already knew that would be the case. I dug a couple of nickels at around 15", and they came in fairly strong. The pinpointing with the platypus coil was very easy too, and it was lighter to swing than the stock DD. Anyway, based on my experiences I feel that using my Infinium is probably the best bet at this type of site. That machine is incredibly stable all the time, gets excellent depth, is easy to pinpoint, and you can move it in and out of the salt water without falsing. Its just too bad those bobby pins sound so good. And they slip through the sand scoop so easily. If they just made an Infinium with discrimination that would be awesome. I did hear a recent rumor that an Infinium II was in the works, but even the Garrett folks wouldn't acknowledge that. Guess I'll just have to wait and see. Anyway, I guess the bottom line with using the 5000 at a saltwater beach is that it will perform quite well as long as you keep it dry, but that will definitely limit your chances for success. And by the way, the pic below shows my best find in 2 short hunts with the 5000.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f45/17/65/93/95/07061211.jpg

Great report, Bill D ... it was very interesting indeed! I am guessing that not too many people here would use their 5000 on the beach, thus the lack of response to your mention of earlier queries.

If that rock is real, it would just about pay for a new 5000

Mucked around with the 5000 on a beach around Port Macquarie last year and found it fantastic on 5 cent pieces- just a beach test and why I do not know. Such is life