1st go at a GPX 4500

[Davent]

No gold.
Took my gpx out bush, to play with. Didn, t really go to a great spot, just an old gold mine, and as the wet season is still here, had to stick to clearings near the road, as the spear grass is now head high.
I am really impressed with this unit, so quiet and steady. I know very little about the minelabs, only what I have read on forums, so stuck with the 11 inch dd and factory quick set up settings. Very easy to use. Got a signal about 15m from the car, litterally just turned it on, that boomed through the headphones, quick dig, and piece of tin about 1 cm turned up, sounded like 44 gallon drum!
About 10more meters, and another strong signal, this time I called it for a wheelbarrow, a bullet about 6 inches down. Bit further along, and this time it sounds like a car body, another bullet, but a bloody big one, must have been buffalo here in the 70, s and 80, s, down about 10 inches.
Its so bloody hot, about 35 deg, but the air is so thick, its hard to explain, I used to work at karatha, and 42 there is much more tollerable than this!
Last target, another boomer, so I start to dig....and dig....dig a bit more, hole is a good 12" deep, and getting bigger, on the side of a track, down hill, its deep, so got me curious, I keep digging, but the the hole is almost on the track, and its getting to hot, cant stand it, so fill the hole and go back to the hilux for aircon and a coldy.
Can, t stand the headphones, will get a speaker. Also will try a detector mod battery pack. Then get an elite 14 or evo 12 before the dry.

 

[silver]

And then finish digging up the big one ! 8)

 

[Davent]

Reckon the big one is probably a steam hammer from the 1880, s with a box of horse shoes attached to it.

 

[BigWave]

I also can't stand headphones, and even though 60+, I've very good hearing, so go with a speaker on my 4500 (up high on my harness). That way my young lass (she digs as my knee's currently rooted) and I can also better communicate - without many words need spoken these days. I installed an switch to turn it off when using a pinpointer.

 

[Bonacini]

hey i recon i know where you were to find those big led bullets lol, found a few myself never found them anywhere else

 

[Davent]

Are you in Darwin Bonacini?

 

[Bonacini]

hahaha nah i suppose there was more then one bloke with that size gun 60 years ago hey lol my bad

 

[Davent]

Went to the same general area today with an experienced sdc user. He picked up 1/2 grm job, and called me over before he dug it. I was useing the 4500 with the standard 11"dd, no signal at all. He dug it, and sure enough about .5, really bright, after a wash. Then he put it down on the surface, again, no signal from me.....I was picking up really small bits of iron, much smaller than .5 of a gram.??????whats going on, so he brings out this jar, and the bloody things full! He picks aout a different piece, about the same size, and I get a great signal????? It was a bit flatter , but not heavier, the shape of the find today was a bit spikey, could that be a reason? And will a better mono coil like an 11" elite, 12"nf evo or sadie solve my problem?

when I say no signal, I mean no signal at all, not even a break in the threshold. The 45 was on normal, dd factory setting. Tweaked the gain after, but still no change.

 

[Nightjar]

Throw the DD away, the 11" Commander Mono is a winner on the 4500.
We use double speakers through a B&Z booster, flick the switch when you get a target, you can still hear the signal but it isn't booming out for the world to hear.
Enhance & 10/12 Gain.

 

[mbasko]

I wouldn't throw the DD away - you've seen it will pick up 1/2 grammers just not all of them. I've picked up slightly smaller bits with the 11"DD on older machines so the "spikey" bit may have been one that slips past the GPX i.e. there are certain types of porous/prickly gold that GPX's can struggle with where the SDC & some VLF's don't. I had a piece that was clear as with a Whites GMT but at best was a faint murmur on a GPX & it was tested on three separate machines with mono coils running enhance or fine gold. It might also come in handy for high EMI or areas of high mineralisation. The 11" DD should run nicely in normal or possibly even sharp & will punch deep but it won't be as sensitive to small, shallow gold as a mono coil.
What was your other coil you got with the 4500? Did it end up being the 15" 12" mono? If so give it a try as many are impressed with it's sensitivity on the GPX's too but I never used one.
Like Nightjar says the 11" Commander is a great coil on the GPX's & is very underrated. Try what you've got first though.
P.s again as Nightjar says use enhance with mono coils unless the ground is fairly mild (normal/sharp) or severe mineralisation try sensitive smooth (or put the DD back on).
Some timings charts that may help:
http://www.detectorprospector.com/g...-gpx-4000-4500-5000-manuals-timing-charts.htm

 

[Heatho]

Some porous or prickly types of gold will be difficult for GPX's to detect, the SDC loves these pieces. You'd think that a 1/2 grammer would still give a signal with a DD coil, sure you weren't in cancel mode? You can use the DD in the mono setting with enhance too and it will be very sensitive.

I'll 100% agree with what Matt says too. The DD's are a good coil and needed in some situations.

 

[mbasko]

Yep forgot about that too. Try the DD in mono setting for better sensitivity. It basically halves your coil footprint as it only uses half of the DD coil but improves sensitivity to small, shallow gold. Drawback is you will lose depth & may also introduce unwanted ground noise or possibly EMI so will need to adjust settings to suit.

 

[Moneybox]

I'm dying to get out to gold country with the 4500. Today we were heading out to an old timber camp from early last century but it started raining last night and its still bucketing down in Capel. The 4500 and the White's GMT can work side by side within 3m without any interference at all. The old bus is sitting there loaded and ready to go but Mrs M won't budge from under the quilt

 

[AtomRat]

What a whopper of a projectile! Rats mustve been big back then

Was this the detector from gumtree davent?

 

[Davent]

Yes gumtree. Met the seller, he just moved here from Victoia. The 4500 he sold me came complete with reciepts and warrenty detail from the Miners Den (Minelab superstore) in Mitcham Victoria, and the salesmans buisness card is included, so machine is genuine if thats where you were going atom? My mate asked the same question.

Suspect that the big projectile is for Water buffalo that used to be common through the top end, they still are, just not in this area anymore.