First shot at detecting

[isolation]

Hey all,

All is on tract to hire the GPX 5000, and SDC 2300 this weekend. Will be detecting both Saturday and Sunday on some private property at Goulburn, all going well.

The aim is to get a feel for detecting, finding a nug or two would be great, but would be happy to find a few nails etc, just to get a feel . The girl and I have already been practicing our geology and 'terrain reading'

I was wondering about detector settings/coils etc, and any other tips people may have. I believe the SDC is pretty much aim and shoot in regard to settings, but I understand the GPX has a variety of settings and coil types. I'm not sure what coils will be included with the hire, but with two detectors going over the same ground, what settings/coils would be best on the GPX to offset the capabilities of the SDC?

Do you just recharge the units via the 12v adaptor in your car? How long do they take to charge? Can you charge two at once somehow?

Thanks

John

 

[Guest]

The SDC is pretty much turn on & go. You really can't do too much wrong but for general detecting I would leave it in sensitivity 2 or 3 & threshold/volume setting about 4. If the area/ground is quiet you could try upping the sensitivity & see what you reckon?
With the GPX you will more than likely just get the stock 11" round mono & DD coils on hire unless you specifically ask for a different coil. Having not detected around Goulburn or not knowing the area at all I can't really recommend a coil to try. The 11" round mono stock coil is fine though for general use & if the area is overly trashy you can try the DD with iron reject. If you want to offset the SDC you could ask for a 14", 16" or 18" coil but if its shallow ground then it may not be needed anyway. One coil getting good results for sensitivity & depth is the Nugget Finder 17" x 11".
Being new I would be asking the shop to preset the GPX5000 in factory presets, if they haven't already, as these are the best for starting out in. You shouldn't have any drama's sticking to them & you can make adjustments if you feel confident enough as you go. If your adjustments don't turn out you can just reset everything back to FP. Get the shop to show you how.
Make sure they run you through the auto tune on both machines & also ground balancing correctly. These will be your biggest obstacles once your out by yourself - EMI if theres any & keeping the detector/s balanced so they run smoothly. The SDC is a lot more forgiving if EMI becomes a problem & constantly tracks too. You can run the GPX5000 in tracking also which isn't a bad idea being your first time.
The SDC batteries should give you a day of detecting. I would just grab a set or two (4/set) of good quality alkaline C cells to use on the second day &/or as back ups.
The GPX battery will last all day but some give it a top up in the car when having lunch or a break during the day. I would then just give it a charge that night in the car or mains if you have access. They should give you both 12v & 240v chargers. The GPX battery will probably take a few hours as will the SDC batteries if you want to recharge them. Haven't tried recharging both at the same time via 12v though?
Good luck.

 

[Teemore]

Just another small thing .... sure the shop will explain it but you can't use both detectors next to each other, allow a few yards between you and your partner,the detectors will let you know if you're too close.
Be very interested in how go go/rate the different detectors from a 1st timers perspective.
Cheers T.

 

[loamer]

Good advice from the guys. The 5000 for a beginner is probably the most complex detector there is, same with any GPX really. take mbasko's advice - get the shop to set it with factory presets and get them to show you how to at least adjust the manual tune - the manual tune screen should really be the one that you can see most of the day as it can help make the 5000 quieten down during the day by adjusting it up/down. If its a local hire shop, they should at least have some idea of the soils you are going to face - the 'noisier' the ground, the harder it is to detect with a 5000 if you don't know what you are doing. On one of the end caps on the 5000 has several switches - write down where the shop sets these as sure as eggs you will probably bump them during the day and you need to check that they are the same as when you left - you do not want to be running around with the the thing out of whack. Don't know about the SDC. The shop should (?) give you a run through. As I said, the 5000 is very complex - be careful with the settings you are given.

 

[topaza]

I spent good dollars about two weeks ago for 3 hours of expert tuition to learn what the guys are telling you in the above posts. They know what they are talking about, the advice is sound.

 

[Teemore]

An afterthought and again any shop trying to keep customers will probably do it but make sure they let you listen to some target responses before you go .... while some responses are razor sharp others are just/barely audible, it's important to have any chance of success that you identify these.
Cheers T.

 

[Wally69]

An afterthought and again any shop trying to keep customers will probably do it but make sure they let you listen to some target responses before you go .... while some responses are razor sharp others are just/barely audible, it's important to have any chance of success that you identify these.
Cheers T.

Spot on there Teemore,

Go low, go slow, dig everything and it is the feint ones that are a 'maybe in your mind' that you need to catch, then brush away the surface and check. These could be the ones that others have missed.

Good luck, may the axles on your vehicle buckle under the weight of your success.

 

[isolation]

Thanks for all the great advise and well wishes.

The discussions I have had with the retailer suggests that the person looking after the shop on Saturday, may not be able to give me any help at all, just hand over the equipment.

There is a miners den not too far from me, and those guys were really helpful at the demo day I attended. Perhaps I should go and get some instruction from them? Their help would get my future business

 

[WalnLiz]

Pity you're not anywhere near Canberra, as Detect a Den has an in house test bed and some really experienced staff with both those machines. Hire out pretty well every detector on the market as well, and take the hire fee off the purchase price should you end up buying one.

 

[isolation]

I will be hiring from the Canberra store, Detector Den. Peter I spoke to on the phone was very helpful, he just wasn't sure the person working Saturday could help me with instruction.

 

[WalnLiz]

Have a talk to him and see if you can pick it up on Friday....I'm sure it would be OK under the circumstances.

 

[isolation]

Unfortunately I think he leaves early on Friday, and we can't make it down in time.

 

[sususydney]

Hi john,
when digging its faster to get the target off the ground by digging in wide, but knowing how deep your targets are helps with how wide you should dig.
But generally you should dig about 15cm or more wide to get a faster recovery rate. My experience was using a small hand shovel and try to get the target off by digging straight into it, so its better to have a good shovel and dig out wide... have fun and hope you recover nuggets that cover your costs!

 

[isolation]

Thanks Susu, any tips that make digging easier are much appreciated

 

[isolation]

Ok, so tested the two units on the weekend, no gold, but both did a great job at finding bullet heads, shot, bullet casings, wire, nails...etc. Was happy with the results, even though it was just rubbish we were finding. All finds were very close to the surface as you'd expect, so both units went off their head as we swung over a target.

We decided to do a bit of a test with some gold jewellery. Not sure how deep we buried it, but it would have been somewhere between 10-12 inches. The GPX with an 11' mono sounded off quite strong, an unmistakable target. The SDC didn't waver at all on no.2 setting, and I couldn't really say I could pick any deviation on no.5 setting either. The target was a decent size, a gold cross, so if it was an even smaller nugget, with a smaller surface area, I fail to see how the SDC would pick it up. Happy to be enlightened to the contrary.

I guess I was leaning toward purchasing the 2300, but after the disappointing jewellery test, I'm definitely having a rethink. I know it's not really designed to shoot very deep, and it's a small nug specialist, but I was hoping to get a foot out of it on a decent target. Perhaps I'm being a bit hard? Apart from that, it's got a whole heap of great features, which is why I was leaning towards it in the first place.

Happy to hear your thoughts

 

[Guest]

The GPX5000 being better on deep targets will be no surprise. For $2700 more it should be better! On the other hand I have dug some very deep holes with my SDC that started at little more than a slight threshold break from the surface. A reasonably sized nugget at 10-12" I would have confidence that I would get it. Have dug holes 2 foot deep in mullock heaps for scraps of tin.
Comparing the two is a bit hard as they are different machines. The GPX5000 is the best you can buy but still has limitations & gold that it will miss regardless of coil used etc. For versatility in regards to shallow hunting, deep hunting, coil selection, range of settings etc. though it is by far superior.
The SDC will find gold the GPX misses though with it's MPF timing & in my opinion for ease of use, gold finding ability, portability etc. its a great machine. The amount of times I've found gold with it now within 10mins of getting out of the car is amazing. The only goldless trip I've had was the first time I used it for 2 hours at a spot close to town that I have also never found anything on with any other detector. Tested the SDC there because it has powerlines which the SDC ran well directly under. My GPX used to play up there even a fair distance from them.
One thing that I can say is that with the GPX I was never 100% confident that I would find some gold every trip. With the SDC I would be disappointed if I didn't find at least one bit.

 

[isolation]

Yeah from everything I've read from those who have one, I've heard very little in the way of complaints... Perhaps it's just my newbie-ness shining through :/

I haven't given up on it, maybe a bit more time in a known Gold field might be needed. It's just a whole lot of cash to lay down, so I guess I'm just trying to be sure.

 

[WalnLiz]

Had a run of the SDC just to see what all the hype was about, and must admit I was very impressed indeed. Done a few tests on various nuggets, and If money was no object I'd be in the shop tomorrow walking out with one.

"HOWEVER", ...if you were to come to the Kimberly with me on my next trip, and all you took was the SDC, I'd put a carton of beer down that for every ounce the SDC retrieved The GPX would retrieve Ten. I say this as 90% of the nuggets are in creek bed situations at between 8 to 20 inches. The SDC would have many fruitless mornings.

On the other side of the equation,... if I was to work mullock heaps, extensive bedrock bars and known shallow reef areas the SDC would be my main weapon of choice.

Guess it all boils down to the areas you "mainly" work....and the "Total" amount of gold you wish to target. If I could only pick one machine it would be hands down the GPX.

Cheers Wal.

 

[isolation]

Yeah that's probably more the point Wal. If I'm going to lay down a whole lot of cabbage on one machine, the GPX just seems more versatile.

 

[WalnLiz]

The main thing I generally like to stress is "Location" of where you want to use it, will always influence your choice of machine. Some people are in areas where small sub gram nuggets close to the surface dominate the type of terrain they're in.

Sure you will pick up a lot of very small gold with the SDC, and in most cases quite consistently, but it needs a lot of this very small gold to make up an ounce. The GPX may miss some of this small gold.....but at the end of the day will retrieve that same ounce quicker with bigger nuggets at depth.

Horses for courses I guess, but for my way of thinking I'd hate to be walking over a nugget of several ounces at depth without the best possible chance of retrieving it.