Minelab GPX4500 tips, settings, questions

[Baldy]

Took the new 4500 for a bit of a test today..put a .06 gr nut down 6 inches in a hole and tried to get a sig..was using the coiltek Como 14 inch..was using Nugget Magnet,s settings..front gen,enhance,fixed...rear,vol limit17 ,gen,main tune. 120 set manually, v/slow,r X11, normal, tone,50 ,stab 9, signal 17, target vol 17 response norm.....could hear a positive sig..but was at its limit..tested an older 4500, same coil and much same settings and audio signal was the same..tried a 5000 same coil and settings same also..switch 5000 to fine gold and ...could not hear target...interesting...I switched stabiliser on new 4500 from 9 to 1 and was more stable and could even hear target better..tried it on the 5000 and lost the target signal...?...put a 8x6 Satie on thinking it would scream and I could,nt hear it ...had to pull the target up 3 inches before could hear it..? Hope you can understand all that..put the 11inch mono on and couldn't hear it... Coiltek rules..

 

[Guest]

Hi Baldy,

Did you happen to try the two coils the 4500 comes with now. The 11inch dd and the 12 x 15 mono?

 

[Baldy]

Nah..I've never used a dd coil I think mine lab just want to get rid of them just take up room in my bag..I will try the 12x15 next time ..from reports close to the coiltek but not quite as good..I was surprised how the 14 coiltek thrashed the 11 mine lab mono..I use to think that was a pretty hot coil..but I don't think in the race now..any way only one little test so many variables..

 

[GypsyGoldAu]

Nah..I've never used a dd coil I think mine lab just want to get rid of them just take up room in my bag..

Minelab will continue to add a DD coil with each machine so that WE can still make use of the Discriminator....not that i do, i only run Mono's and dig EVERYTHING., so nah, it's not about taking up room...lol

Gypsy

 

[G0lddigg@]

Whilst i use mono 99 percent of the time DDs definitely have thier place. Areas like dunolly that are riddled with trash filled mineshafts offer an opportunity to work ground that cannot be cleared by digging every target im talking not in a lifetime due to masses of decomposing barb wire lead shot tincans and bottle tops.

Also in north qld there is plenty of ground that responds very well to a dd and alot of blokes swear by the extra depth that can be gained with dds over monos due to being able to run higher gains without the added swamping.

 

[Dignit]

Hi all. Very informative topic. I'm also considering the GPX4500 or the SDC2300. I see the benefits of the 4500 being more flexible and the SDC being specific to sub gram shallow gold. I frequent the Vic Golden Triangle with a Garrett AT Gold, with no gold finds to date. Hence the extreme desire to upgrade. I'm leaning toward the 4500 to patch search and to drive deeper in virgin ground (if I can find any) in hope of finding greater than 1 gram nuggets, as well to search for shallow small gold in well turned ground. However, from what I've experienced most of the GT is well turned over, and I'm wondering how well the 4500 will go on the shallow small stuff. I'm thinking I should get a 8" mono as opposed to the Coiltek 14" elite mono, and along with the two coils in the special deal, I will cover my bases better. Will I do just as good with the 4500 8" mono and correct small gold timings as the SDC for the small shallow gold? Any thoughts? Cheers Andy

 

[tryhard1968]

Well I took the plunge and picked up my shiny new 4500 on Friday [very happy chappy ]and headed up to Maryborough for a swing. I have succesfully been working a 2300 in this area finding aroung 20 sub gram pieces over the last 3 months. My 2300 learning experience lead me to the low and slow scrape the ground method which I found very succesful. THe question I have is that I tried the same principal with the 4500 and it was very noisy when scraping the ground, if I raised it just off the ground it was much smoother, so I am wondering is this the correct method to use with the 4500. Am I on the right path or should I be scraping the ground and learning to distinguish the difference between ground noise and a target, I actually found myself digging a number of phantom holes that became frustrating. In the end I had my son check the target with the 2300 before digging. Any help advise would be very greatful. And I must say that I am over the moon with the price of the 4500 as I was contemplating the 5000 until this special was announced.

Rgds

Tryhard

 

[Dignit]

Hi Tryhard.
Sorry I can't offer advise on your question.
However, I'm very interested to know if you found anything with the 4500?
Cheers

 

[Chewy]

Congrats on the new detector Tryhard, I'll be interested in following this thread I have had the same problem before to.

 

[Baldy]

Hi Tryhard, I don't think the new Coiltek likes wet ground..hot rocks drive you crazy.my missus is sick of digging them for me..but there are plenty of options available to reduce them..funny the other day I reduced the stabiliser from 9 to 1.. And it ran smoother and had better target response..emi can be a bit hard to eliminate as well but if you can every thing else seems to run better..really got to learn as much as you can about the difference in the timings..If the ground is very aggressive you can't run with too much power,just back it off a little..Cheers..

 

[Baldy]

Hi Tryhard, I don't think the new Coiltek likes wet ground..hot rocks drive you crazy.my missus is sick of digging them for me..but there are plenty of options available to reduce them..funny the other day I reduced the stabiliser from 9 to 1.. And it ran smoother and had better target response..emi can be a bit hard to eliminate as well but if you can every thing else seems to run better..really got to learn as much as you can about the difference in the timings..If the ground is very aggressive you can't run with too much power,just back it off a little..Cheers..

 

[w3bgold]

Need to re-read the manual as the second time I ran mine it got a lot of noise, UP down Up down UPPPPPPPP down.

Not sure if it was EMI, Ground Noise or even the small plane flying over as the second spot I had a look at ground wise was busy and a little damp in some areas.
First run though came through ok.

Settings I used today;
Front Panel: General, Normal, Tracking (Fixed was too noisy, went smooth as on Tracking), Mono coil to match the provided 12 x 15 inch eliptical coil.

Rear Panel:
Factory Preset unless otherwise noted below.
Backlight: Off,
GB General,
Special I didn't touch since I was in General,
Manual Tune I didn't note, think it sat on 112 after an auto tune,
Motion: Medium (Slow was noisy also, medium with fixed tracking made it quiet),
Audio Type: Normal,
Rx Gain and Stabilizer factory preset
Tracking: Tried medium and Slow, forget which I had when I got it running smooth.

In hindsight as I type this post I realize I hadn't thought about trying Enhance soil/timings instead of General
Tried slow motion but got the above see-sawing noise; changing back to Medium with tracking ground balance and things worked well.

Overall, got to read the manual again and learn ground balance and Tuning again, plus any tips anyone can decrypt from my post.
The machine itself is in excellent working order, and quite comfortable to use after finely adjusting the bungy cord; I just got to catch up with it so I can use it properly.

Finds: Usual lead/brass bullets but still a confidence booster knowing it works.

 

[old hand]

Enhanced my 45 is in it most of the time in gen its to noisy .Most of the other setting would be hard to get right because of the ground noisy ,planes can up set the detector ,regards john

 

[G0lddigg@]

Need to re-read the manual as the second time I ran mine it got a lot of noise, UP down Up down UPPPPPPPP down.

Not sure if it was EMI, Ground Noise or even the small plane flying over as the second spot I had a look at ground wise was busy and a little damp in some areas.
First run though came through ok.

Settings I used today;
Front Panel: General, Normal, Tracking (Fixed was too noisy, went smooth as on Tracking), Mono coil to match the provided 12 x 15 inch eliptical coil.

Rear Panel:
Factory Preset unless otherwise noted below.
Backlight: Off,
GB General,
Special I didn't touch since I was in General,
Manual Tune I didn't note, think it sat on 112 after an auto tune,
Motion: Medium (Slow was noisy also, medium with fixed tracking made it quiet),
Audio Type: Normal,
Rx Gain and Stabilizer factory preset
Tracking: Tried medium and Slow, forget which I had when I got it running smooth.

In hindsight as I type this post I realize I hadn't thought about trying Enhance soil/timings instead of General
Tried slow motion but got the above see-sawing noise; changing back to Medium with tracking ground balance and things worked well.

Overall, got to read the manual again and learn ground balance and Tuning again, plus any tips anyone can decrypt from my post.
The machine itself is in excellent working order, and quite comfortable to use after finely adjusting the bungy cord; I just got to catch up with it so I can use it properly.

Finds: Usual lead/brass bullets but still a confidence booster knowing it works.

hey mate motioj is really important here, if you have a lot of variation or alot of emi a slower motion will smoooth these out, all it does really is slow down the signal so if the ground is kind of feeding back with that seessaw noise slow and slow swing speed, back the gain off.... yes you can still ping .2 gold at 5 inches with gain set to 4 on a 4500... too much noise = too much gain or emi. hope that helps.

stabilizer is also your range filter so if you want to quieten things down a bit turn your signal peak up to 19 so you get a nice sharp response and drop your stabilizer back, you can go as low as 6 without too ,many issue most of the time. ground permitting run at 12.

i dont use tracking ever, ive tried it ive seen it cancel out targets so i just get used to studying the ground and listing to the detector and ground balance often. ground balance is the most important thing. do it from the start do it right and slowly and you will run so much more quiet.

the plane certainly would be doing your head in, i.e. emi.... i can usually hear the storm coming and pack up and get back to the car before it rains planes are painful....

enhance is the best thing the 4500 has going for it, i detect in enhance nearly all the time because i know it is an advantage over every other detector prior to the 4500 so i find it gets the gold that other missed. i'm always amazed at bits sitting right there on top of a pile. I had a mate with a at gold with me a while back got hi to swing that over a small signal he couldn't;t hear it at 1 inch. the piece went .13.

enhanced detector experience good luck with it, if you are down this way nenad is doing some training soon i'll be going,,,

 

[user 4485]

You shouldn't be confusing EMI & ground noise. With EMI you will be getting spurious noises with the coil motionless. If that's the case then you will need to try & tune it out. Somedays you just need to find where it runs best & put up with it or pack up depending on the spherics on the day. Planes will always cause some unsettling but they will pass eventually.
With the coil motionless & you have no spurious noises until you start to move it then you've got ground noise. You need to ground balance but if they persist then try adjusting settings or even changing timing. With a mono in severe ground you may have to go to sensitive smooth if enhance is still giving you trouble with lower rx/stab settings.

Note: Regardless of whichAudioTypeis selected, the optimal position of the stabilizer is one number below the point where the threshold begins to chatter."

"Tip: By turning the stabilizer control close to minimum (<3) the threshold will be very stable, but you will lose a lot of sensitivity to smaller targets. This can be a desirable feature in certain scenarios, such as looking for large nuggets in a high-trash area, or using the GPX-4500 to search for coins or treasure."

"Tip: We recommend the best order for setting these controls are:
1. Select an appropriate Search Mode
2. Select the desiredAudioType
3. Adjust Rx Gain until the threshold starts to break up
4.Adjust Stabilizerto smooth out the threshold."

Don't get caught up too much in recommended setting numbers. Adjust to suit the area & what's going on that day. Don't be scared to try things - I used to find that running rx 14 stab 8 on my GPX5000 worked well in a lot of local areas. People always say to keep the stab close to the rx but I found that didn't always work & dropping it a bit would settle things down.
All that being said there are some areas that are just painful. One spot I know has it all - EMI from flight path + towers & basaltic, noisey ground. I've picked up gold there but it's a hard day out :lol: Even the SDC doesn't like it.

 

[Digginholes]

Just picked up my new toy.
Driving home excited as hell

 

[Chewy]

Congrats.

 

[Digginholes]

Cheers mate.
Had to convince myself I was spending the coin wisely instead of waiting longer and hoping for the sdc to have a good deal but I'm happy with my choice and I'm sure the 4500 will make the xterra look like a toy when it hits the field

 

[Dignit]

I picked up my new toy today too. Had the day off work and the wife gave me the green light. Couldn't believe it. Just finished assembling it and reading all the instructions. I read them yesterday as well before buying. Just waiting for the battery to charge. Will hit the Vic GT this Saturday to give it a go. Can't wait.
Dig'n-it

 

[SCROUNGER]

I'll make sure i try and keep clear of you on the weekend dig'nit. You sound like a man on a mission. :lol: Good luck mate