Minelab GPX5000 tips, settings and questions

[risky]

Thanks Loamer for your insight. So are the headphones supplied with 5000 of good enough quality in your opinion?

 

[condor22]

I bought a 5000 late last year, it came with a pair of Koss UR-30 headphones which I think are about $95. Some sell a cheaper brand, I think they are RPG and about $35/6.

I believe the Koss are the good ones, check the brand on the ones you were supplied

 

[kazakhstan]

When searching for gold, the headphones should be used, a weak signal on the external speakers you miss, and then miss a nugget!

 

[risky]

I was supplied with Koss ur 30

Cheers Risky

 

[WalnLiz]

I run Koss UR30's and they have served me extremely well. Personally I wouldn't run an external speaker...though in the heat of WA I've sometimes been tempted.

Wal.

 

[Gail]

The Koss are the best but I use the external speaker & rooster booster (and I don't care who they annoy lol), I am hard of hearing and the headphones interfer with my hearing aid. My partner checks my area after me and only finds 1 or 2 small ones I have missed or none at all, which is great for me to know.

 

[Redfin]

Mate using anything short of the best on a 5000 would be like putting retreads on an F1 car.

 

[risky]

Thanks guys for the input.

Your right redfin im not keen on fittin me f1 with retreads!

Yes Wal i would like to invest in a speaker simply to avoid the sweaty ear whilst in Wa later this year!

Cheers Risky

 

[WalnLiz]

Might see you over there Risky...we're leaving again on the 1st of may for a few months. I'll listen out for all the loud screaching

Hope you bag heaps mate.

Wal.

 

[kazakhstan]

I use Koss, very good headphones.

 

[lost a bit]

After reading the article on battery power in the gold gem and treasure year book recently I have been keeping more of an eye on my battery voltage, after doing some test with the rooster booster hooked up I find I am getting just short of 2 hours detecting before the battery starts to drop below 8 volts, same test without the booster and just an external speaker hooked up I get around 4 hours, I have conducted these test with two different machines and find the results are the same. man these things are using some power, any feedback would be welcomed.
lab

 

[Guest]

Gday lab,
Just been reading the manual (page 51) & the battery graph shows about 7.9v after 2hrs, 7.5v after 8hrs & getting close to the 7.3v low battery warning after 12hrs with the standard 5000 set up I.e. no rooster booster.
The rooster boosters might not be chewing much power after all? Looks to be normal according to the Minelab graph? Edit: Although doesn't explain the better time with just the external speaker as that would be cutting the internal battery booster in anyway.
Might leave it longer next time to check mine & see if it is still reducing as per the graph or if it continues to drop fairly quickly.

Edit: wonder if anyone using a booster with its own battery supply, like the B&Z, gets better life?

 

[dwt]

After reading the article on battery power in the gold gem and treasure year book recently I have been keeping more of an eye on my battery voltage, after doing some test with the rooster booster hooked up I find I am getting just short of 2 hours detecting before the battery starts to drop below 8 volts, same test without the booster and just an external speaker hooked up I get around 4 hours, I have conducted these test with two different machines and find the results are the same. man these things are using some power, any feedback would be welcomed.
lab

never took much notice.......kinda thinking i will now, thanks for the post

 

[lost a bit]

Gday lab,
Just been reading the manual (page 51) & the battery graph shows about 7.9v after 2hrs, 7.5v after 8hrs & getting close to the 7.3v low battery warning after 12hrs with the standard 5000 set up I.e. no rooster booster.
The rooster boosters might not be chewing much power after all? Looks to be normal according to the Minelab graph? Edit: Although doesn't explain the better time with just the external speaker as that would be cutting the internal battery booster in anyway.
Might leave it longer next time to check mine & see if it is still reducing as per the graph or if it continues to drop fairly quickly.

Edit: wonder if anyone using a booster with its own battery supply, like the B&Z, gets better life?

just read page 51 and I see what you mean, I might take the rooster booster off and try the second test again with just the external speaker and see if I still get the same result and make sure I haven't stuffed up, what I would really like to know is as the battery drops in power how much sensitivity or depth would or could you loose.

Off topic:
Took the sadie for a walk the other arvo, over the same patch that we have flogged to death and picked up 4.5 gram, man that thing is sensitive.
lab

 

[ZlatoZaMene]

I have run my M/L 4500 with the stabilizer down to 2-3 in hot ground and picked up small gold, love that smooth threshold.That's the beauty of having the ability to tweek the settings...to many variable conditions from site to site. In hot ground...lower the stabilizer and get that threshold smooth..and you will get the gold.

 

[dwt]

If anyone has some tried and tested settings for the Sadie coil on the 5000 I would like to hear from them.
My area has fairly quiet soil and very fine gold mostly quite deep.

Cheers.

settings for noisy ground below if thats any help as a reference plane

8 x 6 " sadie
special fine
deep
motion v slow
rx gain 8
audio boost
audio tone 38
stabilizer 2
signal 17
target vol 8
response norm
tracking slow

thanks Headsup i'll give these settings a crack sunday

 

[Roscoe]

I have not used a sadie coil on my gpx5000. IF i did, I would start in fine gold, stabiliser 2 gain 18. general search mode. If that runs a bit noisey (ie. ground noise) then drop the gain down 1 or 2 clicks. If its EMI drop down to enhance or sens. smooth. You can compensate for the low stabiliser control by the elevated gain control. This way you only have to concentrate on adjusting one control.

 

[Guest]

I'm only a new GPX user but I definitely wouldn't be running the stabiliser setting as low as 2. At that level you might be picking some small targets up but I reckon you would be missing some too.
Better to adjust your gain to suit the soil conditions then adjust the stabiliser to fine tune the threshold but you shouldn't need to go that low.

GPX 5000 & GPX 4800: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE STABILIZER CONTROL?

The Stabilizer function controls the point at which faint variations in theThresholdbegin to be heard. These faint variations can either be ambient noise or faint target signals. As you increase the Stabilizer control, faint target signals will become louder, but the noise level will also increase, which may potentially hide a desirable target signal. The Stabilizer allows you to mask these faint variations to provide a perfectly stable threshold, improving your ability to identify faint target signals.
The Stabilizer is best left in the FP (factory preset) position until the soil conditions in the location are determined. Once the Rx Gain level has been set for the local conditions and other audio settings have been selected, the Stabilizer can then be used to fine tune the Threshold stability.
To find the optimal position of the Stabilizer, ensure that the coil is being swept across the ground. One number below the point at which the threshold begins to chatter, is generally the best setting.
The effect of the Stabilizer could be seen as having a similar effect to that of the Rx Gain control. However, the Stabilizer affects the audio processing only and does not change the Receive (Rx) signal, so should be used as a final stage fine tune. After making any adjustments to the Stabilizer, if the ground conditions change or you wish to change coils, you may need to reset the Rx Gain, but before doing so, return the Stabilizer to the Factory Preset setting first. This will ensure you select the most appropriate Rx Gain level to suit the conditions, and then you can fine tune using the Stabilizer.
Tip: By turning the Stabilizer control close to minimum (anti-clockwise) the threshold will be very stable, but you will have lost 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 theGPX 5000andGPX 4800to search for coins or treasure.
Tip: We would recommend the best order for setting these controls are:
Select an appropriate Search Mode
Select the desired Audio Type
Adjust Rx Gain until the threshold starts to break up
Adjust Stabilizer to smooth out the threshold.

 

[Roscoe]

I can only state what people have taught me and it works. These people are experienced prospectors and have more gold nuggets under their belt then you can imagine. The first thing i asked these people was what do you think of the stabiliser control? Their answer was " Its a noisey waste of time, Minelab should have never put that feature in the gpx. This setting is the main reason why people have trouble running the machine quiet." I personally think that Minelab should of made the stabiliser FP (factory preset) on general search mode 8 and not 10.

 

[WalnLiz]

Do yourself a favour and next time you're on some really "hot" ground set the stabilizer at 5 or 6 on a small .2gram nugget buried to a point where you can just hear it. Leave your gain where it is and drop the stabilizer to 2 or 3 and report back with the results. ( both target clarity and noise chatter). I'm talking hot ground here where gain chatters above 8, no matter what timing your in, not mild soil where gain can be over 14. eg red clay soil.

Smooth thresh hold is the name of the game for consistent nugget hunting on red hot ground....and that's where most people miss their nuggets. (see it all the time)

Wal.