Upgrade To The GPZ7000 Or Not?

[Foal8686]

Hi guys, at the moment I have a newer gpx 4500 and a sdc 2300. Question is, is it worth my while and the extra money involved to upgrade to the 7000? At the moment I run evo coils on the 4500 and find gold on most outings, Im also finding gold with sdc.
I would have to sell both detectors to part fund the 7000. Any gpz users have a answer for me?

Cheers Liam

 

[Nothing Great]

I will let ya know next week. Just upgraded from the 4500 to the zed today

 

[Foal8686]

No worries mate cheers

 

[goldtruck59]

Just did the same but I cant get out for a few week arghh! I'll let you know then.
There are some comparo's on YouTube by the aussie prospector guy. They are worth a look.

GT

 

[Mackka]

Foal, my question is, are you finding gold now with what you have and what do you expect to find with s new machine?
Mackka

 

[LORD]

I have previously owned a new 4500 with eco coil, I now currently own a GPZ so had the same questions last year.
While the 4500 is excellent for its price this is why I ended up upgrading, I can not comment on the SDC as i have never owned one.

I went on my 2017 annual trip to Kal with 3 other guys all running Zed's and me the trusty 45.
I was getting a bit disheartened struggling to get between 1 to 4 peices of gold in a 12 hr day while seeing the others all getting doubble didgets 10 to 20 peices.
So i borrowed a mates zed for a full day to see if it was me or the machine. I had never picked up a zed before in my life, obviously my mates helped me set it up but straight away started finding more gold. It was all quiet small and in pretty hot ground.
After a while i had a little patch where most targets were turning out to be gold so i went over a 3 x 3 metre section and marked 5 signals with the zed. Some were barley a change in pitch and a coupple of others were what i would call quiet loud.
I then got the 4500 out with the 17 x 13 evo and knowing where the targets were could not get a signal i would dig on any 1 of the 5 marked targets, i switched to the sadie coil and could only get 1 target to register a signal.
Back on the zed and dug all 5 out, 4 were gold and 1 was junk. And you guessed it, the only 1 picked up with the sadie was the junk. All the gold was tiny and as i mentioned the ground was pretty severe but that proved to myself it wasn't me it was the machine.
I was telling the wife this story later that night and she said all the effort i go to get over there, and all the hours i put in swinging i may as well be in with the best possible chance and get a zed myself.

So that first day i used a borrowed zed and did some comparisons with the 45 i ended up with 24 nuggets.
No doubt in my mind without the zed i may have gotten 3 or 4 of them with the 45.

SDC may have had a better chance of picking these nuggets up but I am only comparing the 7000 to 4500 and now have one machine that also gets what the SDC does in mo st cases.

This is the gold I found that first day I borrowed a Zed

 

[Mackka]

Lucky :lol: :lol: :lol: layful:

 

[Foal8686]

goldtruck59 I look forward to hearing how you go.

 

[Foal8686]

Mackka, I am finding gold at the min with both machines, mostly small bits. From my understanding the 7000 may increase gold finds in the right locations because of its depth advantage.

 

[Foal8686]

Lord, thanks for the reply mate, sounds like the 7000 is a good thing. By the looks of it the 7000 picks up the prickly type gold that the 4500 doesnt seem to get but the sdc does. So it probably does the job of both machines I have and at better depth at times.

 

[Goldtalk Leonora]

If you 'think' you need to upgrade....then you do.

 

[madtuna]

If you 'think' you need to upgrade....then you do.

Sort of agree with that as you've already got doubt in your mind.
Doubt or lack of confidence in your equiptment or self is one of the biggest hinderances in good or consistant gold finding.

Shame you can't keep all three as they all compliment each other. The 23 especially is a real asset to have with either.

 

[Nothing Great]

First go with the new zed this morning. It works

Found a tiny bit of gold in the first hour with it in a spot I had done two days earlier with the 4500. And I have never found shotgun pellets so deep before. Nowhere near it actually.

It does make a big difference and I still dont know what I am doing with it yet.
Going to have some fun with it I am certain of it now.

 

[HarryHoudini]

Hi NG, looks like you have two pieces of gold one on your finger. Top screen

Cheers
HH

 

[Jaros]

Well spotted Harry.

 

[Nothing Great]

Just dirt harry sadly.

 

[mudgee hunter]

I beleive the sdc is worth hanging onto. It can find the smaller pieces of alluvial gold in non nugget country. They add up, and keep your spirits up.
Even if you find a patch in WA swinging the 45 or 7, I would still be going back over it with the sdc

 

[Guest]

Gday

Finding consistent gold is relevant to time spent on the ground, while there is no doubt that the gpz will find some types of gold missed by the 4500, the down side is that some users struggle with the weight of the machine and therefore spend less time detecting, and I have seen this first hand, the sdc will also find gold that the gpz will not find as well, personally from what I have seen for myself the combination of the 4500 and the sdc will deliver more gold than the gpz will as you will be able to spend more time on the ground, its all about knowing when and in what conditions you should use one machine or the other.

For general purpose use with medium to large sized coils the 4500 is perfect for patch hunting and depth, the option of being able to change coils to suit the conditions better is an advantage that the 4500 has over the gpz for a start, and also its a lot lighter to use and can be swung for longer periods of time in comfort, the biggest feedback comment I had from users of the gpz a short while after it was released was that it was simply too heavy for them to use for the length of time that they were able to swing the gpx's for, for me that alone was a deal breaker.

The sdc is my go to machine for broken rubbly ground and any time I find smaller nuggets with the 4500, or when there is simply a need for the use of a smaller coil due to obstructions like shrubs,trees and rocks, its an excellent machine for patch hunting and pulling gold that is spongy or small specimen type gold, the beginning of a patch will start with the first indicator nugget you find alerting you to gold being there in that spot in the first place and very often the patches I have found started with that very small first piece in rough ground where access with a bigger coil is limited or you cant get the coil close enough to the ground to hear a target, my advice is to spend more time with the sdc for more consistent finds and use the 4500 for covering ground and patch hunting, then using the bigger coils to look for targets that could be deeper.

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[madtuna]

Agree with that also Stayyer.

As for the weight of the 7000, that is also relevant to time spent on the ground. The more you use it the lighter it gets, just as the first time anyone picked up an SD to GPX series it was heavy until you built up the muscles used in carrying and swinging it.

 

[Araratgold]

True that Steve, and you end up with one Popeye arm !