Minelab GPX5000

[GOHO]

Anyone using the GPX 5000 and if so what do you think of it?

 

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[Lanny in AB]

I have one on the way--I'll let you know when I get a chance to get out and hunt with it. I've heard lots of good things so far, but I always like to get out there and try the machine out myself. After I do, I'll post something about it.

All the best,

Lanny

Meanwhile--I know there's a bunch of pros that are out there using them and they're finding some great gold with them--maybe one of them will jump in here.

 

[Lanny in AB]

I got mine early in the season, took it to a patch of bedrock and found a nice, thick, fat and sassy nugget the size of my thumbnail. It was in an area of bad mineralization that some VLF'ers had already hit, but that 5000 sure sniffed it out. I had it set on deep gold, using a DD to handle the hot ground. It had company too--three smaller ones in the vicinity.

The only problem I'm having is that there is so much more to know about the machine's capabilities, and the different outcomes you can get using the various coils for it.

It's heavy like all the other big Minelab gold machines, but I use Doc's Swingy Thingy and it makes things a lot easier. It works well in concert with other detectors nearby--you just auto-balance it for electronic interference and it shuts them out. I was even hunting side-by-side with by buddy that was using a 5000 as well, and it tuned him out too.

It's a very quiet machine, and with a small coil, extremely sensitive.

I like it. And, having said that, I've bought other expensive equipment, and have not liked it, so I'm not afraid to say if something disappoints me--this machine (the GPX 5000) impresses me. The thing I'm not very impressed with is the wimpy nature of the discriminator--I think that's an area that Minelab could really put some research and development in to making it an exceptional machine. Their little 705 X-Terra that I have has a fantastic discriminator, so they have the technology.

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. These images are posted on my thread as well.

 

[russau]

impressive report Lanny! now if i could just afford one and had the energy!!!

 

[GOHO]

Hi Lanny, Where did you find your GOLD?


I finally got a 5000 a month or so ago... Took a couple days to get use to the unit but i have to say that i really like the machine. The 5000 is finding tiny targets DEEP! Now i just got to put it over some GOLD!!!!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hi Lanny, Where did you find your GOLD?


I finally got a 5000 a month or so ago... Took a couple days to get use to the unit but i have to say that i really like the machine. The 5000 is finding tiny targets DEEP! Now i just got to put it over some GOLD!!!!

Of course I can't tell you exactly where I found it, but it was north of the 49th parallel, if that helps.

And you're right--getting it over the gold really helps.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Nice shine Lanny . That 5000 has a hefty little price tag .
It ought to find it and frick'n dig it too for that kind of paper .

Yes, it probably should dig it, and then discriminate out every other metal on the planet on every subsequent dig. And I'll agree that the price is restrictive; however, some of the ground I hunt is so hot that it's the machine that will get the job done when the others throw in the towel. So, I have to use what works, and it sure does.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Steve Herschbach]

What's to know? The GPX 5000 is the most powerful nugget detector available today. It will find a wider range of target under more conditions than any other nugget detector you can buy.

The only caveats are the price, an inability to hit some tiny gold high frequency VLF detectors can hit, and poor man made iron discrimination. It is not perfect, but the GPX is what many serious prospectors rely on.

Steve Herschbach
Steve's Mining Journal

 

[jimmyzr1]

I will be picking up an almost new GPX 5000 and an Excalibur II for $1,100 the next time I go to the Philippines. An American husband to one of my wife's friends passed away recently and she wants the money for them plus accessories. I'm not sure which accessories but I've seen some of the gold jewelry he found with them. I was looking forward to metal detect with him but never got the chance.

 

[Gork]

I just saw your discussion on using the Minelab. I just posted this on another category, but thought you might be interested in my little story.
First, don't get me wrong, it is not meant as an insult to anyone on this post. For those who prospect for gold, it is my opinion that the Minelab is the best there is. If you do it full time, it is the one to have.
This is an anecdote about using a metal detector to find gold. I have sensed that there are some who put so much emphasis on the equipment to find and recover placer gold, that they rationalize not finding gold because "I didn't have the right equipment." In some cases this may be true. But in many cases I have found they have the argument upside down.
A true story:
I have been mining in the Klondike gold fields of Yukon Territory for thirty-four years. Many of the larger miners there think metal detectors are of little use and even come under the classification as toys. I have found them to be of valuable use, not in my production of gold, but in the prospecting process. I will say that I have recovered over sixty ounces of nuggets in the process.
Every Friday afternoon, my wife and I go to town to get supplies and whoop-it-up. About 4 o'clock we always stop in the Snakepit to meet at the back table with what I call "the upper-creek miners." These are the smaller, but mechanized, operations that mine on the steep narrow-sided gulches that are very difficult to mine. The back table is usually reserved for us and was where the Hoffman boys from the Gold Rush show were sitting when they made the deal to lease claims about five miles over the ridge from us. The nerve of them sitting at our table!!!!!!! We have done this for so many years that the townies joke that if they don't see us there on Friday afternoon they will call out the Mounties to find us because there is something wrong.
One Friday afternoon, when we were there, I noticed a fellow sitting at the table next to us with a Minelab metal detector. Naturally I had to have a conversation with him. I asked him if he found any gold yet with it. He said "No, but I have the best metal detector in the world right here." I pulled out my moose hide gold sack and showed him two-2 1/2 oz, 2-1 1/4 oz, and a 1 oz nugget. Over 8 ounces, and said that I found them with an old blunderbuss of a detector, a Garrettt's 1983 model ADS3. The detector wasn't even designed for finding gold. Of course, the argument could be made that I could have found more with a better detector.
A good quality metal detector is very important, but there is an order of importance to be a successful finder of nuggets. The primary element in finding nuggets is to put yourself in a spot where there are nuggets. The metal detector, or any other equipment, isn't gong to find the gold for you, it can only aid you.
The successful miners in the Klondike who make a living at it, and the many old-timers I have listened to who were from the 1920s and 1930s, were successful because they first practiced the art of prospecting. Anyone can call themselves a prospector, but not everyone is a successful prospector.
Below is the placer claim map of my little empire in the Klondike.