GPZ 7000 ,The Verdict is still out

by Shane Rigoll
(WA)

The non flexi-flexi joint

The non flexi-flexi joint

Hi everyone Camel Catcher here-

Well I purchased the 7000 after much debate and before a lot of people started to put there two cents in at forums and other places.

So would I have still purchased the 7000 knowing what I know now?

I am still not 100% sure.

Does it find gold the other Machines leave behind ? The answer is simple -YES YES YES.

Can give you a few examples , Friend was detecting an area with a 5000 they had been over the area previous with 4500 and she is no beginner in fact I find her to be a very thorough.

I turned on my new machine straight out of the box went over were she had finished and with in 3 minutes had my first of four nuggets all which screamed throough the speaker like they were sun bakers. The surprising thing was the depth of these nuggets. 1 was a 4 grammer at 14 to 15 inches and sounded like a tin can .

I have found gold every were other people have been and chained and crossed chained and even in one spot were 3 people had chained over straight after each other and got 17 nuggets in 2 hours and I considered all of them loud positive targets.

I have found nuggets that I thought was ground noise in wet ground for the first 7 inches the signal never change but then it started to sound positive dug 3 more inches for a 0.4 Grammer I was blown away.

I have found sub 0.1 nuggets with the only problem being finding the gold in my hand.this was on old scrapings but.

So in my opinion anyone who thinks this detector cant find small gold better than a 5000 doesn't know what they are doing.

Now for the other side of the argument ...

I am a Prospector not just a detectorist so on some days when looking for those elusive virgin patches in new ground we can cover up to 20 kms on foot and boy do you notice the extra weight of the 7000.

Its heavy and sometimes awkward.

Why does this machine in this day in age only have the capacity for 100 find points and 100 waypoints I have filled this up on a patch with no computer with me to download the info I had to start using the waypoints as find points to finish the day.

Having to have a internet connection and log in to use the software is the most ridiculous thing I find my gold in the outback not in the city were you get phone service.

The flexi joint of which I have attached some photo's of is not flexable. I broke one end then taped it up and broke the other end .

When I unpacked the 7000 my daughter first words were how long is that bit going to last and she was 17 and even she new it wasn't going to last in the real world of finding gold.

Very few accessories and no coils WTF !!

Now that ever continuing ground noise and balancing problem in heavy mineralised ground .... I have left gold behind I know it in my heart due to this problem.

Ferrite or not it don't matter I am very cool headed most of the time lucky for my 7000 other wise it would of been used as a boomerang in these situations.

The problem being this was the reason I bought this machine was because of its ability to handle this type of ground . This for me is the machines biggest let down, when I have to hold my 7000 over my head so I don't go deaf from the racket and my daughter runs over the same ground with my 4000 and its only a little noisy WTF is going on here.

I can tell now even before I walk on that type of ground im going to have problems. No matter what settings in these locations it don't work.

So you can see my dilemma

All thou this has some problems,which im sure are mostly software related and im sure someone is working on right now to rectify
( They better be ) Deep down in my heart I know this machine will find gold the others won't and that's a good thing.

But I also feel this detector was rushed for release and not ironed out the bugs and for that reason I would not pay this sought of $ for another machine.

Some of the GPZ7000 faults really make me wonder what minelab was thinking sometimes simple works best.

I must say as for the so called flexi joint Minelab replaced it no worries and I couldn't have been happier with there service but I havnt put the new one on yet to test it I like my home made bush repair better and think it works better because its flexable.

Now if anyone was wondering why I think my opinion might mean something
I am a former GPA tour guide and was a full time prospector so im not new to this.

Remember GOLD is were you find it

Happy Hunting





Comments for GPZ 7000 ,The Verdict is still out

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Oct 23, 2020
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Nokta Makro Gold
by: Anonymous

Some years back I bought a Minelab 2200 D detector detector. And while detecting around Wedderburn in Victoria I found a 3 gram nugget within about 5 minutes. The only problem I had with it was the battery's being so heavy.

I recently bought a nokta makro gold to use in Hillend.

I picked up quite a few nuggets. I'm very happy with this detector. And for under a thousand dollars is good value. As opposed to $10,000.And it's light!

Jan 29, 2016
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Software upgrade
by: Camelcatcher

Well its me again and this time migt have some good news for all those people that are wondering about the Z7000 software upgrade.
Well wonder no more i have some good and bad news.
The good news is the software upgrade not only solves some of the balance issues we were all having but it also makes the machine more sensative.
How do i know this?
Well Margaret and i chained this small section of a patch 3 times and even went over it a forth time at night to make sure we had gotten all we could without having to use a dozer.
We went back to Perth for 2 weeks and found the software upgrade was available oh and by the way its very easy to install just make sure you are pluged into the charger when you do it.
Well we headed back up to this patch to peg it and thought we migt as wellswing the stick while we was there and low and behold we started digging 1 and 2 nuggets at a time it was like we hadnt even been there.
We were truelly amaized.
Now the bad news
How much gold have left behind at all the other patches we found for the season.
Take care everyone and keep digging


Jan 05, 2016
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GPZ7000
by: Darby Swisst

Hey great info. I think that Minelab have always charged to much for there products and bring out their Machines always with little niggling in perfections and also not quite perfected or finished off.The only good part is eventually they sort them out.I suppose I will buy a Z7, maybe when they upgrade the software and sort the noise thingy out.
I do appreciate any info regardless of the experience as something learnt is something gained.
Cheers keep the info coming.Darby

Aug 25, 2015
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Oh, really?!
by: SunriseBoy

This guy has been researching and using detectors for only two years, so I guess it could be said I know next to nothing.

However, my research took me to numerous forums and have read dozens if not a couple of hundred reviews, especially regarding ML stuff.

The startling fact that hit me, was, how poorly the ML stuff is made. I mean in the quality of materials. Many said how this broke, or that snapped etc.

The other thing that struck me was how rabid and sarcastic people are treated if they question MLs stuff. Wow, religion is not the only place you can get roughed up for having a questioning attitude.

There are plenty of people with MLs finding gold. But here's the thing, so are a lot of other people finding gold...and not with MLs.

I for one find this pig-headed and slavish 'belief' in ML quite ugly. The owners almost want bash you over the head if you suggest that some other brand might be just as capable of finding gold as ML. And having seen the performance of a lot of the 'other' detectors and their quality of build I won't be choking on a ten grand bill for MLs latest offering. And from what I have seen of it; it has a long way to go to get into the quality market of a well built product.

As for the new one, well, I think most people who buy them have got more money than sense. And already there is a pile of them on the used market.

With far too many ML owners, it seems to be just a case of my Delta Indigo Charlie Kilo is bigger than your Delta Indigo Charlie Kilo!

I'm not impressed.

Aug 21, 2015
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Yes or No
by: Jay Ar

I only have one question, does the 7000 have any particular advantage at the beach? or should I just stick with my good faithful old Minelab 16000?

Aug 20, 2015
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MINELAB GPZ7000
by: GOLDHUNTERS

I AGREE WITH CAMEL CATCHER,THIS IS THE BEST DETECTOR TO FIND GOLD ,I HAVE GONE OVER GROUND THAT 5000,S AND 4.500,S HAVE DONE TO DEATH AND FOUND GOLD, I AGREE ITS TOO HEAVY,THE SCREEN STICKS OUT JUST ASKING FOR A KNOCK AND DAMAGE,IT NEEDS A FULL TIME PADDED COVER TO PROTECT IT,THE 12 VOLT CHARGER WONT FULLY CHARGE THE BATTERY,THE LIGHT WILL FLASH SAYING LOW VOLTAGE ,TO GET A FULL CHARGE YOU MUST USE THE 240 V0LT CHARGER,I USE IT OFF AN INVERTOR.THE EARLIER DETECTORS ARE MORE ROBUST .AFTER SAYING ALL THAT I WILL STILL USE THE MINELAB GPZ 7000 OVER MY 4.500
HAPPY HUNTING

Aug 20, 2015
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Comprehensive Report on the GPZ7000
by: Udo

Hey Shane

Very comprehensive report that will help many people ... Thankyou

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