Tri Electronics GT-4000 gold tester

[tech125]

Just won an auction on the bay for an almost new Tri Electronics GT-4000 gold tester, got it
for half off retail price.I have been wanting one of these for a while and the prices for used units were way too high, until now.This will compliment my acid test kit and give my more confidence buying precious metals at garage sales.I also have several pieces I need to double check from metal detecting. Anyone ever use one of these? I think cyberdan has
posted he uses one? Thanks in advance.

 

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[Rodbuster209]

How about a picture...............Scott

 

[tech125]

Tri Electronics GT-4000 Electronic Gold Tester | eBay

How about a picture...............Scott

 

[batcap]

I have the GT-3000, so does CyberDan I think. The appearance is very similar but yours goes up to 24k, the 3000 stops at 18K. If the seller only sent you 1/2 tube of gel, the first thing to do is get a spare or 3 pack and put them in the refrigerator. Sometimes the gel goes watery or something gets plugged up and the gel squeezes around the plunger, so it's good to have an extra. I've been told the gel lasts longer in the cold. Practice with it on known gold items until you're confident in it.
My GT-3000 has a tendency to read low at first reading, by as much as 3K. I just keep retesting until the number stops rising. That may take a minute, but that final number has always been closest to the karat mark on the item, and never higher than the karat mark.
Don't toss your acids though. A couple of weeks ago I bought a cardboard box full of costume jewelry that also happened to have partial plate dentures. The jewelry was junk, but the plate read on the GT-3000 as about 17K gold. This is a white, chrome looking metal. I bought a fresh set of acids and nothing marks this metal at all, all the way up through 22K and Platinum acids. I think the alloy is 70/30 gold/platinum. If I only used the acid I might have thought it was platinum only; the electronic tester 17K only. Now I know that all of the metal in this plate is precious. If only I could figure out how to sell both metals . . .

 

[tech125]

Batcap,

Thanks for the info about testing items until you get a steady reading, exactly what i was
looking for.I will order a new gel refill as I have many different marked and unmarked karat pieces from 10k to 24k to practice on as well as sterling.

I have the GT-3000, so does CyberDan I think. The appearance is very similar but yours goes up to 24k, the 3000 stops at 18K. If the seller only sent you 1/2 tube of gel, the first thing to do is get a spare or 3 pack and put them in the refrigerator. Sometimes the gel goes watery or something gets plugged up and the gel squeezes around the plunger, so it's good to have an extra. I've been told the gel lasts longer in the cold. Practice with it on known gold items until you're confident in it.
My GT-3000 has a tendency to read low at first reading, by as much as 3K. I just keep retesting until the number stops rising. That may take a minute, but that final number has always been closest to the karat mark on the item, and never higher than the karat mark.
Don't toss your acids though. A couple of weeks ago I bought a cardboard box full of costume jewelry that also happened to have partial plate dentures. The jewelry was junk, but the plate read on the GT-3000 as about 17K gold. This is a white, chrome looking metal. I bought a fresh set of acids and nothing marks this metal at all, all the way up through 22K and Platinum acids. I think the alloy is 70/30 gold/platinum. If I only used the acid I might have thought it was platinum only; the electronic tester 17K only. Now I know that all of the metal in this plate is precious. If only I could figure out how to sell both metals . . .

 

[cyberdan]

Yes, I have the 3000. I rarely see any high karat items (except the last batch of jewelry had two teeth, one was over 18K) so I will stick with mine till I wear out the TEST button.

I agree always have a spare gel tube on hand. I keep mine in the fridge too. But keep track of where they are. I thought I had two spares, two months ago but couldn't find them anywhere in the fridge. so I ordered 3 on ebay for a great price. Last month my wife asked me "what are these?" She had found my gel. Now I have 4 spares. I put them in ziplock baggies too.

Here is a trick for the 3000 to ID silver. When I got my GT I called the owner/inventor of all the tri-elec products. I had to get past a strong Russian accent but he told me to do a test on several things that I knew was silver and record the digial readout. Take the high and low numbers (in my case about 250 to 310) From now on anything that tests in that range is silver. This might work on your 4000.

 

[tech125]

Cyberdan,

Thanks for the tips on testing silver, it will come in handy.I did order a 3pk of new
gel from ebay, should last me quite a while....

Yes, I have the 3000. I rarely see any high karat items (except the last batch of jewelry had two teeth, one was over 18K) so I will stick with mine till I wear out the TEST button.

I agree always have a spare gel tube on hand. I keep mine in the fridge too. But keep track of where they are. I thought I had two spares, two months ago but couldn't find them anywhere in the fridge. so I ordered 3 on ebay for a great price. Last month my wife asked me "what are these?" She had found my gel. Now I have 4 spares. I put them in ziplock baggies too.

Here is a trick for the 3000 to ID silver. When I got my GT I called the owner/inventor of all the tri-elec products. I had to get past a strong Russian accent but he told me to do a test on several things that I knew was silver and record the digial readout. Take the high and low numbers (in my case about 250 to 310) From now on anything that tests in that range is silver. This might work on your 4000.

 

[Alex_p]

Hi,

Sorry for reviving this topic. I just bought GT-4000 gold tester. Trying to test old / antique items with patina after some filing.
The interesting thing is that first reading on both is around 200-250, but when I press Test button multiple times (probably within a minute)
the reading goes up to 770 on one ("possible yellow gold") and 600 on the second ("possible red gold"). So the dynamics is rising curves , they consistently
go till certain level (700-s and 600-s) and then stop rising and drop a little.

Can somebody advise if this is a valid exercise or plain wrong way to test the items ?
Can it be that the pointer with gel came damaged or poor quality ?

Thanks in advance,
Alex