Im a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

[tigerbeetle]

I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

Most serious TH'ing folks have heard about the new GPX5000, with an asking price above and beyond the model number, as in $7,500, list.
I'm the sucker many companies count on. I always think that the more expensive the wheels, the better the ride -- in this case, the better the hunt.
PLEASE help me, oh, ye, who have already gone the full Monty and actually purchased a GPX5000, or related model.
Is it the stuff of legend? Is it the end-all of detectors, able to find a half-dime at 40 inches down.
No, that is not one of the company's claims but I'm multiplying by 8 times how deep I can go half-dime with my $800 Fisher CZ-3D, considered one of the deepest seeking humanely affordable detectors out there.
Again, someone clue me on on the capacities of this bank-busting machine.
Believe me, I'm not dissing it in any way. I might even be in the market. But $7,000 -- $5,500 on sale?
Speak to me -- I'll even listen to a salesperson.

 

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[Eric Willoughby]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

Most serious TH'ing folks have heard about the new GPX5000, with an asking price above and beyond the model number, as in $7,500, list.
I'm the sucker many companies count on. I always think that the more expensive the wheels, the better the ride -- in this case, the better the hunt.
PLEASE help me, oh, ye, who have already gone the full Monty and actually purchased a GPX5000, or related model.
Is it the stuff of legend? Is it the end-all of detectors, able to find a half-dime at 40 inches down.
No, that is not one of the company's claims but I'm multiplying by 8 times how deep I can go half-dime with my $800 Fisher CZ-3D, considered one of the deepest seeking humanely affordable detectors out there.
Again, someone clue me on on the capacities of this bank-busting machine.
Believe me, I'm not dissing it in any way. I might even be in the market. But $7,000 -- $5,500 on sale?
Speak to me -- I'll even listen to a salesperson.

I agree, the price is steep. The average price for one now is at $5600. However, the machine does what it says it will do. It is 8 machines in one. A member on here has recently hit a strewn cache of hammered silver coins in a Virginia farmfield, all dating in the 16th and 17th century range. He has ben hitting these thin silver couns at 22 inches deep.

Go to Today's Finds and look for the post "Hammered Silver From Unbelievable Depths". That should tell you all you need to know about the performance of that machine.

 

[jeff of pa]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

Tom (of Gold Fever) once said For every hundred dollars
you spend on a gold detector you
gain an inch of depth on small gold.

70 or even 55 inches for a find ?


Gotta Backhoe for that gold earring post ?

 

[Dano Sverige]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

The Etrac does for coins, gold/silver and relics what the GPX does for gold nuggets...and it's a lot cheaper!
Yeah the GPX will go a bit deeper IF it finds anything,but is the extra few thousand dollars worth it to find a missed Indian head penny etc?

 

[dwatson4]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

I'm too lazy to dig that friggin deep. So I guess the equation would like like this

$ to spend = detectors depth capabilities / my laziness

 

[paratrooper]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

Late last year I went to a big get-together in Prescott at the new Minelab facility where the 5000 was one of the focal points . I swing a SD2200d with no plans of upgrading BUT I did learn a few things about the 5000 . Usually machines have to be told to go shallow or deep . The 5000 seems to do it all . Guys (dealers mostly) have gone back to old nugget patches they (they thought) had worked out and found more . Did they go a lot deeper ? "Some" , according to the speakers . It sounded to me that the 5000 was able to find all the gold all the way to the farthest target depth . Soooo if they had found a nugget deep before they can now find even the little guys ON THE WAY to the big nug depth . They showed scores of nugs found in previously "hammered" patches BUT they all had something in common . They were relatively small . Lots and lots of smaller nugs that had been previously overlooked . It seems that the 5000 has been taught to employ maximum sensitivity from top to bottom . At least that is what I came away with . We're talking guys like Chris Gholson , his dad Steve , Rob Allison , Bill Southern , Kevin Hoagland and a few others . These are the "Big Dogs" of the Minelab crew . I still am not going to get one BUT I wouldn't fault anyone that did .

 

[jeff of pa]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

Late last year I went to a big get-together in Prescott at the new Minelab facility where the 5000 was one of the focal points . I swing a SD2200d with no plans of upgrading BUT I did learn a few things about the 5000 . Usually machines have to be told to go shallow or deep . The 5000 seems to do it all . Guys (dealers mostly) have gone back to old nugget patches they (they thought) had worked out and found more . Did they go a lot deeper ? "Some" , according to the speakers . It sounded to me that the 5000 was able to find all the gold all the way to the farthest target depth . Soooo if they had found a nugget deep before they can now find even the little guys ON THE WAY to the big nug depth . They showed scores of nugs found in previously "hammered" patches BUT they all had something in common . They were relatively small . Lots and lots of smaller nugs that had been previously overlooked . It seems that the 5000 has been taught to employ maximum sensitivity from top to bottom . At least that is what I came away with . We're talking guys like Chris Gholson , his dad Steve , Rob Allison , Bill Southern , Kevin Hoagland and a few others . These are the "Big Dogs" of the Minelab crew . I still am not going to get one BUT I wouldn't fault anyone that did .

I Know Kevin Says Speed is most important.
"when you think your going slow enough,
Slow down"

there is supposed to be a pic of him
somewhere face first in a hole,
with his feet facing straight up.

another thing, alot of that small gold
is hard to see in a gold pan, let alone
in a pile of sand. Gonna need good Eyes

 

[Dano Sverige]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

Or a Garrett pro pointer!

 

[Roland58]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

For my money, I don't need to find a 22" pull tab.

 

[RigDean]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

The ONLY way I would get one is if I could go to the gold fields of Australia 3 months out of the year with it... for coin/relic hunting, I have my E-trac and already dig too deep LOL

 

[Chug And Red]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

Send one my Way for a month Ill Give it a test Drive!!!! Chug

 

[U.K. Brian]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

A Southern Californian club did a test back (Minelab SD 2100) in 2005 or 2006 and published the results on this forum. I knew an owner of an SD at the time so we tried to match the results on British soil and they turned out to be very similar.

With the stock Explorer XS 10.5" coil the result on a 10 cents was 9 inches which was exactly the same as the SD with the 11" coil. So the Explorer seems the better bet at a much lower price but with larger coils on the same coin the SD steamed well ahead.

So the Explorer won on bang for your bucks unless with the SD you splashed out more and used a range of coil sizes which many don't. Things have advanced since then with both FBS and P.I. designs and the coils used so it would be interesting to see say the E Trac v a GPX. Then consider if its better to have a fast in use detector (sweep speed and recovery speed) thats less deep but allows you to cover twice the ground in the same time.

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Re: I'm a sucker -- but $5500+ worth?

The ONLY way I would get one is if I could go to the gold fields of Australia 3 months out of the year with it... for coin/relic hunting, I have my E-trac and already dig too deep LOL

I agree with RigDean , hunting gold fields . A digger friend of mine bought the GPX 4500 with a Commander Double D coil and hunts Az. Nev . and Cal for nuggets . Paid it off in less than a year . He is retired and is very wealthy but not all his money is from prospecting .