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First
thoughts on the Minelab GP Extreme First thoughts on the Minelab GP Extreme. I received the unit in good condition Wednesday, April 10th, 2002. The detector had been used previously for about 40 hours by a gold prospector on a trip to Australia. She spend two weeks in the outback and didn't find one gold nugget! The dealer took it in on a refund, so I got a great deal and he promised to guarantee the detector since he was an authorized dealer.
Obviously there was no gold in my backyard, but the fields behind me had been bulldozed over not long ago and were full of trash and targets. It took one minute to tune the detector as described in the manual. This was just the same as the SD2200D I had used previously in Arizona. I set all the knobs to normal and adjusted the threshold so I could hear the background warble. Pumping the coil up and down, the tone was steady indicating a good ground balance. I took off detecting and right off the bat I hit a good target. WOW!!! This thing blows away my Minelab Golden Hawk in sensitivity. I have detected this same area several times previously. Excitedly, I dug up a penny just a few inches down. Searching along that drainage area, I started to find numerous targets with about every 10 or 12 swings of the coil. This detector is equipped with a bungee strap that prevents operator fatigue, but I didn't really notice getting tired since the setup was so well weight-balanced. Soon I hit another target, a one inch roofing nail, then a small piece of copper wire and another nail. I rechecked to see that the unit was set in the Iron Discrimination mode, and it was. I was hoping that it would discriminate out the trash so that I would not have to dig a lot of nails or dig three feet to find a can. So can it discriminate
out Fe containing targets? Yes, and no. The GP easily discriminated out
the large trash like long wires, iron cans, but couldn't discriminate a
nail of less than 2 inches in length. The circuitry didn't find any
difference between copper and aluminum in similar targets, but that was
OK. Just like the SD2200D and Golden Hawk, you will have to dig a lot of
small trash targets like nails and pull-tabs. Amazingly, the GP can find
the tiniest pieces of lead shot several inches down. I kept grabbing a
hand full of dirt and getting a strong target and looking to find
nothing. Finally I carefully revealed a small wire as the target. Wow,
Deja vue! It was like detecting in Stanton, AZ all over again with
the SD2200D. I was lucky enough to find my first two I liked the RX switch on the GP box that changes the stock coil from DD to Mono with just a flick of the switch. Multi-versatile. No more going back to the car to change out coils for those small nuggets. Although the target is slightly off center when using the E (Enhance) mode setting, I was picking up bird shot sized lead on the Shallow detect setting with ease. All of a sudden the detector went nuts and began a loud warble of changing tones and went totally out of ground balance. I must have hit a trash dump and I fought the thing to get it balanced again. Finally got it quieted down but I had to relocate to another area. I Discriminated out the trash with a flick into the Disc mode. (Remember to reset the Disc and Tracking after digging a target) The iron discrimination is somewhat confusing at first since the signal volume and tone ramp up then blank out with repeated passes of the coil over the target. Another pearl I discovered was that very tiny targets can be pinpointed by turning the coil on its edge vertically and sweeping over the area. Remember to wear shoes without metal eyelets or steel toes. I learned that lesson in Stanton when my detector kept giving false signals. Without a doubt, the Minelab GP Extreme is one very advance and sensitive detector easy enough for novices like me to pick up and find the bounty. Check out my photos of trash and treasure. (Pics yet to come...ed.) Best of luck out there detecting. We will see you in Alaska in July. Bob Helm |
I was greatly impressed
with the solid hard shell case and dense foam packing the detector. That
would protect my investment on my future trip to Alaska this summer. I
found the manual very easy to read and it gave very precise starting
instructions. The assembly diagrams were clear and concise and made
assembly a breeze. Obviously the manual was written by a professional
and not some technical engineer without communications skills. I had the
unit assembled and ready to start within 5 minutes of opening. I only
had two and a half hours till dark to play with the settings and test my
new toy.
gold nuggets of two
and three penny weights on the GPAA claims in March 2000 with the
SD2200. Just last week, I got off of work early and took the Minelab
Golden Hawk out to a gravel bar in North Carolina. Finally, I found my
first nugget with the Golden Hawk, but it got me craving for more and
deeper nuggets. I knew I had to have a more advanced machine in this
mineralized ground. So far the GP extreme has exceeded my expectations.
I am taking it to Georgia to detect for gold and coins this next week.