Confusion on Minelab GPX settings/timings

[nuggethunting]

Hello All,

A forum member on antoher thread asked me about this:

Can you use Deep with other settings?

For starters, I think Minelab detectors can be confusing when it comes to their labeling. The whole "Deep, General and Custom" is more confusing than anything.

These three settings are just factory pre-set settings for guys that know nothing about the unit. You can flip the switch into one of these three settings and take off and hunt. That being said, you can also customize these three settings to what you like and then save them. This is done by flipping the switch into one of the modes, let’s say "Deep" for starters."

Now let’s back up here for a second, when you're in the "Deep" mode and looking at your LCD screen, you will see there are settings already set up, but when you switch that toggle switch to "General" or "Custom" the settings will change. Like I said, these are three factory presets you have to work with.

How you can save your own 3 settings: When you're in "Deep," you can customize your own settings, volume, gain, audio, ground balance, iron reject and such .... to however you like it. Once you shut the GPX5000 off, those settings you just customized will now save over the factory Minelab presets in that "Deep" mode. You might label in your own mind that setting now as "Patch 1" or Shallow Ground" ect .... If you do this same thing with the "General" and "Custom" modes, you will have three of your own, completely customized settings you like. You can label them whatever you want in your mind, so the "Deep, General and Custom" don't mean anything anymore besides still being labeled on that toggle.

If you ever decide to change the unit back to stock or factory presets, you can do this by holding down the ON/OFF toggle switch until you get the screen that shows "Change all settings back to default." At this point you can either reset one of the modes you are currently in, reset all three of them back or exit the screen and leave them the way they are.

You mentioned running settings together. You can run any combo of settings together, but keep in mind the only thing you have to understand is timings. With the GPX5000 you get a total of 8 timings on this unit. Two of the timings, Normal and Enhance are their own timings and don't combine with the Special timings on the LCD that you can change.

Normal is its own timing, Enhance is its own timing and if you have Normal with Sensitive/Extra or Fine Gold for example, you really only have "Normal" timing. (Please reply to this post if you don't understand this)

If you want to use the other 6 timings, you must be in "Special timing" on the front control panel and then choose what timing you want from the LCD screen, which would be like "Salt Coarse, Fine Gold, Sensitive/Extra, Coil/Relic" and such.

There still seems to be a bunch of confusion on this, so lets just start here for beginners. If you have questions, comments or concerns about this, please post them here.

Talk with you soon,

Rob Allison

[El Dorado]

OK, I'll bight on this (I have a 4500). You are saying that if I have the front switch in Deep or General but keep all the screen settings alike (IE: gain, motion, audio) That either setting will be in fact the same as the other?

[1Boeing737]

I see it as a factory preset labling switch position for a specific condition listed you are seeking to hunt for. If you are lost and want its advice on where to begin as a starting point, hold down the on/off switch for a few sec. like Rob said, and your ready to use the switch for what they would advise or suggest as a starting point to get going for that condition you want. That was the meaning of the switch to me. I like to think of it as the factory preset switch. You can do what ever you want from there to improve upon your condition of detecting.

I believe this to be correct.

Mark

[1Boeing737]

Switching the position cap from deep to general, and you will retain what is/has been monkied with for that switch position input only from the menu page inputs. They don't carry info back and forth to each others switch position when changing switch positions. You basically customise for each switch position as you flip the switch around and with the menu and settings page being the only changer of data for that particular switch position. That is the beauty of it all.

[notoriouskelly]

Thanks, Rob. That does clear it up for me.

[nuggethunting]

Hello Guys,

El Dorado - Yes, that is a fact. If you have all three of the settings, Deep, General and Custom the very same, they all will perform the same.

At that last Minelab Conference, I brought this to many dealers attention, which most were surprised. Some basically told me I was full of shit, but then once the Minelab Engineer told them, they didn't know what to think. It basically comes down to those three modes as somewhere to start for beginners. If you had no clue whatsoever how to set up the GPX, you could place the unit in "General" and have a chance to find something. If you didn't know anything besides there might be deeper gold, you could place the switch in "Deep" and find gold deeper than the "General" mode.

There has been some mass confusion about this for a long time, along with some other stuff about timings. I'm one of the new contributors on Minelab's Treasure Talk, so this will be one of my first threads coming soon on Minelab's website.

Hope this helps a bit,

Rob Allison

[goldtimer]

When I first got the 4000, I was pretty confused. Then I printed off this 4000 Explanation and took it with me every time I went detecting. Then if I got myself confused, I took out the piece of paper and reread it.

Once you get your head around everything inside a ML PI they are great.

It is a bit of a learning curve though, especially if you're like me and bought it as your first detector.

[benz]

Normal is its own timing, Enhance is its own timing and if you have Normal with Sensitive/Extra or Fine Gold for example, you really only have "Normal" timing. (Please reply to this post if you don't understand this)

If you want to use the other 6 timings, you must be in "Special timing" on the front control panel and then choose what timing you want from the LCD screen, which would be like "Salt Coarse, Fine Gold, Sensitive/Extra, Coil/Relic" and such.

On A GPX4500 I have the switch on "deep" and the timing switch on "Special". On my LED screen I have the timing set to "sharp". When I put the timing switch on "N",(still on "deep"). The timing on my LED screen stays on "sharp", however its not in the "sharp" timing its in the "N" timing. Is that what you mean? You can only change the soil timings when the timing switch is on "Special". Even though the timing on your LED screen says different?

EDIT. I Looked at my unit and now it makes sence.. The "Special" Setting on the LCD dcreen is only for the "Special" switch..

[El Dorado]

Rob

Thanks, In the back of my mind I was thinking that is the way it is but figured there was more to it!........

[FlakMagnet]

Hey Rob,

That is a good explaination of a little-talked-about topic.

It can be a potentially confusing subject if you don't hear about it

in a clear way.

I have been using the three settings on the front end cap pretty much as you have described.

Each has it's own function. On the 5000 one of them is for pinpointing,

one is for general hunting and one is for that super-slowed-down-take-your-time area.

If the Minelab dealers were confused

you can imagine where some of us civilians were until it was made clear.

Thanks again,

Flak