Old second hand GPX issues

[Expe]

Hi there!

This is my first post and I got to this forum because I don't know a better place for my question.

What are the issues I might encounter on an old 4500 or 5000?

To tell you my story, I'm in Romania and I'm planning to detect for some Transilvanian gold, this would be my first gold detector and as you might already got the ideea, I want to buy a cheap gpx at first. In the following months I'll travel to Turkey and will most likely come back with one from there, since the second hand facebook market seems to be offering plenty of them. I am aware there might be some counterfits on the worldwide market, but lets consider they are genuine, what issues might there be on an older gpx 4500 or 5000?

Thank you!

 

[HarryHoudini]

Welcome, the only issues with the 5000 and 4500 are the number of counterfeit detectors being sold cheaply. Always check with minelab and get a full dales history. These detectors look and feel like the real deal but you need to do your homework

cheers and good luck

 

[HarryHoudini]

Oh forgot to say all the 4500 and 5000 detectors work really well you just need to walk over the gold. All these detectors are in use across Australia currently with variety of success. It relies on user experience and gold bearing group

cheers

 

[RM Outback]

G'day Expe welcome to PA, tell us a bit more about your experiences in Romania and how you prospect, pictures welcome :beer:

Biggest problem is the fake Chinese rip off machines.

As for the genuine Minelab machines/equipment or any reputable after market equipment provider.

Issue number 1 is the operator, 2 would be faulty equipment and that's about the extent of any problems you might encounter. In the case of faulty equipment it depends on what is happening, too many variables to list and some instances may prove more than one issue is the reason IE: equipment and operator.

Here is the best deal for a genuine 2nd hand 5000 I've seen of late. I'd be seriously considering this as an opportunity if you're truly interested :beer: :Y:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=38828

All the best with your adventures :Y:

 

[Moneybox]

Hi there!

This is my first post and I got to this forum because I don't know a better place for my question.

What are the issues I might encounter on an old 4500 or 5000?

To tell you my story, I'm in Romania and I'm planning to detect for some Transilvanian gold, this would be my first gold detector and as you might already got the ideea, I want to buy a cheap gpx at first. In the following months I'll travel to Turkey and will most likely come back with one from there, since the second hand facebook market seems to be offering plenty of them. I am aware there might be some counterfits on the worldwide market, but lets consider they are genuine, what issues might there be on an older gpx 4500 or 5000?

Thank you!

We've owned two GPX4500 and worked them hard for about six years. I bought the first one used from Queensland after checking it authenticity with the original selling dealer. It was the best purchase I've ever made and with a few minor repairs still works perfectly today.

I'm still using the original battery and it still holds enough charge to get me through two days. I don't know why they are so good because every other lithium battery I've bought has deteriorated long before it should have however I believe the audio part of these batteries can fail. The only item that let me down a couple of times was the curly cable connecting the detector to the battery. I've been told that failing to immediately fix this cable is the reason for the battery failure. I carry a little bit of maintenance gear and fix these sort of things in the field.

The second GPX4500 we purchased new but I'd not be concerned about buying another used one except for the risk of picking up a counterfeit machine.

 

[Dave's Office]

Don't forget the Garlic and Silver Bullet Expe, I've heard those Vampires are pretty thick in Romania :lol:

 

[Expe]

G'day Expe welcome to PA, tell us a bit more about your experiences in Romania and how you prospect, pictures welcome :beer:

Biggest problem is the fake Chinese rip off machines.

As for the genuine Minelab machines/equipment or any reputable after market equipment provider.

Issue number 1 is the operator, 2 would be faulty equipment and that's about the extent of any problems you might encounter. In the case of faulty equipment it depends on what is happening, too many variables to list and some instances may prove more than one issue is the reason IE: equipment and operator.

Here is the best deal for a genuine 2nd hand 5000 I've seen of late. I'd be seriously considering this as an opportunity if you're truly interested :beer: :Y:

All the best with your adventures :Y:

Romania is in a league of it's own when it comes to laws and politics.

-If you want to go pan, sluice or high bank it is ilegal without a permit (as an indivitual, it takes about one year, lots of papers, lost time and money to get the permit... and after that you are allowed to pan on a small area for the entire year).
-if you go metal detecting, you have to register your detectors(pinpointers, vlf or pi, everything) at the police, this takes about one month, but you do that only once when you buy it.
The "good part" about metal detecting is that you can keep anything that's not older than 100 years, everything else has to be donated to the state museum (99% of all donated findings in the country get to be locked in the basement)

So, gold prospecting is a bit difficult here, but laws are a bit in the gray area when it comes to metal detecting.
Unlike the soils I have seen on most of the ozzies on youtube, over here the top soil is vegetal, thick and does not cary gold, so a deep detector and coil is a must in order to get to gold. River beds are either always underwater or with big round rocks( at least in my area).
I tried to ad here some pictures but I have a newbie restriction for the first 10 posts.

Those detectors in the link you provided look like they were taken care of. The ones that I have seen for sale are scuffed up bad from not having a cover on them. On the other side, one of the cheapest was 18.000 turkish liras, that is bout 1.800 AUD. Now the questions is, might there be performence issues form those marks on the unit?
(Photos of the detector were supposed to be added here also)

 

[Expe]

Don't forget the Garlic and Silver Bullet Expe, I've heard those Vampires are pretty thick in Romania :lol:

thats why virgins detect here only in daylight

 

[Moneybox]

Some people spend more time looking after their gear than finding gold. Our gear is always dusty, scratched and looking old but that's because we treat our detectors as tools not toys. The GPX5000 and GPX4500 are good robust machines so they can handle a bit of rough use without affecting their performance.

 

[Expe]

Some people spend more time looking after their gear than finding gold. Our gear is always dusty, scratched and looking old but that's because we treat our detectors as tools not toys. The GPX5000 and GPX4500 are good robust machines so they can handle a bit of rough use without affecting their performance.

Thank you!

 

[Greenhornet_au]

This is the link for Minelabs head office 'on-line' serial number check for their detectors
so you can check if the one you are buying may be a counterfeit.

Read the first link pages fully, there are a few....

https://www.minelab.com/anzea/support/stop-counterfeits/verify-your-minelab

Check this one too, save the links.

https://verify.minelab.com/index.html#/

:Y:

 

[grubstake]

Those detectors in the link you provided look like they were taken care of. The ones that I have seen for sale are scuffed up bad from not having a cover on them. On the other side, one of the cheapest was 18.000 turkish liras, that is bout 1.800 AUD. Now the questions is, might there be performence issues form those marks on the unit?

It's possible that cheap Minelab GPXs have come from Africa, where they would typically have had some pretty severe usage. eg. high temperatures, rough transport, unskilled operators. They may be OK even so, but do you know anywhere you could get a Minelab checked/serviced if it was necessary?

 

[Expe]

Those detectors in the link you provided look like they were taken care of. The ones that I have seen for sale are scuffed up bad from not having a cover on them. On the other side, one of the cheapest was 18.000 turkish liras, that is bout 1.800 AUD. Now the questions is, might there be performence issues form those marks on the unit?

It's possible that cheap Minelab GPXs have come from Africa, where they would typically have had some pretty severe usage. eg. high temperatures, rough transport, unskilled operators. They may be OK even so, but do you know anywhere you could get a Minelab checked/serviced if it was necessary?

In Romania I do have the an official distrubutor of Minelab, I guess they would be the one to go to.