TRI ELECTRONICS GT-4000 ELECTRONIC GOLD TESTER 6-24K DETECTION

by TRI Electronics

Product Description

Detects karat value of the gold from 6 to 24 karats. Also detects platinum and separates solid gold items from gold plated ones. Provides a numeric reading on the LCD display that corresponds to the karat table. Manufacturers repair/replacement warranty. Specifications / Features: Size: 12 x 9 x 2 (305 x 254 x 50mm) Weight: 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) Power: two 9 volt batteries LCD Display

Product Details

• Item Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0019QBVNO
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,655 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works very well, some learning required, February 14, 2011

By 

Gold_buyer_Phila - See all my reviews

This review is from: TRI ELECTRONICS GT-4000 ELECTRONIC GOLD TESTER 6-24K DETECTION (Misc.)

I have been using GT-4000 for about a year; tested more than 1000 pieces of all colors and various fineness: 375/9K(European/estate), 417/10K, 585/14K, 750/18K and 900-999/21.6-24K gold. I prefer GT-4000 as it gives me a specific number which I then try to interpret using the supplied table and my own judgment and experience. The other model of the tester just tells you what fineness it thinks the metal is -- I'd rather make that determination myself. And it works just lovely 95 times out of a hundred.
Simple things that should be obvious: this is an electrical device, so batteries must be fresh (don't assume! they may have been stored incorrectly) or get the external power supply (worth the price!). Gel must not be kept at high temperatures. Above 100F the gel ages rapidly. Forgot the tester in your car in the summer? It's likely turned unusable -- get a new gel syringe. Nozzle must be kept free of dried gel, so clean it often (little plastic piece is supplied, works well). Too much gel = bad results, as shown in the instruction manual (this is very important: don't drown the metal in gel!) Also don't let the tiny coil that is inside the probe touch the metal you are testing (especially with gold chains that are very fine and get inside the tip, but also any corners, settings, prominences etc. may get inside the tip -- always position the tip having this issue in mind!)
Know your gold alloys: yellow gold with a lot of Zn will give lower readings but usually well within the proper range; white gold with Pt or Pd in the ligature (or plated with Rhodium) may give higher than expected readings. But if you spend some time learning and follow the instructions, you should not have any serious issues. If in doubt -- think "what may have contributed to this", correct your test setup and retest.
And yet, since I prefer to be sure, I use this as the first, screening test and if something is not as expected, I pull out the touch stone. My peace of mind is worth it, especially when gold is so expensive and, thus, mistakes are also very expensive.
One definite advantage is that this tester does not use any acids and does not affect the object you are testing. Also, detecting gold plated and gold filled articles requires minimal scratching of the surface, sometimes practically invisible scratch with a file and when base metal is exposed = the tester shows that this is not solid fine gold.
I am not AT ALL affiliated with the maker/seller, just want to share my experience that this is definitely not a "one star" product and not junk.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't work., May 19, 2010

By 

74maduro (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TRI ELECTRONICS GT-4000 ELECTRONIC GOLD TESTER 6-24K DETECTION (Misc.)

I'm in the coin business and buy a lot of scrap gold and silver. I thought this thing would stream-line my tried-and-true method of acid/scratch testing: It does not. I tried it multiple times to verify known standards (24k credit suise bar and 22k gold eagles) and it does not come back with the correct measurement consistently. Out of ten measurements and ten cleanings maybe it was close about 20% of the time. Most of the measurements came back low and that is unacceptable...unless your intention is to rip people off. Not accurate enough for me. I even measured some 14k samples and it came back 16k and 18k a few times...that's ok if you want to rip yourself off.

Most of the vendors that I saw selling this unit WILL NOT accept it back for a refund if it has been used at all: How are you supposed to know if it works if you don't use it? My original unit was purchased from a vendor that also sells on the most popular of all auction sites (I still payed about the same for it). And, my unit's power switch broke off the second I took it out of the box. I contacted the seller and he didn't want anything to do with the busted unit and that any defects have to be resolved with the manufacturer. The manufacturer is in my same state of CA and they didn't get to fixing my unit until I called and yelled at them a little...after all I only had about five days left of the ten days to return the item for "credit" or an exchange. What a joke. The seller by the way was iGem, and I purchased the high-end GXL-24. I know this is a review for the GT-4000, but they all have the same testing electronics with in them. All of them are junk.