Jump to content

Emi, The GPX 6000.... Your Thoughts?


oneguy

Recommended Posts

AFON's post on the rod twisting below and my comment about emi pissing me off prompted me to ask members their thoughts on the wild 6000.  I've only dug 39 nuggs so far with the 6.  Haven't been able to use it lately due to having a helicopter dragging water buckets overhead daily for 2 weeks.  I constantly fight emi especially with jets/planes and some trucks on hgwy down below but I've kinda gotten used to that and can force myself to deal with it although annoying.  On Wed. my plan was to hunt with the 6 as the fire traffic has almost stopped.  I could not get the 6 to settle down for any length of time for over an hr. so I got pissed and grabbed the Monster to finish out my day.  My SDC has always run very smooth in same areas I hunt but the wild 6 seems to only settle down to a smooth threshold later on in the afternoon provided no air traffic , etc?  Has anyone else noticed more erratic threshold in the early mornings compared to later in the afternoon...???  I've also tried difficult, normal, auto, manual 1, etc. and nothing seems to make things any better?  It's almost to the point where using the 6 just kinda takes the "fun" outta hunting for me as I always have to wait for the thing to settle down?  Next time out I'll try and just park the thing until afternoon and test my theory on emi being worse in the early mornings and see what happens?  Any thoughts or ideas appreciated!  I'd like to hang on to it as I've seen a little of what it can do and am impressed...but at what cost to my sanity...lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I just started a a thread on the same subject, need to combine the two. Will figure it out…… OK, leaving this thread, copy of my post here:

This is a copy of a post I made in the GPX rod thread:

On 9/17/2021 at 8:21 AM, oneguy said:

I've had the rod twist but like Steve mentioned... it was when I was a little aggressive with the coil.  The minor issue is nothing compared to how pissed I get when I can't get the machine to settle down (emi) and just enjoy my hunt.  Wed. I got so mad I left the 6 on the bank and grabbed the Monster to finish out the rest of the day.  Thinking about selling it.

I wonder if there is more going on there than EMI, as it is genuinely a non-issue for me most of the time. Have you tried another coil? I don’t mean the 14” for EMI canceling, but maybe the 17” or another 11”. If you know somebody who will let you try their 11” give it a go, in case there is a coil issue.

I have my doubts it is EMI at all, as even in remotest Alaska the machine will act up, requiring one, and in rare cases, a couple hits of the cancel button to settle down. If it’s EMI then in those cases it would have to be picking up aurora borealis or something natural, because no way it’s man made EMI. Maybe something in Geo-Sense going astray? Don’t know, may be subject for another thread, as I want this one to stay focused on the rod issue.

JP has mentioned he thinks the speaker has something to do with it, like a feedback loop where the machine is picking up its own speaker, then amplifying that back via the audio? I do actually wonder if a Geo-Sense programming bug is at fault, as it did occur with mine in remotest Alaska, where it is impossible it was man made EMI. A natural source, like aurora activity? Perhaps, but feels more like something inherent in the machine. It also seems to vary by machine. Mine, it’s basically a none issue for me except in rare instance, easily tamed with the cancel button. But I consider the machine to be inherently noisy, like the SDC warble, and so discount what others might consider to me major. I’m also used to running machines very hot and noisy regardless, so maybe I’m not mentally attuned to this as much as others might be. But I also suspect there are machines that are simply doing this more than others, or more likely, areas where it really is EMI, like Arizona, where that seems more common than northern Nevada.

Don’t know, but it is going on, and here is a thread, like the rod thread, to express your thoughts. No doubt the feedback will find its way to Minelab, so please express in depth and with some thought. Thanks.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Emi, The GPX 6000.... Your Thoughts?
40 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

as it did occur with mine in remotest Alaska, where it is impossible it was man made EMI.

How far does the radar energy travel that Clear AFB is pumping out?  What about HAARP, don't they send signals up that reflect back off the ionosphere?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Flydog said:

How far does the radar energy travel that Clear AFB is pumping out?  What about HAARP, don't they send signals up that reflect back off the ionosphere?

You tell me. I don’t know. In theory energy goes forever, it just gets weaker. If that’s the case everything and anything anywhere can be blamed on man-made EMI, and I simply don’t buy it. If it was an issue for any other detector, maybe, but no, it’s not. Seems like more than just EMI at work here to me, but I can also just be wrong. I’m speculating.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had similar frustrations with my GPX 5000 about 3 years ago.  I'd hear sirens when planes would fly over, and no change of settings would really quiet it down enough to make it usable.  Some days I'd have to swap to my SDC after 10 minutes of arriving at my spot since the noise the machine made would drive me crazy.  Later in the day it seemed to be worse, but could have been my imagination.  I even bought a used GPX 4500 after being forced to use the SDC most trips for a year since my dad and brother would snag the deeper nuggets I'd miss with the SDC with their 5000's.  Both of their identical machines would behave when we were all out hunting together.  

After trying out tons of combinations of coils, batteries of my own and swapping in my dad's and brother's parts, I finally figured out my GPX 5000 preferred the "DD" position on the switches over "mono" and that it acted up with tons of false noises and siren noises most when running my 14x9 and 17x13 NF evo coils.  My conclusion was the machine hated the spiral wound coils and they weren't a good match for my unit.  I discovered this when I put on a 10x5DD Commander coil at home during troubleshooting one day and the thing was quiet...even around my house where there is a lot of EMI from powerlines, etc.  I just recently got a Detech 15in DD spiral coil and it also purred at my house when I put it on.  I hope to use it in the very near future in the very same spots I had so much trouble before with my 17x13 equipped in particular and see how it behaves.  

I'm glad I figured this out before selling the GPX 5000 at a huge loss and now my plan is to have it use DD coils for use in super trashy sites and someday buy a GPX6000 for use in areas where things are cleaner and for general use.  

I remember Jonathan Porter has mentioned a time or two in his posts the older GPX machines were not designed electronically for use with the new spiral/flat wound coils.  Seems my GPX was a good example of that with how it rejected them.   

I'd definitely take a closer look at your GPX 6000 coil and try to use a known good coil on your unit if you can.

Best of luck!  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My observations have been that there is obvious EMI related to air traffic and other unstable threshold due to unknown factors. For instance, overhead airplanes always disrupt the balance. Those at lower altitudes are noticeably worse. Then there are times it just seem to get a little wacky without any obvious cause. Some of the time a noise cancel seems to quiet it down and other times not. The latter leads me to wonder if EMI is indeed not the end all cause of the erratic episodes. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites


i always use headphones with the 6k and i only hunt early mornings. for me the airplanes and other detectors near by are realy the only thing that's been enough to have me stop
for 30 seconds for the bad warbling to stop. sometimes i might hit the noise cancel button. sometimes it will get a little hiccup, target sound and ill have to re-sweep to see if it was a target or not.
i would say i usually do not have a smooth threshold.
been hunting the last 3 days with a friend, i locate targets and have him recover them with the gold monster.
got 6 bits for 1 gram and one of them was 0.58 grams leaving the others to be 1 grain or less. i really have a hard time believing this 11 coil can hit on these
so well, even with a bit of warble the targets are coming through distinctly.
over all i really like the detector. i am thinking of selling the monster due to the 6k being able to hit so good on the small stuff.  
something i noticed other day, i was trying to make loud noises to scare some bears away, yes we have bears in Arizona, and was banging my pick on rock 4 or 5 feet away from the coil and the 6k was making a loud pinging noise.
like the detector was feeling the shock or something. kind of like when lightning strikes far away kind of ping. super sensitive.
oneguy are you using headphones?

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Negative on the headphones Bishop but will try that also. I have had the machine run very smooth a few times and for the majority of the hunt and of course then I love the thing, so I don't think the machine has a problem.  I believe it's my location and the 6 has also made me realize exactly how much air traffic is up there which surprised me!  If using the 6 for the bulk of my hunts I guess I hit the noise cancel about 20-30 times in a 5-6hr hunt.  I also made a bigger loop on the coil wire near coil to try and keep the cable a little further away from the coil when laid flat.  Bought metal free boots, don't even own a cell or flat phone or pack any electrical crap around.  I'll play with it some more next time out and see if I can calm down a tad and see if the 6 will calm down some.

Thanks guys...!!!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always use the headphones while detecting & only use the speaker for short periods if showing someone else the 6000 so my experience is based on headphone use.

I've had very little issues with EMI in comparison to other GPX detectors. I've used the 6000 with 11" mono in places I couldn't use the 4500/5000 with a mono coil. Air traffic has also been less of an issue with the 6000 over previous GPX's IMO. The 6000 to me seems to settle down quicker or if it does get erratic after EMI interruption is settled down heaps easier & quicker via the auto tune.

I'm actually finding mine to be closer in EMI handling to SDC/GPZ, although in similar areas I did find my SDC's could require a number of auto tunes on start up to get stable then more during the day while detecting so in some cases I'd rate the 6000 as better.

Edit: Will add that 90% of the time I detect with an old mate of mine & he uses a 6000 too. I keep fairly close to him most of the time i.e. within line of sight. We've not had any major dramas with machine interference either unless getting within about ~20m (60') of each other. I usually get him set up & on his way then set up + auto tune my machine.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...