My Minelab Gpx6000 First Outing

[Calmark]

First off, a big thank you to all of you who have provided your in the field experiences as well as tips and tricks and troubleshooting info on this forum and elsewhere.  Rigging up the new detector coil, I knew to screw and push the coil cable in 3 times and then continue to tighten it down fully,  to use the factory reset if needed and that lower sensitivity still provided plenty of power. 🎇🏆  Everything else was pretty easy.  This detector swings great and is simple to use!  

 The availability of the extra batteries and 17in mono coil in the USA finally are what made me jump in and get all of the accessories at once, even though I generally don't care to be an early adopter for electronics.    I knew I couldn't go wrong with all of the good reports from all of you here on DP and everywhere on the internet.

So, I took out my new GPX6000 today to an area I've had success in the past.  I had one fully charged battery and the spare was 1/4 charged.  I used the 17x13 the entire time, even though the 11in was in my pack if needed.  I was able to run normal timing at around a sensitivity level of 5.  Higher and things got a little noisy, so I just went with this set up for the first trip.  I was pleasantly surprised I didn't have to run in difficult timing.  It was very simple to use and coming from a background of running a GPX5000 the past 3 years, it really was a breeze to get right to detecting and not worry at all about controls.

The machine ran great!  I had zero hiccups, no loss of audio using the wireless headphones, etc.  It didn't fall over all day even placed on slopes or atop rocks, unlike some of my other no-so-ergonomic gold detectors.  Apart from becoming noisy and performing noise cancels as needed, I restarted the unit to factory settings around midday when it got a little squirrely and after that it behaved the rest of the day.  I got in 9 hours of searching and the extra battery was enough to get me through until quitting time. 

I ended up with 5 nuggets walking along some steep creeks.  None were huge, but all decent sized.  This spot generally seems to lack tiny gold, as the slope I assume lets the lighter gold blast right through the area during high water. I'm not too surprised no sub .1g pieces popped up.   None found were too deep, maybe 5-6 inches on the largest one, but signals were unmistakable, even if faint.

I look forward to more outings soon, especially as its now the fall season and cooler days are just around the corner!   

[Valens Legacy]

Nice write-up along with some nice gold.

Good luck on your next hunt and may the gold gods be with you.

[Gerry in Idaho]

You did very good for a 1st voyage trip out with the 6000.  Nice little write up as well and thanks for sharing.

[MSC]

Nice finds Calmark, waiting for a 17'' myself.