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GPX 6000 14" DD Coil Videos, Finds, Discussion & Tips


Northeast

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One thing I've noticed with the 14 DD vs 11" mono, is the depth difference in Difficult vs Normal. Basically, on targets larger than a .22 bullet (very roughly), the 14" DD gets the best depth improvement when in Normal, compared to both the 11" and 17". 

The 17" will see a better depth improvement compared to the 11", but only when ground conditions are really mild. 

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5 hours ago, PhaseTech said:

One thing I've noticed with the 14 DD vs 11" mono, is the depth difference in Difficult vs Normal. Basically, on targets larger than a .22 bullet (very roughly), the 14" DD gets the best depth improvement when in Normal, compared to both the 11" and 17". 

The 17" will see a better depth improvement compared to the 11", but only when ground conditions are really mild. 

That's exactly my observation too. I don't think switching to Normal gains much for the 11" and 17". As for depth, the 11" is comparable to the 17" IMO, at least roughly. Re 14DD, In Normal the 14DD remains remarkably sensitive to fast gold in both EMI and salt cancel modes. And if it gets really bad EMI/salt wise, going back to Manual 6 will make the 6k/14DD an incredibly stable machine. I have yet to find conditions where the 6k becomes unusable. It seems that for almost all situations the 6k can be made workable by choosing the appropriate settings/coils with little overall impact on performance. I even got my Auto stable again 😁. It must have been the Gold Basin area where the Auto just would not be stable at all and Manual 7 was the only choice.

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I got to run the DD for one day about a month ago on my 6. I will say, I was very impressed with its response to EMI. The weekend before that I was in a small gulch that has powerlines running over over the top end of the gulch. I had to stay at the bottom end, about 2-300' away from the power lines with the mono. The DD coil allowed me to detect right underneath the power lines. No noise. Worked beautifully. Didnt get any gold that day but did pick up small lead shot (along with a billion other pieces of trash). AFreakofNature was with me that day with his equinox and we were able to be within 5' of each other! But thats the only time I've used the DD so far. I will most likely need it again in the near future as some of my next locations to check next year are near powerlines as well. 

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  • 1 year later...

Nearly 2 years on and I must say that my use of the DD coil on the GPX 6000 is limited.  

A couple of specific areas in Northeast Victoria and 2 times in W.A. last year that worked brilliantly on killing salt signal but found me no more gold. 

One of the reasons that it hardly leaves the storeroom is that I find it large and unwieldy for working scrubby areas.  It was OK in W.A. on open, flat ground but still heavy.  

Now that the monos are mostly out, I am wondering if anyone has some scuttle butt about some smaller DD sizes in the wings?  A 10" X 6" for example?   With the Garrett Axiom getting 3 X DD's straight off the bat I am wondering if Minelab might be encouraging some after market manufacturers to delve into the DD space for the 6000?  

@Coiltek  ???  And if I could 'poke' NF, Detech, Nel, X-Coils, etc I would  😃

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Same here Northeast, 14DD remains mostly in truck (just like the 17 eliptical I sadly have to say...). But that is also because I still use the Z/NF12 quite a bit, and adjusting the settings will deal with EMI and salt just fine. But I have asked before why only monos show up for the 6k and not more DDs. Would be so nice to have a small DD anywhere in the 9-12 inch size range available. Perhaps not so easy due to Geosense?

GC

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10 minutes ago, Gold Catcher said:

just like the 17 eliptical I sadly have to say

Yes, at home I use the 17" rarely as it is not a scrub/bush type coil, but in W.A. and some parts of central Vic it has certainly seen some use.   

11 minutes ago, Gold Catcher said:

Perhaps not so easy due to Geosense?

Yes, no idea re: the practicalities of the technology or the amount of wire and having to stuff it in a smaller housing.   Hoping @Coiltek or @Aureous might be able to bridge that gap.  

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There is no common sense barrier to making smaller DD coils...Wire can be fitted easily into a medium sized shell. Look at the old Commander DD elliptical for instance.....smallest DD for a PI detector that I can think of....  I for one will heartily welcome at least an 11" DD or ideally a 12x8 DD. The only 'wait a while' is the coding of the chips by Minelab once the design for a smaller DD is tested. I think Trevor @ Coiltek  has made some noises about a smaller DD, so thats encouraging. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hunt a area loaded with hot rocks with the 6000, the 11" see's targets every where. I can tame it down and make it work but I have to listen carefully. If I put the 14" DD on, most of the hot rocks disappear and find it more comfortable to listen to and not as tiring mentally. The sensitivity to small gold is amazing having found gold down to 11/2 grains as I can run this coil at maximum sensitivity. I do find that only the left side of the coil will signal gold even to the edge of the coil, so I use left side up against rocks etc. Not sure how each would perform at depth, but depth isn't a issue in this spot. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

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Yup, only the left hand side of the coil has decent sensitivity, so you have to ensure you can get that left side over the targets, relatively useless being such a big coil in amongst rocks or bushes when only half the coil is any good.

I've not had the success you've had with hot rocks and the DD, I was hoping it would be better for me but it wasn't on the type of hot rocks in my area unfortunately.  For me the GPX 6000 just doesn't handle hot rocks well at all and is not a detector I'd choose to use in bad hot rocks. 

The 14" DD sensitivity to small gold is slightly less than the 11" but with the 6000 being so good on small gold the loss of performance isn't terrible and you can live with it if you need to use the DD.  While it sure makes the detector run nice it's not a coil you'd use as an everyday coil due to it's various limitations.  I do hope the aftermarket come out with a smaller DD, especially an elliptical one.

On the smallest bits of gold I've found the 11" deeper than the DD, not sure about larger gold, rarely find any around here. 🙂

The DD is a valuable coil if in the right situations that suit it though, a good thing to have handy if you're out with the GPX.

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33 minutes ago, INDIANA STEVE said:

Not sure how each would perform at depth

The 14" size for the DD coil was a deliberate choice by Minelab to 'replicate' the overall depth and sensitivity ability of the 11" mono. As the DD has half of the windings made redundant in AI mode, the actual diameter that is 'active' is very close to that of the 11" mono. Any smaller DD made will have a lesser active diameter and hence, a lesser depth on bigger targets. The sensitivity will remain very high though of course. But, as you noted, the ability of such a big coil to hit tiny gold is quite astonishing. Its made easier by the virtue of the AI mode making all EMI noise non existent.

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