GPX 6000 And Audio Boosters - What Is Your View?

[Northeast]

Good morning DP forum.  

Now that the GPX6 has been out for awhile and I'm sure people have had time to play with various boosters, I'm wondering what the consensus is. 

The easy question, do you think they are worth it?  Do they make enough of a difference to bother with the extra attachments and cables - even if they are kept to a minimum?  5% improvement?  20% improvement?  Have you done any specific testing over un-dug targets with and without booster?  

Interested to hear your thoughts and, if you continued to use a booster, what are you using and how have you set it up?  Are you using speakers or wired headphones to the booster?  

The reason I ask is that I am considering purchasing a booster, but my gut feel is that it is not going to make enough of a difference to be worth it.  My current set-up of AS70 BT LL receiver attached to my shirt and then plugged into either some ear buds or a speaker provides good clarity audio. Perhaps a booster allows lower detector volume and a smoother threshold for the same sensitivity setting?  Or improved signal response?  

Really interested to hear the responses.  And JP, Doc and Phase Tech - please don't sit on the side lines just because you manufacture/sell them - would love to hear your views too  👍

Cheers, N.E.  

[dig4gold]

Personally I don't think it needs a booster. Audio is plenty loud enough.

 

D4G

[GotAU?]

I hate headphones and the internal speaker really isn’t all that desirable, so I “boosted” my audio with the Avantree collar speaker - I can still hear the significant changes in tone with it, even in a pretty noisy environment. So I saved my money for the larger coil instead.

[jasong]

Another headphone hater here too. People have recommended that Avantree torus setup a good number of times, but I just can't convince myself to have another thing to rig up and keep track of. I can't wear necklaces either, they bother me, and I dont want something around my neck like that.

I'm almost considering a booster. Almost. But I cant bring myself to having more extraneous stuff, one of the 6000s strength is quickness and simplicity. 

What I would consider using is something like the wm12. I'm assuming it's not possible to connect to the 6000 though? Or is it?

In my head I think I'd try building one if I found time. But I know I never will get to it in reality.

 

[Northeast]

11 hours ago, jasong said:

Another headphone hater here too.

Yep, me too.  Sports earbuds are the best I can manage.

11 hours ago, jasong said:

one of the 6000s strength is quickness and simplicity.

Agreed.  A booster would have to provide significant improvement for me to proceed.   

11 hours ago, jasong said:

I'm assuming it's not possible to connect to the 6000 though? Or is it?

I thought it was impossible but I'm very un-techy!  One is Wi-Stream (whatever that is?) and I think the only audio coming out of the GPX6 is Low Latency BT.  Maybe Wi-Stream is a form of LL BT??  No idea  🤷‍♂️

[AussieMatt]

Wi-stream is Minelab's own proprietary Wi-Fi system, not cross compatible between Minelab units i.e. WM12, WM08 etc. or with Bluetooth.

Maybe Minelab need to look at a module for the GPX6000 with Bluetooth Aptx LL compatibility. Looks like it would be a seller.

p.s. I converted to headphones a few years ago. I no longer use a booster & wouldn't want one for the 6000. Not required IMO.

[1515Art]

I’ve run the sp1 a couple different ways, first with a ll blue tooth feeding the SP1 and the ll Bluetooth I was using I think made the 6000 a little more noisy. The setup I like the best except I’m tethered to a cord is using the supplied 6000’s headphone cord into the SP1 hooked to my belt and Bose sport ear buds. The hardwire Bose earbuds are out of production and last time I checked going for a couple hundred used the apple version works but the android jack configuration I think is better? This cord arrangement really isn’t that bad, plenty of room to set the detector down and recover targets and the cords don’t hang up hunting in the desert anyway, forested areas might be different. Charging devices is a even trade off SP1 instead of the 6000’s headphones, but more control of the audio output with the signal enhancer.

[jasong]

It just occurred to me that the battery seems to be lasting significantly longer while using headphones. I was burning through batteries every 6-7hrs with the speaker and had to keep a spare battery on me at all times since I never had enough juice to finish a day with. Is it my imagination or have I just been detecting shorter days?

I guess carrying the headphones or a booster or whatever isn't as bad if I can trade off not having to tote an extra battery with me.

For future designs, having a detachable speaker module that turns into like a clip on WM12 type thing would be awesome. You can keep it on the detector for low wind days, or clip to your collar or backpack for high wind days. Just getting the speaker up around head level  rather than elbow level and facing backwards makes a world of difference, and wouldn't require a booster IMO, especially if the speaker went up another 1-2 notches higher volume than it does currently. I think the WM12 had way less delay than the 6000 phones, I'm finding the BT delay increasingly offputting.

[phrunt]

I originally was so happy they put a speaker on the GPX 6000, now I'm just a little disappointed as nobody likes using the speaker for various reasons the most common being the EMI introduced using it.  The shorter battery life is expected, the same thing happens with VLF's when using the internal speaker the battery runs down quicker than using headphones, on some detectors significantly quicker.

In hindsight it would have been better for them not to do a speaker on the detector seeing it just doesn't work well, shaving a little bit more weight off and make a WM14 using aptX low latency.  I used to hate the idea of my WM12 with the GPZ and wished the GPZ had a built in speaker, but it's grown on me and I can clip it up high on my collar or harness to be close to my ear to get better hearing ability than having it as a speaker down on the detector so now I quite like the WM12.

A possible alternative for those like me that absolutely hate headphones, don't want the Avantree hanging around their neck and don't want to use the built in speaker would be a Pro Sonic.

I bought one of these for my GPX 5000, the first one died shortly after buying it, it refused to charge so I sent it back and the replacement arrived with the Decal upside down so the buttons and lights didn't line up so I returned it and got a refund, while I did like the product I wasn't happy with the quality of it for the very expensive price they charge for it.  In saying that when it worked it was great, I really like it's performance and the volume level was better than the WM12 to the point I was thinking of replacing my WM12 with it for the GPZ.  It also has adjustable volume.

It is a shame they don't put the effort into upgrading the Pro Sonic to a Pro Sonic 2 and change it over to Bluetooth low latency, for people with the 6000 they'd not need the transmitter and could just use the receiver part of the package for Wm12 type product for their 6000, and for those with older detectors they could use the transmitter also and it'd be a really good device, I really think they significantly over charge for the product though, it's very expensive for what it is.

I intend to get a 6000 very soon although I'm yet to work out how I'd do my audio, being someone that hates headphones makes it a challenge and I don't think I'd like the Avantree option.  I'd prefer another Pro Sonic.

At the moment for me the zero cost option is using my Quest Wirefree Mate, it's a good product with 24hr battery life that I could use to transmit the audio from the 6000 to my Quest receiver which I'd connect onto my harness which has my Steelphase SP01 along with 2 external speakers.  The Quests an awesome product, 0.06sec delay, splash proof, volume control and great battery life, weighs nothing and just works well and doesn't seem to cause interference with detectors either.  It runs at 2.4kHz.

It just comes with Velcro to stick the transmitter to the detector, works well and would add virtually zero weight to the detector.  The transmitter and receiver are tiny and have a very good range, much better than the WM12 and ProSonic.

It does mean wearing my harness which I don't overly like but I'd get the benefits on my Sp01 and I'd have my external speakers. 

Quest need to make a Wirefree mate with built in speaker, I'd buy it in a second as it would be all of my audio problems solved.

[MSC]

Windy conditions and cold days, I use headphones,  the 6000 phones are the best Minelab has offered in my opinion, very comfortable, I have a good set of blue tooth ear buds for other times. I don't mind using the speaker at times also. A lot of good options with this detector. I used the 17'' the other day looking for meteorites in Utah,  and had no problems with that coil as I had a little apprehension due to some other post I have seen.