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My New GPX 6000 Is Faulty, Straight Out Of The Box


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This is a video of my 6k when I tested it at the Maryborough test site about 6 weeks ago. About 4 in the afternoon quite warm and no clouds. I think the threshold is fairly stable compared to yours and I did find  a 0.03 piece with it the following day. I do have the volume set to minimum.

 

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BMc 

The customer is likely the only quality assurance anymore.. 

 

Good guess , I went to tron school back in the 60s !

Some of the musicians called me a "dinosaur" ... 

But they kept picking me to go on the road. LOL

 

I know everything is solder bath now but still not perfect , not that I am , but I take the time to check as I go under magnification and reheat if needed . 

 

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I told you Simon, that there was no point in you buying a GPX 6000, if you were using a GPZ 7000 with a full complement of X Coils. If you are disappointed, you only have yourself to blame. Ergonomics aside, most people in small gold locations like the U.S. and New Zealand would probably prefer 6000 over GPZ. The 6000 11” mono generally works better on our gold than the GPZ 14” coil. But X Coils make up for that difference if used on the GPZ, negating the 6Ks main advantage. Again, ergonomics aside… though I think ergonomics matters a lot.

Personally if I had neither I’d get the 6000 and avoid getting the more expensive GPZ, and then having to go the X Coil route to make the Z do what my 6000 does out of box. In your case however, you are already a GPZ user fully outfitted with X Coils. We discussed it, I told you take a pass on the 6000, you got one anyway. That’s fine, but honestly you should not be surprised or disappointed, when what you are seeing is what I told you.

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Yes Steve, we did discuss it a fair few times, you did tell me on multiple occasions so I've only got myself to blame, an excited puppy dog with a new toy. JW also gave me a bit of a warning about it too when I asked if I should get one the week before I bought it.  I'm certainly not blaming anyone.

If the performance of mine is a bit off it and it could very well be, the guy that sent me his repair form that had the same problem felt his was under performing too and his repaired one he thought performed better and was certainly more stable, but he sold it anyway once he got it back.  I hope the new one comes back slightly better, if not I've always got the smaller coils to look for which will close the gap. 

If it ends up my GPZ is better on the small gold with my setup that's fine, I will use the GPX for what it's good for, hiking long distances, biking into places with it in a backpack or for when I'm tired and can't be bothered with the GPZ and I just used to use a VLF in those situations and the GPX destroys a VLF.

The weight is certainly it's advantage, I absolutely love that about it, if it means someone can spend a day or days swinging that they couldn't do with another detector, it's a winner for sure.

It's a shame they couldn't put a GPZ into a GPX housing and make it a similar weight, perhaps that's the GPZ 8000, I better start saving my pennys for that now.

My reason for checking the performance against the GPZ was to establish if its faulty, I didn't want my dealer to have to take it back and swap it if its performing as it should, I still have some hope its got a performance fault based off the other guy with the same ! mark problem on his where he was tapping the control box.  I don't want Minelab to replace it if its not faulty and the ! mark error was just some form of loose connection or something.  On a side note my dealer mate found a very impressive nugget with his 6000 on his helicopter trip, a real beauty too. 

I probably shouldn't have tried to fix it by doing the side taps as when it wasn't even turning on I could have swapped it over straight away as a dead DOA and not have to worry about anything else, now its working it's not as simple.

Anyway, as JW said to me there might be a cross over point on gold sizes where the GPX does better and there are many variables even the prickly bits that change results, he's really enjoying his one and using it a lot and doing well with it, finding gold that was possibly missed by the GPZ combo, he wouldn't do that if he didn't like it,  so I'm sure it will grow on me over time especially when small coils arrive.

I will now just report what happens with the detector, if they replace it or not etc, other than that there is little more to say, hopefully my next post is me showing some nugget finds with it 🙂

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Agree with most of that Steve. The reason I use the 6000 is ease of use, quickness, weight, convenience of having everything all in 1 unit with nothing extra required, no rig up/rig down or extra equipment required - which is also why I'm so adamant ML should fix their speaker issues, since it's a major part of the machine's desirability in my opinion.

The 6000 is the first machine where I think it can be safely said that the subjective experience of using it, or the "intangibles" comprise a significant part of it's desirability. These vary highly between users who use it for different things.

That said, I'm glad Simon posted that vid because while the 8" results didn't surprise me, the 12" spiral results do, even if it was a 0.044 grammer and not 0.03. If my gut feeling was wrong, I'd be interested to find out so I can have a better understanding how my equipment works.

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I loved the idea of the speaker, now I'm not so sure I like speakers anymore on any detector, after being forced to use headphones with the GPX I found the advantage of them, the nugget the 6000 did find me was a very faint signal, I know I'd not hear that signal with my speakers as my hearing just isn't that sensitive with background noises like wind or even just having the speakers further from my head, the clarity of audio with the headphones was significantly better, I've never been a headphone user for anything so didn't really know the difference.  I run my GPZ so loud with speakers it annoys JW but that's so I can hear all the faint stuff, headphones make that much easier. 

I think I might even find some headphones I like and move onto them on both detectors.  The 6000 headphones fit my head really well and were very comfortable apart from I kept hitting them with my pick and it made a much louder bang than it should due to the ear muffs being on as headphones stick out a lot and I carry it over my shoulder a lot, that's just something I can adjust for.  I'd be happy using them on both detectors if they didn't have the high pitched hissing sound all the time, maybe if I get them replaced the new ones won't have that, and if that's the case I'm going to start using them on both detectors.

So am I now a headphone guy? quite possibly, I just need to find some I like, at least there are hundreds of options from many brands. 

I'm still excited about my GPX, just not as excited as I was and having the ! mark fault on it has really made me question it and I spent the entire day using it questioning if it was even working right so finding the bit of gold at the end of the day perked me up a bit.  It is early days and I've got a lot of time on it yet to learn it and it's benefits.  In their standard form with standard coils I honestly don't know which I'd choose, the GPZ's threshold and ease of use is more my style but I think the GPX performs better on the smalls over the standard GPZ and that's what I care about most so if I could only have one in that scenario it'd be the GPX.

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8 hours ago, petere said:

This is a video of my 6k when I tested it at the Maryborough test site about 6 weeks ago. About 4 in the afternoon quite warm and no clouds. I think the threshold is fairly stable compared to yours and I did find  a 0.03 piece with it the following day. I do have the volume set to minimum.

Thanks, it seemed to do pretty well, is that Coiltek test site near a bit of EMI, you seemed to struggle a bit with EMI although not as bad as mine seems.  It's interesting how at low sensitivity levels it still performs pretty good on the bigger deeper stuff with a more stable detector.  I'm sure it is going to grow on me, it's very early days, one prospecting trip so far.

I think my instability is due to the solder problem, I appreciate your video. 

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5 hours ago, jasong said:

Agree with most of that Steve. The reason I use the 6000 is ease of use, quickness, weight, convenience of having everything all in 1 unit with nothing extra required, no rig up/rig down or extra equipment required - which is also why I'm so adamant ML should fix their speaker issues, since it's a major part of the machine's desirability in my opinion.

I’m absolutely in that camp with you Jason. I did not mention Simon assured me the weight etc of the GPZ was totally not a problem for him. But for me that 6K light weight, instant compact setup, etc. is exactly what I wanted, to the point where what I see as minor performance quibbles one way or the other are completely immaterial. I like the 6000, am satisfied with its performance, that’s what I’m going to use, end of story. :smile:

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3 hours ago, phrunt said:

“So am I now a headphone guy? quite possibly, I just need to find some I like, at least there are hundreds of options from many brands.”

 

Simon, have you tried the Avantree collar?  It works really well with the 6k - all day too, especially when it is hot out.  Good luck with the replacement 6, you will surely like it.

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Just now, GotAU? said:

Simon, have you tried the Avantree collar?  It works really well with the 6k - all day too, especially when it is hot out.  Good luck with the replacement 6, you will surely like it.

Thanks, I tried to buy an Avantree yesterday, a few months ago when they were all the talk I googled it and found a place selling them in NZ, now I can't find that place anymore so I think it's no longer sold here and can't find anywhere selling them in NZ anymore, I would have to buy it in Australia and get it shipped over by the looks of it.  It seems a popular choice and Norvic loves his one too and he's a real straight shooter.  If any Aussies know places to buy it please let me know, I'm not having much luck every place I find it at will only ship domestically in Australia.

 

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