Is Garrett About To Release A New Gold Prospecting Pi?

[jasong]

That red Earth shot appears to be in Australia and the mountains in the US. So, looking hopeful the implication is it's intended to be a versatile machine for a lot of different environments, and perhaps we had a wide range of global testers too. 

Probably a stupid question, but where do you buy Garrett at these days? Is it an Amazon or Kellyco type purchase, dealers, or?

[Swegin]

34 minutes ago, jasong said:

Probably a stupid question, but where do you buy Garrett at these days? Is it an Amazon or Kellyco type purchase, dealers, or?

I know Rob sells them or at least has some on his website. I am sure the dealers will be on here soon or should be.

 

[abenson]

2 hours ago, jasong said:

Probably a stupid question, but where do you buy Garrett at these days? Is it an Amazon or Kellyco type purchase, dealers, or?

Joel (kickindirt) on this forum sells them.

[phrunt]

I was referring the to shaft looking real good.  I've been rather disappointed in my GPX 6000 shaft and I'm sure just about everyone that owns one knows what I'm talking about.  That Garrett shaft doesn't look round, so can't swivel inside itself and looks to have a good locking mechanism.  The 6000 shaft is a very poor design.  They went cheap and even took the locking pins out of it.  Garrett obviously didn't want a repeat of these problems, perhaps they learnt the lesson on the Ace 150, 250 and 350 which had a shaft that was a bit twisty, ironically it was similar to the 6000 shaft in the way it locked and was fixed up on the Ace 200, 300 and 400 by using a locking pin.  And yes, I own a couple of Garrett Ace detectors, and I really like using them, I must be a real loser but the funny thing is I can do very well with them.  I'm betting my Ace has more silvers under its belt than a lot of Nox's.  Take things too seriously and you take the fun away from it.

Steve nailed it in his post above, it's not all about running the best of the best and in many cases that's just opinions,  I certainly don't agree with some of which is the best detector at the moment, some of us just enjoy using detectors and learning them and the fun of finding stuff with different detectors.  It's not mining the miners by us buying products we want to buy to use for our hobby and for the fun of using them, if anyone is good at mining the miners its Minelab with their exorbitant pricing.  You own a Minelab, you've been mined!  This Garrett may not be the best on the market and it's highly unlikely it will be but it may have an area it excels over someones current choice of detector and that would make it useful.

Garrett in my opinion have the best dedicated VLF prospecting machine on the market with the 24k, and yes it is exciting they're coming out with another detector for prospectors, a good start towards some competition in the industry.

[Jonathan Porter]

From my perspective the ATX showed potential if I maxed the Gain and swung carefully, the DD coil although touch sensitive at those Gain levels worked pretty well in our ground and did offer reasonably decent sensitivity to small gold, this aspect was the main driver behind the SDC2300 development. For mineralised Variable soils a DD coil is going to be needed unless Garrett have come up with some decent timings that can deal with variable mineralisation otherwise a DD coil is needed.

If I had an ATX in a lightweight housing like the GPX6000 and the DD coil was not touch sensitive, was nice and light and around the 12” mark I’m sure there would be plenty of places where I could find gold and have fun. If they’ve improved the circuit even more with their new offering then even more fun for everyone looking for something different. 

[EL NINO77]

I admit that the information about the new gold detector from Garrett evoked positive thoughts in me... because just before the trip to Spain, I tested and... compared the ATX on 2 infinium coils /5x10"and 3x7" infinium coils with each other... on mineralized terain, green bazalt,and Iron stone..GB ON/OFF.. and I came to some interesting thoughts... what would Garett managed to achieve with the new PI detector...and new coils..

Somehow I believe that this new gold detector from Garrett... will be a new PI gold detector... you can see from the video... that the square profile carbon shaft itself indicates that it is a light... but powerful detector from the top class/PI/... ., since it was revealed in the study that it is a mineralized terrain...
It can be seen that Garrett already takes this class of PI detectors really seriously... and also takes into account weight and ergonomics.

Performance...I guess...minimum and level and sensitivity of the PI Garrett ATX ..but I think that after years of development ... the performance will go even further.. and maybe even more options in the settings ..or even in the programs.. and of course, the IRON Check function will also be preserved.

they have certainly set the performance parameters high...even in relation to the competition...such as Minelab..

One thing is certain... coils of smaller dimensions will be available for this detector... and at a good price... which were missing for ATX...

the only question is ... what will be the ratio of performance and price of this garrett PI detector ... but I want to believe that it will be favorable and strongly competitive against other brands of PI detectors ..👍

 

 

 

[Aureous]

I agree with JP, the ATX scored some very good points in performance. It was more sensitive than the 5000, very smooth ground tracking and more stable in high EMI areas. But, the insane wight of it (this is what forced my shoulder over the limit and sent me to surgery) and the bump sensitive coils were a massive turnoff. I only owned it for a month and had to sell to get lightweight VLF detectors instead. Went back to the GB2 and then trialed a GM1000 (hated it with a passion) and then settled on the 24K. I still miss that detector....best high frequency VLF ever made. 

I'm sure if the ATX circuit was put in a light weight form with better coils it would sell well by itself. Provided the price is sensible. But we may see the half-sine Whites patent being thrust into a detector and we will have to re-evaluate everything. We'll see soon....

[Jeff McClendon]

The fact that this little topic about a possible Garrett Pulse Induction detector has stretched to almost 12 pages may actually mean something other than some of us who are USA metal detector prospectors, saltwater beach and relic hunters have nothing better to do than to post something here in this topic. Yeah, it is hot here but that is not the real issue. Many GPX 6000 users have found it to be the real deal and a very good fit for them. Most of those people are prospectors.

Those of us that also use PI detectors for relic hunting and saltwater beach detecting or who have experienced way too much EMI using the supplied 11" mono coil due to circumstances beyond our control in some prospecting locations are not totally happy with the GPX 6000. We are not whiners, complainers or too lazy to go detect. The GPX 6000 just isn't completely meeting our needs. Maybe this new Garrett detector will meet them a little better. Maybe it won't............

[GotAU?]

12 hours ago, jasong said:

“Probably a stupid question, but where do you buy Garrett at these days? Is it an Amazon or Kellyco type purchase, dealers, or?”

I’d buy all my detectors directly from a dealer if you can.  I bought my 24k personally from @Jim McCulloch - he spent the better half of a day showing me how to use it and wouldn’t let me leave without loading me up with free accessories and goodies including his wife’s cookies!🙂

[Gerry in Idaho]

Well I have pretty much tried to keep out of this detector saga and how it needs to stack up.  But this evening, I'll bite and join in on some banter.

Most of you that don't know me well, think I only sell and use Minelabs.  The reality of my 45+ yrs of detecting were not with Minelabs as there was no such thing, a Minelab.  1st 20+ yrs was White's, Fisher, Compass, Garrett, Tesoro and I changed to different models as the task at hand...or the desired hunt changed.

The last 25 yrs I've been pretty on top of the Minelab gold detectors (all of them) and see for myself what I prefer.  I also enjoy the thrill of something new to play with and see for myself, if it can compete with my current best tool for the task.  Now this is for me personally and how I hunt.

But as a dealer, a true Multi line dealer who enjoys a vast majority of metal detecting styles (old coin hunting, water detecting, Civil War Relics, small gold and specimen detecting and of course looking for larger and deeper gold), I realize there is not 1 best detector for all tasks.  That's exactly why some of today's detector manufactures have $250 unit and go up over $2500 and or more.  Each price point hits a certain market and to have options for the end user (consumer) is vital and efficient.  Look at the truck manufactures, say Ford and you'll see exactly what I'm referring to.

Now realistically I'm most certain this new detector is not going to be a Minelab Killer.  I'm not expecting it, but from some of your folks comments, you are pretty brash.  So be it, no sweat off my back.  But come on folks.  Why is it such a dire that this new detector even be close to a high end Minelab?  What if it's a really nice compact and light weight PI unit that has better capabilities than their old ATX?  What if it's comparable to Minelab PI's of yesteryear but at a better price point?

I for one owned an ATX for certain reasons and still used my GPX-4500/5000 for the serious prospecting.  But Minelab didn't give us waterproof coils and compact at the time.  Garrett did these and so did a few others and eventually Minelab stepped up their game with the WP coils.

XP came out with the original Deus and that was a fine detector, one of the lightest I've ever used.  Extremely compact, fast and wireless.  Minelab had to make a move and eventually we get the Equinox from them.

So I give credit to Garrett for not giving up on the high end gold detectors.  Sure Minelab most certainly owns the greater part of the gold detector sales, but we pay outrageous prices to play with these detectors. 

Here's the bottom line and the truth be told.  Minelab has the most powerful and deepest performing detector on the market, the GPZ-7000.  That's a fact.  But then why..........did so many of us get the GPX-6000 after we owned a GPZ-7000?  Because the truth is...those few big gold nuggets are so rare to find and the depth different when comparing a GPZ-7000 to a GPX-6000 on a big nugget is not that impressively different.  So you get nugget A at 34" with an $8500 GPZ-7000 and I get the same nugget at 30" with a $6000 GPX-6000.  Plus I get the benefit of a lighter and easier detector (almost to easy).

So again, hats off to an AMERICAN company that wants to come out with a high end gold detector.  Who knows, it might be and probably is better than the ATX and it could just as well be better than the GPX of old.  But I know this.... I doubt it will be $6000 or $8500.  If it's 85 to 90% of the hottest selling high end Minelab = GPX-6000, and it's a couple thousand dollars less, then to me that's a winner.  My customers will have an option now in a new price range and knowing it's American made means something to some folks.

Like I said from the beginning.  What I use one day may not be what I use the next on a different hunt and what I use and it's price point might be totally different than what my customer is requesting.  I always ask my customer.  What is your investment range for this new adventure?  If this new Garrett is in the $2500 to $4000 price point, then my customer has another option.

Now that Garrett is offering the 10% Military Discount, whatever the MAP price is, will be 10% less for those customers.  As a long standing Garrett Dealer and one who has owned and used many of their detectors, this VETERAN is excited to see what they bring to the table.

After all, the Garrett AT series detectors sold pretty dang well for many yrs, but it does not mean they were the best.  Their price points and simplicity is what kept them selling.  Now those are not high end gold detectors, but that guy on the front cover of the AT Gold Manual, he sure is a pretty hard nose nugget hunter.

We'll know real soon (less than 12 hrs) more about it and I think some of you will be impressed.