Steve H Axiom Testimonial

[Steve Herschbach]

All gold pictured in video found by yours truly with the Axiom. I like it  

Garrett Axiom Quick Facts, Owner's Manual, Etc.

[phrunt]

With the current coils what would you say is the smallest weight nugget it will respond on even touching the coil?

[Steve Herschbach]

Good question, I'll have to test and get back to you on that. My focus has been 100% on real world use, not test stuff.

[phrunt]

Thanks, just want a bit of an idea on outright small target sensitivity.

[Steve Herschbach]

I have a roundish 1.2 grain nugget (0.078 gram) giving a bare signal on the 11" mono near the winding, in an EMI rich environment (my basement). The 11" DD may do better, and less EMI would certainly help. But offhand I'd not think finding anything under 2 grains is going to happen as a general rule. Be aware more tweaking of the machine to maximise the circuit is still underway, so this can only improve.

[jasong]

Are you talking firmware tweaking to maximize the circuit Steve?

I'd imagine they already have the circuit boards themselves printed and assembled? Would be interesting if they are doing firmware optimization, opening the potential for future optimizations as well.

[phrunt]

Thanks, their release video said 1 to 2 grain is possible which you've basically verified, and this is obviously with the stock coil so that can slightly improve with smaller coils you would think.   Sounds good to me especially if it has good EMI handling which it seems to by the current information out there, the noise cancel seems very thorough.   Sounds like a good all round general purpose PI that hits on gold very well that's very light and built well.  I like you can turn ground tracking off.

I'm happy with that.

[Chase Goldman]

Steve -  The manual doesn't spell this out clearly, but some of the graphics would indicate the connector for the wired phones is located back by the battery housing.  Can you confirm, and does it use the standard Garrett watertight pinned connector a la ATX and the other AT's or a 1/4 inch phone jack?  Am thinking of hanging on to my Garrett compatible GG Amphibians for wet work.

[Chase Goldman]

Moot point as the MS-3 wireless can deal with light rain, but still interested in the connector type for curiosity's sake.

[Chase Goldman]

23 minutes ago, jasong said:

Are you talking firmware tweaking to maximize the circuit Steve?

I'd imagine they already have the circuit boards themselves printed and assembled? Would be interesting if they are doing firmware optimization, opening the potential for future optimizations as well.

Steve Moore explicitly mentioned in the live stream that Axiom would have upgradeable firmware and it was Garrett's intent to support periodic updates/bug fix releases of firmware.   So it's not just potential, it's a given.