GPX 6000 Emi Test

[phrunt]

That's similar to how mine behaved, I would do a factory reset and have it working then out of nowhere it was going nutty again! It sucks yours isn't the coil as it appears mine was as I haven't had the problem once since switching to the Coiltek and even my replacement 11" doesn't appear to do it either so far.  I guess same symptoms, different fault or at least different problem.

[jasong]

Yeah Simon, I really thought from your videos and explanation of your issue and after your coil fixed it that mine would be fixed too, I thought we had the same problem. I was actually pretty sure of it. Enough so that I decided to forget entirely about the Axiom since I was sure a coil would fix me up too.

I mean, I guess I could have really bad luck and maybe my Coiltek is bad too? That would be crazy... But it does have knock sensitivity and I don't see anyone else reporting that, so I guess...maybe? Man, just too many variables. 

I'd love to send it in to the shop for repair, but if I did that with the coil it would have been 1 month of wasted time because I don't think my coil is bad. And then another month to send the control box in now, and that kills off my high altitude detecting season because snow will be there shortly after I'd get my control box back, and lose a whole year. So I'm just trying to plow ahead and hope it works in enough places to get my work done that I need to do, then send this thing off to the shop for repair or whatever.

 

[phrunt]

Sorry it's panned out this way Jason, I was really hoping yours had the same problem as mine.  I'm actually finally quite happy with mine now.  While it's not my preferred detector at least it's behaving how it should for what it is.

 

[jasong]

That's good yours is working now at least. Honestly, I think the 6000 is a great detector when it works. 

The fact that you can set yours onto the ground now and it doesn't freak out gives me some hope that something can be fixed. So, I'm just going to wait and see what the ML guys say, I've done everything I can to try to diagnose it and I'm out of ideas now. Luckily I'm stuck in town drywalling and painting for a while, so I have time to wait right now.

[peterinaust]

Lets hope Minelab can sort all these 6000 problems out. I would like to get one, but! don't want to go through all the problem you are going through. And now another one in Australia!

[Chet]

Jason that is the same problem that a friend had. Last year three of us with GPX 6000’s met up for a week of detecting in the Eugene’s off of Jungo Rd.

His detector was new out of the box. It would work and then go crazy just like your detector does. We tried different coils and batteries from the other two detectors. Each combination would work then go crazy again.

Since I had my GPZ 7000 as a backup I used it and let him use my 6000 for the week.

Minelab replaced his detector and the new one works fine.

It’s time to send yours in for a new one.

Chet 
 

[jasong]

3 minutes ago, Chet said:

Jason that is the same problem that a friend had. Last year three of us with GPX 6000’s met up for a week of detecting in the Eugene’s off of Jungo Rd.

His detector was new out of the box. It would work and then go crazy just like your detector does. We tried different coils and batteries from the other two detectors. Each combination would work then go crazy again.

Since I had my GPZ 7000 as a backup I used it and let him use my 6000 for the week.

Minelab replaced his detector and the new one works fine.

It’s time to send yours in for a new one.

Chet 
 

Ok thanks for the input/reference Chet.

I guess the issue for me is that all the other 6000's around me acted the same way, so I assumed this was normal to all 6000's. And weirdly it was much better in Arizona this winter, so I assumed it was just location specific and not unique to my machine. If this isn't normal there must be some larger scale problem for all the 6000's around me to also have the same issue...

I'll have to wait until it snows to send it in though, got too much work left to do in very steep terrain that I just can't use the 7000 in without killing my elbow that I seem to have damaged permanently now. The repair shop is taking 1 month turnaround for everyone I know that sent theirs in so far. 

 

[Chet]

I think it is a quality control problem in the soldering or internal board connections.

The more we gently rapped on it or set it down quickly changed the intermittent nature of the problem. But we could not get it improve or to stay broken.

[jasong]

Hmm yep sounds very similar.

I kinda wish I could open the unit up without voiding my warranty just so I could look inside and see if there was some obvious problem like loose board connection/bad solder, or some kind of box shielding failure, just to satisfy curiosity. I've put way too much thought into this to not know the answer now. 😅

[jasong]

Not possible. I assumed this was just normal operation (to some extent) until today because almost every other 6000 I've been around does this to some extent. So, what are the odds I just get another faulty unit if I ship this one off? I'm also not convinced there isn't some aspect of location related EMI saturation involved, or that a new 6000 would solve that. The instability seems highly location dependent to me still.

I'm waiting for ML to get back to me with some input there first. There is good reason to understand this first and not just roll the dice and hope for a working replacement, and lose a year in doing so.

It's a good thing I didn't mail my 11" mono off right when I determined it must be a problem too - I'd have waited a month to get another one back which fixed nothing. I'd still be waiting for it right now actually.

Also, there is another good reason to try to figure out what is causing this problem: it clearly affects other 6000's too. How many others might be using a broken detector without knowing it? 

As to gold always being there - no, you don't get it. I'm competing against exploration companies, not hobby detectorists. Every minute is valuable, my one advantage is speed, and using a detector is part of what helps me move much quicker than waiting for geochem, drilling, and assays. They have the money to blanket stake claims, but I have the speed to cover a ton more ground. I trade high resolution and accuracy for raw ground coverage.