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Finally Minelab Take Responsibility For Screwing Up The GPX 6000 Speaker


phrunt

The GPX Audio Fix Poll  

17 members have voted

  1. 1. Have you had the audio/EMI fix done to your GPX 6000 - if you plan to get it done please don't answer the poll until you've got it back and tested it

  2. 2. Did the fix improve your built in speaker EMI stability

    • Yes
    • No
      0
    • Not sure, possibly
    • Not sure, I don't think so
      0
    • Don't care, not getting it done
  3. 3. Did the fix improve overall stability or improve the detector in some other way?

    • Yes
    • No
    • Not sure, possibly
    • Not sure, I don't think so
    • Don't care, not getting it done


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First thing next year, its getting sent off to get the fix done. I'm desperately trying to reach the 800 piece mark for 2022 and don't want the detector out of my hands until its done. Haven't reached the 800+ mark since 2014 and I want to attribute it all to the 6000. Getting the detector back will probably coincide with the NF 12x7 Xceed coil being available lol.

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The fix did finally appear on the Minelab U.S. website on the GPX 6000 page under the updates link. Can’t get a direct link to it, so go to the page and then hit the Update link.

The GPX 6000 is a great detector, one of the best nugget detectors ever made, and it’s a genuine shame many people did not get the proper experience due to this and the many coil issues that occurred. Hopefully Minelab have both sorted out now and new buyers can have a more trouble free experience. Now, if we can just get that new Manticore rod to work on the 6000, the last fly in the ointment will be fixed.

8CF40D26-9F5D-4FB9-BA70-8D1C0D1ACF8D.jpeg

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9 hours ago, phrunt said:

I'm not sure if some GPX's are particularly bad prior to the fix and others not, but mine was terrible, I never liked it at all and now after the EMI fix it's really growing on me, in fact I'd go as far and say I like it now.  While I find the semi spiral stock 11" coil more sensitive than the bundle wound Coiltek 10x5" coil I really like using the Coiltek as it just runs more stable for me and I like the size and shape and the ease of pinpointing.  

Good to hear. It's really a good detector when it's working properly. I don't have the shaft twist issues myself, so after the fix I found myself completely satisfied with it all around. 

The 6000 was simply just defective until they addressed this problem. No reason for customers to not to get it fixed - less noise is always a good thing with detectors. Heck IMO, the principal advantage of a 5000 over a 4500 was in the more stable and less EMI prone circuit and people paid $5000 to upgrade - a better "upgrade" is free on the 6000!

I agree that it seems to be quieter overall now too in terms of external EMI, not just the speaker. Though it's hard for me personally to say specifically since so much of my use was with the speaker to begin with that it's hard to know what EMI came from what sources.

I'm unimpressed with the Coiltek I have still. It was definitely more knock sensitive, and definitely not as sensitive in terms of size/depth to gold the last time I went out and really spent some time testing it. In fact if reversed, and if the 6000 came with the 9" Coiltek stock, I would consider the ML 11" stock coil an upgrade that was worth paying for. Only detector in my life I've been able to say that. 🙂

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Yep, the Coiltek's are simply not as sensitive and that's not really a surprise with their winding type.  I hope Nugget Finder is doing semi spiral, at least in the 16x10" as they won't fit in the smaller sizes.  They bluntly refuse to answer the question so I don't know, it's so weird.  The stock coil is an upgrade to the Coiltek's if you're chasing sensitivity and depth of the two I have the 10x5" and 14x9".  The benefits to the Coiltek's for me are stability and just generally quieter running.  I think yours is faulty being bump sensitive and mine certainly are not, unless they become bump sensitive on certain ground types, that's not unheard of with VLF's at least.

I guess we'll find out by the thickness of the coils if NF do semi spiral, it's very obvious with the thickness of the Coiltek's vs the standard coil.  Well until good ol' strick does his X-rays 🙂

1025423590_coilthickness.thumb.jpg.ec4cb52199df4901704222b4756e6446.jpg

 

My 6000 is the detector I always hoped it would be now.  The shaft is the last remaining issue with it really, much cheaper detectors have far superior shafts, the Manticore shaft would be awesome on it.  GotAU's trick with o-rings seems to work reasonably well, mine started off the first few detecting trips when new being twist free, even if I tried to get it to twist it wouldn't, then all the sudden it was twisting all over the place.  Now with the o-rings its quite good, no twisting and I don't have to even try and over tighten it, before I was using a tool to tighten it, now I do it by hand and not excessively.   They're hard to keep perfectly clean so you'd have to clean them every trip to get the small grit out of them, so saying just keep them very clean and it won't happen just means they're not fit for purpose, they will get dirty, that's the life of a detector.

I ended up finding the perfect size o-ring, my first attempt it was a bit big and made the shaft not shrink down as easily, this size fits in snug and the shaft operates normally along with being easier to tighten up to stop twisting.

2009393102_shafto-ring.thumb.jpg.789309e4cd4b8f349f6fc6ef808034d8.jpg

 

Even if Minelab came out with an optional accessory high quality shaft it would be something people would buy, they could do it at a more discounted price than their typical Minelab price as a way of saying sorry to customers for their screw ups so at least they don't make a loss on it like they would if they replaced everyone's faulty shaft.

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Ah, good eye on the thickness = winding type. It never even occurred to me but I bet you are right. 

I agree, I really hope the NF's are wound the same way the ML coil is wound. I'll definitely get one to try if so, otherwise I'll be passing on pretty much any aftermarket coils on the 6000. It feels weird to say because since the day I started detecting with my 1st PI - I've always used almost only aftermarket coils for various reasons. But the things I use the 6000 for only really require only 1 coil for me - or maybe 2 at most.

Re: knock sensitivity - it's not so much the blunt physical force of hitting something as it seems to happen when the coil is going over different types of ground/interfaces. Then if I tap it against a piece of wood, rock, sagebrush, etc it'll zip and whine. It's like the harder the CPU is computing, the more prone to knocking the coil gets. My GPZ does this to some degree, in some places too. But I rarely get that happening using the stock 11". 

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5 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Even if Minelab came out with an optional accessory high quality shaft it would be something people would buy, they could do it at a more discounted price than their typical Minelab price as a way of saying sorry to customers for their screw ups so at least they don't make a loss on it like they would if they replaced everyone's faulty shaft.

Being Minelab means never having to say you are sorry. The fact is without them, the best nugget detecting PI detectors made up until this year would have been the Garrett ATX or the QED - take your pick. Yeah, they screw up, but they do actually... eventually.... tend to get it right. It's simply hard to imagine where we would be with metal detectors right now were it not for Minelab, and if that means putting up with their mistakes, I think that is better than not having them around at all.

I use that same line with my wife as regards yours truly. :smile:

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Well that's true, I just don't like giving free passes because they were the only option, they still need held accountable.  Getting this EMI thing fixed is a real win for users, and I just don't know if they would have fixed it if it wasn't for the uproar, their initial notice saying the problem wasn't a problem and you just need to lower sensitivity because its such a high sensitivity detector was them trying to get out of fixing it.   Fortunately enough people didn't settle for that and kept on complaining and here we are now, with a good detector.

The GPX 6500 will come out with the new better shaft ,EMI fix incorporated, the new headphones/wireless of the Manticore along with the long press EMI noise cancel, red back-light for night detecting and it will cost an extra grand. 🙂

 

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2 hours ago, phrunt said:

Well that's true, I just don't like giving free passes because they were the only option, they still need held accountable.  Getting this EMI thing fixed is a real win for users, and I just don't know if they would have fixed it if it wasn't for the uproar, their initial notice saying the problem wasn't a problem and you just need to lower sensitivity because its such a high sensitivity detector was them trying to get out of fixing it.   Fortunately enough people didn't settle for that and kept on complaining and here we are now, with a good detector.

The GPX 6500 will come out with the new better shaft ,EMI fix incorporated, the new headphones/wireless of the Manticore along with the long press EMI noise cancel, red back-light for night detecting and it will cost an extra grand. 🙂

 

I said nothing about giving them a pass.

Perhaps all the complaining had nothing to do with it at all, and they were working to sort out the issue JP reported immediately when the machine released. And finally figured it out. Which took longer than it should, but, you know, Manticore, blah blah blah.

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On 12/20/2022 at 9:13 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

I said nothing about giving them a pass.

Perhaps all the complaining had nothing to do with it at all, and they were working to sort out the issue JP reported immediately when the machine released. And finally figured it out. Which took longer than it should, but, you know, Manticore, blah blah blah.

Yes, I wasn't indicating you were giving them a free pass, quite the contrary there you were one of the ones speaking out.

Perhaps it did take a long time to sort out, we will never know their reasoning behind anything really.  At least it's done and that's all that really matters.  The biggest issue I see is their lack of communication.

A further update on this, I've been using the 6000 quite a bit now, mostly with the Coiltek 10x5" and its remaining the stable good detector I always hoped it would be, I run it purely off the internal speaker and it's been great, the biggest issue I've got is the speaker isn't loud enough, I wish they used the Gold Monster speaker in it, the 6000 speaker easily gets drowned out by background noise like a fast flowing river where as the GM roars above the river noise.  I guess they did this to conserve battery, louder speaker = more battery drain and the 6000 is already a bit lacking when it comes to battery life.

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