Jump to content

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


Recommended Posts


So I emailed Minelab about a month ago in regards to this thread and even linked the thread so they could read about it.  I thought I would share the response that I received a today (a month later).

Hi Brian,

Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns regarding the GPX 6000 and apologise about the delayed response.
With all new products (including the GPX 6000) faulty items are all returned to our engineering team via our authorised service centres to have a route cause analysis performed on them to determine the cause of the fault. This then gives us the information required to make any changes if necessary.

We have not recalled the GPX 6000 in Australia or anywhere else globally. Product recalls are reserved for issues surrounding safety threats or hazards that can injure people. The speaker in the GPX 6000 does not posses any safety threats or concerns of any nature so this update does not fall into that category.

The use of headphones is always suggested by Minelab and when using headphones there will be no difference between a current GPX 6000 that has had the speaker mod performed and one that does not have the mod performed.
We needed to be sure that the speaker mod we have been performing in Australia would expect as performed prior to releasing it globally. After thorough testing by both our engineering teams and Australian customers we have provided our global service centres with the information and parts required to perform the speaker mod.

Please contact our US service centre (Detector Center) directly to have the mod performed on your detector.
To start this please click the below link to their website and fill in the details.

ASC Contact Form

You will need the below information:

  • Detector Model
  • Serial Number
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • Email Address

After completing the form, Detector Center will contact you directly via your specified email or phone and advise of the next steps.

As stated above all issues have been forwarded to our engineering team, sorting out issues with any products does unfortunately take time. If you have cracks in your coil it can be replaced under warranty by contacting Detector Center.

We constantly monitor the repairs and replacements from our global service centres to provide our customers with the best products we can. This is why we offer a 3 year warranty on our higher end products. We stand behind them and if there are issues we get them fixed, this does unfortunately take longer than what most people realise.
It takes time to get the faulty product back to our engineering team, time to determine the route cause of the issues, time to make any changes or adjustments, time to re-develop tooling, time to re-produce product and time to get it out to customers/dealerships.

If you do have any further questions or need any further assistance please contact me back.



--
Kind regards;
Jason
Minelab Customer Care

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, matt said:

Did you send it Priority mail with or without insurance? I swore never to end anything of value through USPS again since having my package of gold and platinum stolen by a USPS employee and they didn't cover my loss even with insurance...

Insurance upper limit is $500 so I bought that. The actual shipping cost was $16 and change.

I followed the take apart instructions originally provided by Minelab that phrunt posted early on in this thread and the power/speaker unit fit in a medium sized box that I provided. It would not fit well in a USPS Priority Mail flat rate Medium or Large box since those boxes were not quite tall enough for my liking.

I have been selling on Ebay since 2000. I have shipped thousands of items safely and securely using the United States Postal Service. There have only been a few exceptions and those have mostly been using Fedex SmartPost where Fedex AND the USPS handle delivery together. The worst damage and loss has been from UPS during those 22 years from my experience but I still use them too. Cow Dung happens.

Sorry you have had such really bad luck with USPS Matt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, afreakofnature said:

So I emailed Minelab about a month ago in regards to this thread and even linked the thread so they could read about it.  I thought I would share the response that I received a today (a month later).

Hi Brian,

Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns regarding the GPX 6000 and apologise about the delayed response.
With all new products (including the GPX 6000) faulty items are all returned to our engineering team via our authorised service centres to have a route cause analysis performed on them to determine the cause of the fault. This then gives us the information required to make any changes if necessary.

We have not recalled the GPX 6000 in Australia or anywhere else globally. Product recalls are reserved for issues surrounding safety threats or hazards that can injure people. The speaker in the GPX 6000 does not posses any safety threats or concerns of any nature so this update does not fall into that category.

The use of headphones is always suggested by Minelab and when using headphones there will be no difference between a current GPX 6000 that has had the speaker mod performed and one that does not have the mod performed.
We needed to be sure that the speaker mod we have been performing in Australia would expect as performed prior to releasing it globally. After thorough testing by both our engineering teams and Australian customers we have provided our global service centres with the information and parts required to perform the speaker mod.

Please contact our US service centre (Detector Center) directly to have the mod performed on your detector.
To start this please click the below link to their website and fill in the details.

ASC Contact Form

You will need the below information:

  • Detector Model
  • Serial Number
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • Email Address

After completing the form, Detector Center will contact you directly via your specified email or phone and advise of the next steps.

As stated above all issues have been forwarded to our engineering team, sorting out issues with any products does unfortunately take time. If you have cracks in your coil it can be replaced under warranty by contacting Detector Center.

We constantly monitor the repairs and replacements from our global service centres to provide our customers with the best products we can. This is why we offer a 3 year warranty on our higher end products. We stand behind them and if there are issues we get them fixed, this does unfortunately take longer than what most people realise.
It takes time to get the faulty product back to our engineering team, time to determine the route cause of the issues, time to make any changes or adjustments, time to re-develop tooling, time to re-produce product and time to get it out to customers/dealerships.

If you do have any further questions or need any further assistance please contact me back.



--
Kind regards;
Jason
Minelab Customer Care

So basically, this upgrade is a no harm to humans or animals recall. This issue won't hurt you physically (might piss you off though) but it is still messed up. Plus, I am not buying that statement saying using headphones there won't be any difference in performance between a speaker upgraded GPX 6000 and one that hasn't been upgraded. 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

I was notified today that the speaker upgrade repair was completed and my GPX6000 battery/power compartment is on its way back to me with return postage paid by Minelab. 

Yes…..mine was returned postage paid also! They sent mine back Fed X.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jason at Minelab is a real stand up guy, I really like him.  He's always been very helpful.  I guess the company policy defines a recall as a safety thing like the batteries catching fire or something which is fair enough.  Tomatoes Tomatos though, a bunch of problematic detectors being sent back is what I'd define as a recall especially when there is a known serial number range the fault exhibits on, the only difference is they're not asking us to send them back, we have to use our own initiative.  If it were a recall they'd be asking us to send them back, which in turn costs them more money as everyone would do it then.  The way it is now only some are doing it, and that's fine, it's a choice we have to make and for some they're genuinely not bothered by it and never use the speaker anyway.

In the auto industry there are safety recalls, which is how Minelab are defining a recall, and then there are general recalls which the GPX 6000 fix falls into, "A product recall is defined as a request to return, exchange, or replace a product after a manufacturer or consumer watch group discovers defects that could hinder performance, harm consumers, or produce legal issues for the producers."

It's great to hear they've had positive testing with the new parts and no change in performance as that was a concern some had, including myself which is why I tested sensitivity to the best of my ability before sending it in and getting it back and was happy I couldn't see any change in the results, I just had a better working detector by doing so.

I think I've noticed positive changes even when not using the speaker in EMI handling, but it's hard to know for sure, sometimes these things can be a placebo as you're all confident it's performing better with the speaker so you feel it does better with headphones too.  It's really hard to know 100% it works better when it comes to EMI on headphones, with the speaker its obvious as there was a clear fault causing it to go nutty which could easily be demonstrated exactly how GotAU did his video, pretty blatantly obvious fault there.  The improvement if any on headphones is not so clear as it doesn't behave as badly and obviously problematic in the first place.

It's why I struggle to understand how they didn't pick up the fault sooner though when you could switch between speaker and headphones and the fault almost immediately clear up, switch back to speaker and it goes wild again.  Very obvious problem.

Either way, I'm happy they fixed the problem, and thankful they did.  It's obvious the initial intention was to just leave it there with the initial product notice using the "high sensitivity detector" excuse for it, something spurred them on to actually fix it and they did fix it well.  I'm not going to buy another Minelab high end gold detector though unless miracles happen in performance.  I'm done and happy with my current rigs especially my 7000.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally got around to testing my GPX 6000 today and have the same external speaker issue as noted in this long thread. Last year I only used the BT headphones and didn't have any problems at Rye Patch. I have submitted the repair form and received a Ticket Number. Thanks Jason for the link!😀

Bill

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, matt said:

Did you send it Priority mail with or without insurance? I swore never to end anything of value through USPS again since having my package of gold and platinum stolen by a USPS employee and they didn't cover my loss even with insurance...

Yeah I’m surprised he did that, insurance for a $6000 detector was over $100 when you mail it that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I had a couple hours to try the 6000 out today after the repair to the audio and coil. So far it is much better than when I sent it in! In the next few days I will have more of a chance to try it out but so far I like what I see. Here is a small .250 nugget on a couple hour hunt today.

0DF12349-265C-413A-8315-666AE1B9847E.thumb.jpeg.7c0f8c71ef310c6a00092743a5cac486.jpeg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, GotAU? said:

Yeah I’m surprised he did that, insurance for a $6000 detector was over $100 when you mail it that way.

My GPX 6000 did not cost me $6000. I paid much less. 

I did not ship the entire detector. Only the PCB/Speaker housing. I did not even ship the battery.

So what are you surprised about?????

If something had happened in shipping from me to Detector Center or from Detector Center to me….its covered by the 3 year warranty…..if a part of the detector was damaged in shipment to or from for a covered under warranty repair especially a repair that was instigated by a known issue bulletin from Minelab.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...