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Garrett Axiom Vs Minelab GPX 6000 On Small Gold


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Lunk,

I really appreciate you taking the time to do a little side by side with the 6000 and Axiom. I'm guessing most feel Minelab is the measuring stick out there for competent gold detectors and seeing a fresh face (axiom) hanging with the trusted and proven gives encouragement to those looking to participate at a decreased ticket price.

It is going to be interesting to see how the rookie (axiom) holds up to my freshman 2023 PI season. 

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Many Thanks Lunk, my Ax is in the mail, so I`ve 🤞 the wet stays away in FNQ downunder for a few more weeks

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3 hours ago, Lunk said:

I've been doing a little comparison testing lately between the new Garrett Axiom and the Minelab GPX 6000. My focus was on sensitivity to small gold, as most areas I hunt still have plenty of tiny nuggets left; if there are any large, deep pieces left, they’ll still be there for the next generation GPZ to unearth. This comparison is not scientific by any means, and was done just for my curiosity, but I've decided to share my methods and observations for anyone here that may be curious as well. 

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So first up was comparing the Ax fitted with its 11”x7” mono coil to the GPX 6k with its stock 11” mono coil. Settings for the Ax were Fine Mode, Tone at 77 (which is the same pitch as the fixed threshold tone that the GPX 6k runs at), Audio 01, MS-3 wireless headphones wirelessly connected, Speed set to Slow, Volume 25, Threshold 15, Sensitivity 8 and Ground Track Off. And the 6k sensitivity set at Manual 10 (I typically always run on Auto+, but since there were high voltage power lines near this location, I didn't want the Auto sensitivity reducing itself to compensate), Volume at 1 bar and the Avantree Torus neck speakers wirelessly connected via the 6k's inbuilt bluetooth, and Normal selected for the ground type. For this test, I selected a small area that had been raked and detected in the past, most likely during the late 80's to early 90's era, with the VLF detectors of that time. My comparison method was simple: I slowly and carefully gridded the raked area with the 6k until it hit a target, then switched off, fired up the Ax and gridded the same area in the same direction that I just did with the 6k, until I reached the same target. After digging the target, the gridding would continue, this time with the Ax, until another target was encountered, then switched off, fired up the 6k and re gridded that same area, etc. The idea was to see if either machine would see (or not see) targets that the other could (or could not) see. After gridding the entire raked area in this manner, all targets found were detected by each machine, and there were no targets found by either that the other could not detect. All targets save one were small gold nuggets, the only exception being a weak magnetite hot rock.

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The only thing I wasn’t liking about the Axiom at this point was the sound quality of the signal through the MS-3 headphones; it was no where near as clean and crisp as the target signal from the 6k and Avantree Torus speakers. It was a little cleaner using the Ax's inbuilt speaker, but it was still not to my liking, so I sent for a small Bluetooth transmitter from Amazon that I could plug into the Ax's headphone port and receive the signal with the Avantree Torus Speaker (you’ll see it attached to the Ax in the photo below), and that did the trick. 
A friend generously sent me his Axiom 11”x7” DD coil to test on small gold, and this time I pitted it against the 6k outfitted with Coiltek's hot little 5”x10” Goldhawk coil:

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Same settings on each machine, except nowhere near power lines, so was able to run the 6k on Auto+ sensitivity. This time, I selected as the testing area a small dry wash gully that had some old dry-blow heaps (dry-washer piles to us yanks) up on the banks. Small nuggets can always be found by following the dry-washers, especially in their fine tailing piles. Though many targets were found, only one turned out to be the color we all look for; the rest were small bits of wire brush bristles, aluminum foil and some small pieces of bullet jacket shrapnel. As far as the comparison goes, it was the same story - each detector heard all targets, and none were missed by either.  As I noted at the beginning of the post, the comparison between the two machines wasn’t scientific, in fact I didn't bother measuring target depths or weights of the nuggets found; it was mainly to see if the Ax can keep pace with the 6k on sensitivity to small gold, and it appears to me that it certainly can.

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Great Information Lunk, Thanks for taking the time to relay it to us. You did say you didn't test depth or weight, just doing a comparison but can you give us a guess at how small a piece these detectors are able to pick up, say at 1"

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2 hours ago, blackjack said:

Great Information Lunk, Thanks for taking the time to relay it to us. You did say you didn't test depth or weight, just doing a comparison but can you give us a guess at how small a piece these detectors are able to pick up, say at 1"

Less than 0.05 of a gram.

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10 hours ago, Lunk said:

As far as the comparison goes, it was the same story - each detector heard all targets, and none were missed by either.  As I noted at the beginning of the post, the comparison between the two machines wasn’t scientific, in fact I didn't bother measuring target depths or weights of the nuggets found; it was mainly to see if the Ax can keep pace with the 6k on sensitivity to small gold, and it appears to me that it certainly can.

Wow, thats excellent news! If the Axiom can keep up with the 6K, then the aftermarket coils from Detech will add a positive direction as well. Seeing that Garrett didn't go down the greedy BS chipped-coil direction, its a real win for Axiom owners!  Cheaper, better and more coil options without the ridiculous pricetag! Win, win and win!

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