Leaderboard

Well other day we did a double hunt. Got some junk jewelry/toys/coins at beach then stopped by local park and found 2 wheats 1944 & 1946. Funny I found both matching triangle shape earrings in the surf about 10 ft apart. Someone must have got tumbled around in waves. Usually only find single earrings. A day later wife and I went to another beach found rings (1 silver)/several pieces of silver jewelry and a lil silver n gold earring/toy cars/sun glasses/coins. Great day I was in a nice trough up to waist. The D2 using the DIVE program worked very well/stabile in trough and while having waves crash over the coil. Heck we even ran into Joe D on beach — he was testing out one of his setups. Good times for all. Now I am laid up again for a few weeks do to a surgery yesterday. So no detecting for a bit. But I will finally get a chance while I am laying around to look at everyone’s post n videos. Cheers and keep diggin!

I didn't get a chance to post this earlier, but a few weeks ago I got to go back to the site of my first ghost town hunt. It's one of my detecting club's permissions that has been hunted for probably 30 years of the club's 50 year history. My first hunt there 2 years ago was a daunting experience to say the least. If you've never done relic hunting, specially on a site that once had almost 2000 people living and workng there, then you cannot even imagine what that's like. The tons of iron and coal throughout the area makes every detector go nuts and a few detectorists too. 😉 There are other inhabitants on this site as well. A couple of local boys wanted to crash the hunt, but they didn't have their club cards on them so they were politely asked to leave. 😏 I was very excited to get back to this site hoping for some really old coins and artifacts now that I have had a few years of training and felt I was ready for the big game. Well let me tell you, it only takes hunting a few hours of hunting with 30 pro detectorists to to put you in your place and one of the big lessons I learned was that detecting is 50% physical and 50% mental. I started the first day rushing around to get out the door on time for the long drive to get to the site on time and discovering a few block from my house that my rear tire was flat. That set the tone for the day. I got that fixed and flew like the wind and just barely made it to the meetup on time. When we get to the site, I rush around getting my wife's detector set up and ready to go, grab my detector and climb through the barbed wire fence and discover I forgot my shovel, so I climbed back through the barbed wire, grab my shovel and slither back through the fence only to find I forgot my gloves... Auuuughhh! I run the gauntlet again with gloves in hand and finally get ready to hunt and my remote control lock mount decides to break off. Fortunately I have a couple of backups in my pack.... but I forgot to pack my little screwdrivers.... just shoot me! I manage to flag down one of my detecting buddies and he graceously stops his hunt to rescue me. When he returned to hunting, he was promptly rewarded with a beautiful 1876 Seated Liberty Dime with CC mint mark! By the time I get out on the field my brain is fried and I spend the next several hours finding junk while everyone around me was finding ancient coins and wonderful artifacts. That's when I just took a time out to get my head together. After I settled down and ate a sandwich I went back to the field and my training kicked in. I discovered everything I was doing wrong and adjusted accordingly and then the finds started popping out of the iron. There were some amazing finds made over the 2 days at this site by some great detectorists, not by me of course, but I did find a few interesting things and learned an invaluable lesson. Keep a cool head, remember your training, and most of all respect the skills of your mentors! They all did well and deservedly so. I look forward to day that I reach that level of Zen. Well done my teachers! One of my cooler finds was this tiny heart pendant or rosery piece: Here's a dime for size comparison: Unkown disc, possibly a coin or token piece but no discernible markings. Oil lamp wick mount with 1872 & 1873 patent dates: Mostly iron and lead trash:

I have both and they are more alike than they are different both are lite weight and easy to swing all day long, my time using the new Axiom is limited so I’ll limit my comments on performance to the fact they both hit on the tinniest of targets, the 6000 is ahead for now in the search coil selection but the 6000 coils I believe are chipped the Axiom I’m actually not certain but I think are not time will tell if the Aftermarket coils for the Axiom get an advantage but not yet, the iron check and display may give the Axiom an advantage but I have not used it enough to understand what it is telling me enough to trust this feature but over time I hope to. I did get a chance to operate the Axiom in an extreme environment looking for meteorites in a dry salty lake bed where I’m told metal detectors are seldom used if ever due to the salty ground a visual identification method and a magnet stick is the preferred collection method. Trying the Axiom in salt mode to my surprise it handled the conditions with ease. Firing the Axiom up first time in the salt I doubted it would be effective but there was just the slightest groan swinging the coil side to side and in less than a minute it hit on a target not a meteorite but a fine 1” long piece of wire it will identify targets in these conditions. Next I set a .3g test nugget on the dry salty lake bed and the signal air testing was as clear in salt mode as it was in fine mode in the gold placer. I was focused on finding a meteorite in a area I’d never before hunted and not comparison testing so never tried the 6000 but think it would have struggled as the fine, normal and large Axiom modes all overloaded blanking out trying to hear a target in these conditions. I hunted a few hours digging a couple dozen targets mostly bullets along with the assorted bullet shells and tiny pieces of wire a few of the 22 slugs were 4 to 5 inches deep hit loud and would have been detectable deeper I’m sure and there is little doubt it will if id put the Axioms coil over one I’d hear it but I was just not in the right area.

Guess I'm lucky because it's not an either-or choice for me. My detecting partner is my wife and we run both. If I had to choose one, it would be the 6000, but it is definitely close and I don't feel disadvantaged when Sally is running the 6000 and I'm on the Axiom. I like the A in hot ground and love the ergonomics. Have found small gold in beat-up club claims at Quartzsite with both and prefer the Axiom in hot rock settings. If I was on a tight budget I'd go Axiom because I think it's more versatile out of the box. I agree that running in 3 or 4 on the A is best for learning the machine. Like many of you, I had to get the fix on the 6000 and also prefer the CoilTek 10 x5 on the 6000 over the stock 11, but it is really a case of getting to know your tools and using the right one for the situation. Lots of good advice on this thread. Having been in the field with Gerry and Lunk, I trust their advise. Would still be looking for the first nugget without their advice and training. Mike

No. Not just success but survival means getting on a faster product cycle just like we see with other manufacturers. The sit on old product for a decade formula does not work any longer. But in my opinion it is multifrequency Garrett needs to get serious about and fast, as they are left in the dust on that at the moment. The Axiom 2 can come later.

Note - I’ve combined this thread with the other thread on the same subject. The question is skewed by the price difference in Oz and the US. I've been quite clear I think the 6000 has the edge for nugget detecting. The easy answer if they are the same price is get the 6000. It's the safe answer. I have not used a 6000 in over a year now, and so getting into the nitty gritty versus the last build version of the Axiom is not really possible for me. I am satisfied to be using the Axiom and quite honestly I just don't care. I had a chance to pick up a 6000 for a song recently to maybe get into the question and passed. I don't need another detector for what I'm doing. Mainly I'd rather let truly unbiased end users speak to the situation given my involvement with Garrett and the Axiom. Plus these days I'd rather just go detecting than spend time in the field splitting hairs over detectors. The interesting questions arise since the differential is small, and the Axiom does have features the 6000 lacks that might matter more in some situations, especially for non-nugget uses. Chase Goldman and the relic hunters in Virginia, for instance, have a whole different view point about the machine. But again, at the same price, let's call it for the 6000 and nuggets. The big question for US users then - is the 6000 worth a 50% price premium over the Axiom? You Oz guys simply have a different situation and Minelab is a safe answer. Here in the US, it's not so simple. $4000 versus $6000 is a real and serious price difference and for some people it makes a genuine difference to consider. Is that $2000 worth it? That, my friends, is an interesting question, and one only answerable by the person involved. For casual users, maybe not. For very hard core users, probably. But that's as much as I intend on getting into it, as again, I think it's best for others with zero connections to industry or brand loyalties to speak to the issue. It is a shame in one way though. If Garrett had come out with the Axiom a year before the 6000, instead of the other way around, it would have shook the detecting world. Honestly people, take the 6000 out of this equation, people would be falling all over themselves to get Axioms, even in Oz. Minelab simply beat Garrett to the punch, and in doing so stole the wind from their sails. But that does not take away from what Garrett has done here, which in my opinion is be the first US manufacturer to make a PI nugget worth mentioning as a real option for at least some people to that offered by the Minelab monolith.

Hope you enjoy these two YouTube Video

mn90403 — Lipoma removal for me on hip area. Been there for several years. Finally getting around to all the surgeries I was supposed to get done before Covid lockdowns and now that we got a handle on the cancer stuff. Did not want any masses of any shape or form on me. Pancreatic stage 4 Cancer free for over a year now after my extensive chemo treatments and whipple procedure. Many more years to go and holes to dig. God has given me a second chance on life. Thanks to everyone for the kind words (doh I ran out of likes for the day).

Simon, Minelab USA goes through spells. Back in the 90's and through most of the 2000's we used to have promos to match the US manufactures. Then a certain person came in shut down dealer promotions, dealer give aways, took away the 3 Day Air shipping and even took away the free hats on big orders. The promotions you have seen the last 6 months could be due to lost market share, drop in stock prices, lack of sales and profits. I can't understand why some countries don't get them though. Who knows, all it takes is a new person in charge with new ideas.

Seems like I'm not alone in making the best with a machine which is old and outdated. Sarcasm, Sorry. Something has happened with me learning the MX Sport. It sets along side of my MXT Pro. As I work on understanding the Sport I find I'm learning more on the MXT. No doubt 2 "Different" machines. Thru the years I have found setting which worked for me and then failed to learn all the other settings. Prospecting, Beach, All metal, Relic, Coin and Jewelry, Even back to the White's Series 2 5000D Coinmaster. Even the TR mode which I knew from my very first detector, An AH Electronics Pro. The Sport is my first "Menu driven" detector. I always liked being able to look down and see exactly what my setting are. That and the Sport has a LOT of settings. I'm hoping the thread continues for us old Model T folks.

In January the storms that tore up our So. Cal. beaches left huge fields of thick, jet-black, sand during the low tides. A handful of us hunters enjoyed some of the best hunting we've ever experienced for about a month. The most popular detectors I saw during this time were the White's PI machines. I saw PI Pros, Dual Fields and a TDI Beachhunter(mine). It was impressive to see how relevant these older detectors still were with so many newer detectors available today.

Do you think Garrett is done with the top tier gold machines now, out of curiosity? I don't know if it's feasible due to patents, but given what seems like inordinate delays from the last GPZ release, seems like Garrett could have a chance to beat Minelab to the punch with a lightweight GPZ competitor that many of us have been waiting ages for, and thus holding off purchases of a more lateral move like the Axiom. I guess maybe another problem is there isn't enough money in it with nugget depletion's inexorable march forward though to justify the R&D though even if it were feasible?

Found this nice silver ring while hunting an old school yard. Not exactly what the machine was designed for. Oh, the wife latched onto it right away and it fits her perfectly. Dug a lot of beer tabs first.

ChatGPT is your friend! Where may I find gold nuggets in Italy? ChatGPT: Gold nuggets can be found in various regions of Italy, particularly in the northern part of the country. Here are a few locations where gold has been historically discovered: Val Chisone: Located in the Piedmont region, Val Chisone is known for its gold deposits. The area around the town of Pragelato has been a popular spot for gold prospecting. Valle Aurina: Situated in South Tyrol, Valle Aurina has a long history of gold mining. The streambeds and rivers in this area have been known to yield gold nuggets. Val Bodengo: Found in Lombardy, Val Bodengo is known for its gold-bearing rivers and streams. The area around the town of Piuro is particularly popular among gold prospectors. Val Grande National Park: Located in the Piedmont region, Val Grande National Park is known for its pristine wilderness and gold-bearing rivers. It's advisable to obtain proper permits and follow any regulations before prospecting in the park. When engaging in gold prospecting or any kind of mining activity, it is essential to obtain the necessary permits and follow local laws and regulations. Additionally, it's important to practice responsible and sustainable mining techniques and respect the environment.

A forum member tried to get these to pair up but was unsuccessful. You can read about it here. Regarding whether ML is using BT LE LC3 in Manticore, Nox 700/900, and XTerra Pro, well we don't really know if it's going to be compatible with 3rd Party BT LE LC3 Headsets as has been stated previously in this and other threads but we do know the Manticore and Nox 700/900 wireless headsets utilize a system on a chip that was explicitly designed for BT LE LC3 and that ML applied for FCC compliance certification for a BT LE transmitter associated with Manticore.

That was a nice hunt. Get better soon. @mn90403 too.

Hi, I wondered why I lost my account so now I know. No posts UGH! I'm not a newbie at this but too busy atm with caregiving duties to post and didn't know about posting so here is my first one haha. I hope to be more active in the future. BTW, I love reading posts and lurking 🙂

Thanks!! Been looking for 115 in black. Of course I already have 2 of the longer ones now, so I might just wait.

Yeah, in wet alkali soils (common in the US) the 6000 does notably better than the GPZ. Part of that is the smaller coil though, but it still does better in wet alkalis than the GPZ running a 12" coil too. The fact that no one really knows what Geosense is kinda shows the point I was making about it being too opaque of a detector in the other thread, none of us know what's happening, why or when. For general use it's not a big deal I guess, as long as it's finding gold and fun is being had. But for those who need or want to know what they are missing, why, and when, it's not really a good thing.

Great analysis, Simon and I imagine you are correct or definitely directionally correct. The lack of timings from prior units to the 6k suggests current processors and coding have the ability to make some determination around the best timing for a given set of factors in the ground. We all have our real world preferences driven by experience, so the "best" here is likely a theoretical best. I like the change as timings always seemed archaic to me, but that's likely primarily because I don't live in gold country and could never get enough time on the machines to develop a proper feel and understanding of them. The most puzzling part, which you also point out, is the "difficult environments" phrase. The SDC can operate in what I would call difficult environments. So then the question is, how does Minelab define "environments" in this statement. Is it static mineralization, variable mineralization, gold size relative to mineralization, a weighting of those, etc. The analysis can get a bit lawyerly and, in the end, it may just be marketing. Even with all the undefined parameters and its share of growing pains, it has evolved into a good machine and I am happy to have it.

The transition from paper to plastic hulls for shotgun shells occurred in the early 1960’s. The 410 small bore shotgun and other weapons appeared around 1875 and gradually gained standardization and popularity for small game hunting thereafter. Remington made 410 ammunition as early as 1915 but didn’t label it “410” until some time after that as far as I can tell. Your cartridge is probably early to mid 20th century and is most likely bracketed by the dates of the coins you found.

Which is best? Heck man that's an open end question. Best at value? Best at Ergonomics? Best at Discrimination? Best at coil options? Best at durability and least amount of issues? Best at Relic Hunting? Best at small gold? Best at Big Gold? Best at User Friendly? I own both and have posted much gold found with both in times past. For a 50% more price increase of the GPX-6000 in the USA $6000 vs $4000 for the Axiom, what is best? I don't see the average person needing to spend the extra $2000 and in fact I would recommend that person get a good VLF to complement the PI. As I said, I own both and for now, plan on keeping both. But I use them as tools and can afford both. I'll be in the field soon and hopefully find some gold this year. So far my best piece is a small chunky specimen with the Equinox 900

AFN you have nailed it, the edge the 6K has over the Axiom, from my hours behind both, is what ML call Geo Sense when running in one of the Autos. If you cannot handle the Autos on the 6K you are probably better off with the Axiom but don`t start using the Axiom on full sensitivity go no higher than 3 until you have some hours on the clock.

I vote for Gerry for the next new person ! 🥸 And considering your 25 years with Minelab👍 , you probably have seniority too .

What I'd do to be the first to swing a detector in those places 🙂

Yes the 6000 is chipped in an annoying difficult way that makes it not overly viable even for the aftermarket that normally bypass chips to bother selling coils for it, open heart surgery to remove the chip from every owners coil doesn't really work, it's asking a bit much. Perhaps as coils start to get out of warranty and continue on their path of failure outside of warranty people might be more interested in getting them hacked up and then it may make more sense to expand the coil range available. The Axiom is most certainly not security chipped and with any luck Detech bring their coils to market, they've said they will be and they make a great range of coils that may bring quite a lot to the Axiom. Who knows who else might jump onboard with coils seeing they are not chipped! Once the Axiom has some coils from other manufacturers it would be interesting then to see the performance differences between the two detectors in different areas and types of detecting, sometimes these aftermarket people can make superior coils to the standard coils, more often than not they do. The 6000 has that already although other than quality and some stability issues the 11" stock 6000 coil is fantastic, the Axiom is still playing catch up with coils although has a good range right from the factory. I do hope Garrett are just testing the waters in Australia/NZ with their pricing, it's still priced too high here I think, mainly because we can see the price the US get it for which if we do a simple currency conversion turns into $6000 AUD. At this price it would be far more appealing than the $7400/7500 price it seems to retail for which is only a few hundred dollars cheaper than the trusted by locals home brand Minelab which if we bargain with our dealers we can likely get the 6000 at the Axiom price anyway so that's a big ask to sell many Axioms in that situation. I understand they have development costs to recoup but they're not going to do that barely selling detectors, price them right and they will sell. Price them too high and people will always take the trusted local brand route that everyone else around them is using regardless of it's quality issues, it's all warranty anyway and Minelab genuinely do have very good warranty, much like I hear Garrett does. People in the US are lucky with their Garrett pricing and it makes for a good opportunity to get a great detector at a good price with the Axiom, that's what I hoped Garrett were going to do worldwide, start a price war and bring these prices down a bit, it may end up Nokta doing that which is what they do best anyway.

Recently while detecting around some sizable rocks I got a pretty good hit that sounded like big iron which always gets me worked up at an early site.So anyway I dug this piece out which was jammed pretty well up underneath a large boulder.My imagination runs wild sometimes with these sort of things and my first thoughts were that it was probably the tip of a pike pole or perhaps even an oxen prod since I have found ox shoes nearby.It's six inches long with the first two and a half being hollow with the pin and the rest is solid and it's quite heavy.Anybody out there with any thoughts please feel free to chime in.I'm aware that it's just a piece of iron but I like it and it's a little out of place and like I said the site is very early. Like I said my imagination runs wild. So I remembered reading an article in the September/October 2018 issue of American Digger Magazine written by Charles Harris titled Deciphering Civil War Flagpole Brass that pictured an artifact very similar to the one that I dug.Granted the one that I lucked upon is made of iron but it could have been a replacement forged on site or elsewhere? Y'all will have to forgive me but I am possessed by this object.

That is some great resource material. I think you have it corralled. It makes sense iron may have been used for rocky terrain instead of brass.

Looks like a fun and exciting hunt. Good job on getting through the fence, I tend to rip my pants doing that. I also run the D-2 and in sites like that notching the lower numbers is your friend. I have Gold Rush sites with so much iron it will drive you nuts without the notch.

That was a nice hunt with a lot of digging. I bet you were tired when you got home after that hunt. Good luck on your next outing and stay safe out there.

Nice buttons. One of my favorite things to dig. Congrats!

Congrats great job!

Glad you're resting, testing and doing well man! 👍 I should be posting a bit next week if they let me detect again where I'm going. And if there's anything left to find 🤔 I'm excited to give V1.1 a go in the relic field. 🙂

Yes.

Thanks, amigo! There was another visitor who refused to leave and had to be dispatched, a 5 foot rattler. I didn't see that one but one of my surface finds was a smaller rattler tailbuttons. Fortunately, the snake was not attached! 🙂 You're right, if I had gotten over a coin, I probably would have hit it even in a frazzled state of mind. Once I setteld down, everything was normal, so it was my own fault. Yep I used the D2 and it was just a week before the V1.0 update, which in retrospect may have been a good thing, but V0.71 did great once I got it dialed in, in fact many of the best finds that trip were made by other D2 users with V0.71. I sure would like to go back back with V1.1! Unfortunately the club only goes there every other year, but oh well, I'll be ready next time! 😉

Was in Kalgoorlie last week - 6000 flowing out of one store and at the peak of gold season the Garrett shop closed. Both are the same price in Oz and there would be at least 100 to 1 - 6000 to Axiom sold here. A large number of people make a living on gold here so I’d say if the performance was close we would see more Axioms here and there aren’t.

Manual leaves Geosense enabled, and it's what's causing the issues Jason is describing I think. Manual is just the sensitivity adjustment isn't it? I don't think it's related to the other "automatic" functions of the GPX. I would much prefer my GPX if it had some reasonable level of manual control beyond sensitivity, I'd love to disable ground tracking on it in my mild ground. I couldn't disagree more with the 17" has almost no sensitivity loss compared to the 11", I saw that one first hand with a nugget I found screaming on my 11" and JW's 17" had nothing, not a mouse fart out of it, and we were both in the same settings and doing side by side checks on this nugget before it was recovered from when it was first detected as a target.

Things like ground and EMI handling can make all the difference in some places. Also, the 6000 suffers from auto adjustments in an opaque way that makes it impossible to tell if it's adjusted down or failed to adjust sensitivity back up, and this in my experience has caused a number of instances I've missed what should have been some very easy targets. I have no idea if the Axiom does this auto adjusting too, but to me it's a deal breaker in a machine the way the 6000 does it after I've used it and understood it more. If I was choosing between the two right now I'd personally try an Axiom just to see for myself. I personally feel the 6000 is a subpar detector for both EMI and opaque auto adjustments, it does ok with ground but I suspect based on reports the Axiom does better. For weekend detecting or working small areas it probably makes no difference though. Where it makes a difference is covering 50 square miles of land and then wondering at night if you need to go redetect weeks worth of work because you can't trust if the detector was running right or not, that's incredibly annoying. If it didn't seem like the next GPZ had to be on the horizon I'd try an Axiom just to see how it does in field and experiments. Been tempted numerously to buy one just to see then inevitably figure the 6000 will be good enough until the GPZ. Too expensive for an experiment at this point it seems, as I'd rather replace the 6000 with a light weight GPZ if such an option presents itself, which at this point may or may not even happen and is looking less likely, who knows...

If you were attaching it to your belt I can imagine it would not work as well. There are two versions of the Swingy Thingy. There is the plain Swingy Thingy which just goes over one shoulder and has not padding, and then the Ultra-Swingy that is padded and goes over both shoulders. I recommend the Regular Swingy for lightweight machines like a Gold Monster and use the Ultra Swingy for heaviest machines or if you detect for more than 4 hours at a time. Doc

Its human nature....people are sponges they been and always will be...it's easy to believe and not think...it's harder to care than to not care... tell people what they want to hear and they run with it...If someone is on the fence about buying something tell them it's crap or hype and they will go with that... strick

Just a bit alright, "discrim... groundhog... " , We are spoilt rotten now days

If a person had neither and was serious about nugget detecting, money no object, I'd lean GPX 6000 with aftermarket coils. If they want the detector for additional uses other than nugget detecting and/or budget is an issue, I'd lean Axiom.

Nice hunt. Your "brass gasket" is a alarm clock frame.

It could be - that is ALL AUDIO amplifying... so the amount of EMI mixed with noise is going up.

Jim what you order was the Qweegle which is the predecessor to this product the QWIPPLE. The QWIPPLE which is an improved version will not be available for about 40 days. I will send you the new one no additional charge when they come in. Doc

Don’t ever buy detectors at big box stores. Plenty of dealers on here that would have helped you get into the right machine for what u want to detect. Good news is you could probably return it to Cabelas and get your money back. Then call Gerry’s Detectors in Idaho 😁

My 2-cents worth. For the amount of detecting I have time to do, and for the ground conditions I experience, my Whites Goldmaster 24K and also my TDI SL will be more than adequate. I hunt mostly for gold and occasionally for coins and relics. For me they are great. In addition, I have always been a fan of Whites, so I will never give them up. I have found that for the mild soils where I detect, they both serve their intended purposes very well and I am very satisfied with them.

Google is your friend. As are more refined questions (please avoid all caps "yelling"). What kind of gold. Gold nuggets? Gold coins? Gold jewelry? Gold can be as near as the nearest beach. Is it even legal to detect there? If not, the question might better be "where can you legally detect for gold in Italy? I don't know, having never been there.

Yes, I do like the larger ID range of the Manticore as it's moved common pull tabs away from my silver threepence coins like the CTX, the Nox they were smack together. I do really like my Manticore, it's just a shame the ID's aren't quite as good as expected. In saying that, I doubt I'll buy another Minelab detector in the next few years, I'm done buying detectors for minimal improvements in performance over older models. I'm jumping off that mouse wheel.