Steve Herschbach

I have to say that's just been the norm for me, with everything to spare batteries, to piles of coils. There are many people who can use a GPX 6000 with no additional purchases. May even be the majority. Serious power users will almost always need extras for any detector they buy. If they loaded every detector with a bunch of extras to suit the pro users, then the more casual people would complain about paying for stuff they do not need. The GPX 6000 is perfectly balanced, not rear heavy at all, so I do not know what that's all about.

I use various cigarette style chargers while in the road, but our cars, or at least the one I have now, do not have “live” 12V accessory plugs unless the car is running, or key in accessory position. My last rig I hardwired in my own always on receptacle. I’m a bit paranoid about it, as I did use the accessory key once, but other things in the vehicle come on, boosting the draw, and I accidentally ran a battery dead. In a bad place, and only got lucky finding a person who could give me a jump. I got an emergency jump kit for that reason. But current car if I want up charge overnight, I’d need to add that always on receptacle, so until then, it’s clip to the battery. Or use a separate charging option. Whatever, lots of ways to go, sure not anything new for me. The worst actually for me was the SDC 2300 and finding a 12V C cell charger that would charge four cells at once - an uncommon item. Even if the battery ran 16 hours I’d have another. It’s not running time for me, but that I refuse to not have a backup, just in case.

The battery lasts a solid 8 hours if you use headphones, less if using external speaker. Enough for most people, but I do exceed 8 hour days at times, and so I do have a spare battery. My solution is simply to charge both each night. There are many ways one might do that, depending on the length of the trip and available camp facilities. The simple route is a pair of 12V clips hooked to vehicle battery, one as supplied with the detector, and a second purchased set, part# 67-90204 (same as GPZ 7000, Gold Monster, etc). You would of course not want to do this multiple nights in a row without running the vehicle or keeping the battery topped off with a solar panel, or some other method.

Just doing what a small coil does when masking is the issue.

As far as actual genuine additions in the form of real additional performance I expect little. GPZ was a genuine breakthrough, as was Equinox, but next generations are likely to be fine tuning of the original breakthrough. Back to what has been disparaged as drip feed, but reality is genuine advances in metal detecting only come once a decade. So I basically expect more of the same, plus other companies piling on with their versions of SMF and PI, all of which will add up to more of the same. More choices in style, feature mix, and price. But more capability that actually makes a real difference in what I can find in any given day? I’m not holding my breath at all. The good news is I’m very content with what I have now, light years beyond what I started with almost 50 years ago. I’ve personally experienced going from detectors with no ground balance, no discrimination, and no depth to speak of, to the fantastic options we have now. I’m way more focused now on finding better ground than a better detector. That’s the ticket to success, not whatever new flavor of vanilla somebody is brewing to part me from my dollars.

Yup, looks like DEUS II, so basically Deus with SMF mode added.

Welcome to the forum. All I see is blurry pictures and no sign of gold.

Thanks for the commentary Carl, though none of it surprises me, sad to say. The comment above sums it up best. When I was in business, we sought out, and were vitally interested in, feedback about where we needed to improve. It was our main driver, not the pats on the back for jobs well done. FTs lack of interest in that aspect says it all. Obviously a digital CZ would be a new design, with attendant costs. I think the main commentary here is that the Fisher CZ-6 and Minelab Sovereign introduced us to multi in 1991. So Fisher was an innovator and leader, and then….. nothing? Just a few tweaks in over 30 years? So yeah, we get it takes more than waving a magic wand, but FT should have been on a digital CZ way back, in a form that could be done, instead of swinging for the moon, and as a result doing nothing. I liked my CZ-5, and would have taken exactly the same performance, but in a Gold Bug Pro housing, and been happy as a clam. That’s really what people are really saying. But that ship has sailed now, too late in the age of Vanquish/Equinox.

If FT and company persist in overstating the discrimination capabilities of the AQ no good will come of it, but that’s not my problem I guess. From a new article on the Kellyco website, no doubt timed in tandem with the new catalog: https://www.kellycodetectors.com/pages/new-tech-feature-fisher-impulse-aq/ "What makes the Impulse AQ different? Unlike all other pulse induction units, the Impulse AQ has actual target discrimination and target ID. The Impulse AQ uses ZTS (Zero Target Separation) technology to eliminate the need for recovery speed. Instead of separating good and bad targets, the Impulse AQ sees through iron and detects the good targets next to, in, and under the iron." Target ID? Really? Even overlooking that as an error, I've found the discrimination capabilities of this detector to be oversold since day one. In practice it is little different from previous ground balancing PI detectors like the TDI as far as discrimination capabilities go, and ultimately one is left to rely on the same old PI audio tells to deal with problematic items like hair pins. I really like the AQ as a powerful, very refined PI, but if they keep overselling the discrimination as a defining feature, it will result in blowback. Yeah, sure, it will snag some early sales, but it will cost them sales later. Anyone buying this as the long awaited discriminating PI so many have wanted will be pissed off, plain and simple, and quite likely to make a big deal about it. Typical short-sighted marketing move. Me, I prefer the undersell and overdeliver approach, letting machines prove themselves to new users. The current approach is a setup for failure. I seriously like the Impulse AQ I had as far as how it performed. If it had been the finished version, instead of a prototype, I would have kept it. As it is, I've decided that a version with an adjustable ground balance would serve me better, and that is in large part due to the fact that I found the so-called discrimination to be marginally helpful at best. I could discriminate by ear just as well with a model that has an adjustable ground balance, while getting a better ground balance on my soil, and certainly better hot rock handling. I'd rather have a gold prospecting PI I can use at a fresh water beach, than a beach detector that does not work at all for prospecting. People should note however, that a gold prospecting version will likely not work well if at all on saltwater beaches, as such a model will probably be tuned for tiny nuggets, and therefore salt sensitive. But who knows. The Impulse Gold may have a salt mode, and in fact really should, or they will have problems in Nevada alkali ground and Oz salt lakes. Long story short most of my water detecting is in fresh water, so not an issue for me in that regard.

I’m still interested in the Impulse Gold version, as for my purposes the lack of adjustable ground balance in the AQ model was a fail. Long story short my GPX 6000 can’t handle certain hot rocks, and I’d rather find some alternative other than the ATX or GPX 5000 to deal with that issue. It’s a minor problem for me, so I can afford to wait for something new. This would be the first official mention of an AQ Relic model, as no such model has made it to this page yet….. https://fisher-impulse.com/products/ AQ Relic would be an odd name, as Impulse AQ is for Impulse AQua, and we have the Impulse Gold, so Impulse Relic makes more sense. So I'd take it all with a grain of salt.

I'm sorry to hear that George. We are at the age where the herd starts thinning.....

To fill in a missing detail on Jennifer’s saga, I did sell her my used GPX 4500. It worked perfectly for me, but there was a recall out at that time for the 4500 regarding a circuit board issue. I thought I was doing a good thing sending it in under the recall before selling it used, as I sold it to Jennifer with fresh paperwork stating Minelab had just serviced the detector, and given it a thumbs up. I never used it after it was serviced, assuming that it was now ok to sell. The irony here is it was that repair work that left the solder bits in the control box. In retrospect it would have been better if it had never been serviced. Puts new meaning in “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Good point Norm. I tend to address the questions directly, but fact is if it was me, I'd get the GPX 5000, as the be all and and all of that particular series. I still could use a second PI to handle rocks and ground a GPX 6000 struggles with, but I keep holding out for something newer than the GPX 5000. But so far Fisher is letting me down with the Impulse Gold, and I'd not go back to a 7 lb ATX, so GPX 5000 it would have to be if I was buying that alternate machine today.

Very nice - I like!

Something about the coloration and luster are saying cassiterite, rutile, or ilmenite to me, but no time to look up references and tests.

I was hit up and simply told them I was not the personality type they are looking for. Mining done right should be relatively boring, and drama just means incompetence in my book. But these shows are not mining, they are entertainment, so I should get off my high horse.

Kind of ironic, getting a new one so to stay under warranty, then having to immediately use that warranty. That happened to me once with a Garrett ATX, kind of made me feel like I should have kept the old one. But it was covered and continued to be, in fact was replaced with a completely new unit, so no regrets.

Not seen such a thing, but not saying it's not been done. But most reports on the NF12 say it's about the same as the stock GPZ coil, just lighter. So you could leap from there to GPZ stock coil to 6000 comparisons, which are GPZ deeper on bigger stuff, 6000 hotter on smaller stuff.

Not per se, as a 4500 is essentially a refined 4000, and in general use you may see no real difference. It would just depend on your very specific circumstances. In addition to the four timings found on the GPX 4000, the GPX 4500 introduced two new timings: Enhance and Sharp. The Sharp timing is more suited to quieter soils and can also be used as an aid to pinpoint faint signals. If you are hunting milder ground, the GPX 4500 Sharp timing may give you a definite edge over the GPX 4000, in that it is even more powerful than the Normal timings. I used this setting a lot in Alaska in particular, and based on it alone I’d personally buy a 4500 over a 4000 any time. The Enhance timing is a powerful feature, similar to the Sensitive Smooth timing, but providing an improvement in the depth and signal response on small and large targets alike, striking a balance between Sensitive Smooth and Sensitive Extra or Normal. With the GPX 4000, it was found that a lot of mineralized ground was not quite bad enough to require the use of Sensitive Smooth, but was still mineralized enough to be difficult to work using Sensitive Extra or Normal. It was felt that a timing was needed that performed similar to Smooth, but had improved depth and signal response. By testing in a wide range of ground conditions, the Enhance timing was found to give significant depth improvements over Smooth, particularly on larger gold, while still canceling the majority of false signals from hotrocks, clay domes and other ground effects. https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-guides/minelab-gpx-4000-4500-5000-manuals-timing-charts/

I've seen similar excuses many times from various brand defenders on forums. No need to point fingers at specific people.

Quick release Li-Ion rechargeable battery for GPX 6000, 7.2V, 5833 mAh, 42 Wh (input 12V 1.0A), approximately 8 hour running time per charge. part# 3011-0432

Great story, and fabulous that you found your ring! Thanks for posting.

Plus…

Yes to all the above. The old Minelab warble used to freak me out a bit at times. My brain does lock to the threshold, and back when I was running my GP 3500 at Moore Creek for 12 hour days, weeks on end, I would hear the warble for hours after I shut the detector off. Like laying in my cot before I fell asleep, this continuous warble going on in my head, an echo and after effect of listening to it for long hours. I actually worried about what would happen if it never went away, as it was a bit maddening, like tinnitus but worse. I was relieved when the GPX series came along with that rock solid threshold, eliminating the issue for me. It's not reoccurred with the GPX 6000, as there is a difference in the tonal makeup of the warble, plus I'm not putting in those 12 hour days very often anymore.