Steve Herschbach

There were two cover designs. The old cover had a black o-ring and were more prone to cracking. The newer covers used the red o-ring and were supposedly less prone to cracking. So if you find a cover make sure it’s the same as the newer design you have.

As far as DeTech goes I think there are more issues there than just Axiom. See this new post.... NEL I think is also based in Bulgaria and they have also gone silent. Both were great suppliers of aftermarket coils and both would have been perfect to do Axiom coils. I suspect politics screwed us on that.

That is the question Lunk will no doubt be trying to answer. My bench testing on small gold versus the 11” Garrett DD if anything had the Garrett being more sensitive to the tiny bits. But that’s an air test, and we all know how I feel about those! In milder ground on some gold like 1/4 - 1/2 gram bits it might do well, but will it do better than the 7x11” mono which excels in milder ground? I’m doubtful. But Lunk will be the final judge. I do think the Axiom would benefit from some other coils, like a 14x9 mono and a weighted coil for in water use, but I do not and never did think that coils were going to open some magic box of unrevealed performance. “Just put this coil on and blow Minelab away”. Yeah, right. Like Garrett would not have done that if it was all that needed doing. The deal with Minelab and coils is different because coils have been a tool they use to artificially limit units and drive sales from one model to another.

Do they? Do they really? Minelab has been increasing their share of the coin and relic detector market, not losing it. They have done very well in quickly countering Noktas moves with detectors like the X-Terra Pro. The Voyager is a direct shot at Bounty Hunter and the other cheap detectors that sell in huge volumes on Amazon. Just check the best sellers list. Minelab own the gold prospecting market, so much so they are dramatically raising prices and taking away accessories on gold models on Jan 1st. People say they want to buy U.S. but it’s just BS. Just ask Tesoro and White’s. Like Minelab said, Performance Is Everything, and most prospectors are not going to buy an Axiom if they think they will get 1/2” more depth from a GPX 6000. The buy U.S. rhetoric is just empty flag waving not backed with real action. They can be made in Malaysia or China, the price can be sky high, the quality can suck, coils can take forever, people bitch and moan…. and line up to open their wallets for a Minelab. Because they think it will go deeper. End of story.

I did everything but put a gun to a head lobbying Garrett to be proactive in supporting aftermarket coil development and was basically ignored. Just another missed opportunity in the endless list of ones missed by U.S. manufacturers.

I had the coil just long enough to determine it will not ground balance on hot ground. No matter the mode or setting it would not ground balance on a Tahoe beach. It would ground balance in my yard, but only in Large or Salt mode. Winter ensued, so I gave it to Lunk to test on nuggets while he winters in Arizona. It might be the cats meow on small gold in milder soil, but it won’t handle bad ground from what I saw. Keep in mind this is not a coil for sale, it’s a prototype, and this is why people test prototypes. People thinking about buying this are jumping the gun by a long shot. Lunk will give it a fair go in Arizona and find what ground it will work on and what ground it will not. The coil may need tweaking at a minimum, or a full redesign. The bottom line is the Garrett coils are not half bad, and no way people will pay over $1000 for an Axiom coil. I don’t know what X-Coil planned on selling them for, but it would have to be far less than they charge for other coils. So frankly I’m not sure what the plan was here. I know DeTech builds coils at attractive pricing and so they were my main hope. X-Coil has never been heard of outside Minelab circles, and their coils cost a fortune, so I’m not surprised at all they have not been getting any inquiries from Axiom owners. Outside of this forum, nobody in Garrett land would even know they exist. And as far as I know they don’t have product to sell so it all seems rather premature. Again, ball is in Lunks corner now. I doubt I’ll be out detecting again until April.

This question leaves out vital information. What type of ground and hot rocks are you talking about? And exactly what size and type of gold? Solid or specimen? 1/4 oz nugget or 0.2 gram nugget? I can envision circumstances where either machine might be the better choice depending on the answers to those questions. Metal detecting is not the this versus that proposition that it is constantly made out to be. It is about picking the appropriate tool for the task at hand. The smaller the gold and the lower the ground mineralization, the more I might favor the F19. The higher the ground mineralization and larger the gold, the more I might favor the X-Terra. In general I would lean towards the F19 due to it's superb all metal mode combined with parallel on screen target id, in effect a mixed mode setup that gives you the best of both worlds.

Well, to cut to the chase they are charging a solid $1000 more for a GPX 6000. The price increase is more than most metal detectors sell for. They can’t squeeze a profit out of $7999, one of the highest prices ever charged for a consumer metal detector? It costs $1000 more to ship them? The chips cost $1000 more? Labor costs in Malaysia went up an aggregate $1000 more per machine in Malaysia? Just call me one of the doubters for any anyone trying to rationalize a price increase like that as anything other than a money grab, gouging gold prospectors to subsidize the sale of machines like the X-Terra Pro and X-Terra Voyager at extra low prices. Yup, it surprises me to hear that everyone in Oz uses the 5” coil. I thought Oz was the land of big men, big gold, and big coils!

I'd say the Axiom sells better than people think, but not nearly so well as to put any fear in Minelab. The sad fact is the Axiom is being sold for twice the magic $2000 mark I think is needed to really put a fire under fast adoption of a PI alternative to VLF for people who can't afford to lay out more than twice what a high end VLF sells for. I am now looking to Nokta to fill that gap. Which answers the second question. No, VLF is no real alternative for serious gold prospectors. Everybody I know runs a Minelab GPX or GPZ or even older SD/GP models. If you have a good PI it is also good to have a great VLF for trashy areas. Now having said that, a Equinox/Deus 2/Legend can actually do very well in the right locations, typically trash laden tailing piles, where a PI just wears you out digging deep junk. But even in those areas a VLF will play out eventually, and then the hard work begins of using a PI to go after the deeper finds the VLFs leave behind.

Uh…. that’s not how corporations and shareholders work. I own stock in Nvidia but nobody asks my opinion on anything. I can simply own or sell the stock. Only key very large shareholders get any input on company decisions, and even that only indirectly. The CEO is hired and answers directly to the board of directors. The directors in turn are charged with guiding the company for the benefit of shareholders. Long story short if you want you can by Codan stock, but nobody is going to include you in any decisions unless you buy like 25% of the company shares, or more. Otherwise you are just along for the ride and you’d better hope the CEO knows what he is doing. Or sell the stock. It is the aggregate success of the stock that in turn determines whether the CEO is making the right moves or not. So shareholders have a say, but only in a very indirect way. Yet in the end, it’s all about them. If shareholders abandon a company it’s generally going to fail.

Yeah, Minelab faces stiffer completion, and all this does is help the completion sell more detectors. This was not a decision made by shareholders though, it was made by the new Minelab CEO. Whose job will be on the line with shareholders if it backfires and hurts the stock price.

I doubt it as economy of scale demand large parts acquisitions and production runs. Though it could be build to order at the dealer level. I was a Ski-Doo dealer, largest in the world at one point. The deal with snowmobiles is dealers order them a year in advance, and the manufacturers build them. It removes all the risk from the manufacturer and places it squarely on the dealer. If you like gambling, think about ordering 1000 snowmobiles a year in advance, and wondering if it will snow next year. We rolled some pretty big dice and luckily scored more than lost. Minelab could go that route, just demand all dealers place an order for the coming year and build the combined order. Minelab is abandoning small dealers in favor of large retailers like Cabelas who are used to placing those type orders. I don’t really see that happening though. The more likely scenario is this blows up in their face, and we see a price reduction sometime later next year. I just can’t see a huge price increase working at a time when gold detector sales are already declining. There are plenty of used machines available and people will just buy used instead. Whatever, no skin off my nose, so as you say just interesting to see what happens.

I wonder if I’m reading this right. A huge price increase is coming from Minelab, like nothing ever seen before in the metal detector industry. Basically a 10-20% boost across the board on prices in Australia. No word yet on U.S. prices. The GPX 6000 will go up a solid $1000 Australian dollars and the GPZ 7000 will be over $10,000 again, as in $10,499. From https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/24431-minelab-price-increases-january-1-2024/ There is also a special note in the Gold Monster “includes 5” coil only”. Does this mean the Gold Monster will no longer come with 10” and 5” coil, but come with the 5” coil only? While raising the price $200? And forcing people to lay out another $200 if they want the 10” coil. When I had the Gold Monster I never used the 5” coil at all. Seems like right out of the First Texas playbook with the Gold Bug Pro - sell it with the less desirable small coil to make people buy the coil that should be standard with the machine. It’s all pretty amazing. I was in business for my entire career in retail and even back in the 1970s when inflation was way worse than it has been these days, I’ve never seen anything remotely like this kind of price increase. It’s high enough I have to wonder if it will backfire. Obviously Minelab wants to make more money. But there is a point where a price increase reduces sales so much that a company ends up making less money, not more. This would seem to be pushing that limit and the results in future Codan reports will be interesting to see. No word yet on U.S. prices. Maybe it’s only the Aussies that need to get out the Vaseline. But if this is for real, I’d expect anyone who thinks they might want a Minelab detector to buy before the end of the year. And for dealer sales to plummet next year. The only good news is there is time to act before the price increase, and that sellers of used machines will see a good boost in value next year.

This was brought up couple weeks ago, but so far no mention yet from any U.S. dealers of a price increase. Usually that would be part of the sales pitch (buy one now before the price goes up) so it makes me wonder if it will be as severe in the U.S. A 15-20% boost across the board is one heck of a price increase. It will be interesting to see if it boosts Minelab profits or reduces sales so much that it adds nothing to the bottom line.

There are no third party coils for Axiom and our best hope, DeTech, went radio silent on the matter. The factory coils are what there is and I'm not holding my breath for anything else. X-Coil came up with an 8" round prototype but it did not really work out. Garrett hints they may do more coils someday, but that is someday like in a year or two. They are busy on other projects now. So long story short these six coil options are it for the foreseeable future unless somebody springs a surprise on us.....

Eric Foster is the guy whose name you can't remember who built the Goldscan, which was the basic design for the TDI. He died last year. Reg Sniff passed away in 2020. They will both be missed. It appears you may have information that nobody else has now that they are both gone, so thank you for sharing it with us.

No, as stated in the thread it is made by X-Coil. https://www.x-coils.com

“Since December 2009, the Codan Group’s manufacturing service provider, Plexus Corp, a US company, situated in Penang, Malaysia has been responsible for the majority of Minelab’s worldwide metal detector production. Minelab is proud of its association with its outsource partner in Malaysia. Genuine Minelab metal detectors are exclusively manufactured by Minelab in Australia and by Plexus Corp, USA in the Malaysian facility.” So December 2009 to October 2020 about 11 years and Plexus does make pretty much all the Minelab detectors in that time frame. So average of 91,000 detectors a year of all models.

It's just a 5.82 kHz single frequency detector. It's not using anybody's technology per se. People have been using this tech for decades and anyone can pop one out without fear of patent violation. Bounty Hunter by another name. You get what you pay for and for $149 I'd not expect too much.

It’s no different than buying an IPhone designed by Apple in California and made in China. In this case Minelab designs detectors but farms the manufacture out to others. This is not unusual nor a hit on them per se. I agree with the previous poster. However, many people in this forum can attest that the quality is not what they expected from Minelab in years past. The 6000 rollout was flat out embarrassing the number of issues that occurred. And support? It’s been spotty at best in the U.S. Good in some years, terrible in others. Interesting that on Amazon, on Minelabs website, nor in the manual, is there any warranty statement for the X-Terra Voyager.

No they are not. And I would bet they do not own a facility in China either. They still do some assembly elsewhere but manufacturing is mainly farmed out to Plexus, a U.S. based company, and manufactured in the Plexus Riverside facility in Penang, Malaysia. “Since December 2009, the Codan Group’s manufacturing service provider, Plexus Corp, a US company, situated in Penang, Malaysia has been responsible for the majority of Minelab’s worldwide metal detector production. Minelab is proud of its association with its outsource partner in Malaysia. Genuine Minelab metal detectors are exclusively manufactured by Minelab in Australia and by Plexus Corp, USA in the Malaysian facility.” From http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/68/Plexus-Corporation.html: “Plexus was incorporated in Wisconsin in 1979 and began operations in 1980. The company was founded by Peter Strandwitz, John Nussbaum, and a group of other entrepreneurs, interested in a venture to design and build computer circuit boards by contract. Located in the eastern Wisconsin city of Neenah, on Lake Winnebago, the new company found the bulk of their early work through contracts with IBM.” Plexus Corp. One Plexus Way Neenah, WI 54956 Public Company Incorporated:1979 Employees:3,150 Sales:$492.4 million (1999) Stock Exchanges:NASDAQ Ticker Symbol:PLXS From https://www.plexus.com/en-us/news/utc-aerospace-systems-recognizes-plexus-with-utc-s: “NEENAH, WI – December 7, 2017 - Plexus (NASDAQ: PLXS) a global leader in providing design and development, manufacturing, supply chain and aftermarket services, announced today that UTC Aerospace Systems has recognized the Plexus Riverside facility in Penang, Malaysia with UTC Supplier Gold status. UTC Aerospace Systems is one of the world’s largest suppliers of technologically advanced aerospace and defense products. UTC Supplier Gold status program recognizes suppliers for world-class, integrated supply chain performance. To achieve Supplier Gold status, suppliers must achieve zero escapes (quality rejections), 100% on-time delivery, overall customer satisfaction and a score greater than or equal to 80% on a supplier health assessment.” Plexus Riverside facility: This was previously posted on the forum in 2017:

The video is over 6 months old and out of date. The Manticore has to be relearned compared to previous models. We heard all the same stuff about Equinox when it came out. Over 100 posts on this thread discussing the same subject…

I'm immediately suspicious of your DD coil. Do a full reset after swapping coils just to be sure. As far as a Smooth Mode, see this note from my post on Axiom Experimental Settings: Minimum Threshold - this shows the most promise for developing a silent search “Bogenes Settings” methodology for the Axiom. -7 still has some audio break through. -9 is pretty much dead silent but seems too aggressive? I’ve settled on -8 so far as a preference, and was surprised at how well small nuggets jump out still, and with good depth. It also allows for a bit higher sensitivity setting, so I would highly encourage people to try these very low Threshold settings with either a normal or slightly boosted sensitivity setting. For some situations I’m thinking I might be employing this a lot. Super pleasant way to hunt for those that hate a threshold. I just wish there was more nuance as right now the jump between -7 to -8 to -9 is coarser than I’d like. I put it on my wish list for an update.