afreakofnature

@Smigo When I first read that email I also thought too they were using Aussies as guinea pigs to see if the repair worked properly.  

Right on Gerry!  Winter has come here early too.  Usually can make it to December, this year not looking good.

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

21 minutes ago, matt said:

Doesn't help if a USPS employee opens the package and steals your detector...

True enough.

Insurance would be outrageous.  If its still under warranty and breaks in transit just send it back for repair 😂

I think i am more surprised that only 5 people did the fix according to the poll.  Or maybe everyone is waiting like me until winter 🤣

If the ground is not frozen, we be detecting!  😂 

5 hours ago, geof_junk said:

as ML has up their game. 

Ummmm 🤨 

6 hours ago, phrunt said:

THANK YOU! I was always worried about forcing them too hard and breaking them, I tried just then as hard as I possibly could by hand and I could still hold one piece of the shaft and the other and give it a little twist and around it went, so I got out a tool and tightened them up, now they're rock solid and will not twist.  I either need to go to the gym or take a tool along with me and I'll be all good.    When I originally bought it the first few days I could do them up by hand and they wouldn't twist no matter how hard I tried, over time it's got worse but now knowing I can force them as hard as I want without breaking them they will do up tight enough to stop it.  Not ideal and certainly decent cam locks like the Manticore is getting would be better but at least I now have a temporary solution.

This top one was the worst for the twisting.

Well….. i am not advocating that a wrench wont break them 😁.  Use that method with a little caution.  However I agree cams would be best.  Also GotAu? (I think) had a fix but I have never tried it.

I have never had a shaft twist problem.  Are you cranking it down hard?  I get an even better grip and crank with gloves on.  You can crank the shit out of them, they wont break, trust me i tried.  In regards to “The detector going wacky sometimes” try a ground balance then noise cancel.  I have had succes doing this vs just a noise cancel.  Maybe it resets the chips?

New coil OR new detector.  They don’t have you send in the coil.  But it looks thick like the Coiltek coils.

By the time these come out the GPZ 8000 will be out. 😂 

This is great news! My speaker has been like this from the beginning as well but I’ve always used headphones. Now I have had minor EMI issues with my headphones, not as bad but similar, I kind of thought it was just par with the machine.  It would be really nice to know if it improves with the headphones as well. It would be awesome if people could test that as well but if you don’t really use the headphones you might not know.

Steve out of curiosity, did JP say at all in your conversations that he had the EMI fix done to his 6k or was he using a new one?  Thanks.  We haven’t heard from him in so long.

Really liking these early reports!

If you have the repair done can you list the serial number and date of purchase too.  Atleast DOP if not comfortable giving serial #.  Maybe we can find the range on our own 🙄

5 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

A proper fix can only improve performance, by reducing unwanted noise.

This sets up a scenario where all 6000's sold until now will exist under a cloud of sorts, something always to be aware of if buying used. Between coil cracks and this, it is going to be a case where a GPX 6000 made in 2023 is probably going to include fixes for these problems.

Your advice is gold as usual.  I will probably wait until Dec 31 when the USFS roads close and send it in.  😁

This is like cars now too.  I refuse to buy any car made between 2020 and 2023.  

Tom and Jason I am curious to know if it fixed your issues.  For me, like Steve said above, it’s a temporary annoyance.  However I’m still finding gold and I don’t really want to risk sending it in to get fixed if it might reduce performance. So I am really curious what you guys find out.

Bring it out west!  Lets test in the goldfields!

I wonder where on the target id and trace graphite will be.  On the Nox for me its a solid 1, same place little nuggets show.  Very frustrating.

Sometimes on the Nox nugs will bounce from 1-2 and into the negatives.  Unfortunately so do some hot rocks.  I am also hoping this will be fixed.

Maybe they will put a new coat of that EMI resistant paint on too 🤣

I am happy you did.  My speaker would cause EMI.  I would like to know the serial # range.  Us in the USA would not have known about this if phrunt did not show the Aussie IP page.  We should probably start sending out emails to ML main corporate office.

Every video that I have seen so far just skimmed over Goldfield mode. I would like to know if it’s on par with the Nox or better. This would be huge for people detecting small dinky gold (or nugs) in trash infested areas especially with target trace. What do people think? Anybody hear anything different? 

I am curious about the goldfields mode.  My Nox is my prospecting VLF detector.  If it can at least perform at the same level as the Nox, I’ll upgrade.

Best wishes Condor!  I hope your trip this time is way better than last!

Never heard of a waterproof problem but the did upgrade to all the aftermarket fixes. Knuckle protector and Li-Ion batteries with a blue looking adapter.

I have an original (with aftermarket upgrades) that I am thinking of selling here soon too.