Gerry in Idaho

That's exactly why you are on my Field Staff Team. Always thinking ahead and willing to help others.

Not so fast my friend. They are shipping to the countries main headquarters, not the dealers. You guys started my phone to blow up and I could not understand why. No worries, at least some of my customers will get them pre-Christmas. Hopefully dealers get good allotments and not trickle in like the Equinox did.

If all goes well, I will be sharing pictures of Manticore finds from in the salt water. Hurry up Santa, Gerry's Detectors has places to go. He also has customers patiently waiting. It looks as if the wait time could be pre Christmas for a few. Let's just hope us dealers get a good allotment of units the 1st few rounds.

I know these nuggets are not huge or even close to it, but I enjoy seeing some of my customers success and their recoveries. These 2 pics just came in from a customer in AZ who took the Axiom out for it's 1st voyage. He used the 11" MONO coil and recovered them 3 to 4" deep. Hopefully more customers will be sharing their success. I'm certain the upstate guys like me are pretty much frozen in for the season so south we need to go.

Glad to see you get out there one last time Gary and find a few pickers. Hopefully that GPX-6000 is doing everything I promised and then some. Looks like this coming in weather will have us shut down for the season, unless a warm spell comes in Dec. Well on you two and thanks for sharing some success.

I'm not much of a dig a hole guy unless my detector indicates to dig there. I do have bottle hunter buddies that can dig a hole extremely fast. Here's a pic of a hole one of my Field Staff dug on our last day of the trip. We were in Alaska up at a place called Moore Creek (supposed to be good gold up there) and the last day, most of us had our gear already packed and just hanging around waiting for a plane to drop in. Spencer is still gung ho and happy to be swinging not caring a bit about being ready for the plane. Guess he decided he'd be on the last plane out. He is swinging right in front of the tents so everyones watching. Eventually I look up and see him digging with his pick and think nothing of it. Some folks start giving advice like the group of supervisors usually do at a construction site. Finally 5 minutes later I look up and see Spencer has a shovel and is getting serious. Now we all know when detecting dredge tailing piles, the big holes usually mean a tobacco tin or rusty can from some old prospector 100 yrs earlier. At this time a couple of us start to wander up as we need to give better more detailed advice of how to remove the trash. Well a few minutes and another almost foot later, Spencer gets the target out of the hole. He starts scanning all the rocks and gravels removed from the pit and his detector is just screaming so loud and brood it's hard to isolate where the target actually is. A pin pointer would have come in handy at this time, but most of us already had our gear packed. Eventually he recovered it and that's when crazy started happening. You should have seen how many guys started digging through they bags trying to find their detectors for a quickie. No bad so sad...as I was one of them who done packed away. I've learned a lesson though. When in big gold country, never stop swinging until after the fat lady sings. Just shy of 1 pound troy of AK specimen/gold . Spencers' trip home was quite romantic as he was the sexy guy with the gold. You just never know until you dig it.

Mike, You are the winner of the Minelab Vest, Hat and Care Package. Please PM me the ship to address. Also, what size Vest you want?

That just might happen but I need to have one in my hands as well. Just to make sure, do I have you on the list? We're expecting some news to come out in the next week or 2. Hopefully it means there's movement of the Manticore.

That's for engineering types to say. In days of old Minelab would use terms like "up to 30%" or such. This time their wording changed and so I have no clue. The bottom line, there really is to many variables to give a depth. Soil conditions, size of target, recovery speed, coil size, target metal etc. I'm expecting we'll start hearing of depths and comparisons very soon.

Not until they get caught up with orders will we start learning the cost of accessories and different coils. Should be hearing something real soon.

Ridge Runner (Chuck) thanks for sharing a nugget of pic. I realize the old days and pics were nothing like we have today. My most memorable times are on 8MM reel when I was a sprout running around on weekends with family and detector in hand. I have no issues with you pic as it brings back memories and that's exactly what this holiday is about, being thankful for so many things, including the early prospects and hard work for the color earned. You name is in the hat my friend. Purplehays69 Now that nugget pic has so many twists and or stories to tell. Oh my I would love to hear just half of the history it could speak. I'll have to look up the mention. Yes there's way more history across that Black Rock desert than many who travel through each day have no clue. Did they happen to fit?🤣.Your name is in the hat my friend. LuckyLundy, (Rick) I have to agree 100% and that's why I used the term "nugget" as there's so many ways to use it. Friends and stories made on gold collecting journeys is most valuable to the soul. The beautiful yellow stuff is just the icing on the cake. Your name is in the hat my friend. HotSauce I can see you have put some time on your coils and the adventures have a golden shine at the end of the road. You've done well my friend. I used to think I would remember all my nicer finds and I probably did for 15 to 25 yrs, but I think the sharp tack mind is starting to wear on me a little. Now I have to use notes and cheat on occasion. The hunt for the next big o gold is always on our minds. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. mn90403 (Mitchel), Gold finds like that can leave an everlasting highs/lows in the soul. There's usually great joy and pride but for some reason a few sour grapes seem to surface as well. I'll check out your story later on. Hopefully those great times and memories with the ones around at the time will last forever. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. geof_junk Silly me.... I have never seen a guys hand so small.🤫 Or could it be your stones are so big? Well either way those memories will last forever my friend. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. Glenn in CO My gosh Glenn, that golden dove is just amazing. You are so lucky to have a nugget beside you on every trip and willing to take part. I wish you 2 many more golden years to come. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. Arky (Mike) Good to see you and your best find still out there swinging and learning. Each site is different and something to learn all the time. That’s a fine chunky nugget there and most would think around the heavily pounded Quartzsite area, it should have been picked up already. Maybe it was me who boot scraped it and walked, as I have done so many times before. I especially do that in known trashy areas. If site was new to me or if a lot of surface trash, then yes I probably walked and left one for those more determined. Good to see you again last month and hopefully seeing you more down the road. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. oneguy (Scott) that pic is certainly a golden pan full. Many hours and memories to be thankful there. A few really chunky ones as well. Be sure to ask Santa for a new pair of gloves for X-Mas., as I’m sure you need them. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. Norvic Finding that virgin site is something most of us dream of and especially when you are finding golden slugs and fist size sunbakers. You certainly have many hunts and memories to be thankful. I imagine there are a few of those such sites left, but they are certainly getting harder each year. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. deathray I love the shoe plate and to get a complete one if even more rare. The display of Au and the plate is stunning. To hand it over to the landowner is most advantageous in so many ways. I do it quite a bit myself and it usually brings back the “come back any time” comment. Well done and thanks for sharing. Your name is in the hat my friend.

Different spelling as the top dog at Garrett is spelled Novakovich. Below info from Garrett website.

Strick and others. Sorry I was not on the ball last month when all this was going down. You guys know me better than that and I'm usually much better focused. Honestly, I've been so focused on the Axiom and getting as much time in the field with it. While at the same time, I had a massive flood in my shop and total strip down/rebuild in the rooms. I love DP but at the same time, I can easily get wrapped into it so deep that I'm not taking care of other things and sometimes they are very important. Just getting on and reading a couple posts and then I want to help and reply. Next thing I know is it's been 3 hrs and I'm missing something else. It was one of my own customers on here who brought it to my attention Go figure. So in the meantime I've patiently waited for Minelab USA to inform me and not a word. No call, no email no communication what so ever. If anything, a simple mass email to all dealers would be nice. So I guess we'll use DP and the friendly folks posting to keep us (including dealers) updated. No I didn't have time to read all pages and threads on this subject so hopefully I'm not repeating something already said. Not sure if another US dealer such as Rob or other has chimed in but honestly I think we all were in the dark. Bottom line is it should have been taken care of in a better manor. Let's hope they learn from it. The good thing, eventually is, we now have a fix. What that means is they are listening/watching/reading. At least in other countries.

Yes I asked Minelab USA about that email the other day and they would not reply? Now it could just as easily be as already mentioned, "Buy a GPX/GPZ and get (here in US) a GM-1000. Knowing Minelab, they are trying to keep detector sales and market share from swaying to Garrett. Just so many turns/promos the last few weeks with Minelab and the recent release of the Axiom. Or, there is actually another detector coming out around the same time as the Manticore and so they choose the "in pairs". Either way, we're falling for it and peeking to see what's next.

That's exactly why we need competition and options. The more options, eventually means a better price point for my customers. We've already seen Minelab make adjustments and that's great news for everyone on here.

I’m thankful for all who contribute to this fine forum in so many ways. Some just read and gather knowledge while other enjoy posting pics/stories and sharing your experiences. A few wise old men who’ve busted so many pairs of boots to the ground…as well as plenty of young new gunners still wearing metal in their soles and plenty of average Joes to share the fun and tell stories when the sun goes down. You all help in different ways to make this DP forum the best. As a thank you from Gerry’s Detectors. I’d like to have a little fun contest. No I'm not giving away a free $1000 detector like I did last year on here, but a very nice Minelab Detecting Vest with more pockets to lose stuff in. It is a nice vest (see pic at bottom) though and the best part, is just having fun. Share a pic and short story (Simon, notice I said short story) of a “Thankful nugget” on this thread. Contest ends Sunday, 27th at midnight my time. 1 entry per person. The winner will get a Minelab vest sent to them free of charge. Sorry but I do not plan on sending the vest outside of the USA. Sure we all would enjoy seeing your Thankful nugget and short story, no matter what country you are from. So, if you are the lucky drawing winner, then give me a name and address of someone in the US who you would enjoy donating your winning Vest. This allows everyone to play and also gives kudos to those from outside the US who go along. All who post their 1 pic and short story will get their name dropped into a hat and there will be a simple drawing sometime next week. I’ll post the winner and then you PM me your USA mailing address. Again, if outside of the US is the winner, please select someone in the US you would like to donate the vest and I will send it on your behalf. Below is pic of my Thankful nugget. My 1st nugget from South Dakota. I watched Deadwood and was drawn in from the story. A month later a special friend invited me to SD. 1st day in the field, 1st hour and I scored gold in more ways than one. Fun times, memories at dinner (happy birthday to your wife) and just an overall wonderful experience. I'm Thankful for the opportunity you shared with me. Looking forward to having some nice reads and interesting nugget pics to see. Again, Happy Thanksgiving to my DP friends and safe travels during the holiday weekend.

Steve H - 100% agree that Mr. Novakovich and his engineering team are making a difference. This machine and it's price point are so great for the competition and having the features they provided us along with the performance is a real winner. Sure there will be the few who flat out will disc it (heck there's been well known dealers on this forum who were blowing it off at first) and find every way, wrong washer to down talk it. They just assumed and we all know what what that means for they lack of knowledge. Another part of your comments are well accepted from me as Garrett plans on staying in the game. I sure hope they offer even more new and exciting technologies to come. Norvic - You know me well enough, always trying to make a bloke silly his cup while reading DP. You also know, I've put my foot down on the dirt enough times to have a pretty good idea when something new and good is for us. Will be interesting to see if "Axiom" makes it's way on your profile of "Gear Used". Either way you decide, you of all know this will help keep pricing inline. Simon - Sorry they did not price it so well for other countries. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one as I can't figure it out. We would think, the price point would be comparative to US, but somethings surely off. You are dead on about competition though and that's the bottom line. We can look back just a few years ago and see how XP has done so well and that make Minelab step up their game. The more options, the better the price point and that my friend is helpful to all. Smigo - It's kind of a long standing joke and reputation I have with the mouth shot that started 25+ yrs ago. I'm not sure if my body/gut has been so infected that is now used to it, that it doesn't bother me much anymore or I'm just stupid lucky. Either way, you do bring up a great point (especially around old mine sites and free range cattle). Thanks for pointing it out. Northeast - You're another old timer who knows the ropes well. As with Norvic, I hope you do give it (the Axiom) a true run and comparison vs the price point. On a side note. One of your interests is "Footy". Do you wash her toes before you do that? GR Guy - The 6 coil options are from Garrett and we don't have to worry about 2nd sourcing. I'm all on board with NF coming out with the coils for the 6. They sure have a way of stringing out their release though and not sure how that happened but a smart and strong company like them better make some changes next go around. This release of the NF coils has really soured a crowd. If/when the coils are in many hands then the more options we get the better. My main point was from the manufacture. Minelab offered 3 coils for the 6 and that is it. Garrett offered 6 which is twice the amount for 1 machine. Another thing I expect about the coils from Garrett. I'm willing to bet their price point in the US will be better as well. Options are the bottom line that allows us more fun. Thanks for asking my friend.

Let me start off by saying, I normally do not mention other brands and or models of detectors when I'm giving kudos to those who have earned it. But at the same time, I also realized I've been giving the same kudos for years to those other brands and detector models my staff/I prefer and or use. So I'll stuff the rock in my mouth now and get it out of the way. 1 year this month is how long it's been and boy what a blast and fun my team/I has had. Funny, how they are just now (a yr later) getting into customers hands. Better to wait a little and get it right than piss off the world.. 1st off a big thanks to Garrett Electronics and their distribution center for getting the Axiom out to my customers in time as some of them are already in their hands and I’ve been told of some Thanksgiving detecting going on. As many of you follow on DP, my staff/I were selected to work behind the scene and help make this detector even better. Being a US Military Veteran, I was also very adamant about Garrett offering a 15% military discount, which they have never offered in all the yrs I've been selling their products. On a side note, I was one of the most vocal dealers to talk Minelab into the same thing yrs back. I heard a few dealers are not offering it (it is voluntary) but here at Gerry's Detectors, I most certainly will do so. One of the things about the new man in charge at Garrett, he is a thinker, but most importantly, he listens. No, I didn't get everything my way, but I feel what changes have been made are all better for, end users of the Axiom, dealers who sell it and even Garrett themselves. Back/forth open discussion is critical for new releases, the longevity of our hobby and the manufactures who build them. Hopefully other manufactures do the same. My Field Staff and I have spent hundreds of hrs on the new PI technology using/testing/comparing and making judgment of this new detector while finding gold in 3 different states. We even shared it for a bit at the last Rye Patch NV Field Training class and watched Lunk pull a small nugget some of the other big machines missed. No, it doesn't have the same raw depth/power of $8500 detectors but at the cost of only $4000 ($3400 with VET discount), you sure are getting 85% to 95% of it, depending on soil conditions and kind of gold. Why do I say kind of gold? Because some types of Au rocks and nuggets, the Axiom has greater depth/sensitivity. I've been swinging a variety of detectors for 45+ yrs with the last 25+ in the pursuit of the heavy metal. I'll admit the majority of top performing detectors for my Au tasks were not from the Garrett brand. In my opinion, they and the other manufactures just could not put a complete machine design to my liking for the styles of my hunts. I've owned Infinium, AT Gold and even the ATX. They are nice machines with a couple good features and their price points are what you would expect. But the bottom line, I would always going back to the well-known brand for most situations….until now. Thank you Garrett Electronics (and all the people involved with the making of this fine detector) for providing a PI detector option at a reasonable price that actually performs extremely well for a variety of conditions and on many different styles and kinds of gold. My Field Staff and I (each one of us) are more than pleased and actually quite blown away that you could come out of nowhere and produce a detector of such caliber. My guys and I are used to running the best of the best and we’re willing to pay whatever the price to do such. So when I told them about said machine and they selecting my team to test it, they (my guys) just played along and said sure. It was as if them telling me. We’ve been down this road before Gerry and we’re pretty sure of the results. Well to be honest, I couldn’t blame them for be so…so.. ok we’ll do it…but as soon as it’s over, we’re back to what gets us the gold and the machines we prefer. Not so fast my friends…. Things didn’t play out the way we expected. My guys are totally on board and eager and wanting to get back out there with this Axiom. They’ve pounded the ground, sweated the heats, broken the frost and still happily swinging the Axioms. Why you say. Cause the results are golden and they pokes have been overflowing this year. Folks, I say this as FACT and no bullshit here. This last year 3 of us found more gold than we did the previous year. We attribute the success to the Axiom and the way it runs, the features it has and the overall performance for the areas we detected. Garrett has made a detector that will provide so many people the ability to enjoy it’s benefits of a PI. PI’s of past are just that, the past. Prime example, why so many people in the US go from a GPZ-7000 to a GPX-6000, when the 7000 is still the deepest big gold detector out there? I’m guessing here, but a big % of my customers was the weight and ergonomics. Those who waited to see and hear the results soon found out so much of the big gold had already played out in the US. But still the GPX-6000 was finding small gold and specimens better than the 7. So for many, the switch was a no brainer. Now we get another option from another player and this one has features the other 2 mentioned do not. This one has better coil selection the other 2 do not. This one is priced much better and more affordable for more people. This one, the Axiom.. is a great detector to be thankful for. I'm not saying it beats the others in every way, never have, never will. But the overall capabilities and fun factor...let it shine let it shine. Again Garrett, your complete family and also Steve H. (yes you had more to do than many realize), I thank you all for giving us the gold detecting, beach hunting, and CW Relic era detectorists an amazing option to use in the field and have fun doing what we enjoy. You really built a detector that has impressed me and most of all my Field Staff, way way way more than what we initially expected. Cools digs.. We are lucky to live in a country that allows us to enjoy a variety of hobbies, allows us to speak our mind and allows us to have a little fun and laughter. If you are not smiling, choking on a chunk of Au or getting a laugh with friends while out enjoying the Hunt, then I ask you to please grab your detector and go make some memories. Finding the gold is just part of the fun. Thank You All and Happy Thanksgiving. (some new pics many of you have not seen). Gerry at Gerry's Detectors in Boise, Idaho.

Most certainly and don't even look back. The actual answer depends on your preferred detecting style, but since you mentioned NOOB, then go with the US version. Here's the great thing about the Axiom. Once they get all orders caught up and start working on coils, there is already 6 different options to select from. Another bonus with Garrett (if we look at the past), is their coil pricing will be more reasonable than the other brand. If the Axiom sells good (and I don't see why not), then we might get options from other coil manufactures as well. Options and more options is what we want.

I've already had to explain this to a couple of my customers of the Axiom. All of the 1st allotment I received were American version Axioms with 13" DD and the 11"MONO. I feel that is the best for most folks. But then it was brought to my attention, the videos I provided showed me using the 13" MONO. So they wonder what is up with why I want them to get the 13" DD. The main point....I was hunting for bigger gold. Most folks want any and all nuggets. I knew what you and Lunk were up to so I wanted to be different. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Thanks for bringing this up Steve as my test unit is still the older version. I was told to keep it that way and compare it to one of my other Field Staff Members Axiom, which his has the upgrade. Yes when we compared, there was a difference and I think he told me he was 2 clicks off of Max, as I was running MAX. My MAX unit runs to smooth for my liking. What's most astonishing is that Garrett took the time to listen to our feedback and then actually did something about it. So so many times in this industry, when a Field Tester gets something, the product is pretty much complete and they are just looking for our opinion and for us to make some finds for their advertising. This go around we actually had something in time with room to improve and it really did help make a difference on a few of the things we noted. I prefer it this way, but in times past with most other companies it's not that way. Well done Garrett you are on the right track. Thanks again Steve.

Those are some nice chunky digs my friend. Your hard work and efforts have rewarded you with a collection of Au nuggets and even bigger of the man made trash type. Be sure to haul that stuff out so I don't have to find it next time. Thatks for sharing your Success pics.

Mike, We didn't freeze to death but it was cold. You and the wife be in AZ this winter? Let me know when either of you need a new detector. Stay safe this winter and warm.

Heck yeah you are getting us Northern boys all fired up. Ground is frozen up this way. May try sunny slopes in a few days as we might hit 40's. Nice gold and thanks for sharing.

I didn't know if it was ok to post the coins/relic pics but they were part of the trip and the main reason I was in NV to begin with was so I my team could teach on the gold detectors.