araratgold

Great news Trevor, I wish you every success with them ! Rick

I would like to see Minelab come to the party straight away and allow aftermarket coils to be made, with the required chips sold by Minelab. Aftermarket coil makers have a long history of making coils that are far better than what Minelab is supplying as stock. Minelab need to embrace this, because coils will come whether they want them or not. As an aside, I see more and more people complaining about the PITA coil twisting problem on the 6K, with some even resorting to sourcing carbon shafts and building their own lower stems, complete with locking pins ! Very poor for a detector costing 8K ! Rick

So exactly what I said weeks ago has been realised. The locking points on these super light shafts are not fit for purpose, and will need some sort of locking pin, just like the old gpx shafts to stop the heavier 17 coil from constantly turning 🥺 IMHO, pathetic in a detector costing this much money. Surely the testers MUST have known this was a problem, but they still made it to market ! 🤬🤬 Rick

Jp, you are missing our point. We are only talking about aftermarket coils. Not detectors, not patches, or any other bl##dy thing. 🙄 And for you to so flippantly dismiss our concerns just smacks of arrogance on your behalf ! Wriggling out of the woodwork ? Are you kidding ? 🙄 Aftermarket items are available for just about any electronic equipment you care to name, but Minelab are trying to stifle the ability of others to make BETTER aftermarket coils for their electronics. And lets not forget, NF and Coiltek have always made SUPERIOR coils to Minelab, which improve the performance of the Minelab detector. X Coils have also now done the same. Rick

I agree wholeheartedly with Norvic, and I'm sorry JP, but I cannot agree with you on this one. 🙄 It is a lame excuse to allow anti competitive behaviour. You think Minelab are the only ones that have smart engineers in the world ? The Russians have already proved with the X Coils that they can not only meet the technical requirements but also far exceed the performance of the standard Z coils. And I'm tipping that they would be able to with the 6K as well. Minelab are doing everything in their power to stifle competition, even if it is only aftermarket coils to allow us LOYAL customers to have more choice ! They may make the best detectors in the world, but their ethics stink ! 🤬 Rick

Matt, I haven't " got my nose out of joint ". I WAS interested in the new 6000, like all new Minelab releases, in the lead up to release, but once I started to see various videos, FB and forum comments, circuit boards that haven't been clipped together requiring them to be sent back to Minelab, plus numerous tests from a highly experienced operator who sold his after a week, I became hesitant to part with $8K. Now I just point blank refuse to lay down that sort of money on something that has so many flaws / shortcomings. Your shafts are already working loose after a couple of hours ? Lets see how they are going in a few months, or a couple of years ! Seriously Matt, after all these years of R & D and testing from experienced guys like JP, you would hope that it would come to market with all these problems sorted, but apparently not ! It is the only Minelab model that I have not bought in 20 years of prospecting. I just can not see the justification for that sort of price tag, given all the negatives I have seen across the forums etc . Bear in mind too that I live where I could have it paid off in no time ! These forum comments are not mine, they are actual USERS who are experiencing these issues and voicing their concerns ! Rick

It's because the plastic is soft and easily scratched. I've seen pictures on FB already of the top of coils being worn under the shaft mount from rubbing, and yet another user has reported that he has almost gone through a skid plate already ! 😳 Add that to shafts that won't lock properly, a speaker that is not very functional and clearly creates it's own EMI, and various other functions that are missing from previous GPX detectors, I would say not nearly good enough for a machine costing $8K, IMHO ! My ZED has never had a problem with any of this, and it is a first week release ( over 6 years old ) and done many thousands of hours ! PS its original skid plate is still intact ! Rick

You pay $8K for the 6000 and the shafts don't even lock properly ? That would be more than " a wee annoying " in my books, and quite frankly, not good enough ! How are they going to be after a few months of wear and tear ?? Rick

Ah, the 6000, so light you can swing it all day without a bungy or swing arm. Oh wait, she is using both ! Nice nugget, but any of the previous GPX machines would have got it. Rick

No, and existing coils will not fit, or work with the 6000. Cheers, Rick

What I got out of the Fat Bastard video was how smooth the ZED with 17 CC was, and how bloody ratty the 6K was ! Numerous others have also made mention of the speaker / EMI problem, requiring numerous noise cancels ! If the little 11 inch is that bad for EMI, how bad will the 17 inch be ? Also, the ZED smashed the target over the spinifex, the 6K couldn't hear it, and could barely hear it even at ground level in difficult ! I questioned FB about why it was so ratty, and he stated it was being driven flat out. So why then did it not get the nugget over the spinny, and could barely get it at ground level ?? This is a confirmed list of shortcomings / observations so far : Huge depth loss with the DD on deeper larger targets. DD is heavy, requiring a bungy if you are using it for extended periods. DD does not discriminate ! WHY did they remove that ability ?? The mono coil can not be put into cancel mode and used for pinpointing large targets. WHY did they remove that ability ?? No ability to change the threshold tone, to suit various hearing problems. WHY did they remove that ability ?? Can not use the existing aftermarket coils. You are locked into Minelab's limited coil selection, and let's face facts, Minelab have NEVER built the best coils ! WHY did they remove that ability ? EMI problems. The plastics used on the coils are very soft and easily scratched, someone has gone through a skid plate already ! Threshold OFF is not really off, because you can still hear the EMI squeaks. Users are reporting a lot of ground noise with the 11 mono. The reality is that it is only 300 grams lighter than the current GPX, although they are selling it as if it is super light. The shafts and coil mount look flimsy, will they survive the test of time ? $8K for that, no thanks !!! Ps : Check out this video, where the reporters at the end describe the ZED vs 6K as Godzilla vs Bambi ! Rick

And don't forget Patch mode / Salt Mode that was added via software update, from memory at the same time as Semi Auto, which gave it better ground handling ability over nasty ground. Cheers, Rick

Thank you JP for that very balanced report. Whatever Ilya and his team have done is certainly working. These coils have basically given the GPZ the super sensitivity of an SDC ( or dare I say it the GPX 6000 ) but with the raw power of ZVT ! Some of the little bits I have been getting at prodigious depths rechaining my old patches have left me scratching my head ! Rick

The threshold OFF method was " invented " here in Aus and was known as Bogene's settings. Good for shallow noisy areas, not so good for deeper ground where a falling or wobbling threshold alerts you to a deeper target. Hence Minelab saying you will get more depth with threshold on. Rick

OMG what a wank ! In the official Minelab video old mate in Africa is not even carrying a pick. I guess the nuggets must just jump out of the ground ! Never in my 20 years in the game have I seen Minelab trying so hard to sell a new model ! No discrimination, no ability to change the threshold tone ? If the ground is bad, their answer is to change to a DD coil ! Like I will be carrying that around in the boondocks in my backpack ! Limited choice of Minelab only coils. This latest offering is not impressing me much, certainly not enough to go and drop $8K AUD ( plus whatever the 17 inch coil costs) !