araratgold

Gold now at it lowest US dollar price in 2 years, despite what the so called " EXPERTS " predicted ! 
https://california-gold-rush-miner.us/gold-price-3/?fbclid=IwAR3s2SNqcEKgCwW7TnEfCrL6kD7aqd_6TXLKdaTitbH3ceLfte8j1z1bBao

So much for the so called experts saying the gold price is going to rise! 🤣

Since they announced this, the price has just fallen like a stone to be now under $1700 USD for the first time in over a year! 🙄

Well done "experts", you have mozzed us all!

Rick

Pull the skid plate off and check to see if the previous owner has put a bit of sticky back foam sheet in there to help stop the " drumming " hollow noise. The other possibility is that the skid plate is slightly mal formed.

Wouldn't hurt to do this anyway just to clear any dirt out of the skid plate.

Rick

It scored 4.6 / 10 on the IMDb score. That tells you just how ordinary the show is!

Rick

That's great Jen. Good on Rohan for doing this, however, new life was breathed into the ZED 3 years ago when X Coils started releasing a large variety of coils.

The N/F coil will be good for those who don't want to have to make an adapter, but will still be very limiting in choice and performance. 🙂

Rick

James,

Nice fix for those who may have issues! Glued on strip of bicycle inner tube may also work well ?

I've had no problems at all with my GPZ shafts, and mine is first week release. Now over 7 years old and thousands of hours of use, including 18 months in the wilds of WA, so my camlocks must be good ones.

Even when I had the boat anchor ( GPZ19) attached, I had no issues. Couldn't be happier with my ZED, and even more so now thanks to the brilliance of the X coils! 

Rick

13 hours ago, nugget said:

I agree with that statement.To me if I or anyone else on this forum bought a top of the range car and had the amount of problems as i've had with this detector and all the add ons that go with it they would be crying blue murder.Its fine to say Minelab stand by their products but do they really.The quality of this stuff is 2 dollar shop standard and at no point have Minelab come out and admitted that they dropped the ball and made some serious mistakes.Sadly its just another faceless money grinder.To hell with quality.This is not a dig at the power of the 6000,but the lack of respect for their returning customers.They know we'll come and buy because they have no other competition as far as the serious detectorist is concerned.The trouble starts there no competition, pretty well a monopoly and with most monopolized situations the rot sets in.   

Got to agree Nugget.

If you have a look at the results of the poll, you get a fair idea of the scale of the problems with the 6K. I personally have heard of many faults that have not been reported on the forums.

Quite clearly, IF you get a good one, they are a good detector, not withstanding the ongoing twisting shaft issue. However, the shear amount of issues with this release well and truly put it in the Lemon category. 

I'm sorry, but Minelab's silence, and the general dismissive attitude towards those who care to raise these issues, is just not on! We are talking about the " Ferrari " of detectors here, not just a $100 Aldi special.

If I was still a Minelab dealer I would be disgusted, and out of respect for my customers, I would refuse to sell this product until Minelab did a complete QC audit and fixed the issues! It is poor behaviour by Minelab to continue to sell a product that they know has an unacceptable failure rate. 

Furthermore, as a buyer of Minelab products for 22 years, it has decimated any idea I had of ever owning one, UNTIL the QC issues are completely addressed. I sincerely hope that Minelab learn from this debacle and put a lot more effort into QC in future releases.

Rick 

Just now, oneguy said:

I may have already said this but like the above post....mine was also from the first batch to hit the US and zero problems after one year of use and 100+ nuggs.  I parted with mine for personal reasons (too wild for my tastes) but no quality or performance issues outside of the wild threshold.....

Interesting comments guys! My GPZ is from from the very first batch and I have had zero issues in over 7 years and thousands of hours of use, including in the harsh WA outback.

Maybe Minelab put a bit of effort into QC at the start of a new model and then it falls away ?

Rick

41 minutes ago, GR Guy said:

Don’t get me wrong in a perfect world it would get great all these options. But you can’t say in one breath that counterfeiting exists of a metal detector and then say the coil is off limits though. I’m pretty sure Minelab would put a fair amount of work into their coils as well as the other hardware in a product. 

Sorry to burst your bubble GR Guy, but Minelab have never made good coils. They have only ever been adequate!

Why do you think aftermarket companies like Nugget Finder, Coiltek and now X Coils have done so well ? It's because they make good coils.

Rick

Jason, good to see your comparisons with the CC vs 6K. It just confirms how good the CC coils are on the ZED ( I have the 17CC ) and reinforces to me that the performance gains from the CC coils will surpass the 6K, without all the issues associated  with the 6K.

I've done away with the WM12 completely and just use a guitar lead plugged between the ZED and an SP01 enhancer, with my twin speakers plugged into the SP01. Voila, no lag at all ! Yes, you are " tied " to the detector, however the guitar lead is very stretchy, and after 20 years of GP and GPX detectors I'm used to it and it doesn't bother me.

I dislike the WM12 module, very fussy about where you put it to avoid dropouts.

Rick

JP,

You have stated that " The GPX 6000 has the same outright depth on large targets as the GPX 5000 "

Surely, if this is the case, the 6K would benefit from an 18 or 25 round, just the same as the 5K benefited from the larger coils ??? Especially for those who can't afford a 6K and a ZED ?? Or would EMI make it unusable ?

IMHO, your statement that the 6K doesn't need big coils makes no sense, as there are still many places that have never had a coil over them, where deep gold may still sit !

Rick

12 hours ago, WesD said:

My 6 also needs about half a dozen adjustments per day. Its tolerable for now, but Id imagine as the shaft wears and polishes it will become worse? Unfortunately Minelab does not seem to make shafts that last or are consistent.  The worst offender of them all is the sdc 2300 cam locks. All the guys I know have them taped up as they eventually get loose.  I also experienced  the same twist shaft on my 7000. Had it replaced once and then it went out again.  Probably for guys that hunt mild terrain or occasional weekend warriors its ok, but if you use them on a "professional" level or in hard terrain they just dont seem to hold up.

Never had that problem with the old style shafts with adjuster holes and a locking pin, plus a twist lock ! 
Minelab in their " wisdom " decided to do away with a shaft design that had stood the test of time for 20 odd years in favour of these poxy new style camlock shafts ! 🙄

There's an old saying " why mess with perfection " !

Rick

IMHO, unless they are bringing in God himself ( Bruce Candy ) they are wasting their time. 😀

Rick

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

1 minute ago, Jonathan Porter said:

Why, if they are so clever, don't they build their own detectors?🤔 Kind of makes all these claims a mute point me thinks. I'm all for seeing more coil choices but seeing you guys come wriggling out of the wood work every time the subject of coils comes up claiming ethics and anticompetitive behaviour just plain smacks of hypocrisy!! It's MLs gig, suck it up cupcake. 🤨

So Rick are you going to tell me where your latest patch is? It's anti-competitive if you don't going by your reasoning. 🤨

JP

 

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

45 minutes ago, AussieMatt said:

The plastic isn't soft IMO? The tape is there to prevent marking on their shiny new toys.

It is a high gloss finish on the coils & marks/scratches stand out over other matt or textured coil finishes I've owned. I haven't taped my GPX6000 coil but in the past have used a clear cover or tape on some coils to prevent marking. Tape would only be a bandaid solution to that amount of wear if it were occuring. Mine isn't wearing unduly & neither is the skidplate. I'm a coil scrubber too although I do go fairly lightly. 

Plenty of GPZ users attached perspex covers with velcro & tape to the tops of their coils to prevent marking too.

My GPX6000 shaft is also fine & the clamps are locking fine. Over a few hours they sometimes work loose & the shaft moves slightly but it's like a 20sec fix & away you go again. A big non issue on mine. 

The GPZ shaft clamps have also been known to fail too. Not good for a $10k detector IMHO?

Rick you seem to have your nose out of joint over a detector you repeatedly (on a few forums) say you have no interest in getting?

As a user I would say that it has the least amount of annoyances or minor issues of any detector I've owned SD/GP/GPX/SDC/GPZ/QED.

 

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

38 minutes ago, phrunt said:

What's the deal with people putting tape all over the coil where they run their scoop over it? I'm seeing it on so many GPX 6000 photos and videos.  It was done to the coil in the second video posted here too, some sort of fashion trend 🙂

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

On 6/5/2021 at 1:33 AM, Norvic said:

Aye you fellows are in for a treat, I`ve got to agree with the user comments in that last vid the shaft lockdowns are a wee annoying, imagine the aftermarket fellows will come up with a better idea, but the depth/signal response in difficult/varying ground of the 6000 will blow you away.

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

8 hours ago, Bilda said:

I’m wondering if the double D coil on the 6000 discriminates on metal like the 5000 do. 

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

Cheers,

Rick