Jeff McClendon

Period, dot or point. In Nokta's case I would say it means "The Point".

duplicate sorry;

I was able to hold and mess around with an Accupoint at a recent detector club meeting. I did not find it to be heavy, big or awkward to use. I have trouble seeing some of the icons on the Legend screen and especially on the Deus 1 and Deus 2 audio modules/puck controllers. I had no problem seeing the screen icons and settings on the Accupoint. This was inside and away from sunlight. Might be different in full sun. I did not get a chance to test it against any other pinpointers. Some people complained about the price which looks like it will be $139 US. If this was just a "normal" featured pinpointer, I would agree. However, its pairing ability with the Legend and Simplex BT headphones, the brightly lit color display screen, iron discrimination, 20 kHz operating frequency and internal rechargeable battery, put it in a class that is only presently occupied by the $159 XP Mi-6 and the $129 Quest X-Pointer Max (haven't used the X-Pointer Max). I personally have owned two Mi-6s and got rid of them simply due to their inconsistent pairing/unpairing which made any kind of speedy target recovery impossible on a regular basis. Maybe their pairing consistency has improved with recent software updates. I did not find the Mi-6 to be anywhere near as deep in mineralized ground as the Fisher/Teknetics pulse induction pinpointers. I look forward to seeing how the Accupoint's 20 kHz operating frequency does on really small targets. Awesome write-up MFF18B!!

Welcome to this forum.

That is an interesting idea. I would even like to see a 30 or 40 kHz Gold Bug/F19 (F30 or F40!)/Teknetics G2+/Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro. As far as weight, the XP ORX or Deus 1 can run as high as 81 kHz and is way lighter than any gold prospecting specific detector available especially using the HF elliptical coil with the remote in one's pocket. In that configuration the ORX weighs less than 2 lbs (29 oz). So does Deus 1. Even Deus 2 with the stock shaft, not the Lite shaft and 9" coil weighs 30.3 oz with the remote removed.

The Nokta Legend did really well recently at a high altitude late 1800s site in Colorado. This site has a stone foundation, lots of iron and non-ferrous trash and high iron mineralization. I was lucky to recover these two targets since they did not have totally "clean" non-ferrous audio responses using the Legend in 2 tones Pitch audio and I had to investigate them thoroughly by going all the way around them. They were about 5" deep. The silver 1875 US Seated Dime is in okay shape. The brass insect pin with its double C shaped post and pin is correct for this site's 1860s to 1920s age. I have certainly never found anything like that insect pin but I don't have nearly as much experience as some of you with 1800s US relics. Anyone that knows more about these insect pins, please comment if you are willing.

I just remembered to check the software version that my Axiom is running and it’s running 1.47.0 so I guess I should update it……..?

Garrett’s site was down for about 36 hours. I was trying to download the Axiom manual. It came back up last night 10/10/23.

Actually, the Axiom using the smaller DD coil with sensitivity on 1 of 8, threshold set around 0, in Normal after doing a thorough noise cancel, runs plenty quiet enough in my basement to test relic, coin, nail and aluminum trash audio responses and even on sensitivity 1 it will hit a #6 shotgun pellet/0.1 gram piece of lead or gold swept very close to the center of the coil. I wouldn't try that with the Mono coil.

So far on those two dirt samples with those targets I agree. Very competitive for sure.

I realize I am late to the party as far as the Axiom. Some of this may have been said already. I haven't read every word or post about the Axiom on this forum yet. I want to say first that I have had a love hate relationship with the GPX 6000. I realize it may have been rushed to release during a world-wide pandemic. So were some other detectors. However, as much as I like the GPX 6000, it has always seemed to me to be a thrown together detector on the outside with some great software engineering on the inside. The flimsy stock coils, weird wobbly twisting won't lockup shaft system, uneven weight distribution, and the well documented audio/speaker/EMI issues just continue to make me wonder how many corners did Minelab have to cut on this detector. It still detects really well, no complaints there, when it can handle EMI conditions and is super, even hyper sensitive to small sub gram targets. I just needed something else that I can trust on deep coins and relics in high iron mineralization and at a saltwater beach along with some rudimentary iron discrimination. So, the Axiom. This is the first pulse induction detector that I have used that seems to be put together from the ground up, from the tip of the battery compartment to the toe of the coils with a complete design in mind. No "hey lets throw this component from this detector and this component from this detector and that battery compartment we already have with this shaft system" kind of mentality and cost cutting. It is a complete design build aside from the use of Garretts Z-Lynk wireless system which I simply do not care for and the shape of the control box which resembles the ACE Apex. I am super impressed and very delighted to see this from a detector company. Nokta came close with the Simplex/Legend but many of the exterior materials used for those two very budget minded detectors are nowhere near the quality of what is used on the Axiom and I would not expect them to be. I am still learning this detector after only a few days. It will take me awhile. What I can see immediately is that it is plenty sensitive to small sub gram gold, it can handle difficult ground conditions well and it has just about every operational feature I need laid out with a very uncomplicated user interface. The Axiom reminds me a lot of the GPX 4000 to GPX 5000 but with a much less complex and hard to access user interface. I can easily see that the Axiom will be much more suited to relic and deep coin hunting than the GPX 6000. I did a lot of testing on about 40 common relics with the 6000 using all of the timings and I never could find a consistent, easy to follow pattern (easy for me anyway) when changing from Mono to DD coils or even changing from Normal to Diffucult using the same type of coil as far as low-high-low or high-low-high audio characteristics. The Axiom does not have this issue. So far it has been very consistent in my preliminary testing on a few common relics and US coins. I am still trying to get used to the 11X7" Focused Core DD coil that came with mine. It is definitely different and I will keep studying Steve's remarks about it. I really like the iron audio discrimination feature that works with DD coils!!! Steve, I know you helped with both the GPX 6000 and the Axiom. Thank you very much for all that you did on these PI detectors during their design and well before that too.

I have been doing some testing before selling some PI detectors that I really like. The testing was done on 0.75 gram lead, 0.25 gram lead and 0.1 gram gold targets using two containers of dirt from an area northwest of Phoenix Arizona and from an area south of Breckenridge Colorado. Both samples are very mineralized with both iron and volcanic material. I placed each target one inch below the surface of each dirt sample and used a ruler stuck one inch into the containers to measure coil height above the target in the dirt. Not by any means a totally realistic test, but as close as I can get right now. I was using a TDI Pulse Scan stock 14.4v battery with Reg Sniff mods, a GPX 6000 and an Axiom. Here are the results and a photo of the dirt containers. The Arizona dirt was no problem for all three detectors to ground balance on. The Colorado dirt was another story. The TDI would not ground balance well at all on it, the GPX 6000 was noisy on it, amazingly enough the Axiom Mono coil was very quiet on that dirt and the Axiom DD coil came up with some really odd ground balance numbers on that dirt....15/03 and was a bit unstable. I was able to run the sensitivity on the TDI and the Axiom at around 85% of max before they became unstable. The GPX 6000 became unstable at Manual 7 of 10 so I could only run it at 60% of maximum. It might have been able to have even better results, but there was EMI in the area with power lines about 1/4 mile away.

I recently purchased a slightly used Garrett Axiom. I have owned the Minelab SDC 2300 (two of them), Minelab GPX 5000 and the Minelab GPX 6000. I liked some things about the SDC 2300 but the ergonomics were not okay for me. I really liked the Minelab GPX 5000 but again, the ergonomics were not okay for me. I like the GPX 6000 even more. Ergonomics are great. Super sensitive PI detector. Build quality however is another story. So is the fact that there are what, 9 search coils for the GPX 6000, 2 of the timings on the 6000 are for Mono coils (Normal and Difficult) and 4 of the timings are for DD coils (Normal EMI, Difficult EMI, Normal Salt and Difficult Salt) but only one of the nine available search coils is a DD coil and it is a ridiculous 14" coil! I have only spent a few hours with the Garrett Axiom. It hasn't taken long to realize what a well built, ergonomically pleasant and excellent operating detector the Axiom is compared to the others mentioned and it has six currently available coils, 3 Mono coils and 3 DD coils. I will be posting some rudimentary testing soon between the GPX 6000, Axiom and TDI 14.4v detectors on sub gram targets. Aside from that, you couldn't pay me any amount of money to swing an SDC 2300 if I had a chance to swing an Axiom instead.

My first thought was realgar and orpiment. If that is true be careful. Those are ores of arsenic sulphide.

I am going to vote for the new Minelab X-Terra Pro. It has all of the collapsibility of the GoFind 66 but way better ergonomics, features, coil choices, versatility (fully waterproof) and a very similar price. Personally, I am not a Nokta Simplex fan even though it has a great price and features. The Simplex audio sounds just too much like a distressed duck for my ears. I like the Minelab Vanquish models a lot since they have Multi IQ simultaneous multi frequency but they absolutely are not waterproof. Just the coil is. Those are the best choices for around $300 detectors. If the Nokta Score was released, I would be voting for it for sure.

I really don’t care about the weight. I can swing a detector left handed or right handed so I switch off if I get tired. Sure, it’s heavier. I don’t have Steve G’s carbon fiber shaft system so I am experiencing the weight with the stock shaft system. I wanted more coverage and I also thought maybe I was missing deeper stuff and I decided to just go for the biggest coil available. I am glad I bypassed the 11” coil and went for the biggest.

Short hunt results with more silver (tiny kid's ring) and 7 copper pennies dating from 1946 to 1964. All of those pennies could have been silver. Three of the dimes have dates that are just after the change to clad in 1965. All dirty coin targets in the photo were at least 7" deep. Some were 8 to 10" deep including the nail and both rings. All were found with the 13X11" Deus 2 coil in an area that I have hunted twice before with the Equinox 900 using the 11" coil and Deus 2 using the 9" coil. The pull-tabs were shallower from surface to 5" deep as were the shiny, recent drop clad. Deus 2 with the 13X11" coil is getting these results using conservative settings, nothing crazy and I am not using the Deep High Conductor program. I am using the Sensitive program with 40 kHz max frequency, disc on 10, iron volume ON in 6 tones. My Tek Point pinpointer in the photo is 9.5" long.

How many coils come with them? Should be two, the 7.5” Dual Field and a 12X8” or so Hi Q (?) elliptical coil along with orange rechargeable battery pack and charger. MAP was $1099 new. Anything less than that should be a good deal for the brand new one. The demo model subtract 10 to 15%.

Welcome to this hobby and to this forum. The Vanquish 540 is an outstanding metal detector for someone who is a newbie. Good luck and keep posting!

Most places I go hunting, I get sideway's glances from adults and lots of attention from kids. If an adult asks me what I'm doing I just tell them I'm a poor, homeless, street person looking for coins and recyclable aluminum with a detector that costs more than a good used car. That usually breaks the ice or sends them running in the opposite direction.

I can't help with the 11" VS 13"X11" comparison. Had I bought an 11" instead of the 13"X11" I may have had the same results. Who knows......? I haven't even started deliberately hunting for deep gold jewelry yet at these same sites. That will come next when the thick spring/summer grass goes thin and dormant for the winter. Right now, there are too many recently dropped/shredded aluminum and steel alloy targets hiding in the grass at these local parks to make deep gold jewelry hunting much fun. In a month or so, I will actually be able to see most of this recent trash on the surface.

Take a strong magnet.

The first time I used my new 13"X11" coil was September 7th 2023. Since then the number of silver coins and jewelry that I have found in a period of 21 days at public park turf sites, no beaches, on ground that I have hunted extensively with Deus 2 using the 9" coil is staggering at least for me. I have not hunted all 21 days either. My hunt log shows 12 hunts with Deus 2 using the 13"X11" coil. Here in Colorado, finding lots of silver coins in a public area means getting extremely lucky as in there has been some soil disturbance like installing a new sidewalk, play structure, trees or flower beds in a park. Or a change in detector/coil has achieved more usable target separation and depth. None of these silver items were found in areas with recent soil disturbances. They were all found deep in moderate to high iron mineralized undisturbed for many years dirt between 7" and 10" deep. Some had very iffy but clearly high conductor target responses with some iron responses mixed in. Others were no brainer, has to be a deep high conductor coin or jewelry responses. I have not dug an equal amount of iron trash by the way......maybe 6 or 7 bent nails. I was one of those people that wanted the 9" coil to be sufficient due to its outstanding ergonomics. Clearly at least for my area, it isn't.

Lower rod was attached.

The equivalent would be another V/Sat. An updated version is the Garrett/Whites Goldmaster 24K. Outstanding detector. https://www.detectorprospector.com/metal-detector-database/garrett-goldmaster-24k-r155/