schoolofhardNox

It will be interesting. I would think their main intent would be to challenge the 6000, so it may operate the similar. If the ATX is still in production, then that would still be their deep seeker for relics. So for me, I won't get too excited until it appears on some videos that actually show it responding to a target, and seeing it dig that target without editing. I want to hear and see the target dug. The good thing is that Garrett is not conceding the detecting market to anyone. If we are patient, we may see some great machines come out.

Thanks Simon. I would think large targets would probably include a coin sized target ??? That would be a plus for the beach. Now EMI would be my main concern as every detector has some degree of it. I wold hope it would be decent at handling it. Actual depth would be my second question. If it can't beat the 5000, it is a no go for me. Pricing (I'm guessing) would be around 3k ? I think one of my hunting buddies is a Garrett guy and was looking to replace his ATX. He will probably buy it and maybe I can try it then.

If the Axiom is supposed to challenge the GPX 6000, then it may take some sales from it. For relic/beach hunting, it is the opposite of what I want in a pulse machine. On a beach, in my type of target hunting, the 6000 does not cut it. Garrett may have a winner here if, fine gold is all you are looking for. The real surprise would be if it hits larger targets at equal or better depths than the other PI's out there.

I hear ya ? When you start getting excited for clad quarters it's time to drop the machine and just go swimming. This hunt was fairly shallow, mostly in the 6-12" range. A few targets a bit deeper. I like getting stuff deep. That way I can tell if the beach has potential or not. If I can hit silver at 12+", I will be returning there a lot. I'm actually getting used too the digging and even swinging that tank of a machine ? As long as the beach feeds me coins, I'll stay. If it's all small trash, I would leave. There is so much trash that people throw (or bury) on our beaches. Why can't they just comply and lose coins and expensive jewelry????? ?

Everything is conductive if you get hit with a million amps ?

Not bad results because of the rain and all. I think you did pretty good. I bet if you lived around there you would get plenty of gold after a good storm. Looks flat, so I'm thinking the heavy stuff is deep. But that screen shot cracks me up ... looks like two English guys in armor with bucket heads on ?

Nice recovery!! I bet that guy still can't believe you found it. You may even see him at the river with a metal detector next time ☺️

The flower looks like a Tudor Rose, so an English symbol. Not sure if it's military or civilian but could have adorned leather or ribbon/cloth. Sweet find either way it ends up going

Quantity hurts.... ? That beach is spankin' me pretty good ? On days like that, zinc pennies may be the high point of the hunt. ? But I always have the urge to MELT THEM ☺️

The 4th summer beach hunt is again at that same small beach. Sun was full bore but had some clouds roll in from time to time. I figured I’d spend a good chunk of the day getting to re-learn the CTX. I forgot most of the tricks for depth on a beach and finally remembered how the menu and buttons work. ? No silver or gold goodies today but did manage one decent target – a 1926 (or 5) Buffalo Nickel. I used the CTX for about 5 hours just to try and get silver, but the clad layer was dominating. The GPX was used in the wet sand for about 3 hours and scored the deep Buffalo nickel. Lot of digging, a lot of coins but no shiny today. If I get out, Maybe taking the EQ in the water and fight them waves a bit. ?‍♂️

I hope that if Fisher does dump out on the machine, that they release Alexandre from any contract that he has with them. I'm pretty sure he could make a better home made version and sell them directly. The machine has a lot of potential, and I believe if it had just been a bit more durable, it would have sold better. That and the fact that they limited it to the US, is what made it DOA from the start. I'm surprised that someone who is technically capable didn't just design their own case and transfer the electronics into it. I wish we had a stateside person that could do that. I would jump all over it..... first with the GPX though ?

I beat the heck out of my 5000. At one time I seized the potentiometer with salt and sand from the beach. I sprayed some pot cleaner and loosened it up and it worked fine. I've had waves come up and splash it, dropped it by accident, etc.. and it always worked. I am afraid to dunk my CTX (ruined 3 batteries), afraid to dunk my Equinox and certainly afraid to do anything with the 6000 for fear it may break. Minelab quality started to go down the tubes right around the time frame between the E Trac and the CTX. The problem is there is no recourse available, except to sue the company and that would require someone that has a lot of free cash to spend. No consumer protection agency is interested in going after a publicly traded company unless it is something serious. Detectors are not important enough for any action to be taken. Really all we can do is complain and not buy their products. I will be very reluctant to buy another product from them. I never liked the fact that Minelab was sold to another company right around 2008 (I think). It is the way the world is heading. Products from the past will outlast more recent products. Sad really.

Thanks, but I'll let you have that honors ? . I would love to change it to SchoolofhardNox_gold and silver, but so far that is harder than it sounds. Sheer sweat gets me there ? I was lucky to get even those silvers. I still love the target ID on the CTX and E Trac better than the Nox. I rarely use it but have never tried it on this beach, so who knows. ?

The third summer beach hunt is at the same small beach. This was a long one and I decided early on to try and dig a lot of targets to see if any gold would turn up…. It did not. The tides were fairly low, so I put the GPX away and tried the CTX in the water for a bit. Not used to waves crashing into me and a very murky ocean bottom. I was better of on shore, so I went to a section that the GPX found to be loaded with deep iron. But the CTX did a reasonable job of hitting on some silver, but also found a couple more bent nails. The melted aluminum killed me the most, as it was everywhere. You couldn’t go by numbers or signal strength, you just had to dig it to see what it was. An odd beach this one is. The silver looked similar to clad and the war nickel I found looked completely green. Not the typical way these coins look like at any other beach. So, look your clad over well, you just might find a bit of silver in that junk box. Weather was hot. We are just heading into a long stretch of really hot weather, so I’ll have to see if I can get out there again soon. It’s been so long since I took the CTX out in the water, so I have to read up on it again. It seemed to false 01-10 a lot, and I’m not sure If I have the sea water setting in the menu. I’ll definitely give the 3030 another shot at this beach. There should be more silver and gold there with all the junk that has surfaced. Maybe it’s in deeper out in the water. But always fun to get some bonus beach time during the summertime.

Awesome. Nice looking rings. Life is better when there is gold in the scoop ?

So, my beach season continues until I get kicked off the beach. ? I may have to start using sunscreen too, as I’m not used to being in the strong sun that long. Same beach as last week. It’s a very trashy beach that allows bon fires and fireworks. The melted aluminum far out ways the iron I dug. I misjudged the tide, so I was not able to get to the same level where the rings from last week came out. With nothing better to do, I dug the dry sand and after digging a zillion pieces of aluminum, I really focused on deeper targets. I have not found any spot on this beach that has deep older coins. They must be there as I found wheats and Buffalo last week but only at a certain low tide level. I’ll give this one another try next week since the tides will be a lot lower. I’ll be doing shallow water at low tide, but I’m torn on which machine to use. I want to use the GPX but if I take a spill in the water, that battery on my back may sting a bit. ? The EQ 800 has terrible target ID, and with all the different melted aluminum pieces, I’m afraid I’ll be digging a lot of gold numbers just to get aluminum. I wish the CTX was really waterproof as I had it repaired and don’t want it drowning again. All I want MINELAB is a waterproof GPX 5000 without any tweaks to lose depth. Anyways, not much found this time around but one very tiny silver ring. It fits on a dime and doesn’t even fit on a ring mandrel. So, it’s smaller than size 1. Basically, it’s size 0. I did have some fun as a small boy approached me and said, “I have a metal detector” “I have it here” ? You know where that leads to. So, I got him to operate it and actually find some targets. It was the smallest, cheapest metal detector I have ever seen. Slide the switch on and that’s it. No volume, meter, dials…... nothing. I couldn’t not help him since he was about the same age as I was when I started. Still nice to get out and do some hunting in the sand ?

Nice hunt. A lot of keepers and hopefully not a lot of junk! Them glasses cost a pretty penny!

Here's the unfun part ? more aluminum than iron. I usually dig a lot of targets on a new beach to see how hard it was hit and to see what it has to offer up. I believe this place is hit casually for coins but not intensely. The good stuff is sitting masked in the iron. But the good targets make up for the junk for sure. If I lived close by I would be hitting this place in the water. I may resurrect the CTX just for the job. Even though the CTX leaks too, I don't trust the Nox and I want better target ID. Maybe from time to time, I'll hit some beaches on bad weather days and do the water.

I'm just glad I tan fast rather than burn and hurt for a week ?. As I get older I really enjoy beach hunting more than ever. I flipped the dog tag over so the telephone number would not show. I always wonder if they buried the dog on the beach. ? I miss my dog a lot too, but not ready for the responsibility of having one just yet. Yeah, beaches here can be weird sometimes. The combination of diffused black sand, along with the deteriorated iron, plus a layer of rocks and sand on top, can cause havoc with all machines. It was only because the iron was shallow that I was able to discriminate it out and still get the other signals to come through. If it was any deeper the iron would sound like a good target. Yeah the sweet spot is always found when you are about to leave ?

I had a chance to do a rare off season beach hunt and I must admit, the sun is way hotter in the summer. Went to visit a friend and he suggested a small beach we could hunt. Not much of a low tide and a lot of trash, iron, and rocks. I used the GPX 5000 for this hunt and listening to all the iron was fun, ? but I eventually did find a patch of iron that produced really well. The iron was very shallow so it blanked out and I could then hear the low or high tones that indicated a good target. What surprised me was how shallow some of the good targets were. A buffalo nickel 2” down, and the deepest target in that patch was 8”. Most of the day I found a lot of junk and it was many hours before the first coin surfaced. Almost all of those good finds were found in the last hour and a half of the hunt. It felt really good to be hunting a beach, I don’t think I want that much direct sun exposure though. 7 hours is enough to dehydrate me, but at least I got tanned in one day.

Impressive for an air test with that much iron in different positions. Now if that can be done in ground, I would buy one for cellar hole hunting. It will be interesting to see how the ground affects the response.

Awesome hunt. The medal is cool. Hope it ID's as a commemorative Jamestown medal.

Maybe someone just decided to throw half dollars on the beach after watching you guys dig junk for hours on end ? They do that here in New England but use zincolns instead of halves. ? Could also be some kid that brought them to the beach from home.

Something she will never forget! Great story.

Thanks. For some reason the beaches I hit give up a decent amount of half dollars. I guess the sand had been stripped just enough for some of them to get in range to be found. I'm not much of a gold hunter as I'm not in the water, but I'm content with the few pieces that I get. I love the silver as well, so it's all good. Thank You. I had 2 really good seasons prior to that one so I was pumped up to do well. In addition, the storms should have ripped sand out, instead of depositing it. It's really my fault, as I was too stubborn to try other nearby beaches thinking they would be the same. From what I hear, they were not ???.....?. I am planning a revenge season this fall ?