Lunk

I also recommend the Avantree Torus; I use it with every detector I own. The Torus uses aptX LL Bluetooth, so you’ll need to get a transmitter in order to use it with your GPZ 7000. There are a few to choose from on Amazon and are very inexpensive - Here's the one I have.

You will also need an adapter to go from the 1/4” headphone socket on the GPZ 7000 to the 3/8” mini connecting cable of the transmitter; a right-angle adapter works best. I just attached the transmitter to the detector body cover with velcro:

As soon as Bruce Candy and Elon Musk invent the long awaited Minelab Spaceship Time Machine (STM-9000), I'll be liquidating all of my detecting gear. So keep an eye on the classifieds forum for some killer deals…and remember, Gerry takes trade-ins!

https://www.foxnews.com/science/astronomers-find-rare-star-system-will-lead-gold-producing-explosion

I've been doing a little comparison testing lately between the new Garrett Axiom and the Minelab GPX 6000. My focus was on sensitivity to small gold, as most areas I hunt still have plenty of tiny nuggets left; if there are any large, deep pieces left, they’ll still be there for the next generation GPZ to unearth. This comparison is not scientific by any means, and was done just for my curiosity, but I've decided to share my methods and observations for anyone here that may be curious as well. 

So first up was comparing the Ax fitted with its 11”x7” mono coil to the GPX 6k with its stock 11” mono coil. Settings for the Ax were Fine Mode, Tone at 77 (which is the same pitch as the fixed threshold tone that the GPX 6k runs at), Audio 01, MS-3 wireless headphones wirelessly connected, Speed set to Slow, Volume 25, Threshold 15, Sensitivity 8 and Ground Track Off. And the 6k sensitivity set at Manual 10 (I typically always run on Auto+, but since there were high voltage power lines near this location, I didn't want the Auto sensitivity reducing itself to compensate), Volume at 1 bar and the Avantree Torus neck speakers wirelessly connected via the 6k's inbuilt bluetooth, and Normal selected for the ground type. For this test, I selected a small area that had been raked and detected in the past, most likely during the late 80's to early 90's era, with the VLF detectors of that time. My comparison method was simple: I slowly and carefully gridded the raked area with the 6k until it hit a target, then switched off, fired up the Ax and gridded the same area in the same direction that I just did with the 6k, until I reached the same target. After digging the target, the gridding would continue, this time with the Ax, until another target was encountered, then switched off, fired up the 6k and re gridded that same area, etc. The idea was to see if either machine would see (or not see) targets that the other could (or could not) see. After gridding the entire raked area in this manner, all targets found were detected by each machine, and there were no targets found by either that the other could not detect. All targets save one were small gold nuggets, the only exception being a weak magnetite hot rock.

The only thing I wasn’t liking about the Axiom at this point was the sound quality of the signal through the MS-3 headphones; it was no where near as clean and crisp as the target signal from the 6k and Avantree Torus speakers. It was a little cleaner using the Ax's inbuilt speaker, but it was still not to my liking, so I sent for a small Bluetooth transmitter from Amazon that I could plug into the Ax's headphone port and receive the signal with the Avantree Torus Speaker (you’ll see it attached to the Ax in the photo below), and that did the trick. 
A friend generously sent me his Axiom 11”x7” DD coil to test on small gold, and this time I pitted it against the 6k outfitted with Coiltek's hot little 5”x10” Goldhawk coil:

Same settings on each machine, except nowhere near power lines, so was able to run the 6k on Auto+ sensitivity. This time, I selected as the testing area a small dry wash gully that had some old dry-blow heaps (dry-washer piles to us yanks) up on the banks. Small nuggets can always be found by following the dry-washers, especially in their fine tailing piles. Though many targets were found, only one turned out to be the color we all look for; the rest were small bits of wire brush bristles, aluminum foil and some small pieces of bullet jacket shrapnel. As far as the comparison goes, it was the same story - each detector heard all targets, and none were missed by either.  As I noted at the beginning of the post, the comparison between the two machines wasn’t scientific, in fact I didn't bother measuring target depths or weights of the nuggets found; it was mainly to see if the Ax can keep pace with the 6k on sensitivity to small gold, and it appears to me that it certainly can.

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I am really looking forward to your comparison review Keith (Lunk). I don't want to get involved in any of that. I was a prototype tester for the GPX 6000, and then for the Axiom. Any bias aside, and I have them, I'm simply too close to the projects to want to do any serious this versus that stuff. People on either side would just say I'm biased from being connected to the other!  In general I've just made it clear that I think the pricing structure in the U.S. is appropriate for all the various models involved, and will leave it at that. And wait for others to make the only decisions that actually really matter. It does not matter what I say or what some other person with connections says. All that matters is what the regular purchasing public thinks. They will decide how good the Axiom is, not some batch of "influencers", and it will take about a year for the dust to settle on all that.

Totally agree with you there, Steve, and I understand where you’re coming from; I’m sure some may think I'm just trying to hype new detectors to help Gerry's sales, but in reality I really enjoy taking a new machine to its limits to see what it's capable of, especially so in this instance where it is expected to be a serious contender to the top-dog PI manufacturer, MInelab. The more quality and performance centered competition there is, the more it helps bring prices down, as well as advancing detector innovation.

I'm currently doing comparison testing between the production model Axiom and the GPX 6000; it's not scientific by any means, just observations for my own information, but I will report my methods and observations on the Metal Detector Advice and Comparisons forum when I'm finished. And there will be gold pics. 🙂