Aureous

Look for BiPolar Pulse Induction (ZVT) units with changes to coil voltage/amperage and frequency/timing shift tech (similar to how the 6000 samples on-the-fly) to be the new benchmark in gold detector technology....from Minelab of course. I can see an opening for a 2300-beating small gold specialty detector using the above tech with fast sampling and CC coils, plus a big gold-big depth version with a wide-lobed DOD coil with slow-er sampling. Or maybe a killer 'one unit fits all' adjustable machine to get it all? But thats gonna be a $10K+ detector for sure, knowing ML's expenditure on R&D to get new tech on the board.... Don't quote it as gospel of course....I can just see the logic in this, now that ML have 'let the cat out of the bag' with the 6000. Seems logical to have a hybrid detector using both 7000 and 6000 tech.

Ive trialed 5 different sets of APTX LL transmitters and headphone combos (2x M-Pow, 2x Avantree and one that looks very similar to the Taotronics one shown earlier in this thread) and ALL are crap. Every single one had lag that was waaay too noticeable for my liking. I want something that acts as quick as a standard set of headphones, with no perceptible lag. After spending over $400 searching for kit THAT WORKS, I gave up. Incredibly, I found an Ebay seller that specializes in recycling old electronics and I bought 2x pairs of 1980's era Hanimex dynamic 600ohm headphones. I remember them from my days using the Garrett Deepseeker and Groundhog A2B. Tried them on my 4500M and my 24K.....blown away, best set of headphones I've ever owned. Wish I could buy more lol. I just hope I can run them on my upcoming GPX6000

Wow, this really is a great thread of wisdom.....as someone who is still trying to save enuff $$ and gold to get myself a 6000, I am definitely going to fully test the detector as soon as I get it from the dealer for a couple hours prior to heading home now.... The experience of buying an expensive detector and using it for the 1st time with great anticipation of success....only to find its an unusable 'dud' is something akin to a horror movie to me! But, I've just clocked up 40 years as a detectorist and owned over 35 detectors without this ever happening..... and 12 of them have been ML machines with zero failures BTW. I just hope that my next new 'toy' wont be the first.

Seeing how you're 'listening' Trevor, I'll say one word: Concentric. As the 6000 is designed with DD AND Mono coils in mind, the DD mode will allow a concentric coil to function like all the previous GPX and earlier models. Some experimentation would be wise to trial various sizes of CC coils to determine depth increases on small gold in the 10"-15" coil size range. The DeTech ones have proven their worth for this already. I know there's a minor trade-off with susceptibility to mineralization noise but the increase in depth is very tangible and may provide the 6000 with even MORE performance in the 'small gold' focus which it excels at already. Food for thought....

My modded 4500 is superbly quiet with all mono's I've used so I'm assuming the CC coils will be similarly smooth. The limited tests I've done against a 7000 using a 14" Elite mono gives me expectations of substantial depth on multi-grammers+ using a big concentric. The low frequency mod allows better energy saturation on deeper, larger targets. I'd have to do some serious tests on a test bed using the X coils big concentric when its ready...

Just wondering if anyone has heard if X Coils are gonna make a large (18-24") spiral-wound CC for GPX detectors??? The Detech ones are both bundle-wound and the logical step would be to go for a spiral-wound one instead...

An extra bit of info into the mix: For context, Joe has been a detector prospector for about 40 years (same as me) and knows his stuff and has owned his 7000 since 2015. For the smaller gold, there doesn't seem to be much between the 2 'high end' ML units. I'm sure the bigger targets will validate the 7000 though, and the tiny stuff (under .1gm) will be the 6000's territory. A friend owns a 6000 and yesterday I cross-tested a few in-ground and undug targets (6 in total) against my modded 4500 with 9" elite coil. Only 1 target I couldn't hear which was a small bit of lead shot, just beyond my reach. 2 of the targets were tiny gold, rest were lead shot and we both got them with almost identical signal 'strength'. He used the std 11" mono. It made me think twice about upgrading although I'd need to do a lot more cross-testing to be sure. He had lots of EMI problems and had to run cancel procedures many times while my modded 4500 was running Tx @ 75% and Rx @ 6 on Enhance & max frequency with zero EMI problems. It ran totally quiet without any EMI cancel procedure. At some stage soon, I'll do a much larger testing regime and video it. Nuthin like undug targets to truly test 'whats what' 😉

Not sure if this has been answered yet, but Detech make both an 18" and a 24" round Concentric coil for the GPX. Im seriously considering getting one soon...

My understanding of retail meteorite prices is: Ni/Fe types US$1 per gram. Ordinary H & L type Chondrites US$2-3 per gram. Rarer types can fetch over US$20 per gram and Stony-Irons and Carbonaceous Chondrites can often fetch over US$50 per gram. The Troiite irons are VERY rare and would surely be in the US$20+ range.....so the AU$200K 'finders fee' is super cheap.

Reasonable price they received but I cant help wondering if they would have gotten $50 per gram on the open market. Very rare Ni/Fe meteorite.... They barely got $8.70 per gram. At least they allowed it to be studied in a scientific environment and thought that $100K ea was a good enuff payday 👍

'Conductive soils' = Ground noise.... so I would guess you're right Vic, but salty ground is 'conductive' too and the resultant noise is more the symptoms of the field being disrupted. The elimination of EMI would be a secondary (but very useful) adjunct. Time will tell just how well the DD coil works for both environments I guess. The wait is just painful.....

I owned 3 GS15000's (std, hipmount and a 16khz version) and all found me gold. The 16khz one was the best for me. Traded it in when the Eureka Ace became available. I also had a GT16000, then a FT16000. The 'good old days'

Out of the last 10,000 pieces of gold Ive dug, maybe 8,000 have been with a VLF. Lions share with the Gold Bug 2, then various Whites Gold masters including the 24K (which I absolutely love). Oh, and maybe 20 with the GM1000. Seriously thinking about a Nox 800 now and retiring my old T2 after seeing Gerry's post LOL

We can all see that the various critical components are now code and software driven, negating any need for white masking paint. I would hope that ML has far better cyber security than it was several years ago when the Chinese hacked them so easily. Coz the codes are now the crucial factor, not the hardware. Currently published info doesn't mention MPS as being part of the operating system which is ML's multi channel PI patent. But, it simply HAS to be part and parcel of the Geo-sense system, otherwise it cannot be able to simultaneously detect both small and large targets. Previous MPS use in the 4500 and 5000 was still only dual channel, so I anticipate that with far better hardware now in the 6000, we'll see 3 or 4 channels being used. Maybe the '3 filters' use a separate channel for each one?

I believe it has a wired headphone option, so yes. Provided your booster is independently powered (like a 9V battery).

The GM1000 struggles in most Oz goldfield conditions and needs to be used only in very mild ground. The digital audio overcompensates and produces way too many clicks and pops which resemble a target....the GB2, Gold Kruzer and the 24K all have analogue type audio with a smooth threshold tone and mineralization noise is far easier to discern. When you have to dumb a detector down to below 50% gain to cope with even moderate mineralization, I figure its not for me. Gerry is right, I know my detectors enuff to know what to expect from a unit and if it aint right for me, I move on and choose another. So glad I chose the 24K! But having said that, my modded 4500 is killing it for me right now...

Yeah, I got carried away in the 90's 😉. 2/3 of those were in that one decade. Looking for an 'edge' and experimenting with a lot of coin/relic machines.

If you're covering large, open areas, use the 14" DD or 10"DD first. Then switch to the 6" CC or 6"DD if you find a spot thats producing. If you're working creeks or gullies or old workings, use the small coils 1st.

yeah, pegs dont like rock/s lol. But one spray can will last you many days of use. If the discs work for you, keep using them. Its all about what makes you comfortable and successful in the end 👍

A recent post here got me thinking, how many detectors have I bought? In April this year, I will have been detecting for 40 years. In those 40 years Ive owned 39 detectors lol. Borrowed or hired another 12. Wondering if anyone can beat this?

This is precisely how modded GPX's like my 4500 can find gold on thrashed ground. Wind up the TX gain, lower the RX gain and the noise vanishes, allowing smaller or deeper signals though.

As Geof suggests, Ground survey paint is the best and easiest. Spray a circle around your target but if you're moving away from an area and cant see the paint for bush, scrub, sticks etc then a plastic orange tent peg helps too

In totally mild conditions, it was OK....but in almost ALL my regional goldfields, it was noisy as hell and the GB2 and 24K beat it easily coz they didn't need to be dumbed down like the GM1000 to make the noise bearable. Im sure if ML made the audio analogue instead of digital, it would have been way easier to pick actual signals instead of ground noise and hot rocks. Honestly, I found the old Eureka Gold to be a far better ML VLF machine.

Going by the SD chronology, the successor will be the SDC2400. A year or two away I expect....the 2300 will surely get a discount by the end of the year to keep sales of that model going though.

The only ML offering I can honestly say was junk is the GM1000. Owned one for a month and that was a month too long. I was way better off keeping my GB2. So glad I upgraded to the 24K. Cant wait to try the 6000 though!