sturt

Hi All. Thought I would put in my 2 bobs worth as well. I have used the 4500.5000,7000 as well. Decided to purchase the GPX 6000 in November last year. I was able to try out the new machine back in August last year with a mate who brought one and I was using the 7000. This trip was his first time using the new detector. It worked well, but I was a little surprised how often the machine lost its stability using the 11 inch coil. But I was well aware reading the forums that continuing the resetting/balancing etc. was normal to get the stability. Comparing to the GPZ 7000 that is. It didnt take long to realize the 6000 was out performing my 7000. This location we were at has been flogged for years by all types of machines including my own 7000. I have found plenty there over the years and I was confident that the 7000 had cleaned out the nuggets. But my mate still picked up bits and pieces. This sealed it for me and I went ahead a purchased the 6000 in November. My first opportunity to use the detector was in mid December 2021. Went to the same area, bloody hot 43+ in the shade early start and done by 11.30am each day. Spent 5 days there. Found about 50 small nuggets approx. 4 to a gram. Good pickings. However, now some issues started to show during this trip with the detector going off its tree if you touched the coil on a branch or ground. Continuing to reset all the time just wouldnt work some times. I was on my own this trip and being only 5 days I thought I would wait until after the next trip and experiment with settings and different heat/humidity etc. The second trip with the 6000 was with my mate in early February 2022. This gave us two detectors to compare. We both found gold technically the same size working 50 meters apart, sometimes closer so you could hear the tone variations between the detectors, but my 6000 played up big time again. We took some video of it to keep. When I went back home I contacted Minelab South Australia and gave them as much info as I could and sent it to them. I sent the controller assy and the 11 inch coil. Minelab Service was very good. They listened to my problems and looked at the video. Spent a few days apparently running the machine but said they could not find a fault. But this is the good point, they completely replaced all the internal parts in the control housing and threw in a new coil. Got the detector back just before Easter weekend. Went out Easter Monday to the same location and the detector was fantastic. You could not fault it. Sure you had to perform reset often but this worked once the detector found its sweet spot. I contacted Minelab to tell them the good news. The second trip even with the unit giving me the s#@ts produced 22 grams and the last trip 26 grams. About 135 pieces. The hands are starting to get twitchy to get out there soon, cheers sturt

Hi All. Been away for a while. But im missing something here on this thread? The Coiltek Nox coils are for the Equinox 600 and 800 series detectors? I didnt see anything regarding the GPX 6000. Please correct me if im wrong, cheers sturt. Opps just seen the earlier information back last year regarding new 6000 coils. cheers sturt

Thats okay, but you need to realize that even if you have good solar charging capacity during the day you need to be either at the RV when the suns up to charge the detector battery or make sure your RV storage battery can handle the charging time of 5 hours when you get back home later and run the appliances on the RV during the evening. Still an issue for me is the voltage input regulator set at 1Amp. If the manufacturers designed the 6000 battery with 2 Amp capacity you could charge the battery in half the time. Experts can come in here if im wrong, cheers sturt

Should not be a problem. The 6000 has a 12 volt charge system. From either direct off the car cig socket or a spare battery. Make sure you have the time because the designed charge rate is only 1Amp. The picture shows the plug which has an inbuilt fuse which is probably rated at 1Amp. cheers sturt

Hi again JP. I ended up going through Amazon Aust for AS70 Avantree unit. The Avantree USA site says nil stock but Australia had 4 units. Paid $10.00 for delivery and the unit arrived last Friday. I tried it on the back lawn and works very well. Didnt notice any latency delays on sound. cheers sturt

Hi all. I looked through my stash of old transformers after picking up the new toy last week and found a 12 volt DC 3.5amp charger. I thought you bloody beauty. I checked with Minelab SA. They tell me No good to me as the Battery pack is governed by a amperage regulator at 1Amp input. Why would Minelab restrict the incoming power supply to 1Amp when it is written on the Battery that it can handle 10Amp input current? Seems stupid to me. You may have restricted power supply out bush, only Dc power, no mains. Remember your car battery may be running 12 volt lighting and a couple of fridges etc. Took 10 hours to charge two new batteries using one mains charger straight out of the box. Cheers sturt

Hi, About 4 weeks ago I went bush with a mate. He had the 6000. Now I got one. Works great in the back yard.😏 The battery is a pain. We got 8 hours in total (which is fair enough) but had to put up with the battery beeping warnings every 5 minutes for at least an hour and half. I think we had 9 warnings before we finished for the day. We where using the onboard speaker and I know the machine uses more power. What I did like though was no noticeable reduction in performance during that time, however I would be highly pissed if I was trying to find the nugget of all nuggets late in a day when the detector shut down in protest. So I brought a spare just in case. cheers sturt

Thanks JP. Im hoping to get out bush shortly before things get too hot. Ill take a look at your recommendations for sound control, cheers sturt

Hi JP. Did you have a chance in the testing stages to use the 6000 without the dongle in place? I was wondering if the dongle being electronic may contribute to the EMI issues people are talking about. I also looked at a post from Northeast on 27th October who has taken the time to submit a you tube video of testing the 6000 with two types of Low Latency receivers and the supplied headphones. They all seem to work quite well but I did notice during the video a surge of EMI when he turned off the blootooth and the sound was coming from the detector speaker. Im sorry if this is off topic. If you have a chance to take a look at the video would be fantastic. I have been on the fence for a while looking at the 6000 but I finally cracked and brought one yesterday, cheers sturt

The battery bar does disappear after a while I think was about the start of the last hour. During the last hour the warning beep sounded about 9 times. We where using the detector speaker not using blootooth. We did find some nuggets and we where sharing the finds, me detecting and my mate digging. It was a wonderful arrangement. But very funny when I would say "just one more, just one more" I would put a cross on the ground and say dig, dig. Then you hoped the detector would not shut down in protest before finding the target. A great afternoon 4 hours detecting and sharing the spoils, picked up 30 pieces in ground I already went over numerous times before with my 7000. cheers sturt

Hi Steve, thanks for that. We where using the internal speaker because of situation awareness with cattle around. It just seems to me that if you buy a 6000 detector you need to be prepared to outlay considerable extra funds to ensure the detector runs how it should do. Keep in mind the detector started the power beep warnings before 3.00pm. cheers sturt

Thanks all. My use of the 7000 machine over 4 years has not required a second battery. Charging takes usually under 2 hours (never actually timed it) and I have never managed to drain it yet in one day. You cant beat that for service life. I was with a friend using a new 6000 a couple of weeks ago. Started the day detecting about 8.00am. Stopped for lunch about 12.00pm for 20 minutes. Then used the detector solid until 3.00pm. We stopped for a drink then and changed the coil to the Mono. The 6000 had already started its beeping power warnings just before 3,00pm. I think the detector had reduced the power bar to only one prior to swapping coils. We used the 6000 to 4.00pm. By this time the detector had sounded 9 warning beeps approx every 5 minutes with no battery bar in the display. Yes, thats 8 hours approx but I can use the GPZ from 6.00am to dusk say 6.00pm. It`s just not good enough with the cost of the unit and the days spent testing prior to release. That is not aimed at JP but firmly at Minelab. I also noticed when I had a chance to try the detector fitted with the 11 inch Mono that the unit is rear heavy out of balance. (thats even with the shafts fully extended to the red lines). If you pick up the machine only by the handle and not the back arm sleeve, the coil lifts into the air. Im used to the GPZ being nose heavy and when you pick it up by the handle, your lower arm rests against the back arm sleeve and you can locate your target. This out of balance creates more stress on the handle base if your arm is not inside the sleeve support. I found the 6000 is not easily picked up through the sleeve by one hand if you have a pick in the other. cheers sturt

So, I buy a $250.00 battery and sit it next to my bed? Or I could lift the bonnet of my vehicle outside and connect the alligator clips and hope my $260.00 spare battery and vehicle are still there in the morning. This is just joking of course but I do think the 6000 should be a lot better in design and strength, cheers sturt🙂

Hi all. I use a GPZ 7000 at the moment. I will be looking at the new 6000 early in the new year. I spoke to a supplier today asking if the mains charger for the 7000 is compatible with battery for the 6000. WAS TOLD NO, as the 7000 mains power transformer supplied is 18 volt not 12 volt. Looking at both systems firstly the 7000 series. Tansformer input 240 volt- 0.7 amp output output 18 volt- 1.67 amp Goes to BC 10 cradle input 11-30 volt 23w max output 8.4 volt- 2 amp AND 5 volt- 0.67 amp The battery states 7.2 volt total capacity 72Wh Now the GPX 6000 Transformer input 240 volt- .5 amp Max output 12 volt- 10 amp Trans plugs directly into battery input 12 volt- 1.0 amp? output 7.2 volt- 42Wh What this tells me is Minelab have produced a new detector which uses the same voltage to run as the 7000 but the charging components are not compatible between the models. Should be. The new 6000 uses a reduced capacity battery (weight issue?)which does not last the full day, then you need a spare which you cant charge with mains power until the original is fully charged in about 5/6 hours. After a big day in the field I cant stay awake to swap the batteries so I need another transformer as well? I am told by the Dealer though you could use the two car power leads as they are connected to a 12 volt car battery. Cheers sturt

Hi, sorry a little confused. I was under the impression that the transmitter side of the pairing system would not be required because the GPX 6000 unit would pair up with the receiver then you hard wire between the receiver and headphones/buds for sound. This would still keep you separated from the detector? cheers sturt