jasong

My mailbox is still open if Garrett wants to send me one to test and compare to the 6000 and write about it on forums. I don't have much else to say myself now though other than I hope this machine lets me get rid of the 6000. Or, if it will prompt Minelab to now magically have a stability/speaker fix and allow more aftermarket coils. It's not like I and others haven't been saying both need to be done loudly, so... There is no avoiding drawing comparisons to the 6000 at this point really. It's the primary question on my mind and I know many others. For me, just being able to have a detector that doesn't die from EMI is massive, but I also detect in places like AZ/NV where the 6000 works ok. So I want to know if it's a replacement or a compliment before I drastically sell my 6k. Anyways, back to getting some real work done. It's been interesting.

I dunno, looking at those Aussie vids, the Axiom seems to handle hot ground a heck of a lot better than the 6000 does. Not sure what sensitivity level he was running though. But - swinging a mono over hot ground like that, if it's like hot ground in the US, would be painful with the 6000 (or 7000 with any coil in normal). But again, no clue how hot that ground is relatively speaking, still impressive since I was having issues with the 6000 and the 11" mono in what I'd call US hot ground in Arizona. I'm surprised it's like 10am in Australia and there aren't more Aussies commenting on what appears to be some exceptional ground handling with a mono coil. Is that particular place just not very hot?

Air swinging over a 0.07 gram sluggy nugget in some medium to hot mineralized looking ground, with a mono. Looking good.

I'll be interested to see what relic hunters and others like jewelry/beach hunters think of it. I honestly have to admit my ignorance here since I'm just 100% obsessed with gold hunting. But if I were making a competitive PI, I'd definitely be taking relics/jewelry hunters into account, and the 6000 doesn't seem to. So it's going to be interesting to see just how big of a toehold the Axiom can get, it might end up being larger than expected if it has appeal outside the prospecting world. Exciting times. We still have the Nokta PI machine to look forward too as well. And isn't there still a FT pulse machine being developed? This Axiom seems to set a new bar across the industry by initial specs and first looks. Gotta wonder how many plans are changing in how many different companies now?

Don't get too excited, so far all the videos the amateurs have posted have been pretty un-instructive and uninformative. This guy inexplicably doesn't provide any threshold or any indication of performance. The US video (can't even remember their name now) was even less useful as the guy was mostly just behind a DJ's microphone in a basement...and didn't appear to really be a prospector either. Nothing personal to these guys, but man, not even sure what the point of making video is if you don't use the video medium for it's strengths - show us the detector actually working in real life. It's an audio based tool - excluding audio is like releasing a new record on mute... If I just wanted to see someone show me nuggets I could watch any other video.

Thing is, lots of relic hunters use 5000's. I may be misunderstanding the market, but in my mind there are only really 2 growth (keyword: growth) markets right now for PI's due to the ever decreasing number of nuggets in known goldfields: Real prospecting (exploration), and relics, jewelry, beach etc. So the relic/jewelry performance of the Axiom may well determine the course of some future things too more than we expect. Especially if gold doesn't make any moves up. Hard to know, I'm really not in tune with anything except raw prospecting.

A lot of the older guys were around when there were still choices and competition. But this is literally the first time in my gold detecting life that another company looks to have given Minelab a serious competitor in the prospecting arena. Totally new concept to me. It'll be interesting to see Minelab's response, if any. I'm pretty curious to see how this experiment plays out, beyond just the detector. I'm guessing the 5000 is going to drop drastically in price, that thing is a dinosaur. Probably the 6000 drops too. But I'm curious if they accelerate some other new product too, depending on how this Axiom performs in the field with users. I know Steve isn't a fan of comparisons, but if the Axiom goes deeper than the 6000 on 1/2 gram+ type stuff, and still gets 2 grainers, can run aftermarket coils, and is $2k cheaper, then it's pretty hard to see a compelling case for the 6000 with it's bad stability, lack of discrim, (slightly) heavier weight, useless speaker, bad battery life, apparant lack of addressing/fixing problems by Minelab, and the list goes on and on. It's a bit like watching a kid poke a sleeping bear with a stick. Does it keep snoozing, or does it stand up and roar? Curious times.

Good to hear Steve, companies need to hear real input from real prospectors like you and Gerry. Glad to hear Garrett availed themselves of the opportunity to work with both of you. Looking forward to trying this out whenever I can get my hands on one. It's a 600+ mile drive for me to get to the nearest dealer, so I'm just waiting now to hear when these are available for mail order. I don't have many more questions that aren't better answered by getting my hands on one and trying it out, looking forward to it. So nice to see a real 2nd option finally. And stoked to see a US company stepping to the plate!

Nice work Steve and anyone else involved with getting a detector tested that checks a lot of boxes off the much needed list. I had a real concern in the back of my head that it was going to be hobby detector, but this has every hallmark of being a real prospecting machine from first looks. I have no dealers anywhere even remotely within driving distance of me so I'll have to buy one to really see it work. The EMI thing is the major reason I am in the market for another detector right now. It looks like a big improvement in the noise arena, but I'm hoping for a bit more info there coming out. I'm guessing you have a pretty detailed field report coming when you can post it, so waiting for that before asking too many questions potentially already answered.

6000 weight: 4.6lbs w/11" Axiom weight: So, about the same, except with a larger coil (13x11). Probably lighter than the 6000 when using the 11x7".

Looks to be a great exploration machine, planning on getting one to try. Do dealers know an availability date yet? Also, I can't tell from the video, are headphones required?

That red Earth shot appears to be in Australia and the mountains in the US. So, looking hopeful the implication is it's intended to be a versatile machine for a lot of different environments, and perhaps we had a wide range of global testers too. Probably a stupid question, but where do you buy Garrett at these days? Is it an Amazon or Kellyco type purchase, dealers, or?

Interesting, never heard of a Tudor Rose but it does look like a stylized one. There is a good chance that some of the prospectors I'm chasing through history are 1st and 2nd gen English immigrants. But so little was written here, and so often they got killed, put in unmarked graves, etc and were forgotten entirely that it's hard to figure out exactly.

Nope just 1 point on each. I tried to see with a loupe if they were missing a point somewhere that had broken off but it looks like they always each just had 1 point. Definitely coulda come off something horse related though, I didn't think about that. There were basically no people out here but Indians, military, trappers, and prospectors. No cities anywhere close, a few pioneer forts was about it. Horses and rifles were pretty much the main equipment people had. It does kinda look like something connected them together at the center though.

Don't have them with me now for another pic, but the underside is just a negative of the front side. Like they were stamped or something, no back plate on them. Hmm yeah could be leaves...

Yeah different phones definitely affect detectors differently. I had an S20 and it was ok with the 6000. Broke the screen, upgraded to a smaller S22, this phone doesn't play as well with the 6000. Oddly though, sometimes worse than others. It's another thing that leads me to believe the 6000 reaches a tipping point where it's noise algorithms get overwhelmed with too much input/stimulus, and it subsequently loses stability in a feedback loop where it's own corrections cause further instability. It's not really any 1 specific thing, but being exposed to a combination of additive things, including it's own self.

No targets anywhere in an area close to 1/4 mile square, not even trash. Other than these and 3 pieces of lead shrapnel, all in the same spot. They were about 10ft apart. Probably a long shot since it doesn't look like military/cavalry, but it does seem like they were pinned to a hat or jacket or something like some insignia too though. Wondering if someone got shot there and fell off a horse and lost a hat, or maybe these were logos hammered into a rifle stock, or? It's an area that really saw no one except military, trappers, and prospectors and if you were carrying something that far away from civilization, it had better be important. Inside each figure 8 are two arrows that seem to point to some flower looking thing. I can't find anything online.

Yep, alternators generate noise. Also just sparks and combustion, they can both be essentially wide-band EMI impulses generating huge swaths of interference. Lightning is basically just a massive version of a spark plug, and we definitely hear lightning.

All good points. You are probably right, I just don't want to make to many assumptions since I learned from the Vanquish release. I'm still hoping we all get surprised and it's something new like this half sine machine.

I'm more inclined to think it's mechanical noise. I can hear my ATV for instance and it has no transponders or anything. I know another building large coils here has some relevant experience too but I won't comment for them as I'm unsure what is public or not. Engines actually produce a phenominal amount of electrical noise, different engines probably produce different frequencies and harmonics.

Seems logical this machine is an ATX derivative, but who knows, could be a VLF for all we know. I remember getting excited about a new ML detector just to find out it was the Vanquish, so... Yeah I'm not sure what it is exactly that causes the EMI. It's definitely certain frequencies though, whatever it is. I had 2 Blackhawk choppers buzz me at what felt like 50ft one day in Gold Basin. Close enough I could see the gunners hanging out the door waving and laughing at me as I stumbled and fell in confusion. I could hear them coming on my GPZ before I heard/felt them in the air...stopped to fiddle with my machine and then bam, Blackhawks.

Garrett can definitely score a massive win just by allowing/providing for a good coil selection. Especially if some clever manufacturer out there can work some magic and increase coil performance with some new concepts/designs. I'd love to be able to mitigate the 6000 EMI by using the 14", but there is no way to use a coil that big in brush like this. This is what I detect in: The 14" limits me to grassy patches only, and there is never gold there. Even the 11" is almost too big. The EMI issue for some reason seems worse in the Rockies, and I can't detect here until June when the snow melts, otherwise I'd have been posting about the problem a lot earlier. In AZ/NV I ran into noise, but it was doable. Here though, it's not just noise - the detector just loses stability entirely and I have to constantly stop, reset, wait, retry. Get 10 mins of detecting in, then lose stability entirely again. Rinse, repeat. Maybe higher elevation, closer to planes? I don't know, but it's enough to make me extremely hopeful this Garrett machine performs at least somewhat ok so that I can sell this 6000 now since ML won't even acknowledge a problem. They've definitely left the door wide open for a competitor to walk right in now though. If Garrett is smart they will have gotten some experienced prospectors who understand these deficiencies and openings to test their new prospecting machine and design accordingly...

I'm a serious user and I'll give serious consideration to downgrading my 6000 to something that performs slightly worse mostly as long as it weighs the same and doesn't have EMI issues. I just need to something quick, light, and easy to explore with that doesn't leave me high and dry incapable of working in places I spend a lot of time getting to just to find yet another area the detector won't work. I'm that fed up with the interference. The 6000 would be my favorite detector to use by far if not for the EMI, this one issue is turning in a deal breaker for me though. There are places it's not a big deal, but then places it's completely useless. And I don't like the idea I just spent almost $6000 on something that not only is useless in places I need to use it, but that the company itself has no intention of fixing it, let alone even acknowledging it's an issue. That's ignoring the fact that the speaker interferes too, which itself is bad enough problem that I think they should be addressing and fixing hardware since it was sold as a feature. If Garrett wants to find nooks and crannies to succeed where ML has failed, they could definitely start by communicating with customers and fixing issues that arise with products rather than going radio silent.

Usually any vesicular igneous rock that is close to the density of pumice, but sinks in water, is classified as "scoria". It can contain different minerals, with different streak colors. Scoria is more like basalt than pumice is, so might set a detector off. Streak isn't very meaningful when dealing with rocks instead of minerals though, in terms of ID's. I've encountered some vesicular material in ore shoots too which is not scoria. Not quite sure how it forms, and don't think there is really a name for it. It's usually noticeably heavier than pumice though. Anyways, don't know, just some ideas.