RONS DETECTORS MINELAB

I can relate to this detecting being a dangerous business and not for the faint hearted. I on occasion find myself using ropes to keep me from falling of cliffs on hydraulic head cuts, crossing high-water creeks and rivers , stepping right over rattlesnakes, pulling ticks out frequently in the spring, having close bear encounters, and being 3 hours away from a vehicle while in rough terrain in the back country with no cell or radio communications.

Wow! 25% off the GPX-6000 for the month of March and its just reaching its second year anniversary. It’s always good for the consumer when two competing companies are trying to keep sales up and use pricing to achieve that goal. If these recent sales prices our part of this goal and could remain in a long term competition, then its going to be a very competitive market for these high end detector. Note also, the 15% military discount Is now also offered by both companies. The prices added in the list below do a fairly reasonable job at separating out the performance verses current pricing options on the higher end PI detectors. The only caveat to this is If pricing and performances are close together I would always choose the three year warranty option though. Below is the price list including the most recent February/March sales prices offered on the most high end Pulse Induction detectors. ATX $2,379.00 Weight with 11 x 13 inch mono coil 7.0 Lbs. Water submersible. Lots to offer for coil sizes & coil configurations to achieve small and fairly large gold performance. Offers partial iron discrimination with DD coils. 2 year warranty SDC 2300 $2,550.00 February SALE vs. $3,499. Weight with 8 inch mono coil 5.3 Lbs. Water submersible. The MFP timings with the small 8” coil seems to handle higher mineralization pretty well. Very small gold performance. 3 year warranty Axiom $3,995.00 Weight w 11 inch mono 4.2 LBS. Very small and fairly large gold performance. Offers partial iron discrimination with DD coils. 2 year warranty GPX 5000 $3,999.00 Weight on arm minus battery pack 5.3 Lbs. with 11” coil. To be wireless you need to add Doc’s Gold Screamer battery and booster pack 6.3 Lbs. Largest offerings for coil sizes & coil configurations to achieve small and large* gold performance. Offers partial iron discrimination with DD coils. 3 year warranty The GPX-5000 could definitely use a price reduction also but is still one of the most versatile PI detector on the market. *Note: Coiltek Elite & Nugget Finder Evolution coils add more performance and sensitivity over previous released bundle wound coils. GPX 6000 $4,500.00 March SALE. Weight 4.6 Lbs. w 11 inch mono. Very small and fairly large gold performance. 3 year warranty GPZ 7000 $6,375.00 February SALE vs. $8,499,00. Weight 7.3 Lbs. w 14 inch DOD coil ZVT or 6.0 Lbs. with the Nugget Finder Z-search 12 inch coil and compatible CTX-3030 Li-ion battery. Minelab’s flagship detector with very small and exceptional large gold performance. 3 year warranty Please do not get to excited about the iron discrimination capabilities on the ATX, Axiom, & older GPX series, as it is only has partial discrimination at best. Works good on surface iron, but for any deep iron you will still need to dig quite a bit of dirt until your detector can determine it is iron. The only chart that I could find to show this was a GP-3000 Minelab chart showing its limited discrimination abilities, attached below.

Looks like Pauly's breaking his gold find records there.

It would be nice to have some more added edge sensitivity like the flattened bundle wound mono's. Concentric coils always have the better small target sensitivity over mono's but never handled the ground effects as good as the DD coils. So, I like the idea of having a DD coil that can better handle the more mineralized ground effects while working in non smoothing timings, but also having the sensitivity like that of a inner part of a concentric type coil.

The bullfrog mine in the sierra's had native visible gold in malachite, so it is always possible. Gold is where you find it!

This detector was received from the repair shop on 9/23/22 and has no issues with the external speaker. The threshold being off causes a audio noise filter over the EMI allowing me to be able to hear the faint signals.

I decided to work a patch near some power lines today and was reluctant to use the larger DD coil even though it works great here at eliminating most EMI interference. Usually I always run the 6000 with the threshold on for hearing the fainter signals better, but today I decided to keep the 9" mono coil on it and lowering the sensitivity to manual 5 and also turning off the threshold. This resulted in no EMI interference using the mono coil. The sensitivity was still fairly good and I was picking up the little bits pretty good. This also allowed me to turn the threshold back on when moving farther away from the power lines without doing several coil swaps throughout the day.

Sounds like you must have low mineralized ground where you detect as the XP sounds like it's working fine for you since you are finding small bullet fragments. So sounds like you just are needing to get the coil over a nugget for now. If not a hot ground issue then the Pulse Induction GPX will only give you a depth advantage on the larger deeper nuggets over the XP but with less discrimination capabilities. But If you are dealing with very mineralized ground then you could benefit using a pulse induction detector over your XP, since VLF's drop in performance quickly when used on this kind of ground. The 5000 did add more timings including Fine Gold, Coin/Relic, and also a refined Salt timing over the 4500. Even the ground balance and Enhance timing was better refined on the 5000. I do have a 5000 in the classified adds for a price comparison of what a 4500 should sell for. The added link below from Steve H. will help in describing the difference in the older GPX series.

Minelab is responding to the competition with some huge price reductions. 25% off the GPZ-7000 & the SDC-2300 for the month of February. Minelab always seems to come through with a new release or a huge price reduction promotion just when the competition heats up. First it was a free Goldmonster 1000 with the GPZ and now this. Here’s the newest Pulse Induction or Zero Voltage price lineup for the month of February. Not sure where this will all end up, but glad to see some good changes in the lowering of prices on two classic gold detectors. GPZ 7000 sale $6375 7.2 lbs GPX 6000 $5999 4.5 lbs Axiom $3995 4.2 lbs Minelab GPX 5000 $3999 6 lbs SDC 2300 sale $2550 5.3 lbs Garrett ATX $2379 7.0 lbs Edited just now by Steve Herschbach

Here's some pictures of Gary's Gold Bug 2 mods and part numbers. The one detector next to the mod is the original wiring.

The mod I did like on the Gold Bug 2 was Gary Hudson's sensitivity modification, unfortunately though I lost contact with Gary years ago and this modified one needs fixed. I do not have the paper work either or I would try to fix it. Gerry McMullen had one when we went detecting together about 20 years ago and he did really good with it, so I finally broke down and got one. Anyone remember what all the switches did?

I agree, If only all past and present detector features could advance together for a great end product!!! My favorite features being offered in current prospecting VLF's are Multi-IQ and single frequencies selectable options, hopefully 13, 20, 40, and 71 options will be available on the next generation Goldmonster. I'm also hoping they will add fully programmable control setting's like the Equinox and a full auto option like the Goldmonster for the beginners to start with, but with a threshold option like the 6000. Maybe even possibly add a VDI and 2D FE-CO for helping to determine the probability of rubbish. Incorporate waterproof to 15 feet, noise cancel, USB chargers, replaceable li-ion batteries, Bluetooth headphones with the screw in headphone jack (option), and keep the package lightweight (Deus). I'd also like to see some of the much older design features brought back also. Some examples of this are the ergonomics of the balanced Fisher's S rod that would separate in three pieces for backpacking, but maybe in a Manticore carbon/camlock fashion. The hip mountable control boxes or even the less desired wireless coils (Deus) [that would even help solve even the Pulse Induction weight issues]. The White's detectors flat control box that would not fall over even when put on an very uneven surface, the Fisher 3 x 6.5 inch elliptical concentric or double DD coils for the greatest sensitivity and also for the greatest mobility in rocky areas, and the Goldmonster 1000 ability to carry spare interchangeable li-ion battery pack for extended hike in camping. We used to have VLF detectors that could run for 40 plus hours on one set of batteries and now the VLF detector I use most frequently only has an internal battery that can only last 12 hours. Seems like lately the VLF advancements are slowing down now, especially in performance. The past leg work has already been done, just need to incorporate all these great past features into one package. How about any other features you would like to see added???

The SDC-2300 would be the best choice if working in creeks and rivers due to it's ability to be submerged. It also compacts really nice if needing to put it in a backpack for hike in areas (compacts to 15.5 x 8.5 inches) and is very user friendly to use. The SDC does have edge sensitivity for putting the coil sideways in deep bedrock crevices. Minelab does offers a three year warranty verses the Garrett two year warranty. For dry land detecting the Axiom still has a rain proof control box. The Axiom does have an advantage over the SDC on deeper targets due to more timings and a lot more coil options. The Axiom is also about 1 1/2 pounds lighter with the smaller coils. The price difference, warranty, and the places you plan on using it are three factors to consider.

CTX-3030 has new MAP price of $1,999.00 This is still a great high conductor deep seeking detector.

I'm hoping Minelab has this in the works for us and they will call it the GPZ Featherweight with 50% more power to the coil.

That looks like it would be very light, it's sad that is not an easy option here in the U.S... That's got to make the GPZ-7000 close to the GPX-6000 with the 14" DD in weight comparison. UPC tape has been my preferred option to the skid plate to protect that investment. Yep, that is the best way to go on heavy detectors. Looks like 5.8 pounds is probably the lightest this detector can become minus X-coils. I'm going to try to come up with some other mods as I really like the 7000 at 5.8 pounds, but would prefer a little less burden on my body.

I'm trying to lighten up the GPZ 7000 by using the lighter CTX 3030 LI-ION battery and using the 12 Z-search coil without skid plate. Looking like around 5.8 pounds so far, not to bad compare to the stock configuration. Has anyone found any other ways to lighten this detector through aftermarket shafts or modifications?

phrunt, Thanks for pointing this out. I.'m hoping the Manticore can hit on a .5 grain nugget or smaller filling in the gap of PI's, if so then I will be down to one VLF prospecting detector only, also like all it's other other capabilities which is a huge plus this detector offers. Never thought that would be an option, If only someday I could own one VLF and one PI. It also looks promising that they added the Goldfield option on the Manticore and the 5.5x8 coil. I am familiar with the Vanquish 5.5x8 inch coil and feel its size would suffice my needs for nugget snipping in tight areas.

Steve, Here's the full toolkit. Four pages altogether. MLA-Gold-Product-Comparison-Brochure_2021-EN_WEB (1).pdf

This video has a different perspective on the Axiom's hot rock capabilities. I know the SDC-2300 can hit certain shaped nuggets at .05 gram and the ATX can hit gold at .1 gram both on more difficult ground conditions, but I have had some really flattened nuggets in these weights ranges that will not hit on a PI due to there thinness, simply add more roundness and no problems hearing these targets. I'm glad that Garrett has a lightweight land package to replace the ATX Military package, just wish the price was closer to the SDC's.

1/1/23 Important note from Steve H: Chris made this video before the Axiom was finalized using a prototype detector. The sensitivity was significantly boosted in the shipping version of the detector. As far as hot rocks Chris also did not make use of the hot rock rejection window on the Axiom as shipped in the final version. Garrett Axiom and the SDC-2300 side by side, very interesting.

I usually try to run the GPX 6000 as sensitive as I can even putting up with some localized ground noise. I then go to difficult when the ground noise starts to create enough excess sound to mask small targets. Everyone's ground conditions vary, so I recommend experimenting with what's working best in your conditions with a small test target. When running in difficult or normal timings and I get a signal, I switch the timings button to check if there is a significant change in target volume. If so, then I usually suspect it's a hot rock or just excessive ground noise. I really like how the GPX 6000 can give a repeatable and recognizable sound on boot tacks and most whole square nails, these sounds differ from good non-ferrous targets. So, In old 1800's hydraulic pits where the majority of the rubbish you find is nails and boot tacks, I now can patch hunt more effectively and avoid digging all these non desirable targets until I find a productive area and need to dig this kind of rubbish in order to unmask good targets. I also like the Coiltek 9" coil and it's smaller size, it seems to handle the hot ground fairly well in my serpentine areas.

Part 1 My first attempt of a video, please excuse the sound on part 2, not sure why its cutting out. These examples are for the hottest ground. The Equinox works great at target separation in low mineralized ground.

Gerry, I'm not sure the weight on this one a friend found, but people were willing to pay multiple times spot for it's rarity. Northern Nevada Gold Bug 2 find.

Yes, the tape is on the bottom of the coil too. Seems to quite the rock scrapes quite a bit.