phrunt

You missed one very important thing, the dealer in Australia has to make something for their role in the sale, their profit. And they want a decent chunk of it I guess. The whole US pricing thing has always been a puzzle to me, I can't work out why it ends up so high. Shipping isn't cheap, that's a fact especially if you want faster shipping. They should only use sea freight for US products to keep that a bit lower I guess which would help. I don't understand MAP or MSRP, makes no sense why the MSRP exists, to make it sound like everyone is getting it cheaper to encourage sales or something?

Australia has a free trade agreement with the USA which covers 99% of items, yes electronics are included so there would be no import duties on the Axiom, there will be 10% GST on it, but the business importing it doesn't pay the GST on the import, they pay it on the final sale price. If an individual imports a detector for themselves, they will pay the GST when the detector enters the country as the detector is over $1000, under $1000 they'd pay no GST on the import. My estimations ended up pretty close to the price they're offering it in Australia. There is something going on that I don't understand with US products, and as far as I'm aware it's only US products, I just don't understand it. It's not just Garrett, it's US products in general. People jumping on the USD as a safe haven doesn't help the situation as it's unusually high against the AUD. There are ways around US dealers not being able to sell directly to us in our part of the world, the NZ government must be very aware of the problem as they have a thing called Youshop owned by the government which allows us to shop in the US and get it posted to their address in the US, they then send it on to us, we can get multiple packages sent to our Youshop mailbox and they will repackage them to be the smallest combined package and ship it to our door in NZ They also give us the option of sea freight to help bring the cost of US goods down. Dealer are allowed to sell to US addresses and have no idea the buyer isn't in the US. Sorry the price didn't work out for you Tony, I know you were about as excited as I was about the Axiom. Buying second hand might be an option at some point, or head off for a Hawaiian holiday, that'll make the wife happy and surely there is a Garrett dealer in Hawaii, bring it back on the plane after using it at the beaches there 🙂 I too would love one but not at the price of a 6000. I don't even think the 6000 was worth that price either. I'll be patient and may stumble across one at a reasonable price at some point second hand. I don't need it that much to pay the price they're asking. If it's a successful seller in some countries outside of the USA X-coils may make coils for it, but with Australia one of the biggest markets for coils that's highly unlikely now too and how likely is it Coiltek or Nugget Finder will make coils for a detector that's not even popular in their own country? tell 'em they're dreaming.... I don't think they would, Detech? The only one left I'd have hope for but even though it's not chipped it may never end up with aftermarket coils unless some American company makes them for it, cutting off the Australian market is a mistake. I will add the NZ market just doesn't matter, there is probably 3 or us that would buy one, if that. Australia on the other hand they're missing out on a reasonable number of possible sales if it was at the right price.

I must admit it was a bit intentional, as I think new comers like myself could benefit from reading it. I'm glad Garrett has released the Axiom, a major step forward and something that desperately needed to happen!

Unfortunately that is what I was expecting, that's more than I paid for my faulty GPX 6000. I was hoping the price might be a bit better in Australia/NZ so it has a chance to succeed.

What does it weigh James, I wouldn't be surprised if it's not much different to the 19" Dog coil in weight. Is it just my laptop screen or is that coil glowing like a Halo in the first picture 🙂

An excellent read and explained it really well, now I understand, it means single channel ground balancing PI's like the QED are inherently flawed - that was previously beyond my understanding. I've likely read this and other threads before, but when you partially understand them it goes a bit over your head, once you understand what everything involved means its more informative. It's like reading the manual to a new detector and then going out using it, as a non-experienced person you're rather clueless and the manual doesn't help all that much, after spending time on the detector and reading the manual again it all starts to make sense.

It sounds to me overall the Axiom is going to be the best overall detector for coin and jewellery hunters that use a PI so long as it gets a good range of coils made for it, including Anti Interference coils if it can run them, I don't see why not. Certainly ergonomically it's the better choice, and of course it looks just like a VLF really, so you won't look like some sort of Cyborg swinging it in higher traffic public places like you do all rigged up with a GPX 🙂 I've pinned my hopes on Detech for the task at hand, time to start annoying them with email requesting Axiom coils 🙂 The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Thanks for that, I'll stick with my current one then, no need to "upgrade" 🙂

We have a petrified forest nearby here, a real sight to see. One of the few accessible petrified forests on the planet. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20211111-new-zealands-180-million-year-old-forest It's pretty cool to go and see, but you know how it is, because its local I don't have any of my own photos as I don't go as a tourist 😛

Excellent, great to see your success with the 24k.

I guess people here lose stuff, but don't intentionally throw rubbish on the ground and take pride in the place having as little litter as possible, unfortunately tourists aren't so easy to educate but if there generally isn't rubbish all over the place people are less included to throw theirs down. If someone saw someone throw a bit of rubbish down it's highly likely they'd get confronted about it and told to pick up their rubbish. There are also laws, Queenstown Lakes District Council has an an instant $100 fine for littering, and even dropping a cigarette butt, apple core or lolly paper qualifies. Obviously people aren't perfect, and rubbish does get thrown down, but not terrible amounts like in some places.

Is there a new F-pulse out? Or is this just the earlier change where the bugs were fixed on the first ever model. I bought one of the newer ones that had those initial bugs fixed but I checked my box and it doesn't have this new and improved sticker on it. A guy in NZ bought one at our dealer today and his had this new and improved sticker on it. I captured the photo from his video showing his new pinpointer. See the yellow new and improved over to the left.....

Trash isn't such a problem for me, my beaches I detect I'm more likely to find a coin than a bit of trash, my fields are similar, iron just rarely exists, alloy cans and slaw exist but you've got to dig that with any detector if you're after gold. Even prospecting I rarely encounter any iron, probably more likely to find a nugget than I am a nail. I can walk a mile up a beach and back and not even find a target. This beach is right near the city center of the second biggest city on the South Island where I live.

that's strange as the big problem with atpx LL was that it has a fixed bitrate of approximately 40ms, it can't go faster or slower and if it can't keep up with he bitrate it gets lost packets that cause the crackle/pop or in severe cases drop outs. The new improved aptX adaptive adjusts the bitrate so transmission doesn't get broken packets thereby giving more stable audio. In perfect no EMI conditions with a close range it can reach low latency but in practice it seems it is is more likely to be around 80ms. This is from the newer aptX adaptive spec sheet. The codec supports audio file playback with 16 and 24 bit-depths at 44.1 and 48kHz sample rates. Algorithm latency is also down to less than 2ms at 48kHz, with a system round trip falling somewhere between 50 and 80ms depending on the implementation. This isn’t quite as fast as Low Latency’s sub 40ms speed but should be virtually imperceivable. So on a detector they could use 16 bit 44.1kHz lower quality audio and achieve max speeds of around 50ms, thats under ideal conditions with no EMI which I'm sure the detector creates EMI to slow that down, but it seems the better method is the Z-lync as it's the fastest available decent product, even faster than the Quest wirefree kit. I'd just use a Z-Lynk receiver and use whatever I want connected to the detector, a bit like having the WM12 in a way.

I wonder if they didn't go Bluetooth as Qualcomm retired Bluetooth Low Latency in 2018. Maybe sourcing enough chips was a problem. The newer Qualcomm Bluetooth adaptive adjusts latency on the fly to cope with interference and other factors so you don't sit on a nice fast latency and from what I've read it tends to favour higher latency for higher quality stable audio. The problem with Bluetooth Low Latency is its unstable, interference or anything and it drops signal or crackles and pops. While I would have liked it to be Bluetooth I can understand why it's not and technically their Z-lynk is better but they should license out the technology to some metal detector headphone manufacturers to make aftermarket headphones for it. I like that you can connect the Carrot AT (Z-Lynk edition) to it as well, still in my opinion the best pinpointer on the market and I'm hoping it doesn't cause too much interference with the detector, sounds like it doesn't or they wouldn't be promoting it's compatibility. Bluetooth adaptive probably sees the detector itself as a massive source of EMI and raises the latency for stability of audio accordingly. I think purely cosmetically the Axiom makes the 6000 look very dated, it's just every part of it looks more cosmetically modern, the larger nicer screen, the shaft, the box under the cuff, the cuff itself, everything just looks new, the 6000 looked dated when it came out, the 7000 looks far more modern than the 6000, and it's skinny little shaft looks odd, especially if a bigger coil ever goes on it but I doubt we'll see that for various reasons. I am guessing the Axiom will end up with some really big coils over time and its shaft will handle them fine. USB-C was a good move, it will prove itself over time. The built in battery will be fine, VLF owners are getting more used to that now with detectors like the Nox and some Nokta's, most people have had their Nox for 3+ years now and still going strong, I can't tell the difference in charge from when mine was new, still lasts the same as it did 3+ years ago. Much better than having a battery on a curly cable hanging off your butthole. Eventually when it starts to give way I'm sure the process won't be too hard to change out, there will be Youtube's on how to do it yourself with alternative batteries on the cheap, even if Garrett don't want you to 😛

I hope that can change, well the coils anyway 🙂

At the moment my concern is the aftermarket manufacturers may not want to take on making coils for it, I hope Detech might but Coiltek and Nugget Finder are in bed with Minelab, if they started making coils for another brand that may not go down too well. As for other brands they would rather wait and see what the uptake on the detector is, if it's quite small it's not even viable for the big expense of producing coils for it, it would also need decent uptake in countries outside of USA to make it worth while too, especially Australia or Africa and the Middle East. Other brands like Nel that makes aftermarket coils have traditionally only made VLF coils so I doubt they'd be interested, although they've got enough to worry about at the moment without investigating coils for other detectors, they still haven't released their Garrett 24k coils they said were coming, but they do have a good excuse, hopefully they reach the market some day. Detech would be a good one as they make DD, Mono and Anti Interference coils for Minelab GPX's, so if they make coils for the Garrett that would be fantastic. The Axiom wins hands down over the clunky old GPX 5000 for being a detector that would be nice to swing in this situation, virtually like swinging a VLF, hopefully the DD's for it are good at EMI mitigation as most places I'd want to use it outside of prospecting for coins and jewellery are in very urban areas with very bad EMI for a PI. I've never been much of a fan of Cancel, it seems to cancel performance too 🙂 The AI coils you just run in DD mode so they lose very little performance, so similar to just using a DD but better EMI handling.

So I've recently started using my GPX 5000 as a coin and jewellery detector, I've been using the Coiltek 11" Anti Interference coil on it, this coil is fantastic for the job, the most stable threshold you'll ever hear on a GPX, although sadly the coil is now discontinued, Detech make a similar coil though but I know nothing about their version and if it works as well. At the moment I'm considering an Axiom as I'm sure quite a few others are too, the main focus so far on the detector has been prospecting so it's time to find out how it goes as a coin and jewellery detector, and of course relics for those lucky enough to live in a place that has relics. With my coin and jewellery spots there is always a lot of EMI around as obviously where you hunt these things are places with heavy human occupation. The other places I'd use it are at beaches which around here especially popular beaches where the finds could be made generally have houses all around them so many sources of EMI. An example of how good the Coiltek AI is on my GPX under some high voltage power lines And another video showing the Coiltek AI coil being used inside my house, a crazy high EMI environment showing just how well it handles EMI This is the question, how well is the Axiom going to compete with this? Is it naturally good with EMI with a DD coil? Being a detector with no protective chips to prevent aftermarket coils perhaps manufacturers would be able to make AI coils for it too? I would think Detech would be one of the first to take on coils for the Axiom and seeing they make AI coils already it might end up possible. These videos were filmed using my old Aussie made ratty GPX 4500, my GPX 5000 is much more stable although I can't really complain how well the 4500 works with the AI coil, the 5000 is even better. I didn't own the 5000 when I took the video. I guess for the answers to my questions it's going to take time for people to have the Axiom in their hands but with a few on order already from people giving up their GPX 6000 due to it's EMI problems as they hunt in high EMI environments I'm sure it won't be long and a few friendly helpful users will give me the advice I'm chasing 🙂

Something interesting that I didn't think the Coilteks had that the other brand does is the pressure regulator, they do have it, it's just not as noticeable. They talk about it in the video. It's also good to hear the 14x9" which I've ordered is still finding the .03 size flakes the 11" finds.

That would be a dream but way too early to know, good point though 🙂 Chet will probably work that out in quick order once he gets his hands on one.

They also come in tough waterproof/dust proof designs. Unsure which Garrett are using but the parts themselves are terribly cheap so it'd be a mistake to use anything but a good one, especially with the detector being rainrpoof. The most common USB ports that break are the ones on computers with people force plugging things in upside down. Europe has mandated all phones sold in their region be USB-C by 2024, The rule will also apply to other electronic devices including tablets, digital cameras, headphones, handheld video game consoles, and e-readers. Laptops will have to comply with the rule at a later date. Garrett are just getting with the times and I think a good move. Amphenol LTW Waterproof Swift USB Type-C Connectors Amphenol LTW Waterproof Swift USB Type-C Connectors are a comprehensive range of rugged IP67, IP68, and IP69K USB Type-C connectors designed for different product and market applications. with USB Type-C Connectors offer options for mating and/or stand-alone waterproof, dustproof, high-temperature, and high-vibration resistance as well as quick mating. Amphenol LTW LA, LP, and GG series USB Type-C Connectors deliver high data transmission rates of up to 10Gbps and superior power charging up to 5A current. The connectors are offered in low-profile receptacle, receptacle with FPC, overmolded, or overmolding on inter-locking conduit. Applications Car entertainment Automotive diagnostic Marine electronics Industrial automation Agriculture & data acquisition Portable devices Data centers Outdoor LED displays

28 of July today, official release date, did anyone get one? They haven't "landed" in NZ yet 🙂

Probably next to nothing, perhaps some aftermarket coil options that you don't have access to that maybe beneficial sizes. Better EMI handling than the 6000? Hopefully. I'm more after a general purpose PI for beach and fields, it says it handles black sand beaches and I can hit the gold areas with it without having to fear I'd be missing too much, sounds ideal for me. I have the GPX 5000 for that at the moment but I'd rather a more modern light detector. I see it as more versatile than the 6000, a step back to more the 5000 territory with discrimination and settings. For the 6000 other than its EMI troubles I just wish I could turn Geosense or whatever makes it go mental all the time for no reason off. I want to have a button to fix it like "Fixed" on the GPX 5000 where you lock in your configuration and it doesn't mess around and go nuts when it can't do whatever job it's trying to do right. You just sit the thing down, one second it's happy and nice and stable then out of nowhere it's having a fit and with my limited understanding I blame it on Geosense as it seems like the automation going on with it is its biggest flaw. I can turn tracking off on the Axiom and change the settings I want that suit me and other than EMI it shouldn't go whacky for no reason. I was thinking more of a replacement for my 6000, and as I mostly have small gold in my area and the 6000 is more sensitive to small gold than the Garrett I have the GPZ for that which for me with my coil selection is more sensitive to small gold than the 6000. To put it bluntly I don't like the 6000 but would like a modern alternative.

Yes, sea freight would be the only viable option I think, although I think the US still has a big backlog of ships stuck at ports so they'll be quite slow to arrive. NZ doesn't have an FTA with the US so it's possible for me going via Australia maybe the better option. Anyway, it's early days, I'll wait and see how it all plays out. It's just nice and refreshing to even have this dilemma, a week ago I never thought I'd buy another US metal detecting product, now I'm sitting here thinking about how to buy one 🙂

Don't forget Australian dealers have to incorporate shipping from the US into the price too, that there is the problem. The exchange rate is not too good either and the exchange rate you see isn't the rate you get when you transfer money, the more money you transfer the better you can negotiate a rate but even converting hundreds of thousands of dollars you can't even get the actual rate you see on the currency exchange. I remember back in 2012 buying up a heap of USD when living in Australia as the Aussie dollar went above the USD in value, it had to be temporary to I starting buying as many USD as I could and sold them off a year or so later, shame I didn't hold onto them longer, sold way too soon. If only it was still like that now, the Aussies would possibly pay less for the Axiom than the US owners 🙂