phrunt

I knew it would be the new revised better version of a hip stick so didn't comment in your previous threads to spoil your fun, looks promising! Great work as always.

I recently decided XP is not for me due to their warranty/service in New Zealand. I had a battery problem with my HF Deus 1 coil, I contacted the NZ dealer it was purchased from, although as I bought it second hand I didn't have the receipt for it. It was still under warranty technically but without that receipt it wasn't as I had no proof of purchase although if they cared enough, they could have offered to looked up the previous owners name in their system and recovered the invoice, I didn't care, I just wanted to buy a new battery for it. They were unable to sell one to me, they were unable to get batteries as the shipping of batteries is all too difficult from XP so it just couldn't happen in their mind, I'd have to buy a new coil to get a cheap little battery. So basically, anyone in NZ with a Deus 1 once the batteries are stuffed have to throw it away, there is only one XP dealer and they're not interested in bringing the batteries in.

Why has it taken so long for other detectors to do the same? Top of the line Fisher likes the F75 and T2 are rather poor on salt water beaches when if they had the technology, why didn't they keep using it on top models to make them better. Detector manufacturers often puzzle me. It takes another manufacturer to come along 30 odd years later and take advantage of the technology to make a great beach detector using single frequency at a low end price, using the technology to make a basic cheap detector handle beaches so they didn't have to make it multi frequency and take a hit to the perceived value of the higher end machines.. They were smart to come up with it 30+ years ago, they were crazy to not keep using it in all high end models to give them a big edge. They gave away a cool technology, Minelab would have had it all patented up.

Look how bad the ground is that he's in, he must live in a crazy area for ground, as he said its not a gold area but has bad ground so good for testing the detectors, when he moves his pick magnet over the ground, that's hindering the E1500 a fair bit I think, so to me it looks like the 6000 handles the bad ground better. In milder ground the performance of the two detectors gap closes quite a bit, sure it's still not as good as the 6000 but it's not as far behind as it is in that video.

yep, there has only been one update, probably won't be another either., Minelab aren't big on updates.

I doubt many have bought both to know, so based upon the 800 with 6" vs the Manticore with m8 coil, I'd say the Manticore once the new firmware is installed on it. The 6" coil I still think has the edge on the very tiniest pieces of gold, we are talking 0.00X of a gram stuff, aside from that the Manticore has the most change of punching deeper getting the bigger bits.

this works a treat Avantree Relay 20 hours battery life, then whatever aptX LL headphones you like, You can just use your Equinox headphones to save some bucks.

You could see in that you were used to using the 6000, leaving the Zeds coil way too close to the dig hole setting it off all the time digging🙂 You can get away with doing that with the 6000, but not the GPZ.

How these Russians always get the information to leak first is a surprise. If he is right, it sounds like it will be awesome. $1200 USD for the headphone's version, $870 for the basic. The headphone version must come with more coils or something to be so much more money, unless the translation was incorrect on the pricing. Looks like some Whites V3i technology has gone into it for the screen display. GPS mapping, waterproof, more control over used frequencies, a triangle flashlight to let out more light, vibration, 19 hours battery, I guess we'll find out on April 5th if he is right and if he is, I think it's going to be very popular.

Sometimes, it's best to go to the source @Nokta Detectors, 3rd parties just don't care as much as the OEM.

I must say, I'm a little disappointed in the lack of excitement over the Storm, had this been a few other brands talking about a new SMF release a thread like this would be going wild. Hopefully Garrett can make the tide change, they've proven they're capable with the Axiom bringing a machine to market that is well beyond what many expected and up there very close to the best, they were aware the Apex was a low-end machine and kudos to them for that, they've now had time to work on it and improve it to become a competitive high-end VLF and I personally think they won't disappoint. Looking forward to seeing what you've got up your sleeve Garrett.🫰

I can't wait until you're doing a post about your first nugget Skate, it's a real memorable day, one you'll never forget.

Has the AQ Limited now become a retail detector? On their website it appears so? Seems a bit confusing. Here's a link to it on thier fancy new website. I thought they were just clearing beta stock, now they're acting as if its a release model, at least it looks that way. I was under the impression they offloaded them all to Kellyco. https://fisher-impulse.com/impulse-aq-limited/ "Available in a production run limited to only 99 detectors" From 2020……

The ZED is unrivalled on deeper targets, with a smaller coil attached it becomes a real weapon on the tiny stuff too. Nice post, great gold too.

Don't retailers in the US have a DOA policy rule they have to follow set by the government? Here, in this case I could have just given the coil back to the dealer and they would have to replace it for me, I wouldn't have to mess around contacting service agents.

X-coils are not going to be producing them anymore, so the options are Detech, Coiltek and Nugget Finder, seeing NF can't even produce promised GPX 6000 coils I'd rule them out, so far, no interest from Coiltek but maybe the new Lite package at a more reasonable price will inspire more sales of the detector in OZ which could then get Coiltek thinking about it, although it's going to take more than what I estimate to be a couple of hundred or less detector owners in OZ to make coil production viable. Detech were going to, but have fallen off the radar on it too so looks like they're not doing it anymore at this stage. I think in a few years once enough detectors are out there the chances of aftermarket coils are higher, you can't get a return on the investment of making them unless enough demand is there. Fingers crossed! Best way to show interest is to contact coil manufactuers asking, if enough people do that they may see it as viable more so than if very few ask.

Once the basics are down pat, which it sounds like they are the hardest part is putting the coil over some gold.

Thanks, now I know I don't need one, saves some coin. The E1500 would be great to get kids into prospecting, easy to use that's for sure, and with the weight they'd swing it no problems. Only problem I've heard of is someone had some shaft twist with a large coil on it, but I get that with my 6000 with a 10x5" coil so that's not a bad problem, Minelab have conditioned us to be used to that 😛

Well, it's basically confirmed, the Storm is the AT Pro replacement, coming this year too. See Garrett's reply to someone asking when the AT Pro replacement is coming above. I've already started saving for it, it won't be cheap in NZ.

More Aussies are starting to do videos, this one with the 12x8" EVO, that coils always intrigued me, never enough to buy one though.

Welcome to the team Kel, great introduction post.

I think whoever built that Detech site has no understanding at all of English and does a lot of copy and paste stuff, with incorrect facts and figures, the actual weight is 780 grams, see Detech Australia which is a much more accurate website about the gear. I think that Detech 11" would be the sweet spot of a coil on the Algoforce too, and Detech are very good pricing for quality coils.

Lucky bugger.

I'm sure from memory it was @DSMITH that purchased spare coil bolts from Garrett and found out the crazy price of them.

All great advice above and very nice of Mitchel to offer to help you out, the key especially when learning is go to where detectable size historical gold has been found before and dig everything that beeps. Use either the Nox and 6" or Manticore and M8, I'd probably take the Manticore.