phrunt

There is another big flaw in the poll too, people that have had multiple problems, some have had their 6000 replaced twice, or two coils fail, all these extra figures don't get to count in the final tally as they can't vote twice. If anything the poll is very in favour of giving a result skewed towards less problems than their really are.

I understand from a retailers perspective, I've been there, there is nothing worse than customers who think they've got faults and it turns out they just don't know how to use something and it happens far too often 🙂 I've dealt with many thousands of warranty claims in my time. This poll is likely really beneficial for someone selling the detector, and for Minelab, the results may well fall into a normal percentage for the level of faults on a product, if it's under 5% then there is really nothing to be concerned about for customers as it's pretty normal for electronic products. There is no question people will get any faults resolved and that's not the issue at all, that's what warranty is for and LAWS protect the customers there, no matter what any genuine faults get fixed so the poll has nothing to do with if Minelab is good with their warranty, they have to be and they've mostly always been excellent with my warranty claims.

My guess is 50% of people have had some sort of problem, mostly the shaft obviously, we'll see the final tally with the other stuff over time albeit in a short time sample as it's a 3 year warranty and most haven't had theirs long at all. It really was intended to be a harmless exercise to put everything into perspective rather than all the speculation. A poll on somewhere with a lot more 6000 users would likely give a better sample of data but a smaller sample still gives an idea.

So far the poll is doing as expected, it's showing the results in favour of less problems than it sounded and after reading threads of GPX problems it does look a lot worse than it is because you hear from people with faults far more than you hear from people without them, with electronics the average failure rate is usually under 5% throughout the warranty period, with often more failures in the first few weeks than through the rest of the warranty period and when faults go over a certain threshold the manufacturers start to take notice and find the source of the issues to correct in future production runs. There is even various software companies making software to help manufacturers deal with this stuff, and it estimates the cost of warranty repairs and the components they need to set aside to get them through the warranty periods. A poll like this is likely to show the problems with the GPX aren't as bad as they seem, shaft aside so it's not really trouble making, it's putting things into perspective and showing the problems may not be as bad as it seems.

Thanks Norvic, yes but the poll was more about genuine faults where people have sent it into Minelab to get replacements and obviously if it was sent in and comes back no fault found then that wouldn't be included as a fault, it's more if they've had something replaced under warranty. Sorry for my lack of clarification there. The shaft one is tricky as we all have different views of what a quality shaft is it seems.

The aim of this poll is anonymously clicking boxes showing if people have had problems or not so we can get an idea if the problems are widespread or not. Nobody can vote twice of skew the results as you have to be a signed in member to vote. Please keep your answers honest as the point is to determine how bad the problem with faulty detectors is if there even is an abnormal number of faulty ones to put it to rest if there are an abnormal number of those rather than having to read around threads all over the place where people have had problems or haven't had problems. It just makes it easier to get a general idea.

I agree wholeheartedly with that, a more experienced operator than myself is likely to do a lot better than I do regardless of equipment, JW proves this almost every time we detect 🙂

There has been a bit of debate about how widespread GPX 6000 faults are, so what better way than to do a poll and see. I didn't bother including accessory faults like headphones into the mix as they don't really matter as much but would likely increase the number of people with issues. It would be interesting to see how widespread the problems are so a poll seems the best way to work it out. Please be honest with your answers or there is no point to the poll. If you haven't had a fault don't say you have just because you're disappointed about the build quality overall. If your shaft twists but it doesn't bother you you should say yes it twists, this sort of thing helps Minelab be aware problems that they may offer us a solution for, so why hide it? They replaced everyone's Equinox shaft when they had wobbly ones. I've changed the poll to anonymous as some people prefer that they don't reveal who they are in this case.

This is how I see it. . 🙂

That was because so far all coils they've made and completed are small monos and my comment was related to larger size coils for the GPX like 17" round and up, not so much Concentrics. After seeing the demand for Concentrics then perhaps it's worth looking into? 🙂 Note all manufacturers have stuck with smaller size coils for it, even though typically in Australia people seem to like 17" round and larger on the GPZ.

No I didn't say that, I said they're not going to make GPX coils at this time not what the reason was, It's nothing to do with the adapters and they've got their guy in Australia willing to make everyone's adapter there which is the biggest market for X-coils outside of their own region, it's no different to the GPZ situation except GPX coils are a lot cheaper. It's the shipping costs making it too difficult to do them at this stage, when the shipping costs a large part of the cost of a coil it's just not viable. The instructions for a GPX adapter will never be public, that was a mistake with the GPZ letting people make their own adapters, that'll never happen again and largely stopped with the GPZ a long time ago now and there has been absolutely no adapter problems with ones that have done it the proper route since. You can't throw someones coil on a ship and have them wait 3 months for it, it has to be done express on planes. Someone in Australia who buys a NF coil has some small domestic shipping fee to get their coil, X-coils have a long haul express flight to take which costs many hundreds and increases the bigger the coil size and weight. Hard to compete in that situation on a lower cost coil even if the coils are significantly better which would not be a surprise but shipping still makes it hard. You'll note they discontinued their older model GPX coils for the same reason, they were very popular and just plug and play but shipping made them no longer viable. Events like the pandemic and the war have only make these shipping problems worse. It's not that they don't want to provide people their coils, it's just too hard. The best solution is time, maybe if people buy the other coils and X-coils come along and release coils that are significantly better then the higher price will be justified, or shipping may start to settle down to pre-pandemic pricing then all bets are off. To think they won't be looking into Concentric coils and all types of windings would be foolish. If there are Minelab restrictions on the other manufacturers with the coils they can make then X-coils will have a big advantage once again.

Shows what we've got to look forward to when the warranty runs about, a disposable detector.

You probably know just as much as me if not more 🙂 I just pick up things I hear here and there and piece it together, all I know for a fact is what works best for me and what I enjoy using, and that's what I will use and nobody saying otherwise is going to change that. I hope we get to find out one day just how well Concentric coils go on the GPX, and I'd be surprised if we don't get to find out some way or another.

X-coils have yet to make any concentric coils for the GPX, I'm sure if they think it's worthwhile they will, they seem to love a challenge and if they think the concentric coils are worth making I'm sure they'll do it at least for their own inner circles use, if they don't want to sell them. They're exceptionally intelligent people with high level educations in related fields that benefit coil making, not just some guys that liked gold detecting and decided they'd slap together some coils. The reason for them not selling GPX coils at this stage has nothing at all to do with the adapter or the other brands making them, the guy making adapters for everyone in Australia is quite happy to take on making everyone's GPX adapter too and although it looks drastic it's not as difficult as it looks, he's a real guru too and there is constantly people wanting to buy them. They have good working coils that run quieter than the standard coils, it's more the difficulty and cost of shipping holding them back, if that changes I think watch out and I certainly look forward to running X-coils on my GPX along side the other aftermarket coils I'll be buying from the other brands. The outer winding on the concentric is the transmit on the GPZ and the two inner windings are the receive. So, with the GPX already having the hots for small gold even with the 11" stock semi spiral mono coil I would assume by lets say having an 11" spiral concentric coil on it that little inner single receive winding the GPX coils would have would be pretty hot on small gold too although Concentrics never really took off on the older GPX model so who knows and that's what I'm sure many of us concentric users are dying to find out. I prefer to keep things a nice friendly discussion about something we have a shared interest in so I now blank out when it turns into anything else, it is very interesting to see different peoples perspectives on such things though. Are Minelab being nice thoughtful people giving us aftermarket options with GPX coils or was their hand forced early on with their futile attempt at stopping it by moving the chip to a more difficult location failing on them within weeks of release. Either way, people now get options above and beyond the stock offerings so thank you whoever helped make it happen.

Here is the Aussie price from Lost Treasures July release: 12”x 7” - $649.00 16” x 10” - $695.00 August/September release: 8.5” x 6” - $609.00

Even more reason he should have tracked me down for advice.

Because they have to be Minelab approved, that means they're buying a "license" off Minelab to make coils for the detector which involves Minelab supplying them the chips, is anything Minelab sells cheap? 🙂 They also had to get each coil model approved which by the sounds of it involves Minelab testing the coil model to see if they are up to their standards or I think fit with what they want the detector to be able to do, and not do keeping their detector models far enough apart to justify someone having to buy the other model too. All of this adds to the cost of the coils. Other than it being the newest model detector and there will be a bigger demand for coils so they can charge what they want and they're still significantly cheaper than GPZ coils, although there is a big difference in the difficulty of making the GPZ coils and the time and skill required to do so. Every one of these 6000 coils we buy we're giving some of that money to Minelab, they can't lose like they did with the earlier GPX model with the freedom of anyone to make coils for it, Minelab probably thought more people would buy their Commander coil range than actually did, people were too busy buying the aftermarket brands so the obvious solution is to restrict this, and make some money selling the license to make coils. I don't think the prices are unreasonable but people are likely to buy less coils than they would have if they were cheaper.

Looks like Parker from Gold Rush is really chasing the crumbs now. I can't remember who it was but someone told me they bumped into Parker here not too long ago. I love how they say NZ is the land of Big Gold 🙂 Obviously his biggest mistake was not asking me for advice. All-New Season Of GOLD RUSH PARKER’S TRAIL Premieres June 17 On Discovery And Discovery+ May 27, 2022 by Thomas Miller On an adventure of a lifetime, 27-year-old Parker Schnabel is traveling further than ever before in search of gold. Parker and his friends head to New Zealand – land of sharks, hobbits, big gold and revolutionary mining gear. To gain an edge back home, the crew head deep into the wilderness to explore all that this unique land has to offer and take Parker’s mining to the next level. An all-new season of GOLD RUSH: PARKER’S TRAIL premieres Friday, June 17 at 8pm ET/PT on Discovery and streams on discovery+. In addition to watching GOLD RUSH: PARKER’S TRAIL on Discovery and discovery+, viewers can join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #GOLDRUSH and following Gold Rush on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. After closing out an epic $15 million Yukon season, Parker has rolled the dice yet again, putting down nearly $200,000 of his own gold on a Fairbanks property in his home state of Alaska. There’s a huge profit to be made on the ground, but he’ll need to find specialty equipment to process the clay-rich ground before he can obtain any of it. It’s a state-of-the-art wash plant that he’s in need of… and he’s going to travel around the globe to find it. Parker believes New Zealand is the only other place in the world with the engineering prowess to give him any real chance of a massive Alaskan payday. Home to some of the most forward-thinking miners, Parker and his crew quickly learn this remote island is chalk full of high-risks, tough environments, and secretive Kiwi mining communities who aren’t so quick to lend a helping hand to a fellow competitor. A journey that’s as epic as it is high-risk, Parker and his crew find adventure at every turn as they explore all that this land has to offer. Whether scaling the Franz Josef Glacier to find the source of New Zealand’s famous West Coast Gold or undertaking a hair-raising jet boat trip down the Kokatahi River, Parker’s biggest test of all will be facing his fears with a gold prospecting dive through shark infested waters. GOLD RUSH: PARKER’S TRAIL is produced for Discovery by Raw Television, where Sam Maynard, Craig Blackhurst and Peter Campion are Executive Producers, Adam Hayes is Head of Production, and Sophie Hales is Series Producer. For Discovery, Carter Figueroa is Executive Producer and Jessica Mollo is Coordinating Producer. Medium/close up of Parker laughing. Silhouette of Parker Schnabel at the beach. Wide shot of Devil’s Gate. Medium shot of Jeffrey Turnell driving and Parker Schnabel as passenger. Wide shot of Jeff and Matt Dove using little red. Parker using the excavator.

It's terribly lucky I don't report my finds or I'd throw those statistics way out.

Come on Eric, we all know the wildlife in Australia all want to kill you! Even the lovable dogs want to take you out, they steal babies! I've even been attacked by a bird there, yep, a little birdie swooped on me and tried to peck my brains out, damn Magpies, and then another bird was sitting in a tree watching the entire episode and all it could do was laugh at me, crazy Kookaburra's. There is nothing fake about the crazy wildlife there, big or small they're out to get you! 🙂 Just a day ago a guy got the crap beaten out of him by a cute little Kangaroo https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/vision-emerges-of-a-man-attacked-by-a-kangaroo/cl3shtfjz003p0jm5go7p8urs

yep, small coils are excellent for that, I've noticed with my little 8" on the GPZ how good it is for long grass compared to bigger coils, every inch makes a difference. I'm having trouble deciding which coil to get.

I'd guess its more a electronics component manufacturer supplying less than optimal parts or they've had to change brands of component due to supply issues, anything like this would be a nightmare for a company assembling PCB's, no matter how much testing you did prior to the component change it all goes out the window when any part is changed, do they start testing all over again or keep the production line rolling along and hope for the best? I'd say the latter is the most realistic. A little 10 cent component could cause the problems we're seeing with the random explanation mark error or any of the electronic problems. We used to do it with computers all the time, parts become scarce or the price increases on them so you source other components to replace them, all the hours of testing you'd done previously for compatibility and stability means nothing if you change any part out. With the pandemic and supply chain issues part sourcing can't be easy so substitution just has to be done if there are supply problems. I actually feel bad for Minelab with what's happened with the quality of the GPX, of course what's happened wasn't intentional and it's tarnished their name significantly and with every new model now people will question it's quality. The shaft thing is beyond belief that managed to survive all the quality control tests, but the electronics I can understand. I was happy with my shaft the first times using it, it didn't take long for it to start to twist, I was using my detector to push down grass and being forceful with it like I am with my others detectors, but that's what quality control should be all about, pushing it beyond it's limits and seeing if it's of an acceptable standard before releasing it so they don't really have an excuse for that one. JW said he's improved his shaft twisting with some sand paper, I could give that a try it it gets too much of a problem. I'm sure there will be aftermarket fixes for it though eventually. You would think the people involved with designing the shaft would be stressing it and forcing it and giving it a good workout to see its acceptable. I don't know if you've seen this but in Ikea stores they often have a chair testing machine showing how they test their chairs for quality, it simulates someone sitting on the chair thousands of times to ensure it's up to scratch and this is for a $20 chair, not a $6000 USD detector.

Here it the Nugget Finder GPX 6000 coil prices for New Zealand, a bit of an indication of what to expect. We’ve received the pricing for the GPX6000 Nuggetfinder coils this morning with some more information. Unfortunately they can’t give us an exact release date due to some uncertainty around the supply of some parts. They have also advised that the 8x6” won’t be available until August/September. (8”x6”) NZ$689.00 / $449 USD (12”x7”) NZ$729.00 / $475 USD (16”x10”) NZ$779.00 / $508 USD I wouldn't mind the little 8x6" but the 10x5" Coiltek is increasingly looking more attractive with a far better price and also a shorter time until it's release. Of course every country will have different pricing with their shipping costs being different and taxes and so on just it will just give you a basic idea.

Thanks again Aureous, Chet came out some time ago saying the older GPX coils would work on a GPX 6000, that guy seems to really know his electronics. I guess it is something that needs to be tinkered with and accessed. If it is the case that'd be a game changer for the 6000, someone could start a business just making adapters for people and make a fortune.

I will give it a try next time I go out. Thanks for the advice and you're no doubt right.