All_Metal_Mode

However the cable is best managed to be out of your way is perfectly fine for a PI. I wish there was a secret wrapping technique to increase the sensitivity or capability of your detector, but the cable is transmit only and usually shielded to prevent EMF noise.

Metallic meteorites are odd ducks, they are all different kinds of compositions. Many of the metallic ones contain very large chromium crystals and silica within the iron matrix. A detector looking for the signature of man made decaying iron isn’t going to see this material as iron even if the discrimination was perfect. If it’s metal just about any detector will see one of these depending on depth and mineralized ground/trash. What I have seen are the powerful rare-earth magnets meteorite hunters carry to sort out likely targets, since the composition of these metallic meteorites tends to make them highly magnetic (tending to shoot towards the magnet field like a bullet).

I will probably go re-register then. I did something wonky using the “other” category and typed in the model and S/N. With the warranty changed from 2 to 3 years it’s well worth redoing. I checked the day you posted this and it didn’t come up for me so your guess is what I assumed, that they are coding it in for a future update or to let people reload their firmware if factory resets don’t sort out problems. I was surprised at an update this soon anyway, nothing I’m seeing from other users indicates anything needs tweaking yet on the firmware side which is kudos to Garrett.

Thank you for decoding the firmware version identification on the display….this is how most manufacturers who supply to the GOV/MIL side deal with software version identification on static displays. I have military solar controllers that use the power and fault indicator lights to display firmware using a series of flashes that you will miss if you don’t pay attention (like you stated). This doesn’t show up on my Garrett Direct site so I’ll wait and see. I don’t even know if the Axiom product registration process works yet, since it’s missing as a product in the Garrett Direct site and the main site back when the detector came out.

All joking aside you are right, it’s able to be turned on and even tested indoors with the right settings. EMI was never the issue for my homes in Belgium and the U.S., it was the metal all throughout the house from nails to beams that drove the detector bonkers. I am envious of VLF users who can bench test their machines in the off season from the comfort of their kitchen table. Especially since they don’t need to pull their detector’s power back to do so. Prospecting PI isn’t for the part-time detecting hobbyist.

I’m in a mid to small size city with an acre lot adjacent to the big box stores near the main highway. My initial Axiom tests on my property got me some minor EMI chatter until I calmed a few of the settings into negative ranges. What was great were the nice loud tones designating a target powering through any minor squeaks and squawks. I’ve used it in parks in the same city, it’s exceptionally well behaved since I’m not using it to find whisper-faint sub-gram nuggets or larger deeper targets. I will test out my 11 x 7 mono and see what I get when I try to balance in the EMI here. I’ve left that coil alone since I got the detector so it’s factory fresh from the first set of production models. I’m curious about this now because the ATX is an EMI pro in my yard, though I am sure that comes at a cost. The Axiom’s sensitivity can put off some at first but it does a great job letting you dial it back. Never tried a VLF, but seeing people bench test those detectors inside their home or apartment always blew my mind. If I turn on my Axiom or ATX inside I’m pretty sure there’s be a smoking crater where it once stood.

Best kind of medical tape I’ve ever used. Not only will it keep your cover securely in place and dirt free, but if you find yourself getting a blister this stuff is like dragon skin. I used it twice during the annual Nijmegen ruck March in the Netherlands. Walked 110 miles in four days with the soles of my feet mummified in this stuff with zero blisters. Doesn’t come off when it gets wet, and you just use a little rubbing alcohol to clear away any of the leftover adhesive when you peel it off.

Love it, simple solution. I’m just glad they kept the same process from the ATX for iron check. That is the only thing which felt like second nature to me starting off with the Axiom. Glad to see you’re digging everything you find as the PI gods intended.

When I bought an accessory coil for my Axiom I was surprised it didn’t come with a skid cover, but like Steve I wasn’t too upset since nowhere in the description did it say it would come with one. I just swapped out with the matching size from the stock coils and good to go. I theorized that Garrett might include the covers with their largest size coils but I have nothing to back that up other than wishful thinking. $38 seems a bit steep, being around 1/6th of the price of the smallest coil. I am sure an aftermarket option will come around that cuts that in half or better. I guess it doesn’t really bother me since I don’t expect accessories to be included, and skid plates were always aftermarket add-on for my ATX. Side note, the Axiom coils have a pretty decent base with the skid plate off, the black material looks sturdy and actually resembles the skid plate itself which is why I initially didn’t realize there wasn’t one included. I’m curious to see what kind of beating these can take before they start looking like trash, because the cover only adds a minuscule amount of rigid plastic.

Credit to Steve for the image file, but this is what the numbers basically mean. This could help a bit if the number ranges you were seeing did not correspond to the type of ground you have around your house. I have a laminated copy of this with me as I learn the machine.

I liked the videos, but I agree there were a few things that threw me off about settings. Any chance to test against a known standard, especially with the small gold that the 6000 can see, is great. Add that iron rich dirt and you’ve got a great little comparison. For me this is the best kind of metal detecting “test” video, real world against other like models with neither side denigrating the other’s capabilities and just being open to seeing what could be found. As I was learning my own Axiom, my property gave me mostly iron and shotgun brass caps….so when his Axiom found that sweet solid target sound and then overload once it was out of the ground I knew exactly what he had found. So for me that was a nice little confirmation of things I had seen happen.

Well done and congratulations. I hope to see more posts like this in the coming months with people really maxing out the capabilities of this detector. It’s cool you got to compare the same target with a tried and true PI like the SDC, because if that SDC says to dig you dig….unless it simply cannot see it for whatever reason. I don’t see this as a PI vs. PI or Brand vs. Brand situation but rather an advancement in sensitivity and closing detecting holes. If I had an SDC, I’d keep it because few detectors are going to perform as reliably as that tank. Minelab made something special in that machine, but it is simply a tool and every tool has its limitations. There’s no test that can demonstrate your real world experience, so this kind of detailed post is super helpful. Thank you for taking the time to share this.

Not an update for the Detech coils, but for anyone looking to add an additional Garrett coil to their Axiom. It looks like accessory coils are becoming available through a few dealers, starting with the 11” x 7” DD. That worked for me, I wanted that coil originally but didn’t want to sacrifice the MS3 headphones to get it. Price was around $205 with free shipping. Just received mine last Friday. Of note the Axiom package you purchase comes with coils that have pre-installed removable protective covers. Accessory coils do not include these protective covers so you just need to swap with one from your set until Garrett gets those on the market. I assume the only exception might be for the 16” x 14” accessory coils. Those might ship with a cover installed since Garrett seems to want to set you up for success with at least one cover of each size. Just a guess.

If you did a proper ground balance (over a clean, target free area pump up and down till the audio response from the ground is barely noticeable), and a frequency scan you should have a stable detector. The window ground balance is for incorporating a hot rock into what you want eliminated. After a proper frequency scan and ground balance, if you are still getting too much chatter from your detector you need to check what detector mode you are using (normal is default), that your sensitivity is 4 or less, and adjust your threshold until you get the background hum where you want it (to include going negative if needed)…..and then adjust those settings as needed over a good test target. The Axiom can operate easily with other machines near it, as long as that frequency scan is done properly. Above all else check this forum for guides to using the Axiom, there are videos and basic instructions that will get you where you want to be.

Very shrewd of Minelab to go this route doing back to back sales in the second quarter following a competitor’s new release, but also very telling. I hope the end-result is more innovation. I like your swipe at the 5000 pricing, that’s the one that should have dropped down into the 30-45% off range. Steep learning curve but a no-brainer for someone looking for an established piece of gold detecting hardware.

Since the mono isn’t stock you’re going to buy it separately and it’s rare to come across one second hand so you will pay full price which is still hovering around $450. Do yourself a favor, find a used ATX deepseeker kit which will come with both the DD and a large mono. These kits are common on eBay and you can usually get a pretty good deal for a lightly used machine. The big mono isn’t what you are looking for but it will give you an idea of how monos will perform on the ATX without shelling out $450 to try the two smaller size options….. Or like I and others have advised countless times go and get an Axiom. The Axiom is a direct port of all the impressive capabilities of the ATX, but amped-up in a lighter and sleeker package. I still own my ATX but I refuse to shell out $450 to find out how I like the mono coils when the DD works very well and doesn’t neuter some key functions of the machine. Even better, since you only seem to care about hunting with a mono go get the SDC. You will do fine with it, you will enjoy the simplicity.

I am getting the feeling from some of the recent real world use Axiom posts that a lot of “holy s#!t” type comments are in our collective future regarding the Axiom’s sensitivity. I am excited to see the coils that people come up with. I think Steve and others posting on Garret’s seemingly muted strategy to not oversell the capabilities of the machine and just let people be pleasantly surprised will pay off so long as build quality remains consistent. For beach use, especially with a scoop in tow, I am probably getting an 11 x 7 DD (I want one anyway). I was noticing detecting in my 1 acre property that my T-handled digger needed to be well outside the swing of my 13 x 11 DD or the detector would pick it up. I am surprised to hear the DD still had issues with EMI in pinpoint….what were you experiencing, a warble or something? What you said about the mono being too hot on a beach jives with the power I think this machine has. It’s a PI so you’re digging it all, but like you I am going through the learning curve of listening to what the target sound is telling me. What I am seeing is that the iron check feature is pretty darn accurate. That won’t save you from aluminum and clad, but it helps. PI on the beach is all about depth, seeing what the VLF missed or passed by. What would you say you are seeing as far as accuracy of where the detector is saying the target is located? Are you getting slower/faster recovery between targets from previous PI machines? If it’s screaming on a target at depth that’s both awesome and also a little disconcerting….part of that learning curve for target response. Great write up, thank you for this!

The Axiom comes with either an 11” x 7” Mono/DD and 13” x 11” Mono/DD out of the box depending on the U.S. or International package you choose. A 16” x 14 “ Mono/DD is also available, so I don’t know what you mean by the coil selection sucking compared to the SDC 2300’s 8” hard-wired Mono with no other options from Minelab. The SDC 2300 is an excellent easy to learn and use detector. There was a video from one of the Axiom testers where an Axiom and SDC 2300 were placed head to head against both hot rocks and small gold targets. The SDC was able to find all of the targets that the Axiom could and was able to balance out all of the magnetite found at the site, whereas some of the hot rocks still generated a target/overload signal on the Axiom. The Axiom would have been able to balance out those signals without a doubt, but the point of the video was to show the stability of the SDC without any user input. The difference between the two detectors aside from the weight/ergonomics is that the SDC is a set and forget detector that may run into issues with ground it cannot manage. The Axiom, on the other hand, can be tuned to work wherever you plan to hunt, and it’s EMI handling is a direct port from the impressive capabilities of the Garrett ATX. The Axiom has a future of upgrades that will eventually unlock its potential, the SDC 2300 is finished firmware/software/hardware that does what it was intended to do and will likely see no improvements at any point in the future.

Lovely pieces, glad you were able to get out and find them. My guess is 1.29. Oh, and not to re-state the obvious but that tiny hard to weigh nugget was detected by the Axiom? Roughly what depth?

Absolutely not something I want to be reading about for an initial launch, especially in a market as critical to the improvement/advancement of the sport. The timing couldn’t be worse either, what with you being so far afield during the holiday period with no backup plan. This is one of those situations where if I was an exclusive dealer I’d be driving to your location wearing a ramshackle Santa Clause outfit, a new and pre-tested Axiom, and a free WR-1 I’d be charging on the way up. This sort of thing is inevitable with the first run of any new electronics, though the situation isn’t usually so dire. What I want to see is how Garrett reacts and makes it right. If they are given a reasonable way to react to whatever is going on with your unit, since they can’t give you back your lost time. While I agree that the price paid should indicate premium quality, any one of a thousand things can happen in initial production. They can’t be faulted for the pickle you’re in, but they can be for the equipment not working. I want the Axiom to work in Australia because then we might start to see some competition driving innovation towards both the hobby and professional sides of metal detecting.

Thank you. I will tell you I bought an ATX in 2018 based off your thoughts on the machine’s versatility and capability back when it first came out (especially how it handled EMI in Oahu). Weight aside, it’s a solid detector that fills a niche. When I saw Garrett involving you in testing and improving the Axiom that was enough for me to make a decision. This is a powerful detector, I cannot believe how much user adjustment they’ve packed into such a simple interface.

Thank you. Well it’s too early for me to call the Axiom a complete success. I consider myself a Beta-Plus tester since first production always spurs some changes. I could not in good conscience expect perfection, but I know from past experience Garrett honors their warranty. For me as long as the internals are solid that’s all I care about, and on my light test in the backyard those internals are powerful. Garrett put some solid tech in our hands.

Just received my Axiom from UPS (20 DEC 22) and wanted to check if the washer was an issue. No USB-C blocking and no tool marks, definitely looks the same as what others posted but mine didn’t need adjustment. Still appreciate people looking for this sort of issue and identifying user solutions. I’ll review mine soon but I wanted to note that the dust cover for the USB port seems very sturdy with nice little rubber teeth on the edge to grip down on the housing. It’s more an insert than a cover, and it was something I was nervous about based on Steve Herschbach’s review of his test unit. Everything about this detector screams tester involvement in improving the device. In July I was determined on purchasing a GPX 6000, and it was due to loving my ATX but hating the weight of it. I read Steve’s posts about making a lightweight ATX over and over and then the GPX 6000 showed up and while it didn’t have the user control of an ATX it had the majority of the other features I wanted…..then suddenly the Axiom popped up and it was a no-brainer.