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I bought somebody's GPX 4500. It came with 4 coils. Then I realized that I don't have a clue what are the strengths and weakness of the different coil configurations. What are some general principals to guide folks in matching coils to the situations that they encounter? I don't recall having seen any guidance on this. Thanks

I presume you are using the 4500 PI because you want depth. Otherwise you would use VLF with target ID. If you want depth then the larger monos are your coils. Iron discrim doesnt work very well at depth anyway.

I've been doing a lot of testing between the 4500, 6000 & Axiom over the last month or so. What I'm seeing is the 6000 is better on small gold up to about the .50 gram point. From .50 grams and up they are pretty equal until the targets really start getting deep, then the Axiom is doing better. Both machines are limited by coils at this point. Smaller coil on the Axiom and it may be right on par with the 6000 on small gold. Same goes for big deep gold. If a bigger coil was available for the 6000, it might be right on par with the Axiom. Now mind you this is not backed by actual in field wild targets, but I still think it's a pretty good reflection of actual conditions. I will say for the range of metal detecting I do with a PI, which includes gold prospecting, beach hunting and relic hunting, the Axiom is the best overall.

That's why I'm not overly concerned, although having it connected would never hurt, as they say better to be safe than sorry, especially on a stupidly high-priced piece of equipment. It certainly made a difference on my poorly shielded 4500. If you had a choice, it may or may not improve performance, but it can't hurt and could very well be beneficial, which would you choose?

My favorite coil for relic hunting on the 4500 is the 14" Coiltek DD, stock 11 DD is the my favorite.

Rick, I am going to start with the 12" X 8" platypus DD coil until I get use to the 4500, then switch to the 11" mono coil to see what I find. When it comes to Minelabs, I have used the SD2000, SD2100, SD2200, and GP3500, but those were used to hunt gold nuggets in Arizona. I have been playing with the GPX 4500, with the 11" mono coil and I am really impressed. I think the biggest coil that I am going to use is the 15" X 12" mono.

The BIG part of the appeal of the Algoforce for me was the ability to run GPX coils, hands down this is a very attractive feature of the detector, there are so many great GPX coils out there, and I already had plenty of them. It's the problem I see with some other detectors, starting a coil collection all over again, and the costs associated with that. For me at least, seeing I already had coils the detector ended up very cheap for what it is. I have a 12" spiral X-coil, I haven't even tried that on it yet other than calibrating it, sounds like you're really liking your 12" NF spiral Norvic, I should give my X-coil a fair go, I did like that coil on my 4500.

The soil on this property is pretty mild, and very little modern debris. The Deus 1, is doing pretty good. I am going to go over a section with the Deus 11" X35 coil, then go over the same area with the 4500 and 11" DD coil. Next week is going to be in 60's and 70's, so perfect weather for detecting. I think I am going to get a metal detector harness so I won't wear out my arm. One thing for sure, the older I get, the better I was. At 66 years old, I don't swing like I use to.

Sadie and 14x9" EVO were the pick of the bunch there, no surprises. The video did a good job of showing the weakness of the 4500 on prickly gold as a bit that size the 4500 would normally give a good signal on, yet that bit next to nothing, he should have put the little bit closer to the coil on the Algo like he did on the 4500 though, that would have been a good demonstration. It does demonstrate ground that's only had the older GPX series over it there is hope for an Algo to pick up some gold missed.

Its a shame that Kev from Staffs detecting has retired,have purchased many coils and detectors from him over the years,mainly GPX coils for my TDI Pro,may favourite is the ultra lightweight Coiltek 14x9 Mono but that would not suit detecting in the surf as the coil is foam filled and would float like a cork......my latest purchase from Kevin was my GPX 4500 in amazing condition. End of a era.

VMI went out today, it was beautiful. Wanted to do a bunch of testing and comparisons on coils and depths between a vlf and pi. ( So i know where the cross over is ). When I got to the stock 11" dd commander for my 4500 it didn't work. I mean I waved it two inches off my pick before it responded! I looked the whole thing over but can't find the reset button. Any words of wisdom? I've included pics top and bottom for reference. And fat fingered the pics, sorry. I think I'm going to ever so carefully take it apart with a two pound hammer and see if I can find the problem. On the other hand I can now fully justify a new aftermarket.🤠

Hi. Yeah I know what you mean. I think though, myself anyway, it was scant with most others too. I recall months of seeing coils waved backwards and forwards over buried targets on test patches and air tests no end. Probably for my eyes since the 4500 when youtubies and "give me likes" up until now. So my attitude isn't called into question let me add that I appreciate things iv seen here so far. And, iv ordered one and said bye bye to some yellow today. Hey, that could be that I sold some banana's. Or corn. 😁 I did hear from a good mate that a couple of guys he is mates with got the Algo and reckon its ok. They don't give much away settings and stuff wise but I'll trust em as I know who they are. Its aint no WOW machine but I reckon it'll do me these days.

So I'm in Idaho and dont see Algoforce making any inroads here for a at least a few months. What can I do to upgrade my gpx 4500 ? Don't have any aftermarket coils but I'm working on it. Are any upgrades going to be worth it? I have have learned a lot on this forum and thank everyone for posting their knowledge. I don't always have the time to geek out on the subtleties that might give me an edge. Yes I have found gold and do my research. I guess I'm asking if the aftermarket coils are worth it?

As long as the nugget has the right shape and mass the Axiom can see some pretty small stuff. At .03 grams you are about at it's limit. I've got quite a few nuggets in the .02 to .04 gram size I've tried with the Axiom and about half of them it will see and the other half it won't. The Axiom pretty much blows the 4500/5000 away on the small stuff and is way nicer to swing.

Unless you're going to areas that haven't seen much detector activity, they've likely seen the older GPX series go over them many times, and that's the problem, it's going to be hard to find much gold if any. The GPX 5000 is a brilliant detector, but it's not going to find something that it's already found before and that's where newer detectors and even coils have helped people, finding gold that was missed with earlier models. I'm not saying you won't find gold with a 5000, you likely will, especially if you put the effort in and perhaps find some ground that was missed for whatever reason, it's a big country, surely a coil hasn't covered every drop of gold bearing ground. Your odds are just higher with a detector that hasn't had so much use in the area. Around here the ground I've detected was heavily hit with the earlier GP and GPX series, I came along late to the party and tried with the 4500, while I did find the occasional bit that was missed for whatever reason it was a struggle, changing to the GPZ and 6000 changed that and I was finding way more gold than ever before. I preferred using my Gold Monster and Equinox over my 4500 for this reason, they were finding me more gold than the earlier GPX detectors. I don't know how the Axiom would go for you but if it finds gold the 5000 misses which I believe it does, then it may be a better choice, and Gerry from Gerrys detectors has one for sale at the moment for a great price. He also has the 5000, 6000 and 7000 for sale in that lot, with the 6000 and 7000 worth looking into if they meet your budget.

hi guy's i have a question i need an answer for. i want to purchase a gpx 5000 for big targets under 1.5 meter, but i heard some people talk about "Eddy Current". They claim it affect gpx detectors; therefore is not good for hunting big relics! What do you think?

For various reasons I'm going over metal detecting stuff and gun stuff at the same time. And it occurred to me that an analogy could be made. 95 percent of people that hunt can't shoot as accurately as their gun can. Buying a sub minute accurate rifle for hunting is generally a waste of money unless you practice and are dialed in to your rifle at at all ranges. Spending the money on a $1500+ dollar rifle is not going to make you any better if you don't improve your own game. How many of you out there are hoping to to find the big nugget because you spent $7000 + dollars for new technology that you don't learn to use? I'm not trying to bash anyone, but rather encourage learning the machine you have to to get optimum results. And there is certainly a cost/ benefit equation. I don't detect enough to justify a gpz but have used a used 4500 enough to to get my money out of it if only for the satisfaction of the hunt. My wife and I have spent countless hours using an Equinox 800 and have been fully rewarded for our efforts if only for the time spent learning the machine. The ultimate goal is to come away with a profit ( monetary or historical ) and that is why it is worth while to pursue. I want to find gold..but I know that I have to research, practice and spend the time with the coil to the ground and pay attention to what I'm doing, hearing, and the results I get. I know this isn't technical and a deep dive into electronics but i would like to hear back from some you that make a living or spend a lot of time dedicated to this game.

Being in Idaho and around MT or Eastern OR. A good DD coil will allow you to hunt in hand workings and tailing piles. If your 4500 came with stock coils, there should be an 11" DD with it. If not, I would suggest a Commander 10" Ellip DD. What's cool about that coil (many folks don't know), is you can actually run it in MONO mode and get half the coil to use as a small MONO for tiny gold. And as mentioned before, it also will fit the upcoming AlgoForce. DD coils seem to be overlooked by many, but in the right places and the Iron ID setting option of the 4500, you can save some time when hunting.

Okay....as I wipe my brow from exasperation......... I did this little 2-Part comparison of these two PIs mostly for me. The GPX 4000, 4500, 4800 and 5000 are detectors that I am familiar with. The Garrett Axiom is fairly new for me. However, I have already seen in person what it can do on smaller sub gram gold nuggets after finding some on my last trip to Arizona. I did not know what else it might be capable of so I did these tests. I also thought maybe some others on this forum might be interested in what the Axiom was reasonably capable of too. So I figured I would post these comparisons on here just as a public service. I immediately got comments about which one is the winner....etc, which was the farthest thing from my mind. Now this has even sparked a how deep can a VLF go and even a VLF versus PI depth debate. OK. Like Chase said, these two tests showed one thing only. They showed what these detectors could do on a hand picked set of targets, at hand picked depths at a hand picked moderately mineralized site that was semi frozen, meaning there was substantial moisture in that erosion cut. Maybe the results would be different at the same spot on a dry soil day and at temperatures well above freezing. Who knows. The second test does show basically a two to one (plus or minus an inch or so) depth ratio between the PIs used and the VLF used. Cool. What I wanted to find out for myself was basically......is the Axiom a competitive PI detector on sub gram and multi gram targets compared to a GPX 4000 with the 4000 using timings and settings that are currently still available on the GPX 4500 and 5000. Like I said repeatedly, Deus 2 was just along for the ride. Y'all can keep going with whatever you want to prove or not.

Hi Guys, Happy Australia Day!! Kind of cool to have another Aussie developed PI raising some eyebrows today. I should start by saying that unfortunately, FCC testing has not been done yet, so the product cannot be sold to the US at this point in time. But is available to NZ customers - so ignore my email Simon 😉 I have done a little testing on the E1500, and a few of my features/suggestions were added in, but the detector was already quite developed when I was approached for some feedback. There was a software update and then the user manual needed to be updated to include the changes. I've only had limited time on the latest version, but here's some info that will get you up to speed a little bit. 1. First of all, performance wise, this thing sits between a Gold Monster/Gold Kruzer and SDC2300. It is extremely sensitive to tiny targets, but depth won't match a 5000/6000 on large targets. I think the SDC2300 will remain superior in really bad soil conditions, but the E1500 is quite adjustable (broad sensitivity range), and obviously with different coil options, e.g. round/elliptical/semi-elliptical and flat wound/bundle wound, you can kind of dictate the performance a little bit. 2. It is for mono coils only, but works very well. Coil calibration feature is a nice touch, and optimises the electronics for any slight variations between coils. It will also tell you if you need to calibrate or not. 3. Current wise it draws about 700 ma on average, so a 10 AH power bank should run for about 13-14 hrs. Great for guys hiking into remote spots with no power. Just carry three power banks and you're good to go for days. 4. Tested on a 0.05g bit of gold and the E1500 was better than a 4500. With a Sadie coil it is super sensitive, and the tone modulation is very sharp. With an older Minelab 11" super gold search coil, depth is improved, but signal sharpness is not as good, but runs extremely stable. The 14x9" Evo seems to be a great coil for it. I think a Detech 8" mono, Minelab 8" Mono and NF 12x7" Advantage would be the pick of the coils for really hot ground, as they are bundle wound. Possibly add in the old Coiltek 11" round terracotta, and Minelab Commander and earlier Super Gold Search. But in average mineralised conditions, the Evo coils work great. 5. Hotrocks. A 6000 with 11" Mono is a little more immune to hotrocks than the E1500 with Sadie coil in Ultra Fine timing. With a slower timing, and larger coil, hot rocks are far less detectable as you'd expect. But, being a PI it is vastly superior to a VLF. 6. The shaft and hand grip feel great. 2 arm strap sizes is excellent and should cater for most people. 7. Buttons feel really nice. They have a very positive click about them. 8. The Auto ground balance works great, but is on the slower side. Slower than 4500. This is a ground balance reset only, i.e. after it has ground balanced, the ground balance is locked - just like a GP/GPX machine in Fixed. It is not continuously tracking like the SDC2300 or 6000. However, you can see when the ground balance is going out with the Ground Drift function - so it is sort of tracking in the background, but it's up to the user to reset it. 9. Interference with other detectors - I've only been out once with another prospector who was using a GPZ7000 with a 12" NF coil. We found that I needed to be about 10 metres away, that's with a Sadie on the E1500. Any closer and the GPZ would start to pick it up. 10. The Sensitivity range is great. I expect most people are going to run it in the low 20's, but in super quiet conditions, 26-30 are kind of like boost. I've got a lot more testing I'd like to do, and still playing around with headphone options, but having independent threshold and volume controls as well as adjustable tone, it should be able to adapt to pretty much any wired or wireless options. The target ID feature was demo'd to me, and appeared to be quite stable, but I haven't played around with it much at this point. So what is? It is a very well built PI machine, with a collapsible 3 pc shaft, has the benefit of being compatible with legacy 5-pin coils, a very well thought out user interface with a simple menu, and all the important functions you need. It is not waterproof, and doesn't have built in wireless, and comes as a bare bones kit, but all these things have allowed it to be offered at an attractive price point. It is not a deep machine. If you want depth on a budget, get a S/H 4500 or 5000 with a 20" mono or 25" DD. If you want to find small gold as well as specimens and reefy gold, then the AlgoForce E1500 is worth a look. Hope that gives you a bit of a better understanding of its capabilities. Yes, I plan on doing some videos so you can see how it behaves and what it sounds like.

Both the GPX 4500 and GPX 6000 have no issues with carrot. My Axion on the other hand does. Relic hunting the other day I did a noise cancel twice with the pinpointer on. Then turn it off until I found the next target. As soon as I turned the pinpointer on the Axiom went nuts again. I finally just started turning the Axiom off while I pinpointed the target in the bottom of the hole. Not a huge deal, but is a little frustrating.

Simon, I feel if you are comparing performance of the 6000, the 7000 and the E-1500, then you are 100% correct and for those who already own them, they'll be happy with what they already have. Here are a couple reasons why I think the E-1500 will beat out the 6000/7000 and you already shown us. EMI and Power Lines - I personally have 4 sites I hunt and try my best to get as close to those power lines as possible. I have yet to get decent performance out of my other detectors because of the power lines. 2 of those sites have produced multi ounces pieces, so you know where I'll be heading when time comes with an E-1500. I also know guys in AZ who try to detect gold in or around the military facilities and EMI is serious. Sure you can dumb down the detector, but then depth is compromised to a point, a VLF could be used, but the hot rocks make that extremely hard. The E-1500 Digital readout system. That one feature right there will allow me to hunt some of the hand placer mining of old and also tailing piles. Both have more trash than many can handle with a traditional 6000 or 7000. Those high dollar detectors, even though has top performance, are lacking any potential target identification help. Again, you have shown me enough to realize the importance of this feature. Sure it's not 100%, no machine is. But my last few years of gold recovery, most ounces recovered has been with ID detectors or with the aid of such, to save me time and energy. Having the option of a Pulse Induction detector to handle hot rocks and has a form of target ID is right down my alley. The guys who enjoy fishing as their favorite hobby, have at least 4 different rods. Heck, I don't even fish as often now, but still, have my 3 heavy duty sturgeon rods, 2 ultra light crappie rigs, my 2 Steelhead and Salmon poles, 2 bass outfits, and 3 trout rods. I have another 3 or 4 fly fishing rods. Other favorite hobbies we enjoy with multiple tools, guns. We won't even go there, but the bucks some folks drop on the various weapons, is eye opening to some. I actually feel many folks who already own a 6000 and or even 7000, will certainly want the E-1500. If anything, just for price point and having someone come along and join them, they can hand them an E-1500. Even as we are patiently waiting, some of the guys on my list for an E-1500 already have the 6000 or 7000 and a couple own both. I totally agree 100% with your last part of post and the new prospectors getting into a PI. I also see many previous customers swinging VLF type detectors now wanting to step up. They don't have to try and chase down a half worn out and heavy GPX-4500 for $1500 and then hope there are no issues with it. The E-1500 easily fits that bill as well. Sure a good running 4500 will find a bigger solid placer nugget a little deeper, but as been mentioned many times over, those are now the rare finds. We've been hunting those areas with capable depth/power PI's for 30 yrs. I get your point though as you are letting folks know, this price point PI is not going to match overall depth of a 6000 or 7000. I don't expect that either, especially for the price point. We'll have to wait for the E-2500 model and then we could be doing some serious overall comparisons.

You could also get your 4500 modified by Woody of Detector Mods. Redz has mentioned Woody's EMI filter. D4G

I ran the Steelphase sp01 with my 4500, it allowed keeping the detector volume low while boosting the audio with the amplifier, this makes it run a little more stable. It also means you've got extra cords all over the place, it's a nice thing to have but I don't think it's critical. I haven't used mine in ages now. The coils will give you more of a boost than a booster will 🙂

Most certainly aftermarket coils are worth it, a bulk of the aftermarket manufacturers mostly only make spiral wound coils now, they're more sensitive to small gold than the bundle wound Commander coils supplied with your detector, they also give a bit more depth on the sizes of gold the spiral windings help on. They also make sizes that very greatly from the standard sizes, and to top it off they're generally better build quality. It all depends what you do, and where you hunt to recommending sizes and coils is difficult, although people in your area may help there. The added bonus is if you ever find the need to buy an Algoforce you'll be able to use them on it too. The Nugget Finder 8x6" Sadie has always been a popular choice for a small coil, the 9" Coiltek Elite is probably the most sensitive of the spirals readily available, closely followed by the 12x8" Nugget Finder, these smaller spirals can be a bit noisy in some bad ground though and the 14x9" EVO by Nugget Finder is a popular choice for general use, it's significantly more sensitive than the 11' Commander coil on small gold too. The bigger deep gold hunters tend to go for the 15" or 17" spirals and then there are the monster size coils available if that's your thing. An alternative battery setup might be worth it too, although if you're considering getting an Algoforce probably not worth the spend on that, as the Algoforce will be able to hit on gold the 4500 won't. The 4500 with a big coil I think will hit on gold deeper than the Algoforce though, so both would complement each other.