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They could just release bigger coils for the 7000, it works really well with bigger coils than they've produced. Even their approved aftermarket coils tap out at 17x13", when the stock coil is 14x13' so it's not really much to add, the 19" heavy thing being their best bigger deep gold coil, they could lighten that up significantly to make it more appealing. There is plenty they could do, instead they'll just try prevent others from doing it even when they have no intentions of doing so.

You have to have a detector that can find what is left in the known gold patches. The E1500 and my X-coils have a chance at it if you learn to use them. Both of them seem to be pushing conventional detecting to new limits. No doubt the ergonomics of the E1500 are superior to the 7000. That and the price will bring back the fun factor for people to get the remaining bits. After these machines deplete the fields will my sons be able to look forward to more detectors that will consistently break the .01g barrier in 5-6 years?

I’m regularly picking up specs in the Central Vic goldfields between 0.01-0.02g at 1-2 inches with the 7000 + 8” X-Coils in HY/difficult/sens18-20/ths30 (variable ground in my area masks tiny stuff in normal), but it certainly won’t pay the bills. Hoovering up the tiny stuff is fun for a while, but gets old pretty quick if that’s all you’re finding. It’s a relief to hit on a target that’s bigger and deeper even if it turns out to be a bit of trash. The little ones often lead to the bigger ones though, so it’ll be interesting to hear how the E1500 transitions across the spectrum of tiny specs to bigger-deeper stuff in variable ground. For the price/weight/ergonomics, it sure seems like a bargain.

Well then XP are doomed! On another note, I've seen a report elsewhere now whereby a guy tested his newly arrived Algoforce on an 0.01 of a gram nugget with the 12x8" NF EVO, and picked it up at about 5cm, so, it's quite possible it's exceeding the 6000 and 7000 with aftermarket coils performance on small gold. I'll soon find out. Mines landed in NZ, and now customs officers are sitting there in awe admiring it.

Sounds like most of the detectors and coils announced in the last ten years! My crystal ball says GPZ 8000 for $12,000 announced by end of the year, available in 2025. Detects a 36 ounce nugget deeper than a GPZ 7000. Just that one nugget will easily pay for it! The E1500 will be available for purchase in states within 90 days. If I am wrong on any of that I will fully refund every dime you have paid for my prediction.

My personal experience with the axiom and coils. With out doubt the axiom blows the 7000 out of the water on small gold, and I've pick a few dinks out of a patch creamed by a 6000, not saying the axiom is better or the 6000 is better on small gold, alot of different scenarios at play for a creamed patch, maybe the coil didn't scan at the right places. One dink was 0.4 grain at 2.5" using the 11" dd. Which I find the 11 dd is far more sensitive than the 11 mono for small gold. I'm hoping for a sensitive coil like the dd but edge sensitive like a mono. Last week I hit a few specimens one was in a hole drop a detector scrape, and the other was next to a detector hole that was 12-13" down. Maybe the prospector who scanned that area was sloppy? Overall I like my axiom and I don't run my sdc2300 anymore on an occasion I'll run my 7000. Like i mentioned earlier I would like a coil for the axiom sensitive like the 11 dd fc coils but edge sensitive like a mono coil.

If only they were about a 7000 successor!

No I hate the GPX 6000 DD coil and only used it long enough to decide I hated it. Hate is a strong word I rarely use but that coil truly sucks so it is appropriate. I do most ferrous vs non-ferrous work with all PI detectors strictly with my ear. I never use the Minelab or Axiom ferrous functions as totally untrustworthy for nugget detecting. I have seen 1/4 ounce plus gold nuggets called ferrous by those type systems and that's too much money to give up based on a poor result. Missing a bullet or a coin is one thing, missing a $500 nugget another. I honestly forget the feature exists as I never use it. Since I am going by tones only the E1500 method of supplementing that audio indication with a 0-99 number plus a continuous response graph the E1500 will in my mind only supplement and improve what I am already doing. It will add a visual to my audio information and should allow me to be even more accurate. It does not make me rely on the detector saying good or bad, it only adds to what I am already doing. I'll simply look at the target id number and watch what that graph is doing in addition to hearing what I am hearing, and make better decisions. That's the plan at least. It is like hunting with full tones and VLF - I do not like notching out targets, just give me all the info and let me decide. DD coils stopped being a thing in nugget hunting circles starting with the GPX 4000, when Minelab started optimizing for mono as almost always getting better depth than DD coils. So while the relic hunters and such in urban areas will maybe miss DD, almost everyone I know runs mono 99% of the time anyway. The only DD I played with much in the last decade as been the Axiom 7x11 FC DD because of it's unique features, but at end of day I have gone back the the 7x11 mono as being deeper and having more consistent audio responses. I also very much like monos as they allow me to eliminate small surface targets with a double blip signal as these small surface targets pass under each edge of the coil. It is an immense aid in not digging surface trash as I focus on targets that only read in the center of the coil, which means they are larger and have depth to them. I am currently using an Infinium with 14x10 mono at Tahoe because I eliminate all the surface light aluminum foil targets and hair pins with this methodology, only digging centered softer targets that are the deeper better ones I am after. It’s a specific type of discrimination I find extremely usual and I can only do it with mono coils due to the edge sensitive nature of the coil. I got the Infinium for Tahoe because the Axiom is actually too powerful and overloads with the mono coils, forcing me to use the DD coil. Not a problem with the Infinium, nor as a side note, the Impulse AQ, which uses an 11” mono. Lived that detector but refuse to get another until Fisher sorts that mess out, so Infinium it was. That 14x10 mono is one of the sweetest I’ve ever run. So while I fully appreciate what you and Jeff are saying I personally will not even notice lack of DD capability as I really don't use them anyway. In the last 20 years of PI detecting I'd say I have had a mono coil on my various PI detectors for 99% of the hours run and that is a lot of hours. I have to except the GPZ 7000 and the DOD coil because except for X-Coil that is all you can run on a GPZ 7000.

New thread please. Refer to zillions of threads about old SD GP and GPX modded machines and GPZ 7000 threads, some quite recent. There are plenty of deep seeking options but this thread is for people interested in this detector, not whatever Minelab it is that you all are wanting.

I do what I can to foster competition that develops alternatives to the all too common VLF detector. There are plenty of options out there, but in my opinion they all weigh too much or cost too much. Usually both. I envision people out there with a popular VLF metal detector for beach, relic, or gold detecting. These machines all sell for around $700 and weigh 2.5 - 3.9 lbs. Perhaps they would like to add a ground balancing PI (GBPI) to what they have. I think that for "normal people" with normal budgets a machine under $2K and under four pounds just makes sense. It would be more than twice what they spent for their VLF, and in this day and age there is no reason why a decent PI should weigh over 4 lbs. I am drawing the hard line at 5 lbs. I am setting under 4 lbs more as an aspirational goal that I think can be achieved, but recognize that battery power and coils are key inhibiting factors in high power PI systems that may make sacrifices in depth necessary to get total weight under 4 lbs. To clarify what I am talking about here, I should say that for many people a $700 VLF detector is a great place to start and in many cases is all a person ever needs. However, there are places where extreme ground mineralization and mineralized rocks (hot rocks) severely impede the performance and use of VLF detectors. Alternative technology to deal with these conditions has been developed, by far the most familiar being the Minelab ground balancing PI (GBPI) detectors. These differ from common PI detectors by having the ability to ground balance. Other brands have offered the Garrett Infinium (discontinued) plus Garrett ATX and the White's TDI models. These detectors are used not just for gold prospecting but also by relic hunters, beach detectorists, and others who face challenges regarding ground mineralization and VLF detectors. Frankly, in my opinion GBPI technology is largely maxed out. The main room for improvement comes now in better ergonomics at lower prices. This challenge therefore limits detectors to those that weigh under 4 pounds with battery included, and which sell brand new with warranty after discounts for under US$2000. Detectors need not be ground balancing PI models, but must offer similar ability to ignore mineralized ground and hot rocks that trouble VLF detectors. I am going to rate detectors as to their relative performance using what I call the "Minelab Rating Scale. Details here. 1. Minelab SD 2000 - crude first version, very poor on small gold, excellent on large deep gold 2. Minelab SD 2100 - vastly refined version of SD 2000 3. Minelab SD 2200 (all versions) - adds crude iron disc, ground tracking 4. Minelab GP Extreme - adds greatly improved sensitivity to small gold, overall performance boost. 5. Minelab GP 3000 - Refined GP Extreme 6. Minelab GP 3500 - Greatly refined GP 3000, last and best of analog models 7. Minelab GPX 4000 - First digital interface, rock solid threshold 8. Minelab GPX 4500 - Refined GPX 4000, solid performer 9. Minelab GPX 4800 - Released at same time as GPX 5000 as watered down version 10. Minelab GPX 5000 - Culmination of the series, current pinnacle of GBPI prospecting machine technology. All Minelab models leverage an existing base of over 100 coil options from tiny to huge. I am a very practical person when it comes to detecting. I know all the existing models and options by all brands very well, perhaps better than almost anyone. This is the way I look at it is this. If I personally were to spend a lot of money to go gold prospecting for one month, and needed a GBPI detector, considering machines past and present, what would I get and in what order of choice? Put aside concerns of age, warranty, etc. just assume functioning detectors. Here is the issue in a nutshell. On the Minelab scale of one to ten as listed above, I would be generous in rating the White's TDI SL as a 2. Same with the Garrett Infinium which I will mention in passing as it is no longer being made. If I was going to spend a month of my time and a lot of money going on a prospecting trip, I would choose a TDI in any version over the SD 2000. I might go with a TDI Pro over a SD 2100 but I would have to think real hard about that, and when push comes to shove I would go SD 2100 were it not for the realities of age I said to ignore. A newer TDI Pro might be a better bet than a very old SD 2100 from a reliability standpoint, but again, this would be a tough choice. The TDI SL not really. In my opinion I would be shooting myself in the foot to go on this hypothetical trip with a TDI SL instead of a SD 2100. You see the problem now? The Garrett ATX fares better. I would rate it a 3, roughly analogous to the SD 2200 variants. Still an agonizing choice really and the ATX being new versus SD 2200 being old might again be the tipping point, but from a pure prospecting options perspective the case can be made that the SD 2200 might be the better way to go. The problem for this challenge is the ATX weighs way over 4 lbs and sells for slightly over $2000. The price is close enough really but the 7 lb weight is way off. That's it folks. That is reality. The best of the best that the competition can offer can only go solidly up against models Minelab has not made in years. I am not saying that to be mean or as some kind of Minelab toadie, that is my pure unvarnished opinion as a guy who is pretty well versed on the subject. Let's bring it all home. This person with the $700 machine really, really wants that under 4 lb, under $2K GBPI machine, but if they do their homework they discover that truthfully, they would be better off shopping for a used Minelab than what the competition offers new. With the TDI SL rated as a 2 the ATX in a much lighter box at under $2K is a solid win as a 3. A well designed ATX with standard dry land coils would look very enticing as compared to the GP series Minelabs. But Garrett refuses to budge! White's can certainly do something, anything to improve the TDI SL. A battery that lasts all day would be a good start. In the end they are limited by the basic single channel design of the machine. The SD 2000 dual channel design was literally the answer to and the improvement on the single channel technology used in the TDI, the basics of which predate the SD 2000. Still, White's currently owns the under 4 lb under $2K GBPI category so they have the first out of the starting gate advantage. Anything they do would at the very least just show they have not given up. The Minelab MPS patent that formed the basis of the SD series has expired. Not sure about DVT, which formed the basis of the GP series. Where is the competition? What the heck is going on here? Much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair is going on here, that's what!!! That is my challenge to the manufacturers. Under 4 lbs, under $2K, on the 1-10 scale I am offering, what is the best you can do? The TDI SL as a 2? Really? Yes, really, that is currently the best of the best in the brand new ground balancing PI, full warranty, under 4 lb, under $2k category. You can pick up a 3.5 lb TDI SL right now brand new for $1049. The White's TDI SL takes the crown. Note that a challenger has a half pound of weight they can add to the TDI SL and still make the 4 lb mark, and retail can be almost double the $1049 of the TDI SL and still come in at the 2K mark. I therefore do not think my challenge is outright crazy. Hopefully we will see more competition in this wide open category soon. I have been beating this drum for years to no avail, but I do have reason to believe we are finally going to see more alternatives soon. I hope. Maybe? All I know is I have had it. I sold both my 6.9 lb Garrett ATX and 7.2 lb Minelab GPZ 7000 and am boycotting metal detectors that weigh over 5 lbs from here on out. I don’t care how well they work, I simply refuse to buy such heavy beasts anymore. In the future I will support and give my dollars to companies that pay attention to and prioritize lightweight, more ergonomic designs. White's Electronics TSI SL metal detector

I couldn't agree with Steve and Karelian more. This whole has to be the best or shouldn't exist attitude is somewhat bizarre, we'd all be driving Lamborghini's or something if we followed that chain of thought through life, yet what do most people drive? very cheap cars by comparison. It's the same with metal detectors, a majority of people aren't running the highest price models there is and a big hole was in the market where this detector slots right in are people that didn't even buy one as they were too expensive. I've been hoping for something like this for a long time. Since then, I was hoping Garrett, Fisher or Nokta would be doing it, I've been trying to encourage Nokta to take it on knowing there is a big gap in the market, Nokta appear like they're well on their way but they don't yet have PI experience other than a pinpointer but they have a proven track record of excelling when they focus on a product. Fisher is still tinkering away, well not so much Fisher as Alexandre although he may not even end up with Fisher and who knows if and when his AQ Gold will ever hit the market. Out of nowhere comes Algoforce with basically the product I've been hoping for, it ticks the boxes. And the focus of detectors now is smaller gold with that being the reason the 6000 is so popular now, people are finding lots of little stuff and going home with something in their bottles, the 6000, the Axiom, they're not extremely deep machines, but are hot on small gold, if you want depth on big deep gold there are plenty of options, right back to the SD's or grab a GPX 4500/5000 and big coil. For someone on a small budget they have the option now of owning something like a used GPX and an Algoforce and still have plenty of change in their pocket from a 6000 or 7000 purchase, between the two detectors they have most bases covered. Something I will appreciate is the fixed ground balance, being in milder soils the 6000 and its tracking is a frustration. I've complained about the lack of a way to "fix" the balance from the start so this to me is a bonus, the manual ground grab is fantastic for me. I have now spoken to Ruifeng, what a great guy, very clued on and I can see their detector being a great success, He's as enthusiastic about their detector being as good as it can be as I am about it existing, all the gray nomads driving around in their Caravan's that want to have a go at looking for gold but can't justify or afford the price of a Minelab machine, they now have a great option, people like me that hunt a lot of small gold and would like fixed ground balance and have a good selection of GPX coils already, perfect! Let's not forget, this detector is a high-performance PI for the price of a good VLF and will bring to life a lot of peoples old GPX coils sitting in their cupboards as it exceeds the GPX 5000 on small gold. X-coils are open to producing GPX coils again now with this detector on the market, I can't wait to try my 10" spiral on it, I'll have a Algoforce as soon as I can. It appears to have good Detection modes to find a variety of size nuggets. Ultra-Fine Gold: This is the go-to choice for detecting gold nuggets of all sizes and is suitable for most situations. When used in combination with the Nugget Finder 8"x6" Sadie coil or similar-sized coils, it excels, even in highly mineralised soils. This combination is strongly recommended for locating small gold nuggets in various ground conditions. Fine Gold: Fine Gold mode reduces sensitivity to mineralised soil and may not detect very small gold nuggets. When paired with the Nugget Finder 12"x8" Mono coil or similar-sized coils, this mode performs exceptionally well, even in highly mineralised soils. It's a top choice for finding small to medium gold nuggets in different ground conditions. Normal Gold: This mode decreases sensitivity to highly mineralised soil and may not detect small gold nuggets. When used with the Nugget Finder 14"x9" Mono coil or similar-sized coils, it delivers outstanding performance, even in highly mineralised soils. It is highly recommended for locating medium to large gold nuggets in various ground conditions. Large Gold: Reserve Large Gold mode for use in extremely mineralised soil with high levels of wet salt. When used with coils larger than the Nugget Finder 14"x9" Mono coil, this mode excels, even in highly mineralised soils. This combination is highly recommended for locating large gold nuggets in different ground conditions. Although the four detection modes are specially designed for detecting gold nuggets, they can also be used for finding jewellery, coins, and other treasures on the beach. With a small coil like the Nugget Finder 8"x6" Sadie, use Ultra-Fine or Fine Gold mode for fine treasures. For a large coil like the 14"x9" Evolution Mono, employ Normal or Large Gold mode for deep beach discoveries. No ground balance is needed. As a PI detector, the AlgoForce E1500 naturally rejects seawater signals; the detection mode dictates the level of rejection, ranging from Ultra-Fine Gold to Large Gold, becoming more aggressive.

"Tiny gold only" is nonsense. Of course it will detect larger gold. What is the GPX 6000 but an overpriced "tiny gold detector" and I'll point out the popular SDC 2300 as another "tiny gold detector." Yet the SDC has surprising punch on larger gold. AlgoForce is simply being smart in emphasizing what the vast majority of people are really going to be detecting these days - smaller nuggets, not one ounce plus gold. I think it might be some of you who are surprised. It may not be what people who only care about cutting edge performance want, granted. But the Fisher Gold Bug Pro sold in huge volumes due to the simplicity of its ground grab system and the Monster also proves that regular folks want ease of operation. If this proves to be the Gold Bug Pro of the PI world they will sell piles of them. Most users here have little understanding of the wider retail world and the market that exists for a machine that has the right balance of features at a price normal people can afford. The pricing of machines like the 6000 and 7000 is completely absurd and impossible for far more people than the well to do members of this forum appreciate. Yeah, I can pop for a GPZ 7000 at the drop of a hat, but trust me, a minority of people are in that boat. The market for a detector like this is huge and has been waiting for the right company to open it up. I expected it to be Nokta but AlgoForce may have beaten them to the punch. Or not. We will see, but it will be a very interesting year or two ahead of us no matter what.

That's sad. One of the best, if not the best and most versatile machines made. 🤔 That's probably the real reason to discontinue it 😅. Who knows why, but now I'm mad that I didn't but another GPX battery when one was available for sale on here. 😖 Hopefully the after market will still have some available, but I agree the price may go up. You wanna see panic.... discontinue the GPX 5000 and the GPZ 7000 and tell everyone they can now just buy a 6000 for all their nugget needs. 😲

I think it's crazy to discontinue a detector they have no alternative for, the 6000 is NOT a replacement for the 5000, they're very different detectors, and the GPZ is not a replacement for the 5000. The closest replacement for the 5000 on the market is the Axiom, it's the only other more general-purpose PI with some discrimination and configured in such a way to find coins, the GPX even has a coin and relic timing which is particularly good around here. I can't imagine anyone using a 6000 to find coins. The 5000 is a great beach detector, the 7000 and 6000 wouldn't be my choice for beach detecting. If they kill off the 5000 they're handing that segment of the market over to Garrett with their Axiom and ATX and with the pending release of a Nokta PI which I have a hunch will be geared towards everyone not just prospectors then they're leaving a big hole in Minelab's lineup that competitors will love.

Yes, unfortunately - that's the way the cookie crumbles, and my detector certainly has. The problem though is I've had a bad coil, so was over a week without my detector before they sent me a replacement. Then when I sent the whole Axiom and coil in it was over a month. I know it sounds a little petty, but I'm on medical retirement/disability mainly due to my mental health. And this is what I do once a week to keep my head in check - gold or not, it's basically the only time I leave the house. It use to be surfing but I have degenerative neck and lower back issues now and rattle around with more medications than I'd care to mention. So you could see how happy I was initially to get my hands on the Axiom moving away from the heavy GPZ 7000. I went out a couple of days ago and it was the worst experience with a detector I'd ever had, 90% of my day over 3 different locations the Axiom just wasn't usable at all, then for no apparent reason it worked perfectly for the last 20-30 mins of the day? And I mean like all the advertising claimed it would (though still a little less powerful than my wife's GPX 6000). Just so random, ground balance=terrible, EMI=terrible, hot rocks=the worst ever sounding like true nugget targets. It was a long challenging day but I spent some time on the 6000 which was a lot of fun and more rewarding. As far as a refund/warranty is concerned, I had previously spoken to management at Garrett Queensland about refunds, who quite abruptly washed their hands of me with a definite overtone once they heard it was a second hand purchased detector. I was directed to: Returns/Warranty Garrett detectors purchased from an authorised Garrett Australia Dealer are covered by Garrett’s 3-Year Warranty* So I saved $800 off a new Axiom detector price and have ended up with a lemon. Fortunately, when speaking with their much friendlier "Service Department" I got a different story and they even supplied a pre-paid return for the detector. I'm not happy about being without a detector for so long, and the wife, though she does share her GPX 6000 with me, would prefer detecting herself. This leaves me with a conundrum - and the ball is in my court. I have a little money coming to me soon so am going to wait and pick up a used GPZ 7000 then I will send in the Axiom for assessment. If the Axiom comes back again as "no fault found" I will butcher it and with some creative construction will lop off the Axiom panel and install the GPZ 7000 display, remove the Axiom electronic (basically cut it close back to the frame and either 3D print or use a aluminum enclosure to take the GPZ boards with custom battery). All within my abilities having years of experience in electro-mechanics and repair industries over the years. Of course it will be weighed up first to see if it's a viable solution. I have stripped down a GPZ many a time for inspection, repair or modification so am very familiar with them. X-coils can make a custom one off coil for me at a cost, or I can just use spacers and 3D print adapter for the coil. I'm not fussed as I wont ever sell it. If the Axiom gets replaced - then it becomes a backup detector for when we travel to W.A. and just in general as it is a great go-to design for all occasions (if only it worked). I'd feel guilty selling it to an unsuspecting buyer as I now have zero faith in it. Yes, then I still would convert the GPZ 7000 into one of the aftermarket detector bodies I have found coming out of China which are light weight carbon fiber, plenty of parts to choose from or custom design. Either way - the GPZ 7000 running X-coils is the only detector I ever had 100% faith in and it alone found most of the gold I have ever found. As per the recent rumor of a successor the the 7000 coming out and being $18k??? well, Minelab Australia have yet to confirm this, and I doubt it was reliable scuttlebutt anyway. On another note - the 11x13 DD coil acts very much like a concentric but I find little if any detecting ability off the front/back/sides unless you can do a full swing - so I have one highly sensitive noisy 7x11 mono coil and effectively a 11x13 concentric - which is good, but means I really can't have a decent coverage stable DD patch hunter in hot ground. There is little room to improve overall penetrating power over the GPZ 7000 with Woody from Detector Mods (see YouTube channel, the guy can ramble, but knows his stuff) also explaining that the areas of improvement with today's technology are going to be in the form of higher quality filtering and lowering noise levels when processing signals to effectively "gain depth" through a cleaner signal. Unless someone can claim they have something better than ZVT?

Not being as good as other things does not make something rubbish. Nobody has ever claimed on this forum that the Axiom outperforms either the 6000 or 7000, yet it suits some people fine. I’m sorry it’s not worked out for you.

You've had a big turn-around afaiken, there was once a time you were happy with your Axiom, sadly this is what happens when a customer receives a faulty unit, I was in much the same boat with my 6000 when I got a lemon, hated the thing for the first 6 months or so of ownership! I think you should persevere with the warranty process, not take the massive loss butchering it to make some sort of hybrid 7000 in an Axiom shell. I doubt this will ever work the PCB's probably won't even fit, and you'd need to fit the GPZ screen in the Axiom housing too which is probably unlikely. I see the appeal to that though, the Axiom being the better design. Perhaps if you try warranty again you might get a different person dealing with it, or you may end up with the same person that puts more effort into diagnosing it rather than no fault found seeing its returned again. The people at the service agent will be as new as the users are when it comes to the Axiom, they're not instantly guru's with it and have probably only seen a handful of faulty ones in their life and some of them would be obvious faults, the random ones are the hardest to deal with, and just don't take no for an answer, demand they replace it or you want a refund, use that Australian consumer law to your advantage. They have no choice but to replace or refund it if you demand this be the case. If you get it replaced and still aren't happy with its performance at least you can sell it knowing its a new unit so you're not ripping someone off.

I'm pretty sure x-coils have completely dropped any idea of producing an Axiom coil based on performance and popularity. I'm switch back to a 7000 anyway. The Axiom is rubbish, can't compete with any of the Minelab range, old or new.....

Hate to say it folks, but having exactly the same issues, but happens randomly. Had one faulty 11x7 coil replaced. The whole detector has already been back to Garrett QLD once for poor sensitivity (GPX 6000 was 130% better depth). Was returned with "No Fault Found" after about a month. Massively frustrating, worked for a little while (half hour) in the morning. Then troubles all day. Sometimes it just sounded off screaming all by itself. Yes, tried all different settings and coils. Ridiculous piece of junk in my opinion. Tried Maryborough South, ground too hot for it and wouldn't settle. Tried Dunolly, ground to hot for it and wouldn't settle, ended up going to Talbot at a sandy-clay place for lower mineralization, same again. After multiple noise cancels, it worked perfectly for about an hour, at the end of my day. Pretty much every strong signal target I got when it worked was hot rocks or hot ground. Found a few lead shot on the surface but that was it. Would not hold ground balance for more than a few seconds, if at all (most of the day it was if the machine didn't have a ground balance function). Sometime the noise cancel would work, but not for long. Wife was with me swinging her GPX 6000 and had a great day landing some good gold. I'm sick of this junk Axiom and am buying a GPZ 7000 again. Because I have back issues, the Axiom was great for its weight and I could swing it one armed all day. But now I'm going to pull the control panel and 2 inside circuit boards and make a custom battery. Gut the Axiom, throw the electronics in the bin, and morph the GPZ into the Axiom body with some custom crafting and custom coils from X-coil. I have a mate, John, who has the same problems with his Axiom and now leaves it at home and uses his 25 year old F1A4 which kicks the Axiom's arse!

There was a photo floating around the internet of a guy’s 7000 with a crushed case from doing just that.

That’s some bad stuff. Here at Lake Tahoe I have similar material. The GPX 6000 and GPZ 7000 won’t fully ground balance on most of it, but they are useable with steady coil control. By that I mean maintain a steady height more than anything, and move at a moderately slow pace to let the autotune keep up. The Axiom on the other hand will get a clean ground balance on most of it, though mono coils are usually out of the equation - use the DD. However, in extreme places even the DD will not balance, and if you try to the machine goes into an overload state. The solution is to just do a partial ground balance - easiest way is to do the procedure higher off the ground and do let it hit the overload point. Then simply use it like the GPX or GPZ and through good coil control it will work fine. All three in those conditions act more like a regular non-ground balancing PI as any rapid up and down coil motion will signal. Luckily PI in general was designed for this kind of stuff and so is far more forgiving than a VLF when it comes to being out of balance. In some cases NOT being ground balanced will actually give you more depth as this TDI demo shows. A similar situation exists with the ATX and might be applicable to the Axiom…. This issue is something I’ve been working on for years. The main problem with the Axiom, GPX 6000 and GPZ 7000 are that believe it or not they are too hot on small gold, which accentuates the issues with magnetite. Same issue you saw with the Axiom small FC DD - I wish there were a regular DD for the Axiom as the FC DD are hotter but that hurts with extreme ground issues, the main reason for DD in the first place. I recently got an old Infinium with 14x10 mono coil that will cleanly ground balance in places where these other machines can’t even balance with a DD, let alone mono. This oddly enough is because it’s not as jacked up as the other units, and in the end that works in its favor. That old machine is currently putting a smile on my face as I’d forgot just how unique and fun to use that 14x10 mono is. I can read targets with it better than with almost any other PI combo I’ve used. There are also spots I nugget hunt in the Sierras like you describe. Serpentine bedrock with magnetite soil. A VLF will call a 30-06 brass shell casing on the surface as ferrous and lose the target at two - three inches. People who have never experienced this stuff think it’s all BS but it’s real all the same. The GPX 5000 is still the best machine made for this type of conditions as it has some special timings for handling it. They cut the machine way back in some ways but that is what you have to do in the worst ground. This chart is for the 5000 but looked at it another light it shows how less sensitive modes can work better in bad ground than hotter modes, and that applies to all detectors, not just the 5000. Minelab Mineralization and Timing Example The following chart illustrates the procedure for finding the correct timing for each situation. In general, always start with the Normal timing. If the detector is stable and quiet, try timings on the left - Sensitive Extra, Sharp, or in rare cases, Coin/Relic. If ground noise or hot rocks present problems in Normal, then try timings on the right - Fine Gold, Enhance, or Sensitive Smooth. Salt settings should generally only be used on alkali ground (salt flats) or salt water beaches, but may have applications in other ground. The goal is always to find the most powerful setting that allows for stable operation. Each timing can be adjusted within certain parameters, primarily through the use of the Gain and Stabilizer settings. Adjusting for a lower Gain, for example, may be preferable to going to a less powerful timing. Minelab GPX Timing Selection Chart - Click on image for larger version Finally, each timing may work best with a certain type of coil (DD or Mono) and the timings have varying level of resistance to Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI). The matrix below attempts to show which timings offers which benefits and strengths/weaknesses. Minelab Timing Coil EMI Matrix - Click on image for larger version The simple chart below can be printed out and taped or glued on your detector shaft as a reminder in the field as to which timing may be best. Click on the image to download a large version. Minelab Timing Decal - Click on image for larger version Details Here Final note on all this is I wish I could get a standard DD epoxy filled water coil for the Axiom for wading, just like one Garrett already has the mold for!

I came back from a detect about and got in my car to go to the next spot. A buddy of mine flagged me down on the turn around and he said, "You backed over your detector!" I had ... my 7000. I was lucky that it only broke the bottom sleeve that holds the coil, and I had another coil with me. Detector was fine and the coil was also ok. I had forgotten to put the detector in the car ... dumb and lucky in the same event.

So I read all the old reviews on here for the GPX17 coil for the 6000. Is everyone still in love with this coil like the old reviews indicate? The 6000 is my primary gold detector and I dont have a 7000 or 5000, and I also know the 6000 will never match these machines regarding depth on larger gold. Is the GPX17 still a good coil to have for patch hunting in open ground and some extra depth compared to the stock 11 inch or the NF 12x7? I was patiently waiting for the NF 16x10 mono coil to be released but it does not appear like this is going to happen any time soon and maybe never. Please advise if the GPX17 is a worthwhile investment now or should I wait for another year to see if the NF coil will be released. I have not seen any field test results comparing the GPX17 to the NF 16x10 even though it appears that JP and maybe others have tested it. Please advise, Ceril

Regarding the 7000; try the difficult setting, high yield, and sensitivity as high as it will go while maintaining a smooth threshold. Try auto tune a couple of times one right after another. Toss the ferrite ring with your eyes closed and see if you can find it next spring. Going slow is the fastest way to find gold. The 4000 with a Joey coil is a highly classified secret weapon so don't tell to many about your successes with it. If you reply to Jasong he will have some good suggestions. Would you treat us to some photos of your detecting grounds?

Just reflecting on your response to my earlier post. I’ve always thought that in your past posts the subtext to not endorsing cutting off a connector of a Minelab OEM coil to bypass their closed-source software/hardware for aftermarket coils was as a matter of principle. Sorry, my mistake. I totally get that the lack of acknowledgement from X-Coils that a dodgy patch cable will cause irreversible damage to a machine and that it needed to be addressed …and that is principled enough without getting into higher ideological debates around integrity. BUT, it’s your integrity that anchors me to this forum, and it’s that integrity that has fostered an amazing group of awesome people that can engage in fearless and frank discussions that astonishingly rise above the sometimes-libelous slander some other prospecting forums fall into. Your detector reviews are important in that mix. I agonised over the decision to spend my hard-earned cash on a GPZ 7000 and could only go by what I was able to read, without physically experiencing the machine for the 100 hours necessary to get to know it. I made the plunge based on your reviews triangulated with countless other posts by you, JP, phrunt, d4g, Lunk, jasong, Aureous to name a few. The mix of your integrity with a long history of well-proven skills breeds a strong sense of trust that is hard to beat. This forum has been the lifeblood of my prospecting adventures and your reviews are a worthy centerpiece. Looking forward to reading the new ones. 🙂