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If they are coming out with new detectors, I feel they need to be actually new at this stage. Like the 7000 was. It was a new paradigm. Adding a few controls and tweaks to an old machine doesn't do much for me anymore personally. If it's fractional improvements on old ideas, I'll just wait for a new Algoforce or Nokta or whatever at 1/4 the price, no hurry. Stop milking the same cow already, Minelab. The 7000 and 6000 seemed steps in the right direction finally, I hope they don't go backwards with something like a revamped 5000. Design for exploration prospecting in addition to sensitivity, and get some of exploration prospectors on the testing crews so the engineers have an ear towards the types of concepts that are import there too. If they revamp anything, it should be the 6000 and 7000, not the 5000 IMO. And even a revamped 7000 at this stage would be a letdown to me as I think a new redesign and model would be better in almost every way. The concept of putting X old detector in Y new updated package has no appeal to me anymore for any model, unless it's done fairly quickly after release - like 2 years. That's just me though. Tech moves too fast now, times have changed.

The 6000 with more control would be nice, I wouldn't buy it as I've already bought a 6000 and it's a significant investment already so just having more control wouldn't be worth the money to me as much as I'd like it, still think that's how the 6000 should have been but I understand the logic behind making it simple for African prospectors who just don't care and just want to find gold and quickly before someone else does to put food on the table. The 7000 lightened up and with a concentric col I already have, by using lighter alternative coils. No way in the world would I pay another 10 grand for that even if it was Gold Monster weight or less. The 5000 pro is the most appealing out of the list there, although my 5000's already on a full carbon shaft, has a light weight battery, has an SP01, the thing it lacks is the small gold/specimen benefits. I'd rather the 5000 Pro have a screen for settings rather than another box, so modern miniaturized electronics would be nice. I don't get in the water enough if at all to need the Sovereign, but I think that would probably be a popular unit as water hunters are the most neglected group of detectorists by the looks of it. Long story short, I wouldn't buy any of the above detectors, no doubt plenty of people would though, especially ones in good gold areas.

Here's a few things on my Minelab dream list: A 6000 with a lot more control - independent threshold, tone control, front end gain adjust, more timings etc. A 7000 that's gone on a diet - don't need the GPS, and a nice mid size semi-elliptical concentric would be great. A gpx5000 Pro version - full carbon shafts, SD series khaki green box, a small internal battery to give me 6 hrs run time, but still able to hook up the external battery pack. External manual tune pot like the 3500. No coil supplied. And a little bit of SDC/6000 timing magic for an improvement on specimens. Actually, if they did this, I probably wouldn't need the first two ☺️ Heck they can even stuff my sP01 circuit inside if we're really dreaming. A Sovereign type machine that's fully waterproof, i.e. a Garrett infinium style control box that I can chest mount. Aqua Sovereign or Excalibur III? None of the above is using new technology, so quite achievable, and would sure get me wanting to upgrade.

A new model is going to have to do a lot more than be lighter with some minor benefits, if it doesn't all it will do is drive up the sales of aftermarket coils for those who have waited out buying them in hope a new model comes out that's significantly better. I just don't see a new GPZ coming anytime soon. I'd love to be wrong, but I doubt I am. It will either be good and I'd want to own one, although I doubt,I'll be buying it as it will be another very overpriced detector for someone in my position with little gold to be found or it will be not as good as many hope and drive-up sales of aftermarket coils for the 7000. The 6000 already increased the sales of GPZ aftermarket coils, a new 7000 is going to do the same. People think do I invest another 10+ grand (Australian) on a new detector for some better performance, or a couple of grand (Australian) on my existing one and it also gets better performance for a lot less money, how close it is to the new detector is what we will have to wait and see, they may just wait until the 6000 and 7000's are all old in another 5 or 6 years and release it then, that way it's just a new model not needing to be that much better performing as people are looking to replace older detectors with problems anyway, and it can have all the modern lightweight features and whatever Bluetooth is around at the time, and better screens, batteries and whatever else other industries invent to improve the product.

There are two markets. The hobbyists who do it for the sunshine, long walks and social outings. Lots of that here and some in Australia. Then there are the serious guys - plenty in Australia but the huge market is Africa. You can always sell hobbyists stuff. People detect for coins and jewelry and relics and some people will go detect for a few small nuggets. I lean more the other way - gold was always a way to make money for me and I did quite well with it. And those Africans? They are putting food on the table. So Minelab can come out with a multifrequency Gold Monster 2 or a lighter weight GPZ 8000 and there will be sales to be had from hobbyists. But the serious folks, the people who expect their detecting to pay for itself and then some..... that HUGE Africa market? Minelab will only see real sales numbers that matter from a detector that makes dead ground light up again. Ground that no longer pays with a GPX 6000 and a GPZ 7000 must pay with a new model. If not, it is game over because the hobbyist market is a pittance compared to the worldwide market for serious gold detecting. Technology hit the wall? Dreamers want to dream but my decades behinds the scenes experience and contacts with engineers do not allow me to wear those rose colored glasses. Minelab faces their hardest task ever - one upping themselves just one more time. They have been eking out gains on ever smaller gold and that has been working up until now. But hitting stuff smaller than a GPX 6000? We are into VLF country at that point, and what really is the point? I am the guy Minelab needs to sell. I'm ready to hang up nugget detecting entirely as not worth my time. If I just want to go detect for fun I can do that at a local park or at the beach and have as much or more fun as wandering around NOT finding good gold. The Aussies want a detector that will hit a 6 ounce nugget at enough extra depth it makes them toss a modded GPX or a X Coil outfitted GPZ 7000 to the side in favor of the new model. What I really need is more depth on one gram to 15 gram nuggets. Not a "oh gosh it seems like that signal is a bit better" imaginary difference on a buried test nugget. I need a machine that when I bury this 1 to 15 gram nugget, there is no signal at all with a GPX 6000 or GPZ 7000 and a strong signal with this new machine. No BS hair splitting, but a genuine "bang" versus dead silence. If the new machine can do that then I will buy the new one and be happy and Minelab shareholders will be ecstatic. The Africa Gold Rush and more will reignite for one last round, aided by higher gold prices. Minelab will sell piles of them, and at no doubt eye watering prices. But can Minelab deliver? As somebody with more than a wishful thinking aspect about what it takes to make that happen, I'm not very hopeful. At some point the well does really run dry, and I frankly just shake my head knowing what I know at the blind faith in the idea that detectors will never hit a wall for depth. There are genuine reasons for why that is not true and good reason to believe Minelab is having a difficult time beating what is already available. I'm quite certain there will be something to sell, some statistic generated by a positive result in some circumstance. No doubt pictures of some gold found on "well pounded ground." All I can say is I am that guy that has always, without hesitation, ditched my last Minelab the second a new version came out, and never regretted it. Not this time. I will wait until I see inconvertible proof that the wall has been truly burst through and nuggets are popping right and left out of ground we all have now about given up for dead. Until that happens it's all just opinionating and wishful thinking.

That's right. Weight alone would not cut it for me neither. After a full day of detecting with the 7000 I need 4 Advil to feel almost good at night. That would give me 137 years of pain free detecting, assuming I spend 8k on advil ($0.04/pill) and detect every day, instead of spending 8k for a light weight (and otherwise nothing) gpz 8000. 😁 GC

I don't know. At this point I think all that will make a splash is a genuine performance boost to the point where we can go back to places pounded with the 6000 and 7000 and have some reasonable gold start showing up. If the patch is dead to a 6000 and 7000 with X coils a lighter 7000 is not going to cut it. I bitch about the weight all the time but fact is I can still swing a 7000 all day long. If a GPZ 8000 does not give me a genuine better shot at gold coming out of currently dead ground then I don't need it, no matter what it weighs.

I have ordered one and it arrives in a couple of days. Why did I purchase one? I already have a 6000 and a 7000 for gold prospecting, probably an unbeatable combo. I do not have a coin and relic machine fro mucking about at home in the off season. I was thinking of an Equinox or manticore, I fact I came close to purchasing one. When I saw this a few weeks ago, I thought “that’s perfect” I can use it for coin and relic but in the gold season, I can return to some trashy areas that I have walked away from. I know there is gold there because I have lucked on some nice chunks. Unfortunately the old timers are of the land, so it’s peppered with shot pellets. How ever it works out, I am sure I can entertain myself for many hours trying to work it out. here are a few bits for fun.

I just came across this link on how an x coil is made for the minelab gpz. I found it very interesting. https://tolnix.com/gpz-7000-x-coil-magic/

A standard and modded GPX 5000 versus a GPZ 7000 and GPX 6000 on the same undug target which turned out to be a 1 to 2 gram nugget. I am not posting this video to advertise the GPX 5000 modification demonstrated in this video. The video just shows these detectors operated proficiently on the same wild target and how they do on that one target.

I can tell you already the E1500 has no hope in the world of hitting gold that size, regardless of coil, 0.03 of a gram if a nicer solid sort of piece is its smallest size, I'd say more realistically 0.05 of a gram would be its starting point, a little bit behind the 6000. In VLF terms I think of the 6000, 7000 and E1500 all being no more sensitive to small gold than the Gold Bug Pro. Yes, they are often deeper on small gold, but outright tiny gold sensitivity they are similar to the Bug, and nothing at all like the GM, 24k or Gb2 performance. I would never be able to find that piece again, it's in a bottle with a bunch of sluiced gold, I guess I could use some tweezers and try find a similar size piece and compare the 24k, GB2 and GM, I believe the GB2 would win, followed by the 24k and GM being very similar. The real benefit of the 24k is it has no bump sensitivity at all, while maintaining very similar if not the same tiny gold performance as the GM, and it has a concentric coil 🙂

Oh, there is plenty of that here!! 2019 GPZ 8000 Rumors People predicting with certainty it was coming in 2020 2024 And Still Waiting For GPZ 8000 Every new detector.... "it's not a GPZ 7000 replacement so it's junk" Lots of people just barely hanging on waiting for the next magic wand. Leaked photo of GPZ 8000 prototype:

I also have one of the early 10” X-coils which I also heated and wrapped for tighter turns. Later I opened the plastic housing up with the intent to replace the cable. It was not practical if not impossible. I recommend replacing it with a new cable. Making the splice midway between the coil and the curly part of the cable. Use marine grade (has hot glue inside) shrink tubing over each splice and over the entire area. Phrunt put me onto this source for cables. I have ordered both the GPZ 7000 and the GPX 6000 cables. I will let you know the quality when they arrive. Applicable to metal detector: gpz7000 sdc2300 gold monster 1000 (aliexpress.com)

I think I found the problem with the GPX 6000 not working well with the 5000 and 7000 coils. The 6000 14” DD receiver coil measures 300uH, 4.0 ohms. The other 5000 DD and 7000 DOD receiver coils measure more than 400uH and much higher resistances. This indicates that the GPX 6000 DD coil has fewer receiver coil wire turns than the other DD coils. The GPX 6000 GeoSense function/operation probably needs close to 300uH for both mono and DD modes.

Just a reminder. Minelab USA offers a 15% discount on any Minelab metal detector from the MAP (minimum advertised price) to U.S. active or honorably discharged members of the military. Proof of past or active service is required and must be verified by providing a copy of a DD 214 or Military ID to qualify. The discount applies only to a metal detector purchase - parts and accessories do not qualify. This discount is not available in conjunction with other special promotions or individual dealer concessions. With discount the $899 Equinox 800 is only $764.15. The Minelab GPZ 7000, normally $7999, ends up being $6799.15, a savings of $1199.85

I've only taken it prospecting for two half days, I was going to say a day and a half but forgot the first day I left early too as I had some sort of medical issue after a rose thorn got me. 🙂 I did find gold; I would have found the same gold with my 6000 or 7000 though of course. My next intentions are to try it out for beach detecting, I've been dabbling around my local area with it for coins and it's quite impressive with its target ID. I should get around to doing a post on that I guess, just didn't think people would have much interest in a PI as a coin detector.

That seems a reasonable assessment to me, and why I've been pointing out all along 6000 and 7000 owners don't need one unless there is an attribute of it that they particularly like, like 7000 owners wanting a lighter machine to use for some particular reason or they want a PI they can use for stuff other than gold with its excellent Target ID's. I genuinely think GPX 4500/5000 owners would benefit from it, it's doing noticeably better on small gold than those models, along with its ability to find the gold they often miss, the prickly stuff and not just that, I tested a bunch of regular small nuggets commonly found here, and the Algo was doing better than the GPX 5000 by quite a bit, some the 5000 didn't even hit the Algo did. For them it's of even more benefit as they can share coils between detectors, and their Bluetooth transmitter and headphones. While I've never used an Axiom, I've not really known its comparison. The SDC is an iffy one to me, mainly due to my milder soil environment and it was a pretty poor performer here with the original GPX series being far better when fitted with a spiral or smaller bundle coil except for it being poor on the prickly type gold, so that one makes me wonder, as the Algo for me here in my soils is doing better on the smaller gold than the GPX, I have no doubts a GPX will be deeper on big targets though. What I see with the Algo is a whole lot of bang for the buck, half the price of an Axiom, way less than the 6000 and of course the 7000. The perfect detector for people not wanting to spend a lot of money and still get a very good performance machine, but not by any means the best and is filling a large hole in the market for that reason. Its other notable benefit is its very good EMI handling, it can run well in places others cannot. Now the big question hanging over it is benefits outside of prospecting with its Target Id's, how beneficial is that going to be in parkland and beach settings, for me so far, it's looking good.

Any suggestions on repairing or retrofit the swing arm on the 7000? This is the 2nd one I've broke over the years. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated. Being a carpenter I would just add some glue, strap and screws to it. So keeping it non metal and plastic is out of my wheelhouse.

Pioneer, 1st off, thanks for taking the time to chime in and give us your initial thoughts on the E-1500. Just like you were excited, I have many hopeful clients and friends here in the US who's interested as well. At the price point it's being offered, I see many people jumping at the chance to get one. With that being said "many people getting one", there will immediately be folks who don't like it for a number of reasons. As a multi line dealer for 30 yrs, I see each new detector come out and get a % of people who are not happy or as pleased as their dreams hoped. Many times, I know for a fact, it's operator error or lack of understanding the new detector tool. Other times it's the expectation let down as a different detector you know, found some gold it missed. I'm not here to judge you as that would be silly, since I don't know you, your skill level or success rate. I only know you mentioned using the very simple GM-1000 & SDC-2300, you like them and have success at finding gold. That's totally great with me and probably most others as well. When I read between the lines, I myself see someone who wants turn on and go detector as both (GM-1000 & SDC) are pretty much that. Guess what, that's the masses and I enjoy selling such detectors for those people. Also, from what I've read on your post, it seems you're trying to use metal detectors as your source of income and that's perfectly fine. I, and many others envy you for having the capabilities and desire to make a go at it, us USA folks only dream. As for the specimen it missed and the Monster found, that's 100% logical to me, it's a PI. Just curious how well the other PI detectors responded to the specimen? I have pounds of gold my VLF easily see and many PI's miss. The new Axiom and 6000 are way better than a 7000 or 5000 for those kinds of gold, but I don't have an E-1500 in my hands yet to compare. I imagine pretty close in performance though. Sometimes a new detector for a veteran user just does not click and or feel right. I know for a fact in my years of swinging many different brands and models, a few that I tried were very disappointing and I let them go. I tell folks when on the hunt, it's best to swing the detector you have the most faith in. As for hot ground that continually needs Ground Balanced, luckily here in the USA, most of our sites are not so. But even when I do hunt those areas, I don't worry about the screen telling me, it's my ear that does so. A simple pump up and down over the ground and I have a clue if GB is needed or not. On a rare occasion and it's even happened to me. I have high expectations and the detector model and I just don't click. We don't jive, no boogie, so I sell it. At least I tried and made my own decision, which is way better than wondering. I enjoy your input and will share it with others, just to prove a point that a new detector is not always going to be Golden for everyone. The good thing is, you tried it, it was not your cup of joe and you were refunded your money. Now you can get back to swinging the detectors you know best and finding the gold they are tuned to find. Please share some of your success stories here on DP on occasion as us Yankees envy seeing the prospect finds from abroad. Again, Thanks for sharing and no hard feelings for not liking it. I run into that on occasion when going out to dinner with the wife. She really talked up a new eatery and after I walked out, I needed to take some tums. Interestingly, I see this company taking input (good and bad) and doing things with it. In the end, we all get more options and better price points to try. If we don't like it, we can go back to what we was swinging before.

I have a feeling they'd do it more like the Legend, with software updates suitable for this model being done to it, anything major like doing blanking discrimination with DD coil support, waterproofing for the beach hounds all becoming features for the future E2500. They've already said to me they intend to do another model in the future, so this is only the beginning, and off to a very good start if you ask me. All the retirees that wanted to take up looking for gold cruising Australia in their caravans can now buy a husband and wife pair of detectors without really destroying their retirement fund, and go have some fun finding some gold knowing they've got a pretty decent detector to do so. My biggest concern as it starts to take off is GPX coil availability, however Coiltek have said they're ready to roll so it will be Sadies and EVO's in short supply more than anything as NF can't keep up with anything. The second-hand market is always an option though. The pro's armed with both the 7000 and 6000 and a bunch of other gear may not find one that beneficial, unless some attribute of it is useful to them like a 7000 being heavy and needing a lighter swinger for covering miles, assuming it can handle the variable grounds well enough, I hope someone does that testing soon, or at least tells us all how it went, as I'm sure by now someones using one there.

Hi Fellas I am seeking for some advice. Currently I have a GPZ7000 and GPX6000 both with standard coils only. I am planning a trip to WA or Tib in NSW either this or next year with dad, so we will use two detectors. I have seem some positive reviews on 12' coils for GPZ7000. I wonder what is your advice? With a GPX6000 would it be a good complementary to 7000 instead of spending another 1300 dollars?😳

The 10" is 950 grams with skid plate, significantly lighter than the standard coil, although smaller of course. It's the little 8" I love, 835 grams with skid plate and 6000 like sensitivity and it still punches remarkably deep. Combine that with the CTX 3030 battery and it's a light detector. The good bit about the 10" is its much like running a normal size coil, with the standard GPX 6000 coil being 11" the 10" isn't all that much different, and I'd place my bets on the 7000 with the 10" being deeper than the 6000 with 11" on many targets.

Hi Jeff, An update...2 of us have sent our Axioms back and waiting for a response. I hadn't heard anything after a week so emailed Garrett Australia. I got this "We have received the machine and I will be testing through the week." - so obviously we are not a priority to them. I spoke to a Garrett dealer last week and mentioned the issues, he remained tight lipped and just rolled his eyes and said he was about ready to rip their sign off the wall. I also spoke to a detector repair technician and again, same response - they didn't think much of them at all indicating their performance was sub par to the price. Word obviously is getting around and Garrett don't seem to be interested in listening. From what I can see - their ground handling ability is the first major problem and without that, not much else will work. Being that the majority of detector basics come from a component level - looking for a software fix isn't going to be easy without changing the electronics. The GPX 6000 has a lot more that needs to be corrected than the EMI speaker system fix. That's just the official recognized problem. A company called Detectormods here in Aust. offers the upgrades at a rather steep fee $$$. https://detectormods.com/news/20/all-about-the-new-2020-upgrades The guy "Woody" had a YouTube channel and explains further short comings of the 6000. Be aware, he rambles on for about an hours to part with 15 minutes of actual information. To his credit, I applied some of the mods from one of his videos to my old 7000 and is ran so smooth and quiet, I had to "kick the coil" to see if it was still on. I run bogenes so is dead quiet till it hits a target. ..........."Basically, I feel ripped off by these two giants of the metal detecting industry more often than not."............... At least with the GPX 6000 you have options and a company that admits some of the detectors faults. As for the DD coils, people are always talking about needing them and our coil manufacturers "usually" listen....eventually. I'd say hang in there and maybe contact Nugget Finder, Coiltek and X-Coils to see where they are at? Garrett just plain deny there is any problems although they always counter with "we are happy to test the detector for any possible issues" then get our detectors back "No Fault Found"???? I'd strongly suggest selling the Axiom and use the 6000 until a successor for the 7000 comes out - which could be some time yet. Maybe even send it over for the mods to fix the issues with the money from the Axiom, you will be happy you did! I'm pretty sure that is currently the only place offering them. Ahhh, the life of a detectorist..............................

You are one of the optimists Jason. Just because you have been saying something for a decade does not make it true. I’m more in the Simon camp when it comes to a new detector actually having enough of a leap in performance to make an actual real world difference in the gold being found. The GPZ 7000 was a true advancement over what came before and made dead patches come alive again. The 6000 picked up the crumbs. This next go I think we will see improvement more in the ergonomic side than anything else. I place my bet that there will not be genuine performance that outperforms substantially on what we can currently get with the 6000 and 7000 combined, or even just a 7000 with a proper set of aftermarket coils. Metal detectors have a basic limitation in how far they can detect gold items. From http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/200TrCcts/MetalDetectors/MetalDetectors-1.html “the sensitivity is roughly proportional to the cube of the object diameter (as expressed as a function of the search coil diameter). Sensitivity is also inversely proportional to the sixth power of the distance between the coil and the object. All this means is that if the object size is halved the sensitivity is reduced to one-eighth. Also, if the depth is doubled the sensitivity is reduced to one sixty-fourth. It’s easy to see why all metal detectors which are designed to pick up small objects use small coils, (150 to 300 mm diameter) and really only skim the soil surface. If the search coil is doubled in diameter for greater penetration the sensitivity to small objects falls to one-eighth. You rapidly encounter the law of diminishing returns.” Famed metal detector engineer Dave Johnson reiterates this in a different way at https://web.archive.org/web/20230719232930/http://fisherlab.com/hobby/davejohnson/davejohnsonjohngardinerinterview.htm “Getting extra depth out of a VLF, multifrequency, or PI machine is very difficult, because these machines follow an inverse 6th power law relationship between signal voltage and depth. If everything else is maintained equal, doubling the depth requires 64 times as much signal. If this is done by increasing transmitter power, doubling depth requires 4,096 times as much battery drain. That’s the basic reason why depth increases come so slowly in this industry.” That is where I think we are now and why the GPZ 8000 has been slow in coming. Much to Minelabs credit they don’t release a machine unless the engineers can point to data showing some real performance improvement differences - you know, those 30% things. But there is actual real world data in hand to back up those claims when they make them. I think in this case the most they might eke out will be a marginal gain they can point to in detection depth on multi ounce nuggets. That’s enough to sell lots of detectors but in the end I think it will be greatly debated whether this new machine is any better in big gold at depth than a modded GP/GPX or 7000 with a big X-Coil. And for anyone but those few still finding the big ones deep on a regular basis nothing that will change anything. Most U.S. patches in particular simply don't have those monster nuggets at depth that people dream of. The 7000 and 6000 have already bled them close to dry. We have hit the wall not only in electronic terms but even more importantly in geological terms. Peter Charlesworth picked a very good time to retire. Go out at the top of your game. I have a ton of respect for Peter and his retirement is a message of sorts for those who follow the business of business. Long story short, next generation my prediction is a small gain at best, so small it won’t make any real difference over returns being seen with machines that we already have at our disposal. I actually hope I am wrong, and I hope I am eating crow and apologizing to you, and acknowledging you were right and I was wrong. Nothing would make me happier!

More news...I have purchased another GPZ 7000 and couldn't be happier with the performance. Like night and day! ....but so is the weight. Back onto multiple targets with the 7000 instead of target free ground noise from the Axiom. I have some new x-coils on the way and might Frankenstein the 7000 internals into a custom design to combat the weight with smaller battery pack. Who knows??? To Garrett's credit, their unwavering customer service in the face of disgruntled customers (AKA - "me") they are sending a replacement (not new because they have their hands tied in Australia as to what they can deem faulty???) detector which I eagerly await testing to see if it is an idiosyncrasy of the detector or the detectorist....?