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I made a quick trip to Alaska recently, where I still have family, and ties to my old business. While there, I took advantage of an opportunity, and did something I have always wanted to do. Go metal detecting for gold nuggets in the Nome area! I've been to Nome a couple times in the past, but it was just passing through. And it seems I was always too busy finding gold someplace else, to ever make it to Nome to find gold. I had a day of travel, three days detecting, and another day of travel. Not as long as I would like, but as things turned out just perfect. I had a typical Alaska style adventure just getting a truck rented, and finally made it to the mine location that evening after a full day of flying. The weather in Nome was stunning blue skies. Here are a couple pictures of the beach and the view off the road to the mine. Click or double click on on the photos that follow, to get larger high res versions. The Beach at Nome, Alaska Along the road north of Nome (Teller Highway) I got settled into my accommodations and talked with the miners about what they were doing. Nobody had used a detector successfully here, and I was hoping to give them some information about their ground, in return for this chance to find a little gold. I always am a little hesitant when I arrive in unfamiliar territory and people, but everyone was very nice. Weather was perfect, and most amazingly, a cold snap had put the mosquitos down. I could not ask for a better start. I hit the a more recent place they had mined and done well, and like many far north gold mines situated in tundra and permafrost, the thing was a mud pit. There was a surprising amount of blue clay in the material. There are no glaciers in the Nome area today, but what I was looking at was classic dense, blue glacial clay deposits. It's a good thing I had packed my mud boots, just in case. And in fact, my very first Nome nugget came out of a gravel layer, right under one of these clay deposits. It was right on the edge of the cut, where they had stopped due to hitting permafrost. A few days had allowed the stuff to thaw, or otherwise I'd be hacking at stuff tougher than asphalt. First nugget from hole next to Axiom search coil My first Nome Gold! The spot they were working was both virgin ground, and old tailings, so the material was full of ferrous junk, and a few non-ferrous items like shotgun shell ends. Working in mud is not very fun, as I had to use care to not get myself stuck in a bad spot, and excavating many targets was an exercise in trying to find a small thing in a handful of sticky goo. But I hunted a long day in the northern summer sun, determined to make the most of my limited time. I ended the day with a little over 14 grams of nice gold nuggets. The last few came from a hot spot in a brown layer, but after excavating a few nuggets, I hit permafrost. I left the last signal, figuring I would come back later after it had a chance to thaw some more. Anyone thinking it's nuts to leave a nugget signal, has never tried to hack into permafrost. It's ice mixed with sand and gravel, and it tends to dent more than chip away. Really tough stuff. First day of detecting in Nome area with Garrett Axiom The next day I explored around more, and hit quite a bit of exposed bedrock along the creek, above the current workings. There were plenty of old workings up the creek still, but this bedrock was surprisingly devoid of targets. It made me wonder if somebody had detected it at some time in the past, and I think that's a fairly decent bet. It's hard to find places where a detector has never been these days, and this bedrock was a glaringly obvious place to hunt gold. Yet I found no gold, and only a couple trash targets. I did spy some large old tailing piles up the creek, the sort I am used to hunting in Interior Alaska. Large steep piles of gravel, stacked against one side of the small valley with a dragline. I had very little gold to show for the day so far, so that afternoon I hiked up though the brush and wet creek areas, to get to these old piles. They were very steep, but washed loose material, easy digging, and no sign of dig holes. I started at the tops, and wound my way back and forth across the faces of the piles. The Axiom was really great at this due to its light weight. Heavy machines are ok in flat ground if you harness up properly, but swinging uphill on a steep hillside is something else. A couple trash targets, then a nice, deep nugget. Oh boy, I was excited now! I had left a warning about where I was going, with instructions to send out a rescue party if I was not back by a certain time, so I had a hard cut off point I had to keep an eye on, allowing for time to hike back out. I therefor got with the program, and scanned as efficiently as I could. I got all but the last couple piles in this little set done, before I just had to walk away and get back to camp. But my few hours detecting had me getting close to 3/4 ounce of nice, chunky gold nuggets! They were all old gold, coated with what I am guessing was manganese oxide and/or iron oxides. I showed off my gold, got a quick bite to eat, and went back up that evening to hunt the last couple piles. And got a couple more nuggets, just over 25 grams total for the day. The largest was right at 10 grams, my largest for this trip, and almost completely coated with oxides. Pretty cool looking actually, something different from the norm. It shows the old timers were losing some pretty large gold, no doubt due to poor recovery systems. It might be economical to mine these tailings again with better equipment, since they are clean and stacked, ready to process. Top of a tailing pile View down the pile - bigger and steeper than it looks! 10 gram nugget, the largest found on this visit, from the old tailing piles Dark gold off the old tailing piles I had only one full day left to hunt, which seemed like not enough by far. However, the forecast called for a big storm moving in the next day, the day I was leaving. With that in mind leaving seemed like a pretty good idea, because if things were a mudhole in nice weather, it was bound to be a real mess in pouring rain. I decided to hit the newer workings again, since I had covered the closer old tailing piles halfway well, and the next set up was quite a ways up the creek, and some wet ground in between. The hot spot I had left as frozen was my first destination, and a good choice this turned out to be. The ground had thawed more than I expected in 48 hours, and I got that first nugget out in minutes. Then another. And another. This was a seam of blue clay, with some coffee ground colored brown gravels just on top. The clay was a classic false bedrock. The brown color is from the water percolating down through the gravel, picking up iron minerals as it goes. It hits the impervious clay layer, and stays there, or travels laterally on top of it. In the process, the iron oxides get deposited, creating a distinct brown layer of gravel and sand, usually inches thick, sometimes a foot or two. I encountered this very same pay layer at my old mine at Moore Creek, where we called it "coffee grounds" due to the color of the generally sandy material. It was a sign of the best and richest material, and looked like the exact same scenario here. Digging into the paysteak with Garrett 24K and Axiom Closeup of blue clay exposed in middle, and brown material just on top of it I was literally scraping nuggets off the clay layer, and finding some larger ones embedded in the top few inches of the clay. While doing so, I noticed the sand was full of smaller gold. Visibly scattered through the sand and gravel! I scooted back to camp fast, and grabbed a gold pan, plus a Garrett 24K. My plan was to use the super hot 24K to isolate tiny bits, then just scoop them into the pan, until I got a pan full, then pan them out. Far faster than chasing really tiny bits one at a time. I fired up the 24K, a hot, high frequency VLF, and got a big surprise. Every swing, there were rocks banging out like gold nuggets. They were all over in the gravel, though possibly more concentrated in this pay layer. I've only seen this stuff in one other location before in all my years of detecting. Graphitic slate. Graphite is used to make pencil lead, and more revealing, battery posts. It is non-ferrous and quite conductive. In fact, it reads exactly like gold on a VLF metal detector. The miners had mentioned problems with hot rocks. I didn't even know the things existed running the Axiom, while the 24K was banging hard on every one of them. They would not ground balance out, and this one below reads a solid 56 on the 24K, a solid gold reading. No wonder the miners were not detecting. This place is a poster child for why a person needs a PI detector for some locations. This is not a common hot rock in most places, but is fairly common in the British Columbia gold belt of Canada. The location north of Anchorage is in the Petersville District. Graphitic slate from the Nome area OK, fine. I went ahead and took a few pans right off the clay layer, going for what I thought was the best stuff based on the nuggets the Axiom was finding. My first pan was one of the best I have panned in a very long time; I'm guessing close to 1/10th ounce of gold! Very rich material. I panned a couple more pans, then decided I'd leave it be for the miners. They needed to come back and mine the rest of this location after it fully thawed. I later talked to them about it, showed them what I was finding, and they are going to do just that. I scouted along the edge of the cut some more, and found more exposures of the layer in various locations, and found a few more nice nuggets in it. Another good day with over 1/4 oz of gold found, including 6.6 grams of small gold found with the pan. I was leaving very early the next morning to catch the noon flight out of Nome, soI cleaned everything up and met with the miners. They were quite appreciative of the information, both on the results in the old tailing piles, and the virgin pay layer left yet to mine. That, and finding out they needed to get an Axiom ASAP. The largest 10 gram nugget stayed with the miners, and putting the panned gold aside, I ended up with 1.16 Troy ounces found with the Axiom in three days. The dark stuff cleaned up well after a few days in both 1% HF Whink, and oxalic acid. 1.48 ounces total gold found. Not bad at all, and I may very well visit this location again some day, when I have more time to spend. Though I am happy I left when it did - it started raining that night, and kept it up hard the day I departed. Many thanks to my hosts, and to Garrett, for helping make the connections, that made this all possible. Gold found detecting and panning by Steve near Nome, Alaska 1.16 Troy ounces found by Steve with Axiom, after 10 gram nugget left with miners

Years ago at this same spot we had used the 5000's to collect a few of the more solid specimens. We then found even more with the VLF's. Then I came back with the Garrett Axiom, as I knew the site had many Hot Rocks. The VLF's missed this specimen as it was right under a big hot rock. Power of the Pulse Induction Axiom to be able to ignore the hot rock and get the specimen. Some PI's can ignore Hot Rocks and find gold nuggets because the nuggets are solid. Most PI's can't do the same under a large Hot Rock and still find some of the gold specimens. Chalk one more up for the Axiom Metal Detector's technology.

Swegin asked and I applaud him for doing so. What things I don't like. Yes there are a few things I don't care for but also realize of the probably 30+ detectors I have recovered gold with, I have yet to find one I totally like for every reason. I'm not a fan of those USB plugs and trying to get the cable in the little slot. The age my eyeballs are, I have to go and find my glasses to get it right. I'm not a fan of cable cords and feel if XP can get rid of them, then why can't Minelab and Garrett? It could be because of it being a PI, I'm not sure. I don't like having to use Garrett's Z Lynk wireless in todays modern electronic age. Why can't I use any wireless? I hate the hollow sound of the coils and the hard plastic rubbing the ground. It makes 2 to 3 x the amount of noise. I prefer a softer plastic like the other models and brands use. Sure we wear them out sooner, but at least I can hear the whisper signals better. I honestly feel 75% of the folks who gold hunt are walking over weak signals and not even realizing it. Still wishing for a better Iron Identification system on a PI, but it's what it is. Small iron like boot nails will not DISC out (on purpose so not to miss small gold). Large iron will identify better than small, but even large iron at depth is an issue. I also found out the hard way and was not too excited...if the ID goes silent across a target, it does not mean it's iron. So a piece of gold will just not make a response at all. Iron will produce the grunt sound. I realize most folks do not use Iron ID and I'm one of those strange ducks that does. But I only use it in certain areas and play the odds. Me, I personally don't like the dull gray coils as it does not help when taking pictures. Now I know Garrett Engineers could care less, but the marketing guys sure would like something different. I wish the Axiom would allow me to carry my cell phone and do video without EMI issues. All bigger detectors are like this, even many of the VLF's out there. I wish the Axiom was set a different frequency level of my Garrett Carrott pin pointer. I found out real fast like, they can not be very close when both turned on. Engineers will never totally please me with a detector as the way my mind thinks. Let me test it and I'll tell you ways to make it better. The problem with my thinking is not always what's best for the masses. I'm one of a few and detectors are usually sold for the majority. Prime example. The GM-1000 is a great selling VLF Gold Detector and I sell it more than most others, as it's dummy proof. I myself prefer the EQ-800 as it allows me more control and provides me with more information and better identification. But as I said, the masses prefer the GM-1000. No big deal. I do feel the Axiom runs smoother than many PI's out there and also has greater sensitivity to smaller gold and specimens. I also prefer the options of more tuning than a some of the others. Have I had some of the EMI issues Steve mentions. On a rare occasion and I have noticed the same on some of the recent high end machines the last few years and even to the point of some VLF's on certain soils. Ambiant air temperature is a big facture to a smoother running detector. Back when I was crazy about gold and Rye Patch was semi virgin (half ounce days were common & occasional 1 ounce days), I was going 12 months of the year. July/Aug it would get so hot, I started detecting more at night. I also found the detectors to run more smooth and retain a quieter Threshold. I then also noticed that mornings were better than mid days and adjusted my detecting hours. Atoms (energy and electricity) in the air actually mask a little bit of performance of the detector. When using the Axiom I noticed the hottest part of the day at a couple sites produced more Noise Canceling than other sites and or temperatures. Again, the same thing I noticed on other big machines. What I like and dislike might be, could be and should be different than what others say. We hunt different areas, states and kinds of gold. Our knowledge and skill levels are also never going to be the same. I don't know if there are any other Field Testers of the Axion in the US, other than Steve H and my staff/I. I do wish they would have more testers as well in other states, as that is a bigger picture to go from. Yes, the Axiom has things I don't like, but to tell you the honest to gods truth. It's a much better detector that what I initially was expecting to be testing. Have to give them credit as Garrett really did make a great move and option. But waits is even more impressive (actually I expected that) was all of this at the price point vs the competition.

So, I have decided to buy a Garrett Axiom detector, I like what I have seen so far. In Canada, Garrett dealers, much like their U.S. counterparts have been taking pre-orders. There are several dealers offering the Axiom at the MAP price equivalent to $3999 USD, once you factor in the exchange rate. There is a Garrett dealer in town, he sells detectors and prospecting gear, I have dealt with him in the past. To be honest, I never really got a good feeling when I bought something from him. I don't want to turn this into something that it isn't, lets just say, I haven't felt particularly 'welcome' in his store and leave it at that. Despite the vibe I get from the guy, I was willing to buy from him anyway, as this is a relatively big purchase and should there be any issues it would be nice to be able to deal with someone local. So, we had a back and forth email discussion last night, regarding the Axiom and ordering one. He said he could order me one, the price he quoted was $5990 CAD= $4560USD. So, I decided it was time to negotiate and told him that there are other dealers offering the Axiom pre-orders at MAP equivalent to $3999 USD and that was the end of the conversation, he is now ignoring my emails. Now granted, he is free to run his business anyway he wants to, he can charge whatever he wants... I get that. Now, if he just replied and said "I'm sorry, but that is the best I can do" I could understand that a bit better, but to just ignore a customer, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not sure how the pricing from Garrett and dealers work, and it's a topic I don't really want to delve into, as far as I am concerned that's between Garrett and their dealer network. But, as other dealers in Canada are offering pre-orders at MAP and free shipping anywhere in Canada, it would imply that there is still a profit to be made selling at MAP. As I said before, my preference would be to buy locally, but as this guy is ignoring me now, it doesn't exactly inspire my confidence in his customer service, so that negates any benefit of buying locally. Anyway, I guess I will be placing an order with another dealer, that is selling at MAP and offering free shipping. I plan on getting the 7x11 mono with 13" DD package. With the difference in price, I can get a 16" mono ($375 USD, listed on Garrett's site) and still have enough left over for a couple tanks of gas, for trips out to my claims. So what do you 'Diligent Detector Prospector' forum reader think?

I understand this is more than likely a nugget machine. But it does have a salt mode so I am interested in that. Are there any videos available on salt beaches and jewelry? I’m curious what the machine is doing to salt in salt mode. Thanks

We don't have much information about either of these detectors for the beach as of yet so we'll be pulling out an answer. Which way are you leaning? I have a choice, but I'll wait for a few answers before I disclose my logic.

Yes I was able to go BEAST MODE again with the Garrett Axiom. Interesting that the specimen does not hit as well on many of the other high end detectors. I find more varieties of gold with the Axiom... but as I said before. If you are happy with your machine so be it. On a side note. So funny how a few folks become jerks on social media. Not sure why, but they (including a few lazy ass dealers) feel it's better to slam me and even say that my finds are fake. So, if my 4.18 ozt chunk was fake, then I guess these other nice finds I am making are just as fake. What most folks don't know is the amount of time and effort I put into trying to find bigger gold. No it's nothing like what the Aussies find, but its nice in my mind and especially when compared to what most of us in the US do recover. I've gone days without gold, heck even multiple trips. You know how many times I video a potential dig to only find a lid to a tobacco tin or sardine can 2 feet deep. I get into a zombie mode of just keep doing it and recording and sooner or later I'll find something worth my efforts. Here's a pic of the score on the gold scale and yes I have it set to OZT not OZ. Dealers complaining because I'm getting to test some of the higher end gold detectors. Maybe it's because of my previous 50 yrs of detecting Success. Maybe it's because of me sharing stories, photos, videos of my customers and my staffs success for the last 25 yrs. What sets me apart from most dealers is the many relationships I've built in the 25 yrs training customers on their gold detectors. I've built those relationships over time and trust. I've handed over $10K chunks of gold and was sick to my stomach, but knew it was the right thing to do. Those gestures and the deals I make with claim owners have gotten me onto private grounds or claims most will never swing a coil. Keeping my relationships strong with such owners is not cheap and easy, but I figure it out. The many years in a variety of gold fields of a bunch of states (not just my back yard) has many miles of travels and early on in the gold chase I did not know what I do today. The detectors of the 90's do not have the capabilities of today's machines, so old worked ground from then can still produce some decent gold. So no, most folks/dealers will never be asked to test a new detector as your track record of Success, the amount of positive posts on social media and overall experience has not been built yet. Realize, I've been swinging a detector for 50 years and it's just an extension of my arm. Will it ever happen for you? I hope so because eventually I'll tire out and decide to quit promoting and just detect. I'll become like a few of my customers and just keep digging gold and occasionally grin as I stick more into the bank. Sorry to rant a little but I get tired of having to justify when I post new nice finds. So the Axiom is for real and it's capabilities vs price point are ranking very high on my list. PS, Maybe I should try and promote Mean Bean Coffee Energy Drink as well. It's GOLDEN.

Had the opportunity to meet up with Steve Herschbach and Steve (Condor) over the weekend and do some gold nugget hunting and testing of the new Garrett Axiom. I took along a few machines with some new updates and coils to try out on this trip and just wanted to give a few thoughts on what I experienced as well as share a video I did of the trip. Unfortunately I missed out on the detector comparison and recovery of the big nugget Condor found. But was involved in the reburial of the nugget and testing of multiple machines and coils over it. You can read Condor's story below. The clear winner was the 7000 with the 17" concentric coil. Close behind at about and inch (maybe more) less depth was the 6000 running either the 11" or 13x17 mono coil seemed to make no difference. Axiom in this scenario was in third running either the 7x11 or 11x13 coils. While I was there Steve let me use the Axiom for about 15 or 20 minutes. Now obviously that's not enough time to become an expert by any means. But it did allow me to experience the Axiom first hand. I just used the settings Steve had loaded at the time and I'm not even sure what timing was being used. Garrett did a good job with the Axiom. It is very well balanced and one can easily swing it all day long with the 7x11 coil. Menu seems very straight forward and easy to navigate. The machine is well built and folds down to a very compact size for easy transport. Having used many PI's in the passed, I feel I could make an easy transition to the Axiom and do well with it. Two things I noticed in my limited time with the Axiom are, first, the threshold is very similar to the 6000 and has a little wavier in it. A good running 6000 has a small wavier in the threshold, unlike the 5000 which can have a rock solid threshold. Second, target response on the Axiom seemed to be a little sharper than either the 5000 or 6000. Not saying either is good or bad, it's just some observations I took away with me. Overall I'm excited to get one when they become available. Hopefully by the first week of November so I can take it relic hunting in Virginia. XP Deus 2 running the 9" coil with the latest update allowing disc notch has greatly improved the machine in trash and hot rock strewn areas. I ran the D2 through a very trashy area with disc notched out up to 25 as most of your smaller shallow gold will ID in the 30's. I was able to pull a .40 gram nugget from the mess and was happy with it's performance in that scenario. Finally, the new GoldHawk 5x10 mono coil is a really great coil IMO. It makes the threshold on the 6000 even smoother than it was before and handles bad ground well. In this particular area there is a lot of salt and red clay. With the 11" and bigger coils the 6000 moans and groans over this ground in areas. With the 5x10 there are very few places it has any trouble at all. I think this will allow a person to hear smaller and possibly deeper nuggets with the added stability. Sensitivity to small gold is also amazing. We buried a .10 gram nugget next to the big nugget Condor found and ran various coils over it on the 6000 and Axiom. I think it was about 1.5 inches deep and Steve commented that I was being a little optimistic about being able to detect it. The 5x10 GoldHawk coil picked it no problem and was easily the winner in this case. The next day I took it to an area I had pulled a few nuggets from in the past with the 11" mono on the 6000 and had gridded the area at least 2 times before. I was able to pull 7 nuggets from this same patch which really was amazing. Ended up with 2.4 grams for the trip. Video is below if any of you are interested in watching.

I bought the GPZ XCoil Concentric for my upcoming trip to Australia coming in mid September. I wanted to put some run time on it so when Steve H suggested we take a short trip to Sawtooth to meet with forum member ABenson I jumped at the chance. Steve H has an old patch that he has detected for over 10 years, I've detected it for over 6 years. We generally find a few pickers but it really has been hunted to death. The benefit of a hunted to death patch is there is no more trash, so any target stands a good chance of being the good yellow stuff. I ran the 17" Concentric as hot as the ground would bear, Normal, High Yield, Sens 17. The ground has a lot of alkali salt, and the upper couple inches was damp from a recent rain so I added in the "Patch Find" setting to quiet the ground a little. After a couple hours with no targets other than a few boot scrapes in hot ground, I got a good repeatable tone on the slope of an old push. Since I'm new to the Concentric I had no idea what that signal was telling me. If I had to guess from the tone, I would say under a gram nugget, 4 to 6 inches down. So I marked the target and walked back to the truck to get my GPX 6000 and the new Coiltek 14x9 coil. Steve H was nearby so we decided to check the target with the new Axiom. We got there and neither the 6k nor the Axiom could hear the target. I had to go back to the truck and get the Z to verify the target was where I had marked. A clear and repeatable tone in both Normal and Difficult for the Z. We pulled a couple inches off the top and started the whole process over. The 6k gave a faint low tone over the target, but not something that would ordinarily stop me in prospecting mode. In fact, I dig very few low tones in this ground because of the hot ground and hot rocks. I'll defer to Steve H for his assessment of how the Axiom was doing over the same target. We did a lot more testing, and found a seam of hot red clay on the target, but to skip to the chase, we recovered a 4.6 gram nugget (4.7 on Steve's scale) at a minimum of 13 inches and probably closer to 14 inches. We reached a few preliminary conclusions on ground handling, raw detecting power and pricing of the 3 detectors, based on this one unscientific, ad hoc test with the detectors and coils we had available. Our ideas on detector performance were severely challenged in some later completely unscientific tests. More to come, Steve H is probably better suited to explain how things changed.

Got out with Condor for a short hunt. High Sierras, moderately high mineralization, some hot rocks, but not too hot. This is a burn area, like burnt to nothing left but trees like giant black toothpicks. Almost everything at ground level is incinerated to dust. It was hot enough to melt glass into blobs. I'm going out of my way to describe what I am seeing and hearing for those interested in the detector. I was able to run Axiom full out, Fine Mode, max sensitivity, Slow Speed, and manual ground balance. My go to settings. EMI was quiet, though I did get maybe twice a day some noise, which canceled out. Not sure what that was about. I can hunt with no issues within about 50 feet of Condor and his GPZ 7000. Maybe less but in general I stay away from other people when I detect. I ran entire time with 11"x7" mono coil, my favorite. The ground was what I'd call lively, but not bad enough to drop out of fine mode, or lower the sensitivity. I just did basic ground balancing, because I like keeping things minimal when detecting, and like being on the edge, which means I do not mind investigating the oddball ground noise or hot rock. I got a few rocks but they were like right there, just nudge them aside. I also got a few soft hits on what turned out to be little pockets of incinerated ground, dig in and just a fine gray material. So shallow I could scrape them out with my boot, and the signal would disperse. I'm sure I could have eliminated all this dropping into another mode or dropping the sensitivity, or both, but my style of detecting kind of demands I do this sort of thing, as long as it is not so much and so often as to be oppressive. Chalk it up to me and my "ride the edge" detecting style, not the detector itself. I had no issues with charcoal of any sort, other than the little dust pockets mentioned earlier. I've hunted several burn areas now, and there is not much in the way of issues that Axiom can't deal with. In general it just makes for a bit livelier ground, most often exhibiting as small hot spots that disperse on digging. The area has been hunted to death, not quite dead really, but typical lots of digging iffy targets and broken square nails, a handful of "bullet stuff" (actual bullets, shell casings, and the worst, fragments of jacketed bullets). And a relic - woo hoo! Little brass belt buckle that has some details so I sanded it a bit to make visible for the photo. Have not weighed the gold yet, will add that later. Little pickers.

Just a quick clip of a really nice 1.16 ozt crystalline gold specimen recovered with the Axiom. No, it's not super deep, but this area had been pounded with GPX-4500/5000 Gold Monster 1000 and Equinox 800. I'm not saying the GPX-6000 or GPZ-7000 missed it, as I know they would have found. Only problem with the 7000 is the extra weight and the hike into the canyon and all the side hilling would have made it difficult. That's exactly why we didn't spend much time in their with the 7000's.

I dont see much discussion on that. I have cound a very small nugget with my GPZ... I know that there is discrimination... But honestly how many people would still dig even if it sounds out as Iron? I am just curious about the depth... sorry if its been mentioned and I missed it. It doesnt hurt to think about things....

Here's another nice find made with the new Axiom. This 21+ gram specimen should clean up nicely. I know some will say to smash, but I like it as is. Are you a smasher or leave it all natural? I ran the detector with a GAIN of 6, slight THRESHOLD, FINE GOLD Timing and Ground Tracking Off. Sure wish the temps were not so hot though. When the ground is too hot to get on your knees and or even grab with a bare hand, it's time to take a break. Luckily it was not 109 when we were detecting, but it was when I was driving home Sunday late afternoon. Also found a hidden gem on the Garrett. https://www.facebook.com/gerry.mcmullen.7 Options of another high end detector is exactly what the market needs. It would be nice to see Garrett jump on here and say "Hello, we are listening".

Warrens last video had some comments made about not being able to hear the detector audio. They must have read the comments, because this video makes specific note of doing just that. Personally, I think this makes for a much better video, as a number one question people have is about how a detector sounds on the ground, and on the target. This video does show that about the Axiom, for those that are interested. I’ll admit I don’t watch many videos, but I do want to note I very much appreciate those that create them. I see a lot of armchair critics, and my response is “have you ever shot video?” It’s hard work that detracts from the detecting at hand, and as far as I am concerned, is a waste of my time in general, which is why you don’t see me doing many videos. The main thing is they are free. Some comments people make act like they bought something, and got ripped off, when instead they are watching a free video. Just had to mention that, and to reiterate I appreciate anyone who takes the time to make and post videos for others. If you’ve never made them and posted them yourself, you have no idea what a pain it is to make a video more than a couple minutes long.

There has been a change to the options for US customers who are interested in the new Garrett Axiom. US customers can now order the detector in 2 different configurations. Read the link to get a better idea. The price is the same though, but one of them just makes more sense for most of you. Again, If you are wanting to get one, please get on my list. I've been a Garrett dealer for 20+ yrs and also one of the contributing Field Testers and an active member here on Detector Prospector for many years. As a veteran myself, I am proud to offer active and veterans the full 15% military discount. Also, if you are new to gold detecting and would enjoy spending 3 days in the Field with like minded people and my Field Staff Experts learning the ropes of finding gold nuggets, you'll get an additional discount on the class. My website Calendar of Events has the remaining dates for 2022. Thanks, Gerry at Gerry's Detectors in Boise, Idaho www.gerrysdetectors.com

It would be nice if someone who knows the Axiom (from an Engineering standpoint) were to get on here and help educate some of us future Axiom Owners. How many others would enjoy talking the the main folks who are behind this new Ultra Pulse Induction detector? We have questions and some of us testers are detectorists, not Engineers. On a side note. As one of the testers of the Axiom at finding gold nuggets, I wanted to make sure everyone realizes this. This fine forum has a site for gold hunters to post pics of gold and or gold nugget related text. I'm posting my success finds and little tips of nugget noggin knowledge on there. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/4-detector-prospector-forum/ I'm also curious as to how the Civil War Relic Hunters and Beach Hunters will be using this new Axiom as it has features some of the other high end detectors do not. Who knows, this could become waterproof down the road and we'd have a new Garrett PI for the surf. I'm already thinking the features is going to make it a great CW detector so it's just a matter of time. Be sure you folks have your questions thought out and ready and maybe, just maybe we can have someone behind the scene come on aboard.

The Axiom uses Garrett’s proprietary Z-Lynk audio system. At 17 ms it is easily faster than the 30 ms threshold it takes for most people to perceive audio lag. The transmitter is built into the detector, and the receiver into the headphone. Pairing is almost instant and once paired, just turn on the detector, good to go. Way less hassle than Bluetooth in that regard. The waterproof Z-Lynk enabled Garrett Pro-Pointer AT can be added as an option, and will seamlessly pair with the headphones and detector both, so you can use and hear the pinpointer without removing headphones. Finally, buy a Z-Lynk transmitter box, and it will work with every detector you have, and the pinpointer also. It is actually probably the best one stop solution for wireless on multiple detectors. The only issue is you have to like the fit and sound produced with the MS3 headphone with single volume control. If not, get a receiver box, and use your favorite wired headphones plugged into it. Garrett Z-Lynk Wireless Audio System Details Garrett Z-Lynk Enabled Pro-Pointer AT Pinpointer Details Garrett Axiom Quick Facts, Owner's Manual, Etc.

So I've recently started using my GPX 5000 as a coin and jewellery detector, I've been using the Coiltek 11" Anti Interference coil on it, this coil is fantastic for the job, the most stable threshold you'll ever hear on a GPX, although sadly the coil is now discontinued, Detech make a similar coil though but I know nothing about their version and if it works as well. At the moment I'm considering an Axiom as I'm sure quite a few others are too, the main focus so far on the detector has been prospecting so it's time to find out how it goes as a coin and jewellery detector, and of course relics for those lucky enough to live in a place that has relics. With my coin and jewellery spots there is always a lot of EMI around as obviously where you hunt these things are places with heavy human occupation. The other places I'd use it are at beaches which around here especially popular beaches where the finds could be made generally have houses all around them so many sources of EMI. An example of how good the Coiltek AI is on my GPX under some high voltage power lines And another video showing the Coiltek AI coil being used inside my house, a crazy high EMI environment showing just how well it handles EMI This is the question, how well is the Axiom going to compete with this? Is it naturally good with EMI with a DD coil? Being a detector with no protective chips to prevent aftermarket coils perhaps manufacturers would be able to make AI coils for it too? I would think Detech would be one of the first to take on coils for the Axiom and seeing they make AI coils already it might end up possible. These videos were filmed using my old Aussie made ratty GPX 4500, my GPX 5000 is much more stable although I can't really complain how well the 4500 works with the AI coil, the 5000 is even better. I didn't own the 5000 when I took the video. I guess for the answers to my questions it's going to take time for people to have the Axiom in their hands but with a few on order already from people giving up their GPX 6000 due to it's EMI problems as they hunt in high EMI environments I'm sure it won't be long and a few friendly helpful users will give me the advice I'm chasing 🙂

From the Garrett website: 1142720 Axiom Metal Detector with 13"x11" DD Coil, 11"x7" Mono Coil and MS-3 (wireless) Headphones 1142765 Axiom Metal Detector with 13"x11" Mono Coil, 11"x7" DD Coil and MS-2 (wired) Headphones Note wireless Z-Lynk vs wired headphones, and reversal of DD and mono options. From letter sent to Gerry and other dealers: ”Axiom will be available in two standard packages, each including two searchcoils and headphones. Each kit varies slightly based on the regions where they will be used (i.e. wired headphone versus wireless headphones where electrical charging sources are not readily available.)” Right now it seems only the wireless pack is being sold in the U.S. Is the other for Africa etc. due to idea that it’s easy to charge detector, but not the headphones? Makes no sense, though I can understand the desire for less things that need charging. Fact is though that the headphones should go longer on a charge than the detector. I’d assume wired pack sells for a little less, but then again, with coil differences, maybe not? Anyway, a question dealers need to sort out ASAP.

I've just been updated to the new Garrett Axiom pricing and what's in the box. Please read below and if you are interested, contact me "Gerry's Detectors" to get on the list. Military folks get the new 15% discount savings right off the top of the price = approx $600 savings. Garrett Axiom Quick Facts, Owner's Manual, Etc.

Hey Steve, while reviewing the iron check feature I took a look at the Axiom manual: Note: Iron Check is a conservative function. To help ensure Axiom does not misidentify a good target as iron, the iron tone (buzz) will only activate on strong signals. Examples: 3" nail to a depth of about 5" and 3/4" boot nail to a depth of about 2". Steel bottle caps will typically not identify as iron. Did you have a chance to validate the Iron Check function, seems similar to the GPX 5000 capabilities, and what are your thoughts? Bill

Just some pictures of my two favorite configurations, Garrett Axiom with 7" x 11" mono (4lbs 3.8oz) and Minelab GPX 6000 with 11" round mono (4lbs 8.6oz). Weighed on my postal scales as configured, both perfectly balanced, a real joy to swing and use. Mainly wanted to give people a look at the "look," and general proportions of both detectors. Click or double click photos to see or download full size versions. The Axiom coil looks "longer" than the 6000 coil in the photo, but that's an optical illusion. I just measured both coils, GPX is 11" round, and Axiom is a true 7" x 11" modified elliptical. Both excellent examples of what we should be getting in way of easy swinging, ergonomic PI detectors. Finally! Garrett Axiom Quick Facts, Owner's Manual, Etc. Minelab GPX 6000 & Garrett Axiom Minelab GPX 6000 & Garrett Axiom Minelab GPX 6000 & Garrett Axiom Minelab GPX 6000 & Garrett Axiom Minelab GPX 6000 11" round mono & Garrett Axiom 7" x 11" elliptical mono

I am planning to get the Axiom package with the 13"DD and 11" Mono. I dont really have a use for a Mono coil so if anyone wants to trade straight up a brand new 11" DD for a brand new 11" Mono, I will be happy to do so.

Just copied this from Garrett Australia Facebook……..trust me, that is some very spicy ground 🌶 This is some very good preliminary results if its pinging gold in this ground as you need an effective GB to hear any targets. Good boots are a must on our hot ground 😳

I'm starting to wonder if Garrett is about to release a new prospecting PI, they're talking about a new gold detector on their website. Is it possible this is the new and improved ATX in a land based design? Could it be? Fingers crossed. They've even now got a prospecting section on their website with their prospecting detectors. They're announcing the most powerful prospecting detector they've ever created!!! That's got to be a PI. Sounds pretty exciting to me. The 24k is outstanding, if they can combine that with a modern powerful PI they've got themselves back in the game. Garrett Axiom Quick Facts, Owner's Manual, Etc.