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Here is my dynamic duo. If I had to own the least number of detectors possible myself, this is what I would settle on. I can basically do anything with these two detectors. Gold nuggets, coins, jewelry, relics, beach & snorkel work, you name it, this has it pretty well covered. You can argue some other detector might be better than one of these for this or that, and I'll not argue with anyone. But the Axiom plus my Micronox (trademark pending ) weigh in at a hair over 7 lbs total, and obviously take up next to no room in my rig. Various Micronox Options Here

Input welcome. Werid machine to make a cover for. Doc

Used the Axiom for the first-time last week, in Georgetown area North Queensland Australia. Happy with machine, but no gold! I was frustrated with the amount of hot rocks and ground noise, this was when using tracking off. The ground balance values were staying pretty constant, no big changes when moving along. So tried auto tracking slow, med, and fast all helped but I was worried I could track a target out. Started out with sensitivity of three and slowly worked up to 4 and 5 machine ran quit smooth at these settings. Normal mode seemed a bit smoother again. So what I am trying to say is how better to deal with hot rocks and ground noise? I do like the Axiom but not trusting it yet. Any clues please. PS meant to so was mainly in Fine mode and trying Normal but mainly in Fine.

I just spent a short while at the famous Nevada Rye Patch over Monday evening and into Tuesday afternoon. The desert this year is extra beautiful and green in the summer with all of the past recent wet weather. I hoped to stay dry doing some detecting and perhaps find some Nevada gold. Well, I at least completed one goal, but failed on the other. I had to wait out a rainstorm for about an hour after a late day arrival. I grabbed my ML GPX 6000 with Goldhawk 10x5 coil and gave the area a test. There were still some puddles on the ground and the top several inches of ground were soppy wet. The 6k is a bit noisy, even with the 10x5 coil, and the saturated ground added to the noise. As it would soon be dark, I decided to pack up the 6000 and use the Garret Axiom with 11x7 mono coil the next day, as I've been able to get it to run more quietly in some tough areas due to the added controls and lower sensitivity levels it offers. The next morning was overcast, but the puddles were mostly gone. After a bit of fiddling to lower audio on the Axiom to 4 threshold, 2 sensitivity and volume 14 while using my ML Koss 1/4in headphones, I was off detecting. Since Rye Patch has been very heavily detected over the decades, my experience has been there aren't too many signals to expect, so I was happy to get my first within 5-10 minutes. I got a faint, but repeatable signal near a sagebrush bush, even with a low sensitivity setting of 2. I figured it would be a shard of bullet or sliver of iron can, but nope, it was a caliche-encrusted, very coarse nugget down about 3 inches! What a way to start the day with a success. I figured I'd cover that area even more slowly and after finding 2 tiny slivers of iron, about 30 minutes later I got an extremely faint signal. A few scrapes and it was in the pile and turned out to be an very tiny nugget! This one was about sesame seed size and also very coarse. The Axiom with its extreme stability and almost no falsing with the audio/sensitivity lowered, still hit that tiny target, very impressive! I renewed my efforts the next 4-5 hours, since it was a race against time. The clouds darkened quickly and it began to look like rain coming yet again with huge dark patches of clouds building nearby. I did dig some other small trash signals and a couple of recent bullets, but no more gold. As the first rain of the early afternoon started to soak me, the thunderstorm hit HARD and I decided it was time to head out. I'm glad I did because the main road in/out had some flash flooding and unfortunately is going to have considerable water damage for a while in spots. People with 2wd vehicles might have trouble passing in the near future. I was glad to finally score some Rye Patch gold after being skunked there in the past. I can now check off finding Nevada nuggets from my list. Low and slow, as others often state, was key, as was making my Axiom as quiet and stable as possible to discern solid signals from saturated ground noises. Also, determination was key. I told myself before the day's hunt, if signals are there to be dug, then there can still be gold, and sure enough there was.

I'm planning on my yearly trip to the Florida Treasure Coast in November and in the past have been using my Orx and Nox. This year I'd like to try something different in the way of a PI so I'm considering buying the ATX or Axiom. Curious to know if others have used either one between Melbourne and Fort Pierce. I'm thinking the ATX would be more robust to the elements. Thanks.

Hi, my name is Rick Ray from SW Oregon. I have had an Axiom since March. In talking to a Garret dealer, I was informed that there is a procedure that is required should one change the coil size or type. Did I miss something in the manual or is this new aftermarket advice? Thanks, Rick

I had a 4500 for a few years I sold it and bought a Axiom because I thought it would be better. it definitely is lighter and that's one thing I like. I have tried fine gold full sensitivity and I can't hear my little gold test piece that my 4500 would sound off on. The other problem I noticed is a larger target like a bullet would only sound off when the heal of the coil was over the target. Iam using then mono coil. Are there other Axiom user having problems?

What detector would you get especially if you have used both?

Steve: I live in Phoenix area, 75, retired and bored. Decided to get out and learn something that is enjoyable, challenging, outdoors with plenty of exercise. With at least a 1000 steps a day. Searching for gold nuggets has always been a bucket list event. Researched gold detectors and wanted to achieve better odds of detecting in areas in Arizona that have been prospected over and over again. Research, limited by my knowledge, led me to the new Garrett Axiom and found that you are the best advocate of testing and tweaking this new detector and have read a lot of your post while doing my research. Minelab seems to be superior with the 7000 I felt the Axiom was my choice and less expensive than the 6000, plus offered more advance features. I decided on the Axiom and bought the package with 11x7 mono and 13x11 DD and added the 16x14 DD. The 16x14DD in the event I can visit the Mojave desert. Plan to learn how to detect using the 13x11 DD. Not doing this to make a living. But would like to find what others may have passed over due to the limitations of their detectors. Just want the exercise, be able to enjoy seeing parts of the state that everyone misses out on. Looking forward to this venture but going to start by learning how this detector works. Joined a local prospecting club to access areas where I can legally detect and meet others that have detected for a while. Plus plan to detect more often than others that can only go on weekends. Also, not really interested in dredging or panning. Just joined Detectorprospector as a new member and will continue to monitor your research and others who have also bought the Axiom. Really appreciate your insight as you and others with updates about your findings, also. Wish me luck.

The only issue I have found is the iron check feature when using a DD FC coil is that sometimes it responds to non gold with it’s buzz but sometimes goes to the menu setup negating the hit completely. I’m setting up properly and continue moving over the target. Some times it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Dig it up anyway when it says it’s not gold just to test the feature in during my introduction to detecting with the Axiom and it’s iron check feature, but don’t know what I’m doing wrong when I use the iron check feature. Any suggestions as to what I’m doing wrong.

Hi all - new to PI detectors and new to Garrett! A few weeks ago I purchased an Axiom as my first PI machine. Doing some backyard testing I got a lot of EMI interference so I went out a friend's rural block. As soon as he fired up his Nox 800 the Axiom went crazy. Is this normal? I figured worst case we just can't be within 10m of each other which is generally fine when detecting anyway. Is it just PI vs VLF? Or PI vs PI it does this?

I've been detecting for gold nuggets for several years without finding any Au. As many of you know, almost everything else is found: bullets, fragments of bullets, fragments of fragments of bullets, bullet casings, nails, hob-nails, foil, lead sinkers, lead shot, and the list goes on-and-on. We'll I finally found some Au! The first time out with my new Garrett Axiom after some backyard and nearby gulch practice I went to a southern Arizona location with a local detecting buddy. We have both been on a quest to find some gold. On a steep rocky hillside and after finding several lead bullets and a big jacketed rifle bullet I thought I found another when a large signal was heard. About three inches down was a flat dark dirt covered rock that was unusually heavy. My first thought was "that's a funny piece of lead." I called my buddy over to take a look at it. He hollered and identified it as a specimen piece of a gold vein! After all of our searches we were finally on the gold! After hundreds of hours of detecting my only hope was to find some small or tiny piece of a nugget....anything. What I found was about 3.6 ounces of specimen. I'm not certain how much Au is inside but I'd guess about one-half of it. I've scrubbed it with dish soap and also liquid Bar Keeper's cleaner but the gold is not clearly visible except on the edges. The piece is about 2.2" long, 2" wide and 1/2" thick, so it clearly is a piece of mineralized vein. I may consider cleaning it with Muriatic or hydrofluoric acid to remove everything except the Au and quartz, but it is such a nice example of a thin gold vein it I'd rather not damage it. I'm most impressed with the Axiom. I was using the 11" mono coil on a steep brushy and rocky hillside. The detector is well balanced and easy to use with only a little practice. My detector settings were Fine, Slow, and Manual ground balance. Unlike my past VLF detectors the Axiom virtually ignored the mineralization and hot rocks. This meant I could detect almost continuously with only an occasional manual ground balance. I'd guess compared to using a VLF machine I covered twice as much ground with far more confidence in hearing targets. For all of you still searching for your first gold detect I say stick with it. Perseverance pays off. One of the best suggestions I've heard from an experienced detectorist was to first be sure I was detecting in an area of known gold. Good luck and keep detecting. Az_Ed

When I change modes on my Axiom and re ground balance in exactly the same spot I noticed that the ground balance numbers change quite a bit, and that the top number was in numerical order but the bottom wasn’t. Here are the numbers with the following settings-sensitivity 3, tracking off, speed slow standing in the same spot on my proprty- Fine-50/27, normal 59/31, large 62/25. I repeated it 5-6 times in 3 different areas & I expected it to change some because of different timings but was suprised at how much it jumped. Also changing sensitivity didnt affect it much, it was always +/- 1 on the top and bottom numbers if it changed at all, that part seems normal to me. I am now more curious about this than when I first noticed it because I shipped my Axiom to Garrett today for inspection because no matter where I was or what settings I tried the threshold always had the same “chatter”, not a smooth up/down oscillation but almost a slow morse code sounding random chatter that sounds like noticable but faint targets, the only way it would go away is if sensitivity was lowered to 1 or 2 in ALL settings except salt which I didnt try. This first happened Around my property and I chalked it up to EMI because its there while the coil is stationary or moving and I was like 75 yards from the house but after trying a bunch of spots it was exactly the same everywhere including a 40 mile trip up into the mountains like 25 miles from the nearest power lines or civilization to test it, same exact “chatter”. Now im starting to wonder if the gb number change is related somehow? I dont have access to another axiom to compare to so.... My question is if this gb number change is similar on other Axioms? Has anyone else noticed this?

Hi all, My new Axiom is the wireless package with the 13x11 DD and 11x7 Mono coils. Initially I will be using it to patch hunt in unfamiliar areas rather than cleaning up old known patches. I'm thinking the 13X11 DD would be an okay choice to use even though a 13x11 Mono might punch deeper. I may have to drop down to the 11x7 Mono in brushy tree covered areas. Any advice on this strategy will be greatly appreciated. I own a GPZ 7000 but it gets heavier each year. If I locate a patch or two I can bring out the big gun. ?

16 DD Coil 948g SC 188g = 1136g (2.504 lbs) 16 Mono 766g SC 188g = 954g (2.103 lbs) 13 DD 750g SC 156g = 906g (1.997 lbs) 13 Mono 598g SC 156g = 754g (1.662 lbs) 11 DD 518g SC 74g = 592g (1.305 lbs) 11 Mono 424g SC 74g = 498g (1.098 lbs) Coil Bolt + Two Rubber Washers = 10g (0.022 lbs) Garrett Axiom 16”, 13”, and 11” search coils, both DD and mono

Hey Everyone, Just wanted to share some of my thoughts/experience with the Axiom so far. Iv got about 14 hrs on it here in AZ. I was on the fence between buying the 6000 or the Axiom ever since the minelab sale.... Tough decision as the feedback on the Axiom is still pretty slim but very promising. Well I got out last weekend and it was a perfect day for testing in my most familiar ground where i usually swing an SDC or 4500. It was windy and the EMI was in full force. There was also some recent rain which had soaked the thick red clay in many areas. So yeah, perfectly hot and variable ground and EMI up the wazoo... Usually this combination will make me choose the 4500 in enhance/quiet tuned down a bit and not even bother with the SDC if the EMI is too bad. I fired up the Axiom for the first time and went through all the settings. In order to get it running quiet in this setting (11"mono) I landed on using normal at sensitivity of 3. In fine mode the wet red clay was too much to balance in any setting higher than 2 In Normal mode both the horrible EMI and ground was mellow enough to run it at 3. At 2 it was close to silent which was great but I did not trust it to find small pieces yet. Within about 15 mins i popped out a .16 g on a hillside! yay, ok it works! So the rest of the day i had a really fun time going Veerrryyy slow, digging every sound, playing with the settings as I went along. Im so used to the sound of my minelabs with the sun ray headphones that it took alot of adjusting the audio tone/threshold/volume and some time to get used to the slightly different character of the Axiom. I did use the WR-1 with my sunrays (thanks for that tip Steve) but it was still a little strange... What I noticed right off was if there was an adjustment to the sensitivity, then the quality of the threshold sound changed. As well it seemed if the threshold was turned up a bit somewhere around 16-18 and the volume was just right, there was a sweet spot where the target sounds seemed to be most clear to my ears. I am curious what other people are experiencing with the Axioms audio and threshold, please chime in! So I kept changing the volume of the machine, the WR-1 module, and the headphones, the sensitivity, and the threshold and there is alot of variation in the quality of sound between settings. Another thing about the threshold was a kind of clipped/echo kind of break when a small/faint or deep target was gone over....almost like when using my equinox with some of the numbers blocked or tuning down the the 4500 threshold way down. I tried adjusting the the threshold higher than 19-20 but it blocked out too much of the target sounds. I had a difficult time getting the volume/threshold/sensitivity just right. I did not try the speaker yet. Ground balance: I did not use the ground tracking at all yet. I found I had to ground balance quite a bit more actively in this variable ground. (compared to 4500) Hot wet clay-dry hillside- hot rocks etc.. but I really like being able to balance out the hot rocks, very handy feature.. again im so new to this machine i know nothing yet. So far so good! Got out the next day to another location. Very little wind/emi, dryer (mostly) ground. lots of ironstone, blacksand, hot rocks, lots of variable hot spots etc. No wind so I happily used the speaker which is great. So this day i was able to use Fine mode but only at about 3 sensitivity. Emi and ground were too erratic and i wanted to get more time in and find more targets to understand more of how this detector works before I try cranking it up too much (again, great advice from Steve on this) I found a couple of faint targets and changed all the settings up and down before digging. In Fine, the small targets sounded off clear, in Normal not so much. I tried cranking up the sensitivity in Normal but it only helped a wee bit. Fine was better for sure even at a setting of 2. At setting of 1 sensitivity the targets were too faint but it sure was quiet! dug up the two targets and gold yay! smallest weighs in at .06 g Im very happy about this? I did scrape down to bedrock in the area and went over it with the NOX and didnt find any other targets... Ended up finding a couple sitting ducks, one next to someones dig hole (so sorry) and one about 6ft away. biggest was .4g and was a screamer, thought for sure it was a bullet at first' So, iv only got about 14hrs on the AXIOM but I am diggin it so far! I tried the ground tracking in slow, which seemed to work well on the variable wet/dry ironstone nature of the area. I cant remember if i was using it when I found the tiniest piece. but did find a shotgun bb while using it so it did not track it out. and I dont remember hitting any hot rocks while using it in this area... Geeesh, i didnt mean to go on such a ramble but im trying to share as much as i can to help anyone who is considering trying out this machine. I know I was skeptical but the reports have been really intriguing. Price point, ergonomics, new variables to play with. My only concern so far is durability. It seems well made though only time will tell. I am so far very pleased with my purchase (thanks to a member here!) I do not think it compares to either my SDC or 4500... its somewhere in the middle I think. And with only using the 11" mono so far, im excited to try the other coils. Another observation is the coil is nice and hot on those squared off corners, it really is a bit different than most elipticals. As well the shape of it helps the whole machine stay upright when you set it down, and thats a nice touch. Another nice feature is the layout of the settings buttons. easy to adjust all settings quickly. I was pleasantly surprised how much I like it. I kept treating the detector like my NOX, and kept accidentally trying to turn it off on the side of the screen, which was funny.. and a nod to how light it is.. Anyway, hope theres at lest a helpful nugget in all that somewhere... Id love to hear what others are experiencing with the audio settings especially the threshold and sensitivity variables..

Is it possible to pair wireless earbuds directly to the Axiom for hot weather use? Or is the wr-1 and corded earbuds the only/best option?

.....well no, actually, I killed the monkey that was riding my back for the last 15+ days detecting (3 years) without joy. The Axiom lent the assist that was needed to get back amongst the living. First time out with the Axiom in tough ground, this modest .60 grammer saw the light of day, from 5" down. This is a big step up from the PI I was using previous. I used the 11 x 7 mono and was impressed with the hot top corners. Started out at sens 4 but got a little conservative and fell back to a stable sens 3. I can see that once you get some time on the Axiom, you will be more comfortable in pushing its limits. My confederates who run 2300's were impressed with how hot the 11 x 7 was.

These are not my videos, but a series being posted by Randy’s Treasure Adventures starting a couple weeks ago, with the last just posted today. I’ll add more if any appear later. I don’t know Randy or anything about him, and frankly I’ve not even watched the videos. I’m sure something can be gleaned from them one way or the other though by those that watch videos so here they are. Mar 12, 2023 I spent a few days in the Arizona gold fields recently and here is the first of several videos comparing the Garrett Axiom to the Minelab GPX6000. They’re not the same, but how different are they from a results standpoint? Mar 18, 2023 Scouring a hillside in the Bradshaw Mountains with the Garrett Axiom, looking for a nugget patch. The Axiom is light, powerful, and well balanced for this task! Also a little view of operations on one of our claims with a fun quad ride. Mar 22, 2023 Another day comparing the Axiom to the GPX 6000. I could not help myself and had to film multiple waterfalls, and in this video, you only get to see a sample of the waterfalls that I stopped and and took video of. The high desert in Arizona is just so picturesque. It’s hard not to lose focus and just take pictures!

The focus while designing the Axiom was 100% on the nugget detecting aspects. But I do think it will end up finding favor with some relic and coin hunters also. I will add information and videos about the subject to this thread as I come across them. This is my best "not nugget" find with the Axiom so far is a silver 1914 sixpence I accidentally found while nugget detecting in Australia.

From everything I've read on the Axiom from Steve H. and others I can see no reason not to trade in or sell my 5000 to offset costs in purchasing an Axiom. It's a difficult decision for me as I have found a lot of gold with the 5000 over the years. Can anyone give me a reason not to do this? I have several coils from the 8x6 to the largest for the 5000. From what I can see the only con is maybe a lack of coils at this time for the Axiom. However looks like that will change with time. For use in Northern California and the Mojave for gold prospecting. Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

I had gone into an old past producing mine last week. I had brought my axiom with the 11" mono and my friend had his sdc2300. I had hit a very suttle signal on the wall in a 1" thick blanket seam, my friend scanned it with his sdc2300 and could not pick up a signal. I chiseled out 4" of the wall around the target, the suttle signal turned into a banger. Ended up being a 1 oz pay zone of 3"w 4"L not a crazy amount but no complaints and always thankful. All the gold was thin and laying flat so the detector was only picking up the edges, which makes a huge difference for depth. I took my vlf gold kruzer to clean up all the non pi gold. I replaced my sdc2300 for the axiom im pretty happy with my decision. Incase anyone is wondering is was in "fine" mode, full sensitivity, no head phones, max vaolume, max threshold, tone @ 60, speed on slow. Ground track off, basically default settings except sensitivity, tone and speed. I normally run head phones in which i should have to block out the sound of the coil scraping the walls and background noise but i didnt have my headphones thats why i max out everything as for volume,threshold and sensitivity. I think volume amd threshold are maxed by default. With headphones i run 4-6 on sensitivity depending. I dont notice a difference on small,large, shallow, deep targets from max sensitivity to default except overall volume, youll still hear targets in reach. Good luck out in the gold feilds.

What's happened? the talk on the Axiom I mean, it's gone quiet on here and in oz. I know it's off season but there must be a few out there now. I have had a little play with one and like it. And about to buy. But I suppose if the Axiom was giving any trouble it would soon be out there, wouldn't it? Cheers all.

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

Hey guys I was our this weekend at gold eye claim in Quartzsite AZ was using the mono that came with the kit there were guys with GM1000's and 1 GPX6000 both were killing it with small nuggets I couldn't even pickup what they were finding and the Garrett was noisy no matter what I did grant it i didn't know about the gb window only the standard pump and hold button until it beeped also my head phones keep disconnecting and picking up noise unless I'm right next to head of detector. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong but the first time I took it out with another friend who has an Axiom and we both found multiple target at the 1.grain size could the noise and loss of sensitivity be from the gm100's and the GPX6000 please help im ready to send it back to see if there's an issue