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I just spotted this on the new Garrett Direct website: The Axiom is updateable via the same process that is used by the Garrett Apex. The current firmware version is displayed for a split second when you first turn on the Axiom. The top ground balance number will show 01 and the bottom one 47. If you so much as blink you will miss it. And just so nobody asks, I'm not involved in or testing any updates so can offer no clues as to what is in the works.

As explained elsewhere my metal detecting is winding down from my glory days. I will never quit detecting, but it is a more casual close to home thing going forward. With that in mind I just don't need the dozen detectors I usually have had banging around the house for most of the last couple decades. I had already weeded things down pretty well but job one was to stop getting new detectors. The last new detector I added to my mix was the XP Deus 2 a couple years ago. After disposing of other models, like the Tarsacci for instance, I was left with the following: Minelab Equinox Garrett Axiom XP Deus 2 White's DFX For what I do I'm pretty satisfied with the Axiom as a general purpose PI so that's settled. The DFX sports a Bigfoot coil, and I own the machine as much to run the coil as the other way around, so it is not going anywhere. In fact it might become my most used VLF soon. So what to do with the Equinox 800 and Deus 2? The Manticore was really looking like a replacement for both. I can't really get enthused about the XP way of things. People rave about the light weight being a real factor for them, but I don't consider weight to be an issue for me with any detector weighing under three pounds. At the end of the day coils are a big deal for me, and I don't like proprietary limited coil options. Wireless coils leave me cold. People can argue with me all they want but they are wasting their time. I like wired coils, and I lean to detectors with third party coil options. So it is the coils that decided it for me. Minelab took too long with Manticore coils and now I just don't care any more. I'm also peeved XP has withheld the 5x10 coil from Deus 2 owners. My Equinox 800 I have a 6" round coil, the Coiltek 5x10, the stock 11" coil, and the Minelab 12x15 coil. XP has nothing similar to offer in way of coils. Nor does the Manticore. Plus I have custom rods for my Equinox perfect for both compact backpacking and for beach use. I even have an S rod that I have yet to use. The icing on the cake is a set of custom Tony Eisenhower underwater headphones I really like. Would I get rid of all that and keep the Deus 2? No. Would I trade all that for the Manticore as it exists right now? No. So I think I have after ages finally weeded it down to three detectors. The Deus 2 will find a new home. And I am left with... Garrett Axiom - my most used detector for gold prospecting and beach detecting Minelab Equinox 800 with full accessory set - do it all coin, relic, jewelry, gold nuggets, you name it White's DFX with Bigfoot - Park jewelry use almost exclusively Maybe, just maybe the Manticore will tempt me again in a year or so, once the software bugs and coil drought get straightened out. But after 50 years I feel like I have got off the new detector merry go round. There really is something to be said for using a machine you know inside and out, and fact is my Equinox talks to me. The Deus 2 still speaks French and frankly I just don't care to make the effort to learn French. Too old to learn new tricks? Maybe. The main thing for me is I won't waste any more time thinking about this machine or that machine and instead just focus purely on using what I have to best effect. Compared to what I started with 50 years ago I'm drenched in fabulous technology I once only dreamed of, so now matter how I look at it I'm thrilled with the detectors I have now. Minelab Equinox 800 with 6" coil and telescoping rod White's DFX with Bigfoot coil Garrett Axiom with 7x11 coil Equinox 800 with 12x15 coil and steveg counterweighted rod The perfect pair? Axiom 7x11 and Equinox telescoping 5x10

The first thing you want to do is look on the back cover to see the man Steve H. with the Axiom in his hand. It says Novice To Professional- Garrett Finds Gold. Chuck

Hello everyone! Just curious on how you guys are protecting the screen? I was thinking maybe just like a phone screen protector just cut to size. Heavy pans!!

I was detecting some old mining piles that were pushed around years ago and was able to score I really nice chunky Gold Specimen with the Axiom. Some after pics of the quick spit washed showed a nice find for my efforts. Globby gold on one side. 13" MONO coil on the Axiom while using Garrett AT Carrot Pointer. Beautiful. . 2.17 ozt Sucking the juice out of it. Hey you only live once right.🤣

Still not knocking the Axiom, disappointed it didn't work for me in our ground in Australia. At start of season took it out for a week, was eager to try it on a little spot I had gone over and over with the Z7000, concentrating heavily around where I had picked up before, but no gold, thought well ok and moved on to other parts of the property. Put in good hours for the week, for no gold except for the normal boot tacks, shotty pellets and bits of rusty tin. Went home disappointed, but confident the Axiom would find gold, I just didn't walk over it? The Axiom was good to use tuned well and excellent battery life. Found the Axiom very over whelming on hot rocks (two types) and ground noise. Yes, I know about the hot rock window and used it. I have used the 6000 it gets hot rocks and ground noise too, but not like the Axiom does in our ground. Three weeks later went back out for another week, three days into the week and nothing, teamed up with a friend with a 6000 and went out to compare, the 6000 picked up the first target, friend called me over to check the undug target, I couldn't hear it!! 2" down it was a bit of gold! "What the - - - -". A bit further on another target, a bit of steel on the surface I couldn't hear it, well that blew my confidence out the window, I wasn't going to push it around any longer. I still don't know what happened that day, the Axiom can pick up my 0.065gr test piece as good maybe slightly better than the 7000 in an air test, the 6000 is better again. The next day I was going to use the 7000 until a friend on the property turned up with his 6000 for me to use for the rest of my stay (never used a 6000) but had seen them in use. Well you guessed it took it to my 7000 hammered spot and got two bits straight up, one about 3' from an old find and another tiny bit about 6' from an old find. The rest of the time on the property went to different spots for 4 days while I had the 6000 making the most of it and found small bits every day. I now had my confidence back. I don't think there was anything wrong with my Axiom. Just don't think it's suited to our ground and have since sold it, at a considerable loss and put that down to experience. A bit long winded, but that's our it was. Cheers, peterinaust.

Just back from a mission and had a wee problem with the head/LCD trying to part ways with handle, seems to be held in by a wad of silastic/silicone. (as per photo) This happened during travel in my overhead cushioned detector tray built into my Troop Carriers original 1986 model to current Troopy. The detector is still working AOK and will not be returned for warranty claim at least until end of 23 season, instead whilst back in my workshop will construct a bracket to hold head/LCD more securely. I also have been reassessing my judgment of its performance vs the 6K and now am of the opinion there is nothing between them, whereas before I have considered the 6K has a slight edge. I believe this is because I have through experience with settings obtaining better depth and sensitivity than when I made my first judgement. Am very impressed with its performance particularly amongst creek rocks where there is a considerable air gap between coil and ground. Please as this threads author I am not interested in this developing into a negative Garret or Manufacturers Bashing Thread. The Axiom is a positive gold magnet magic detector.

“Based on gold nugget performance only. I don’t care about the ergonomics one way or the other. Will the Axiom for sure make lots of finds I can’t possibly make with my GPX 5000? Should I sell my GPX to get the Axiom based on that assumption?” That’s the question that was posed to me. And my short answer is no. The Axiom is in the same general ballpark as the GPX 5000, but there is no particular reason to think its performance is different enough to make a real difference. What one will normally find, the other one probably will also. Though coils are a factor, and at six coils versus over 100 the GPX has a definite edge. I’d bet on a 5000 with 18” round mono on a four ounce nugget at depth versus Axiom with 14”x16” mono every time. On small gold things get more interesting, but a 5000 with a 6x8 Sadie coil is no slouch. So while I’m an Axiom fan, I’m not telling any GPX 5000 owners they need to switch based purely on performance. Especially if you are very comfortable with the 5000 in general. If you own no PI at all and are looking for one or the other, well, that’s a more interesting question for sure. I lean Axiom myself if that’s the case, but if a person is only interested in multi ounce gold at depth, well, it’s the coils again. It just depends on the person and the situation as to which might be the better pick. If anyone does go from any of the battery on harness Minelabs to an Axiom it would be great to hear how it’s worked out, one way or the other.

Or maybe we should call these “Stupid Steve Tricks” for now. I’ve only begun delving into these weird settings but figure I may as well toss them out there for other people to experiment with also. I’ll post more somewhere down the line when I come up with something more definitive. But for now, I’ll just give a brief summary. Minimum Sensitivity - I was working a location that was dense with trash, way too many signals. Sensitivity 1 really worked some magic in making it possible to use the machine in dense trash. Way too early to say much on this yet, other than that I did find it useful for cherry picking coins in a park by digging low tones only, which eliminates low conductors in favor of mid to high conductors. I was able to get more coin than trash targets. I still dig trash with a VLF so this was a good resultant in my limited testing. I am going to see what happens on depth on a 1/4 oz nugget going from high to low sensitivity in a future test. Salt Setting - yes it tunes out small gold. But how small? I don’t know yet, but it’s not as bad as people might think. It can also shut up some ground and hot rocks other settings will struggle with. I need more work with both this and Large Mode. My initial sense is that the differences between the modes are more subtle than dramatic. Minimum Threshold - this shows the most promise for developing a silent search “Bogenes Settings” methodology for the Axiom. -7 still has some audio break through. -9 is pretty much dead silent but seems too aggressive? I’ve settled on -8 so far as a preference, and was surprised at how well small nuggets jump out still, and with good depth. It also allows for a bit higher sensitivity setting, so I would highly encourage people to try these very low Threshold settings with either a normal or slightly boosted sensitivity setting. For some situations I’m thinking I might be employing this a lot. Super pleasant way to hunt for those that hate a threshold. I just wish there was more nuance as right now the jump between -7 to -8 to -9 is coarser than I’d like. I put it on my wish list for an update. Forced Frequency Setting - default frequency is 50 with range from 0 - 99. The automatic frequency scan is fairly simple. It scans all frequencies looking for the quietest one. It is therefore imperative normally that you do not introduce extra noise by moving the detector while it scans. Normally I’d have the coil on the ground so it is picking up anything it would pick up in normal sweeping, but aiming the coil at a nearby EMI source like another detector can help eliminate that source, so it bears playing with if it still seems noisy on the first go. If you have an pinpointer, turn it on and set it it 2-3 feet away while doing a frequency scan - this will let most pinpointers play very nicely with the Axiom. And do remember that going to a lower sensitivity or DD coil vs mono also help reduce EMI. The interesting question here is that for areas with no EMI, is there any difference in the frequencies? There very well might be, though in my limited testing so far I’ve found no smoking gun. But if you want to try, here is the trick. If you want a frequency of 99, start the scan going, then wave a metal item over the coil while the machine scans 0 to about 90, then get the metal away, and let the scan finish. Very good chance you’ll end up at frequency 90 or higher, if not try again. To hit the other extreme, start the scan, and when it gets to about 10, now wave metal over the coil until it gets to 99, then stop and let it finish. You should end up at 10 or lower. With a little practice you can force almost anything, but I think the main interest is in the two extremes. Can anyone find a discernible difference on any target between the extremes? In theory there should be one, but again, my very limited tests so far have not found anything. So there you go. I do like the fact that the Axiom does not have too many controls, but on the other has enough to give me things to think about and experiment with. Early days still, new machine, people need to experiment and share notes. So that’s mine so far, hopefully a few of you will take up the challenge and add your own observations.

Evening all. Noticed that all Garrett detectors, pinpointers and searchcoils now come with a 3 year warranty. https://garrett.com/sport/axiom Just wondering if anyone knows the answers to these queries or I suppose I could email Garrett Australia. Sorry if these have been asked somewhere else on the forum but a search did not bring anything up. 1) does this only apply to Axioms purchased from a certain date or have all Axioms purchased since the model was released been upgraded to the 3 yr warranty status? 2) is this 3 yr warranty transferrable from the first owner to the next? 3) does the 3 yr warranty only apply in North America. See below from their website just now under 'Sport Warranty Registration and Repair' (the bold is mine). I am thinking that they just haven't read through the guts of the page and updated it but still needs to be clarified. INTERNATIONAL WARRANTY AND REPAIR SERVICE (For purchases made outside North America only) Garrett Metal Detector products are of the highest quality and are manufactured to stringent standards. Most Garrett Metal Detectors are warranted for two years from the date of purchase. Garrett's warranty covers limited parts and labor, but does not cover damage caused by alteration, modification, neglect, accident or misuse. Cheers, N.E.

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

I do not own nor have ever used either detector but I am considering both. Other than price I know nothing. Read a few older posts & reviews on the SDC 2300, it may be a better fit for the steep brush covered ravines of the Sierra west slopes along with the cracks and crevices in the drainages. Currently use a White TDI SL with a 10x5 folded mono coil. I have hear that the SDC 2300 8” mono coil is hot around the edges. I like the specs on the new Axiom overall but for me the current coil selection sucks. Both detectors fold up or slide up compact for packing. The 2300 may be a bit on the heavy side compared to the Axiom but is manageable. Already have the Garrett Z-Lynk wireless transmitter plus the 1/4” receiver for my headphones. What has been your experience with either detector? A lot of rain followed by a lot of snow fell out of that last storm system with more on the way. May turn out to be a good year for spring runoff. Have Great New Years Day

I am happy to report for Garrett Axiom users and potential buyers you will have a range of aftermarket coils available for it from Detech Detech Ltd have said they are very interested in making coils for the Axiom and are currently preparing to make a range of coils for it. The excellent news is also they are planning on making DD coils, Anti Interference Coils, Spiral coils, and very likely Concentric coils. They will offer open and closed designs. Their aim with their range of coils is to make them very deep, sensitive and at the same time keeping them very light in weight. They are going to follow this thread, so if anyone has any suggestions for the size or type coil they want or think should be produced by all means report here so they can see which would be the most popular types of coils for it. I personally would like something like a 6" or 8" Mono, an 11" Anti Interference coil, a 11x6" Mono (spiral if possible) and a 11x6" DD, a 15" spiral mono, a 15" Concentric, I could go on forever as once there are options there are so many good coils you could have. This is outstanding news for Axiom owners, and is really going to push the Axiom to the next level. For those of us that have used Detech coils before you'll know how good their coils can be. A little background on Detech Ltd the company. Detech design and manufacturing advanced hobby metal detectors, treasure detectors, and deep seeking search coils. In 2001 the company designs the first PI detector in the world with microprocessor control, touchpads, and graphical image of the signal. The SSP series find wide markets and huge sales, and the funds received to allow the opening of a new branch of the company – the production of accessory coils for the leading brands of metal detectors. Detech Ltd is the first company in the world, applying search coil with built-in magnetic sensors in the middle sector. This allows perfect discrimination of the ferrous objects by the PI detectors. Trying to escape the stereotype of the round coils in 2006 the company releases a new, revolutionary type of coil on the market – S.E.F. (Symmetrical Electromagnetic Field) coils, known also as Butterfly coils. These search coils combine the advantages of both DD and Concentric coils: All Detech coils are made using high-quality materials. The housings are made of UV protected material. Their inner side is covered with chopped-strand material for better shock resistance. We use resins, which are “transparent” for the electromagnetic waves, and perfect shielding. The coils are water-resistant and operate in a wide temperature range. The search coils come standard equipped with an excellently fitting cover and have two years full warranty.

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

Hi Steve, You mentioned that when you were in Meekatharra you only used the 11 x 7 DD. Any particular reason? Did you try the mono at all? I was in Cue (120 klms south of you) using a 6000 (mono coil) and getting good gold as in the pictures I DM’d you. Now I’m back in Kalgoorlie and today we drove about 90 klms north east to a tenement that has been good to us in the past using 6000’s and mono coils. Axiom and 11 x 7 mono drove me insane. Ground balance was difficult at best and on several occasions simply would not happen. Literally scream it’s head off on the up and down while trying to ground balance and only a factory reset would bring it back. Sensitivity on 2 (nothing higher was usable without ground balance every 3 steps), fine mode, tracking off. Also we tested using the usual 0.11 gram piece been using for years. Sensitivity at 3-4 had the Axiom running just bearable but could not hear the test nugget sitting on the surface. Crank sensitivity up to 5-6 and you could hear the target in amongst the noise but it was unusable due to instability and noise. Literally ground balance every step at this setting. We both had a crack and tried many different settings all the while remembering your comments on the higher gain in production units. This Axion defaults to sensitivity 4 so has the higher gain. Tried different speed, mode, threshold settings. 👎🏻 Tried the DD. Quieter and smoother (as expected) but couldn’t hear the test nugget under 6 sensitivity, like the mono but pretty much unusable at that sensitivity. 6000 hits the test nugget without issue. Don’t know what else to try. The 6000 operated normally (flat out, threshold turned back on) and we also had a 4500 that was a bit noisier than normal however could be tuned quiet enough to use and find gold. Starting to wonder if I have a dud coil or unit. Would have spent two full days now in 11 different locations with same results. Frustration. Videos and comments on good old Spewtube show Warren and the NQX crew and you (and others) getting nice small 0.10 gram and smaller nuggets at Tibooburra and Victoria however I have zero confidence my Axiom will ever do that in WA. Getting nowhere fast here. Been trying to sort it (in case PEBDAS) but run out of things to try.

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?

What is the latest? Which one does what better?

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.