Official Minelab GPX 6000 Page

[Jonathan Porter]

The 6000 does what the 5000 can do depth wise on larger gold even slightly better, but what’s the point of providing it that way to the market when there is already something much better out there for that purpose in the form of the 7000? Hence the 17” elliptical coil rather than say an 18” round monoloop.

A 17” elliptical will be a very good coverage coil for prospecting purposes with pretty good depth on larger pieces, but it is not about outright depth, you have ZVT for that. The GPX 6000 with the largest coil you care too put on can never attain the depth of the 7000 with its standard coil!! Having a lightweight coil with 17 inches of coverage with the sensitivity to snag a 0.01 gm piece is nigh on diabolical, this concept will take shape once operators get their hands on them.

Ergonomically the 6000 is brilliant with the supplied standard 11” mono coil, that coil size is perfect for one handed operation with nil support devices unless you are unused to detecting. The standard 11” coil has the ability, if you care to invest the energy, to find tiny pieces right down to the ‘wet your finger to pick it up’ GM 1000 level!! 

So this then begs the question, what is the GPX 6000 good for? I very quickly learned to target a specific type of environment to maximise the 6000 benefits. The first and key approach was to target old areas were I’d previously found multiple targets within 100mm of the surface, in almost all cases I tend to stick to ground where bedrock is visible and work out from there but mainly sticking to ground up to or around the 12” mark as the targets the 6000 is VERY good at reside at less than those depths (inverse square law).

Hot ground is not a problem (usually the shallow gravels are more mineralised as the top layer has been washed or blown away), If the ground becomes problematic due to conductive signals or salt signals or EMI then I revert to the DD coil and use that option (truly amazing sensitivity to tiny surface targets using the DD), I will however tend to stick to ground less than 10 inches as the depth is less with the DD relative to target size. The bulk of the gold I find with the 6000 is in the sub gram range but I have hit on some pretty decent stuff whilst out and about thanks to the good outright depth of the tech, this is reassuring as often decent targets are found due to time spent and the ground covered during that time, so its nice to know if you get your coil over a decent nugget or speci at depth then your in with a chance. 

The 6000 is not a tiny gold only detector, but operators can only swing one detector at a time, there will be a cross over on some target sizes between the various techs (SDC and GPZ), however what it does do it does exceptionally well as such there will be a pretty decent range of targets that it outperforms everything on. It is nice to know while your taking advantage of the tech behind the GPX it can still compete with its predecessors and also the modern big guns. 

JP

[mungass]

Sweet , thats why i,m putting the 4000 ,its arsenal of coils and steelphase and cords and bungees in the cupboard ,and getting one , thanks for that , CAN"T WAIT  .  start holidays on the 27th for a month ..........hope its out then ..................

 

[kingswood]

25 minutes ago, Jonathan Porter said:

Ergonomically the 6000 is brilliant with the supplied standard 11” mono coil, that coil size is perfect for one handed operation with nil support devices unless you are unused to detecting. The standard 11” coil has the ability, if you care to invest the energy, to find tiny pieces right down to the ‘wet your finger to pick it up’ GM 1000 level!! 

JP

Thanks JP! This statement is the key for me anyway! I have buggered shoulders and whilst I love my 7000, I cannot swing it for more than 2-4 hours. Even when doing that short period, I literally am in agony for the next couple of days.

Makes sense to me that if I can swing the 6000 for 6-8 hours, then the extra hours increases the chance of gold. Simply swinging for longer equals more chance of success. My 7000 wont find much gold if its sitting in the cupboard as I am in to much pain to use it There have been plenty of days when I have just not gone detecting as I know whats going to happen after. Hopefully with the lightness of the 6000 I get more time on the ground and much less pain!!

[jasong]

Thank you JP, thats the kind of stuff we've been missing. Are you allowed to talk about all field experience now freely or still limited?

[GoldTreesMining]

21 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

The 6000 does what the 5000 can do depth wise on larger gold even slightly better, but what’s the point of providing it that way to the market when there is already something much better out there for that purpose in the form of the 7000? Hence the 17” elliptical coil rather than say an 18” round monoloop.

A 17” elliptical will be a very good coverage coil for prospecting purposes with pretty good depth on larger pieces, but it is not about outright depth, you have ZVT for that. The GPX 6000 with the largest coil you care too put on can never attain the depth of the 7000 with its standard coil!! Having a lightweight coil with 17 inches of coverage with the sensitivity to snag a 0.01 gm piece is nigh on diabolical, this concept will take shape once operators get their hands on them.

Ergonomically the 6000 is brilliant with the supplied standard 11” mono coil, that coil size is perfect for one handed operation with nil support devices unless you are unused to detecting. The standard 11” coil has the ability, if you care to invest the energy, to find tiny pieces right down to the ‘wet your finger to pick it up’ GM 1000 level!! 

So this then begs the question, what is the GPX 6000 good for? I very quickly learned to target a specific type of environment to maximise the 6000 benefits. The first and key approach was to target old areas were I’d previously found multiple targets within 100mm of the surface, in almost all cases I tend to stick to ground where bedrock is visible and work out from there but mainly sticking to ground up to or around the 12” mark as the targets the 6000 is VERY good at reside at less than those depths (inverse square law).

Hot ground is not a problem (usually the shallow gravels are more mineralised as the top layer has been washed or blown away), If the ground becomes problematic due to conductive signals or salt signals or EMI then I revert to the DD coil and use that option (truly amazing sensitivity to tiny surface targets using the DD), I will however tend to stick to ground less than 10 inches as the depth is less with the DD relative to target size. The bulk of the gold I find with the 6000 is in the sub gram range but I have hit on some pretty decent stuff whilst out and about thanks to the good outright depth of the tech, this is reassuring as often decent targets are found due to time spent and the ground covered during that time, so its nice to know if you get your coil over a decent nugget or speci at depth then your in with a chance. 

The 6000 is not a tiny gold only detector, but operators can only swing one detector at a time, there will be a cross over on some target sizes between the various techs (SDC and GPZ), however what it does do it does exceptionally well as such there will be a pretty decent range of targets that it outperforms everything on. It is nice to know while your taking advantage of the tech behind the GPX it can still compete with its predecessors and also the modern big guns. 

JP

Thanks for the valuable insight.  Since the 6000 does so well on small gold, does it improve the performance on porous or prickly gold that often gave the 5000 difficulties?

[Mike C...]

On 4/6/2021 at 10:40 AM, jasong said:

 I never met anyone in the field who was swinging the 5000 without a bungee, other than patch cleaning where one stayed in the same place and set the machine down often, or using stuff like Sadie's.

 

I never use a bungee with my 5000-Im already tethered up enough with the power cord-I dont use a sadie-but I dont use anything bigger than a 17 coil either 

[Trent King]

6 minutes ago, Mike C... said:

I never use a bungee with my 5000-Im already tethered up enough with the power cord-I dont use a sadie-but I dont use anything bigger than a 17 coil either 

Same, never use a bungee.  Only time I can remember clipping it on in the last few years was with the NF 25” DD.

[jasong]

It occurs to me that the lighter shaft on the 6000 is going to shave weight in a critical area towards the coil end too, and that might just make all the difference (especially when I'm comparing weights to the GPZ in my head and how different coil weights on it feel), so I shouldn't just be considering the coil weight alone since the 6000 is bringing better carbon fiber shaft design to the table.

But you two supermen are outliers. Most average detectorists used/still use a bungee on the 4500 and 5000 on anything around the 11" (800ish grams) or larger for all day detects outside of patches. Including myself.

[Gold Catcher]

I don't know about the 5000,  but all 7000/14 users I know use a bungee. I even use one for the SDC when I detect for longer, also to keep the coil control as good as I can. I can do without, but the coil control will decline over time. But the ergonomics matter much more than the weight, so the 6000 might be fine without bungee, or at least fine for longer. But weight aside, I love my hipstick so much that I would never go without it. It makes everything so easy without the need for a heavy harness, especially in the heat. Even the GM with hipstick is nice after many hours swinging.?