GPX 6000 Observation

[Tony]

Okay I’ve been counting the number of 6000’s that have either been offered up for sale or wanting to swap for 7000’s. The ads have been on the Aussie Gumtree site and to a lesser extent, other “for sale” sections online……the total so far is about 10 (over the past month or so). It’s clearly not an ergonomic issue as the 6000 is very strong in this area…….which leaves a performance issue or maybe the hype and excitement has been a bit too much and therefore expectations too high ? 
Are people tired of chasing tiny sub gram nuggets at depth all day or is it something else they don’t like. Early days I know but I was curious as to what was going on. Definitely lovers of the machine as well but not unanimous 😐

[AussieMatt]

Bit apprehensive about replying to this. Not sure if it's just a stir or not?

Anyhow here's my take on it.

I've been around for awhile but not as long as many here. Maybe they've seen more of what I'll try to explain here than I?

Originally I started out mostly wet prospecting with pans & an Angus McKirk sluice. After a bit detectors took my interest but I only vaguely remember the GPX4500 release & as I wasn't overly interested then I don't recall any negativity, disappointment or angst & arguments about it all? That changed pretty quickly!

I firstly purchased a cheap generic VLF but soon realised that wasn't going to cut it.  A Whites GMT soon followed. After cutting my teeth & successfully finding some sub gram bits I was hooked. Research led me to the Minelab PI detectors that I'd seen before but decided were out of my budget to start off. Saving some money & still not wanting to over commit a very nice condition SD2200D was purchased. Again some learning, some gold, lots of fun - hooked in deeper.

Reading more about these Minelab  detectors & the gold people had found had me intrigued. The recently released GPX5000 was a must! That's about when I noticed it all i.e. it's not as good as my 4500, one more timing & $2k more, this little fold up thing with 8" coil can't replace my GPX (even though it was never meant to), it's too heavy, it's too noisy, I don't think it goes as deep as my old one etc. etc. Have seen it to varying degrees since with the SDC then GPZ releases & now the GPX6000. Point is in recent times I've never seen a Minelab release where people were unanimous that it was a good thing. I doubt we'll ever see it?

To be honest I've really thought this one has been one of the tamer releases after 5000/SDC/GPZ? Lack of numbers might be why it's been pretty quiet on the forums in comparison? There was a lot more kefuffle + early sellers with the SDC & GPZ from memory. 

I've only ever seen 2 x 6000's up for sale & the 1 x swap deal that's up currently? If the swap is about being sick of digging small gold at depth then a 7000 won't fix that! One of those for sale appeared to be more about making some quick cash than anything else - had $8500 on it. There were also some early GPZ's sold soon after release at an increased price due to limited supply & picking up a lightly used SDC soon after release proved pretty easy too. Many didn't like the threshold or thought it was a ladies detector not for real hairy knuckled men (some of them still use their "wifes" detector frequently). I got one within 2 months of release barely used & $800 less than new. That unwanted SDC found a lot of sub gram gold & owed me nothing when I sold it. The lightly used GPZ I purchased (wasn't unwanted but forced sale for other reasons) was sold for nearly the same as I got it for over 12 months & many hours use later. One man's "trash" another man's treasure.

IMO performance in these early sales isn't the real reason as a lot of early sellers later jump back in after bug fixes (GPZ) or even just better understanding what the strong points are. Main reasons IMO are disappointment after getting over hyped up, angst at whether a new machines is living up to an old loved + comfortable machine, not having instant success (usually an operator not machine fault) etc. 

Some will just straight out not like it & that's fine too. No one machine will ever suit all!

[Tony]

Thanks Matt…..that was some detailed reply. Sounds like things are similar to other releases so nothing out of the ordinary really…….then there’s always the buyers remorse but more likely from newcomers?

There might also be a few wives and girlfriends catching a view of the credit card statement……”you spent how much ! “…….😡😡😡😡

Definitely not trying to stir the pot……I’d happily swing one 👍

[Norvic]

Got to agree in totality with AussieMatt, the ergonomics alone is not what the 6Ks about, it is going to bring a lot of pleasure to a lot of users and newbies. Detecting 6K gold is still as frustrating and challenging as its ever been but those who welcome this challenge of our healthy hobby and get to know/respect their new lover will be rewarded with years of pleasure until ML does their thing again. Equally there are many doing this happy thing with older detectors.

Tis just a new toy cycle that repeats over and over for some of us. The Spice of our life.

[Gerry in Idaho]

AussieMatt replied pretty much spot on in so many ways.

As a long time multi line dealer (Minelab 25 yrs) and one who has been pretty up on the gold detectors as the majority of my sales (until the Equinox 800 came out), I see this happen all the time.  I'll add a little new thoughts and also tell of some sames from past.

1st is the guys who know what their doing and having great Success with their old detector.  In the 4 yrs they have had it they've spent the time in the field to figure the strong points of it and the not so good parts of it.  This allows them to concentrate on what that detector does best.  So when the new detector comes out they assume it's going to be better than their GPZ-7000.  Well the 6000 actually is in many aspects, but yet there's going to be a few things the 7000 is still best at.  Instead of the person not taking the time to fully learn the pros/cons in a variety of soils, sites and kinds of gold, the person is upset and decides to dump it.  Here is a prime example.  One of the well known members on here (starts with a J) made so much of a stink with Minelab USA, to me and anyone they came in contact with about the 7000 and how their GPX was seeing gold the new 7000 did not.  This went over for a very long time and I finally got to the point and realized the person is not as good as they claim and does not have the patience to learn a new detector.  Now and for the last couple yrs the person is using and praising the GPZ-7000.   Even to this day, I have a husband/wife team who purchased 7000's and after a few trips in the field went back to their GP's.  They down talk the 7000 today.  So you are going get a % of people who don't want to spend the time to learn the +/-'s of the new and would rather go back to what they know, which is the old.

2nd is the newbie.  They have been watching folks find gold nuggets and decide this is the detector they want to jump on and start their gold hunting career/hobby.  After a few trips to the field and realizing you must actually have to work to find your gold, they blame the detector, dump it and never admit it was their inabilities not the detector.  Part of this is actually the manufactures fault for allowing just about anyone in the US to become a dealer. Minelab USA is really bad at this and could care less about directing customers to known knowledgeable dealers. For yrs dealers were promised those who took certain classes or did amount of training would stand out on the dealer website.  Just talk is all they are.  Newbies should be purchasing from someone who can help them grow into the hobby as gold nugget hunting is one of the hardest of metal detecting.

3rd is the poor guy who does not wear the pants at the house.  His buddy gets a new GPX-6000 so he decided to do so and forgets to ask his wife/boss.  When package shows up there is a little heat at that house for a few days.  When the credit card bill shows up, there is smoke coming from the house and the guy has to dump it to pay bills.

4th is the person who has yet to purchase the new detector so they have no clue how well it really runs or what issues it has, but they enjoy bringing anything they see that could be negative.  Most of those folks are not well known nugget hunters.   On occasion we get a few known nugget hunters and they are a little bias.

5th is the person who actually knows their GPZ-7000 and is very well versed on most popular gold detectors.  That person spends their one money, goes out to a variety of sites and puts time in the field comparing testing, tweaking and learning the new GPX-6000 and it's pros/cons.  That person is well respected and has found more gold with a variety of detectors than the average Joe.  If that person keeps saying there is issues, they are probably correct and things will need to be changed on the new detector.

Every new release of a seeming popular detector will get a % of people who decide to get rid of it for 1 reason or another and early on in my own detecting career I did this myself a few times.  But after time I eventually came back and realized I did not give the detector it's do time in the field...I made quick observations on a couple sites and or hunts and thought I had it figured out.  How silly of me.

Just like the CTX 3030, the Equinox 800 and the GPZ-7000, this new GPX-6000 is software download capable so as more time is in the fields across the world, the ability of a software fix is there.  Those of us who owned an early GPZ-7000 know how this goes and that's a big plus for me.

Those on the fence about the GPX-6000, just realize Minelabs track record speaks volumes and they don't mess up when it comes to detector technology.  Is the 6000 the best high end gold detector for every situation?  No and I will tell you there is not a detector today that is and there will never be a detector that is.  I'll say this and you can take it to the bank.  The GPX-6000 will be the most sold, most talked about and most used high end gold detector in the United States for the next few years and most folks will be happy.

[Gold Catcher]

3 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

The GPX-6000 will be the most sold, most talked about and most used high end gold detector in the United States for the next few years and most folks will be happy.

100% agree on that statement. The price tag for the 17 in coil is said to be $360. So, for $6400 USD you get an incredibly designed light weight an poweful PI detector with smart Geosense technology and three coils from 11 to 17 inch, including a 14DD speciality coil for EMI and ground cancel. There is really not alot more to ask for, with a total price tag that is $3600 USD cheaper than the original GPZ price tag with only one coil. I don't think it gets much better than that. Okay, extra battery for USD 160. 

[Jonathan Porter]

The 6000 really helps those people who struggle to get the best out of the 7000, mainly due to less weight and superior ergonomics but also thanks to being exceptionally good at sniffing out the smaller gold that is still in the ground. For any tech to work well it has to be used in areas where gold is still present, in the case of the 6000 there is still easy gold to be readily had even by very inexperienced users (those people will still benefit hugely from training BTW).  

The GPZ7000 can quite easily find a lot of the gold the 6000 can find but it requires an experienced user at the helm driving it, that person needs to have a number of attributes namely physical fitness and strength and also a good understanding of the ways to get access to that performance because the GPZ7000 requires a lot more input from the operator to get the easy for the 6000 gold.

New coils like the Nugget Finder 12” Zsearch and the latest Russian Concentric X coils have really lifted the bar for GPZ users who are unwilling to trade off what the GPZ is really good at and which no other detector can do when it comes to outright depth on larger gold in extreme ground conditions (not conductive ground though). I personally am spoilt for locations and have the experience so the 7000 rarely leaves my hands, however there will come a time when the 6000 will be the only option on a number of my detecting sites if I want to procure a piece of gold no matter how small.

JP

[Gold Catcher]

The 6000/17 will get away from the apparent "stigma" of being a small gold machine. A direct comparison with the GPZ 17X CC will be interesting then. I look forward to read Norvic's reports on this.

[Jonathan Porter]

15 hours ago, Gold Catcher said:

The 6000/17 will get away from the apparent "stigma" of being a small gold machine. A direct comparison with the GPZ 17X CC will be interesting then. I look forward to read Norvic's reports on this.

No it won’t, in essence the 6000 has about the same outright performance of the GPX5000 but does benefit from improved electronics performance in the form of less Sferic noise. 

However inexperienced users will benefit from the more recognisable target signal from the mono coils on the 6000 compared to the DOD design of the 7000 which requires more input from the operator and a GOOD understanding of ‘Range of Motion’ for those deeper targets. 

If you want DEPTH then the 7000 is king, if you want depth on the smaller ‘fast time constant’ targets then use the 6000. If you want good sensitivity with a bigger ground coverage and a bit better depth then use the 17” elliptical on the 6000. The 17” coils primary role is excellent sensitivity whilst providing greater ground coverage, perfect for patch hunting.

JP

[Gold Catcher]

Thanks, JP. Great comments that provide clarity on this topic. It has been my impression all along that the GPZ remains king for depth. Even with the smaller NF Zsearch, which also seems to cover some of the 6000 capabilities for fast timing gold. I want to add though that this does not diminish by any means the glory of the 6000. This machine is just pure joy!!