GPX 6000! More Than Just A Detector

[Detectorist Dan]

Grab a bag of popcorn and a beer, this is gonna be a long read. (Skip to the third paragraph if you are only interesting in my review of the GPX 6000)

Before getting into why I decided to purchase a GPX 6000, I would like to give some background into what got me to the point of making that purchase. My friend "Brian" (Yes the one from Gerry's visit to SD) had been nagging on me that detecting is WAAAY better than sluicing or highbanking for gold. Me being stubborn, I would not listen to him as I was told by many of old prospectors "Theres no nuggets here". Were they hiding something or just oblivious to the truth, I do not know. After a year of recirculated highbanking on my dry claim and "Brian" detecting, it became clear to me that there is some truth to the message he had been preaching to me. That fall I purchased a Gold Bug 2. I loved that it is all analog inputs that require you to actually understand what the different knobs do. It allowed me to gain a better understanding of what the detector was doing. Not just letting the computer on it think for me. That fall gained me no nuggets as I was learning not only the detector but how to be successful at detecting. Many frustration finally led to my first small nugget that next summer. I was getting pretty good I thought as I would come home with a pocket full of tiny lead beebees and if I was lucky, a small nugget. I felt comfortable with the GB2, until I noticed that even though I felt I was doing well with the GB2, "Brian" was doing even better with his SDC2300 and GPZ7000. He would go back over areas I had just detected and pick up what I left behind. It was a perfect game for him as i would clear the garbage and shallow smaller nuggets and he would get the deeper larger ones. 😤 😄 I would even come back over to where he would have a target and check it with my GB2. It became obvious to me that ML technology had a clear advantage over my GB2. About the time I decided to go all in on purchasing a GPX 6000, I joined the detector prospector forum. I did more research into my GB2 and read Steve Herschbach write up on the GB2. Running the settings "hot" still didnt match the performance of the Minelabs detectors. After talking it over with the wife, I gave a call to Gerry at Gerrys Detectors, and after a pleasant 20min call with him I was sold. I gave him my deposit and waited patiently for my GPX to show up at my doorstep. 

Gerry, being the outstanding man he is, hand delivered it to me as soon as it had shown up at his store. (perfect timing pays off 🙂 ) Our first day out was a total success. I bagged  the largest nugget of the day weighing in just under 2g, my largest at the time. Gerry and "Brian" also did well, both scoring more nuggets and pickers than me. This was also my first gold from this patch. The ground at this patch was very mineralized and had many hot rocks. Listening to my GB2 was a nightmare and I had not been successful at getting any gold from there until this day. There is probably more I can learn on the GB2 but I feared with the larger nuggets being around 10" deep my only chance was to run hot. The GPX ran like a dream comparatively. I was not used to the wobbling threshold that this detector has and it took me some getting used to. We were also less than 500' from a larger powerline and I was still able to get two nuggets that day.(and yes we were just running the 11" Mono) I was able to learn from Gerry while he was there on his trip, but he made the comment to me that I was already doing very well. Everything I learned up this point was from "Brian" who took Gerry's class from one of his past purchases. Gerry and his team must do extraordinary training as I only have had second hand training thru "Brian". I hope to make one of Gerry's training trips to get a chance to do some more detecting with him and his team! 

On to the GPX6000.  This detector has been a dream!! And I really mean that! Ergonomics are very important and ML has indeed hit this one out of the park. I never ran a 4500 or 5000 so I cannot compare to them, but "Brian" has let me run his GPZ, and I was tired after an hour with that detector. Even though the GPX is slightly heavier than a GB2, I do not notice the weight. I can go for 8 hours and not be completely dead, unless of course I am digging a lot of targets! 😄 The controls are very straight forward. One thing I always liked about the GB2 is it is quite literally turn it on and go. With at least the SDC and GPZ (as these are my only other references) there seamed to be a long start up. Not with the GPX, turn it on and in 10 seconds you can be swinging. The onboard speaker is decent. I think I would have preferred it to be by the display as the sound is coming from behind you instead of in front of you. Its not a huge deal, I can still hear it fine, I just find that when your coil is making noise going over grass and banging on rocks, I find it harder to concentrate on the threshold. With that being said, I do prefer to run with the headphones as this allows me to concentrate better on what I am listening to. I know there have been alot of complaints about EMI. I would say that the first 15min seem to be extra chatty but after that it seems to settle into it. Maybe it is just my mind canceling it out, but I do not find much issues with EMI. I even leave my IPhone on in my backpack which is usually anywhere from 20'-100' away from me. When I do notice more EMI, I just click the noise cancel and in roughly 12 seconds I am going again. The one thing I noticed is there is about a 5 second delay after running the noise cancel(7 seconds) before it is running properly. (probably has something to do with an averaging function that it is running) The threshold is a bit different to listen to for me at least. Its more of a wobbly hum. Once you get in tune with it you just listen thru it and the targets are obvious. Even when you think you've heard a target, just a simple swing back over the same spot and you will have your answer.

The collapsible shaft is spot on. It packs down small so it does not take up much space. Its also nice for getting thru thick areas in the woods. I do not like to overtighten the nuts as this then allows me to twist the coil about the shaft instead of twisting my wrist or arm to keep the coil parallel with the surface. It is also more comfortable for me to not hold the display straight up but more turned in towards me. I do not like to run on the automatic sensitivity settings as I do not like the idea of the computer making changes that I am no controlling. (even though I know it is doing some automatic changes with ground tracking) I have been mostly running on 8-10 for sensitivity and normal soil. The spots I have mostly been to are fairly mild soils. When I get a target, I will give it a little scrap and check again in difficult. If the target is still  there then I go after it. I have found that the normal soil setting can give you maybe an inch or so of extra depth. If there is a target there, It will go off on both after scraping a little off the surface. I have noticed that the difficult ground settings will give a better response to small nuggets. 

On to the gold! When I say that this has blown me away, I mean it! I know I am not very versed with other detectors, so for some of you this may not be as impressive as it has been for me. My first trip out after Gerrys visit, I go to a patch we call the E patch. We have worked this patch on and off for several years now and had felt fairly certain we were done here. There is a lot of garbage here, and I mean A LOT of garbage and most of it is tiny shrapnel and the thinnest pieces of wire I have ever seen. My first day here with the GPX banked me 42 pieces of trash and 5 nice nuggets with the two larger ones weighing in both just over 1g. 

 

As you can see, that pinpointer is about 10" long and there is another 2" of soil above that. This piece was right at 1g.

This was my gold from that day. The top left is the one shown in the hole above. Needless to say, I was a happy camper that day.

My next day out with the detector would net me 10 more little nuggets. I have to say, it is a blast when you are getting that many pieces no matter how big they are! 

It is hard to read, but that total was 1.14g. The smallest of these was 0.03g and this was about 2" deep. In fact this scale would not register it. I had to use a more precise scale to get a measurement.

The last day I was out once again surprised me. Both the detector and this location! In about 2 hours I was able to pull out another 10 pieces! this time though the weight would be 8.25g of gold! With the largest piece coming in at 4.25g! My largest pieces yet! This also puts me in the lead for largest nugget of the year in one of my running bets with "Brian". These bets are for a beer for each bet 😉 

The depth of the largest nugget was about 14". The image is deceiving. I dug a narrow hole but if i put my hand straight across from the scoop, there was at least another 2" of soil above my hand and the scoop is roughly 12" long. 

The depth of this piece was about 8". Again this image is deceiving as the hole was fairly wide at the top so the scoop is laying down more. This piece weighed in at 0.35g

 

To sum things up, YES I am well pleased with this detector. It has delivered me gold that I missed with my GB2. It has given me the confidence right from the get go. I know that if there is gold under my coil, this is giving me the best chance of seeing it. I no longer have to wonder if I am missing targets that other detectors would see. Overall I find this detector fairly easy to use and the light weight makes it easy to use all day. Will I ever pay this detector off, that depends on what you mean. It has already paid for itself in fun! It may very well pay for itself financially someday, but I will rely on my full time job to feed me. 😆 I can not wait for further usage of this detector and will always remember the awesome time I had detecting with the legendary Gerry McMullen!  Like I said above, the GPX6000 is not just a detector... It is a thrill ride! 

 

[Norvic]

GPD... You`ve gone from the GB2 that proved itself a legend to the 6Ks that`s well on its way to doing the same, WTG

[Trent King]

Congrats on the gold 👍. A good story, I usually only have a quick flick through so took your advice on starting at paragraph 3, ended up going back and reading the first 2.

I got a 5g piece the other day at 14” in horrible black iron laterite, was using the 11” coil.  It sounded like a 20g piece would sound on the 5k at similar depth, I was stunned when it was only a 5 grammer.

[LuckyLundy]

WTG!  Your well on your way of hanging up your Sluice.

Rick

[Steve Herschbach]

Great story and photos. I really appreciate you taking the time to post it. I like hearing from people who are relatively new to detecting, as a fresh perspective is sometimes very informative. One thing about the older GPX and earlier models was that there was a lot of settings, and a lot of gear. You take a newbie, harness them up with all these bungees and cords, hand them the 62 page manual…… it’s overwhelming stuff for the new person. The 6000 on the other hand, I have described as the Gold Bug of PI detectors. Relatively light, simple to operate, and gets the little stuff. But also has that PI Punch for larger gold. I think it is a far friendlier first step up from a VLF, and the ease of tuning makes a new person as good as a pro in a much shorter period of time. My one bit of advice - don’t be shy of the Auto+ setting. It can be the most powerful setting on the 6K under the right conditions (mild ground), and it and regular Auto are go to settings for patch hunting. Sometimes computers are actually better at stuff, and Minelabs auto settings just keep getting better. I would never use automatic ground balance “back in the day”. Now I don’t have any option not to, but that’s turned out to be just fine.

[mh9162013]

Gold prospecting looks like so much fun. Too bad there's nowhere to do that where I live.

[Steve Herschbach]

Lots of gold prospecting I do may as well be called trash detecting. Endless nails and other ferrous trash.... and the bullets and shell casings! So jewelry detecting is not that different, and anywhere people have been, jewelry is possible. Dig endless aluminum until gold appears. I like hunting tot lots for lost jewelry as it is good practice for nugget detecting, and sometimes more productive. 

[GB_Amateur]

Nice writeup, Dan, and welcome to the forum!  Unfortunately, between you and Brian (and Gerry from his trip to bring you guys your GPX6000's), the word about detectable gold in SD is now out.  Well, Brian had told us before but it's a lot easier to write off one person blowing smoke. 

Definitely take Gerry's class.

There is one thing from your post that confused me -- was it a typo?

14 hours ago, GoldPanDan said:

I gave a call to Gerry at Gerrys Detectors, and after a pleasant 20min call with him...

The only thing I can figure is that one of you had a cellphone battery die.

[afreakofnature]

37 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Nice writeup, Dan, and welcome to the forum!  Unfortunately, between you and Brian (and Gerry from his trip to bring you guys your GPX6000's), the word about detectable gold in SD is now out.  Well, Brian had told us before but it's a lot easier to write off one person blowing smoke. 

Definitely take Gerry's class.

There is one thing from your post that confused me -- was it a typo?

The only thing I can figure is that one of you had a cellphone battery die.

There is no gold in SD, we do all our hunting in WY.  
 

Yeah Dan killed it last weekend.  Deepest biggest gold yet I have seen yet with this machine!  Diet GPZ (or as Steve calls it GPZ Lite for you Euros) for sure in my book.  I really used to enjoy winning all the beer bets before Dan got a 6k.  Now he is taking my beer and my gold! 🤣  I keep telling him now that I should have never told you to get a quality detector, why the hell did your wife let you get one!!  🤣🤣🤣  Nah, Dan is great friend, detecting buddy and fellow researcher.  Good partner in crime for our gold fields.  Deserves the gold he is finding after for so long collecting dust.  And now an active DP community member to boot!  Now the next bet should be first one to find a 1+ ouncer gets a case!  Game on!

[Detectorist Dan]

7 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

My one bit of advice - don’t be shy of the Auto+ setting. It can be the most powerful setting on the 6K under the right conditions (mild ground), and it and regular Auto are go to settings for patch hunting. Sometimes computers are actually better at stuff, and Minelabs auto settings just keep getting better. I would never use automatic ground balance “back in the day”. Now I don’t have any option not to, but that’s turned out to be just fine.

Oh for sure computers can better adjust settings quicker and more accurately. As long as the engineering behind the algorithms is solid, which with ML I tend to think they know what they are doing more than me! But if I can already run in 9  or 10 sensitivity and maybe get a little chatter, wouldn't that be better than having it auto adjust to say 7. Maybe I am not fully understanding what it is doing in Auto and Auto+