Who Has Had Issues With Their Gpx 6000?

[AussieMatt]

It's certainly an issue that seems more common with this release (GPX6000) than with other recent releases (GPZ, SDC 5k).

Thankfully in Australia Minelab service is still pretty quick & good. It has probably dropped off a little but I reckon it's still ok.

Minelab & Plexus Inc. really need to have a good look at this + why it's happening. It's too easy to just blame current world events IMO. Maybe Plexus have become too comfortable in their manufacturing contract & quality assurance + Minelab have taken their eyes off the ball a bit?

Hopefully it's sorted sooner rather than later cause I believe the 6k is truly a terrific detector that deserves better.

[Reg Wilson]

I guess I'm just lucky with detectors as my 6000 is working just fine, although it did take a couple of outings to christen it with three small colours. I can't recall having problems with any Minelab detector from the GS15000 onwards other than when I was testing prototypes. Prototype testing is essential for sorting out bugs, and manufacturers should undertake rigorous field testing before any machine is introduced to the buying public.

When I was testing the Australian built QED pulse induction detector the early versions were quite impressive, however the builder decided to produce a new model and put it on the market without testing. When I did finally receive the new machine it had more bugs than a Bangkok dormitory. The builder refused to accept that his baby was flawed and after a less that pleasant exchange we parted company. What could have been a good performing detector at a very competitive price turned out to be something less.

Thorough testing is imperative for avoiding product dissatisfaction.

[Goldseeker5000]

I did have suspicion about the 6000 back in Jan thereabouts based upon issues I have heard about with the 7000. Overall the 7000 has proven to be a great detector. Heavy, limited-expensive coils, but it did have issues with some units, more often than I care to hear about. When I heard early on what the 6 can do, I thought I should give it a chance. What I was again of happening, happened with the detector I received. I am looking forward to swinging it and seeing for myself, it's strengths.

[Valens Legacy]

I have yet found anything with the 6000, and hope to be able to use it properly. Even my Tracker IV has found more than the 6000 for me in a single day. I can see myself swinging the 6000 the same way that I do with my 800 or Tracker IV, but nothing shows up and I get no tones from it. I just wonder if I actually buy one of them would it help.

[Goldseeker5000]

Valens L, is yours pretty quiet? Do you have a test nugget to test it on? Or a lead sinker. If it is overly quiet after noise cancel and ground balanced and not registering target tones then it has a problem. That is what mine did.

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

5 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

 

My 6000 is working just fine also, but that does not mean that many are not

I do actually wonder if a Geo-Sense programming bug is at fault, as it did occur with mine in remotest Alaska, where it is impossible it was man made EMI. A natural source, like aurora activity/ Perhaps, but feels more like something inherent in the machine. It also seems to vary by machine. Mine, it’sbasically a none issue for me except in rareinstance, easily tamed with the cancel button. But I consider the machine to be inherentlynoisy, like the SDC warble, and so discountwhat others might consider to me major. I’malso used to running machines very hot and noisy regardless, so maybe I’m not mentallyattuned to this as much as others might be. But I also suspect there are machines that are simply doing this more than others, or morelikely, areas where it really is EMI, like Arizona, where that seems more common thannorthern Nevada.

Steve,

I was wondering what is considered a normal amount of warble for the GPX6000’s threshold noise as I do not have another detector to compare mine to. Could you please clarify how often you have to use the noise cancel to stabilize the detector and if using it always calms the unstable or noisy threshold down. I am trying to find any solution to settling down the unstable threshold on mine as it seems to run a little bit unstable in the higher sensitivity levels especially when not using the headphones.

 

 

[VicR]

I bought one of the first GPX6000 that was available in South Australia - it has found gold in three states and has had a lot of use with no issues at all.

Same with the Equinox800 - that gets a real workout & in sea water as well - no issues - not even a cracked coil ear.

I must be just dumb lucky or Minelab double quality check any stock coming to their head office home state.

 

[Gerry in Idaho]

8 hours ago, Goldseeker5000 said:

 I am looking forward to swinging it and seeing for myself, it's strengths.

Hopefully you get one with no issues this go around.  I'll admit, my 1st impression in 20 minutes was not good, but after a few more hours and then a couple more trips, we seemed to started talking and things started clicking.  You coming from a traditional PI (GPX-5000), I think you'll hear the EMI some folks complain about.  Just realize doing a Noise Cancel much more often is all it takes and things will be good.

Even though we may not agree on everything and we both sometimes type things before we think them out (yes I'm just as guilty), I do want you out there finding more gold with it.  There are some fabulous advantages and if you give it time, you'll learn them.  Good Luck.

[Steve Herschbach]

Please try to stay on topic folks. This is one of those threads that might get the “cleanup on aisle 5” treatment later on once it runs out of steam. Just a FYI I sometimes clean up old threads that way for archival purposes, so people finding them later don’t need to wade through the off topic stuff. It’s like reading two separate threads mixed together, or listening to two conversations at once. If I can I split stuff into separate threads, but sometimes it's just random commentary. Not a huge deal, and if people want to run off topic I don’t go worry about it most times, but people who post off topic should also never expect their posts to last for eternity. My sensitivity to the issue varies with the importance of the subject, and I consider this to be one of the “subjects for serious, sober discussion”.

 

8 hours ago, NV-OR-ID-CAL-AU said:

Steve,

I was wondering what is considered a normal amount of warble for the GPX6000’s threshold noise as I do not have another detector to compare mine to. Could you please clarify how often you have to use the noise cancel to stabilize the detector and if using it always calms the unstable or noisy threshold down. I am trying to find any solution to settling down the unstable threshold on mine as it seems to run a little bit unstable in the higher sensitivity levels especially when not using the headphones.

The SD2000, SD2100, SD2200, GP Extreme, GP 3000, GP 3500, SDC 2300, and GPZ 7000, all had/have a built in warble that could be interpreted as an unstable threshold. So does the GPX 6000. Only the GPX 4000/4500/4800/5000 could obtain a rock solid threshold under normal circumstances. In my case, my GPX 6000, to the best of my recollection, seems no worse, and maybe better, than the SDC 2300 when it comes to threshold. Then on occasion it gets worse than that. On average, in an 8 hour day, I might apply the EMI cancel about a half dozen times. I am not normally in areas where there is EMI, and I think the issue is internally generated in some way by the software going off track. This seems to be related to using the external speaker, so perhaps a feedback loop in the circuit, or the software seeing the magnetic field generated by the speaker magnet/circuit?

Long story short after 48 years of detecting I don’t hear metal detectors so much as make them an extension of my ears and mental audio processing makeup, and I think this does differentiate me from other detectorists at some level, as I seem to hear things others miss. I have a high number of what I refer to as “imaginary signals”, signals so faint I don’t actually hear them so much as experience them at some gut level. I do think we are all wired differently to some degree, and I think listening to detectors for 48 years has tuned my audio processing brain circuit in the way a violin players skills are tuned through decades of practice.

I always ran my GPZ 7000 maxed out and noisy, and treated the noisy threshold as a threshold in itself, compensating with relatively low volume settings. I use the GPX 6000 external speaker a lot, and when I do, I run the unit at the lowest volume setting. My brain does not mind a noisy threshold, in fact in some ways I prefer lots of audio feedback, as it keeps my brain focused on the audio. If a threshold is dead silent, I will lose focus, and so I very much prefer a faint threshold. Noise is tolerable to me as long as it is consistent noise, as my ear rapidly calibrates the noise level as “normal” and just part of the threshold itself. I am highly tuned to abnormal signals, things that break the norm, whatever that may be. So what drives other people crazy, I do not hear at all. My perfect machine runs a threshold, with the machine hot enough that there is continuous faint ground feedback, and my ear “rides the threshold” looking for signals that break whatever norm is established through use.

So it’s a hard subject to describe in words as I do think we all have a genuinely different experience of what constitutes noise. Some people can’t tolerate any threshold at all, and have to run silent. I’m at the other far end of the spectrum. So again, the several SDC 2300 I had all had the “Minelab warble” familiar to people who ran older Minelabs. My GPX 6000 normally runs at least as good, and I’d say better, than a normal SDC 2300. Yet it is never as rock solid as the other GPX models. Then, maybe a half dozen times a day, regardless of external EMI sources, it just seems to go off track. The EMI cancel may settle it, or may need to be applied twice, even three times in the rarest cases. I’ve recently switched more to just doing a full reset, but have not done that enough to know if it’s any more effective than the EMI button.

I think many people are experiencing genuine EMI issues, and seriously, that’s a different problem. The machine is super sensitive, and I would expect EMI sensitivity to be part of that mix. What I am experiencing and describing is more something I think is inherent in the machine and it’s processing, like a software glitch. I’m not swearing to that, but it’s my best gut feel about what I’m seeing in the field in areas where genuine EMI simply can’t explain what’s going on. Overall, I consider the issue a minor annoyance at worst for me personally, so don’t what to make it sound like more than it is in my personal situation. But I do think there is something going on, and it’s not impossible it varies by machine. Toss in genuinely experienced EMI, bad coils, and peoples different tolerances for even normal noise, and it’s a hard issue to get a full handle on.