Who Has Had Issues With Their Gpx 6000?

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

Steve,

Thank You for the clarification on the warble and speaker feedback possibilities. I can now say my GPX6000 is running fine and cannot be compared to the GPX 5000 in regards to its rock solid threshold. I have also been able to hear through the excessive warble the majority of the time and also use the factory reset or noise cancel when it overwhelms me with excessive warble. The sensitivity is like no other detector that I have ever ran on the smaller placer gold sites. I’m also very pleased with its ability to use all the timings in conjunction simultaneously. 

I have found when using the external speaker while working in very hot ground (serpentinite) and using the lower sensitivity levels and lower volume levels it seems to lowers the amount of excessive warble. In some but not all situations the headphones do appear to help lower this excessive warble also. 

Hopefully these issues in the future can be fixed in the software or maybe a speaker replacement is necessary. 

Reminds me of when the the first GP Extreme models came out there was a similar issue in which was fully resolved by the time the GP 3000 was released and Minelab added the low-noise circuitry resulting in a smoother threshold.

Thank You again!

 

[Steve Herschbach]

26 minutes ago, NV-OR-ID-CAL-AU said:

I have found when using the external speaker while working in very hot ground (serpentinite) and using the lower sensitivity levels and lower volume levels it seems to lowers the amount of excessive warble. In some but not all situations the headphones do appear to help lower this excessive warble also. 

Yes to all the above.

The old Minelab warble used to freak me out a bit at times. My brain does lock to the threshold, and back when I was running my GP 3500 at Moore Creek for 12 hour days, weeks on end, I would hear the warble for hours after I shut the detector off. Like laying in my cot before I fell asleep, this continuous warble going on in my head, an echo and after effect of listening to it for long hours. I actually worried about what would happen if it never went away, as it was a bit maddening, like tinnitus but worse. I was relieved when the GPX series came along with that rock solid threshold, eliminating the issue for me. It's not reoccurred with the GPX 6000, as there is a difference in the tonal makeup of the warble, plus I'm not putting in those 12 hour days very often anymore.

[Jeff McClendon]

So far, my GPX 6000 has been fine. The 11" mono is highly susceptible to EMI for sure. The 14" DD......I can run it in my backyard which is actually kind of nice since I can do plenty of testing especially on non-gold nugget targets. The threshold is definitely more lively than the usually very steady threshold I was used to on my 4800 and 5000. So far for me anyway, it has not been as annoying as the threshold on my former SDC 2300, and doing a sensitivity adjustment and lightening quick noise cancel on my GPX 6000 has helped so far when it gets a bit unstable.

When I have been prospecting and relic hunting with the GPX 6000 so far, I have also had an Equinox 800 with me. Anytime my GPX 6000 has gone "crazy" with very strong disturbances in the threshold that weren't target related and which a noise cancel with sensitivity adjustment could not correct, I have also turned on my Nox 800 in Gold 1 multi and checked for EMI. Some EMI has always been noticeable on both detectors simultaneously and I had them well away from each other and only one turned on at a time when testing for EMI, so I will chalk it up to that and not a GPX 6000 internal/software issue.

Those of you that have had broken/damaged/dead coils right out of the box, intermittent coil warning codes and intermittent power issues right out of the box......that is not okay and I hope you all are able to get these issues resolved to your satisfaction.

[bado1]

So far so good for me. No problems and finding gold. 

It does sound a bit warbely compared to the other GPXs but there is no question when there is a metallic target under the coil. Solid, repeatable signals.

[Norvic]

A consideration.... from watching Minelabs Detector Development over many years, We as consumers who want the best performance out of detectors should be very clear that the problems that we as users are having with a ML detector are in fact a problem and not user orientated, since the use of coil chips and subsequent discussions on this forum, I believe ML are in some ways dumbing their detectors/coils down as an attempt to make them more user friendly. If you mainly want performance above all else I suggest if you are having trouble with a ML detector and it is possible for you to firstly discuss such with dealer/someone you know is not having problems, please ensure your problem is not in your use.

Steve H on this the Premier World Detecting Forum has clearly from his first review shown the GPX6000 is a "magic" detector, there is no endorsement better then that in this world, also DP has had many other experienced operators endorse the GPX 6000. Sure there is plenty of negative opinions out there on social media, always has been, always will be.

[Gold Catcher]

9 hours ago, Norvic said:

Steve H on this the Premier World Detecting Forum has clearly from his first review shown the GPX6000 is a "magic" detector, there is no endorsement better then that in this world, also DP has had many other experienced operators endorse the GPX 6000. Sure there is plenty of negative opinions out there on social media, always has been, always will be.

Well said, Norvic. Having used the 6000 for quite some time now I can say that this detector is without doubt the most sophisticated but yet easy to use detector I have ever come across. I don't question that some unfortunate users have problems due to technical issues with the detector itself. However, I also speculate that some users are not operating the detector correctly, or are in environments where the detector is challenged to begin with, in particular when using the 11 or 17 mono coils. The enormous sensitivity of the technology comes at a price and you need to be fully aware of that. Strict coil control, slow swing speed, not changing coil height while swinging, avoiding bumps, frequent noise cancel and every now and then factory resets work all great for me in concert to avoid most of the issues that I have heard on the forum. I even can live with the bit EMI that the speaker is producing, although I often use the BT headset anyway. Just like Steve said I can hear through EMI pretty well for the most part, unless it really gets too crazy. But this is not different to the SDC or 7000 where you also need to learn how to listed through threshold chatter. SDC users know this very well and so do all the HY/normal/smoothing off users out there. It is always said that the 6000 is great for beginners who want a high end machine. I totally agree with that. But I also believe that it actually takes some experience to "calm down" or trouble shoot the 6000 in case it runs unstable, something new users might not be very familiar with.

GC

[Jonathan Porter]

Best bet for ‘new new’ users is to use the Factory preset Auto with no threshold mode. I’ve pinged many a nugget and checked many others with that mode, it really does simplify the learning curve and allow room for growth without all the confusion. The 6000 is a twitchy beast the price we pay for all the early sampling I suppose, but at least there are controls built in to help newbies get through the learning curve. 

Back on topic, as a dealer I too have seen a worrying amount of problematic 6000s, there have been way too many coil failures and DOA units for my liking, far more than the 7000 release for sure. I honestly think COVID has put a wrecking ball through MLs QC, someone in the factory is supposed to be checking all this and obviously isn’t for whatever reason, I feel sorry for the guy at ML HQ who has the job of trying to sort this stuff out. 

JP

[schoolofhardNox]

5 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

 

Back on topic, as a dealer I too have seen a worrying amount of problematic 6000s, there have been way too many coil failures and DOA units for my liking, far more than the 7000 release for sure. I honestly think COVID has put a wrecking ball through MLs QC, someone in the factory is supposed to be checking all this and obviously isn’t for whatever reason, I feel sorry for the guy at ML HQ who has the job of trying to sort this stuff out. 

JP

I felt really bad when mine was DOA. I thought everyone was going to think I was crazy ?, as Minelab is a much better company than that. But things do happen, and unfortunately even the biggest companies can not control quality like in the old days.

[bklein]

7 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

I feel sorry for the guy at ML HQ who has the job of trying to sort this stuff out. 

Takes a guy with the right mindset. I’d love the challenge. An opportunity to make a real difference in the company.  First step: send 20+ units to the US and have them returned for QA.