Is Garrett About To Release A New Gold Prospecting Pi?

[JCR]

I hope at some point we can have some solid reports on how well suited it will be for hot ground relic hunting with coil selection/iron check evaluation.

[phrunt]

Well, I fell asleep waiting, either way I had full confidence Garrett was going to bring something worthwhile to market, and they exceeded my expectations, what a pleasant surprise to wake to to see the tide has turned!

Thank you Garrett, what a fantastic jump into the current PI market and now I'm questioning why I have an order in for 3 6000 aftermarket coils for a detector I don't even like when I should put the money towards this puppy instead.   As my order is a special order with my dealer who is bringing them in specifically for me I'll keep my order but I really think I've blown that money as I'd rather use this Garrett.

It ticks a lot of boxes for me and the aftermarket will go nuts for it, why wouldn't they, no restrictions preventing them from doing it, Garrett if anything encourage it, and if they can bring even more performance to the table for it even better!  X-coils could make a great range of coils for it in the sizes I'd want.

People had their doubts about Garrett and ground balance after the ATX, well.... it appears it does very well there.  People assumed it might have bump sensitive coils as a decade old detector they released did...  I don't understand why people just assume a company can't improve a product, unless they're Minelab, which in some ways go backwards with their new products, not always forwards.  Garrett has done a brilliant job by the looks it of it and I can see it having a very good market share in very short order.  Maybe Minelab will re-re-release the GPX 4500 to try fight back a bit in it's price range, I know which I'd rather be swinging.

And I know you must of had a good amount of involvement at least encouraging Garrett to do this Steve and guiding them towards what people would like, so thank you also.  Now reading about Gerry's involvement, a big thank you to Gerry too! Good work!

I also think it will be a very good seller in Africa 🙂

A happy day for prospectors.

Now to have a coffee so my brain wakes up to absorb all this great news.

[kac]

With an iron check, it should do well as a relic hunter as the ATX does but in a much better form factor.

[Steve Herschbach]

10 minutes ago, kac said:

With an iron check, it should do well as a relic hunter as the ATX does but in a much better form factor.

It will slay the ATX as a relic machine, unless you need submersible, or just like heavy detectors! It is a nugget detector first and foremost, but I think both relic hunters, and beach hunters who don't do more than wade, are going to love this thing. Really, the only reason to keep making the ATX is that it can be submerged. I wonder if the ATX can be upgraded in the future with Axiom circuitry? I see no reason why they would not want to do that, get some more life out of the old beast.

[Steve Herschbach]

On 7/26/2022 at 10:24 AM, jasong said:

Nice work Steve and anyone else involved with getting a detector tested that checks a lot of boxes off the much needed list. I had a real concern in the back of my head that it was going to be hobby detector, but this has every hallmark of being a real prospecting machine from first looks.

You mentioned being worried about real testing. Gerry and I were both deep in this, and we pulled no punches. I'm very grateful to Gerry for agreeing to be involved, as I have the highest respect for him. He is a truly great detectorist, and knows more than anyone as a dealer what people want. Garrett was absolutely terrific about our sometimes rough and tumble commentary, as we can both be pretty blunt about stuff. It's especially hard for engineers to hear from us, but nothing but praise for Brent and his team.

[jasong]

Good to hear Steve, companies need to hear real input from real prospectors like you and Gerry. Glad to hear Garrett availed themselves of the opportunity to work with both of you.

Looking forward to trying this out whenever I can get my hands on one. It's a 600+ mile drive for me to get to the nearest dealer, so I'm just waiting now to hear when these are available for mail order.

I don't have many more questions that aren't better answered by getting my hands on one and trying it out, looking forward to it. So nice to see a real 2nd option finally. And stoked to see a US company stepping to the plate! 

[Steve Herschbach]

I will be blunt. I've been detecting for 50 years now, and swore I was done being involved on the back end, with the development type stuff. It was too tempting however when this opportunity arose to end my efforts in that regard with an American based company. I've been very disappointed to see our once unassailable lead in detecting basically frittered away by the arrogance of the U.S. manufacturers. It was my faith in Steve Novakovich that made me decide to get back on the horse again for one last ride, and I'm glad I did. The folks from Garland are just a solid group of great people, and being able to get behind and truly believe in a U.S. company again, is a breath of fresh air. I hope this is the start of more great things to come from Garrett in the future, but for now, I'm just so happy at least one U.S. company is stepping up to the plate, to give it a serious effort. For that, they are winners in my book. 

[Luis]

Now the million dollar question.  Has Garrett included a chip in the coils or in the cable so that third-party manufacturers cannot do it?  I hope is not like that

[phrunt]

2 minutes ago, Luis said:

Now the million dollar question.  Has Garrett included a chip in the coils or in the cable so that third-party manufacturers cannot do it?  I hope is not like that

as Geotech pointed out, only 4 wires on the coil plug, not chipped! 🙂

 

[Norvic]

Aye, non-chipped that is a big plus.