Axiom Experience

[microsniper]

Hey Everyone, Just wanted to share some of my  thoughts/experience with the Axiom so far.  Iv got about 14 hrs on it here in AZ.  

I was on the fence between buying the 6000 or the Axiom ever since the minelab sale....  Tough decision as the feedback on the Axiom is still pretty slim but very promising.  

Well I got out last weekend and it was a perfect day for testing in my most familiar ground where i usually swing an SDC or 4500.    It was windy and the EMI was in full force.   There was also some recent rain which had soaked the thick red clay in many areas.   So yeah, perfectly hot and variable ground and EMI up the wazoo...    Usually this combination will make me choose the 4500 in enhance/quiet tuned down a bit and not even bother with the SDC if the EMI is too bad.    

I fired up the Axiom for the first time and went through all the settings.   In order to get it running quiet in this setting (11"mono) I landed on using normal at sensitivity of 3.

In fine mode the wet red clay was too much to balance in any setting higher than 2

In Normal mode both the horrible EMI and ground was mellow enough to run it at 3.   At 2 it was close to  silent which was great but I did not trust it to find small pieces yet.  

Within about 15 mins i popped out a .16 g on a hillside!   yay, ok it works!  

So the rest of the day i had a really fun time going Veerrryyy slow, digging every sound, playing with the settings as I went along.

Im so used to the sound of my minelabs with the sun ray headphones that it took alot of adjusting the audio tone/threshold/volume and some time to get used to the slightly different character of the Axiom.   I did use the WR-1 with my sunrays (thanks for that tip Steve)  but it was still a little strange...

What I noticed right off was if there was an adjustment to the sensitivity, then the quality of the threshold sound changed.  

As well it seemed if the threshold was turned up a bit somewhere around 16-18 and the volume was just right, there was a sweet spot where the target sounds seemed to be most clear to my ears.     I am curious what other people are experiencing with the Axioms audio and threshold, please chime in!     So I kept changing the volume of the machine, the WR-1 module, and the headphones, the sensitivity, and the threshold and there is alot of variation in the quality of sound between settings.  

 

Another thing about the threshold was a kind of clipped/echo kind of break when a small/faint or deep target was gone over....almost like when using my equinox with some of the numbers blocked or tuning down the the 4500 threshold way down.     I tried adjusting the the threshold higher than 19-20 but it blocked out too much of the target sounds.  I had a difficult time getting the volume/threshold/sensitivity just right.       I did not try the speaker yet.

Ground balance:     I did not use the ground tracking at all yet.    I found I had to ground balance quite a bit more actively in this variable ground.  (compared to 4500)  Hot wet clay-dry hillside- hot rocks etc..   but I really like being able to balance out the hot rocks, very handy feature.. again im so new to this machine i know nothing yet.

So far so good! 

 

Got out the next day to another location.   Very little wind/emi, dryer (mostly) ground.  lots of ironstone, blacksand, hot rocks, lots of variable hot spots etc.

No wind  so I happily used the speaker which is great.  

So this day i was able to use Fine mode but only at about 3 sensitivity.  Emi and ground were too erratic and i wanted to get more time in and find more targets to understand more of how this detector works before I try cranking it up too much (again, great advice from Steve on this)

I found a couple of faint targets and changed all the settings up and down before digging.   In Fine, the small targets sounded off clear, in Normal not so much.   I tried cranking up the sensitivity in Normal but it only helped a wee bit.  Fine was better for sure even at a setting of 2.   At setting of 1 sensitivity the targets were too faint but it sure was quiet!

dug up the two targets and gold yay!  smallest weighs in at .06 g    Im very happy about this👍   I did scrape down to bedrock in the area and went over it with the NOX and didnt find any other  targets... 

Ended up finding a couple sitting ducks, one next to someones dig hole (so sorry) and one about 6ft away.    biggest was .4g and was a screamer, thought for sure it was a bullet at first'

So, iv only got about 14hrs on the AXIOM but I am diggin it so far!  

 

 I tried the ground tracking in slow, which seemed to work well on the variable wet/dry ironstone nature of the area.   I cant remember if i was using it when I found the tiniest piece.   but did find a shotgun bb while using it so it did not track it out.  and I dont remember hitting any hot rocks while using it in this area...  

Geeesh, i didnt mean to go on such a ramble but im trying to share as much as i can to help anyone who is considering trying out this machine.   I know I was skeptical but the reports have been really intriguing.     Price point, ergonomics, new variables to play with.    My only concern so far is durability.   It seems well made though only time will tell.    

I am so far very pleased with my purchase (thanks to a member here!)   I do not think it compares to either my SDC or 4500...  its somewhere in the middle I think.   And with only using the 11" mono so far, im excited to try the other coils.   Another observation is the coil is nice and hot on those squared off corners, it really is a bit different than most elipticals.   As well the shape of it helps the whole machine stay upright when you set it down, and thats a nice touch.   

Another nice feature is the layout of the settings buttons.   easy to adjust all settings quickly.   I was pleasantly surprised how much I like it.  I kept treating the detector like my NOX, and kept accidentally trying to turn it off on the side of the screen, which was funny.. and a nod to how light it is..

 

Anyway, hope theres at lest a helpful nugget in all that somewhere...

Id love to hear what others are experiencing with the audio settings especially the threshold and sensitivity variables.. 

[Norvic]

I also am only new on the Axiom I also have a 6K from when they were first introduced. My thoughts so far on audio re. threshold and sensitivity is volume also should be factored in, as these 3 go hand in hand eg. set the volume on 1, up the sensitivity to full, adjust the threshold to be nice and stable handling hot ground but in doing so you have effectively dumbed down the sensitivity somewhat. A happy medium between these 3 settings is used to handle various ground along with fine/normal. GT off mostly. I use Avantree Torus neckband on speaker with an aptX BT transmitter velcroed on the Axiom as I have grown to love the Torus from use on the 6K.

[microsniper]

Thanks Norvic, im intrigued, i dont think I would have thought to approach  the set up like that.   There is way more variation in how the audio reacts to changing those three setting than I would have expected.   (or compared to GPX 4500)  I dont have any experience with the 6000 yet.   What do you think about the clipped threshold Im experiencing?   If I crank up the threshold to get the faint but smooth buzzing mosquito  its too loud and dampens the sharpness of a target.    The difference happens between 17-20.  16-17 having the clipped audio response to a target breaking into the threshold.      I guess im attempting to replicate the sound profile of my gpx threshold.   Also I havent been able ,thus far, to run up the sensitivity higher than 4 for any length of time to see how that changes the threshold quality....  its really fun to be learning a new machine

 

[Norvic]

I have not experienced the clipped threshold as have notnoticed, but will pay more attention now you mentioned it. The Axiom like the 4500 requires settings adjustments to suit ground conditions to bring out their best whereas the SDC and the 6K are more "auto". I am like you and enjoy the new machine, it is proving to be very capable and I feel will excel in the hands of users that "tweak".

[Hobo]

I think the DD 11" coil handles the hot gnd better