Axiom Not Detecting Test Piece

[Dain Blackburn]

I had a 4500 for a few years I sold it and bought a Axiom because I thought it would be better. it definitely  is lighter and that's one thing  I like.  I have tried fine gold full sensitivity and I can't hear my little gold  test piece that my 4500 would sound off on. The other problem  I noticed is a larger target like a bullet  would only sound off when the heal of the coil was over the target. Iam using then mono coil.

Are there other Axiom user  having problems? 

 

[Gerry in Idaho]

The Axiom is more sensitive than a GPX-4500, so you better contact your dealer and have him test it. I feel the Axiom is not working properly.

You made a wise decision to upgrade and eventually you see the benefits of the Axiom.

[Dain Blackburn]

Thanks for responding. I will contact dealer.

[dirtman]

On 6/4/2023 at 3:04 PM, Dain Blackburn said:

Thanks for responding. I will contact dealer.

Please let all of us following your experiences know what conclusion you come to with this situation Dain.

Happy Huntn

Thank you 👍

[Steve Herschbach]

You don't mention the nugget size so hard to say. The Axiom will hit gold down to 0.03 gram in the field, with 0.06 gram and larger being common finds. The smallest bits will only signal on the edges with the mono coils (this is normal with all mono coils on all brands), with each of the four corners being the hottest spots. So when you say heel of coil only, well, it should not be heal only, but on the tiny bits maybe more like edges or four corners only. As nuggets get larger the signal will pull away from the edges and go to the center.

The Focused Core DD coils are hottest in the center of the coil.

Unless you are comparing directly to a GPX 4500 its memory only at work. Nuggets vary greatly in how well they can be detected due to purity, shape and orientation, and porosity created by air spaces or rock inclusions. I agree however with Gerry that an Axiom in general will hit as well or better than a GPX 4500 on small gold. But again, on solid relatively pure bits, 0.06 gram and larger should be easy finds, with experts getting down to 0.03 gram surface bits. The nuggets below were found by several different operators using the Axiom in Australia and are in the range I am describing. My own personal commentary to the casual inquirer would be to expect to be able to find nuggets down to 0.05 gram. You'll have to be on top of your game to be hitting gold smaller than that. A smaller mono coil would be welcome in helping with that, something like the 6x8 Sadie would be fabulous, but so far no aftermarket coils have appeared.

 

 

[Dain Blackburn]

Thanks Steve for your time and information. My test piece is about the size Gerry posted in his picture.

My 14" nugget finder coil on my 4500 had no trouble. My Axiom would not hear it any part of mono coil.

A lead bullet would only be heard on the back past the center of coil. I called Chris Gholson and he gave me info to contact Garret.

I sent it in 4 days ago they should have it now. ill post what they find out.

[Chase Goldman]

19 hours ago, Dain Blackburn said:

Thanks Steve for your time and information. My test piece is about the size Gerry posted in his picture.

My 14" nugget finder coil on my 4500 had no trouble. My Axiom would not hear it any part of mono coil.

A lead bullet would only be heard on the back past the center of coil. I called Chris Gholson and he gave me info to contact Garret.

I sent it in 4 days ago they should have it now. ill post what they find out.

Dain - Kind of a moot point now, but you also never mentioned the coil size (presuming you have the standard US kit where the smaller coil is the Mono in your case) or whether the issue manifested with both of the supplied coils unless the target was too small to be sensed by the larger DD.  That could further point to whether the problem is the detector or the coil.  Whatever the case, Garrett has it now and should take care of it, so definitely let us know how it gets resolved.

[Steve Herschbach]

On 6/10/2023 at 1:22 PM, Dain Blackburn said:

Thanks Steve for your time and information. My test piece is about the size Gerry posted in his picture.

My 14" nugget finder coil on my 4500 had no trouble. My Axiom would not hear it any part of mono coil.

A lead bullet would only be heard on the back past the center of coil. I called Chris Gholson and he gave me info to contact Garret.

I sent it in 4 days ago they should have it now. I’ll post what they find out.

I do not know of any extensive comparison tests done between the Axiom and GPX 4500 so there is also a not zero possibility the 4500 can detect that nugget better. Please do report back on what Garrett’s findings are with the machine. I’m less than thrilled so far by the reports of defective units. Yeah, Minelab really dropped the ball with the GPX 6000 in that regard. But so far I’m not impressed with the failures I’ve heard about from Garrett owners either. Can’t anyone make things correctly anymore, and more importantly, do proper quality control before units are shipped?