GPX 6000 Noise

I hope the outcome is good for you.

Mine will definitely be going back to Minelab to sort out the error on startup but it has to wait until I get a quiet patch. Meanwhile I'll just let it squawk and carry on, I just try to decipher to sounds. I might just try the DD again on the really noisy stuff but so far I've not got any advantage from fitting it.

It sounds really bad on the videos because I up the volume a bit. When I'm detecting I have the detector volume at its lowest setting and add a bit of volume through the earphones or Avantree speaker.

Before I bought the 6000 I would be quietly swing along with the GPX4500, usually fitted with the 14" Coiltek Elite, and I could hear my brother coming from afar with the GPZ7000. I thought the horrendous noise created by the coil touching the stones must be distracting. Now I have the same problem. The GPX6000 11" coil is hollow making it pleasantly light to swing but the noise created on stony ground can mask useful signals. I've gone back to using the Minelab earphones over the Avantree neck speakers because the earphones help drown out some of that noise.

few weeks ago i took the leap brought the six ....here goes
went to noisest ground i could find
wettest ground i could find
place were ive hit with every detector I've owned 2200 2300 5000 4500 7000 old garrets ,whites
pros
easy to set up and get running
better to sit on the ground compared to 2300
stock speaker sound
wireless headphones good
CONS
bloody noise,e machine
wanted to pick up edges of holes
shaft will not tighten up good enough when pushing up against grass or under trees etc
as i stated before MINELAB MAKE YOUR PLUGS UNIFORM

i spent 3 days in the field with this machine with intention to push it to its limit and get it running at it best as i could
come away is it worth 8 grand mmmm. NO but just little things quality, noise, using 1 button to do 2 things just took the edge off it for me to like it ,but i own it now here goes

ps used phase tec enhancer , bluetooth sound peat (les gold set up) ran good ,stock speaker, headphones wired ,wireless all good, duel speakers went with no threshold but confidence in that is another thing ,but in it grow with time
i think
im going to test in the field in 2 other places in Australia in the next month or 2 if it doesn't preform of it 8 grand ill be sit on the counter as a nother tool but it won,t be my go for machine. ps started the 7 up it might be heavy but it does the job and have the contol to manage what ever ground u give it mmm.

Took the loan 6000 for a swing again. Found 3 bits for 0.5grams. A lot of lead shot. Definitely better than my machine. However, I have noticed that when the machine is warm (running for a while) the 11" coil becomes a lot more bump sensitive. Not sure what the go is there, if that is a coil issue or unit. I compensate for it by raising the coil slightly instead of scraping it on the ground, but this is not optimum. Besides that issue, I can not fault this loan 6000.
The 6000 likes to talk, and as long as its talking sense, then I am all for a chatty machine.
But consistency is key.
Hopefully I hear back from Minelab this week, I just want my machine.

Some good info here:
https://www.detectorprospector.com/...on-my-gpx-6000/?do=findComment&comment=203943

Sometimes lifting the coil a bit is more productive than persevering with ground noise.

mbasko said:

Some good info here:
https://www.detectorprospector.com/...on-my-gpx-6000/?do=findComment&comment=203943

Sometimes lifting the coil a bit is more productive than persevering with ground noise.

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For sure. I have noticed that it helps settle the machine down in noisy ground.
I was wondering if I will ever find ground where I can take it out of difficult. lol

So word from the dealer is that they spoke to Minelab today, and they said they can't fault the machine. They have sent it out with 3 different people.

Now, call me dumb, but I thought they would have test rigs set up for coils and test rigs for mainboards etc etc. Hammer it and compare readouts with known values. Oscilloscope readouts. X-ray the board to look for defects.
But instead, they send it out for a swing. lol.

What I don't get is the borrowed unit I have been using in the meantime is so much better.

I will just ask for a replacement and play the odds game. The dealer said he will try get it replaced anyway, he has gone above and beyond . I just don't want my machine back if its been out in the field with Tom, Dick and Harry.
I was under the impression it would be tested in a lab.

Go for it mate.

hAyyoUinAU said:

So word from the dealer is that they spoke to Minelab today, and they said they can't fault the machine. They have sent it out with 3 different people.

Now, call me dumb, but I thought they would have test rigs set up for coils and test rigs for mainboards etc etc. Hammer it and compare readouts with known values. Oscilloscope readouts. X-ray the board to look for defects.
But instead, they send it out for a swing. lol.

I was under the impression it would be tested in a lab.

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If sending a presumed-faulty machine out with testers is ALL that Minelab do, that seems to me a very inefficient approach to a warranty claim. But have you been told definitively that there was zero bench-testing before the field testing or are you perhaps jumping to that conclusion?

grubstake said:

If sending a presumed-faulty machine out with testers is ALL that Minelab do, that seems to me a very inefficient approach to a warranty claim. But have you been told definitively that there was zero bench-testing before the field testing or are you perhaps jumping to that conclusion?

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Yeah true, there was no mention of bench testing, so they could of done it. And it was second hand information from the dealer.
I will see what they say when they email me.

hAyyoUinAU said:

For sure. I have noticed that it helps settle the machine down in noisy ground.
I was wondering if I will ever find ground where I can take it out of difficult. lol

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.hAyyoUinAU, I suggest you try it in Normal, switch off difficult. I've found in many cases it doesn't change a thing as far as the noise goes but it is more sensitive to detecting the gold. I recently went over ground that had fresh dig holes from an experienced GPZ7000 operator and another very experienced GPX6000 operator.

I know nothing about operating the GPZ7000 but The GPX6000 operator was running no threshold because the 6000 was picking up EMI plus small noisy patches and squawking when swung left and right. Mine did the same but I ran threshold, minimum volume on the detector and a bit of volume on the headphones. I constantly switched between Normal and Difficult and tried various settings from the minimum to 12 where I usually operate. Nothing shut it up so I spent most of the time with threshold on, normal, sensitivity on 12. I dug about the same amount of holes as the previous two had done and came away with 8g of nuggets ranging from 0.1g to 1.55g.

Both GPX6000's were fitted with the 11" mono. It's possible those small noisy patches of red dirt had a decent nugget at the bottom but it's difficult to tell on the 6000 so like the others I gave up on most of them after digging down about 200mm.

Moneybox said:

.hAyyoUinAU, I suggest you try it in Normal, switch off difficult. I've found in many cases it doesn't change a thing as far as the noise goes but it is more sensitive to detecting the gold. I recently went over ground that had fresh dig holes from an experienced GPZ7000 operator and another very experienced GPX6000 operator.

I know nothing about operating the GPZ7000 but The GPX6000 operator was running no threshold because the 6000 was picking up EMI plus small noisy patches and squawking when swung left and right. Mine did the same but I ran threshold, minimum volume on the detector and a bit of volume on the headphones. I constantly switched between Normal and Difficult and tried various settings from the minimum to 12 where I usually operate. Nothing shut it up so I spent most of the time with threshold on, normal, sensitivity on 12. I dug about the same amount of holes as the previous two had done and came away with 8g of nuggets ranging from 0.1g to 1.55g.

Both GPX6000's were fitted with the 11" mono. It's possible those small noisy patches of red dirt had a decent nugget at the bottom but it's difficult to tell on the 6000 so like the others I gave up on most of them after digging down about 200mm.

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A couple of simple litmus tests would be (or would have been) to:
- Run over it again with 11" mono using a lesser sensitivity setting
- Run over it again with the 14DD in ground cancel

Keep in mind more "sensitivity" doesn't always mean more. It's not a true sensitivity setting.
Discussed here: https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ies-other-notable-findings.37214/#post-607844

Yeah seen quite a few videos now on the 6000 and must admit for the money that's one noisy machine, makes my old GP extreme look like an angel

Capertee gold said:

Yeah seen quite a few videos now on the 6000 and must admit for the money that's one noisy machine, makes my old GP extreme look like an angel

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Bit harsh basing an opinion on any videos.
Sure there's been a lot of well documented issues with the GPX6000 but there's also a lot of videos being shot with incorrect settings/coil for the ground/atmospheric conditions, doing demos immediately after turning it on (no ground settling period) & with the volume turned up flat out which makes it sound much worse than it is.
It's a very sensitive detector (a real devil compared to the GP Extreme) that's very reactive to ground/atmospheric conditions. There's a lot of people that don't seem to be able to understand, accept or adjust to it.

I have been running the loan 6000 on lowest sensitivity with the 11" Mono on difficult. If I up the sensitivity it becomes too chatty (hot ground) and I believe it hides signals, so better to not have it talking too much. If I switch to normal, it pings too much in hot ground, impossible to detect. I believe this setting would work well on quieter ground, but not where I have been.
I still stand by that my original machine had/has and issue and the loan 6000 pretty much verified that for me. Its a good thing too, because I really enjoy using it. I don't believe it should be marketed as a BEGINNER machine though, hell I don't even think the GM is a beginner machine. I will always recommend the SDC for that. But I can see how the 6000 is a lot easier to use than the 4500's.
I would almost say the 6000 is better than the 7000. (Almost)

So my verdict, even though I have had an issue, is still thumbs up for the 6000.

Moneybox said:

It's possible those small noisy patches of red dirt had a decent nugget at the bottom but it's difficult to tell on the 6000 so like the others I gave up on most of them after digging down about 200mm.

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I have thought that a couple times but if you listen closely as you swing, the ground noise signals are actually different to targets. They always sound on the away swing. And mostly broad. A lot of times they only pull to one side.
There will always be that one or two ground noise signals that will fool us, but if you have been using PI machines for a while, after using VLF machines, it makes sense.

So I was cleaning down the loan 6000 with a chux wipe, which I always do before my next outing. Just a bit of dusty dirt. Anyways, I like to pull the shafts apart and the clamps and clean it all so it locks well. When I finished wipe down the arm cuff, I noticed a rattle sound. I'm thinking, what is that, so I inspect it, and notice that the noise is coming from inside the main box. I pull off the rear speaker cap, which is probably one of the few things you can do without voiding warranty and low and behold, look at this.
Wow, on the loan machine. Unacceptable. Not only are they taking forever with my brand new unit, the loan unit is literally falling apart. QC Minelab, QC.
A bolt comes undone if it is not done up properly in the first place. Wow. It might be a good machine, but that does not excuse this at all.


And the bolt on the left is loose

Give them a dab of threadlocker before doing them back up. Problem solved.

Anyways, it might pay for anyone with a 6000, to check those two bolts, and tighten if needed.

mbasko said:

Give then a dab of threadlocker before doing them back up. Problem solved.

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Problem should not be there in the first place though.