GPX6000 Faults/Issues

[grubstake]

I choose to dig all now, as can’t always tell if metal, lead or gold. (Sadly in my earlier usage I was advised to learn which was metal and which was gold and then walk on. Must have walked away from a lot of good gold )

That's the worst advice any detector prospector could ever hear. As you've noted, follow it at your peril.

Gold occurs in every possible size, shape, angle in relation to coil, proximity to other metals/mineralised ground, purity, mixture with minerals such as ironstone and manganese, etc, etc. Digging to isolate the target, followed by positive, visual ID, is the ONLY way to be sure what a detector signal is really telling you.

Many years ago I was detecting my way up a goat track to an old mineshaft at Wedderburn in the Golden Triangle, when my VLF detector gave a loud honk through the headphones. I looked down and saw a brown/grey rock on the surface, cursed "yet another damn hot rock" and hit it with my pick in anger. It split open to reveal a golden core like the yoke of an egg! Specific gravity testing showed 52g of contained gold, with fine stringers actually on the surface, but invisible in the dust when I first saw it.

 

[Qlden]

To help with the shaft slipping and shortening issue we set the length to the max and then put a couple of turns of electrical tape below the tightening screws.
We had our machines set up for a few months trip so had no need to remove tape to pack them away each day.

 

[Jennifer]

I like that I don’t have to stuff around with little whispering sounds. It has a target or not

That's why my GPX-5000 will ALWAYS be my detector of choice.

 

[Gold1hunter]

That's why my GPX-5000 will ALWAYS be my detector of choice.

I owned & flogged a 5000 for 5 years then got a 7000 in 2015 & now a 6000 fair to say the 5 & the 7 are virtually bullet proof (find plenty of them too ) the 6000 11" coil is a bit of a fail in the reliability scale many people seem to be getting new for dodgy old courtesy of Minelab including me, BUT when it's working correctly OMG it smashes the 5 (& the 7 a lot of the time) once you've got used to it.
Have found many good sounding targets are ground noise (frustrating, worse than the 5) but just have to wave coil over for 5-10 seconds if it balances out don't waste time on it.
Get your hands on a 6 & try it for a few days & you'll be converted, if you buy one your 5 will only see the light of day in between the time it takes to send a coil to minelab and get a new one back.
Rohan from Nugget Finder is releasing his coils in the next few weeks so there goes the crappy Minelab coil problem anyway.
After getting the 6000 during the first month in Georgetown I only used the 7000 for 3hrs so I sold it, met another guy who relies on prospecting to live he has a 7000 recently bought a 6000 & is selling his 7000 because he loves the 6000 & hasn't used the 7 since he bought the 6.
I've Spent 1000's of hours swinging detectors the 6000 is the only one I want to use in the Gold fields now, followed by the 7000 if I had too. The 5000 is a great machine but can't compete with those 2 had them all used them, been there done that, would never run a 5 again.
Try a 6

 

[larry303]

...and with the release of the next Minelab Marketing Detector, the 6000 will 'suddenly' lose all its 'powers' to the 'New' Detector...it's been forever thus,..a machine that successfully finds gold, loses its 'gold finding powers' to the next detector.been observing and detecting since 1988.......the 7000 over the 5000..the 5000 over the 4500,..the 4500 over the 4000, the 4000 over the 3500..the 3500 over the 3000 the Super Detectors beaten by the Extreme introduction in early 2000....and so ad infinitum........I contend all these detecting Tools still find gold, as they once did, particularly with the advances in coils...you have to wave the coil 'low & slow' like your shoes are tied together, over the gold target, and that's the real achievement in metal detecting IMO..learning the new machine, rather than paying substantial amount for a Set & Go offering 'No Waiting/No Delays'... ....even my old 2002 Garrett Infinium will still find gold....19 years after I bought it <it has had 2 upgrades to current specs which is what all detectors should offer>...maintaining the value of the Investment in the newest machine is paramount to those that Trade up immediately the ""new"" detector comes out....if you have no Health Limitations - carrying the weight, then the 7000 with new coils by price comparison still sits way on top of the heap IMO ........Dealers need to 'churn' new detectors, however 'Needs' & Wants' tend to get confused, and perspective can become clouded......

 

[Redfin]

Wow, is that Larry from Port Lincoln?
I remember when you first purchased your Infinium.
You used to cop a fair old flogging on the forums in the early days, 90's?

 

[Reg Wilson]

So many people having problems with the 6000! I have dodged a bullet once more. When I bought my GPZ it worked just fine and never needed any remedial treatment or 'ring of confidence'. It paid for itself many times over with the best result a 27oz lump. Some of my friends had problems with theirs.
Same story with the 6000 which has also been a treat to use with absolutely no problems at all, with the best bit so far being a 14oz specimen that SGed at 8.2 ozs of gold. This was at a measured 2 foot depth.
The EMI that so many have complained about is a non event with my machine, only coming into play when the detector is laid down with the coil being vertical. This means that I sort a dug target with the coil laid flat. I do not use the speaker and find that the supplied headphones work real well with more than enough volume. With other detectors I use noise cancelling head phones, but with the 6000 I find that the ML Bluetoth system works just fine.

 

[user 7268]

As above can relate well, smaller to a degree being 14.5 oz but being everyone elses SDC only finds small gold my unit without doubt is a keeper

 

[Jaros]

So would I -greedy bugger...

 

[AngerManagement]

Bad news Dave, and just more of the same from this 6K release !
If there had been this many issues with a car release, a national recall would have been issued, but not Minelab !

Just read the Notka Legend posts; 5 or 6 software updates and lots of ongoing issues for many users. Some of it is user but way too many actual hardware faults that don't seem to have a resolution as yet.

ML for all their faults; still have a stronger focus on QA and no one is perfect.

 

[davo85]

Hello everyone,

I purchased a GPX6000 a couple of weeks ago and have been having lots of fun. However, since yesterday I have been having lots of trouble with noise as you can see in the following video:



I am out in the middle of the bush in Linton, Victoria, and there are no power lines nearby.

I have tried the following but to no avail:

Noice cancel
Ground balance
Using auto and manual sensitivity at different levels
Factory reset
Moving to other areas (hundreds of metres apart)

When this happened yesterday, I placed the DD coil on and it behaved the exact same way as the above video. I put this down to the wet ground or clouds and called it a day. However, since it happened again today, I am having doubts. When I changed to a DD coil today, it didn't go as crazy as yesterday but is still making way too much noise as you can see in the video:



It's not the greatest video to show what I have been experiencing, but it should give a rough idea of what I'm dealing with.


Later on after about 30 minutes of use, it started going crazy with noise again like in the first video and I had to keep pressing the noise cancellation to keep it in check. I tried setting it Conductive Ground Cancel with the DD, but it didn't help.

The weather has been bad here. In fact, there was a light hail in the late afternoon. Can the weather make these machines go crazy like in the first video? I am just trying to figure out if there is something wrong with the machine. I'm just very confused because it has been wet/cloudy for many of the days since I bought the detector, but it is only in the last 2 that I'm having these issues. By the way, I found gold in the exact same area in the first video, so many of my days have been spent there with no issues whatsoever till yesterday and today. It's no longer enjoyable because of this, so hopefully I can figure it out.


Any help or guidance will be much appreciated. I'm new to this game, so please talk to me like I'm 5 if you're kind enough to offer help.

Regards, David.

 

[mbasko]

Definitely some type of issue there!

1st thing check the coil connection into the control box. Make sure it's pushed right in (firm but not trying to shove it thru the box) & the connector is done up firmly.
When removing the coil you should need to undo the coil connector then wiggle it a little, undo it some more, wiggle.... until the connector comes free. It's a fairly tight fit.

As you've checked it with 2 coils, & similar/same issue, we should be able to rule a faulty coil out.

If the problem persists after checking the connection send a link to the videos (or this thread) to your Minelab dealer.
There won't be a simple, workable solution unfortunately. It will be an issue in the box needing warranty repair/replacement.

 

[Pro-oz]

I would like to know about this as well, thinking of getting one for next year. Could it have been the mobile phone? sounds like very bad EMI and with both coils. Sorry I can't help.

 

[mbasko]

Never had EMI that bad on the 6000 out in the bush or even near LV powerlines.
Definitely an issue IMO.

 

[grubstake]

Unfortunately, you're no orphan Davo.

 

[davo85]

Thank you mbasko. I know what you're saying about the 'wiggle, push, wiggle, push'. I'm quite sure I have done it up firmly each time, but I will give that a go in the morning just to be sure. Something has definitely changed with this machine the last couple of days. It sounds like the weather is out of the question then. I thought the noise was too extreme to be that.

 

[davo85]

I would like to know about this as well, thinking of getting one for next year. Could it have been the mobile phone? sounds like very bad EMI and with both coils. Sorry I can't help.

Hello Peter. I always have my phone off when using it.

 

[davo85]

Unfortunately, you're no orphan Davo:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/threads/gpx6000-faults.37305/

I hope I don't have too many headaches dealing with the warranty process. Fingers crossed.

 

[mbasko]

Thank you mbasko. I know what you're saying about the 'wiggle, push, wiggle, push'. I'm quite sure I have done it up firmly each time, but I will give that a go in the morning just to be sure. Something has definitely changed with this machine the last couple of days. It sounds like the weather is out of the question then. I thought the noise was too extreme to be that.

EMI like that I'd expect a lightning storm very close by or even overhead not just cloudy or distant storms.
Weather can/does affect them but not to that extent usually.
I had a GPX5000 go like that on a trip down to Victoria years ago & the PLC had failed.

Minelab's warranty process is very good & usually reasonably quick too.

 

[davo85]

EMI like that I'd expect a lightning storm very close by or even overhead not just cloudy or distant storms.
Weather can/does affect them but not to that extent usually.
I had a GPX5000 go like that on a trip down to Victoria years ago & the PLC had failed.

Minelab's warranty process is very good & usually reasonably quick too.

That's good to hear. So just confirm -- I should skip emailing minelab directly and just contact the place of purchase?