How good are our fancy new metal detectors?

[grubstake]

As for reliability - well I have only met 1 person that hasn't had an issue with the GPX6000 mainly the 11 inch coil fails but other have had complete machine replacements & some don't even work out of the box!
I think Minelab are being let off the warranty hook as other manufacturers introduce their coils (l'm waiting patiently for the Nugget Finder 12x7) as the Minelab coils can't fail under warranty if they're not being used, they should be paying Coiltek & Nugget Finder for their expertise in an area that Minelab are obviously so lacking.
Main issue for GPX6000 owners (me included) is after 3 years the warranty runs out & as there's so many complete failures & replacements happening under warranty THINK ABOUT THAT!

Australian consumer law does not permit time limitations on a manufacturer's liability to repair or replace faulty goods. Minelab (in this case), cannot hide from their responsibilities under the law, regardless of what their warranty policy states.

https://www.accc.gov.au/business/se...alian Consumer Law,with a product or service.

Extract from above ACCC webpage: Warranties against defects usually apply for a set amount of time. After the warranty expires, the consumer guarantee of acceptable quality usually still applies. This means that if there’s a problem with a product, the consumer likely still has a right to a repair, refund or replacement, even after the warranty period.

 

[Gold1hunter]

Australian consumer law does not permit time limitations on a manufacturer's liability to repair or replace faulty goods. Minelab (in this case), cannot hide from their responsibilities under the law, regardless of what their warranty policy states.

https://www.accc.gov.au/business/se...alian Consumer Law,with a product or service.

Yes I am aware of this, but for how long after warranty finishes does this apply? It's (consumer law) all a bit ambiguous as there doesn't seem to be any time frame, so does this mean warranty lasts forever?

 

[grubstake]

Effectively yes and if repair or replace doesn't resolve matters, eventually sellers will refund to make the problem go away.

If the issues are sufficiently widespread, class action lawyers often come onboard and force a settlement on behalf of all affected buyers. Car companies have paid out big sums in Australia in recent years for selling vehicles with an established history of major defects (eg. Volkswagen). Those who tried denying liability as their strategy, have also faced large corporate fines and been required to undertake remedial training for all involved.

As a buyer, your remedy is via the seller, as the action of selling an item forms a contract between buyer and seller. If there's a problem getting action from a manufacturer, that's the seller's problem, not yours. If Minelab's dealers are unhappy about being 'the man in the middle', bad luck - under Australian consumer law, that goes with the territory.

 

[Gold1hunter]

Who'd want to own a business in Australia? Sometimes things can get a bit hazed & legislators lose the plot & get carried away.
As a consumer it's an unbelievably good scenario & as a consumer with so many rights to the point of being unfair to whoever I buy from makes it hard to believe anyone is stupid enough to manufacture or retail any consumable products in Australia.

 

[trekkie]

sheez after reading everyone's post i think i will stick with my gm1000 finds same size gold and less hassle

 

[Gold1hunter]

Great idea, you stick with the GM1000 & leave most of the gold for me

 

[trekkie]

Great idea, you stick with the GM1000 & leave most of the gold for me

no worries mate can't justify high prices when only go out a couple times a year lol

 

[Gold1hunter]

no worries mate can't justify high prices when only go out a couple times a year lol

Yup! you have to be committed to It, to find enough to cover the initial outlay. Took me over 3 months staying in Georgetown (QLD) area & going out all day 5/6 days a week to get 137g so I fully understand where you're coming from.
Cheers

 

[Moneybox]

Yes I am aware of this, but for how long after warranty finishes does this apply? It's (consumer law) all a bit ambiguous as there doesn't seem to be any time frame, so does this mean warranty lasts forever?

The implied warranty runs for the life expectancy of the product. If you buy a fridge, for example, and fridges are expected to have a useful 7yr lifespan than your new product should last about that long. If it fails to perform in perhaps 4 years than you should have a legitimate claim.

 

[trekkie]

Yup! you have to be committed to It, to find enough to cover the initial outlay. Took me over 3 months staying in Georgetown (QLD) area & going out all day 5/6 days a week to get 137g so I fully understand where you're coming from.
Cheers

thanks mate happy hunting

 

[Hawkear]

Got hammered for making a comment in another forum about whether the 7000 was worth the money when it first came out. I took the stance from a financial perspective saying that if you hadn’t found enough to cover the cost of a GPX in a reasonable time, probably the 7000 wasn’t going to be worth the then double price.
The criticisms were that many people couldn’t afford the high cost outlay or get out often enough to find enough gold, but then that was the essence of what I suggested.
I was not commenting in any way about the other value or pleasure in owning and using the latest machine, but that worth could only be measured by finds success not an arbitrary view of the pleasurable worth in using the latest.
Just comes back to if you want it, are prepared to take a chance, AND can afford it, why not?
Did that myself with the 7000 but my gold finds suffered as I found difficulties in handling it for the long periods necessary to be successful due to its weight. So I sold it and bought another 5000.
May consider a 6000 or a good coin machine at some stage but happy for now with the 5000 still pulling gold.
Just reinforces my earlier thoughts that for ME (and this is purely personal) the later 7000 was not worth spending up from the 5000.

 

[Gold1hunter]

Got hammered for making a comment in another forum about whether the 7000 was worth the money when it first came out. I took the stance from a financial perspective saying that if you hadn’t found enough to cover the cost of a GPX in a reasonable time, probably the 7000 wasn’t going to be worth the then double price.
The criticisms were that many people couldn’t afford the high cost outlay or get out often enough to find enough gold, but then that was the essence of what I suggested.
I was not commenting in any way about the other value or pleasure in owning and using the latest machine, but that worth could only be measured by finds success not an arbitrary view of the pleasurable worth in using the latest.
Just comes back to if you want it, are prepared to take a chance, AND can afford it, why not?
Did that myself with the 7000 but my gold finds suffered as I found difficulties in handling it for the long periods necessary to be successful due to its weight. So I sold it and bought another 5000.
May consider a 6000 or a good coin machine at some stage but happy for now with the 5000 still pulling gold.
Just reinforces my earlier thoughts that for ME (and this is purely personal) the later 7000 was not worth spending up from the 5000.

Agree with your sentiment but would add that sometimes it doesn't matter what machine people buy some won't find gold anyway, a good operator like yourself with a 5000 will always find more than an amateur with a 7000.
I encourage you to borrow, hire or even buy a 6000 and go back to where you have been finding yella with the 5000. I think you'll be blown away by just how much you missed & as an added bonus "it's lighter"

 

[user 22230]

Personally "finds" from going over previous ground or patches with a different machine I contribute as follows, 50% due to you just not swinging the coil over it previously, 25% to mother natures assistance in removing enough material that what was unreachable now is and the last 25% the different machine being more susceptible to "different" gold types than the previous used machine on the same patch. To contribute all found to it being a better machine, unless you were previously perhaps using a go find is being far to generous An SDC will see gold that a Z will not and vice versa, better in different applications only not overall. Natures my best digger and I know where I am if there is a heavy rain then I'm on it like a dog on a bone with the same machine. For all those that leave distinct signs they have been there before me "on the gold" I sincerely thank you as it saves me a lot of walking

 

[Dave's Office]

I sold my 5 and bought a Z, I think the 5 would have picked up the gold I've found with the Z so far but I enjoy using the Z more and it gives me the opportunity to maybe find some gold that the 5 might not pick up.

 

[The geezer]

Well having found a small patch of subgrammers( .02to .07 about 25)with my 4500 (nf 15 solid round in enhance) rechecking it with a mates 6000 we found nothing except rust fragments and needed to really look hard to see them. So Tryed a gold bug and still pinged small bits of rubbish. I think for now I just concentrate on trying to read the Country. I will go back there and dig a few samples to pan( not on bedrock so I wonder ?).

 

[Hawkear]

Well having found a small patch of subgrammers( .02to .07 about 25)with my 4500 (nf 15 solid round in enhance) rechecking it with a mates 6000 we found nothing except rust fragments and needed to really look hard to see them. So Tryed a gold bug and still pinged small bits of rubbish. I think for now I just concentrate on trying to read the Country. I will go back there and dig a few samples to pan( not on bedrock so I wonder ?).

Technology like evolution is usually not a steady advancement, rather some larger changes followed by more gradual advance or refinement.
Sometimes we are sold mere refinements of settings and features as ”new technology”, where as just tinkering with those settings, coil selections on older machines can get the same or similar results.
Geezer makes a great point to take note of. How often do we hear about a new machine picking up nuggets that other machines have “missed”? I have had geezer‘s experience countless times with my 5000 in picking up stuff that the very same machine had previously “missed”. What is the conclusion? It is that I missed the nuggets not the machine.
The ultimate power of a machine is determined by the user, and maybe it is not wise to discount a previously successful machine on the basis of that there are newer machines around.
Not saying to hang on to machines forever as at some point technology will count, but nor should we be in too much of a rush to spend our money on ”new” technology unless money is just not a concern.

 

[Moneybox]

Well having found a small patch of subgrammers( .02to .07 about 25)with my 4500 (nf 15 solid round in enhance) rechecking it with a mates 6000 we found nothing except rust fragments and needed to really look hard to see them. So Tryed a gold bug and still pinged small bits of rubbish. I think for now I just concentrate on trying to read the Country. I will go back there and dig a few samples to pan( not on bedrock so I wonder ?).

I found the same on a very good small patch we did with the 4500 and the 2300. This patch had quite a few at a gram to a gram and a half that the 4500 snapped up and enough small stuff to keep Mrs M busy with the 2300.

I run over the same ground a year later with the 6000 and I got three tiny pieces and lots of shotgun pellets that were too small for the 4500 and a bit too deep for the 2300. It just showed me how well the older machines detected the gold.

The 6000 has the advantage of more depth on the small stuff and should (not proven to me) pick up the bigger pieces as well. The big plus for me is the convenience of having the battery and speaker on the detector. If you have reason to quickly check something out it only takes moments to get the 6000 onto the ground. With the 4500 I must have the harness with speaker and battery which is just a bit of a pain for a task that might just take a few minutes.

Last week I made an adjustment to the feed rate on Goldilocks. While the machine was running I used a Sidchrome 13mm ratchet spanner, a Facom 13mm combination spanner, a hammer and a punch. A few minutes later I saw the hammer lying in my oversize pile, that's the stuff that has tumbled off the classifier. It suddenly sprung into my mind that I'd left all these tools sitting on top of the front loader tyre that was just behind me when I did the job. I quickly jumped down from the loader and grabbed the hammer but the other tools were not in sight.

It was quick and easy to grab the 6000 and swing over the area looking for the lost tools. I spent the next coupe of days randomly going over the ground with the metal detector searching in vane for a couple of my favorite spanners. I've leveled the gravel off, I've moved the dryblower, I'm scrapped the area to the cap rock and I detected again and again. The tools have gone unless I take the time to dig all the nails, horseshoes, cans and other ancient rubbish that the detector picks up.

For quick and easy detection jobs with no setup time the GPX6000 is perfect.

 

[Mackka]

You wil find them Phil as they couldn’t have gone far. I think detectors( if you can afford them) are like fishing lures. Something new hits the market, ya mates buy one or two and they have a great success over a couple of sessions. So , other blokes say, yeah gotta get me one of those to increase his strike rate however, ho doesn’t fish at the same location, same tide, same moon phase etc, and he doesn’t get a bite but the sales bloke says,” ya should have been here yesterday, goin off it was.” Same with detectors. In the right hands and with knowledge , the older detectors will still come up trumps. Just my opinion which isn’t worth nothin. Mackka

 

[Dave's Office]

My old professional fishing mate Howard Forster reckons most of the fancy fishing tackle is made to catch fishermen, not fish, probably applies to detectors as well.

 

[Hawkear]

Giving away most of my fishing gear to my grandson and just keeping a few of my favorite rods and reels. That should make both of us happy.
Read a quote recently.
“How do you tell the difference between a billionaire and a contented retiree.?
The contented retiree knows when he has enough.”
So having given my grandson the gear and after talking for a while and getting enthused about fishing, why will I go out and buy some new stuff next week?