I'm actually at the point now where I don't really want another minelab coil, I would prefer they refund me the cost of an 11" coil and I'll buy a coiltek or nuggetfinder as a replacement. And minelab have the hide to chip their coils so after market coils are difficult to make and more expensive to buy! Fair dinkum, I know plenty of people have had the exact same issues.
Minelab GPX6000 coil issues
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yes mate, I hardly see the need to put a chip in the 6000 coils, they are light and flimsy, but mine is still working great, but then it has only been used for 6 or 7 weeks and I try not to bash it into things but sometimes it will hit hard against something
This is my 2nd one. Used 3 times, maybe a total of 10 hours. I don't bash my gear, it sits on the back seat when travelling, with my zed, which has never had a problem. This is the 1st problem I have ever had with any detector I have ever owned, and it's the first detector that i have brought brand new. (Actually my 2nd, I bought one of the first QEDs, and even that worked properly out of the box, Albeit, not to the standard I would have liked)
Pretty dissapointed to be honest. It makes it difficult to like it. I have found gold with it, but only a fraction (in weight) compared to my other detectors.
Pretty dissapointed to be honest. It makes it difficult to like it. I have found gold with it, but only a fraction (in weight) compared to my other detectors.
Does the 6k have fixed and tracking modes to select from like the 45-5k Does?
rustyhooks
Russell
good morning mate i to have been through 2 x 6000 coils, funny thing my mate who bought at the same time as me but was 1500 kms from us also his unit bombed out on the same day, both the same age both from the same dealer, the mate i was detcting with up in the Pilbara at that time had a one week old 6000 and was leaving so he loaned us his coil which saved our trip, on return to Geraldton we contacted the dealer and they were not really helpful at all as we would have to post to them then they would send off to sth australia to assess, i contacted minelab in sth ozz and they sent a new unit out straight away then we sent the old unit back, the second unit lasted almost 12 months and it recently became unstable on turn on till it finally would go ballistic on turn on, i tried multiple ways to reset and i also tried the double d it worked allright but was not as good as the 11", a couple of months ago i decided to buy a second 6000 for the Dragon lady (purchased off fwdoz thanks mate) and was worried that the 11" coil could in fact crap the tin so bit the bullitt and bought her a 10"x5" Coiltek Goldhawk coil, after testing on some absolutely flogged ground east of Geraldton a little ways i was convinced to buy a 14"x 9"Coiltek for myself, both coils are quieter and seem a lot more solid than the minelab unit,they are also fantastic in and around Spinifix and other obstacles, i know its a extra cost on what should be a cheaper constructed unit as the 8k price new is off the scale for most, with the original detector we have paid for itself numerous times, the dragons is now well on its way to doing the same, both these coils take the knocks better and the base covers are a lot thicker, when you consider when the warrenty runs out on the 6000 and the std 11" is going to cost $449 plus postage ($20) the $569 for the smaller coiltek was a good investment, my 14" unit cost $550 from lost treasures in qld plus free postage at that time gives us some degree of confidence now, the 11" units are backup only, on another note we have found the coilteks require less sensitivity we run both at around 1pm and we dont miss any small nuggs, i have not yet cracked a bigg one but she has one almost 10 grams .5m deep, this is just my opinion guys so hope it helps!
Thanks, Russell. I reckon lots of members will benefit from your detailed report.
Good hunting, to you and the Dragon Lady!
Good hunting, to you and the Dragon Lady!
I bought the 10 x 5 some time ago, as a cleaner and tight places. I continued the 11" for general prospecting. The 14 x 9 would suit me for sure. I was going to get a 17" minelab coil, but I will give it a big miss now.
I bought the 6k purely as a patch hunter and possibly a wet season machine with the dd. But I just have no confidence to use it as that now. I don't want to take the zed, and leave it in the car while I walk several km away. Hmmmm , maybe I'll just stick to the zed for now, it's been very very good to me.
I bought the 6k purely as a patch hunter and possibly a wet season machine with the dd. But I just have no confidence to use it as that now. I don't want to take the zed, and leave it in the car while I walk several km away. Hmmmm , maybe I'll just stick to the zed for now, it's been very very good to me.
Took the coil back to my local today, I filmed how touch sensitive it was, and Mick (top end prospecting) forwarded the clip to minelab. They replaced the coil on the spot, so again, can't complain about minelabs service, and Mick does a great job. However, how long will this one last?
All these reports of problems with the Minelab GPX 6000 coils has me wondering if mine will let me down, have done over 100 hours with it at a rough guess. Been happy with the detector.
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Good that it was replaced quickly Dave but the Quality Assurance on these is what needs fixing.
When working & not cracking, or failing altogether, it's actually a great coil.
Just in case anyone is wondering what the innards of a gpx 6k 11" looks like.....the only things I can see that could move are a couple of exposed , very thin bits of copper wire, apart from that, the coils look very well made.
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Interesting. Thanks for posting Dave. Not much to the actual winding by the looks of it.
You got to keep the dud coil?
You might have found the problem mate.
Those blue clips around the perimeter perform two functions - clamping the upper and lower outer rims of the coil spool together and keeping the coil windings locked tightly in place. However this means that any impact on the edge of the spool is directly transmitted to the windings via the blue clips. I'm no coil expert, but this seems to me like a key design flaw.
