The Minelab GPX 6000 is now about 18 months old, but it surely is no “toddler” in terms of performance within the gold-specific range of Minelab ‘Pulse Induction’ metal detectors.
Many prospectors throughout Australia have re-visited goldfields, including their “fav” patches, that they considered “flogged” and then unleashed the GPX 6000 over such areas to find even more gold, including at depth.
The popularity of the GPX 6000 is not only due to its high performance, but also because it is extremely lightweight, and very easy to use - even for “newbie” detectorists, and budding “prospectors”.
There are only three things you can change on this machine – the Sensitivity, the Ground Type and the Threshold – it’s so easy to learn how to use it.
As a bonus, the GPX 6000 also has two Automatic Sensitivity modes (Auto, and Auto +). Both of these modes automatically maximize sensitivity, and also track and remove ground noise – a feature of the unique ‘GeoSense-PI’ technology of the GPX 6000.
With an operating frequency of about 1.2kHz this detector can certainly punch deep, particularly with the two larger coils - the round 14” DD coil (which is included in the box), and the optional-extra elliptical 17x13” Mono coil (costs about $580).
I found the 17” Mono coil excellent for “patch hunting” when I wanted to cover more ground and find patches of gold. I would then exhaust the patch of gold using the 17’ coil. When I was finding little more gold on a patch, I would then run the 11” coil over the patch and find more gold. Finally, I would then put the 14” DD coil and often find some more gold. If you got the good tools, use ‘em mate – that’s what I reckon.
Aftermarket coil makers – both Nugget Finder, and Coiltek, recently released a range of different sized coils for the GPX 6000. Nugget Finder have released the ‘Xceed’ series of coils, and Coiltek have the ‘Goldhawk’ series of coils.
The GPX 6000 is significantly lighter than the GPX 5000 and GPZ 7000 – which means that it can also be comfortably used by women and children too. The GPX 6000 is a more family-use inclusive detector than say the GPX 5000 and the GPZ 7000.
There is an awesome offering of three Minelab different coils for the GPX 6000. The 14inch DD coil that comes with this detector is one of the best DD coils I have ever used near power lines. It can operate nearby to extreme EMI (Electromagnetic Interference), and is also great for use on salty/highly conductive ground (which is common in Western Australia).
The GPX 6000 detector kit includes two coils – a round 11" Mono and a round 14" DD - that gives you options to cover all types of ground. A set of wireless (Bluetooth) headphones are also included in the kit – that are low-latency providing faster, higher quality audio, and they are very useful on windy days.
The Lithium-ion battery has a run-time of up to about 8 hours of use, and it takes about 5 to 6 hours to fully charge a flat battery (an additional Minelab battery costs about $240).
The GPX 6000 retails for $7999 and is only available from "Certified Minelab Dealers" Gold Rat Metal Detectors is a certified dealer contact here for more info.
I have been very impressed by the performance of the GPX 6000 for detecting gold, including in very highly mineralised ground. Accordingly, I have now used the GPX 6000 for 118 days (about 1,000hrs of swinging) and on 100 of those days, my GPX 6000 detected 854 gold nuggets in highly mineralised ground.
Check out some of these Aussie nuggets the GPX 6000 sniffed out with ease!
Gold Detecting Tips:
1. Upon commencing detecting each day, do a “Factory Preset” upon turning the GPX 6000 on.
2. Be patient, the gold is not going anywhere – if the GPX 6000 becomes a bit noisy or “chattery”, then do a noise cancel followed by manual ground balancing using the “Quick-Trak” button. Some days I do this often throughout the day. This will optimize the performance of your GPX 6000 so that you are not wasting time and possibly missing those quieter/faint target signal noises often associated with deeper gold.
3. Swinging technique is also critical to how much gold you are likely to detect. Generally, the “Low and Slow” rule also applies to the GPX 6000 too. On soily ground (without too many sharp rocks) I would lightly and slowly rub my coil upon the ground, with overlapping sweeps from side to side, in order for the detectors pulse induction to energize gold nuggets as long as possible, and so as to increase the chance of the nugget being detected. I found that the coil skid plates lasted longer than I expected and are a small expense to pay for the benefit of finding more gold.
(This week the gold price is nearing an all-time record high of about AU$3,000 per ounce - that's nearly "a HUNGEE" AU$100 per gram).
4. If you find a gold patch, then try using all the coils on the patch, and also then thoroughly over the patch – that is, not only sweep-swinging on a grid-like pattern in both perpendicular directions, but also at angled directions across the patch. It never ceased to surprise me how much more gold I picked up with the GPX 6000 by detecting in many different directions on a patch.
GOOD GOLD HUNTING !
MINELAB have included some training video’s (and the Instruction Manual) on their website – to assist people in learning how to simply use the GPX 6000 detector.
Here is a LINK to this reference material.
