XP GoldMaxx Power

Detailed Review on XP GoldMaxx Power and Practical Tips for Beginners, page 1

XP GoldMaxx Power was the only metal detector my mom and girlfriend did not want to part with due to lots of joyful moments this machine brought to them.

During my 17th metal detecting season, I purchased an XP GoldMaxx Power (GMP) for my girlfriend Irina who wanted to treasure hunt with a light-weight, 'turn-on-and-go', sensitive to small targets and simple-to-use metal detector of an intermediate+ level. Irina had previously used a Tesoro Cortes - the intermediate-level detector as well, which she liked, but the Cortes could not compete with a Minelab E-Trac which I used at a time. Irina did not want to use the E-Trac for its heavy weight and complexity, so we decided to arm her with the GMP.

The GoldMaxx Power metal detector had already become a legend among serious detectorists by that time, and certainly attracted my attention. After I read many GMP reviews on the Internet and had conversations with the GMP users in the fields, I realized that this machine could be as efficient as my multi-frequency E-Trac at the "hunted-out" sites. And what mattered to me the most was that my girlfriend would never again feel insecure about not finding as many 'goodies' as I did during our joint hunts.

Well, when I was ordering the GMP for Irina, I could not imagine that in no time she would start beating me in number of finds every time we detected together. She did so well, especially finding the hard-to-detect targets such as hammered coins of the 'wire money' type (described in Detect Hammered Coins section) that I began feeling uncertain about my E-Trac's program settings.

Well, after I tried different combinations of them to no avail, I realized that I initially had the most efficient search program for existing metal detecting conditions and targets in focus, but, with this program, the E-Trac could not compete with the GMP's high operating frequency (18 kHz), superb target separation (Reactivity) and audio indication of iron (Iron Volume)! Either this or Irina's asking me, "Who's your daddy?" at the end of every hunt, but I was compelled to stop ignoring a new leading technology created by the XP Metal Detectors. And, of course, I could not get mad at Irina for her teases because we were a team, and our joint collection of cool finds was growing fast.

My mom also used the XP GoldMaxx Power and became a fan of this detector. And she beat me in number of finds a few times too! The 'last straw' for me was a situation when Irina found a few silver coins at the site where my E-Trac and my friend's X-Terra 705 could not "pick up" a single non-ferrous signal. Now I was ready to replace my expert-level E-Trac with the most advanced metal detector incorporating the XP technology - XP Deus, but this is a different story...

I was not the only one who was surprised by Irina's finds made with the GMP at the "searched-out" locations. All other Minelab users (and users of other brands of metal detectors) who happened to hunt along with us in the fields could not believe how such a 4-control-knob, no-display detector could perform so well. To put everyone into deep and long shock, Irina found a thin gold coin at the spot that had been previously "pounded" by a team of four detectorists for three years! The legendary GoldMaxx Power made my girlfriend a legend among local metal detectorists.

Irina found her first gold coin within the first five minutes of one of our detecting sessions. At that moment, I was just about to have my tea and start thinking how to begin assembling my multi-frequency E-Trac... :)

Having metal detected for just one year before using the GMP, my girlfriend had not yet developed enough skills to graduate from the beginner level, but her successful coin shooting with the GoldMaxx Power at the "searched-out" sites definitely boosted her morale and self-esteem. She became confident enough to experiment with settings on her own every time the search area's metal detecting conditions (mineral content, trash content, electromagnetic interference, etc.) changed. I believe that an absence of 'factory-preset search programs' in the GMP contributed to that as well. I always advise to beginner-users of advanced detectors to get off any Factory-Preset Search Program as soon as they finish learning their machines.

With such an efficient detector as the GMP, my girlfriend also began showing initiative in terms of locating new 'hot' spots at any search area we hit. And she succeeded many times. Of course, personal growth of my girlfriend as a treasure hunter was taking place under my guidance based on experience and inspiring personal example. But I had never seen such a quick transformation of a detectorist from the beginner-level to a semipro, that was 'induced' by a metal detector (!) - the XP GoldMaxx Power in this case. (CONTINUED on Next Page...)