How to Use the Garrett Axiom in Heavily Mineralised African Soil
📅 13 May 2026📖 4 min read👁 141 views
Buy the Axiom, switch it on, swing — and find nothing. Here’s why, and the 15-minute setup that fixes it.
Step 1: Pre-flight
Charge both batteries (controller + headphones). Two hours.
Mount the 13×11″ DD coil for general detecting. Switch to 11×7″ Mono only for confirmed targets you want to pinpoint.
Pair the MS-3 Z-Lynk wireless headphones — long-press both power buttons until the indicator turns solid.
Step 2: Ground balance
This is where 90% of new owners go wrong. Don’t skip it.
Find a target-free 1m² patch (no metal, just soil).
Press Ground Balance → Auto.
Pump the coil slowly up and down from 30cm to ground level, 6-8 times.
The display will settle on a ground reading between 5 and 95. African mineralised soil typically reads 35-65.
Step 3: Threshold + sensitivity
Threshold should be a faint, even hum — not silence. Set it 2-3 ticks above silence.
Sensitivity: start at 18 (out of 25). Push higher only when the threshold stays smooth. If you hear constant chatter, drop to 15.
Step 4: Sweep technique
Coil parallel to ground, 1-3 cm above the surface.
Slow sweep: 1 meter per second.
50% overlap on each sweep.
Listen for the “crisp” tone — gold rings cleaner than iron.
Reading the audio
Sound
Likely target
Action
Soft chatter, no clear signal
Mineralisation
Lower sensitivity 1-2 ticks
Sharp single beep
Small gold or shotgun pellet
Pinpoint, dig
Wide, deep tone
Larger conductor (could be reef gold)
Pinpoint carefully, mark location
Raspy, scratchy
Iron / rusty nail
Skip (or dig if you’re uncertain)
What full field setup looks like
The Garrett Axiom package ships with two coils, MS-3 wireless headphones, and the hard case. Pre-tuned for either Vihiga (VLF preset) or Solwezi (PI preset) on request when you order.
