XP GoldMaxx Power Metal Detector
Drawbacks of GMP's Body Design: Hipmount Bag Modified and Weak Nylon Bolts, page 4
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The hipmount bag, of course, would not fully protect the control box from moisture and dust as it has a wide opening for the front mount bracket, but it is still better than nothing! Obviously the bag itself was not designed in a right way.
For example, to change the batteries, Irina had to 1) unscrew and unplug the search coil cable from the control box, 2) detach the control box from the shaft, 3) slid the hipmount bag off the control box, 4) unscrew two nuts to open the battery compartment (Those nuts are EASY TO DROP! And you may never find them in the grass if you do not use your metal detector!), 5) take two battery holders out of the compartment (God forbids if one forgets the holders' correct positioning inside the compartment - much time would be wasted for trying to figure out the battery holders' correct placement later!), 6) painfully pick eight batteries out of holders,
7) insert new batteries, and then repeat all these step backwards!!!
Trying to do it fast in dim light or under adverse (wind, rain, cold) weather conditions would cause lots of negative emotions to my girlfriend. You do not want to know what words I was hearing when Irina berated the XP designers while struggling not only with batteries but also with the GMP's assembly/disassembly!
Irina Is Struggling With Nuts For Battery Compartment
To solve this problem, Irina cut the bag's bottom and made an opening cover with velcro strips.
Opening Bottom Provides Access To Battery Compartment
This drawback was eliminated later when the XP designers finally came up with a NiMH battery charger that could be simply plugged into the search coil cable socket and charge the batteries without taking them out. At least some common sense was applied!
The hipmount bag provided minimum protection, and even that was compromised when the cover screen cracked in a few spots.
I suppouse this defect could be fixed by covering a crack with Clear 2-inch Packing Tape. Hopefully a new hipmount bag for latest models of GMP does not have the above-mentioned flaws. At least it looks decent.
New Hipmount Bag for XP GoldMaxx Power
The screw/bolt assembly for the XP metal detectors is another big "pain in the neck" as the bolts and nuts are made of cheap nylon and also too small and thin.
A few times, I had to use a set of bent nose pliers just to tighten the bolt which is hard to grip! Should one take the pliers to the fields all the time?! Probably "yes" because the search coil constantly gets loose, and the bolt needs to be tighten frequently.
From all metal detectors I have previously owned, I can not name a single machine that would have such insubstantial bolts/nuts for attaching the search coil to the lower shaft. On the first time of trying to tighten the bolt, the bolt's head broke off!
This is why one must not apply too much force when tightening the bolt and should do it slowly not to brake the assembly. If you do not want to struggle with the unhandy bolts any more, you can get better plastic bolts with nuts at the Minelab dealer shop if it is available in your area, or order them from the on-line store of metal detectors and accessories. The bolt and nut assembly for the Minelab X-Terra metal detectors have the same diameter (5 mm) but the bolt's head is larger and easier to grip than the XP bolt's head. The cost of one X-Terra's bolt with a nut is around $2.00.
X-Terra's Bolt and Nut Perfectly Fit XP GoldMaxx Power Search Coil's Assembly
To prevent the search coil from getting loose, a few millimeters of the spacing washer's tip should be filed off.
