This review is a report of my thoughts and observations of the Smart Phone App for the Minelab GO-FIND 60. It is not an “after-market” user manual or even a supplement to one.

The first thing I noticed as I unpacked the Minelab GO-FIND 60 was the absence of written instructions regarding the operation of the detector or the App. Although instructional pdf forms for the App are available, soon realized that I didn’t actually need hard copy instructions—read on.

Minelab GO-FIND 60

Downloading and pairing the App with the GO-FIND is as simple an operation as with any smart phone app. The one extra step was pairing my phone to the detector via the blue tooth capability. That too was a simple and flawless process—once I remembered to enable the blue tooth on my iPhone! Within a few seconds, my phone was an operational extension of the Minelab GO-FIND 60 metal detector! Once activated, the phone becomes the instruction manual—all you need do is tap the ‘?’ mark on the main screen of your phone and a user manual is at your fingertip.

The options provided via the App are what sets the GO-FIND apart not only from the detector’s internal control panel but from other machines and is truly unique. The first option that comes up is the obvious one where the user can control the Minelab GO-FIND 60 from his phone using a replica of the detector’s control panel. All the controls you see on the detector are replicated on the phone screen and when a change is made via the phone that change is also shown on the detector. I didn’t initially see the need for that since the detector was “right there” anyway. However, when I opened additional options, I was impressed and honestly somewhat amused.

From your phone’s App, you can configure the GO-FIND in many more ways than you can with the detector’s control panel. You can select the region of the world you’re in so you can use the map function, adjust the LED and background lighting for both day and night, you can select high, medium or low tones for the detector as well as your choice of 8 custom audio tones from the App that will sound off from your phone in each of the 4 target categories. You have your choice of a bike horn, cartoon horn, chimes, ding, laser, siren, truck horn or a woosh if that’s what you like! Or you can simply turn those off and go with the factory tones.

When you detect a coin for example, the Minelab GO-FIND 60 will identify it with a custom selected tone and a picture of the coin identified. If you want to save the data of that find you can tap the image and the GO-FIND will have already listed what you found, when you found it and where you found it on the map! You can then add your own personal notes and even take a photo of your find and store it in your photo library as well as showing it on the App! The GO-FIND even stores your past finds in a library… again via the App—that’s cool!

Detecting Coins

Now for the option many will fall in love with—the Music. The Minelab GO-FIND 60 and 40 allows the detectorist to walk and sweep while listening to selections from his phone’s music library. When a target is detected, the phone either reduces the volume of the music or pauses it while identifying the target—your choice. You even have the option to set the duration of the reduction in volume or the pause. I can really see my grandkids going crazy over this feature!!!

Summary: The GO-FIND App is unique in many ways and should be a big hit… especially with those detectorists who would rather listen to their favorite music than the low threshold tone many of us have gotten accustom to over the years!

The App is particularly easy to operate, intuitive in its design and available on both the 40 and Minelab GO-FIND 60 series detector. The difference between the two being the 60 series App comes with full pro-functionality while 40 series users have a more limited version but can purchase the Minelab GO-FIND 60 version separately.

Having sung the App’s praises, I want to conclude by saying the GO-FIND series from Minelab is a true detector—it’s not a toy. It has detecting capabilities that will appeal to the serious treasure hunter who is looking for a compact machine they can easily travel with as well as the young beginner just getting into the hobby. I think I can safely predict that many who already like metal detecting will like it even more now that they can detect and listen to music at the same time.