Jump to content

Like New White's Bigfoot Coil Only $525!


Recommended Posts

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Miner John makes a folded 8 coils now that work on the TDI  of different size. That may be the one to talk with on making the Bigfoot coil. It's a great coil but I don't remember if it will work on the GPX. I'm not sure if any will work on a VLF detector. Don't take long to find out.

Chuck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe Miner John could make one using the new flat or spiral coil winding that Coiltek and Nugget Finder is currently using:

Evolution Technology: In traditional bundle wound Litz coils, the individual turns of Litz wire are grouped together to form what essentially looks like a rope of wire. The Evolution Coils use the same Litz wire; however the individual turns of wire are laid side by side to form a wide flat strap of wire. This method of winding is called a Flat or Spiral winding. Flat winding reduces the capacitance between the wires and produces a much more efficient coil. It also dramatically increases the surface area of the winding, thereby producing a coil with both improved depth and sensitivity across all target sizes. :biggrin:

I would buy one for my MXT Pro!

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a little back-of-the-envelope figuring... Let's say the Bigfoot in active production can't justify a $500 price tag. Maybe $375 MSRP for a typical $300 street price. Let's say the manufacturer sells wholesale at 60% MSRP, that's $225 which would give a dealer $75 mark-up to street. The manufacturing costs for this coil will push $100, so the manufacturer makes $125 per coil. They average 10/month, so this comes up to $15,000 per year.

Not really worth the effort to develop and tool up for such a coil.

Now you'll say, "I'll bet the market is a lot higher than 10/month!" Maybe, maybe not. I knew the last guy who was hand-building Bigfoot coils, and 10/month was about right. And, to make matters worse, half of those he built didn't work, so he built 20 to sell 10.

This would be an opportunity for an entrepreneur to step in and develop a family of Bigfeet coils, not just for White's but Tesoro, Fisher, Garrett, etc. Then your market really opens up, and makes sunk development costs more palatable. But it would still be a one-man band, not enough money to be made to hire any help.

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That all makes sense, most definitely.

Then again we have coils say like an 8"DD PI coil being made by Detech (great little coil btw), and hardly any guys buy them, maybe lucky to move a dozen across the world in six months.

But a single size range of Bigfoot in the 8design across many brands would be a must have for most detectorist's for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If a person would run a ad telling everyone you want one you may be rewarded. I don't think it was a large amount made but you only want one.

I ran a ad for a drone 2 cycle engine some years back and one guy called with three.So you never know what may pop up.

Chuck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chuck, took your advice and I'm looking for one for my MXT. Thanks,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Karbowski was literally making them in his barn. When he died, Jimmy Normandi got all the remnants and had Roy Van Epps (the last surviving entity of the old Discovery Electronics) building them at the Discovery Ghost Factory. Roy made enough off Bigfeet to occasionally buy dinner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard that Bill Lahr repairs the coils in Whittier, CA. Does anyone have his tel# contact info? Thanks,

Bill

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...