Jump to content

Des D

Full Member
  • Posts

    102
  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Forums

Detector Prospector Home

Detector Database

Downloads

Everything posted by Des D

  1. Minelab kindly replied to a few questions I had about (a) Rx coil cable placement on the LHS of the coil and (b) the 'recessed hidden USB slot' I assembled my "Vanquish 540" for first use and had placed the Rx cable to the right hand side and went onto have fabulous performance. It was the second outing I noted the cable mounted on the left on it's shipping carton photos and had perused the online "Instruction Manual", where there 'isn't an actual coil assembly section', and became a tad confused? I also had fabulous performance with the cable on the left so it doesn't appear to make a difference...or does it? Did they get it 'backwards?' Attached are 2 shots showing the actual and what 'could have' been if normal coil design protocol had been observed. Have they "found a new way" of coil nulling / balance / winding? (a) Cable "it was how the engineers designed it" (b) USB slot: Hi Desi. The VANQUISH 540 USB slot is for charging the rechargeable battery pack. The VANQUISH has no software updates currently available but in the case of any available software updates, you would be able to do so at home.
  2. '...the simple answer is, no matter where you go, someone else has been there before you! This I realised very early on in this hobby as a few places I went to were 'so isolated', and 'had promise', and the first 'thing' out of the ground was a ring pull and a modern current circulation coin!'
  3. "I'm hoping that Philip Shane Wahrlich, the gentleman who filed the Patent in April 2014, was sitting in the audience when I was very privileged to deliver a paper (and films) to the entire development crew of Minelab in Torrensville South Australia, August 2011 on "Fundamental Shortcomings of Metal Detectors - What are they?" Highlighted: 1. Poor ferrous identification 2. Inability to differentiate aluminium and gold (and also lead) 3. Waterproof ability 4. Outdated battery technology 5. Weight Reading the Patent doesn't reveal or give very much away? We know that 'they know' their market share has slipped with direct competition from "XP", "Nokta & Makro", and their reputation has fallen via their "Go-Find" product. Recently, they have won back respect for their GPZ and New GM1000. So they are back on track! But on what? That is a good Q. Just what is it they have been working on? It could be: 1. A Deus killer... 2. A Sovereign replacement 3. A Musketeer replacement 4. The 2nd E Trac (we never got one, they delivered the CTX, a new platform) 5. An X-Terra replacement improvement 7. A new Excalibur 8. A discrimination PI 9. Something completely New with New Technology? How could this be done? They might have found a way via new coil design using micro processors inside the coil (already done as far back as the Sovereign) but with multiple processors to handle Ground Signal information and split it completely from Target Signal information and 'clean up' ground and ground noises and through new processors inside the control box totally move the ground information to a filter set and thereby concentrate on processing Target Signal information only to provide way more accurate target composition identification in the FE and CO components thereby delivering highly accurate TID's from initial target hits at depth! This New Technology might also provide advanced digital filtering to allow for increased Sensitivity and would reject more interference from EMI and from said ground noises which in the case of utilizing higher frequencies might allow for improved stability 'if', this new technology would allow for all round use including, coin shooting, salt water use, relic hunting and prospecting etc. There may be improved ground balance as the new technology allows far more accurate ground sampling? I for one am 'very excited' to see just what is is they are bringing to the table? However I do have one fear - I'm afraid they might package whatever it is in the CTX platform"
  4. "That's funny! Thanks for posting. The AD AGENCY responsible deffo saw 'Minelab's Sweet Symphony' video!"
  5. Sad news. He had a huge influence on the industry. May I express my condolences to the Family.
  6. 'Probably, the Holy Grail of a coin find in the USA. It has the look of something that came out of a stream / river / waterlogged site but not corrosive soil? Well done to the finder: he/she must be chuffed? Did you present the finder with a New MX Sport Tom Lol.......?' (maybe a TRX as a runners up prize)
  7. Hi Steve, Wear well on the New V3i... I agree with you - the screen is one of, if not THE best color screens ever devised for a MD. But, the first thing I did with mine was to replace the D2 coil with the Eclipse 950 loop. That definitely made it 'a better machine', especially on wet sand. The 'E Trac' was better than it on the wet stuff but the V3i HD screen was just so pretty to look at! I even put that in one of my Reports to the ML engineers and that raised a few eye brows! Why so? To get them to come up with something better and while it didn't happen right away, actually it didn't happen until the 'Go-Find' and now the 'Gold Monster' but that's a different story. If there is some 'extra weight' in your new coil it could have a few extra windings to accomodate a 'new' Lower frequency to be introduced in their next flagship machine? 4kHz maybe....
  8. From my point of view, they weren't ever good or clear about their communication/s. They're not that company anymore. They are part of a larger conglomerate. That outfit was established 1 July 1959 which means 'old fashioned values' i.e. keeping things close to their chest. The 'engineers' are from the old part of the original company. They are employed on 'contracts' that can last the duration of a New Product invention. I know these guys and they are a great bunch of ordinary people. Brilliant, but ordinary. They have Privacy clauses so they cannot speak about what they are doing. The Marketing people have similar clauses so they cannot speak either until a New Product is ready for release. They have made a few attempts in the past 24mths to tell us things they want us to know. Other than that, they stay sthum! We had a Prime Minister for a few years who was not actually elected as Prime Minister and was hugely unpopular because in his three year tenure in that role avoided making 'Presidential Address' like the American President's do. The People wanted him to tell us what was going on but he resolutely stayed away from the cameras! He was ousted. Maybe 'Phase Tech' might chime in on this one?
  9. "Cheers Steve. I'd say it would not turn on the internal Z Lynk if a separate transmitter was placed on the stem? The other good part of this is, I think the WS3 phones should work when used on any other detector with a stem mounted transmitter?"
  10. Cheers Steve! On the 'Z Lynk', I already have a set and love it. But I have a conundrum? I like to use the "Clear Sound Easy Stow" headphones that were supplied with the Ace 400 simply because they can 'flatten out' and drape around the 'collar bone holes' so the sound is facing UP But, if I do that and attach the Z Lynk box to the stem of the MAX, will there be a clash? Is the wired in Z Lynk 'On' all the time or only when the New WS3 phones are turned ON?"
  11. Hi guys, Been a while since I said anything here. LOT of interest in the MAX...including me as I'm hoping to get one for a FTR I'm sure like many others, people were 'logged on' for hours waiting for 'the announcement?' I guesstimated it might be at 12noon local Garland Tx time - it came around an hour and a bit later. 16,000 Views on the video release on Garrett YouTube channel in 21 hours...and over 1,500 folks Subscribed to the channel since Saturday morning! Phenomenal marketing. Reno Chris, on the scarcity of Garrett on the ground in 'Africa', it boils down to 'word of mouth', and a bit of 'superstition'. IF, if a person did use a Garrett and found a significant nugget, then 'word of mouth' would act in the 'grapevine' manner and they would only want that particular Garrett model, which ever type made that find! If a Garrett American made that find they would walk past every GTI, GTA, ATP and seek out the model that proved to work! Strange but that's how it is. Good Hunting Des D
  12. During my time with ML, I monitored the fora all the time. In the early years there was a bit of a 'fiasco' with the Explorer's...they were breaking on Customers on a global scale! The "heat was really on" from a few USA Customers. I was online trying to 'broker the peace' for an entire Easter Weekend from home on a 'dial up' connection...and managed to sort something out. However, a member from the US team garnered the credit despite not being even at the scene! Australia lauded praises on this fellow...where would we be without your intervention? What intervention? I continued to monitor the fora for years after that and had various warnings not to do so from different folk in management roles? They blew 'hot n cold' I kept at it and it's as plain as the nose on my face (and it's a large shnozzle that is stuck on my physiomony) that Customers LIKE TO be able to "interact" with a real person from the company! So hats off to this fellow and keep at it is my advice. I'm glad that whoever's in charge these days has finally seen the light!!!!!
  13. "Good stuff Nenad! Many thanks for several heads-up clarities! TRIangular shafts...now that's innovative...time will tell how long they hold up? It sure sounds like one could buy just this one model and have almost 90% hunt needs covered?"
  14. 'Like I said, it will depend on the headphone and however the software is set up in an MXT to drive the audio thru those headphones? Who knows? Everyone will hear things differently? You could have the most expensive headphone and the audio via an MXT could be crap? A yard sale headphone for $5.00 could be better? It depends!"
  15. jjm861, I'd have to disagree with your Statement:"there is little discernible difference between high end multi frequency machines" In my humble opinion, there is a huge difference between them. To single out just 2 brands, the Explorer is far better than the V3. Then, you have other detectors that do not use a true 'multi-frequency' as the Minelab's utilise and to date, no maker has been able to reproduce that? Agree, disagree?
  16. Described below are some test experiences as done with the New Garrett "Z-Lynk" wireless system coming soon (reproduced from a magazine article to be published in the months ahead) The set I received was a pre production unit so, your results may vary. 1. Delay - virtually impossible to observe any delay whatsoever, actually I will rephrase that to 'actually impossible' to observe any signal reproduction delay. 2. Audio quality - depends on (a) the headphone being used (b) the detector being used. I'll expand on this: Used with Garrett detectors (Ace 250, Ace 400i) and used with the headphones supplied with the 400i, there is an audio difference probably due to the Ace 250 being 'older technology', while the Ace 400i is current technology therefore specifically tuned to suit and also tuned to 'future 'Garrett' units (with a new unit due for release soon, and I don't know anymore about that than the next guy?) While the audio from the 400i is as perfect as you can get, the audio from the 250 can be described as 'rougher', meaning just that...it sounds like an explosion of sound. This can be tamed by reducing the Volume on the WR-1 by just a single button push. Do not reduce any further because the Volume drops off dramatically. Used on 'non-Garrett' units, the audio & volume will vary quite a lot depending on which detector & headphone/s you use with that detector. Used with an E Trac there is a 'secondary' audio sound that can only be described as a 'knock on wood' sound in tandem with the target's audio signal. This 'knock' sound can be banished with 3 Volume down presses on the WR-1. It can also be dispensed with by lowering the Volume Limit Menu inside the E Trac's Audio Menu to 15 while leaving the Volume on the WR-1 at full. The 'Z-Lynk' enhanced the 'stereo audio' on an X-Terra 705 - with headphones alone (Troy Pro) the Left ear cup had diminished audio volume (roughly 25%) but paired with the wireless system it restored the absent portion of the audio so equated volume in both ear cups was then much better. Used with a set of "Sennheisser HD-238", the volume was very low. (these are for my iPhone and I would have to clarify by saying I wouldn't generally use them with a detector but, how will more expensive headphones sound?) I will add a one eight to 1/4 adapter was used in order to fit the 1/4 jack plug in the WR-1 so something might have got lost in the translation? 3. Yes, there is a spring clip on the WR-1 to fit onto a belt etc. (I had my WR-1 in a top pocket of my jacket) To sum up, I believe everyone will have a different story to tell depending on which detector and headsets are used" Des D PS: I'd love to use the system on a "Racer 2" as this detector has to be one of the loudest I have heard. Similarly, I'd like to try it on a Deus but I lost my quarter inch to one eight adapter plug. (I did a silly thing and plugged in my GPX shoulder mount speaker and of course it did not work! But, if someone was handy with a soldering iron, maybe wiring in a few extra capacitors and a power source, could make it work with non GPX detectors? Just a silly thought!)
  17. "What detector/headphone set up do you use? On New Garrett units, example, AT, Ace 400i, the sound is perfect. (and will be on any New Garrett models coming soon) The Z will work on 'non Garrett' units but some detectors and headphones might not be as good as you expect due to differences in headphone impedance, and wiring, and varying transmitter tolerances in different detectors!"
  18. Steve, Re: the looseness The rod is just a tiny bit loose in the XP coil ears - do you have the single washer that comes with the standard XP coil set-up?
  19. Back in 1977, the catalog for my 1st detector, a "C Scope IB100" (UK make / Newforce) stated: 16" inches on a single coin and 2 ft and greater for larger objects!"
  20. "It's nice and plenty of food for thought. Made me itch to try an MXS again! Dang, I'd much prefer the MXS if the coil cable were black...kinda upsets the look of the machine with that gray color...? Any chance of changing to black???"
  21. "I'd go for the frisbee suggestion as tabled by Steve! I've used one in the past on something or other but can't remember what...it did the job. Looking at the photos of the coil in question I'd hazard a bet the old Sov 8" BBS would fit the outer circle but the innards wouldn't!? Frisbee - the way to go!!!
  22. Tom, I loved the "GMT" but at this point of 20yrs + am not a fan of the 'big box' anymore!!! Just change the design and I'd be happy!!!
  23. "They're essentially Countermine products, and therefore not generally available to buy without being an NGO or similar"
×
×
  • Create New...