I Don`t Understand What Minelab Is Doing

[Guest AussieDigs]

Minelab still yet to produce coils for the Z? Bit late to the party! They should have been popping them out years ago which would also solve some warranty concerns.

Minelab obviously have their reasons which we’ll continue to shake our head at.

[mn90403]

What metal detector company should Minelab imitate? Do we have a better example?  Are any of them producing too many great machines at a discount price?

Some of us are making lemonade and some of us are just doing business with the tools we have.

Until we can become successful alchemists we are living in the age of the best metal detectors ever made.  Let's encourage the companies to be even better with the promise of "we'll buy it if you make a better machine. "

[jasong]

4 years ago it was sometimes hard to ask a question that might be construed by some as questioning ML products or business. Often required was a preface - "I love my Minelab, but..." in order to get a serious discussion.

Today we now have photo montages of instructions on how to hardware hack and bypass their IP security to run a product which has apparantly bypassed their licensing department in a way not so different from some Chinese business practices. Except we do it for them. 

Things can sure change quick with the prospect of a little better performance.

I'm curious, is the DOD design patented too as part of some of their broader GPZ patents? Or is it a gray area? Might that be why they have not gained licensing? If so, is this Russian company doing anything so different than the Chinese do with IP theft? I mean, I'm buying an X Coil too just like a lot of people because there is literally no other option, but as much as we don't hear from Minelab we've heard equally little about this actual Russian company. I mean, I'll do what I please with my GPZ since I paid for it, but still, so many unknowns... Should these things be discussed or are they irrelevant?

Absurdity abounds.

However, I'm reminded a little of the fight in court here in the US involving farmers against John Deere and the right to modify and repair equipment you purchase, plus have access to firmware and not be locked out of it. We may soon have legislation saying exactly what is and isn't right there, some states I believe already do.

[flakmagnet]

It's entirely possible to love one's MineLab detector and disagree the MineLab company-level of customer communication. It doesn't make sense to be so opaque. In the line of business I worked in we tried to provide the answers before the questions needed to be asked because sooner or later trust becomes a big part of the ongoing business equation.

 

[sturt]

Would love to try a Nugget finder coil 17x11 on my zed. I went from a 5000 series with an older series nugget finder coil. Great combo and found plenty. But now im going over areas ive already walked over and picking up what I missed. Just wish the standard zed coils are a bit lighter. 

[1515Art]

On 6/17/2019 at 12:30 PM, Norvic said:

I suspect trying to look at this from MLs view, if they were to make a "patch lead" they`d be leaving themselves open to warranty claims for damage done to the GPZ caused by an incompatible coil. Anyone could then knock up a coil and put on the Z. It would open a whole can of worms, I know this is so with the GPXs but they may have the ability to be not damaged by an incompatible coil wheras the GPZ being the 1st of new tech (ZVT) may not have this ability and thus suffer damage. 

I don`t think we will get that peace of mind and those of us who go for the X coil should be prepared to shoulder that risk themselves, as you know I`ve gone for the X coil with my 3rd in the mail, but to me the rewards are worth this risk. That old saying comes to mind "if you take the risk be prepared to push the pram"

No doubt ML have Z2 in the pipeline and perhaps it will address the issue that we the customer want a variety of coils.

An Explainer: I spent 20 years of my working life manufacturing and selling a then niche product, the most 5 year warranty claims I had by far were caused by user misuse and were easily solved most just by telephone conversation.

Norvic, ya i hear what you are saying and being on ml's turf and a lot closer to all that beautiful Aussie gold i certainly defer to your location,  no doubt product liability is a quagmire (gigidy?) best to avoid, although... i wonder just how much risk there is considering what ive experienced with our wonderful new/old best friend in the fields (M/L) they seem to take a very liberal approach to the warranty on the 7000 i got a brand new one without any fuss after dropping cracking the case and developing a screen line on the display ive really no idea how all that goes together in the replacement but heck they were great to me and i don't know of too many complaints although no doubt there are some. So, i think they are good on standing by the zed, the old out of warranty ones not a problem(?) and i have not much of an idea what the risks are using an iffy coil as far as damage but is the hardware cost that great in comparison to the overall price? to me the 7000 at 10K ok 8K now is more like a software license and they give you the phone (GPZ) at a small cost to cover manufacturing the way they toss replacements and i think that's smart. so risk vs gain sell a ton of high priced adaptors they pretty much already have that cost next to nothing like Simon said and give the old girl a new lease on life and sell a sh*t load more and make everybody happy vs handing out a few cell phones from time to time when one of us screws up just to give everybody confidence that expensive seat license is gonna be comfy for a long time, i know i get butt hurt easy?. my point i guess i just like to see em do it and save me the trouble of hunting down a shop or doing it myself the task is within my wheel house, im just lazy.

[Norvic]

55 minutes ago, 1515Art said:

Norvic, ya i hear what you are saying and being on ml's turf and a lot closer to all that beautiful Aussie gold i certainly defer to your location,  no doubt product liability is a quagmire (gigidy?) best to avoid, although... i wonder just how much risk there is considering what ive experienced with our wonderful new/old best friend in the fields (M/L) they seem to take a very liberal approach to the warranty on the 7000 i got a brand new one without any fuss after dropping cracking the case and developing a screen line on the display ive really no idea how all that goes together in the replacement but heck they were great to me and i don't know of too many complaints although no doubt there are some. So, i think they are good on standing by the zed, the old out of warranty ones not a problem(?) and i have not much of an idea what the risks are using an iffy coil as far as damage but is the hardware cost that great in comparison to the overall price? to me the 7000 at 10K ok 8K now is more like a software license and they give you the phone (GPZ) at a small cost to cover manufacturing the way they toss replacements and i think that's smart. so risk vs gain sell a ton of high priced adaptors, give the old girl a new lease on life and sell a sh*t load more and make everybody happy vs handing out a few cell phones from time to time when one of us screws up just to give everybody confidence that expensive seat license is gonna be comfy for a long time, i know i get butt hurt easy?. my point i guess i just like to see em do it and save me the trouble of hunting down a shop or doing it myself the task is within my wheel house, im just lazy.

Yeah, contradictions reign, on one hand ML seems very customer orientated as you`ve pointed out, on the other hand they are dragging any company that they feel are infringing on their patents through the wringer. How this one plays out with X coils is anyones guess, although I`d like to think already there are too many customers on board for them to go past just token resistance. Suspect to go any further will be to attack customers and that`s suicide as the customer is always right...…...well we are………..aren`t we...…...

Buh is just good fun to speculate, plus MLs getting all this attention totally free. The company we like to hate but love to buy their products...……….Vanquish...….Vanquish...………….what was that one before...…..Equinox...…. that`s it...…………...next is...…….nah they`ll go back and reinvent maybe 2020...………..

[Reg Wilson]

The problem is Norvic that the real Minelab died years ago. The Codan wolf now wears the fleece of the Minelab lamb. It is now a multi national predator that cares only for profit. 

Easy to be the nice guy and replace a faulty unit when your product is produced for peanuts in the third world.

[Norvic]

2 hours ago, Reg Wilson said:

The Codan wolf now wears the fleece of the Minelab lamb

Way to put it, says it all, I look forward to Z2 even more then how quickly I grabbed the 2100, meanwhile the coils ML "promised" and should have profited from are on my Z1.

[klunker]

6 hours ago, 1515Art said:

i got a brand new one without any fuss after dropping cracking the case and developing a screen line on the display

But the fact remains that the case should not have cracked and the screens should not be developing lines and going blank on a $10,000.00 detector.

 Minelab could avail themselves of hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of good advice if they would read this topic on this forum.