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Did Minelab Multi-iq Obsolete Single Frequency?


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Whether Minelab's "obsolete" statement is arrogant or pompous will likewise be a point of contention (among metal detecting enthusiasts) for years to come. To be honest I think the statement was both arrogant and pompous, but that isn't really the point behind the statement.

Is it an accurate statement?

In the sense that single frequency metal detectors are still widely used - no. In the sense that even Minelab itself states that there are benefits to single frequency - no, the statement isn't accurate. In the sense that the market seems to be moving toward simultaneous frequency machines - yes, the statement is accurate. And I would expect that trend to continue - until new technology begins to replace it.

But that isn't the point either.

Minelab's 'obsolete' statement was marketing genius. Sure it was a bit off-putting to many, but it did exactly what it was intended to do: draw people in. The metal detecting community was both outraged and intrigued, and all attention was on Minelab's product. 

In a way I'm reminded of the "New Coke" release back in the 80's. At the time it was roundly criticized as the mistake of the century - a complete flop in every sense. It was Coke's response to Pepsi - which had been tearing huge chunks out of Coke's market share (Pepsi outsold Coke - in the US - in packages; Coke still dominated in syrup). People started hoarding the regular Coca-Cola and New Coke brought plummeting sales to Coca-Cola. Soon Coca-Cola responded by introducing "Original Coke" back to the market and Coca-Cola market share began to skyrocket. Coke quickly reversed Pepsi's gains, and dominates (to this day) the cola market.

Coke's move was controversial. Most claim it was a horrendous error. I'm convinced that it was a calculated example of genius marketing - one that quickly put Coke's competition in the rear-view mirror.

To a lesser extent I think Minelab's statement was another example of a calculated marketing move - one that worked brilliantly.

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Guest Tnsharpshooter

Some folks may have forgotten.  How much did F75 with boost cost in USA Feb 1, 2017?  How much did Nokta Impact cost?  When did Eqx models release?

F75 price was lowered in Feb 2017 to $799.  With 2 coils.  No headphones and no wireless.

What I am saying EQX model(s) pricing was lower than some or equal to VLF single freq detectors.  And EQx was it turns out to have definite advantages.  So the word obsolete could also be applied to what some of these other single freq detectors cost along with how these detectors were set up accessory wise as far as priced packages.

 

 

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I think Chase is right, the Legend if it works as well as they say it will obsoletes the other Nokta detectors, except possibly their specialty gold detectors although it might as the Equinox is VERY competitive with any single frequency VLF specialist gold detector on the market and often has features that puts it ahead of them like notching out hot rocks target ID numbers and even recovery speed adjustment.

I think the Gold Finder 2000 which is even more of a duplicate of the Gold Monster 1000 than the Legend is to the Nox was a massive flop, I'm not seeing or hearing of anyone using it and I've been told by a very trusted source who has one that it's not near as good as the competition other than of course build quality which Nokta excels at.

The Simplex will eventually be replaced with a Simplex MF unit, it has to or it won't keep up as other manufacturers are also making multi frequency detectors their entry level machines too. 

It's very short sighted to think Multi frequency isn't going to obsolete single frequency detectors, of course it's not instant where the Nox comes out and all other single frequency machines self destruct, it takes time however in the coming years I would be surprised to see manufacturers releasing new single frequency machines and that's what I believe Minelab meant by it obsoletes the single frequency machines, it does...   It's already put to rest Minelab making anymore single frequency machines.  Other manufacturers are scrambling to stay in the game now by making their versions of multi frequency, those that don't or have little success doing so will no longer be relevant, they'll join Fisher.

Fisher has a great example of a single frequency machine that's stood the test of time, the Gold Bug 2...  it doesn't mean it's selling like hot cakes though, it's now a niche machine that's now become very niche with multi frequency machines replacing most peoples need of having a GB2.  Yes, people will continue to use it, but nowhere near as many that used it in the past. 

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On 11/26/2021 at 2:41 PM, diggindaboot said:
obsolete
[ˌäbsəˈlēt]
 
ADJECTIVE
  1. no longer produced or used
     
    Time will tell which, if either of these adjectives applies to recent claims by other manufacturers. ML has been proven wrong. Only thing I need to dig deep is a hole for a treasure. 

Maybe for you ML has been proven wrong. Depending on where you live and the level of iron mineralization in your dirt, a good quality single frequency detector is still very useful especially one that has selectable frequencies. Interestingly, almost all of Nokta Makro’s current line of detectors before the SMF Legend have had frequencies above 10 kHz.

Where I often detect, any detector whether single or selectable frequency operating below 10 to 12 kHz was already unusable (obsolete) for any type of detecting except for extremely shallow targets. Iron mineralization levels here cause all single frequency detectors, especially if operating below 10 kHz, to have loss of depth with very poor target ID accuracy. Even some simultaneous multi frequency detectors have failed to perform very well here.

I still own a Deus 1 which I use solely for gold prospecting and very rarely for thick bed of nails relic hunting. The original Deus of course will be replaced by the soon to be released SMF Deus 2.

I also recently sold my 12 kHz single frequency Nokta Makro Simplex in preparation for possibly owning the new SMF Nokta Makro Legend.

The Equinox 600, 800 and the Vanquish series of Multi IQ detectors detect very well here and other than my two gold prospecting specific detectors (Deus 1 and Garrett Gold Master 24K), Multi IQ has obsoleted and easily outperformed all of my previous single frequency and SMF detectors which I no longer own=Minelab X-Terra 50, 70, 705, GoFind 60, CTX 3030, Fisher F75, F44, F19, Teknetics T2, Patriot, Eurotek Pro, Garrett AT Gold, AT Max, ACE Apex, Whites MXT, MX5, MX7, M6, DFX, V3i, Quest Q40, Tesoro Lobo Super Traq, Vaquero, Cibola, Cutlass Micro Max, Mojave, Nokta Makro Racer 2, Kruzer, Multi Kruzer, Simplex. Hopefully, the new Legend will also make it unnecessary to own a single frequency multi purpose detector.

So for me anyway, the opposite of your statement “ML has been proven wrong” has instead been proven true.

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10 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Perhaps obsolete was a poor choice of words by ML - I think the more accurate term is relevancy - or more to the point, the irrelevancy of high priced, single-frequency detectors. 

Now this right here, I agree with 100%. They changed the cost game and if the legend is as good as expected, NM will have changed the cost game again as well. There was no reason for some models to cost 1100 or 1200 dollars.

Very solid post, full of fair and valid points. There will be however, a large portion of detectorist who prefer SF over SMF. For certain applications I still prefer two of my SF detectors over my Nox. I have fantastic soil. On my 75 rarely does the fe meter hit 1 bar.

I am looking forward to the new offerings from Deus and NM. I find it interesting that Deus is able to kind of snub their nose at the other companies regarding cost. Which proves there will always be a McLaren over Corvette crowd though neither are exactly slow. 

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11 hours ago, phrunt said:

I think Chase is right, the Legend if it works as well as they say it will obsoletes the other Nokta detectors, except possibly their specialty gold detectors although it might as the Equinox is VERY competitive with any single frequency VLF specialist gold detector on the market and often has features that puts it ahead of them like notching out hot rocks target ID numbers and even recovery speed adjustment.

I think the Gold Finder 2000 which is even more of a duplicate of the Gold Monster 1000 than the Legend is to the Nox was a massive flop, I'm not seeing or hearing of anyone using it and I've been told by a very trusted source who has one that it's not near as good as the competition other than of course build quality which Nokta excels at.

The Simplex will eventually be replaced with a Simplex MF unit, it has to or it won't keep up as other manufacturers are also making multi frequency detectors their entry level machines too. 

It's very short sighted to think Multi frequency isn't going to obsolete single frequency detectors, of course it's not instant where the Nox comes out and all other single frequency machines self destruct, it takes time however in the coming years I would be surprised to see manufacturers releasing new single frequency machines and that's what I believe Minelab meant by it obsoletes the single frequency machines, it does...   It's already put to rest Minelab making anymore single frequency machines.  Other manufacturers are scrambling to stay in the game now by making their versions of multi frequency, those that don't or have little success doing so will no longer be relevant, they'll join Fisher.

Fisher has a great example of a single frequency machine that's stood the test of time, the Gold Bug 2...  it doesn't mean it's selling like hot cakes though, it's now a niche machine that's now become very niche with multi frequency machines replacing most peoples need of having a GB2.  Yes, people will continue to use it, but nowhere near as many that used it in the past. 

IMO, the Rutus Atrex is ahead of the game.  The ability to change software in the field via an app is Star Trek esque. It broadens a hunter's options. Too bad they aren't in the US. I really wish they had larger financial support. Atrex in a waterproof housing would be a huge success, I think.

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33 minutes ago, diggindaboot said:

IMO, the Rutus Atrex is ahead of the game.  The ability to change software in the field via an app is Star Trek esque. It broadens a hunter's options. Too bad they aren't in the US. I really wish they had larger financial support. Atrex in a waterproof housing would be a huge success, I think.

Not ahead of the game in terms of lightness . A Rutus Atrex weights 1,6kg from what I have read in this forum . This is more than twice a Deus ( 750/800g with the CB in the pocket ). More than an Apex at 1.2kg.

It is a pity because I like the Atrex audio even I ve never used one . If they want to sell more detectors they should pay attention to this ergonomy aspect and lighten their machines .

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16 minutes ago, palzynski said:

Not ahead of the game in terms of lightness . A Rutus Atrex weights 1,6kg from what I have read in this forum . This is more than twice a Deus ( 750/800g with the CB in the pocket ). More than an Apex at 1.2kg.

It is a pity because I like the Atrex audio even I ve never used one . If they want to sell more detectors they should pay attention to this ergonomy aspect and lighten their machines .

Weight is something that could be easily corrected. Would like to see an American company purchase them.

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9 hours ago, diggindaboot said:

There will be however, a large portion of detectorist who prefer SF over SMF. For certain applications I still prefer two of my SF detectors over my Nox. I have fantastic soil. On my 75 rarely does the fe meter hit 1 bar.

Yep, and that is why even Minelab recognized this and included single frequency modes on Equinox and every manufacturer followed suit (Apex, and the forthcoming Legend and Deus II).  In fact, if I am not mistaken, Apex is and will retain it's position as the most affordable selectable single frequency detector on the market, even after Legend releases.  Single frequency is an essential, though now arguably less frequently used option/mode (pardon the pun).  IMO opinion, ML missed the mark by not including at least one general purpose single frequency (perhaps 10 khz, 12, or 15 khz) as an option on Vanquish (leaving off adjustable GB was another shortcoming, neither of these "options" would have driven Vanquish cost, to be frank, and would have made Vanquish a more rounded economy SMF detector option).

9 hours ago, diggindaboot said:

I find it interesting that Deus is able to kind of snub their nose at the other companies regarding cost.

And there is a reason for that which goes beyond performance -though performance is a huge factor.  Many Equinox users recognize that there are certain shortcomings/gaps with that platform that are filled by Equinox including:  iron handling, audio (believe it or not - you may or may not be a fan, but you can't argue against not only having multiple options for tone ID, but their "full tones", pitch, and the gold field "VCO" pitch audio can actually change the "look and feel" of each program), reconfigurability - still no detectors I am aware of out there where you can basically leave the control unit in your vehicle and just detect with the headphones.  Have two coils and stems - but only one pair of headphones and a control unit - well you have two separate detectors.  They broke the mold with their wireless design that has yet to even be imitated, especially when it comes to overall weight.  The big knock on it was salt beach performance and underwater performance.  So Deus II addressed both the Simultaneous Multi Frequency aspect to improve salt beach performance as well as providing a number of other SMF profiles for other detecting situations not unlike Equinox and Legend and then went and designed a dive rated machine that could give the dated Excalibur platform a run for its money - bet that surprised the heck out of ML > an XP detector that is going after TWO of its high profile detectors.  So all that XP brings to the table (weight, compactness, configurability, dive rated, and a vaunted Deus I performance reputation that precedes Deus II) enables it to be able to continue to ask >$1K for its detectors and people will gladly fork over the dough.

8 hours ago, diggindaboot said:

IMO, the Rutus Atrex is ahead of the game.  The ability to change software in the field via an app is Star Trek esque. It broadens a hunter's options. Too bad they aren't in the US. I really wish they had larger financial support. Atrex in a waterproof housing would be a huge success, I think.

They need to get their foot in the door by emulating the Nokta business model - offer solid value and a low end detector line that can get folks acquainted with the brand and some dealers willing to take a chance so it can get a foothold in the US.  Otherwise, it will be a niche, boutique brand just like Tarsacci with a loyal, cult following but no big impact.  I think ML, Nokta, and XP will get there in terms of the " field software reconfigurability" paradigm.  Just a matter of time.  

7 hours ago, diggindaboot said:

Weight is something that could be easily corrected. Would like to see an American company purchase them.

Yeah, woulda, shoulda except no one but XP seems to really be addressing it with game changing results - everyone else is stuck in cell phone on a stick model except their sticks are enormous.  I know a number of older detectorists with various age related health problems that have said were it not for Deus, their detecting days would have been over 5 years ago.

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