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Did Minelab Multi-iq Obsolete Single Frequency?


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Well, Garrett and Fisher look like they're going to keep production in America, so they're safe using them.  Garrett is likely to keep making detectors worth buying.  I guess I just buy whatever I want from whatever country it's made, the country of production means far less to me than the performance of the product.  If a hypothetical New Zealand metal detector manufacturer existed and made mediocre detectors, I'd still be buying my Malaysian made ones 🙂

If there were two equal performing products, one locally made and one made overseas, even if the local one was more expensive I'd be more likely to buy the local one, but I'd never buy worse just to buy local.

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15 minutes ago, phrunt said:

the country of production means far less to me than the performance of the product. 

Same here.

For the record, all else being equal, I try to buy products that are "made in the USA." But as you probably already know, that can be a complicated "definition" to meet.

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On 11/27/2021 at 3:10 PM, mh9162013 said:

1. S-Shaft design

personally, I could care less. If the detector is fairly balanced, straight and S shafts both work fine.

2. Use of AA batteries

I actually prefer the convenience and possible environmental advantages of 500+ charging cycle internal rechargeable batteries. I hate keeping track of charging external lithium, NimH, Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries and having to use one time use alkaline AA batteries and for the responsible disposing of all of them.

3. Wider selection of aftermarket coils

I totally agree…..this is a good reason to consider an AT series detector.

4. Better waterproofing

Again, a very valid reason for considering an AT series detector.

5. Made in America (if that's important to you as a purchaser)

I could care less. I use what works for me in my soil conditions.

6. For coin shooting in mild ground (with little trash) and for shallow coins, I don't see an edge that Equinox has over the AT Max.

Nox 800=9 different recovery speeds, movable tone breaks, changeable tone pitches and volume levels, 8 different modes and 6 different selectable single frequencies along with SMF, full range of target ID single digit notching………I could keep going!!!

7. For coin shooting in a tot lot, the AT Max and Equinox perform the same or are so close to each other, I can't really see a difference.

No they don’t…..see above. For tot lot/playground micro jewelry especially gold jewelry, not even close

8. If the AT Max/Pro were priced appropriately (around the Simplex), then I'd say it's a viable option for many metal detectorists.

Agreed, that would currently mean buying a used one however. Nothing wrong with that but I would definitely include the AT Gold in #8. The AT Gold has been obsoleted for gold prospecting by many other gold prospecting specific VLF detectors and some general purpose detectors like the Equinox, Deus, and hopefully the N/M Legend. The AT Gold is still a very fine all purpose, all terrain detector for the right circumstances. I really regret selling mine to make room for the Ace APEX.

Just my mostly very subjective opinions.

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10 hours ago, cudamark said:

Made in America? OK....So only Garrett or Fisher for you? Are all their components made in America? I seriously doubt it. Everything has become so global these days it's hard to tell true made in America products anymore. 

“Privately owned U.S Company with operations in the U.S. and Mexico”

First Texas owns Fisher, Teknetics, and Bounty Hunter, their circuit boards are made just south of El Paso in Mexico, in a facility they own and operate. Details Here

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Just a thought here. Garrett and Fisher are American made. Let’s not forget Tarsacci. 

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Guest Tnsharpshooter

Minelab may get another chance.  Depending on how their next release stacks up to previous released single frequency, multiple select single frequency and also multi frequency detectors.  Both what Minelab has previously released as well as the competition.

Like “ this unit XxX will be a more desirable unit in many detecting applications versus using many previous models released by us and the competition”. This could have been said back when imo when EQX models were debuted.  Wonder if this would have set anyone off like the word obsolete did ?

Notice no actual models listed when talking.  So the curiosity factor will definitely be there imo.

Good marketing imo starts and builds curiosity for potential customers. 

Remember some purchasers of new detectors may not have a unit, or have just one unit.  Not a lot of units.  This potential customers one would think has to depend more on marketing and internet in general to find out if a unit will suffice/work for them.

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21 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Like all single frequency detectors and some SMFs (including the Equinox using some of its selectable single frequencies which proves that Multi IQ is no joke) the low and mid conductive targets are up averaged quickly in high iron mineralization as per depth. The high conductive targets also inch up towards wrap around. On some saltwater beaches with high iron sand content, just about everything wraps around into the iron range when the targets are deeper. The same happens in high iron mineralized gold prospecting areas. 

Target wrapping is more of an issue with dd coils than concentrics. With the exception of my Apex using the 9" Detech coil. If I start stacking quarters, most dd's will shift the breaks up at 2-4 quarters giving an iron tone.

For those that don't know what wrap is, picture that the id scale goes in a circle and not just from 0-100 or -10-40.

A concentric coil will also wrap but can still give a high tone and usually just maxes out on the scale. As for wrapping my mighty Tejon will wrap at 2 quarters with the larger dd, mainly because the response on high conductors is really high to start with. Higher frequencies that push the response of high conductors to the upper scale are more prone to wrapping where low frequency machines that have a wider response low high conductors and have a wider scale on the upper end tend to wrap less. Even with selectable frequency machines if you are hunting for silvers and deep coppers 5-10khz will work very well especially in high ground phase dirt.

Where target wrapping on silvers can be an issue is where there maybe quarter spills, larger silvers like dollars, buckles or even quarters on edge.

Easy test is just take some silver and see how your machine handles it. Make some passes over the coil, put the coins on edge and see the difference or even start stacking them and see how many it takes to get an iron id.

As for the Apex with the Detech, oddly it will wrap but will max out on id's and still give both low and high tone. I have found clad silver dollars and a couple quarter spills that were in ground that were pounded by many people detecting including myself.

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21 hours ago, mh9162013 said:

Two things.

One, I wasn't speaking about just myself. You asked why anyone would want an AT Max, Pro or Gold (at least, that's how I interepreted your post). I gave some potential reasons that someone (not just me) might want one of those detectors.

Two, those factors don't matter to you and I wasn't trying to say they should. We all have different things that are important to us, whether dealing with metal detectors or anything else.

I'm not trying to convince you to buy an AT series detector. The biggest problem is what their MSRP is, not what they're lacking in.

For example, if the Fisher F11 cost $4.99, we would all be singing praises about what a wonderful machine it is.

Oh sure, I'm sure there will be a few folks that will stick with the AT's for whatever their reasons are. I guess my point was that their reasons are seemingly flawed in my mind. Many members of our local detecting club (and I'm sure others) tend to be stuck in the past, with the attitude that "I've been doing it this way with this machine for over 30 years and I will keep doing it that way". It's like trying to get your grandfather to try a new food dish. They won't even taste it before turning their nose up. You can even prove the superiority of a new piece of gear and they will still use the old one. I'm sure part of it is the success they've had in the past with "old blue", but, I also think it's the potential learning curve that may be daunting to them. We have some members that still have an old flip phone because they claim the new smart phones are too complicated. If that's truly the case, I guess they're probably better off not upgrading. These people probably won't be buying a new machine anyway, instead, if and when their detector dies, they'll probably just find a used one exactly like the one they had. As for a $5 F11, they could give it to me for free and I still wouldn't use it. I already have several detectors from the past that are gathering dust, and they don't cost me a thing at this point......except closet space! 😄

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13 minutes ago, cudamark said:

Many members of our local detecting club (and I'm sure others) tend to be stuck in the past, with the attitude that "I've been doing it this way with this machine for over 30 years and I will keep doing it that way".

I understand how that attitude can be very annoying/frustrating. It's one thing to prefer Machine A over Machine B b/c Machine A has certain characteristics that someone wants. It's totally different to prefer Machine A over Machine B beause the user is just being close-minded. But to be fair, that attitude exists everywhere, even outside the metal detecting world. So I don't think it's a problem with the AT Max/Pro/Gold machines exclusively.

I wouldn't use the $5 Fisher F11 either. But if such a machine existed, it would do a lot to get more people involved in the metal detecting hobby and make it slightly less likely they'll quickly give up and quit compared to using some $50 or $100 "beginner's" model from who-knows-where.

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If people getting into the hobby want a cheap detector to try the hobby, the single frequency detector will always be around. That is, unless the manufacturers are able to get very close to the price or the cheapo models with the smf detectors and that seems to be a long way into the future.

Someone compared word processing machines which were fairly pricey to computers but the prices for computers dropped dramatically to make the wp machines disappear.  I don't  see that happening between sf and mf detectors

Target price for smf detectors to make sf detectors disappear will be $200 which may eventually rise to $300+ due to inflation. Just speculating.  Go Find, Ace 150. Bounty Hunter, Fisher etc

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