New Minelab Manticore

[PSPR]

5 hours ago, phrunt said:

They don't need to make some clip on device, Bluetooth LE will be everywhere soon, there are lots of LE products hitting the market already.

These LE ear buds look nice

https://axsaudio.com/products/axs-audio-professional-earbuds

If they made device to plug your headphones into they wouldn't need to be low latency headphones as you're plugging them in, they could be anything, the little gadget they supply would be the one with the Bluetooth LE, but there is simply no need for this as Bluetooth LE will be everywhere soon, in all sorts of headphones, ear buds and speakers

I hope you are right, phrunt, on it being Bluetooth LE.  I thought the Minelab reps said it was proprietary, though.  Other than their Chief Engineer, some of the Minelab reps don't seem to have all the correct answers.

[PhaseTech]

I wish the CTX3030 wireless module would just work on everything, GPZ, Equinox, Manticore, gpx6000. 

Robust, good audio, rarely drops out, and nice 1/4" socket. But they made a WM12 for GPZ, and a WM08 for the Equinox with a 1/8" socket, and none of them are compatible with the 6000. 

I have plenty of detectors. Would be nice if I could have one or two of my favourite headphones, and 1 wireless module that would pair to whatever detector I want to grab. 

[phrunt]

The stupid thing is the wm08, wm10 and wm12 are all the same wireless tech, they purposefully configured them so they can't work on other detectors so we would need to buy them all. 

I'm glad they're ditching the things for standard Bluetooth LE audio, better, faster and more of a standard so we can use whatever we want from any manufacturer not tied into their proprietary expensive modules.

[GB_Amateur]

On 11/3/2022 at 4:46 AM, phrunt said:

If they made device to plug your headphones into they wouldn't need to be low latency headphones as you're plugging them in, they could be anything, the little gadget they supply would be the one with the Bluetooth LE, but there is simply no need for this as Bluetooth LE will be everywhere soon, in all sorts of headphones, ear buds and speakers

Are you saying or implying that there will be an aftermarket 3rd party product made for the masses that works just like the WM08 on the Equinox?  I.e. you can then use your favorite old-tech headphones?  I sure hope that's the case as it will save one piece of hardware (e.g. Garrett Z-Lynk transmitter plugged into the Mantiore output jack) for those of us loyal to our current headphones.

[phrunt]

Highly likely, it would just be a Bluetooth LE receiver, just like at the moment you can buy Bluetooth aptX transmitters and receivers.  

 

[PSPR]

20 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Highly likely, it would just be a Bluetooth LE receiver, just like at the moment you can buy Bluetooth aptX transmitters and receivers.  

 But I'm wondering if Minelab can introduce a proprietary component into the Bluetooth LE so you have to buy their headphones to work with it.

The solution, of course, would be to plug in a Bluetooth transmitter to the wired headphone jack on the detector and broadcast that to your own brand of headphones.

[strick]

20 hours ago, phrunt said:

The stupid thing is the wm08, wm10 and wm12 are all the same wireless tech, they purposefully configured them so they can't work on other detectors so we would need to buy them all. 

I'm glad they're ditching the things for standard Bluetooth LE audio, better, faster and more of a standard so we can use whatever we want from any manufacturer not tied into their proprietary expensive modules.

 

I've noticed some people are real picky about what they wear around their ears as they are with their detectors...I agree that the wm modules are not great quality. In fact @klunker tried to throw my wm12 down the mountainside the first time I tried to use it around him. The wm modules like to blank out on me sometimes for what ever reasons. The bluetooth headphones for the 6000 are great.... the ones for the Nox not so much but they do work adequately. I guess I'm not as picky...I just need to hear the beep. 

strick 

[GB_Amateur]

7 hours ago, strick said:

In fact @klunker tried to throw my wm12 down the mountainside the first time I tried to use it around him.

I think we'd take that sentence more seriously if the subject were ANYONE else.  Everything you said after that just went in one ear and out the other.

[Sinclair]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:24 PM, phrunt said:

Highly likely, it would just be a Bluetooth LE receiver, just like at the moment you can buy Bluetooth aptX transmitters and receivers.  

 

They didn't work for me with the Nox. The ones I've tested seem to mute / sleep, if there's no audio for a period of time. I've always had the feeling, I've missed someting.. can't describe it any better. So my fear is: waiting for - and testing a lot of new gear is necessary again..

[steveg]

Sinclair,

I second that.  I bought a Garrett Z-Lynk system to use with a Tarsacci MDT-8000; every half hour or so (if I recall), the unit would "go to sleep," and while that's a GREAT feature (battery saver) for such a system when NOT in use, I don't know why it would turn off like that when it WAS in use, while detecting.  In any case, that made me lose trust in the system very quickly, and thus I quit using it; I'm hoping that there is a "better way" to get audio to our ears, with the Manticore.  I wish manufacturers would NOT mess with "proprietary" stuff when it comes to headphones.  Detecting is so much about what you are HEARING, and we all have different hearing capabilities.  Once we find what "works" for us, specifically, and then get used to the subtleties of the way tones are "rendered" by whatever particular headphone we are using, it makes switching to a new machine that may NOT support that headphone, very problematic.  It's a VERY poor business decision, on the part of any company that would do that.  Proprietary coils, fine.  Frustrating, but fine.  Proprietary charging systems, proprietary batteries...fine.  Whatever.  But making the part of the system that renders sound to our ears proprietary -- limiting us to a specific option?  Awful.

Just an example...the Equinox bluetooth headphones from Minelab are a "BT80" headphone (Minelab calls their version ML80).  I have always used a differently labeled BT80 headphone (after losing my Minelab pair soon after I got the machine).  Much later, as a backup, I acquired another Minelab pair, and on one particular hunt, used these Minelab-branded BT80 phones instead of my regular BT80 pair.  It was an awful experience, as the sound was ENTIRELY different.  What I came to learn, was that different models of BT80 have different sound "profiles;" some accentuate the low end (bass), and others the high end.  Minelab phones accentuate the low end, I came to find out, and with that sound profile, the high end (i.e. high tones from copper and silver) are very "washed out" or "muddy" or -- not sure how to describe it.  Simply "dull," and "not sharp."  So, it made trying to focus on deep high conductors VERY difficult on that particular hunt.  Based on the sound profile built into the Minelab phones, I never have used them since -- in favor of my other-branded pairs of BT80 that accentuate the higher-pitched tones.  And the frustrating thing, for me, was that I couldn't find any "specs" that made it clear, to me, WHICH BT80 phones are "bass heavy," and which ones are more crisp with the high tones.

The moral of the story is, finding headphones that "sound right" can really differ, from person to person, and thus -- having a wide range of options is preferred.  And so, forcing someone into one specific, proprietary set of headphones is a VERY, VERY POOR business practice, in my opinion.  At least, with the CTX, Equinox, etc., there was a Minelab wireless module available so that one could at least use their favorite set of WIRED headphones.  But I'd MUCH rather have a wide range of WIRELESS headphone options.  The WORST CASE scenario would be NOT ONLY a proprietary restriction to a single, Minelab-branded WIRELESS headphone, but ALSO the non-availability of a Minelab wireless adapter (WM).  If both of those things prove to be the case (proprietary wireless, and no wireless module), I'll be GREATLY frustrated/disappointed.

Steve