Minelab Software Update Expectations

[scott162]

First, thanks to all the contributors here that provide so much knowledge for this great hobby.

I am curious about how much performance improvement can be achieved by software updates to the dectector.
For example, if I have understood some of the posts here, the Manticore may not perform as well as hoped in hot ground, iron-rich environments, and perhaps not as sensitive to small gold as one might have expected coming from an Equinox platform.

Does anyone have an idea of how much improvement to any of those concerns could be addressed just by updating the software?

Or is it just the nature of the hardware and software might give a marginal-but-not-spectacular benefit?

Thanks everyone!

-Scott

[BigSkyGuy]

The Manticore has lots of adjustability and lots of power. Getting the settings right for a given site is more important than for the Equinox and many other detectors. However, I think once people learn the detector some of these "issues" will go away and it will prove its worth. It also appears as though the settings that work well in mild ground do not work in hot ground. Based on the information that is coming in, it appears as though iron tones (horeshoe on) are of benefit in mild ground but in hot ground the mineralization reports as iron grunts, drowning out the good signals. The 2D screen appears to be a benefit for some but not others. One person's brain processes information differently than another, so some people prefer visual information and others sound. I think this is part of the issue. I have heard that an update is coming to warn users that sensitivity of 25 or above is in the red zone where instability and mineral blow back is a potential issue. As far as the falsing issues that some have had it may be due to ground conditions, running the machine too hot for the conditions, using a less than optimal mode, not circling the target, or not recognizing audio/visual clues. When the ground is hot and/or loaded with nails, getting the settings right for the site is more important than for clean mild ground. People are starting to zero in on the best settings for their sites, but it is definitely not one size fits all. The Manticore appears to me to be for those who are comfortable with experimenting with different settings. I think a beginner might have some struggles with this machine.

Some hunters in the UK have reported that performance in plowed fields is not as good as they expected. It is too early to tell if this can be fixed with the proper settings or if this will be part of a firmware update.

As far as fine gold sensitivity (<0.03 g), it may be improved once the small coil is released. All indications are that larger gold, such as stud earrings and fine gold chains is excellent, better than the Equinox. Still lots of unknowns, so be cautious when drawing conclusions this soon after the release.

[TampaBayBrad]

I don't have a problem with the detector as is, but I only beach hunt. If an update comes out, I will analyze what it is for, wait a few weeks for reports from those who download it, and then make a decision as to whether or not download it.

I'm not sure of reports that it's not a good gold machine. Don't know how that can be concluded with an 11" coil. The little tiny pieces of can slaw I'm picking up at the beach are incredibly small. But that's at the beach, not in hot dirt.

I really don't see anything that needs changing with my style of hunting on the beach, so anything that they come up with that improves it for the beach hunters would just be icing on the cake to me. Maybe add a beach program for dry sand only since it's characteristics are different than wet sand.

I certainly don't see a needed "spectacular improvement" from a software update. I'd be more worried that it may stand a chance of changing the performance for the worst in my case.

[Hunterjunk]

Hunted some gold with the Manti last weekend and was impressed . This machine will be great with a small coil I think .

[strick]

The displeasing reports are mostly coming from not enough time on the machine. Once they get some time then the light bulb goes off. The machine may get some kinda software up date that can make it only better than it already is. The manticore will go down as one of Minelabs best vlf detectors. 

strick 

[Shelton]

17 minutes ago, strick said:

The displeasing reports are mostly coming from not enough time on the machine. Once they get some time then the light bulb goes off. The machine may get some kinda software up date that can make it only better than it already is. The manticore will go down as one of Minelabs best vlf detectors. 

strick 

100% right. Even the sensitivity is too high and we have a nice bad opinion about the device. Time in the field. Nothing more.

[GB_Amateur]

12 hours ago, BigSkyGuy said:

The Manticore has lots of adjustability and lots of power. Getting the settings right for a given site is more important than for the Equinox and many other detectors. However, I think once people learn the detector some of these "issues" will go away and it will prove its worth.

55 minutes ago, strick said:

The displeasing reports are mostly coming from not enough time on the machine. Once they get some time then the light bulb goes off. The machine may get some kinda software up date that can make it only better than it already is.

Not having one to play with yet, I'm one of those who has no better options than to read here and at Tom D.'s site, and watch videos (these latter of which I mostly avoid).  Also, I'm a land lubber detectorist only, so any reports of how the Manticore does in the wet, especially salty wet, is of limited use to me.

Having not been detecting in the 90's and early 00's -- mostly pre-internet-forum days BTW, I wonder how detectorists who got the latest, fanciest detectors attacked the situation.  I don't think any was near as complicated as the recent IB/VLF releases of Minelab, XP, and Nokta but relative to what came previously to them, maybe they still exhibited quite a contrast.  (Was the White's Vision/V3, released in 2009, the poster child for today's machinations?)

I also wonder if there is over-confidence among some detectorists in their abilities to sort out the subtlties of a new detector.  Fortunatately we have some here (not mentioning any names) who have their heads screwed on right and aren't jumping to premature conclusions about how bad OR how good a detector really is.  They qualify their statements with something like "...only had this in operation for a short time...".  And as more get into users' hands we're going to get even better reports, but at the same time we're going to see the less-than-reliable reports continue.  So not putting too much trust in any one report (good or bad) but rather trying to see the big picture is key, IMO.

[abenson]

1 hour ago, strick said:

The displeasing reports are mostly coming from not enough time on the machine. Once they get some time then the light bulb goes off. The machine may get some kinda software up date that can make it only better than it already is. The manticore will go down as one of Minelabs best vlf detectors. 

strick 

Agree with that. I've tried to stay relatively optimistic as I learn the machine. I really think a person needs at least 100 hours on it before they can even get an idea of what the Manticore is all about. I've tried to only made statements about places I've used the machine like beach hunting and now park hunting. Gold and relic hunting I haven't had enough time to have an opinion yet. Some feel like the Manticore won't be able to compete with the Equinox on small gold. But I'm really not seeing that in my limited time testing it on gold. Got to get it in gold country to really have an official yes or no on that one. I should know how it handles heavy iron in a few weeks at some relic sites. But yea I think it's one of the best VLF's Minelab has come out with to date.

[phrunt]

I'm pretty confident it's not as good on very small gold, in milder soils these things are more evident than in hotter soils as the detector is already hindered so much by the soil.   I'm not overly fussed as I can't imagine I'll be using it for prospecting much.  Now with the GPX and GPZ being so competitive on small gold and often deeper once the gold gets to the 0.05 of a gram mark there really isn't all that much point using a VLF anymore for gold unless specific circumstances like a lot of junk around.

If they can verify that it is worse on small gold it maybe in a firmware update as an improvement, so that's cool, I can't think so far of any other firmware updates it would need, no issues, so glad they've fixed the annoying pinpoint bug of the Nox 800, I wonder if that's fixed in the 900.

In every other way so far I can't find a reason I'd pick up an Equinox 800 over the Manticore, oddly though I can still find reasons to pickup my Vanquish, it's rock solid stable target ID's in my soil and better EMI handling than the Nox 800 makes it great for cherry picking certain coins.

[abenson]

12 minutes ago, phrunt said:

I'm pretty confident it's not as good on very small gold, in milder soils these things are more evident than in hotter soils as the detector is already hindered so much by the soil.   I'm not overly fussed as I can't imagine I'll be using it for prospecting much.  Now with the GPX and GPZ being so competitive on small gold and often deeper once the gold gets to the 0.05 of a gram mark there really isn't all that much point using a VLF anymore for gold unless specific circumstances like a lot of junk around.

If they can verify that it is worse on small gold it maybe in a firmware update as an improvement, so that's cool, I can't think so far of any other firmware updates it would need, no issues, so glad they've fixed the annoying pinpoint bug of the Nox 800, I wonder if that's fixed in the 900.

In every other way so far I can't find a reason I'd pick up an Equinox 800 over the Manticore, oddly though I can still find reasons to pickup my Vanquish, it's rock solid stable target ID's in my soil and better EMI handling than the Nox 800 makes it great for cherry picking certain coins.

Yes mineralization can change everything and I don't have a place I hunt that's not at least moderate mineralization. But I'm not overly concerned about it either as most of my gold hunting these days is done with the GPX 6000.

The more I use the Manticore the less I'm picking up the 900 and I already sold the 800. So I may eventually just end up with the Manticore out of the 2 at some point.