New Simplex Models Coming

[GB_Amateur]

Has Minelab ever undercut Nokta's price on any competitive model?  I guess there's a first time for everything....  The new price drop on Minelab's GPX6000 PI gold detector kinda shows even their new approach.  Get the price close but still higher than the competition (Garrett Axiom) -- all USA pricing BTW; not sure what's going on around the rest of the globe.  Then count on name recognition&reputation to win the rest of the way.

I haven't watched the Simplex video (I'm swearing off videos 😁) but isn't the new Simplex family 'just' providing one single frequency?  The X-Terra Pro offering multiple (single) frequency choices in a single unit seems a step above the new Simplex from that standpoint.

We've been hoping for competition for quite a while.  In the last 1.5 years (and continuing) we're getting it.  About time and finally the consumer has some leverage in the middle to high part of the metal detecting spectrum.

[unox]

I was sort of thinking the new Simplex models may have had selectable frequencies like the X-Terra. Be interesting to see the pricing compared to the Minelab.

[phrunt]

It could possibly be a case of too little too late for these new Simplex models, unless the price is significantly lower than the old model Simplex they're possibly dead in the water with the competitors new switching multi frequency unit coming.  Adding Bluetooth is common sense, and likely cheaper for them than the old green headphones style as they don't need anything custom anymore.

[unox]

You might have hit the nail on the head Simon, was thinking that myself mate... I would love to see Nokta succeed, but its going to be hard to beat the 705 without those extras especially at a similar price point.

[V3i/MXT Pro]

It’s seems that disinflation has finally arrived in the world of metal detecting. Long gone are the days when Garrett, White’s and Fisher would come out with a new model and ride it for 10+ years. The only downside is that all these new models really crush anyone trying to sell their 1 yr “old” unit on the secondary market… Planned obsolescence I guess.

[GB_Amateur]

2 hours ago, Geezer said:

We seem to have arrived at a place where $300 will buy a detector that a pro could use and be happy with, and $600 will buy a Legend or a Nox.

I still have some old catalogs that used to come in the mail.  (I miss that...)  Here are some prices for comparison to these newer detectors (Note: these are retail prices.  Maybe take off $100-$200 for MAP pricing):

2018 White's Spectra V3i with wireless headphones -- $1799.99

2018 White's Spectra V3i (without headphones) -- $1499.99

2013 Fisher F75 Ltd Black (with Cache and Boost Processes) -- $1449.00

2013 Fisher F75 (standard 'gold' shaft and thus without Cache and Boost Processes) -- $1249.00

2013 Teknetics T2 Ltd $1249.00

 

[Chase Goldman]

Need to know what is going on with the higher end Simplex.  If it is not selectable single frequency, at least, then Nokta has lost the battle battle before it started if ML actually hits the $269 price point with X-Terra Pro.

[phrunt]

No, Nokta never take anything sitting down and clearly Minelab took the world by surprise with the X-Terra, Nokta will just lower their Simplex pricing even more and have it compete with the Go-Finds and in that price range the Simplex is fantastic, even the old jumpy ID model.  The Simplex will smash the Go-Find market to pieces.

The single frequency Simplex can not compete with the X-Terra.    The X-Terra also has a fantastic range of coils due to also having Nox coil support so I would guess that means the Coiltek's work on it too.  If by chance the X-terra coils work on the Nox I'll buy an X-terra just to get the coils and a bonus detector so I can use them on my Nox and have a new detector to play around with.

The brands that relied on pumping out a detector every 10+ years and riding it out are now the companies that are failing and being left behind, they were never able to break out of that pattern and because of this they're doomed.  Garrett is the only one that's woken up and working on staying in the game and they've done great with the Axiom and the 24k through an acquisition, the Apex was just a stepping stone, I hope as it has huge potential, love the package just not the brains.

Nokta always come out fighting, so they will rapidly adjust these Simplex models pricing to ensure they are well positioned to sell well.  If they can sell their kids detectors cheap they can surely sell these Simplex models anywhere from that price upwards, shipping and manufacturing hardly different so it comes down to how much profit they and the dealers get.

Nokta may have shut down their production of the switching single frequency detectors too early, they're now becoming the entry level.  One of their older switching frequency models similar to the Anfibio at X-Terra pricing would do well.

[Chase Goldman]

23 minutes ago, phrunt said:

The Simplex will smash the Go-Find market to pieces.

Is Go Find really selling all that well such that Nokta has to really compete at that level? I mean Go Find 22 is at $120 and Go Find 66 is at $199.  With the Vanquish 340 is also at $199 and with X-Terra Pro at $269, Minelab is doing a great job smashing Go Find's relevancy on their own.

[phrunt]

8 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Is Go Find really selling all that well such that Nokta has to really compete at that level? I mean Go Find 22 is at $120 and Go Find 66 is at $199.  With the Vanquish 340 is also at $199 and with X-Terra Pro at $269, Minelab is doing a great job smashing Go Find's relevancy on their own.

They sell well here, they're quite popular as they put them in all the hunting and fishing stores and the sports equipment type of big box retailers, the most accessible detectors you can buy.  They're even in the National Geographic type shops rebranded as their detector.  I would not be surprised if they're one of the most sold detectors in the country.  I guess the similar detectors in the US would be the First Texas cheapies having the same sort of market.    I recall when everyone was desperately waiting on ships with the Manticore (the Manticore boat) and were checking containers coming in, there was quite a lot of Go-Finds coming into the US under the National Geographic type branding.

If you search Minelab's site for dealers in NZ you get some crazy number of dealers like 100, only 3 of them sell their proper detectors and really only two carry any stock, the others all sell Go-Finds and are just the various sporting goods retailers.

It's hard for me to think about the US prices, they're just so different so when I'm thinking I'm never thinking about US pricing.