International Detector Center (idc) Part Ways With Minelab

[unox]

Just thought I would share this with you all, I spotted it today while lurking around. The article is here

 

[Chase Goldman]

Whelp, that’s a pretty scathing statement.  Not surprised, though. 

[phrunt]

Discussed at the time here

 

[unox]

Thanks Simon I dont know how I missed that thread.

[phrunt]

All good, I'm disappointed that thread even exists, I think Minelab detectors are absolutely brilliant, yet the business model they have seems so amateur, they need a massive shake up, someone to come in and take control and turn the place around, am i wrong? their share price certainly agrees.

They're absolutely lucky competition has been lacking when it comes to technology until lately as if they really had fierce competition with performance over the past few years I think they'd really struggle.  The future will be interesting as competition is heating up and the gold detector market is a fast burning candle that only lasts so long.

[GB_Amateur]

11 hours ago, phrunt said:

(Minelab) need a massive shake up, someone to come in and take control and turn the place around, am i wrong? their share price certainly agrees.

Isn't it possible that concentrating too much on the share price and shareholders' demands is what's gotten them into this mess in the first place?  Did they have these problems before they were publicly traded?  Putting out three new detectors practically simultaneously sounds like something the greedy shareholders thought would be a great idea, IMO.  What could possibly go wrong??!!  Just sit back and drown in all the money being thrown our way!

[phrunt]

10 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Isn't it possible that concentrating too much on the share price and shareholders' demands is what's gotten them into this mess in the first place? 

I think competition was the reason behind the releases more so than shareholders.  The competitors have them spooked.

[Chase Goldman]

On 4/20/2023 at 4:48 PM, GB_Amateur said:

Isn't it possible that concentrating too much on the share price and shareholders' demands is what's gotten them into this mess in the first place?

The thing is they (Minelab) don’t really think they are in a mess.  Despite distributors and dealers grousing or taking their ball and going home, ML are still selling Nox 700 and 900’s, Manticores, and now Xterra Pro’s like hotcakes to the hobbiests and still have a huge PI market share in Africa with the legacy GPX and GPX 6000.  The drowning Nox and ML downplaying that issue seems like a faint memory with zero permanent damage to their rep.  As long as the detectorists are still buying the latest and greatest ML toy whether they need it or not (see the Xterra Pro pretzel logic on these forums) and are willing to go to the Dark Side to do so while abandoning their long term relationships with dealers so they can get their Manticores off Cabelas because they “just gotta have it right now”, then ML’s Dr. Evil approach is working just fine.  Who needs relationships and friends when you can just be rich.  Gordon Gecko was right, “Greed is good!” at least as far as ML is concerned.  Will there be any long term consequences?  Doubtful unless someone comes up with a treasure machine that is truly innovative and not just a clone or iteration of the original Nox.  XP is sort of marching to the beat of their own drum to a certain extent, but when it comes down to it, at the heart of things essentially what you have with the Deus 2 is just the alternative to the Manticore.  Nokta and Quest are just cloning ML while refining the wheel with bells and whistles and a little price pressure and dealing with lawsuits from…ML.  Garrett has made some hay with the Axiom but is falling behind on the hobbiest front.  And FT is just lost in the wilderness. 

[GB_Amateur]

37 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

As long as the detectorists are still buying the latest and greatest ML toy whether they need it or not (see the Xterra Pro pretzel logic on these forums)...

🤣  I never heard that term before but it's fairly self-explanatory if you conjure up a mental image, as well as from context.  (I did look it up anyway.)  It's applicable here for more than just (some of) the X-Terra Pro purchase justification threads.

Except from reading (and interpreting) the Codan periodic investor reports, we get at best indirect, sparse evidence as to who is buying what and how that compares to the past.  For example, was the Manticore release much different (quantitatively and temporally) than the Equinox's five years ago?  Were the Equinox's accessory coils released any sooner then than they seem to be (as still promised) for the Manticore today?  Are we any smarter / better informed when we post our opinions, speculations, and hypotheses now than 5 years ago??  🤔

[dsb]

48 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

  Were the Equinox's accessory coils released any sooner then than they seem to be (as still promised) for the Manticore today?  Are we any smarter / better informed when we post our opinions, speculations, and hypotheses now than 5 years ago??

Minelab's betting we aren't.  I would say they feel newer buyers have more fun money and lower expectations.  The number of people that have at least 2 SMF units tell the tale somewhat.