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Best Metal Detector Rumors 2015


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Well, a new year is nearly upon on us. What does 2015 bring? All the following is pure speculation based on publically available information. Do not take it for more than that maybe leavened by my watching stuff happen for 40 years. Ultimately your guesses are as good as mine.

First Texas (Fisher, Teknetics). Tim Mallory of Fisher confirmed long standing rumors of a new PI and new multi frequency models in the works. They have been years in the making though and I will be surprised to see anything there. Maybe by year end 2015 at earliest but I will not be surprised if it slips into 2016. Flagship detectors are not where the real money is for First Texas so more rehashed low end stuff is more likely.

Garrett. I just do not know. They are way, way overdue for a new top end machine to replace the GTI 2500. It came out in 1999 and it is hard for me to believe they have not come out with anything to replace it in all these years. But this is the company still making the Gold Stinger. Not holding my breath there. The big money is in the mid range consumer units, and they have scored huge home runs with the Ace series, the Garrett Pro Pointer, and the AT models. As a company they are doing the right things. New gold models? I keep hoping for a ATX built from the ground up for desert prospecting, but I will not be surprised if it never happens. Bottom line is I have no expectations from Garrett but maybe they will surprise me.

Minelab. No rumors here per se. The timeline was laid out for all to see at corporate meetings by Codan, the Minelab parent company. What is missing so far from what was promised is the "Low Cost Metal Detector" and the new "Super Gold Machine". With both promised for 2015 Minelab has to deliver or expect investor ire.

Tesoro. Who cares? They have fallen off my radar as a company likely to actually advance the underlying technology. The faithful await the introduction of the promised Cazador but it is unlikely to be more than a footnote at best. Tesoro is tops on my list of companies to fade away or be acquired by somebody else. Would be a score for some foreign outfit looking for a toehold in the US.

White's. Too quiet. Obviously major brain trust stuff going on, something big. This is the company that produced the V3i. Say what you want it is a technological wonder. I honestly worry that with the departure of the longtime CEO and the loss of key engineering talent there may be trouble at White's. They can only rehash old Dave Johnson designs for so many years. They have missed key opportunities on a global scale. Still, recent patents filed give me hope they may do something that could shake the market up in a serious way. Whether that will happen in 2015 or ever though I cannot say. The company may be at the most important juncture in its history. Will they leap ahead, or lose their way? I hope it is the former and not the latter.

The rest of the world? So many new players especially in Europe. Not too many are specifically focused on the gold market, but obviously XP and Nokta bear watching. Nobody else really on my radar in that regard but surprises could come from any quarter. It should be an interesting year. Minelab at least is guaranteed to deliver after a five year wait.

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Steve very instightful comments, living in a country where it's not really an option to stray to far from one single company it's nice to read other players still have a foothold elsewhere. I started professionally prospecting with a metal detector in 1993 initially, with a Minelab XT 17000 but then also a Whites Goldmaster VSAT (I loved the challenge of the VSAT especially in highly mineralised dirt).

In all that time there were 3 metal detector manufactures that held sway in my profession, Fisher, Whites and Minelab (Garret were on the downturn when I first started out in 1987 after the release of the awful Gold Stinger). I never really got use the original GoldBug but met lots of West Australian and Queensland Pros who swore by them, especially in the noisier ground, so consider that an opportunity missed. Unfortunately for Fisher they released the brilliant Gold Bug II just after the release of the SD 2000, I got to play with a pre-release one up on the Palmer River in North Queensland and was really impressed with the gold it picked up in old haunts, but the SD 2000 was kicking goals all over the country at the time so I had to ignore that experience until I got to spend time with you in WA many years later.

Since 1995 there have only been a handful of real attempts by other manufactures to have a serious crack at sharing the PI "King of the Castle" position with Minelab, Eric Fosters GS5b, Whites TDI (same family as the Eric Foster unit), Garrett Infinium (not a bad detector but fraught with issues in the gold fields) and finally the Garret ATX. In all that time the ATX is probably the only PI detector that has offered any real competition in my field of work, in my experience it and the Infinium were the only ones I actually found any gold with in mineralised dirt, the Infinium was a night mare but the ATX wasn't half bad so deserves a heart felt pat on the back for having a red hot go.

Rumors can be fun when looked at in the right light, I love all the debate because it means our industry is healthy and demand is strong, all good incentives for metal detector manufacturers to spend money on development. Let's hope 2015 brings on lots more rumors with serious weight behind them, not just the innuendo and whispers kind.

JP

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You beat me to the punch on Tesoro. I really dont see them around much longer. To bad,I still use a Tejon and Bandido, and their warranty is unmatched...but they are going nowhere.

Ok, I predict XP will come out with a small coil, and a new deus update.

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Hi JP,

Two things I would like to know. Who sells the most in the way of detectors in the US by unit volume? And who sells the most by dollar volume?

Obviously Minelab has a dominant position in Australia, but here it is very far from obvious who the market leaders are. Part of the problem is that it is very regional, and so what seems very popular in Alaska, for instance, may not be very popular at all in Arizona, and New York will be something else again.

Minelab tends to dominate the U.S. prospecting forums but the picture on the ground is far different. The last two outings I went to in northern Nevada were made up of rather diverse groups. There are of course lots of Minelab detectors but also lots of White's and Fisher units also. The White's TDI is obviously very popular yet you would never know it visiting the U.S. prospecting forums.

In Alaska the vast bulk of the machines sold are VLF detectors. $700 - $800 detectors rule and Minelab PI detectors are relatively rare in sales and in the field. From what little I have seen here down south reality is not too far different than that. Serious prospectors are actually pretty rare, and the general public is far more inclined to be buying general purpose VLF detectors.

I am not talking about what is finding the gold but what is selling. Two different things. The most serious prospectors tend to find the gold, and they are less shy of investing big bucks to get the best. I believe most detectors sold however get little or no actual use. People have good intentions when they make the purchase, but then life gets in the way and they never get around to it.

The company best positioned to see the overall picture would be Kellyco. If their top 12 list at http://www.kellycodetectors.com/metaldetectors/topselling/#P1 can be believed it is an eye opener. The Treasure Commander Phil Robertson TC3X? Really? Just shows the power of popular culture that a detector that I would never consider in a million years is a best seller.

At least most of the detectors on the Kellyco list are ones I could own. If you really want your hair to stand on end, look at the best sellers on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Patio-Lawn-Garden-Metal-Detectors/zgbs/lawn-garden/554036 The only name brand stuff in sight is First Texas (Bounty Hunter) and Garrett. Some of that other stuff is just plain scary!

The only detector I currently own to make the Amazon Top 100 is the Fisher Gold Bug 2 at position number 99.

I point all this out just to remind people that what detector nerds like me think is important could be not important at all to the people running the show at the metal detector companies. At the end of the day they are simply businesses that need to make money.

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 It should be interesting for the next year or so. I know Tesoro has not been up to much for awhile, and it is disappointing. But they do have alot of faithful followers. I will say I receive a pretty even split of calls for them.

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Steve - think about the cross section we saw on the field training day after the Placerville ICMJ show - a lot of VLFs and a smattering of PIs.

 

Interesting thought about the US sales. For profits at least among the better known makers, its been mostly about the sales in Africa as much or more than sales in the US and Australia.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I would agree with you Steve on Tesoro...rather disappointing on the R.& D. of new detectors. Like you  said perhaps what we will see is more companies from abroad coming into the game and producing better machines and services. One example is Nokta in Turkey...your review got my attention..so we shall see what happens in the coming years. Right now, like most serious hunters...Minelabs next and greatest is what I am waiting for, only if its a huge jump from the GPX 4500 that I have now.

 

Fred 

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