Steve Herschbach

It has been common knowledge among those paying attention that Nokta/Makro has been working on a new simultaneous multifrequency detector for some time now. The Simplex+ has been specifically stated as being the potential housing for the new unit when it appears. This post from 2/17/2020 reconfirms work on the new model: "Hello all... yes, the name has been chosen and the machine is in the works. Cannot confirm the release date as of today but hopefully I will be able to share more info further into the year. Hope this helps...." People often bring up patents as a reason why new multifrequency units have been so rare to appear, but the fact is patents on machines like the 5 & 15 kHz Fisher CZ, White's 3 & 15 kHz DFX, and Minelab BBS (billed as 17 transmitted but more likely 2 - 3 processed frequencies out of 17 transmitted) have all expired. Nokta/Makro has plenty to work with. Given the speed with which Nokta/Makro has brought new machines to market in the past and the fact they have a mostly proven housing in hand now via the Simplex, I expect an announcement by this fall with a detector available either before Christmas or next spring. If I was them right now I would be collecting warranty claim info to make sure the Simplex housing is bullet proof before launching the new unit, and that should be going well by now. In the meantime work can proceed on design and testing of the circuit. Frankly, there is no need to do anything radical to be successful. If Nokta/Makro simply did what Fisher should have done years ago and mage a digital clone of the CZ but with target id instead of meter, put in a waterproof Simplex box with wireless, and at their normal great pricing, they will have a winner. Many people would kill for a Excalibur BBS clone in a Simplex style housing. The main thing multifrequency offers is good VLF saltwater performance, and a Nokta/Makro Multiplex (my guess ) model would be an easy sale for a lot of beach hunters plus the general coin, relic, jewelry market. There will probably not be any real news for some time but when I hear anything, this is the thread I will post on. Nokta/Makro Multifrequency metal detector?

That’s awesome, I’d love to find a little in place deposit like that. Thanks for posting!

Trial and error testing and sampling mostly but gold mining is an ancient art and there were a few knowledgeable types back then publishing books. Word of mouth from there. Anyone working the mines got mentored by more knowledgeable people.

Definitely on a tear.... up another $30 today.

I agree. FT needs a new model that addresses the latest competition in the general coin and relic arena. There should have been a fast recovery digital CZ in a F44 type package ages ago.

Well that sucks. The part about you getting chastised. As far as Facebook goes I refuse to do anything to support Zuckerberg so avoid it as much as possible. I think lots of people feel similarly and focusing too much on Facebook misses a large segment of this particular market. Though I have to admit watching the sh#tshow on many forums they can't be blamed for ignoring them either.

I'm sure it is good for FT to know that there are at least a few rabid interested buyers, and for every rabid buyer there are going to be many who are silent. So I think lobbying and letting FT know we are interested is extremely important. If nobody cares.... they best hang it up. I'm a very long term hard core detectorist, I can have anything I want, and they only thing I'm interested in getting beyond what I have right now is an Impulse. That's got to count for something. As a retailer I always looked to what I wanted to determine if there was a market, and I rarely was wrong. I've got a pretty good nose for what detectorists want. Beach hunters chase gold, and Minelab proved long ago the gold market is pretty immune to detector pricing, if you can just deliver some kind of edge. I think this machine will offer a true edge, and therefore it will sell even if the price comes in a little high. If I was still a dealer I expect I'd do pretty well with these. The main problem initially is surely going to be supply. If they are a unit that is slow to build, demand could easily outstrip available supplies for quite some time. Though if I was running FT if that's how it's going to play I'd cut dealers out of the loop and go factory direct. It would help keep the price lower, and most dealers these days are just order takers and drop shippers anyway. Somebody is going to do it sooner or later, and this machine would be the perfect machine to use as a test bed for a factory direct model.

Thanks Carl for weighing in. I have to admit my post was hoping to have somebody do just that. I can guess you have been trying hard to knock one issue down after another. It is good to hear you are confident of eventual success, as the Impulse is the only new detector I’ve had any real interest in for the last couple years to the point of wanting to get one. Thanks again for the ray of hope. We are counting on you!

Glad to hear that - it helps take the sting out.

I'm not. By refusing to say anything officially FT is keeping the option open to decide to pull the plug. The reality most people do not know is that the majority of detectors that enter the exploratory stage at detector companies never actually see the light of day. Work proceeds on something that seems promising, and then for a multitude of reasons things just don't work out. I think FT learned a lesson with the CZX leak and has now put in place a policy of firmly not saying anything until a final decision is made to go into full production. For instance, it could be making the coil to the proper tolerance is preventing anything but what are essentially hand built detectors, with no ability to mass produce the product. The cost may be excessive, resulting in a retail that will depress sales, which again depresses volume. The numbers may not run well and in the end it's all about making a profit. Do you chase the sunk cost (fallacious thinking) or cut the loss while you can? By maintaining firm radio silence at the retail/consumer level FT is doing what a smart company would do and keeping the options open until a final decision is made. At this point they have promised nothing and can't be held to task if nothing appears. It can all just be written off as an unapproved leak, just like happened with CZX. Until a page shows up on the Fisher website or a dealer announcement is made, I'm counting on nothing. I'm not trying to be a bummer, just being real. It happens. I'd be as happy as anyone to have this post get refuted in a firm manner by a person in an official capacity at FT.

I’m sorry to hear about your problem with the detector. After having a Tesoro Stingray, White’s Surf PI, and Garrett ATX all fail on me while on trips I long since have never traveled and hunted water without a backup detector. Not to make light of your situation, but it seems all water detectors eventually fail. The only real insurance is a backup. Just a thought for the future.

Well, February 19 and still no official acknowledgement from Fisher that they even plan to release this detector. I’ve got flowers coming up so winter is officially over in Reno. Hopefully I’ll be able to get this detector up to Tahoe before next winter. Fisher Impulse AQ Data & Reviews

Wrapping the control box in a bag is about as good as anything for splash protection. Genuine waterproofing is a whole different ballgame though. I have seen MXTs and other detectors made truly waterproof with custom control boxes, but in my opinion unless you are into modding it's not worth the effort. You are better off getting an MX Sport if you really wanted to go full waterproof.

Sounds like a wonderful time, thanks for sharing guys! I doubt I’ll ever get south of the border to hunt gold so nice to live vicariously through you all.

A great addition to the mapping and research resources!

It does Dilek because I revived this thread fishing for information and hoping you would respond. Just confirmation that it is still in the works is good. Thanks! 👍🏼

I would not discard any quartz without examining it, especially the larger chucks. See this post for some ideas.

You and your detector are both in tune with each other I’d say! Congratulations Brian!! 👍🏼

It was a great machine in the day but realistically not worth a lot as Fred mentions. Minelab GT 16000 Manual Notes On Older Minelab VLF Models

Good for you Mike. I always wanted to get a Cortes with a Cleansweep and if I did not have a V3i/Bigfoot combo I'm sure I would have, but never could convince myself I needed both. Just curiosity - you know how it goes. And the light weight package does appeal.

Snow is invisible to a metal detector. You can’t ground balance to it. If you are getting a signal, it’s not the snow.

French speaking with english subtitles. Nice finds but wish he showed more of the detector in action.

Here is how I go about deciding what to use. Since you have and Equinox and a Sea Hunter I assume you know when you want to use a VLF for discrimination and when you want to use a PI to dig it all. It sounds like you lean to the dig it all for more depth mentality that leads to using a PI. So for this discussion I am assuming you have decided to use a PI. The question then is whether you need a ground balancing PI or not, which is why I asked about your beach conditions. I have not used the Sea Hunter but have a lot of experience with the White's Surf PI, which is similar. The Surf PI and Sea Hunter do not ground balance. The TDI has a ground balance option, so that is the difference we are exploring. In general with a ground balancing PI you will get the best depth with the ground balance off. Most PI detectors for saltwater detecting like the Sea Hunter therefore have no ground balance. There are conditions you will encounter however where this presents problems. First, in heavy black sand you will find that if you raise and lower the coil off the bottom the machine will signal due to the mineralization. This is a particular problem in heavy waves or when working a very uneven bottom. If you can keep the coil at a perfect distance over the bottom it is no problem as the autotune will smooth the signal, but if you raise the coil off the bottom the autotune can't keep up, so you get a false signal. In heavy waves where you can't keep steady footing raising the coil causes these false signals. If the bottom has lots of troughs and depressions, passing over these areas creates a false signal. The only way to deal with this if you have a Surf PI or Sea Hunter is to detune the detector until the false signals from lifting the coil off the bottom go away. But now you lose depth. Or you can leave the settings more for depth and try and sort the false signals out mentally, but this is very tiring. You can also run into hot rocks, typically basalt or rhyolite rocks embedded in less mineralized beach material. These will give a nice gold ring signal. Again, with a Surf Pi or Sea Hunter, you either detune the machine until they go away, giving up depth, or try and sort them by ear. In either of these situations a ground balancing detector allows you to eliminate the false signals I have described while retaining more depth than would be sacrificed by detuning the detector. The ground balance is basically just a ground notch setting that let's you eliminate troublesome ground signals. Gold rings that read close to the ground balance setting lose some depth. It also creates two tones, one for objects above the ground balance setting and another tone for those below the ground balance setting. Generally on the TDI if you ignore the low tone you will pass on most high conductive coins, large ferrous junk, and possibly very large or exceptionally high purity rings. Digging the high tone only gets the vast majority of rings, aluminum, nickels, and zinc pennies plus small ferrous trash. The dividing point is around zinc penny but it depends on the ground balance setting. See this thread for more details. So if you have having problems with false signals from heavy beach mineralization and hot rocks a TDI may be your solution. If not, you probably won't see much benefit, unless you think you understand and can apply the weird discrimination properties for some advantage. That's just my take on it. I'm perfectly content to use a Surf PI and dig everything in a lower cost more waterproof package than a TDI. Unless I run into conditions like I describe above, which for me were common in Hawaii. Than a ground balancing PI like the TDI can be a good alternative.

I’ve never detected Southern California beaches. In general west coast beaches are full of black sand magnetics derived from the coastal mountain ranges, and so a good place for the TDI. The other factor is trash levels and your desire for digging trash. In general places with lots of ferrous rusted stuff are a pain. PI detectors love ferrous stuff. Think hair pins and wire tie wraps.