Gerry in Idaho

Glad you were able to get one and sorry the dealer has yet.

No need to apologize at all my friend. I totally understand those who don't want to wait. I'm just trying to get an idea of how many people actually purchased from Cabale's, which then was a lost sale to a dealer. Minelab asks of us dealers to start promoting the Manticore. We do so, but when they start shipping, it seems some Sporting Goods Stores get more than the exact same people who are asked to promote it. A while back, Minelab had a class to show dealers how to sell on Amazon. I thought that was strange, since I used to be told Minelab is a premium product and they'd never go big box. I guess Minelab is testing the waters and then who knows, they cut out the dealers totally. Step by step it is slowing looking that way.

Seems Cabela's/Bass Pro is getting more than dealers but I can't prove it. Just curious how many people on here have received their Manticore from them? If you would rather message me and not post public, that's fine. I have a Cabela's less than 5 miles away and a few times I could have purchased, but as a dealer who has many on order from Day #1, I expected to get decent amounts. Thanks for your cooperation. Gerry at Gerry's Detectors in Boise, Idaho

The 4 stainless Hex head screws should to be removed on occasion for those who are fully submerging their detectors for hours Underwater. Fine sand gets in between the two black plastic pieces as well as water. The Manticore is designed differently and the area the sand/water collects in the handle has a shallower pocket, which is good, vs the Equinox. To remove the handle control pod use a 3mm hex end tool. As stated, the base is glued and is not designed to come off, like it did with Equinox. Glad you are enjoying the Manticore.

In the USA dealers where shipped GP-Extremes in a big black indestructible hard case and it came with a black 11" DD coil as well as 18" black DD coil as well. (look near the bottom of pic). It was part of the package when purchasing a GP-Extreme. They were DD pseudo MONO coils and did both with the flip of a switch.

Update 1st off, I need to apologize for not showing his best pic, the one he sent me in Dec., my bad. It's the 2nd pic with all the nice picker nuggets. One of my customers is down southern US right now and has been using his Coiltek GoldHawk coils with much success. Here's a pic of gold he recovered on a hunt using the 10" Ellip. He says it's a great coil and better than the stock 11" but he wishes it was a little larger. I'll be updating with his picks of the GoldHawk 9" round and GoldHawk 14x9" as well soon. He needs a cover to protect his detector it looks like.

Boy I wish so. I have thought about Cabelas as I have one within 5 miles of my place. Why they're getting more than me is very frustrating. Your article is interesting and I sometimes wonder myself. Now as Steve H. mentioned, yes the older analog detector most certainly had good/bad/ok units and coils. When I used to take groups of 12 customers to Alaska and England, most of us were running the same detectors and coils. It was amazing what we learned from those comparisons. As Simon brought up, we would think digital detectors and chipped coils would have less variance, or does it? Realize these were assembled by a person. What if a certain chip component ran out. Do you stop production or order some grade B components and get the line up and running? Chuck, Quit making me worry about potential issues with a detector I can't even get.. That's like me trying to figure out how I'm going to stuff a 1 pound nugget in my mouth before I even find it.

Very interesting read my friend, almost sounds as if it's out of this world.

Round wire so I'm sure that means MONO. It will fit an Extreme though.

I know your capabilities Ron as we've hunted together a few times and will in the future. But when mentioning your finds, please share a pic or two. I'm still frozen in Idaho, so seeing some of your Au along with your read is tops.

Most certainly the ones who jumped on the new technology 1st, were paid back handsomely. Everyone says those days are gone and for the most part, I agree. But why do I get this itch to hike the next mountain over just to see? You never know. Thanks for sharing.

The stories (and he is one who can back it up) he and his wife and tell is just astonishing. I enjoy sitting around the campfire and listening to his adventures. heck, I thought I was a well traveled detectorist and he puts me to shame.

He's down there somewhere as he purchased a Garrett Axiom from me. 2 yrs ago we detected together for a few days.

Very Interesting to hear. I know of 2 well traveled Electronic Prospectors who were swinging back then. Would the guys name happen to be Chuck from TX and the other is the famous Pieter H. I won't devolge the last name.

Fantastic videos Andrew. What's cool is you were able to score a gold ring on your 1st dig. You got me beat my friend as I dug that diamond ring the 1st day I used it, the 1st hour, but it was the 2nd target. Anyway, I just watched a few of those videos and you really do a great job showing the results for that hind of hunt. VLF's in that salt are actually better than the PI's as they get close to the same max depths but all targets less are providing more info to the VLF's. Well done my friend.

My 1st gold finds with a PI were while swinging the green SD-2100. I immediately noticed the depth difference vs VLF's and so I called Minelab to become a dealer. The well known Kevin Hoagland (now with the GPAA) told me to wait a month and they would have the newer model SD-2200. It was green as well but the 18" coil was a flat smooth hollow one. Some of the deepest gold I've ever found was with that detector. Not sure why I don't dig as many deep holes anymore, but I attribute it to, no nuggets of that size are left at that range? You tell me. Sure the newer technologies are finding smaller nuggets at depth, but I sometimes wonder on those 5+ gram solid slugs, why can't I seem to find those at 18 to 24"+ depths? Curious, if anyone has tested an old SD with big coil vs a GPZ on solid big gold? I think it would be pretty close. But then again, I could be dreaming and the GPZ might be doing it's job just fine. I do know the battery size of the SD and the GP series was like a 4 or 5 pound brick. I actually seen those batteries being used for Motorcycles. Sure miss those deep holes, as many of the areas I hunted was no trash, so as soon as you hit the 6" and below mark, it was 99.9% gold. Thanks for all your comments gents.

Going through some of my boxes and cleaning up the back rooms of the shop, I find some interesting items on occasion. Here’s a wall hanger of a coil if even been one. This is a genuine Minelab 18” round coil for the early SD-2000 and I think maybe the SD-2100? If I’m not mistaken, it’s nickname was the Trash Can Lid? My question to those who have been around Minelab longer than I, have you used one and was it any good? As the photos show, this is a pretty crude hand made coil and the waves must have been for extra strength, I’m not sure. I think I heard someone asking for a used 18” coil a while back, but I’m thinking this one could be older than what you want? I’ll make a heck of a deal if you’re still interested and sell it for whatever the cost of shipping is. As you can see in the pics, it looks as if it was sitting in the desert for a while and seems to have some dried up sea gull/bird crap on it (no charge). No I have not tested it. What’s amazing about this coil is that it’s actually pretty lite in weight. I’d love to hear from folks who used it and or if you have pics of Success with this coil. Certainly a wall hanger with Minelab and probably 30+ yrs old, but if you know please chime in? Anyone else have any old Minelab Wall Hangers collecting sea gull chit?

Both of them were ahead of you on the list. Check your email as I sent a message to you earlier today still wanting to know if you want 1 or 2. I now see your reply. You asked to be on my list later Oct. I still have a couple customers from Aug., a couple from Sept who are ahead of everyone. But they have said they don't need them right now because of where they live and winter. They are allowing me to sell to others on the list behind them, very kind. My list is shrinking daily not growing. Some folks have had enough and purchase Deus-II's, some pulled the trigger and purchased EQ-900's, people on my list purchased from Cabela's and a couple of my customers found them from really small dealers who recently received an order. It looks like things are starting to move a little more, which is good for all of us. As for my thoughts of Cabela's getting them, a product they know nothing about. I've told Minelab management my thoughts. 25+ yrs as a multi line dealer. I was fresh, eager and had energy to help my customers become better with their detectors. I had decent profit margins and perks, now mostly gone. I've watched many of my friends shops die off, watched 2 bigger major detector manufactures shut their doors. My perks from manufactures have been taken away. My margins from manufactures have been cut (some in half). But I'm expected to survive. Many dealers don't even carry inventory, just do drop ships. Manufactures change their words and loyalty and sign up dealers all over who do nothing, but cut margins even more, even on a product we can't get. Why are those folks even dealers? Why allow Cabela's to even get them? As long as the manufactures move the product and they get paid, the share holders are happy. Yes, I get old and grumpy at times and no I don't take change as easy. I guess I should try to survive and change with times. I don't know. Thank you my customers who are sticking it out with me. You know I'll always have your back and you know I'll share more knowledge than Cabela's. After all, 50 years of swinging a detector and I've learned a thing or two.

Minelab listening to dealers now? Boy those days are gone. Here's the good thing Rob. You usually take the high road and stay out of gunshot range (smart man). You and just a select few others were always sitting at the same table most of the time and agreeing. Sure, we do things a little different, but we found a Nitch for our style of business model. Options is a good thing. Thanks for being there and not giving in and or up. This industry sales margins have been cut so bad, it's hard to make a living just off detector sales and I see why so many dealers have a regular job. I'm still trying to make it, just can't afford the steak and lobster the same night. Most certainly will get the 1st round for you and Dawn, it's been a long time.

I still like eating steak and lobster on occasion, so need a few sales here and there.

As I had posted above, I misspoke. I was under the impression there was also a Software Update. As a dealer I should know this. Just as Minelab knows I'm a dealer but yet never did tell us about the hard fix either. I agree with you Jason about the speaker fix, it should actually allow us to hear deeper and smaller nuggets, both. Crap, Now I have to send mine in and get the speaker update taken care of and then go test it and see how it stacks up to Axionother detector. Actually, I've done enough comparing and know where each shine. They both can easily sit at the Big Boy table and are fine detectors.

I misspoke. It's a hardware Upgrade and you are correct.

Glad you are able to get a few meteorites from there as well. The 2nd one is really cool. While watching/listening to your video, my ears were pretty keene on the sounds your GPX-6000 was making and I was most certain it had not been sent in. You are right, it's tough to send in the detectors when we need them for our daily use. Unfortunately, I'm not quite caught up with you yet on the travel as needed. Give me a few more yrs and I'll be there. Yes the GPX-6000's can find gold without the updated, heck most of us on here have been doing it for over a year now. I've yet to run side by side with a detector that has had it done, but I was informed there is a noticeable difference. I sometimes wonder, if there is any loss of depth or sensitivity when getting it done? Keep it up and hopefully 2023 is golden for you in many ways.

Tim, Thanks for taking the time to write such a fine detailed review of how I run my business. Yes, as a Veteran myself, I enjoy working with and helping other Veterans earn 15% off. You are also correct in that a Veteran sale is less profit in my pocket. But sometimes it's not always about the money. Heck, if that was the case, I'd sell the few Manticores I've received at full MAP, but instead, 3 of them has been Military. I figure what comes around, goes around and if I do my part to try and help folks, I have a great chance of staying in business. Thanks again Tim and everyone else for the great comments. Hopefully I'll get some time on the Equinox 900 soon and be able to share my findings, knowledge and notes.

You did well my friend. I as well, hundreds of hours on my Equinox and yet to break the ears. But I've seen it happen. Those rings are nice and the gold nugget a great bonus. I've seen a half dozen nuggets so far recovered from that storm and the beach hunters. Still hoping to get down there next week, if possible. Very nice and well earned.