Cal_Cobra

Monte nice to see you over here 👍

Good point GB. I follow most of the Fisher F series forums, and I have not seen a keen following on the F44 (or it's siblings) so I can only speculate that it was not a popular detector.

I think the F11-F44 was their futile attempt to go after the all terrain market that Garrett, and now Nokta Makro and Minelab have all entered and dominated. I have a feeling that, aside from the new coils, the F11-F44 wasn't so much of a new design as it was incorporating existing off the shelf designs from existing detectors to make a weatherproof detector. IMO they missed the mark, and I don't think these machines ever really took off. To be honest there just wasn't anything that stood out about this line. If you're the last one to enter a crowded market, you need to make something that stands out as different from your competition be it a far more competitive price, better features, or better performance, and I don't believe this line adhered to any of those factors.

BTW the only reason I posted this, is that we've been theorizing that FTP built this new plant so they can start cranking out new flagship detectors, and while that may or may not be the case, it appears that their motive has a larger scheme. Perhaps they sense that at a certain point, perhaps they won't be able to compete with the likes of Minelab and Nokta Makro, in both the technological arena and heavily discounted new price points, but there will always be a need for a state of the art for hire manufacturing plant. I don't see this as a negative, just a different direction then perhaps many have considered in the past at preserving and future proofing FTP and whatever they may become in the future.

I completely agree with you. Although I wasn't really planning to get a Simplex as it seems like it would be redundant when I have the MMK, I have been curiously following the various field reports on it to see how it shakes out. Thus far, it looks like the fine folks at Nokta Makro have pulled off one of the best deals in the detecting industry, but I really look forward to field reports from advanced users such as yourself that use a variety of machines and have an advanced level of knowledge to use them, and more importantly, share that knowledge with the rest of us 👍

Looks like their trying to compete with Flextronics with a for hire electronics manufacturing plant: http://www.ftpcircuits.com/ FIRST TEXAS PRODUCTS ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING Modern manufacturing equipment, capable processes and a highly experienced workforce allow us to meet your requirements for quality and on-time delivery at a world-class competitive price. 786 PRODUCTS CREATED 984K+ GOODS SHIPPED 100% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 17 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

That makes a lot of sense, because why would a U.S. attorney/court be able to enforce a law from another country - simple answer is (for the most part) they cannot.

I see this Bounty Hunter has a backlite, will it be the red one like it's counterpart? Red backlighting is most excellent for night hunts. I know I poo pooed this when I initially saw it, but I know the G2/F19 was a killer relic hunter in iron, and was supposed to be a button magnet, so it'll be interesting to see how this rehash updated model pans out. Very curious to learn what the pricing will be.

Agree, would MUCH rather see it come with the white color closed loop elliptical 10" coil, it's a great coil for relic hunting.

That's not really true, that's only true if they want to copy ML, and patents only last for so long.: A U.S. utility patent, explained above, is generally granted for 20 years from the date the patent application is filed; however, periodic fees are required to maintain the enforceability of the patent. A design patent is generally granted protection for 14 years measured from the date the design patent is granted. So anyone could make a SMF machine they just need to make sure that their SMF technology isn't a copy of ML Multi-IQ, as BBS and FBS patents should have run their shelf life. Not only that, but how does a patent filed in one country affect another country? I don't actually know, although I suppose I could ask our patent attorneys at work, but they probably have better things to do than discuss metal detector patents with me haha

Welcome to the forum RJ and congrats on purchasing from the detector company with the best customer service in the industry bar none!

I don't know, Dave Johnson is still there, but no idea what he's up to, and they have Carl Moreland that was on the White's V3i team, so they do have the expertise to build a SMF machine, but Carl once stated that a typical VLF machine has about 10,000 lines of software code vs a SMF like the White's V3i which has over 100,000 lines of code, so it's multiple magnitudes of increased complexity to design a SMF detector. BTW Carl frequents this forum and I'm sure he's reading these posts. Unfortunately FTP is tight lipped about everything, so he cannot really say much about what's going on. He's hinted that there's big projects in the works, but than again that's been the word on the street for eons. It sure would be fun to see FTP or Nokta/Makro make a SMF that can compete or best the Equinox.

I hunted a demo site in San Francisco with about 5 other Equinox users at the same time, as well as a CTX and Exp2. Most of the EMI was from the city itself, we were right next to the Muni bus overhead electrical lines for their electric bus line, and it was okay. A bit noisy, but not too bad. The second time we hunted there, the EMI was so bad that I had to switch to the 6" coil which quited it down quite a bit, and I had a great hunt digging nine silver coins in one hunt. Most recently I hunted with a couple of other EQ800 users in the desert at a stage stop and we didn't have any issues at all, I was able to run my machine wide open. The site wasn't that great, but we didn't have cross-talk issues. YMMV.

My first (and thus far only) gold ring found on my EQ800 was on my first hunt. Was a solid 14, and turned out to be an 18K gold ring around 6 grams IIRC.

Now we know what their building in their new mega manufacturing facility

Yawn...someone wake me up when they actually release something NEW

Maybe they're getting ready to make oodles of Bounty Hunters for Costco in that new facility? Hard to say because FTP is so tight lipped, but one thing we know for sure is that there isn't a new and innovative flagship detector coming out any time soon (at all?). The Manta isn't a FTP design, as most know they simply bought an existing design from a French team, so no idea really what they've been doing since the F75 was released, other then cranking out buttloads of cheap machines and going the way of White's repackaging the same old tired machines. I routed for FTP for years, but I've all but given up on them as they get passed by again and again by the likes of Minelab and Nokta/Makro. I cannot imagine they haven't noticed the success of Nokta/Makro, including how awesome their customer service and ability to listen to the needs of their customers and how well this is received by the public (you know, the people that keep your company afloat). I will also add that the last few times I had to use their customer service/repair department, I was extremely dismayed with their service. No idea what's going on there, but it would be great if they communicated with their customers once in a while.

Tom I'd be curious to hear how you like it. I wasn't really thinking about getting one as it seems like it would be redundant to the MMK.....but the new user reports have been enticing me to try one out :)

When you put it that way, it looks like amateur hour for the competition

Congrats on a most excellent hunt! A US Cavalry bit boss is also on my bucket list, as well as a belt plate or box plate. We have a civil war Union Army camp site that's porked out hundreds of 3 ringer drops, dozens and dozens of buttons of all types, Hardy hat pins, a few coins and other great relics, but no belt plates, box plates or bit bosses have been dug, which to be honest, I cannot quite understand. We're also confused by the lack of coins, one seated half dollar and a seated half dime have been dug, and that's it. Odd.

Given Minelabs track record for delays, the Nokta Makro Simultaneous Frequency detector may be out before the Vanquish

PayPal is not as safe as one may be lead to believe. Buyers have up to six months to file a claim with PayPal to get their money back if they claim something's not right. I've been a buyer and seller on fleabay since 1996, and have seen people try all kind of nonsense.

Like it!!

"Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." Henry Ford ,1909.

IIRC correctly FTP also made a pink model 🙄