Doc

23 minutes ago, LuckyLundy said:

Doc, the 6000 connected to the DALAS is truly the Air Lift System.  My Hip Stick Ball Joint always popped out of the holder.  Ball, gets worn out and gets egg shaped.  Zip Ties can now be used for something else besides holding the Ball Joint in place.  

I used the Hip Stick for every detector I own to include the Monster 1000.  My Right Shoulder Joint is worn out and full of Arthritis.  The Doctor at the VA, says he can put a new shiny one in anytime😬.  Your DALAS, will keep that visit for another day!

Thanks, Rick

 

Dear Lucky,

Yes I've been there and done that.  Maybe some people don't realize all of these things I develop have been the result of a quest of mine to make detecting more comfortable for me and fellow detectorists.

It truly is one of those "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" stories.

I recently mentioned that my right hand had to be completely cut open to relieve injury to my tendons, (my swinging hand).  I have three titanium pigtail screws holding my shoulder together.  I only have one joint in the elbow of my swinging arm because I crushed the radial ball joint of my radial bone and they had to cut the ball off and reposition the nerve.  I have had a 5 level Cervical Rhizotomy where they actually cut 5 levels of nerves in my neck to help alleviate pain from Cervical Disc Degenerative Disease. I have disc degeneration in my lower back as well.  And I have 6 titanium pins fusing my tailbone to my pelvis, three on each side, due to an injury I suffered when I was a cop that put me in the hospital for 30 days.

So all of my injures and weaknesses have been the catalyst to develop these accessories to make detecting less stressful and to fight fatigue and pain.

I'm glad it is helping you with your shoulder.

Doc

8 hours ago, Ethan in Adelaide said:

the first post support will get if free? 😁

Ethan, 

I get pre-production samples that I give to selected field testers, who promise me they will give me their honest assessment.  I don't sell junk.

I am very transparent in my efforts to produce new items.  I'm not sure whether you remember the SAGA Swing Assist Guide Arm debacle.  I get the first batch and give them to field testers.  Within two hours of hitting the field I was getting phone calls from my field testers.  "This thing is garbage!  It's falling apart."

Well I didn't keep that a secret from the world, I announced it right here that the SAGA would be going back to the drawing board because it was obviously under-engineered.  This involved me sitting down and analyzing what the issues were.  Once I re-designed it, I actually took it to a machine shop and had them machine the parts I thought were needed out of nylon infused with fiberglass.  I then took it out and used it for two weeks and tweaked the design.

I'm very glad I did because the SAGA™ now has a worldwide reputation as absolutely being revolutionary in terms of making detecting more comfortable and more ergonomically friendly.  It absolutely is not a SWING ARM.  It is a Guide Arm.  It is like a joy stick for your detector.  AND here's the good news, you can use the stick and handle off of your old Minelab Swing arm and just order the pivot joint and accessories which helps shipping costs significantly.  You do have to wrap a but of electrical tape around the end of the Minelab rod to make a snug fit.  A little silicone sealant on the end of the rod, insert it into the Pivot Joint, and you will be done with breaking the Minelab squiggly rod attachments forever.

It does me no good to go into production of 5000 or 10000 units so I can have 5 to 10 thousand customers ticked off at me.

Around 70% of my customers are return customers.  They know if I am selling it, the thing I'm selling works.

Bottom line is I don't give away merchandise for free to get favorable reviews.  I give merchandise to field testers to give me honest feedback.  If it's good that's fantastic.  If it's bad, the world will know that there will be a delay until I make it perfect.

Doc

Thank you for getting out there and breaking the DALAS in.  I'm excited about it.  You would laugh if you saw some of the contraptions I came up with and tested before I had an epiphany on exactly how I wanted to design the DALAS, and then of course having to make sure the bugger actually did what I wanted it to.

You are correct, the Paddle pushes your pants out and away from your back because that is the termination point of where the weight is transferred to.

And yes, an added benefit is because it pushes your waistband out at the back, you get a nice cooling ventilation effect down the rear of your underwear.  Not necessarily a bad thing. 😁

My main thing was to make sure it worked on the GPZ7000 because that is the heaviest detector Minelab currently has.  I figured if it would work with that, it would work with anything.  The DALAS™ has to work like a dream with a GPX6000 attached.

Thank you Lucky.  Great Field Report.

Doc

2 hours ago, mn90403 said:

 

Thanks Doc for your help and products.

Thank you! For the kind words.  Glad I could help.

Doc



 

3 minutes ago, beekbuster said:

Thanks Doc. That's what I meant by the "people who promote the product". I hope Minelab has put some thought into their decision. I just don't see their logic. It's a sport that is a very small pool of people participating. If I want a new detector, Gerry, Rob, Doc all have a website to order from, and often times they work to get me the best price they can. eBay fees are 13% last I looked, with other strings attached also. I make a point to order directly from the seller if they have a website, no matter what. If Minelab sold out the lesser models and kept the premium detectors as a dealer only that would at least not be a fatal blow. 

That may be what they have in mind.  There are really good people that work at Minelab.  While any company has to make a profit to stay in business and continue to grow, I have never got the impression that Minelab would totally ignore the legacy of how it all began.

Doc

24 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The marketplace has been splitting and sorting for some time. You have people who like to go to a store locally and buy things in person. And you have people who want to buy things online and have them shipped to their doorstep. There is good reason for companies to support dealers who have local stores that cater to people who want to buy that way. There is also no real reason to share online sales with anybody. Going forward I expect companies in general to hoard online sales to themselves, while also supporting any brick and mortar operations that want to display and sell their product to walk in customers.

Steve I hope you're right.  HOWEVER, there are only so many hours in a day.  I feel compelled to help people that purchased a Minelab detector from someone other than myself, even though I don't have the time to take care of my customers and big box store customers too.  I have customers that say, I know I bought my detector from XYZ store but no one there can answer my question, and being you are a Minelab dealer I was wondering if you could answer just one question for me.  Which invariably turns into 20 questions and a 50 minute conversation.

There is no polite way to say, hey so sorry.  That's why you should buy from your local dealer who uses the machines they sell.  First, that runs contrary to my personality of wanting to help people interested in this hobby, and Second, these could be possible customers for my accessory items down the road.  But I can tell you it absolutely kills me when I have a person who I literally spent hours and numerous calls telling them how to set up their GPX5000 purchased from a different company, who years later calls me back and says.  "I appreciate it so much that you helped me with my GPX5000 a couple years back so I was wondering if you could help me set up my GPX6000."  When I asked where they got their 6000, it was from the same place they purchased the 5000 who gave them zero customer service after the sale.  It's frustrating.

Seriously, I don't know how detector dealers stay in business. 

Doc



 

3 minutes ago, MD4V.org said:

I think Doc pretty much nails it here. Minelab will have to hire experienced Minelab USERS to man their customer support and help line for direct sales, and they may find that expensive. Experienced dealers who can provide face-face instruction will never be replaced.

Whether it's teaching folks to prospect for gold, or how to set up your Manticore for relic hunting, hands on instruction and classes are the next step for dealers. There is money to be made instructing groups of detectorists, and offering group discounts on detectors and equipment packages. New times, new challenges, new solutions.

I'm not real clear on this but I think the demographics of the Aussie Detectorist and the American Detectorist is a bit different.

Many professional prospectors in Australia, do this for a living or to supplement their income.

In the U.S  detecting, for the most part, is a very social affair.  Part of the allure is the camaraderie.  I never hear of outings in Australia.

That's a big part of detecting here.  Especially gold prospecting.  We have outings and instruction and learning and camp fires and sit around and tell lies.    

American prospectors and especially newbies want some hand holding.  They want a part time mentor to answer their questions.  I sold a Gold Monster to a customer two weeks ago, he has called me five times.  A couple of times to ask questions, a few times to tell me how impressed he is with the detector and happy I steered him in the direction of the Gold Monster.

Also Americans are very demanding in their expectations.  "Hey the box arrive but the corner is caved it."  "I'm sorry is the detector OK?"  "Oh yeah the detector is great no damage, but the corner of the box is caved in." 

(Let me think on that one?  We don't have a shipping box repair service that I can send out to repair a shipping box that you are going to throw away anyway.)

"Listen, I am so sorry.  You know these shipping services are not very careful, that's why we always put the Minelab Detector Box inside a shipping box.  What can I do to make you happy/"

"Oh nothing!  I just wanted you to know."

My sense is, it's a different detecting culture here.  Maybe I'm wrong, it's just my speculation.

Doc

This has been my experience.  We have had an enormous dealer here in the United States that sells everything.  What they do not have however, is anyone that knows what it is they are selling.

I think the Minelab dealers here can attest to the fact that they get a multitude of calls from customers who bought from the "BIG GUYS." But, they have questions.  So who do they call for support on a detector they did not buy from us dealers?  They call us dealers.

So I hope Minelab has a bank of well informed actual detectorists to explain things like, "What are soil timings?"  Hey, These Gold Monster rods are too short.  "Sir how many sections do you have screwed together?"  Well there were only two.  "Sir do you have a rod attached to the coil?  "Yes."  Do you have that rod that is attached to the coil screwed into the other two rods?  "Ah, No."  Well sir if you screw that coil rod into the other two rods you will see that all three rods, when screwed together, make the detector perfectly long enough.  "Well I be darned, you're right."  This is the same guy that said he didn't get any instructions in English.

I said sir, there are multiple languages in the Quick Start Guide, the first language in each section is English.  "Oh yeah I see that now."

There are plenty of experienced detectorists that do not need support.  Then there are newbies who need plenty of support which at times causes us dealers to feel like we need mental health intervention to save our sanity. 😁

It will be interesting.

Doc



 

 

2 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Yes, I caught wind of it a couple weeks ago.  It certainly shows how dire they are to make a $.

I'm surprised they are still having the Minelab Worldwide Conference next year, be interesting to see how many dealers actually show up?  Of the 250+ in the US, I expect maybe 25 who attend.

Us old school dealers are a thing of the past.  

No worries, as I seen the writing on the walls a few years ago and have been refocusing my business and goals.

My passion for "the Hunt" will continue.

 

 

Ben Harvey who was the V.P. of Minelab U.S. Operations.   Is now President of Minelab Worldwide if my information is correct.

Ben is a big picture guy and he has done an absolutely amazing job building the Minelab Brand.  His job is to penetrate the market and capture more than the lion's share of the business.  Remember Minelab is owned by Codan, a publicly traded company.  A company that has shareholders to answer to.  Those shareholders are interested in the bottom line.

While this may not be the optimum situation for dealers; companies have to grow.  They have to produce profit.  They have to increase their capital so they can continue to develop new and innovative products.

So being a dealer, I feel the position from our side.  It's sort of a bitter pill to swallow.  From the position of being a business man who has built two successful businesses, I also understand these moves from a business perspective.

Congratulations to Ben.  He deserves this promotion as he has worked extremely hard to build the Minelab brand and open up new sales channels.

Onward and upward.

Doc

I had sort of a sinking feeling when they started referring to Doc' Detecting Supply as a Legacy Dealer.  LOL  😃

Oh well such is life.  Nothing lasts forever.  It makes me wonder why we are even having a Dealer Conference in Australia next year.  Are they going to give us our walking papers?

Doc

QUOTE:  I have one of the Coiltek built set-ups and it is used on a GP 3500.  I can plug ear buds directly to it and can also plug a bluetooth transmitter into it and audio works well. However, if I plug a speaker directly into the Coiltek unit the speaker will not work (I can hear a very, very faint signal but that is all).  Are the Coiltek units supposed to be able to run a speaker and therefore something is broken in mine or would a speaker only work on your newer model you speak of above that has had the amplifier built in?  

Sorry I didn't see this question.

The Coiltek units do not have an amplifier.  They don't have enough punch to drive a speaker.  There is no amplification.

Doc

The stock battery of a GPX5000 charges to 8.4 volts.  The detector actually shuts down at 7.2 volts as it senses it as a low battery.

Internally that big ol' aluminum case has exactly the same batteries that a SONY NPF960 battery has.  The only difference is that Minelab puts their charging regulator in that case as well as some circuitry that is supposed to boost a speaker.  It does a nominal job of amplification.  I also think they made the aluminum battery the same size as the old lead acid battery because it fit the case on the back of the harness and they probably had a bunch of harnesses from previous model detectors already made.

A lot of folks don't understand that a AA 1.5 volt battery that reads 1.5 volts is DEAD.  A fresh 1.5 AA battery is 1.58 volts.  Your working voltage is .08 volts.  When that is gone your battery is dead.

Same with a 7.2 Lithium ion that charges to 8.4 volts, 1.2 volts is your working voltage, when the battery reaches 7.2 volts the battery is essentially dead and needs to be recharged.

So 8.3 to 8.4 volts on a GPX is fine that is what it is made to run.  There probably is some internal regulation because I think in the GPX series they are probably still using Dual or multiple voltage technology.  When you mix the pulse length (which is what the soil timings are) with various voltage strengths and you have the ability to find a variety of sizes of gold at various depths.

Steve Herschbach can probably explain all of this better than I.  Steve usually does a deep dive on the patents to see what exactly is going on inside those detectors.

Doc

As the person who started this whole thing with being able to use the NPF960 Sony Lithium Ion batteries with a Regulator and now my Nugget Stalker Regulator Amplifier, here's is my position on this.

Back when I first started having Coiltek manufacture them, we were using the SD2200's.  You could over drive the SD2200's and actually kick them up to 7.3 volts.  (A fully charged Lead Acid Battery is 6.7 volts)  Some guys were actually taking two lead acid batteries of 4 volts and running them together to produce over 8 volts with SD machines.  (They were killing it!  In terms of finding gold.  One of them did however burn out a component.)

Those 7.2 V Lithium ion batteries actually charge up to 8.4 volts with a full charge.  The regulators stepped that down to 7.3 volts and kept that voltage constant all day.

Now along comes the GP units and they had Dual Voltage technology which sort of defeated the ability to overdrive the detector with high voltage because the GP's were regulating the voltage.  So we regulated the 7.2 batteries down to 6.7 volts to mimic a fully charged 6 volt lead acid.  Remember we were regulating the Lithium 7.2 volts down from actually 8.4 volts to 6.7 volts which is what that lead acid battery is when fully charged.  With the COILTEK regulator we gave you a switch to choose where you wanted the voltage regulated down to.  6.7 or 7.3.

Dutchman, the answer to your question is go with the two 3.2 volts.  for 6.4 that will probably charge to about 7 volts.  Anything more than that is overkill because the GP just regulates it down anyway.

Or you get the Nugget Stalker Gold Screamer for the GP and use SONY batteries, and get a constant 6.7 volts all day long and 500% adjustable increase in volume.

Doc

When I started manufacturing the regulators I decided to put an amplifier in it that actually allows you to pump up the volume and can give you 500% more volume than the detector itself,  (Way too loud if you run it wide open.)

On the regulator for the SD and GP's (4 pin plug) I decided to only allow the regulator to take that 8.4 volts down to 6.7 volts not 7.3.  You get a constant non-fluctuating 6.7 volts all day long.  This is important because we found that using the standard lead acid battery that is 6.7 volts fully charged, it starts to drain immediately.  Within 2 hours you lose 20% of your depth.  This is also why these machines can sometimes start to become unstable towards the end of the day.

I decided to only allow a 6.7 volt output because these older machines, SD's and GP's can no longer be serviced.  They are old and I don't want to be responsible for overdriving these machines with a voltage that is above and beyond what a stock battery would produce.

Now the GPX series is different.  They use a bank of batteries that equal 7.2 volts and fully charged to 8.4 volts with no regulation.

So keep these things in mind when deciding what you want to do.

To answer your question go with two 3.2 batteries that will probably charge to 7 volts.  There is no sense in providing more voltage than that because the GP will just regulate it down.

Or take a look at the Nugget Stalker Gold Screamer that automatically gives you the correct voltage and a bonus adjustable 500% increase in volume.

Doc

21 minutes ago, Quick said:

Good video! I’m always amazed at the target recovery process of some of the “professional” nugget hunters. 
 

Oh you have no idea what I have seen out in the field.  A guy detecting with wife in tow carrying a full size shovel, a classifier, a gold pan, and a spaghetti strainer.  Not a plastic scoop anywhere to be found.  They had been detecting for three years and had never found a nugget.  They do, however, apparently eat a lot of spaghetti on their outings.  😆

Doc

Hey Mitchel,

Since Co-Vid we have shut that open invitation down.  There is nothing to see there.  It's a big ol' dirty warehouse.  As we only do mail-order.  We have no show room.  The business has increased to a volume that we really don't encourage visits because we are in a hustle every day to get 40 to 50 packages out the door in time for UPS and U.S. Postal Service pickup.

Doc

9 hours ago, DSMITH said:

i lengthened my hermit pick to 40 inches long just for the purpose of using it as a walking pick and also to assist me in getting back up off the ground but a broken back when I was younger and knee injuries are finally starting to take their toll on me, its not that I eat bad or anything its just the stupid injuries

@Doc I have never been a big sweet eater at all I would rather eat a piece of beef jerky as to eat a Doughnut or a bowl of ice cream, a bad car wreck back in 92 that broke my back and injured my knees have just finally caught up, so I just have a really hard time getting up when I go down to retrieve targets, it started getting hard to even swing a detector until I started using some of your products, they have helped a ton, but not in the getting up off the ground part, so I figured what did I have to loose by adding that kneeling bench to the gear I carry with me to assist in getting back up, I have been using it for about a week and it has made a huge difference for me, I am willing to try anything to keep me detecting LOL, I do have an recumbent bike that has an elliptical thing that I use everyday by doing 2-4 miles on it everyday.

Have you seen those exoskeletons they are making for lifting?  They are mega expensive.  But that would be cool to have something like that for your legs.  something built into a knee pad that senses your intent to kneel down and kicks in, or to stand up and it helps your knees lift the weight.
 

15 hours ago, fourtyniner said:

Hi Doc. Well done on the nugget. What do you use the strap thing fitted below your detector hand for?  Is it a wrist brace of some sort?

Yes like around 1991 I used an 18 inch coil on the SD2200 for three days at Rye Patch.  There were no decent bungees back then.  I permanently injured the tendons in my hand and had to have surgery to cut open my hand and open the sheaths.  The tendons had scar tissue on them and my hand was locked shut in a fist.

So my hand is very weak and I use the strap I made to secure my wrist to the rod and take stress off my hand.

Doc

Should I go Fast or Slow?  BOTH!  I'll tell you when and why.

Doc
 

Hey, these video are pretty darn good if I don't say so myself.  Some nice gold.  ALL LEGITIMATE finds.  I do not plant gold to make videos!  (My videos are pretty much unedited except for the beginning where I am usually cussing because the tripod won't stay level. LOL)

I try to make them instructional.  These videos were back in 2016 and 2017 the GPZ was relatively new and I was finding gold like crazy.  Some interesting things the newbies might learn from these videos.  Just tips, and tricks.  Like how to pinpoint with a GPZ 7000.  Bet some people still insist you can't pinpoint with a GPZ7000.  YES YOU CAN.

I can't believe that I never uploaded them to YouTube.  I was too busy having a blast with the GPZ7000 I guess.

Here's a video I just uploaded. This video tells you how to pinpoint a nugget with a GPZ7000 when you have it out of the hole.

Doc

2 hours ago, Quick said:

Wait frocks with socks? 
I have to ask were are you having this product made? I sure hope it is in America! 

You're so funny!  Find me a company in America that does molding that does not send their jobs to China and I will hire them.

First time I used an American Company to do molding for me, I paid $4700 for the molds alone.  Someone screwed up because when the product came one of the boxes had the invoice from the Chinese company that actually did the mold.  The actual price of the mold was $1,200. So I paid some American company $3.500 for the privilege of having them send the order to China?  I don't think so.  (I'm trying to remember the exact dollar amounts, but it was in the thousands of dollars.)

I can pay those prices for some company in America to basically do nothing but forward the orders to China and then you will be paying $320 for a DALAS rod instead of $129.95.

These are made by the same company I have worked with for over 25 years.  And yes they are in China.  In the area of Hong Kong that used to be under British rule.

By the way when Chris Porter was collecting all the bits and bobs to make his hip sticks, guess where all of those parts were made?  Jonathan Porter is now actually 3D printing the parts and has actually done some impressive improvements on the Hip Sticks.  Oh but I have a hunch that the 3D printer he uses was made, GUESS WHERE?

Thanks to our wonderful burdensome regulations here in the U.S. there are very few manufacturing companies left in the U.S.  Oh and what are your feelings about Australia having some of their machines made in Malaysia?

Company's who are smart look for the best quality at the best price so they can make goods that are affordable for their customers.  This allows their customers not to overspend on hobby and past-time accessories so they have more money left over to pay for necessities like, food, and taxes and mortgages.

Because of inflation American families can barely make their ends meet.  Food and gasoline are sky high.  They are not going to spend exorbitant amounts of money on non-necessities like metal detecting accessories.  Ask anyone's wife.  They will tell your that their husband has been a lunatic ever since he purchased his first metal detector.  She has probably already cut up his credit cards.

By the way the picture attached is a current view of all the container ships carrying good across the ocean right now.  Notice the massive amount of container ships coming out of China, going to the U.S. Australia, Africa and literally everywhere in the world?  If China stops producing we would all be naked and barefooted.

Doc

1 minute ago, flakmagnet said:

Here is the screenshot;

and the reason I looked at your feet was because I was checking to see if that rig you had on had an

attachment on the feet…it had one everywhere else.

 

LOL, you got me.  I think you photo-shopped those in.  LOL  Gosh I had no idea I did that.  I probably stepped inside for a moment and not thinking put my CROCS on.  God I am so stupid.

Good catch Flak.

Doc

11 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:

Yes Doc you do have crocks…and here they are…NO! 

 

I don't see the screen shot, but I'll take your word for it.  It would be just like me to do that. 

Just don't look at my feet!

Why are you looking at my feet anyway? 

I find it rather bizarre that one man would find another man's feet of interest.  Quit looking! 

And don't send me any private messages asking if I have pictures of myself barefooted.  LOL  😆

Doc

16 minutes ago, Quick said:

I’m just glad you didn’t fall in the pool with your detector! I can only hope to have your balance at you age. Well played!

Quick, I started dieting on January 1.  I've gone from 179 to 153 today.  I've been using the treadmill 4 miles a day and working out.  All of that has helped me tremendously with balance as well as a lot of other things.

It has however not shrunk my prostate.  My doctor says if it gets any bigger it will qualify for its own postal code... I can't wait! 😂

Doc