☠ Cipher

Good advice. My V3i wireless headphones are now 10 years old. Armor All protectant has kept them looking as new as the day they were born.

I scored a Simplex with wireless headphones over the weekend and one of the things I do when I get something technological that unnecessarily uses or attempts to use proprietary connections for common accessories is I immediately begin thinking about how to adapt it to what I already have for use. I did this for example when there were not yet waterproof headphones available for the Equinox. Then it hit me. The CTX-3030 uses the same 8 pin mini din for its waterproof headphones as Nokta Makro is now using, so I already have a $160 pair of Grey Ghost underwater headphones with 8 pin connector. But making an adapter for the equinox is not apples to apples when contemplating whether to plug those Grey Ghosts in the Simplex. With the equinox it was a simple threaded 1/8 jack adapter conversion and the port on the equinox is exclusively audio, so nothing to mess up. The Simplex has a bit more going on with its headphone port, which can also connect to power, and updates I believe as I sit here. Also who is to say the audio connections are on the exact same pins. The pattern could theoretically be different, I think. So I’m wondering if any other CTX/Nokta-Makro owners have noticed this and tried it already? It’s really more of a technical and annoyance issue with me than saving $109 for the proprietary set. By now, headphones, chargers etc should all be pretty standard absent something really special going on, but that is in part how companies make more money (and e-waste)selling you things you already bought and wouldn’t need to buy again if they didn’t go out of their way to make it incompatible with others or standard accessory connections. I don’t hate the players. I don’t even hate the game. It’s kind of a challenge to find a way to overcome it where it’s safe to do so.

I think Garrett should bring the TRX back to market. The TRX and the AT Pointer detect in two different ways, thus adding variety to the lineup. The TRX is built to detect off the tip in true pinpoint fashion. The AT detects all along the shaft and tip. Some prefer the tip, some prefer 360. Geotech had stated that space for a wireless module was left in the TRX for the future. Garrett could add Z-link and market it as the “Whites Bullseye TRX with Z-link by Garrett” or however they see fit to brand it anyway. Either way, it’s a special pinpointer. I can’t say what I’d pay to replace it if I had to. I’ve been through nearly all the top pinpointers and the only one I think compares to it range wise is the F-Pulse/Tek-Point. I’ll be using my Tek-point more often now so I don’t wear out the only TRX I have.

Have you ever seen one of these before? This just went up for sale around my way. Seller states it was only available at some kind of show. At $650 it is tempting as a backup, but I’m not as big a fan of camo as I once was. I just found it interesting that there ever was one (turning the S rod backward annoys me greatly btw haha).

Don’t ask me why, but I continue to monitor the closing sales of the TRX since Whites closed its doors. The last two new models went for $380 and $400, with a pre-owned closing at $250. Closing sales for new have been over $300 for a while now. It makes me wish I had the foresight to buy a few a while back, but who would’ve guessed people would be willing to shell out $400 for a pinpointer. I still have one TRX, but wouldn’t sell it now for even $500.

It seemed to do fairly well on in ground depth testing and promises around 12” on a quarter. The nail board test seemed pretty good too. Hopefully the app design would take into account visibility issues. There’s some potential in using a spare cell or iPod touch. One is durability of the platform. The control can be replaced cheaply and at will if damaged or pixels die etc. Apps are also very versatile and you could probably add things like a signagraph over time. Another advantage is color screen. If they ever decide to go multifrequency there’s potential for color coding the frequencies like the V3i and/or maybe even developing crude imaging. Air Metal Detector’s potential future development is probably going to depend on how well this unit is received and how much capital it raises. That’s anybodies guess. The fact is that the features we’d like it to have, it doesn’t have right now. So it depends on how many newbies will buy it and how many more experienced people will buy it just as a novelty. If it flops as bad as it theoretically could, especially with the production issues, what it is now may be all it ever will be.

I don’t think you’re being harsh at all. It all sounds about right. It’s really only the novelty that has any appeal. It doesn’t appear to bring anything new to the table performance wise. Many of us chimed in when it was just a prototype that multi and selectable were the way to go, and going with single frequency is just more white noise. Personally, I’m not a fan of tying up my phone to use as a metal detector. By now we probably all have spare phones or an iPod touch, which might be a better option. Otherwise it’s just asking to damage a very expensive phone (who hasn’t knocked over a metal detector?) and deal with the interruptions that come with a live phone

A notice posted on Centerville Electronics Website states that Garrett doesn’t plan to manufacture any of Whites product. This turned out not to be the case with the 24k, but certainly dashes hopes many had that other products, like the bullseye TRX, will continue. As it stands now, if you want a TRX you could pay between $250-$350 on eBay. If you want a used V3i, the closing bids and buy it nows are creeping back up to $1,000 or more as people realize what’s out in the wild is all that will remain. I would certainly advise anyone who thinks they may need replacements for wearable parts like headphone pads, battery packs, screen covers etc to get them now, as stock is depleting and prices rising everywhere.

Air Metal Detectors, a machine that uses your cell phone as a passive remote, is now a reality. It has existed in prototype form for years now, but has finally entered production and now is in the hands of some backers. Backers of its Kickstarter campaign will be first in line, so it may be months before the general public can get our hands on one. Below are some photos of an unboxing. Instantly it reminds one of the XP Deus in many ways. It also functions similarly with the main hardware stuffed in the coil while your phone replaces the remote. This unit is around 7khz if I remember correctly, so it this model is neither selectable nor multifrequency, but the inventor has said he plans for his next machine to be multifrequency. This machine faced many hurdles before the inventor was finally happy with it. So it will be interesting when the first reviews pop up. What do you think of the concept?

The complaint has been that the iron tone doesn’t kick in until you’re already right on top of the iron and have been distracted. For those that feel this is the case the ProFind 35 doesn’t have enough range (or depth) to give an early enough warning. It is true that it doesn’t have the range of a TRX say, or the F-Pulse. Given that kind of range (or preferably more because disc reduces depth) an iron tone might be more effective

This was exactly my reaction when I learned about it. The reply came that this pinpointer would bring something different to the table and would be based on customer input and feedback. It would have to be something special for sure in order to get us to give it a look in an already crowded market. For me it would take something with the range of a TRX (people are now shelling out $220-$340 for new old stock on eBay closed sales), either native disc or adoption of the host machine’s disc, and maybe, possibly (curved?) display for settings and information. Many poo poo the idea of disc, particularly since it didn’t work out to customer satisfaction with the ProFind 35, but I maintain it could be helpful provided the machine had enough range to make it effective. It wasn’t all that long ago that old timers were arguing that pinpointers themselves were not useful enough to adopt. Then they adopted them and argued range beyond an inch was not useful. Now nearly every pinpointer on the market gets at least a couple inches on up to several in some cases. Pinpointers will evolve and add new features beyond current configurations over time. Some will eventually have disc circuits. Maybe NM has discovered something they can’t wait to share. Maybe something that will set a new standard for pinpointers. Either way, the PulseDive was genius. Makes you wonder what other ideas they may have.

Despite having two pinpointers, including the new Pulse-dive, on the market, Nokta-Makro just rolled out a naming contest for a 3rd “future” pinpointer. No details on whether it too will be convertible or simply a standalone as depicted.

At some point it would seem Garrett would have to figure out whether or how long to keep the Whites name alive. Steve is right about the awkward sounding double brand should they go that route. In some ways it’s a difficult decision. If it were me I’d want to keep the name alive separately out of sentimentality, but how do you do that when your main brand is Garrett, and Whites clearly has some superior products in many opinions. Whites cannot be a Cadillac brand in Garrett’s own house. Yet, you have the bullseye TRX with an inch and a half range over the Carrot (marketing genius kept it out front in sales). You have the MX Sport/MX7 with readily apparent depth and speed over the AT series (the AT series being far better marketed and more user friendly however). These are of course just my opinions, but the sentiment is also widely shared. The 24K and GMX are a whole different product from a Garrett offering. The V3i and VX3 are unlikely to be continued but if they were there’s nothing on the Garrett side like them. For me and many users the color screen and spectrograph make them what they are, superior discriminators. If I were Garrett and wished to keep the whites name alive I would probably have to divide the kind of machines each brand puts out. Whites would become children’s hobby, VLF gold, two box, and low end pulse line. Garret would be hobby detectors, pinpointers, and high end pulse. Gotta keep that TRX under some brand though. It’s too damn good and foolish not to with their marketing skills. Any way you look at it keeping the name presents issues. Either an awkward sounding double name, two separate brands with some outclassing your main product line in performance though not sales currently, dumping those superior products, or shifting them over to the Garrett branding (which will upset some whites guys even if it keeps the machines alive. How many is anyone’s guess, but you can see it coming). I think Whites ought to stand as it’s own brand if they are going to keep it and it would work to add “with Z-link by Garrett” or even “a Garrett Product.” Even develop some “Whites” technologies to stamp on some garret machines, e.g. “with Whites spectra-vision.” There’s ways of keeping them alive without sounding silly I think.

For a while I regretted selling my Fisher F-75 LTD, but it was more for sentimental reasons than performance. I’m very happy with my current lineup. V3i, Nox 800, CTX-3030 and soon to add a Simplex just to have a dedicated single frequency machine to mess around with. Note that even now I won’t look back at the F-75, and I’m choosing to go with a $254 machine over it.

I might be speaking out of my bum here, so please do correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the understanding I have of coils like Minelab’s Equinox 12” x 15” coil, and Minelab’s CTX-3030 13” x 17” coil as well as other tapered coils in general. We shouldn’t expect much in the way of depth increase because in reality the 12” x 15” is really just a 15” long 12” coil, and the 13” x 17” is really just a 17” long 13” coil. Where we see increased performance with such coils would be in ground coverage. Indeed that’s the performance characteristics I’ve noted with such coils. Very little depth increase, but better ground coverage. Although I don’t have the coiltek round 15” I would expect it should provide better depth than the minelab option in addition to the ground coverage. This is in theory anyway, and it gets even more complicated than that because larger coils can lose sensitivity and depth to small objects like coins and gain on larger objects like some relics (buckles for example).

I’m surprised at the tolerance Amazon has for this. I was about to finish up my order which would’ve included “10,000 mAh batteries” had you not commented on it. I’m also lucky I didn’t notice this last time I ordered the 3,000 mAh. You saved me some unnecessary and misplaced expense

Thank you for raising a red flag on that. It would appear that when the batteries are sold in sets of 4 for example they are multiplying 2,500 mAh by 4 and misleadingly labeling them 10,000 mah. Comment edited so I don’t contribute to the problem

A week or so ago I had ordered a 3D printed battery pack for whites machines, obviously including my V3i. It uses 3 of the large lithium rechargeable 18650 batteries. I received it already even though it was shipped from Ukraine. It has a rugged, premium feel to it. This is my first 3D printed anything, and the quality surprised me. Definitely not a flimsy piece of kit. It fits in my V3i perfectly. Right now I’m using 2,500 to 3,000. I’ll let you know how these hold up and how higher MAH versions hold up once they arrive. I’m pretty excited about these in comparison to competing packs that top out at 3100 mah. It’s an inconvenience to not be able to charge the pack itself without removing the batteries, but an open holder also has its advantages. I may even attempt to make a charging cradle. The pack seems to only be available on eBay, with one remaining at this moment. I’m sure he will fire up the printer for another batch soon though. He likes to sell one batch before making more.

How to make a Detector Prospector app on an iPhone. 1. Go to the website using Safari. 2. Hit the forward icon (arrow and box symbol) at bottom of screen 3. Scroll down until you see “add to Home Screen” 4. Select “add to Home Screen” Thats it. Safari will make you an app icon to tap right from the Home Screen like any other app. This just makes it more convenient. This will work for any website by the way. You can add things KellyCo, Minelab etc. any website not found in App Store. One last tip. Be sure you are on the page of the website you want to start from before starting the process. I like to start at “all forums index”

There’s a guy who makes holders for rechargeable lithium 18650 batteries. I have tons of them from my stepdaughters vaping phase and tearing down laptop battery cases, which contain 6-8 18650s in series. Or obviously you could just order 3 brand new, which I’ve also done. In any event I’ll be patiently waiting to receive the holder. I’ll let you guys know how that goes when it arrives from Ukraine if I’m not mistaken. So far anyone who has bought one was singing its praises, particularly how long the charge lasts. I thought about the RNB rechargeable lithium battery case for whites machines but if you open it up (if you even could) I’m pretty sure you’re just going to find 3 18650 batteries. I like the open holder design given how many batteries I have charged and ready to go.

And I honestly expect the price to go up even further absent any guidance from Garrett about a future for the TRX.

If this observation represents a move away from dealers and ramping up big box stock, it might be a smart move to free up some capital, but I don’t like it as a long term solution. My own experience has been that big box store employees know the least about the metal detectors compared with the rest of their sporting goods, but they do know that what sells and what doesn’t given some time on the shelves. Sales can’t be what they once were, or if they are, it’s hard to see that trend continuing as competition has really ramped up both in terms of performance and price. Fisher especially needs to make a showing very soon. I can’t believe they haven’t up to now aside from a pulse platform. We are seeing formerly fisher branded product shifted down to bounty hunter. I hope that’s a sign that something is coming soon. I love the brand, so I keep a vigilant eye on any hint of a new flagship. If it has us all selling our equinox’s for it as Geotech hopes, it’ll move for anyone holding stock from mom and pop, direct, to sporting goods sections. I’d hate to see small dealers go away. They not only tend to be detectorists themselves, but truly enjoy helping others.

I find myself using the Equinox 800 more than anything, but very often it’s more out of anxiety over the future of the V3i and maintenance of a machine like the CTX, should it need any. I’m keeping the miles on the latter two as low as possible. Once I’m comfortable that I have enough parts to keep the V3i alive I’ll give it hell again. Still my favorite model. I do enjoy the CTX-3030 w/13”x17” coil over large fields. It’s just a really fun machine to run and learn. Now with the Bullseye TRX being in such demand with no apparent supply, I might have to ease off it for a while too, and use the Tek-Point as my go to. Seems the Trx disappeared practically overnight. Speaks volumes about its performance

I’m amazed at how fast these pinpointers have sold out everywhere. Tells you a lot. I still think it’s the best pinpointer ever made. I hope Garrett will pick up where whites left off and improve it even more. I doubt much more depth than it already pushes is possible, but a Z-link or some form of wireless version would be nice. Meantime I plan to track down a spare and some shells etc to keep them alive as long as possible. Same with the V3i.

This beauty here. Converts from a pinpointer to a handheld pulse induction diver with either a 5.5" coil or 8" coil. The loop conversion is optional. You could buy just the pinpointer for around $100 and the option to purchase the loop separately is always there.