Rick K - First Member

The Government gets the mythical $2000 hammers and $5000 toilet seats in part because every unit has to be acceptance tested before shipment. No popularly priced consumer products are made or sold that way. Actually, most of the stories are B.S. - involving when the Government insisted on production of a small quantity of something which was either custom designed or which involved re starting a long dormant production line. I once spent long weeks looking for NASA approved leather for the valve seat of a rocket engine valve, only to find out that the only tannery which ever had that NASA certification had burned down a decade before! - EDIT - yes really - Space Rated leather! I made up an acronym for it "HDNC” "high density natural composite!" Didn't help find it, and nobody thought it was funny - story of my life! A responsible producer has an ISO approved Quality Assurance System which calls for statistically valid sampling of finished product to ensure conformance with specifications. It's easy to make fun of this stuff, but when done right, engineering, purchasing, manufacturing and customer support all have the same data and products get better and better. Do the companies who make our tools have all this. I don't know, but given how TINY they are as companies, I suspect that they have a ways to go.

JP, Here's the link to Steve's post on Euro detectors that Ringmoney mentioned. http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1378-european-detectors-versus-us-style-detectors-on-target-masking/

Ring M I tried your suggestion on the TDI of having the selector in Low with the GB off. Major depth increase over GB on and nice and stable on level ground. Look forward to trying it next time I'm at a beach! Thanks.

The same when I was in Denmark, with the Garrett AT third.

I don't think so, but don't know for sure. The address was Minelab Technology Training Center 1191 Old Chisholm Trail Prescott Valley - Dewey, Arizona 86327 Here's a Google Street view shot of that address – I assume it's pretty current it looks vacant. It's the same building as in the pix and video from the opening in 2010.

Treasure - The very thought races the pulse. Doubloons - pieces of 8 - bars of gold! Well gosh it's kind of complicated http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/us/with-shipwreck-treasure-easier-to-reach-a-duel-is-on.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Ring M I tried your G B off, low selector position thing today on my TDI. It is interesting and I think it has the best depth for that machine.

Here's the UPS office, not that it really makes any difference. 4960 S. Gilbert Road Suite 1 Chandler, AZ 85249

Great report Steve, Now I might have to buy another Deus - I alread had and sold two because they didn't fit my needs, I guess everything above rust just sounded like "oui" to me!

A little work with google and Google maps shows the address in Chandler AZ to be a UPS store (unit 1) so I guess 1-134 is box 134 at the UPS Store. That explains why your signature was by "u ups" Seems like a sensible arrangement for recieving the incoming packages, Minelab West Attn: Brian Lewis 4960 S. Gilbert Road Suite 1-134 Chandler, AZ 85249 Where he the repairs are done, I have no idea. Mr. Lewis apparently has a company, link below, registered in nearby Gilbert AZ, the address is residential. https://bizstanding.com/profile/intraconnect+media+llc-88060587 I just edited this post again to add the following. There is nothing wrong with ML subcontracting warranty and other repairs and the subcontractor they have chosen is probably well qualified to carry out the work. A bit more transparency about the arrangement seems to be in order however.

It's not so wierd actually. Gold hunting seems like a hobby that actually has a future - as opposed to breaking your back finding 87 cents in change in three hours (if you're lucky) on the ever shrinking bits of public property which allow detecting. The key is, can young folks get interested in it? I suspect that they can, but $10,000 detectors are probably not the correct tool! Your thoughts?

Barry. When folks are willing to spend $10k on a detector - they would have to be soft in the head not to pony up $100 a year for your service. Folks like you who actually DO something are so important to what we used to call civilization. Now sadly, most are like me, just commenting. Well done. Edit note - For the record. I just signed up.

With modern surface mounted electronics, replacing individual components is difficult and therefore costly. A replacement board is a lot quicker and can be done by someone with less skill. If the unit is under warranty, it's great for the detector owner. If it's out of warranty I have heard of board replacement costs in the many hundreds of dollars. If the needed replacement board is not available, sending out a new machine may be the only solution.

You forgot to put the coordinates on the map! Lol

Well done ML

Nobody ever got famous for riding a gentle horse. I was hangin' 'round town, just spendin' my time Out of a job, not earnin' a dime A feller steps up and he said, "I suppose You're a bronc fighter from looks of your clothes." "You figures me right, I'm a good one." I claim "Do you happen to have any bad ones to tame?" Said "He's got one, a bad one to buck At throwin' good riders, he's had lots of luck." Strawberry Roan - Marty Robbins Stick with it. Link for,the rest of the lyrics http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/martyrobbins/thestrawberryroan.html My daddy's favorite song, he came from Medina County TX - he was no bronk rider, but he knew some - and he loved Cowboy music.

Curiousier and curiousier

Nice solid info on what the Zed can do. If you need that tool, it apparently delivers. Pretty much what Steve H. has been saying all along.

Good data, thanks Steve

Horses for courses I guess. FT makes the same basic machine with s shaft and with handgrip - F19/G2+ - some folks like one, some folks like the other. The only real innovation I see on hardware packaging is from ML and XP Deus. The ML approach seems to have evolved from expensive telescoping carbon fiber stuff on the CTX/GPZ to collapsing plastic on the GoFind and I an not especially impressed with either (just me). Deus on the other hand is simple, strong, light and elegant. I just sold my second Deus, guess I don't speak French, but the "Deus" mechanical package is "heavenly" (that's a pun - Deus=god in Latin).

Point taken, thanks. In any event I think I'll forward it to First Texas and tell them that they should get their finger out!

jasong, I Love the gag, but If you mean detectors well suited to OZ conditions, maybe Otherwise Gold Bug Pro and T2 - the best selling gold detectors on earth - they OWN the African market, by far the world's biggest gold detector market. Whites TDI - a competent machine. Garrett ATX - an excellent detector hampered only by it's silly packaging.

Nokta/Fors - The Turkish lira may be crap, but our detectors aren't!

https://www.facebook.com/TekneticsMetalDetectors/videos/1068234026521953/ Nice Facebook promo video for the Classic T2 - newly re-introduced.

I live in Gold Canyon - at the foot of the Superstition Mountians. Our local dealer in detecting and prospecting equipment is Promack South in Apache Junction. Dan Ware and his wife run a well stocked shop and always have plenty of time for their customers and browsers.