LowTide

When Minelab offered the statement that the new Equinox would obsolete single frequency VLF detectors there was a hue and cry of disbelief from a group of end users. Yet the manufacturers, even before the first Equinox was available for retail sale confirmed that statement by lowering prices. There were two aspects of the statement issued by Minelab that seems to have been missed by some end users: 1. The statement was 90% aimed at other manufacturers. 2. The statement was forward looking at the economic viability of future production of single frequency VLF’s. Now an end user may think that the Acme 4000 was the greatest relic detector ever made and cannot be displaced by an Equinox. However if the sales numbers fall to a certain point then the Acme 4000 will end up being discontinued. So even if an end user loves and is totally invested in an Acme 4000 there is no guarantee it will survive the sales onslaught of the Equinox. To those who say “hogwash” then may I ask how many new recent model BFO or T/R detectors do you see being for sale by manufacturers? Why aren’t there any? Because Technology moved on, just the same as is occurring with the Equinox. Tough time to be a product or sales manager at a competing metal detector company!

I wouldn’t characterize an NDA as a gag order. It is more akin to an employment contract at a professional level. Let’s say you work for Company A and part of your contract holds you to not divulging proprietary info if you leave and go to work for Company B. So it is not an adversarial relationship unless you run afoul of the NDA, and then it can become adversarial. In the high tech industry you can see some issues arise when one company poaches a key employee from another company and they happen to compete with one another product wise. Lawsuits in those instances are not uncommon. Most of the NDA’s do not have sunset provisions in them so they are in perpetuity. But when you sign an NDA the assumption is that you have read it several times and understand the implications of signing it. And it is not a gag order imposed by the company to prevent your favorite guru from providing information. They had their big boy pants on when they signed the NDA and knew what they were getting themselves in to. I have been involved with the early stage development of detectors for a couple of companies who shall remain anonymous. And a warning to those who think it would be “fun”. It is not “fun” but indeed a great deal of work and time, so be careful of what you wish for. You are not being paid and even if they offer you a detector in the end it will in no way cover the time and effort you have put forth. It would be merely a token of appreciation. And yes I have taken part in developing detectors of which I have never touched a finished product. I have only seen them on line in photos and videos. And the icing on the cake is to be called a shill. Now in the instance of the Equinox if the powers to be decided Steve H was one of their Prospecting specialists then they may send him a prototype that has the Prospecting mode software in it, and ask him to test it. If after feedback they decide to make a change then he gets to test it again. But there’s no guarantee that the other modes software is working or complete. So after release if someone ask’s Steve about Deep Turf hunting he may not have a good handle on that facet of the detector.

Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Another title for this may have been the Tale of the Equinox In reading many forum posts across the Internet there appears in many instances to be an undercurrent of anger towards the Equinox simply because Minelab produced a detector with the technology and feature set it possesses, and not a U.S. based competitor. Minelab took the road less traveled! More than a decade ago First Texas purchased Fisher Labs and also took into their employ the engineer that developed the CZ a multi-freq based platform. So right from the start they had the ingredients in house to produce an Equinox type of detector. When they began releasing their F75 and T2 series which were ergonomic, lightweight, and modern interface based detectors, a hue and cry came from CZ owners that pleaded for a CZ update with similar characteristics. Waterproofing to 3m would have just been icing on the cake! But alas it was not to be and after a while CZ owners lost faith that it would ever happen. Another U.S. manufacturer White's has also had multi-freq technology at their disposal for a very long time and instead of targeting their last multi-freq release at a sub $1K lightweight detector, they decided to go after the Minelab deep turf machines. Even in their more recent mid-priced efforts multi-freq is nowhere to be found. Garrett should at least get some credit for producing a waterproof mid-price detector because it was a milestone for the industry. But with the second generation if they were capable of producing multi-freq in the AT chassis with a reasonable premium, say $200USD more, then they would likely have had a real high selling model. But they dropped the ball also. Tesoro, well........ I like Tesoro but I don't think anyone has expected them to move the needle now for a very long time. So U.S. manufacturers have squarely squandered the opportunities for a decade or more. And now there is a Dragon in their house. And it is not the Equinox 800! As Steve H. has mentioned a couple of times with very little reaction, the Equinox 600 is a very big danger to the financial well being of many metal detector companies. Right now because of initial demand the unit is likely selling at or close to the $649USD MSRP. By this time next year I would not be surprised to see a street price of $599USD and possibly lower. $589USD or $579USD may not be out of reach. Anyone with any sales or marketing experience can go to their favorite online metal detecting seller and take a look at the offerings between $450USD and $600USD. Comparing features and performance on units in that range will be eye opening. The problem with the reaction that some companies have already taken, which is to push their former flagship models down into mid-price range, is that they then have to push their mid-price units down into entry level range which will lead to simply pushing the entry level units out of the market, or selling them at a loss. You can only sell a loss leader for so long unless you are able to up sell that customer, which you hope to retain later on(very risky). So a thinning of the herd or else value packages where, buy this model and get 2 extra coils etc is coming. But those coil packages kill profitability as accessories are where the money is. The solution is obvious and has been for over a decade, produce a NOX like detector! The Equinox exists because U.S. manufacturers sat on their hands, and if you want to be angry about it then point the anger to where it belongs. There was a vacuum in the market and Minelab filled it, simple economics 101.