mh9162013

The 540 and AT Max have their advantages, but given your needs, the Legend was the right choice. And yes, the AT Max does seem to have some surprising resell value, but it's because it was overpriced* to begin with, not because you're really getting more for your metal detecting dollar. * Overpriced doesn't mean bad. It just means there are other options that give you more features for a particular price.

Interesting observations about the F-Pulse/Tekpoint. I have the F-Pulse and have few issues with falsing and when I do, pressing the button while touching the tip to the ground solves it. Also, I think it's too loud! I actually put a piece of electrical tape over the speaker to make it quieter. I know Fisher/Teknetics updated these pinpointers in the past year or two; not sure what effect that has on these issues, if any.

I keep hand-written notes of my hunts. I note the machine used, the location and any notable finds. I'll also provide clad totals (not just total amount, but how many of each coin).

Which is their M.O., isn't it?

Maybe they produced this when the updated F-Pulse got released?

Based on what others had experienced, my personal observations and experiences with the AT Max were normal. The issue I had with the AT Max was not its performance, but its MSRP. Taking its performance in isolation, it's an amazing machine. But once you factor in its price, it's not a good machine. And it's not a "good" machine because of what you're getting for money you're spending. How does this relate to marketing? Garrett knows the AT Max is overpriced, so they have to market it in a way to try and justify its high price.

Not all of them, just some of them.

I agree that when a company oversells, the customer (even the newbies) usually find out pretty quickly. But that doesn't always hurt the company's reputation to a significant extent. I think a great example of this is Garrett and its AT Max. In other words, if a company's reputation is big/good enough compared to its competitors, they can get away with a lot more overselling. Combine this fact with the ignorance and naivety of many new metal detectorists who are just starting out and it's no wonder Garrett continues to market the way they do. TL;DR: when there's a "sucker born every minute" there's little incentive to be honest.

That 2D Target Trace feature seems really nice. I really appreciated the E-Trac's Co:Fe feature and it seems like Manticore has something even better in that you can potentially approximate the targets shape, too. I'm primarily a coin shooter, so this is a feature I think could be a game changer for me. If I had the money, I'd definitely be pre-ordering this machine.

I agree. You generally want to use one cell instead of two, as that halves the chances for a bad cell to make the device inoperable. So why would Minelab go from one cell to two? Higher voltage requirements is one possibility, but like PimentoUK said, that's not a compelling reason as you can step up or down voltages fairly easily. So providing additional current is probably it...and my guess it's not that the Manticore pulls that much juice over extended periods of time. Rather, it's that the Manticore might have relatively high current draw at peak moments and Minelab engineers felt they could improve cell life by reducing the current draw on the cells.

How many other manufacturers have spent the time and effort to improve their SMF technology the way Minelab has? I personally think the 50% more power thing is more of a marketing thing than anything else. But I also think that the Manticore will be able to make use of that power more effectively than the AT Max did when it was released and much of the marketing mentioned its greater sensitivity and increased power.

What do you guys think about this part of the arm rest (that I circled in green)? Room for a weight to help balance the machine or hold an extra battery pack during a hunt, a la the N/M Legend? EDIT: Looks like it's part of the arm cuff adjustment mechanism. Still might be able to serve double duty to hold an extra battery or counterweight, though.

Or he could just be subject to an NDA.

Or a CTX 4040? I know it looks more like an Equinox than a CTX, but I get the impression it has target ID abilities like FBS II machines, but doesn't carry the slow recovery speed or weight of those machines.

That's what it looks like to me. I loved my E-Trac, but it killed my shoulder. I can't imagine an Equinox with the target ID accuracy (for silver, at least) of an FBS II machine...