Dick Stout

"It is alleged that Minelab gave IDC an ultimatum. If they wanted to continue to distribute Minelab products in Europe they should cease their partnership with Nokta and also Quest...."

Minelab in a nutshell....

So sorry to hear as well. Met Monte back in the late 80's when he was with Compass.  Knowledgeable detectorist and great guy. He will be missed.

When I worked at Garrett back in the late 80's we opened up one of the "long range" finders and found a rat's nest of wires that went nowhere.  Can't understand how they're still on the market and why the manufacturers haven't been sued out of existence.

Also back then I was reminded by another director of marketing that in the metal detecting business we do indeed "sell dreams"....

Minelab has always been a difficult company for distributors and dealers to work with and no matter how good their products are they might want to stop and listen instead of dictating. JMO.

My family suffered because of my addiction, and moving them from New Jersey to Texas back in 1988 was something that bothered me immensely back then and still does. A monumental change, a whole different world. 

It's too late to go back now and change things but I will never again neglect those I love the most for a hobby, no matter what it is. 

9 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Well, well done.  And to think that it is only 5 years old!

Where in the SW are you now?

Texas....

6 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Funny cartoon, and I was in that LH line consistently until the ML Equinox 800 which I've spent the last 4 1/2 years learning.  As I've said before, it took me two plus years just to get comfortable/trusting with it.  I was tempted by the XP Deus 2 but the expected learning curve was my main deterrent.  I expect the ML Manticore to speak the same language as the Eqx, with some words added to the vocabulary.

BTW, @Dick Stout, @Steve Herschbach, and anyone here.  I recall a post from a few years back (maybe 5 or 6 years?) which I thought Dick wrote about why we fool ourselves with a brand new detector in our hands.  (Doing things we haven't done in a while, like digging-it-all, slowing down our swing/coverage speed, listening more carefully to tones; then giving the new detector all the credit for the finds.)  Is my memory failing me as to where that post was located, or even who wrote it?  This is a perfect time to resurrect it -- some very thought provoking ideas, IMO.

P.S. I didn't ask this without first looking for the post myself.  I looked through all of Dick Stout's posts (only ~10) but his current membership only goes back to 2019 -- not far enough.  I'm pretty sure I read the post here because Steve H. commented positively on it.  But I'll go to Dick's website and see if I can find something there.  It was such a meaningful post with lasting relevance and as I indicated, now seems like a good time to read/reread it.  (A year ago when the XP Deus 2 and Nokta Legend were released it would have been a timely read as well.  Water under the bridge on that one.)

Thin this is the post you're thinking of....https://stoutstandards.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/is-it-the-detector-or-is-it-you/

Thanks very much. Look forward to watching...

GB_Amateur, thanks for the kind words. I think this may be the post you were referring to. At least it received a lot of views....

https://stoutstandards.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/is-it-the-detector-or-is-it-you/

Just read through the comments here and I would say Garrett achieved it's goal with the Apex tease and like it or not you can expect this kind of marketing from all the manufacturers moving forward. JMO....

They've obviously got your attention....LOL!

Remember that Minelab started this "teaser" type of advertising so it's considered keeping up with the Jones's (a.k.a competition). Likewise we now have covid-19 and only one "touchable" magazine in the US now (American Digger). I think this is going to be the marketing trend for the foreseeable future. It makes the shopping detectorist hold off spending his or her money until they see what all the hoopla is about.

DS

www.stoutstandards.com

Understand that trust me...

Just saw this and wanted to say that Paul emailed last week and he's hanging in there, hunkered down like everyone else. He, like myself, doesn't get out detecting that much anymore but has a few irons in the fire when it comes to researching treasure leads. His wife Joan is also doing well. I miss those early days too...

There's a link on my page, Treasure Expo photos, if you're interested. Likewise if you have any photos from those events please send them to me so I can add them....will give full credit (Glenn in Colo can I use the two posted above?)

Y'all stay home, wash your hands and have one for me.

Dick

https://stoutstandards.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/paul-tainter-mr-treasure/

No.

I have never met Steve but have heard nothing but great things. The responses to my Q&A and the comments here only reinforce that. You have a lot of friends Steve and they have a lot of respect for you. Thanks for all you do.....