phrunt

When it's a slow moving ship to release it gives people plenty of time to jump off, and other brands are pricing their models to encourage this. Those are lost sales.

A fault that makes it run fine yet not be as sensitive as the competitor's coil 🙂 With the background of the story behind it they had the opportunity to replace it if they thought it was faulty, but how would that go when the replacement arrives and I put up videos of it in comparison again being no better? Better to leave that shadow of doubt in people's heads than take that path. Anyway, old story, new story is people who have the same X-coil have since had the same results, you can check on the X-coils facebook group with the users if you like. NF are excellent at making spiral coils, had they been able to make the Z-search a spiral I'm sure it would be different story.

That's why you made such a good detector tester Steve, don't mind telling it how it is even if feelings get hurt. I'd rather someone that picks on every possible little flaw testing my detectors than someone that's out to please and trying to ensure they continue to have the testing role in the future. I'm quite sad to see the tide turn on Garrett on social media after this Storm event, and it did go from excitement to resentment. Fan groups have turned against them because of this delayed marketing method.

Correct, I thought it was a lemon because it lacked performance compared to the 12" Spiral I was comparing it to, it works fine, but is virtually no more sensitive than the stock coil. The previous owner had X-coils and bought it to compare, had it a couple of weeks and sold it to me as he didn't see a need to have it, it came with receipt I could have sent it in for warranty, he could have swapped it out at the dealer it was so new but neither of us think its faulty, we just think it's not as good for performance. It was a given that a shadow of doubt would be put over my coil being faulty as I was putting up videos showing it lacking performance compared to the competitors right as it first came out. There is a story to go with this but I'll not put it here.

Yes, I have the 12" Z-Search, had it since it first came out, if we ignore the CC's as they're vastly different and we go 12' X-Coil vs 12' Z-Search the stand out factor is of course the 12" X-coil is a spiral coil, the Z-Search is a bundle wound coil the same as the stock GPZ coil, so that's the main difference. It's also why I don't understand people saying the 12" NF is far more sensitive than the 14x13" stock coil, they're both the same windings, only slightly smaller coil and from all my testing they're very similar on small gold sensitivity just like jumping up a size on X-coil is, such as the 8" is very similar to the 10" X-coil for sensitivity, both bundle wound coils due to their smaller size. If you have used a Spiral coil on the older GPX, and then used a bundle coil of the same size you would have a bit of an idea of the difference in sensitivity or you could use something like the 12' EVO vs the 11' Commander for an example. The Commander being smaller should be more sensitive, yet it's nowhere near it. Somewhere on Youtube I did a video showing the 12" Spiral detecting a small bit of gold under rocks, then I showed the Z-Search doing the same, the Z-Search was very disappointing compared to the 12" Spiral. I also did a shotgun pellet test between the two in another video, again vast difference in performance. This is only for someone that cares about small gold. As gold gets bigger the two coils probably even out a bit... Of course it's not all roses though, I'm sure there are tough soil situations the stock coil and Z-Search will handle bad ground better, being less sensitive.

With Australia and NZ never having experienced a GPX 5000 stock issue and the US dealers saying it was discontinued there was some confusion going on, I asked here and was told it's not discontinued. Now it appears it's back at the US dealers, so was this a false alarm? Did the US dealers think it was discontinued for some reason without being told it was? Maybe due to a stock shortage or low demand in the US so stock being allocated to other countries with better sales. New Gpx-5000’s W Warranty Back In Us And Others - Metal Detecting & Prospecting Classifieds - DetectorProspector.com Brand New Minelab GPX 5000's Available, 2 Coils - Metal Detecting & Prospecting Classifieds - DetectorProspector.com The GPX 5000 sounds like it is still a popular choice for Africa, good value and just works, built tough for tough conditions and they're just used to using it and know it gets results. That doesn't sound like a detector you would discontinue unless you had a genuine replacement, which the GPX 6000 is not, very different detector.

I think they do, this file is version 2 of the manual and it has the stabiliser setting, which is only available after the update They just don't mention in a changelog in the manual the changes associated with the new firmware.

The F19 will be for my daughter on the odd occasion she wants to detect for coins. It does really well on our coins with its accurate Target ID on them in mild soils at our ski fields, especially our $1 and $2 coins which are all she cares about finding. The main reason for the "upgrade" over the Gold Bug Pro's was to give her volume control, she's a speaker user like I am, doesn't want to wear headphones so being able to turn down the volume is vital, the Bug is LOUD and embarrassing to use with its loud volume that can't be turned down in a public place. Incredible isn't it, their detectors like the Gold Bug Pro are so dated they don't even have a way to control volume.

Yes, my favourite coil selection was based upon giving me the best chance in any situation. Sadly X-coils no longer make any GPX coils, although they're considering it again since the Algoforce came out, and if the Nokta uses GPX coils that would really seal the deal, but it probably won't. I have a few of their GPX coils but the 10" is without a doubt the standout to me.

Admittedly I had lost all interest in First Texas and their detectors for some time, I haven't been detecting all that many years but I jumped through the First Texas ranks with a GBP, GB2 and two models of the Teknetics T2 along with their F-Pulse, now I even have an F19 on its way. It appeared with their lack of new products and very dated models they were just another generic detecting company, not something to really pay much attention to. My most recent of their purchases was the F-Pulse not all that long after it came out, while a decent pinpointer it is hardly something to be excited about a company's prospects over. Other than a coil that nobody seems to know much about and I haven't been able to find anyone that actually bought one they haven't really released anything for a very long time, and when they did it was just a rehashed older model, or as we like to call them paint jobs. Recently they started an Ebay firesale letting buyers dictate the prices they are willing to pay for their detectors, and people have been getting fantastic deals, but if you sit down and think about it for a bit are the deals really fantastic or are they about the price the detector should be in today's market, with the various competitors leaving these models well behind, it seems more like they're working out the prices people would be willing to pay and running with it, they've probably sold more of their higher end detectors in the past month or so with this firesale than they have in a year or two. Suddenly First Texas is being talked about again by people that had little interest in their detectors when they were full price. Many of us predicted this would happen one day where their high-end machines are basically entry level in the modern marketplace. I was thinking this is it, they're just going to clear out the stock and wind up the hobby detector part of their business, then I took at look at their Facebook group, I hadn't bothered to look at it forever as they were just a stagnant business. To my surprise it was very active, mainly with their marketing of course but active none the less. Every few days they're doing posts marketing their products, this really took me by surprise, and they had no indication at all they're doing an Ebay fire sale, another surprise, if there was a good place to announce it you would think it would be their Facebook group with 24000 followers, that's a broad reach of people that would see their sale that may not know about it. I think they're just settling into the new normal, working out the ideal pricing for models where they can get sales and will then return to their status quo of selling the same old models for the next decade. They appear to have a larger focus on metal detecting products outside of the hobby market on their Facebook group too, which probably demonstrates where a much of their detecting income is derived from. Their last marketing post was only 2 hours ago. Here are some of their recent marketing posts. So, they do have a pretty active marketing person on Facebook, and someone making up fancy marketing pictures. I hope they survive as a hobby detecting company, and I really hope they've got at least one more "New" detector up their sleeve, a Gold Bug 3 would be something many of us would appreciate, but I'm sure a F75 SMF would be more of a crowd pleaser for a bulk of Fisher fans.

He has very limited data relying on free wifi so I guess he'll pop up his photos and story when he gets home. I hope we can point the finger to an area where he finds gold, be nice to add a little NZ flake or two to his collection 🙂

I narrowed it down to my favourites per detector. If I was forced to narrow it down to 3 it would be the 10x5" Coiltek on the 6000 and the 15" CC and 8" on the GPZ, those two are very different in their application so I can't pick between them. If I was forced to pick a VLF I'd take the Manticore although I prefer using the GPZ and GPX now over VLF's, that took me years to decide but I just don't really enjoy VLF's now looking for gold. I haven't gelled with the 12x7", its lack of edge sensitivity really bothers me and I just prefer the 10x5" and saying something like the 12x7" will give more depth doesn't overly matter, if I wanted that I'd stick with the stock 11" as it gives more depth than both of them while maintaining almost all of the sensitivity, so the 10x5" is more for the shape and size than anything and the 11" for all other applications, the 11" is a stock coil that's actually really good, apart from its quality issues it's a hot good coil and the aftermarket coils aren't overly necessary unless size matters. Something else too, I've probably had the 12x7" on the GPX the most as I've been too lazy to take it off 🙂 I've given it a good chance.

aww, I wanted Garrett to be having some impact on them, it's good to have very healthy competition spread across many brands. It's safe to say Minelab don't dominate the VLF market like they once did, it's more balanced now, a healthier market. How can they recover from a sale like this though? you can't do a sale like this and expect sales to resume at normal pricing afterwards, people will be so hesitant to buy at the old pricing now knowing they can and will sell it so much lower. Dealers are going to have a hard time with people saying wait a minute buddy, it was this price a few months ago! They may sell a bunch of detectors now but they're going to go dead quiet for many months after it.

8" and 10" X-coil for the GPZ 15" Concentric X-coil for the GPZ 10x5" Coiltek for the GPX 6000 6" Coil for the Nox 800 M8 8 x 5.5" Coil for the Manticore Nel Snake 6.5 x 3.5" for any detector lucky enough to have it 6" Concentric for the Garrett 24k 10" Spiral X-coil for the Algoforce / GPX 5000. And a special mention to the Gold Bug 2 6.5" elliptical for being a brilliant little coil that other manufacturers should have replicated on their more modern Gold VLF's. If that's all I had, I'd be very content.

At least you guys in the US get the Minelab sale, even in Australia when it's an Australian company their "Anniversary" sale doesn't exist. A bit like the Military discount, give it to the US veterans but not the Anzacs (Aussies/Kiwis) So, they celebrate their 35th Anniversary in the USA, but nowhere else, even their homeland! Nothing more than a pre-emptive strike at the pending Storm that let's face it, is a detector that will mostly only be sold in the USA and trying to pair back some sales going to other brands. Minelab have given themselves a unique position for a business, loved for their detectors, disliked for their business methods.