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If you have a 6" round, there is little point buying a 5" round, the difference isn't enough to justify the purchase. The Snake on the other hand has the size benefit, along with more small gold sensitivity being smaller. Depth is a confusing one too, the Snake will likely be deeper on tiny gold than the 6" but there becomes a cross s over point on gold size where the bigger coil becomes the deeper coil.

Great news, there is new firmware for the Algoforce, more user requested upgrades, probably these are more associated with those using it for coin and jewellery beach and park hunting than gold prospecting, but this is an untapped area for many with PI detectors, and having one with Target ID's is a pretty cool feature. I can't remember exactly but I think it was @palzynski suggested this would be a good idea, so I communicated that to Algoforce. Here is a changelog of the new firmware over 1.0.8 Release Notes for AlgoForce E1500 Software v1.0.9 NOTICE - Latest software V1.0.9 was formally released on 08/04/2024. Software version 1.0.9 was released on 08/04/2024, introducing two additional audio settings within the pinpoint (non-motion) mode: C.ID 5 Tones and C.ID 100 Tones. The original pinpoint audio setting is named C.ID Pinpoint, with 'C.ID' standing for Conductivity Target ID. Users can seamlessly switch between audio settings by briefly pressing the Right/Auto GB button while in pinpoint mode. C.ID Pinpoint: As in previous software releases, in C.ID Pinpoint audio setting, audio pitch correlates with signal strength, with higher pitches indicating stronger signals. Tailored for precise pinpointing of target locations. C.ID 5 Tones: Audio pitch is determined by conductivity target ID, providing distinct audio feedback for different target ranges. Conductivity target ID ranges 0-19, 20-39, 40-59, 60-79, and 80-99 correspond to audio pitches of 330Hz, 490Hz, 650Hz, 810Hz, and 970Hz, respectively. C.ID 100 Tones: Each conductivity target ID is associated with a unique audio pitch ranging from 250Hz to 1042Hz. Higher conductivity target IDs produce higher audio pitches, facilitating differentiation of targets. In C.ID Pinpoint audio setting, users retain the ability to adjust the audio threshold through the Threshold setting, consistent with previous software releases. In both C.ID 5 Tones audio setting and C.ID 100 Tones audio setting, the audio threshold is fixed at zero. This ensures ease of differentiation between conductivity target IDs solely based on unique audio pitches, eliminating potential confusion with the audio threshold. These enhancements aim to provide users with greater flexibility and improved target identification capabilities. There is also a new manual to allow for the changes which is available here And the firmware and flash tool on the Algoforce website here I must say the update works great; I've been playing with it for a bit. If anyone's worried about doing the update, I do it in this video and show how easy it is

I have a feeling you're not their target market Rick 🙂 When you have the best of the best, you don't need anything else.

SDC will be the best on the hot rocks by the sound of it but small coils are the go for it, closely followed by the GPX 4000/4800/5000 like Ron's mentioned. GPX will let you put on bigger coils for ground coverage and benefit from the bigger coils with depth. If you have specimen type gold in your area the SDC might be the better choice as it's hotter on that than the GPX 4000/4800/5000 series. The newer 6000 is more sensitive to smaller gold, but also much more sensitive to the hot rocks, a side effect of its sensitivity, in saying that you don't sound like you would care about getting 0.0X of a gram and would be happy enough getting 0.X of a gram pieces anyway. The 4000/4800/5000 take some learning to use, not a whole lot but you do have to be aware you'd have to learn to use them, the SDC being easy to use and switch on and go style detecting. The Garett Axiom is another option, but I don't know enough about it, so I'll leave that to someone else if they think it's suitable for you.

If those placers were on other manufacturers sites.... I likely would have. 🙂 I don't think Fisher have released a new detector since I started detecting, thinking back there have been a fair few paint jobs, the best one I think was the F19 to a Bounty Hunter, that turned a good detector into a bargain. The Gold Bug remake as they could no longer get parts for the original was another one, but that's a downgrade in my opinion. They did release a new coil; I'll give them that. I haven't heard much about it though. The Impulse is not their product, they just helped bring someone else's product to market, which is what their electronics manufacturing business does. If the maker of the Impulse had the funding he could have just used their circuits manufacturing business and had it made for him and kept it his product, and when it had its own website, it did seem like that was the case that they worked out some minor partnership whereby he can use their name and distribution to help get it to market, http://www.ftpcircuits.com/ Electronics Manufacturing (Circuit board Assembly) The most simple and easiest board can be produced very quickly. Years ago, single sided boards were much cheaper to produce than plated through hole-boards but now the difference is minimum. Single sided boards lack the ‘barrel’ (the plated hole) of double sided plated through hole-boards. Engineered Product Manufacturing First Texas' team of engineers are leaders in industry, capable of quickly taking your project from concept to production. Our product team is highly experienced in product design and development, providing creative and cost effective solutions. Warehouse Distribution and Fulfillment We are process and results driven distribution warehouse having experience with hundreds of companies globally including online marketers. Let us seamlessly be an extension of your company; manage orders and inventory like it was our own. Release your order - we pick/pack and ship using our best shipping rates. As you can see, he could have kept it his own product, and just had them make it if he had the money to do so, it's probably what drew him to First Texas in the first place. If their new strategy is just selling on Ebay with make an offer pricing so people pay for their detectors what the buyer thinks they're worth (within reason) I think it is going to spring some life back into Fisher detectors. They're going to get more sales, more users, more discussion on their detectors, Quite a good stragegy to bring old products back to life.

I wonder if this is how it's going to be from now on, this is their new sales style and the make an offer technique becomes the norm, people pay what they'll pay for their detectors. Some inevitably will pay more by not knowing anything and just buying thinking the price is already cheap because the ads indicate the prices are slashed anyway, others will snag a bargain by knowing what's happening and offering the lowest minimum accepted offer. They'll probably sell more detectors each month doing this especially in their higher end models than they have in the past decade as Ebay gives them a lot of exposure and everyone loves to think they've got a bargain.

I'd like to, I really just don't need one though, and with the price still being a big wad of cash it just doesn't make sense to buy it.

I think the new Lite package price has become a permanent sale, in other words the new price; it was meant to be just for Easter but now that wording has disappeared yet the sale is still going. Good news if this is the case. They're down to 13 in stock now from I think 40 to start with. 27 detectors sold from one dealer (Garrett Australia) so far during this price adjustment. There are a number of other dealers running the sale too. $135,000 Australian dollars in Garrett's pocket they probably wouldn't have without doing this price adjustment, it's just a shame they didn't enter the market at this price as uptake would have been much higher. I'd call that pretty successful, a lot more Axioms roaming around Australia now than before. Speaking to X-coils too, requests for Axiom coils have started to pick up with more owners of the detector in Australia, that's a very positive thing for the future of coils for it.

I don't think you'll need to worry too much about USA EMI and the Algoforce Jeff. There is something going on there with the Algo, it's very resistant to EMI for a PI. With the QED there was some adjustments needed for the different powerline frequency, I really don't think this will matter with the Algoforce, it has a nice noise cancel too.

I think they're just clearing excess stock; I don't think anything is going on beyond that, perhaps the cash flow is handy, always more outgoings waiting to be paid and with not all that many sales of the detectors. Even at these discount prices they're not selling like hot cakes as can be seen by the Ebay listing's numbers available. I think their focus is moving away from detectors to the other larger parts of their business. Night Vision optics, line tracing, leak detection and the thing that appears to have a huge market in the USA, security detectors like the walk-through things at Airports and well, just about anywhere you can think of in the USA, even sports grounds and schools. Hobby metal detectors to them appear to be like the Salads at McDonalds, they sell them, but few buy them, you don't go to McDonalds to buy a Salad. I think this is one of the big money makers for them now. See their website for the electronics manufacturing division. They have some cool equipment. They're not going anywhere anytime soon, they just lack interest in metal detectors and are using what they currently have as supplementary income, and will continue to do so until they no longer sell. The designs are well and truly paid for, they owe them nothing, they can just keep pumping them out like they do other people's electronics, except at minimal cost and still at these reduced prices they have a very high markup, you can guarantee that. It increasingly makes more sense for them to sell direct and with just big box stores as their retailers, and I'm sure there will be very few dealers left soon, if any as that's not their market anymore. They're already undercutting their wholesale pricing, but they won't care, they don't need dealers for their business model.

Hard to answer that as limited availability doesn't really help keep the discussion going on them. With so few owners on the forum you won't see much discussion. It sits a little below the Axiom so you could just buy that and be done with it, especially seeing you've got no GPX coils already and the Axiom is a really good price in the US and no indication of any possibility of sales in the USA at this stage. I think the only real disappointed people are those that expect the performance of a much more expensive detector or more from it, and I've seen people say that, and "borrow" one and decide it's not for them as it doesn't beat the machine about triple or more the price....

My Pro Pointer AT has a little rattle too, has since new, might just be a wire hitting the housing, doesn't change the way it works..... which is great!

I noticed that too but figured it was just the template their web developer was using, the sites very much a work in progress. New Products - Coming soon would just be the template placers. I wouldn't read too much into it but it would be great if they're about to start fighting back and their fire sale was clearing old stock for their new models. There are only so many colours of paint on a painter's palette though. 😛 I'm hoping for a Gold Bug 3 and an Impulse Gold.

Watch their 60th Anniversary video it introduces you to many of the staff, including Mary, looks a nice lady. They may do a great job of fixing the problems when they arise but perhaps not getting to the bottom of why they're happening in the first place, especially if the problems are split between two people so they may not see how often they even happen. Pure speculation of course, but three problems with three orders is a bit much so maybe it needs some higher up intervention, or maybe you're just extremely unlucky. Either way, an earful isn't usually the best approach, a good explanation of the issues will go a long way to fixing the problem for yourself, and may help others in the future from having the problem too. An angry person with a problem gets the problem resolved with the bare minimum treatment, a nice person gets the problem resolved with a smile and a thank you. It's rather wonderful how often and sometimes how promptly kind, forgiving, understanding and generous behaviour is rewarded. Here is Mary, look how busy she is, look at all the sticky note reminders all over the place!

I had no choice, I really liked it 😉

Wow, that's crappy, sorry you've had such a bad run. Rather than an ear full it would be best to speak to the right person, someone high enough up the pay grades to matter, and explain the problem you've had with your orders. It's more than likely the people that need to know aren't even aware of the problem. We all know they're going to make it right for you, but the problem only gets resolved if the right people know about it, and often the right people are the people that don't find out about mistakes.

I really like Garrett, not only their detectors, I like them as a business, as people. They seem to operate a bit differently to some manufacturers with the fact that to them, customers matter. Anyway, they've done this 60th video, it's a great watch as it introduces us to some of the team behind the detectors. A BIG Happy Birthday Garrett! I hope to be swinging more Garrett's in the future. Their staff are great, I love the coil winding team! Happy staff, best way to run a business. In fact, the entire team are great, so good to see such a multi-national bunch of people, love the idea of the flags from the countries the staff are from, I noticed an Aussie flag there! If it were me, I'd be proud to work for Garrett. It's clear these guys are all friends, and love working for Garrett. Great bunch of people. Probably my favourites, a husband and wife team from manufacturing. I want an autographed detector from them 😀 You can see the flags in the background of the staff members. A really cool idea.

Yup, see Garrett's reply to this guy asking if it's an AT Pro replacement.

It was a widespread problem that they weren't aware of when the detector was released, only after a year or more did they establish that it was a problem with enough feedback from users so unfortunately it was missed during the testing of the detector. I don't think they're obligated to pay shipping costs, as their warranty is a return to base warranty, and the problem was never a "recall" as there are other implications if they did that such as having to pay for shipping. It's unusual they would replace your entire PCB, generally they repair them. Either way, you'll be happy now that it's fixed, the machines really good once fixed up.

It came with my 4500. I tried it recently on the Algoforoce, completely lacks the sensitivity I'm used to with spiral coils. Much like the Sadie is less sensitive to small gold than a spiral coil of a greater size. I'd only use the 15x12" for larger targets. I guess in really bad ground or hot rocks a less sensitive coil would be beneficial though. Once you've gone spiral it's hard to go back 🙂

Better, far more sensitive to smaller gold while being similar on all else. I have a 15x12" Commander, probably never use it.

I guess I'm just not used to having a dealer around, my closest is about 7 hours' drive away and I've never stepped foot in the place 🙂 I tend to make my own decisions though, I don't need a sales person helping, nor do I care about seeing something in person before I buy it. I'd survive if I never walked into a shop again, if I could just buy everything online with fast shipping I'd be set, and the world is increasingly going that way. I can get most things overnight now, same day would be better, and in some places you can but because I live in a low population area not here yet. I'd be happier to cut out 3rd parties and buy direct, especially if doing that helped lower prices.

Unless you want the bit of extra ground coverage I don't see it as a necessary purchase.

Not at all tempted on an AQ, a final version, maybe, the AQ Gold, likely. I'd never spend my money on a beta product with no warranty essentially due to geographical location. Unlikely shipping it back for repair would be viable WHEN it breaks down. In saying that, maybe they've seen me poking fun at their shipping prices, suddenly they've removed Worldwide shipping off their listings and they now just Say USA, Mexico and Canada as shipping options and to contact them if elsewhere for a quote. They too probably thought over $200 USD to ship their garden scoop was excessive. -- Update: They've changed it on the AQ to only those countries, the other detector listings have remained the same with crazy shipping so the garden scoop is still $230 USD to ship 😛

It's a damn good price, cheaper than shipping to get it here 😛