phrunt

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

The 22" is 1500 grams with skid plate, only a couple of hundred grams heavier than the stock 14x13" I believe, I can't remember the 14"x13" weight. It's significantly lighter than the 19" Minelab coil. The 22" although a big coil isn't designed for ground coverage, none of the Concentric coils are, they're for depth in known gold areas and you have to overlap your swing by 1/3, a little less if you're able to use normal.

It's all just marketing doing their thing, they've got everyone talking about it, perhaps a few are now holding off a purchase of another detector waiting to see what this "storm" is all about, and that's exactly what they want to achieve. I just hope they don't drag it out too long like other brands have in the past. I prefer the take us all by surprise method that some manufacturers use than this marketing hype stuff.

That's a good video, I'd love to detect that ground.

This is where the Sphinx 03 is awesome, configured with a phone app, and you don't even need to use the button to turn it off and on, that's all done by magnetics, pull it out of it's holster and it turns on, put it back in and it turns off. It's a shame it never became widely available, and that's unlikely to happen now with the war going on over there. They're a big brand too, and make a massive range of different pinpointers, many for security use. Catalog of Handheld Metal Detectors and Metal Detectors for Object Security | "SPHINX" – Inspection Equipment (sphinx-md.ru) Other brands may end up copying the phone configuration method in time, as it really is a game changer, so much easier than remembering overly complex button combinations to do things. It has a great internal battery too, up to 90 hours off a charge.

The people that took over our best store are dredgers, I'm sure if I required dredge stuff, they'd be great to talk to, they just have no idea about the toys called metal detectors.

Unless a multi-line dealer the chances of getting the "correct" advice is minimal, as they're going to sell you what they have, not necessarily the best for your requirements.

Isn't he a Garrett exclusive dealer? Either way, there is no point being a dealer when there is no stock available to sell and so easy for people just to go direct to Algoforce and order it, I don't see much point in dealers in Australia unless they're going to offer some training or something to add value to the purchase, otherwise easier to just go direct. Where dealers are going to be more necessary is overseas, and they'll likely need to have a dealer take on the warranty repairs, pretty simple unit to fix though especially if it's a simple swap out parts scenario. They are gradually filling orders though; I have a second one sitting at my house at the moment that a friend ordered and had delivered to me for him to collect here when he's in the area soon.

Have you tried a Nokta Pulse Dive? I find it deeper than the F-Pulse on coins, not sure how that would translate for you but probably quite favourably.

Minelab have talked a lot about future plans to sell direct and even set up website in Asia as a trial to do so. They're also making the push into big box stores and sporting goods stores. Far bigger exposure in those stores, people see detectors that aren't out looking for them like at dealers and may decide they're interested. The big box stores may start negotiations with Minelab, and Minelab may demand exclusivity of their detectors. The big box store would look at their existing detector sales, do some research, see which brands are most popular and accept Minelab's conditions. They could end up pushing out the original big box store brands and the Go-Finds, X-Terra and Vanquish are perfect for the job. Nokta are creating models ideal for big box stores at great prices but haven't yet made the push to try and get their detectors sold in these stores which is a surprise to me. Why sell your product though a little shop in a back street or someone's garage when you could be in the big mall in the city centre and get high traffic seeing it. Only the biggest and best dealers will be around in a few years. Our only good dealer retired and sold his business, we now just have order takers. An example, I contacted the new owner and requested they keep me on the list for the Sadie for the GPX 6000 that the old dealer had me on, just verifying they knew I wanted one, in turn they said we have the Sadie in stock for the GPX, you can buy this one instead and pointed me to the GPX 4500/5000 Sadie.

Thanks, I really don't need it, but it's a slight upgrade over my GBP. Maybe I should get it.... feeds the addiction....

I just had a bright idea to get an F19, a friends coming over to NZ from USA soon, but I searched their store and the F19 has disappeared, perhaps this thread sold them out.

Seeing the rechargeable requirement rules out the Garrett Carrot, I'd go the XP Mi-4, if it was realistically available to buy the Sphrinx 03 is better than all of the pinpointers I've ever used, in saying that I've not done much with Nokta except the Pulse Dive, I had the others though.

It just keeps getting better! This is actually quite funny $9,99 for their garden scoop, only $230 USD to ship it 😛 It must fly first class with all the trimmings, via the moon.

The last of their dealers will not be happy about it, probably make a loss if they try compete. Good for the customers though, If I was in the USA I'd be tempted to get a few things at bargain basement pricing while they're there. I'd upgrade my my GBP to an F19 for sure as I have a lot of money invested in coils for it.

Sounding more and more like a fire sale!

All good, I know I just talk stuff up in my head then when I go out and use it reality sets in 🙂 If I was buying any of the FT machines it would be that F19, I much prefer the 19kHz range over the 13kHz detectors. As time goes by though I'm getting pretty sick of 9v batteries.

But it's an easy expert turn on and go detector 😛

First Texas have something seriously wrong with the shipping they're using, they're trying peddle their wares internationally with Ebay yet they've not joined the Ebay Global shipping program which would significantly lower their shipping pricing instead doing some wild shipping prices on their stuff. There is no way in the world they have realistic pricing of what it actually costs them, I had Doc recently send me a package with USPS and it was something like $20 USD to ship it yet to ship a Bounty hunter pinpointer from First Texas they want $230 USD. Get real First Texas, it's hard to take you seriously when you do stuff like this. Their shipping price doesn't include any duties or taxes so they can't blame it on that, although they're insignificant for products in this price range. Then, if I was to buy a detector off them, lets say I want a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV, the detector price is reasonable with currency exchange etc, yet the shipping $500 USD., come on! It gets worse! If I was foolish enough to buy an Impulse AQ off them, $971 USD to ship it, the price of the detector goes up, amazingly so does the price of the shipping. Then right under them is Serious Detecting, a dealer I've bought from a few times, same price for the detector, with shipping only $191 USD. Far more reasonable, still expensive, but USA shipping has to be the most expensive in the world from what I've seen. Hard to be competitive with other countries exporting goods when shipping prices are through the roof.

I do, with the depths some of these modern detectors can achieve I find it easier to dig the hole and use a pinpointer to narrow it down, I kept getting trouble with pinpointers on the wet sand so moved onto the Fisher F-Pulse which works well for it. In saying that I'm not a big beach hunter and only do it a few times a year.

Garrett needs to filter out customers outside of the US for these marketing campaigns, when you sign up, they know which country you're from, yet they send you promo's that only work for US customers, they might find it annoys people being left out.

That's why I hope Jeff won't be disappointed, memories can often be fonder than reality. It's one great detector though, and to someone starting out at that price it's a steal, but it needs to be that price to sell, as competitors low end machines are now right up there with FT high end machines, something that was predicted a few years ago now.

Google Earth has basic resolution images, you need Google Earth Pro to get the high resolution images. I have Google Earth Pro and Tumonz, both allow access to high resolution images. I see they've now made Google Earth Pro free, it used to be a subscription service, went to load mine up and see it doesn't care about my sign in from the Pro Version anymore. Nuts not to install that for those using the web based version.

Manticore 20kHz, noise cancel. Beaten by a mile. But yes, compared to many detectors its the best, even for use near electric fences, I was using it with the Snake with success. For the price it's a winner, but it's more does someone with more modern more expensive detectors need it.

I'm sure you'll have some fun with your F19 Jeff, but I think your memory of the Gold Bug's maybe fonder than it probably should be. I have my favourite coils on it, the Snake, Sharpshooter and Detech Ultimate, the Fisher 10x5", 5" and 11" yet it rarely if ever gets used, other detectors are just better. It's fun to take it out every once in a while to stop the motor seizing up, but not a detector I'd choose to use and can't think of any reason I'd use it in a serious manor over my other better detectors. For a single frequency it's Target ID's are fantastic though, far superior to the T2, a better coin machine for parks than a gold machine, I think.