phrunt

Simplex killer ?

The heavy discounting thus far has been with the Gold Machines, even throwing in a free Nox or GM1000 or whatever it was with the sale, now the pricing feels falling off a cliff for the GPX 6000 since the Axioms release. The X-Terra Pro looks to be $269 USD, so I assume that's lower than the Legend, and more Simplex pricing, and if so it kills the Simplex in one hit, and then Nokta are releasing new Simplex models but nothing special there, bluetooth and 15kHz instead of 12kHz, so they'd have to lower the price even further to battle it out with the switching frequency X-Terra. They have a model Simplex with no bluetooth at all which they'll end up doing significantly cheaper just to have the cheapest available. https://bigboyshobbies.net/minelab-x-terra-pro If you have a large customer base that are all annoyed by similar things about your products, there is something wrong. They should do a survey of their customers, it might be an eye opener. The problem is when in a situation like this brand loyalty diminishes, and if another option comes to market it becomes a pleasure to jump ship. Competition is getting hot, had they have treated their customers better in the past few years they may have held onto far more customers as more options become available. It's not just about taking money once for a sale, you want to keep them as customers in the future too. When you had the best products available that was easy, if you're just part of a group with similar products not so much. People now are already using the reasoning that the Nox 900 already has its coils available and we know their price so I'm more comfortable just buying a Nox 900 rather than a Manticore because of this, they're hindering sales by not having the coils available at release with no known date of release. They can make all these new detectors and get them to market but they can't get a couple of coils to market? They're just not a priority. I love Minelab detectors, they're certainly the ones I use 80% of the time, I don't like how they run some areas of their business though and their flaws are made far more evident by another detector manufacturer that tries their hardest to engage and keep customers happy. For now I'm waiting for my Manticore coils to be released, I will be buying them all, including any smaller aftermarket coil that Coiltek hopefully makes, and if Coiltek make a big coil like the 17x13" CTX coil and don't make it weigh the same as a concrete block I'd buy one of them too.

Minelab don't see the importance of coils. To them they're nothing but problems, ears snapping off etc... they are just an annoyance, they make detectors! The high profit margin on coils diminishes when you're replacing them regularly under warranty. The Nox 900 already had its coils in existence so it was no effort for them, all they did is thicken up the ears a bit on the 11" stock coil as its the coil everyone has and most people use the most so it's the coil that potentially has the most failures, they've taken a gamble leaving the 15x12" coil the same design, it has the most potential for failure but perhaps it is also the least sold coil so less failures over all, I'm sure it's a numbers game to them. The 6" would rarely break being such a small light coil. The X-terra had all new coils made for it, but we don't know if they're going to be available at release yet, even still with the Manticore coils likely to cost not far off the price of the X-terra then surely the profit margin on the Manticore coils is going to be a lot higher than the profit margin on the X-terra, they just see releasing another detector as more important than some coils because they're obviously needing more sales in the lower end detectors with their bean counters seeing the competition have control of that area of the market. I hope they've let Coiltek start whenever they want to on the aftermarket coils, not delayed them so they can't start for a year or two, if they were to bring their coils to the market first they can benefit from a bulk of the sales, although I'm sure Minelab would never allow that.

It's a good idea to do a model without wireless, it gives them a reason to sell it even cheaper, in manufacturing not having the wireless capability inside the detector is minimal savings but in the marketplace not having it there gives them an excuse to really go low on price annoying any competition. They are going to have some good competition in this lower end market now so they might do sell as well as they were hoping with the competitors machine having switching frequencies.

So it was their answer to a Simplex, It's basically a Simplex feature wise and control box quality similar with switching frequencies and some magic trick to make it work well in salt. Nokta were quick to fight back already letting it out there is new Simplex models coming. This competition is great stuff, it's what First Texas should have been doing years ago rather than letting a monopoly take control, rather than releasing the F75 version 15 LE Super Special Edition with enhanced sparkly paint and a unique one off 7 colour LED backlight so you can run it like you're at a disco.

Maybe having multiple frequencies like the X-Terra or SMF like the Vanquish. Competition is sure alive and well.

XP could learn from this, how to make a detector that can stand on it's own two feet. I would buy one of these if It were viable where I live for my XP Deus 1. It looks great.

I have an A52S and I've converted an A52 to an A52S also, that classifier system works OK, you have to get your flows just right or it clogs up quite badly, a good fast flowing creek/river is required and the gravels not too big.

Great to see you on the forum Scott, an experienced dredger with product knowledge of the current offerings on the market is a valuable asset. Love the look of the newly renovated store by the way. Just a measly a52 operator here, I do like the idea of the drop in classifier spoken about above, I'd also like a viable solution for dealing with extreme black sand clogging my sluice. All I've tried is the little aftermarket magnet attachment for the front that didn't really help at all.

Yea, that's weird, as long as you could get military discount of course which doesn't exist in Australia, time to shoot Minelab an email asking why? ?

Minelab are so smart, having so much confusion around which is best for what and putting that little edge on one model over another mostly by coil options and then releasing multiple new models at once so now people want them all ?

It's not been made yet unfortunately, who knows when they will release it.

I think the T2 suits your needs much more than the F75, DST model or not.

So, in my discussion with a person at Minelab Australia which I won't name names as there is no need he said the Manticore should not be any worse than an Equinox 800 for prospecting as I pointed out I'm not quite sure its on par with the Nox 800 on very tiny gold, we are talking 0.00X of a gram type stuff which they are going to look into, hard to judge at the moment without smaller coils though. On slightly bigger gold I see them performing very similar, with the Manticore having the extra sensitivity settings which push it in front of the Equinox if you can run in them due to EMI. At the moment this is based off 11" vs 11" coils. I hope Coiltek comes out with a 5" or 6" round for the Manticore, that'll be fantastic. Having the two Gold modes is just a shortcut seeing you can turn Gold 1 into Gold 2 by adjusting settings, so having only 1 on the Manticore doesn't really change anything and doesn't change my life at all. This is according to the Manticore manual why they didn't bother with 4 kHz as a single frequency. "MANTICORE does not have a 4 kHz single frequency setting. Instead, the All Terrain High Conductors Search Mode provides a Multi‑IQ+ based mode that can achieve an operating frequency even lower than 4 kHz. This provides the benefits of a low frequency/high power mode for detection and discrimination of high conductors, while retaining the substantial benefits of Multi‑IQ+." I guess they felt it wasn't necessary to put it on there seeing it was an add-on on the old Equinox to somehow please Asian buyers, I still don't get that but perhaps the EMI in 5kHZ was a big issue for them and 4kHz moved off that enough. According to Minelab this is why 4kHz exists, "A new Single Frequency of 4 kHz has been added to the existing 5, 10, 15, 20 and 40 kHz options. This new 4 kHz frequency enhances the detection of large deep targets, particularly those found in parts of Asia. As a result of optimising for these conditions, this new frequency may respond differently for users compared to the other single frequencies. " At this stage it's going to come down to coils, and how well the 8x5.5" compares to the 6" when it's tiny gold we are talking, it's possible with the coil getting narrower at the front and back it may exceed the 6" round on tiny target sensitivity I guess, as the Coiltek 10x5" is hot on tiny gold at the tip and tail way more so than the middle and the 6" round is only hot on tiny gold in the very center of the coil. As the Gold gets bigger and larger coils are being used like in tailings the extra sensitivity levels and power to the coil may prove the Manticore to be the better choice, it is absolute fact for me the Manticore is deeper on coins in my soil, that's no doubt, will that translate to gold? I think it will. I've pulled out a 1 gram bit with the Nox at a depth that surprised me due to my milder gold country soils, the Manticore I think would beat it from what I've seen so far. Tried at true is the Nox 800 and now 900 which is so close to the same detector with a better build quality, awesome detector for a VLF gold machine, however I think with time and experience the Manticore will better it, especially if @Coiltekmake a small coil for it, I really hope so, a 6.5 x 3.5 like the Nel Snake, if Coiltek did that, all bets are off, the Manticore is the winner, and sales will go through the roof for the coil.

Do you have a pressure hose? try blast the pins out then let it dry, you've got nothing to lose. Even try a air compressor with high pressure, Spray in the holes with some silicone spray or WD 40 first, you can always clean it off with electronics cleaner if you get the pins out to clean the oil off.

While I haven't used a F75 it's cousin the T2 is a similar animal and I have two of them, a DST one and an old Greenie. The old Greenie is much more unstable and ratty, but appears to have better depth. The newer DST one runs really stable but doesn't have the same depth performance from what I've seen, regardless of DST settings. I think more was done to make the detector run stable than just DST, perhaps as the T2 was famous for being so unstable and the improvements with the newer DST models certainly sorted that out. It's party why I did the shielding paint on my old model T2 to try improve it's EMI handling which I felt it did help a bit. I don't think it's sensitivity that has the weird stepping in it, it's the disc, my T2 is good on deep targets on something like 40 sensitivity, cranking it up in the 90's doesn't really change the depth all that much, maybe the higher sensitivity settings are more for tiny targets, I don't know it's been a long time since I've bothered using the T2 for prospecting and back when I did I was rather clueless. On the T2 having the disc setting below 10 seems to have some sort of extra power, go above 10 and the power drops off, then again at disc 50 there is another sort of extra power kicking in, yes in these levels the detector is more unstable but also deeper. Under 10 it can be rather ratty but at that point has the most depth, For the most depth I run at disc 0. Running these disc numbers gives the All metal performance while having some disc involved. Not sure how this translates over to the F75 but it's rather dramatic on the T2, the T2's iron range goes all the way up to about 40 though and you would think would be the better relic and gold prospecting machine because of this finer iron adjustment.

The sales are only in the US though, the one with the crazy high dollar ?

yea, I use an electronics contact clean and lube on all of my detecting gears plugs, not only does it clean them and prevent corrosion it makes them connect easier with less friction especially if you're plugging/unplugging a lot. People in salt water are especially crazy not using a product like that, it washes out any salt/sand as well as putting the film on there to help stop corrosion. Just get one that specifically says won't damage any plastics etc and you're good to go. The brand I use doesn't seem available in the US but there are many brands. It can turn grotty old blackish connectors to looking new again in no time.

I really like the idea with the staff, staff are the business, happy dedicated staff is a sure way to success, and a brilliant method of really getting the staff onboard and highly motivated, it's their baby as much as anyone else's. Every sale, every happy customer, everything is all in their best interests. A sure fire way to success. Plenty of owner run businesses do well, until they grow so much the owner can't run them on the front line anymore and then staff come in and the growth is stalled or fades away.

That's what happens when the AUD is 67 cents to the USD, when I moved away from Australia the AUD was higher than the USD, imagine if that happened again, you US guys would be paying even more than the inflated prices you are now for Minelab ? They should try keep your prices low as long as the dollar exchange remains in the US's favour.

This Tailgate Talk brings us to the Australian Outback with Detector Prospector, Steve Herschbach. Steve shares his tips and the success he has had over his 50 years of gold prospecting. Everything said in the video makes a lot of sense, totally agree. I had the help from JW that gave me the shortcut to finding gold and giving me the confidence. A huge shortcut to success. That's where the training courses would help people too I guess. The old saying the first one is the hardest is really true.

That's incredible. A monster shop of goodies.

I would need to superglue my GPZ, GPX 6000, GPX 5000, Nox 800, 24k and Gold Bug 2 together to get my ideal gold detector and I'd need to be able to plug in any damn coil I want to. As for coins I'd need to glue my CTX, Nox 800, Manticore and Ace 300i together to even come close to my ideal coin detector, it's not going to happen so at this stage there is no perfect detector and I'm quite happy to own quite a few. You know why the Ace is in there? It's crazy deep when outfitted with a Nel Tornado coil, and it can run a Nel Tornado coil and any other aftermarket coil I want on it, the others can not.

The purpose is to make access to the products easier, and a business decision to increase sales, Amazon gives them massive exposure to a big market of customers, a little dealership running out of their little shop or even garage is hardly comparable and not going to give them near as many sales and can't even be compared to the exposure they could get from Amazon. As someone that lives in a more remote place with harder access to many products Ebay, Amazon and the likes have been vital for me. Dealers in the US have been able to ship me product they otherwise wouldn't and I simply had no way to buy any other way as they joined Ebay's global shipping program, they just ship the product to Ebay who takes care of getting it to me, not another worry in the world about the sale for the seller, if they get it to Ebay, then that's their job done. It also helps with the costs of shipping with the bulk methods of shipping they use. "The Global Shipping Program makes your items available to more than 60 million buyers worldwide. You're protected from negative / neutral feedback, and have control over which items you want to ship through the program. Send your eligible item to our domestic shipping center, and once it reaches us, your job is done: We'll manage the international shipping and customs process for you." I don't know as much about Amazon but they appear to have a global shipping program too and a fulfillment option where businesses send products to Amazon fulfillment centers and when a customer makes a purchase, they pick, pack, and ship the order. They can also provide customer service and process returns for those orders. Yes, it's all part of the slow death of the dealer, it's been slowing happening over time, but the best way we can ensure our local friendly dealers survive is to buy from them when we can, although most dealers internet buying options are pretty basic and amateur so they're more targeting their local market with the retail stores than taking advantage of the huge customer base that is the internet. Many need to take a good look at their online stores and bring them up to be modern and easier to use, and more like the big players if they want more internet sales. It's really not difficult to make a good online store and if they can't do it they should just pay someone to do it, it's not a massive job. The internet is the biggest customer base in the world, take advantage of it!

I contacted XP customer service on their website to ask about their XP Pinpointers and if they're pulse or not, they never replied. They don't appear to have fantastic customer service.