Lynk

Goldseeker - Sorry if I missed this in a different thread, but given the depth, do you still use the 17" at all or is/was it just too unstable? The NF has been a killer for you and I'm curious because of the size difference and it seems like a long time until the large NF is available. 

What would be the general sized nugget where the 17" would be worth the tradeoff for depth versus any of the smaller coils?

Awesome pics! Thanks for the color (no pun intended) on your experience and the pics really make it clear and inspiring.  I am looking forward to getting the 10x5 out. 

Congrats Simon. Keep us posted on your experience. 

I just purchased the Coiltek 10x5 and would have definitely considered the Xceed, but they are just too scarce as of now. 

I don't think they have announced a date yet, but the last two years it has been August 18.  That will change a bit depending on where it falls in the week and it has been as late as August 26 in recent years.  

It's amazing how small that very nice gold looks on that massive coil. A lesson in perspective for sure. Congrats and well done!

How is the X-axis stability/noise with the Xceed? Simon and others have noted the Coiltek is very stable, while in my experience the Minelab coils generate a lot of noise. 

Great analysis, Simon and I imagine you are correct or definitely directionally correct. The lack of timings from prior units to the 6k suggests current processors and coding have the ability to make some determination around the best timing for a given set of factors in the ground.   We all have our real world preferences driven by experience, so the "best" here is likely a theoretical best.  

I like the change as timings always seemed archaic to me, but that's likely primarily because I don't live in gold country and could never get enough time on the machines to develop a proper feel and understanding of them. 

The most puzzling part, which you also point out, is the "difficult environments" phrase.  The SDC can operate in what I would call difficult environments. 

So then the question is, how does Minelab define "environments" in this statement. Is it static mineralization, variable mineralization, gold size relative to mineralization, a weighting of those, etc.  The analysis can get a bit lawyerly and, in the end, it may just be marketing.   

Even with all the undefined parameters and its share of growing pains, it has evolved into a good machine and I am happy to have it. 

Thank you and and I am looking forward to your thoughts.  The majority posts have been about the Coiltek ellipticals, so looking forward to hearing more about the 9 relative to other coils.

On 3/11/2023 at 3:02 AM, Gold Catcher said:

Nice job! That's a lot of trash for the San Domingo placers. It's always fun to hang out with Bill. I did the audio fix and have the Coiltek 9 round mounted on the 6k as my default coil. It is a great coil for tight areas and fairly stable.

Gold Catcher - Any thoughts on the Coiltek 9 round vs the stock coil?  Others have been very positive on lack of y-axis noise with the other two Coilteks, but I don't think I have seen commentary on the 9.

One of the main areas I hunt is pretty much a long, steep hillside so your feedback is very helpful.  Thank you. 

On 2/14/2023 at 6:36 PM, Aureous said:

Yeah, I was too.....I was expecting a much lower effect from the powerlines for sure. The 12x7 easily had half the noise of the 10x5. But the total lack of Y axis noise was easily the winning attribute. 

Aureous - How is the Y axis noise of the Xceed vs the Coiltek 10x5?

Steve - Did you get the 900,  Manticore, or both (😁) or pass as you thought? 

Given the improvements in target separation in the 900 and the already proven Equinox ability on small gold, what are the reasons to own a 24k over a 900 for purely nugget hunting? The 24k has an edge on price, but when you include an extra coil and wireless headset that gap is pretty much closed.  There are the obvious differences such as frequency, ability to configure the machine, waterproofing, etc, but when the machines are out in the field with all this thrown in a blender is there still a reason to go with the less featured 24k? Is the 24k performing better in more soil types? Do people see more depth given similar coil sizes?

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts.

Thank you Jeff for doing a deep dive on this.

Part of the Minelab pitch for the 900 is better target separation, but we all know the claims take a bit to parse themselves out in the wild. The area I usually detect in has a substantial amount of trash, so if there is an improvement it could be a real reason to upgrade.  

Noting the standard disclosure that this is an air test, it shows intriguing evidence of much better target separation in the 900 vs 800.  Are others experiencing this improvement in the field? 

Thank you. The coil does look very nice. I am looking forward to your thoughts on it.  

Congrats! Where did you order it from?

The stock traded up 18% on the release with the communications segment beating guidance.  Interesting to all of us is that the Minelab segment's revenue missed at $74mm. Guidance was $75-80mm. 

Codan maintained its Minelab margin guidance, so pricing was stable. It just sold fewer units.  Always hard to say what caused the miss, but competition has obviously heated up and production seemed delayed.

The management call is February 16th. Analysts generally ask about product releases on that call. 

ASX RELEASE 24 January 2023 Trading Update Codan Limited (ASX:CDA) (Codan) is pleased to provide the market with a trading update for the half year ended 31 December 2022 (H1 FY23). At the AGM in October 2022, the Codan Board expected that revenue for H1 FY23 would be in the range of $198 million to $215 million and this would generate a net profit after tax between $25 million and $30 million.  The unaudited revenue achieved in H1 FY23 was $212 million and the net profit after tax may now approach $31 million.

Highlights:

• Minelab unaudited revenue was slightly below the guided range at $74 million, however the business is still expected to deliver a segment profit margin of 30%, in line with guidance.

• Communications unaudited revenue was $137 million, slightly exceeding expectations and the segment profit margin will improve to 25%.

• Communications orderbook as of December 2022 has increased 16% from 30 June 2022 to $173 million.

My machine is currently being shipped back to me, but I am happy with the ease of this process. I was notified they received it on Jan 19 at 10:52am and was then notified on Jan 20 at 8:46am it was fixed and shipped. So fixed and shipped in less than 24 hours.

The perfect scenario is this issue didn't exist in the first place, but I am glad they are fixing it and in what seems like a fast manor. 

As has been said, it seems like a good idea for performance and resale value to have this fix performed while there is warranty remaining. 

Thank you.  Always appreciate your color. Manticore's vs 900's capabilities for nugget hunting will be my deciding factor, so even experience with the 11" coil is helpful. The sensitivity of the 800, even with the 11", converted me from some gold specific machines. 

Is there really a reason for a gold specific VLF anymore?  I purchased the Equinox 800 from Gerry after he made a very excellent post right before the price increase pitching it as an incredibly capable gold machine.  He was 100% right. 

I have had, and sold, the GB2, Whites GMT, and the Gold Monster. I still have a 24K, but my next VLF purchase will be the 900 or the Manticore, pending reviews.  

I am sure I am missing many obvious reasons for a pure gold machine, but it seems like today's technology (hardware and software) negate most of them. 

One comment that stood out in the video was there is improved discrimination depth.  They said targets will hold their IDs deeper than before. 

From an end user standpoint it's wonderful.  Choices (options) are valuable and we are also long the option the 900 performs nearly as well as the Manticore, but for less money. 

As a business, that's another question and since I am more vested in buying metal detects than Codan equity I'm not too worried about that. 

I was trying to reply to Simon's post, but definitely have not mastered that. Apologies.  

Yep, that + is a selling point, they want to reserve that for the higher priced Manticore.  It's also the one with Target trace which is a big advantage of the +

Maybe the "+" also refers to the additional power to the coil.