Lynk

I have the same issue with my 900. I had it on its first trip where it started fine. A few days in it became erratic and I switched back to the 800 I also had with. Please let us know what Minelab says.

The company is welcome to try increasing price on old tech in a weak market. Either the market accepts the increases or it doesn't. Codan's sales will bear it out. Its 2023 segment margins were weak, but that's not a surprise. Codan had the post covid demand boost and its margins followed. For the three years pre-2020 margins were an average of 39%. Simple math says the company needs a 12% increase in revenue with no change in cost to have a 39% margin again. The pricing strategy does not make sense to me, but if it doesn't work they will quickly be running "specials" to get buyers but keep us anchored to a higher MSRP.

I think all that is true and even if they aren't quite at the peak of the technological curve focusing on the communications market may just resonate with investors more. That makes access to capital easier, meaning growth is easier. What CEO doesn't want a bigger empire! I kind of think we'd be happy if they sold the segment as it would bring fresh eyes and hopefully invigorate innovation. Anyway, all fun speculation. All we know is it looks like an aggressive Australian price increase. Everything else is TBD.

Codan's investor material shows a deemphasis of the metal detector segment. It makes sense for them to focus on larger markets with more growth potential. We are in a small, niche market which is really difficult to pitch to the investment community. It wouldn't surprise me if Codan sells this segment. Price dependent, it could be the rational thing to do to optimize shareholder returns and that is the primary fiduciary responsibility of the board.

A very true statement - the market (supply/demand) absolutely sets prices and Minelab has been discounting detectors due to high inventory. Raising prices in a market that only has demand after offered incentives is not likely a strategy that will yield results. Codan's view of this business unit is evolving and seems likely they ultimately want to be a communications focused company. The detecting segment has matured and they probably want to cash flow it. It wouldn't be surprising to see it in new hands in a few years.

What Nox are you running it on?

I agree. I used the 900 on a trip this past summer, but the instability of both target IDs and tone caused me to revert to the 800 I had also brought along. An update is sorely needed.

Thank you for letting us know, Goldseeker, and I am sorry for the loss of your friend, the loss to his family, and the loss to this community. OneGuy's contributions here will be missed.

Great point. Game cam > tank!

There is a pic from the front of the shed and a pic from the back. That suggests the photographer went around to the back of the shed to get a pic of the sleeping bear, assuming that's the order they were taken. Hopefully they had a tank to drive around to get these.

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.

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.

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?