UT Dave

I'd hope he doesn't have anywhere near that kind of weight. But I haven't watched any of his MC videos, and won't. Haven't watched any of anyone's MC videos. Pretty sure I can figure the machine out for myself whenever it finally gets here. In my own dirt, on my own targets, in my own preferred hunting style. And I'm totally sure it will be even better than the 800, which has been fantastic. I'd rather read the manual again than watch any of the vids. - Dave

Maybe... The Manticore hasn't been manufactured in numbers yet? Production delays? I know absolutely nothing. Just starting a false internet rumor. But, in half seriousness, it's the simplest explanation. - Dave

Neither will I. But as of now? It looks like the only other option will be speaker. Which, I don't favor. But I'll have to take it over any headphones in the heat. Just ain't doing headphones when it's hot out. Nope. But not having ear bud options - and not wanting any hypothetical ML earbud options either, is going to suck more than just a little bit. Especially as the MC has a BTE chipset. Kinda pissed about that... - Dave

You have a much clearer understanding of BTE than I do. From my skimming of the documentation, my very limited and possibly incorrect understanding is that BTE can, and should be backwards compatible to 4.0 as written into the spec. But, it doesn't HAVE to be, I think. Chips can be configured not to be. And even worse, and as I think we both fear Minelab may have done, they can even be configured not to be compatible with standard BTE devices. I mentioned in another thread today, if I was King of Minelab I'd gut the entire marketing department. If, you were releasing a new detector, with a feature as stinking cool as BTE compatibility, why is the marketing department not touting it? Either the Manticore doesn't have BTE compatibility, or the marketing department is even more inept than I thought. This has me worried Minelab has gone out of their way to totally screw up a really good thing. But I hope not... The marketing department shows indications of actually being that inept. I hope that's all that is going on. As you say, so far, nobody that might actually know, has said boo about it. - Dave

There's plenty of ghost towns, and park turf too for that matter, I guess, south of me. It's a long drive. But I was going to be hitting it in a few weeks anyway. If my Manticore is here by then, yippee! But I'm sort of planning on it not being. I went into this expecting Feb. or Mar. And there's nothing I can do about it anyway. So I haven't worried about it much. I get your frustration though. I think you had different expectations that me. And not without reason - going by what Minelab has been spewing. My expectations were set by the same spewing, I just wasn't buying any of it, and Gerry has been super upfront about setting realistic expectations for my order too. Agree with everyone who has basically said Minelab excels at public maneuvering to frustrate and disappoint customers on new releases. They really do suck at it. Marketing is marketing and it's required, but it can be done more effectively and in ways that don't set folks up to be ticked off. If I was King of Minelab, I'd get all new marketing folks lol! - Dave

Gerry, that picture on the beach kinda hurts my snow covered feelers right now... - Dave

I've worked in the software development industry more than 30 years now. An old saw in software is that "R&D" stands for "Rob & Duplicate". A guy I worked for, for many years. A brilliant software engineer, marketer, salesman, workaholic and businessman all rolled into one. Was with him from a few years after startup until he sold the company for nine figures (without ever going into debt or ever going public!). One of his favorite sayings, was that "business is a contact sport". He used lawyers and lawsuits to harass, distract, hamstring and wage scorched earth campaigns on his competitors in a way that was utterly ruthless and without moral compass. And he spent boat loads of money on that stuff. He's the one that made himself a very wealthy man and I'm the one still working for a living. I've long since realized, this kind of stuff is just part and parcel of competition between companies. And being the aggressor usually results in the better outcome - and a better outcome doesn't necessarily require a "win" on the legal proceedings. - Dave

So behind the times... It's going to be the Nox 4K. - Dave

Anxiously awaiting Gerry's shipment! Now, haven't heard anything, so presume there's nothing to hear, but I'm also anxious for that small elliptical coil. - Dave

An announcement eh? Yeah, maybe. Or maybe just more promises to make announcements. Just make the Manticore manual available. Announce that. Announce "something". - Dave

Dang it... I had myself all settled in for a long winters wait. Had the excitement all tamped down. Now you go and get me all anxious again. - Dave

Meh... Fries of French origin, okay. But, frites, now, frites - what fries wish they could be - frites are Belgian. Put frites in a bun with merguez sausages and andalouse sauce, the French are begging for the recipe. Downtown Salt Lake has a hole in the wall that serves exactly that and calls it the Machine Gun. Bruges. Highly recommend if you're ever hungry in downtown Salt Lake. Best Italian sandwiches in town next door at Caputos's. - Dave

My guess why not, is Minelab is a disciplined operation and speaking of such is for the marketing folks, not the engineers. Where I work, I don't really want my engineers getting out in front of the marketing folks either. The marketers have their job, we have ours. Ours is to build it. There's is to sell it. Two vastly different skill sets. I'll add though... The dang marketing folks do like to get out in front of the engineers and talk about stuff that isn't even in the design phase yet, let alone close to completion - or sometimes even possible! Marketing. Can't live with them. Can't live without them. - Dave

Purely speculation - obviously. But I think that Minelab's seemingly somewhat disciplined radio silence may indicate that, forces that want to hold shipment until all the T's are crossed (engineers), may be having some success in swaying the forces that want to ship MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and ship updates later (sales, marketing). Publicly traded companies don't dare try and get cute with holding up ready to ship product. They'll ship just as soon as they come off the production line. I think I'll be at least moderately surprised if there isn't at least one update on the heels of release. We'll see... - Dave

I've no idea when it will actually ship, of course. But when it's done and in production, it will ship. Whenever that is. Sitting on completed inventory when there are dealer orders open and in need of being filled and other projects and products already queued up behind the Manticore would make zero business sense. At any time of year. Fill the orders and take the money is what you do. Inventory on dealers shelves is the dealers problem. But I doubt that will be a problem early on, pre-orders should suck up most of the initial shipments nearly immediately. I'm hoping for Christmas. But betting against it. - Dave

Exactly what I meant. A run time meter. Swinging backwards reminds me of a couple of pickup trucks I leased years ago. I put big tires on them to get around better out in the desert and such. Did not correct the speedos. Did not have to pay for the several thousand miles over the lease agreement I put on them. 😂 - Dave

I actually wouldn't mind an hour meter. I won't miss it either, though. But a clock... No. Detecting time is like fishing time, or hunting time. No clocks. - Dave

Already on the list with you Gerry. Hope you get a bunch of them in the first shipment! I'm wanting the 8x5.5 coil too. Hope they are available soon after the Manticore ships. - Dave Affleck

I've mixed feelings on the Manticore release. The fact I'm buying one, not withstanding. The lack of real info from Minelab, combined with the embargo on early independent first hand reports. Result is there just isn't a whole lot of meat and potatoes on this beast yet. Which, means to me, really, compared to the D2 and Legend "launches", this one has been actually very quiet (so far). The "hype machine" isn't really generating much buzz, compared to the last two blitzes, I think? I lament the lack of solid info from Minelab for something I've already ordered. I rejoice the lack of youtube testers (those early "independent" first hand reports) krap-posting everywhere and turning boards into non-stop Jerry Springer purse fights. I wish Minelab would be more forthcoming with hard documentation of features operation. I'm relieved Minelab didn't send out early test units to people who shouldn't really be entrusted with such. - DAA

I'm not all that interested in any videos, so far. What I'd really like to see, soon, is a user manual. I can get more out of that than almost any video ever made. There's only a couple of "online guys" I pay much attention to when it comes to how machines perform, in my typical dirt and hunting situations. Both have posted on this thread saying they aren't going to be early adopters. But, I got in line for one myself, awhile ago. As Cal said, take the Pepsi challenge for myself. At the end of the day, that's all that matters - my take, on my own terms. Not any videos or forum posts. I'll have one of the first to hit the USA shore, and I'll see for myself. As Mr. McClendon pointed out, I won't likely post much if anything about my thoughts when I do get it though. Unless it's just super straightforward factual stuff - my opinions can stay my own. - Dave

If the product is ready to ship, start recouping development costs ASAP. The cost is sunk. Time value is ticking. Economy doesn't really alter that decision? Budget for projects still in development? Different deal altogether. Devil would be in the details and outcome could go either way. - Dave

So... I don't actually know anything about this. But, I have a pretty new Nox 800. And I have definitely noticed that around town, EMI is worse this spring than it was just last fall. Why? Don't know. Some have said perhaps it's the proliferation of 5G stuff going up everywhere. Maybe. I can't say. I'm not just imagining that I have to turn down the sensitivity a few notches lower, than I did six months ago, in the same places though. Just two days ago, I ran through every frequency, noise cancelling at each one, and couldn't go above 16 sensitivity without the constant audible chuckle of EMI. As it turned out, at that site, 40kHz is the only single frequency that would even let me run that high. Anyway... I really know nothing about this. But just on the face of it, considering what a universal issue EMI is, how many people have been trying to deal with it, I'd be flat out amazed to learn that just getting a new battery could make a meaningful difference. - Dave

I'll trade you my Barbers for that half a half 😆. - Dave

I got my Nox 800 in Sep. and have been having what I think is pretty good luck with it. Park hunting isn't my favorite, but it's what I mostly do because I can get in an hour or two after work or between honey-dos. My goal for this year, was simply to find an 18xx anything US coin. Penny, dime, whatever, as long as it is 1800's. I had reasonable confidence I'd find one this year. But I never expected it to happen in a park! But it did. Short park hunt today. Not very deep, in some tree roots. A 1895 S Barber! Couldn't hardly believe it! Up till now, I've found only two silver Rosies in the parks around here. The other Barbers and the one Merc I've found were at ghost town type sites. So I was sure my 18xx coin was going to come from a site like that. But, nope, park find! I have been on a tear on the park .925 and gold lately though. Counting today, five out of my last six short park turf hunts have produced silver and one of them produced 14kt gold. From just the last couple weeks of short park hunts: I find those sterling CTR rings fairly regular. I guess because silver coins are so few and far between for me in the parks, I call those sterling CTR's "Mormon Mercs". No offense to my Mormon family, friends and neighbors of course. But they are by far my most common .925 finds. Anyway, stoked to break into the 1800's! And it looks like the 1895 S is a semi-key date to boot! - Dave

I do believe that's it! Thanks! - Dave