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Hi all, I work for Avantree, and I stumbled upon this forum and noticed that many of you in the prospecting community are enjoying our Torus for use with your detectors! We would love to continue supplying quality audio devices for the prospecting community. We're currently developing a new product called the Sky Infinity. It is a bundle including our Infinity earbuds (https://www.avantalk.com/products/infinity-multifunctional-wireless-earbuds) and the Relay Bluetooth transmitter (https://avantree.com/relay-airplane-bluetooth-adapter-for-headphones). We will also include a 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter so you can plug the Relay into your detector. The Infinity earbuds have the aptX Adaptive and LE audio codecs. aptX Adaptive's latency levels are slightly higher than aptX Low Latency (which the Torus has) at 60ms delay v.s 40ms, but provides far superior sound quality. LE audio is a new technology as phrunt mentioned earlier, which trumps both aptX Adaptive and aptX Low Latency. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a transmitter that supports LE audio, but if there's enough interest in this, we can definitely develop one! If you're interested in trying the Sky Infinity bundle for use with your detector, let me know via message. We can send you one to try! If you have any other ideas for a product that would work well with your detector, please share and we can develop something great for you.

Well. I screwed that up. The jlabs I bought are nice but not low latency. The other brand I was looking at were and somewhere I lost track of features. I tried the jlabs but the signal response was SLOW. Looked at your link and did some other searches. Ordered the Avantree torus NB05T last night. They will give options for different styles of use. I'll have to wait before I get back to the race track. Even wired the minelab headphones now only work on one side.

The Axiom has had quite a significant price drop in Australia by calling it the Garrett Axiom Lite and dropping back to a single coil although the coils are quite inexpensive anyway. Now at 5 grand Australian, they're saying the Lite package RRP is $6299, but selling for $4999. They're still trying to get $7385 for the full package though, super expensive, I think. Better to buy the lite and whatever other accessory from the full you want; I'd skip the headphones and just get a Bluetooth transmitter for 30 bucks if it were me and use headphones or in my case the Avantree Torus I've got already. I've been monitoring their stock levels which for what appears to be a poorly selling detector (In Australia) they should never display; it's hovering at 2 detectors of the full package. They must think the lite package is going to sell more, they have 37 in stock of it. This is direct from Garrett Australia, Axiom Lite 11" Mono (garrettaustralia.com.au) We will be able to monitor how well its selling by looking at their stock levels, see if it goes down from 37 at any point soon. It will be interesting to see if this new pricing model helps with the uptake of it in the Australian market, although with other players now in the game also there it may end up more difficult than just this price drop and they may need to go a fair bit further yet but a step in the right direction for sure, hopefully it helps them get more sales in Australia so we can see how it performs in Australia more so than we've been able to see so far with very limited users, especially on social media and forums. Update - 12 March 2024 New Zealand is now also offered the Garrett Lite package!

I am hoping that Algoforce may force Minelab to become more user friendly rather than buzzword focused - just purchase a set of Avantree Aria ME S headphones that leave the stock 6000 headphones for dead but i cant use them wirelessly on the Manticore. Thats just nuts.

The Algoforce manual suggests end users contact them with suggestions of improvements they could introduce, so I thought I'd test it out, see the caption below from the manual, "Bug Report and Feature Request AlgoForce highly values customer feedback as a crucial means of enhancing our products. To ensure a seamless feedback process, we encourage you to reach out to us directly via email at admin@algoforce.com.au. If you come across any bugs or have ideas for new features that could enhance your metal detecting experience, please send us an email with a detailed description of the issue or requested feature. Kindly include the hardware serial number and firmware version of your detector (located in the Miscellaneous setting) in your email. Our dedicated team of developers will promptly review your feedback and respond to you accordingly. We appreciate your contribution and look forward to working together to improve our products." I contacted Algoforce with a suggestion of an improvement on the 8th of February, The pinpoint volume I thought was unnecessarily loud, it's nice to have the general audio volume quite high when using the speaker or the Avantree Torus neck speaker which really made the pinpoint mode roar, in fact I have the volume maxed out most of the time, however the pinpoint volume in that instance was extremely loud, so I suggested an independent pinpoint volume control setting to adjust pinpoint's volume and leave the general volume the same. I am guessing headphone users would have found the pinpoint volume rather loud too. It is now the 13th of February and to my surprise this morning I woke up to an email from Algoforce with a new firmware update to try out, now incorporating independent volume for the pinpoint function. You can also now adjust the vibration separately from the audio volume, so you could have high pinpoint vibration with low pinpoint volume, or high pinpoint volume with low or no vibration, and the same goes in normal detector mode, no vibration with high volume, high vibration with low volume etc. To adjust vibration you just hold down the volume - or + buttons rather than pressing them. The new firmware release notes: Release Notes for AlgoForce E1500 Software v1.0.8: 1. The activation time for a long key press function has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 0.7 seconds. For example, the time duration between pressing and holding the ground balance key and the commencement of actual ground balancing is now 0.7 seconds, as opposed to 1.5 seconds. Other functions requiring a long key press are similarly affected, including vibration adjustment and auto frequency scan. 2. In version 1.0.7, Pinpoint mode and the main detection mode shared the same volume and vibration controls. With the introduction of v1.0.8, Pinpoint mode now features independent volume and vibration controls separate from the main detection mode. Users can customize their preferred volume and vibration settings in either mode. Furthermore, the volume and vibration settings in both modes are saved during power down for convenience. I'm now testing this firmware out, I must say the upgrade process was simple and quick, I've recorded some video of the volume control function in use to see here, and soon they will have the firmware available for download. Very happy with their quick response, especially when at the moment they're super busy. It doesn't get better than contacting a manufacturer and being able to talk directly to the engineer behind the detector. So here is a video of the firmware update process, and some basic testing of the new volume control function. I'm pretty impressed by this, how quick they were to respond and do the modification, and it works just as I hoped it would. The screen in the video has the backlight turned off, in the sun, no backlight and the screens still easy enough to see, in fact I didn't even notice it was off, it looks a little darker in the video than in reality, which is why I didn't notice.

this works a treat Avantree Relay 20 hours battery life, then whatever aptX LL headphones you like, You can just use your Equinox headphones to save some bucks.

I have not had any issues in ground balancing either DD that I have which is the 13x11 and the 7x11, both seem to balance great in Fine mode, I run my sensitivity at 4 or 5 sometimes down on 3, I do tend to run the 7x11 Mono more though, and I do not use the headphones that came with my Axiom, I use the relay that Wiggins from Avantree sent to me and the Avantree Torus exclusively also, the ground I detect Balances around 54-57 has been as high as 68 on the upper numbers and 44-47 on the lower number

Got em today and am blown away so far with music...... Sounds like Dave Matthews voice is in the middle of my head..... WOW.....

For a newbie like me, I think the supplied wireless headphones are good, but because of several recommendations on this forum, Ive gone to the Avantree Torus headphone/speakers with bluetooth transmitterfor hot summer detecting. They work pretty good too and are way more comfortable in the heat.

Although I do not have a GPX 4500 I have been using that little Avantree Relay and the Avantree Torus with every detector I own other than the Legend which has built in aptX LL Bluetooth and that little Relay that @Wiggins sent and it works great no Lag and no cutting in or out, with my Axiom I have not noticed any kind of interference or background noise at all. I keep wondering what Avantree is cooking up since @Wiggins thread

If you have some Bluetooth LL headphones already from another detector you could just buy a LL transmitter, Avantree have some good ones available, the Avantree relay is good.

I’ve used a small low latency transmitter plugged into the ws6 master and paired my Legend headphones and my Avantree torus neck speakers, works very well. About $30 on Amazon..

The hip stick seems to be for harness only with its fixed length, but now I see little need for a harness, I used to for the speakers on the 4500 and its butt battery as I liked speakers but now with modern detectors and the Avantree Torus the harness is an optional thing, even my 5000 now I won't be wearing a harness ever again with its new lithium battery on the side of the box and wireless audio to the neck speaker or its JBL speaker on the shaft, these new lightweight detectors don't really need a harness and even the GPZ with the 8" coil which is my common GPZ combo certainly doesn't need a harness. Docs Ultra Swingy Thingy would take care of any fatigue with these lighter coils and detectors, it holds the pants up too as a bonus, while giving you a decent Bungy option and is certainly more than you need for the smaller coils, if I was in Australia swinging a 22" Concentric on my GPZ I'd be far more for the hip mounted method though as long as targets were few and far between as it's a frustrating thing to wear when constantly up and down digging and recovering targets, even the 15" Concentric on the GPZ can be a bit tiring by the end of the day as its similar weight to the stock 14x13" coil, slightly less I think but I'd still rather just connect it to a backpack and to my belt than have to wear a harness, which is why I'm interested in the contraption Doc comes up with, and anyone else. The reason I like the idea of an extendable one is so I can use anything with the little D ring clip on it to hook the hip stick onto, I often have a small backpack on when detecting, it has my food and drink it in, and another coil usually. So, I prefer to just clip onto that and my pants belt, most decent backpacks already have the little D ring on them. We are all different though, as I become a senior citizen, I'm sure my thoughts and opinions on these assistant devices will change. I never liked them at all, the Swingy Thingy helped convert me a bit.

@Wiggins Everything phrunt stated is the same as I have stated in PMs, I have also been testing out the Relay also as you know, again I have addressed my concerns with the short cable, which can be used by adapters and longer cables but, the fewer the connection points the less chance of things becoming disconnected, as @phrunt stated the little relay works great with no audio drop outs at all, the volume control on the relay is a big plus and works great, the size of the Relay is perfect because the size makes it easier for placement on a detector, The TC417 would also work but would be just a little harder for placement on some detectors, not all but some. @Wiggins thank you and Avantree again for continuing to try and produce a great product for us detectorist photo of relay mounted on the Axiom

Further to this information from the manual, on the 8th of February I contacted Algoforce with a suggestion of an improvement, The pinpoint volume I thought was unnecessarily loud, it's nice to have the general audio volume quite high when using the speaker or the Avantree Torus neck speaker which really made the pinpoint mode roar, in fact I have the volume maxed out most of the time, however the pinpoint volume in that instance was extremely loud, so I suggested an independent pinpoint volume control setting to adjust pinpoint's volume and leave the general volume the same. I am guessing headphone users would have found the pinpoint volume rather loud too. It is now the 13th of February and to my surprise this morning I woke up to an email from Algoforce with a new firmware update to try out, now incorporating independent volume for the pinpoint function. The new firmware release notes: Release Notes for AlgoForce E1500 Software v1.0.8: 1. The activation time for a long key press function has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 0.7 seconds. For example, the time duration between pressing and holding the ground balance key and the commencement of actual ground balancing is now 0.7 seconds, as opposed to 1.5 seconds. Other functions requiring a long key press are similarly affected, including vibration adjustment and auto frequency scan. 2. In version 1.0.7, Pinpoint mode and the main detection mode shared the same volume and vibration controls. With the introduction of v1.0.8, Pinpoint mode now features independent volume and vibration controls separate from the main detection mode. Users can customize their preferred volume and vibration settings in either mode. Furthermore, the volume and vibration settings in both modes are saved during power down for convenience. I'm now testing this firmware out, I must say the upgrade process was simple and quick, I'll record some video soon of the volume control function, and soon they will have the firmware available for download. Very happy with their quick response, especially when at the moment they're super busy. It doesn't get better than contacting a manufacturer and being able to talk directly to the engineer behind the detector. This is how easy it is to upgrade the firmware, no issues at all. I'm on Windows 11. At the point where it says it was successful you can just unplug the detector and off you go.

@Wiggins The benefit with having it on the detector is just convenience really, those model detectors don't have a built-in speaker at all, and rely on you using corded headphones, so by putting a speaker on it like that it gets great audio with no cords dangling out to your body. Now though, with the latest model detectors either having a built-in speaker or some form of wireless audio it's not as necessary on them, but the cost of making a plastic mount as an accessory option I am guessing wouldn't be that high, so if it was sold separately to the clip-on speaker, it gives you an opportunity to sell more stuff for those with the model of detector that would benefit from it and for people wanting to clip it onto a bikes handlebars or something else 🙂 Clipping the speaker on the shaft as shown points the speaker up towards you, mounting on your body tends to face the speaker away from you, if it has good volume, it really doesn't make much of a difference, part of detecting though is listening for very faint target signals, headphone users have the advantage here, so speaker volume is essential to hear the faint targets. As long as the speaker has a good way to clip it so it's not dangling, something that secures it to your shirt more than holds it on there, it needs to not flop around as it would get annoying, you're often digging holes and gold detecting you're swinging a pick smashing up the ground or rock, so if its loose it is annoying. I've been using the Avantree Relay and everything is great, no signal drop outs, in fact a good range too as I often wandered off from my detector and used the audio to get me back to its general area when I forgot where I left it 😜 The things I would change with it are the fixed cable needs replaced with a female 3.5mm port to plug in different lengths of cable, as the cable is just too short for the detector it's plugged into, and for another detector the cable is very much too short, allowing different lengths to suit different applications is much better. You'll see here I have to mount it quite awkwardly to fit so the cable reaches. I just used adhesive Velcro on the transmitter and detector. Another transmitter where I can use whatever cable I want fits better, although I need to invest in a right-angled plug cable so it doesn't stick out. This transmitter is bigger, and will be harder for fitment on some models due to its size, the Avantree is a much better size and shape. The next thing is the USB port for charging, this would be best if it had a little cover to put into it, I have bought covers but if one was included that would be an idea especially if its one that remains mounted so it can't be lost, detecting is a dirty dusty thing to do, exposed ports are asking for trouble. I'm finding the Avantree Relay better than the MPow for audio stability, maybe a better antenna?

I've tried out the microphone feature, it's quite nice being able to put the ambient outside noise through your headphones for awareness of what's going on around you. As I mostly use the speaker or the Avantree Torus I'll probably not need this feature, but it's still nice to have in case I do need it. Can never have too many features 🙂 Probably some tin foil hat wearers will think it's recording everything they say and beaming it back to Alfoforce HQ via satellite so they can find out everyone's gold locations like they did with the GPZ and it's GPS 😁

Just got a new Legend, so far like it a lot, still going though the setup, and watching a lot of video on the old iPad, took it out yesterday for about an hour or so, got two mercury dimes, and of course trash 🙀,, seems it has real good deep, been out of detection for about 30 years, it has changed a lot, also use the headphones works real well but to hot, and I like to hear what’s around me , so I picked up a wireless Avantree Torus, seems to pair really well and not so hot, also something that I didn’t have or they didn’t make A pinpointer,AccuPOINT, boy do I like it, don’t have to run over it with my detector all the time after plug, things change after 30 or 40 years😱, any way glad to be back, COYOTE

Yes the Torus has proved themselves, original set I`ve had on the 6K are into their 3rd or is that 4th season??? They are popular here in OZ, Sales to detector user would show that. Perhaps as they have proved themselves Avantree should leave the original Torus as is.... have a go at making a more rugged Torus but just in case that`s not the go, leave the original Torus as is ,,, If it aint broke don`t fix it

I just don't like how it crackles, but I've been told it's a flaw with aptX LL not the fault of the Torus, perhaps interference or just not keeping up with its fixed transmission rate for whatever reason, EMI, my body between it and the detector and so on. I've never really properly used my atpX LL headphones to know if they do the same as I don't like headphones, maybe now with the Algoforce and it's built in microphone to transmit the surrounding sounds into the headphones I may like them a bit more, I just like knowing what's going on around me. I also think the Torus isn't robust enough for the sort of detecting I do, the cloth type stuff over the speakers will be torn and destroyed in no time so I've been consciously trying to be very careful with it. The new "detecting" focused version will be on my must buy list. I currently use the Torus is if windy or for whatever reason I think the built in speaker won't be suitable for the day as I want louder volume, I often detect close to very fast flowing big rivers and they're LOUD! It drowns out speakers but the Torus does the job great. You're spot on though, Algoforce owners will be looking for a good wireless transmitter with long battery life and suited well to the detector, and Avantree is already well on track to having that with this one, just needs some minor changes to be perfect.

That`s more compact, the sort of size we need, Avantree`s timing is spot on I can see a lot of E1500s fitted with it. What changed you over to using a Torus, your first posts on it weren`t positive?

@Wiggins at Avantree was kind enough to send me a Bluetooth LL transmitter to test out, along with their NB18 wireless neckband earbuds. I'm currently using the Avantree Torus neck speaker with my Algoforce, although the built in speaker is just fine, it's been windy lately so the Torus is helping with that by having the speakers right at my ears. I've been using this MPow aptX Low Latency transmitter on it, using adhesive Velcro to attach and detach it, the Velcro actually came with my Quest Wirefree Mate wireless kit which uses 2.4 GHz, but I now prefer the Bluetooth aptX LL stuff. This is the gear Avantree sent, the NB18 isn't LL however it was sent more to test the design, build quality and sound quality for suitability for detecting, I'm yet to try it out as it only just arrived today, I have however tried out their Relay product, it' is atpX LL and aptx Adaptive using Bluetooth v5.3 The Relay product is really good on the Algoforce, very loud audio and adjustable volume on the Relay as well as the detector, and Torous. The downside is it has a short little cable built in, it fits but its a tight fit. I just put adhesive Velcro on it to attach it. Nice little product, 20-hour battery life too, so will give a couple of days detecting for most. They're intending to make a version of this ideal for detecting, and really, all I can see that needs changed is it needs to have a socket to plug in a cord rather than a fixed cord, to give it the best compatibility with a range of detectors. Perhaps they could include some adhesive Velcro for both the detector and transmitter with it too. I've tested it a fair bit today and its audio is very stable, no drop outs, no noticeable interference causing it any issues and it's not causing the detector any interference either. I can see this being good for detectors, I'll have to try it on a range of detectors yet but so far so good with the Algoforce. They just need to release it with a 3.5mm female socket rather than the fixed cord and maybe include a short cord to get people started until they adapt to the right size for their detector, I often prefer right angle plug ends if the situation suits as they can be out of the way more so if the female socket is offset to the side rather than the middle that also helps keep the plug out of the way.

As long as it links to here especially where I explain about the cranking of the threshold up high to combat the wind etc making it a bit unstable, and the coil size difference as so on, it wasn't a fair comparison between the two, even though the Algoforce did remarkably well it's good to have some context. With my aptX transmitter and the Avantree Torus neck speaker to make the audio louder not having to worry so much about the wind noise I wouldn't have needed to do that and the detector would sound better, unfortunately I haven't used the transmitter in some time and it was dead flat, it's charging now. 🙂 The 6000's speaker is louder and the 6000 audio just screams on small close to the coil targets, but rapidly falls away, it does make the 6000 sound a lot better on video though even though they were both doing very well.

I've made another video, this one I'm not making public on Youtube and just having it as an unlisted video as it needs context, I went back behind my house to the river where I was in the first video, but there is an offshoot creek that's surrounded by willows and other bush that made it a bit easier to get out of the wind, the creek was partially dried out so worked well for shelter so hopefully the winds better in this one. Now the reason it needs context is the Algoforce speaker isn't as loud as the GPX 6000 speaker, and the 6000 has really boosted audio on targets, making them sound a lot better, much like if I connected the Steelphase SP01 to the Algoforce it would have the same loud target sounds. I think in wind like this I would benefit from putting on my aptX LL transmitter and using the Avantree Torus, so I'll be doing this for detecting tomorrow as no doubt the hot wind will still be about. The pinpoint is very loud with the threshold as high as it is, I've since used my Torus neckband with aptX LL transmitter and pinpoints a much nicer volume. I run both detectors over the targets sitting on the ground, I think the GPX 6000 did better, but not $6000 better if you know what I mean 😉 I think it averaged an inch or so deeper overall with all targets combined. Some were so close to the same as an estimation while others it did a fair bit better. Obviously, this is just swinging a coil in the air with no measurements, so means next to nothing other than the detectors were able to respond on them and how well they sounded on them in that circumstance. This is also a 10" coil vs a 12x7" coil, so next time I'll use a smaller coil on the Algoforce, I've not even tried any other coils yet, the X-coils 12x6" semi spiral is probably the closest fit, almost the same as the 12x7" so it would be good to use that combination. My Sadie hasn't arrived yet, it was quicker to get the Algoforce from Australia than the Sadie from 3 hours' drive away, nuts! but I don't expect it to be better than any of the spirals for sensitivity anyway. Either way, a lot of coils need tested out on it yet to work out the optimal coil for small gold, the 10" was just the first one I threw on it as I really like that coil. I think once I get away from the powerlines if I can crank that gain up on the Algoforce it's going to be a pretty good small gold weapon. It was a bit ratty in the video from the powerlines and my really high threshold trying to make it louder to overcome the wind, and running the gain at 26 out of 30. I think If I had headphones or the Torus I could put the gain more in the low 20's and get the rock stable threshold, with a much lower threshold volume and have a nicer running machine with the same sensitivity to the gold, I just did this to try make it easier to hear in the wind. In the video I do a basic Target ID test on a coin by showing the ID of the coin, then I bury it in the gravels and show the Target ID, rock solid stable and correct, pretty impressive. I think I'm going to love this detector on the beach with a bigger coil. I really think for the price this thing is a game changer, it's going to allow so many people to move onto a PI and take up serious gold detecting without breaking the bank. The beach/relic type people I think will appreciate it too, I'm going to love it on the beaches here where VLF's struggle with black sand. The thing I didn't even think about is this river is full of hot rocks, I didn't notice any. That's not saying it's immune, the hot rocks in this river play havoc with VLF's but PI's can handle a majority of these ones fine. We'll see once I get to gold country how it goes there.

I have had 3 different Avantree products, excellent quality, I use the Torus with both my detectors the Legend and the Deus2 ws6 master, I use a low latency transmitter for the master, works great, I use the Torus a lot, listening to music and detecting, great sound.