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Hello Dear Valued Members.We are proud to announce that Nokta &Makro Detectors has been certified as a Research & Development Center by the Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology in Turkey.On behalf of my team and company, I want to thank all who have supported our company to grow at a fast pace and to develop new technologies and products. We owe where we are today to our valued customers!Best Regards,Dilek

The Ultimate Throwback Thursday Discover Magazine Some of you might remember a publication called "Discover" that White's Electronics used to publish. It featured customer finds, treasure stories, and all-around good info on metal detecting. Back in the 90's we stopped making it, much to the disappointment of some of our long-time customers. Well... we realized missed it too! So we're proud to announce the re-introduction of Discover magazine. As a part of our mailing list you have exclusive access to a free digital copy, which you can read online, print out, and share as you see fit. Get your January/February copy here. We'll try and send one out every 2 months. Thanks for supporting an American brand, and know that we will always have your back as a valued customer. This publication is just one small thing we can do to show our appreciation! Sincerely, White's Electronics P.S. - We plan to hide a clue in each issue. First 100 folks to find it and mail us an envelope with the answer will get a free prize. Think you can you find it? Good luck and happy hunting!

First Texas Products Again Successful Against CounterfeitersEl Paso, Texas, Sept. 25, 2014 -- Following on its September 2013 counterfeit raid and confiscation, First Texas Products, LLC, was again successful in penetrating a counterfeit distribution organization operating in the United Arab Emirates, resulting in the raid and confiscation of Teknetics® and Fisher® Research Labs metal detectors."Following on our successful 2013 raid, the worldwide leader in gold detection technology again apprehended the counterfeiters," said Tim Mallory, First Texas Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Our determination to close down the illegal retailers, distributors and manufacturers continues to be as aggressive as ever,” he said.A Sudanese national reputed to have operations in Dubai and Ajman was arrested at an Ajman warehouse facility where Chinese-origin counterfeit Teknetics T2 and Fisher Gold Bug® gold detectors were being assembled, packaged and distributed.Tom Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of First Texas Products, said the ongoing anti-counterfeit operations in the UAE and Africa have made it more difficult for counterfeiters to operate. “We will stop at nothing to protect our intellectual property rights and defend our market position in the UAE and across the African continent,” Walsh said. “First Texas Products will not be hindered in the pursuit and prosecution of counterfeiters. And First Texas will continue to pay for information leading to the arrest of counterfeiters and the confiscation of their illegal wares.”According to Mr. Mallory, “counterfeit Teknetics® and Fisher® products have been distributed in Dubai since 2009. Innocent and unsuspecting African miners suffer the consequences of counterfeit distribution. Our anti-counterfeiting programs seek not only to prosecute fraud; we also educate retailers and end users on the economic and legal risks inherent in counterfeiting. This seizure of counterfeited products of two of our strongest brands reinforces our resolve.”Following this successful operation, an unrelated raid on smuggled counterfeit detectors was reported by the Sudanese General Customs Administration in West Omdurman, Sudan on Sept. 15, 2014. Thousands of counterfeit gold detectors were seized in that anti-smuggling operation. According to Mr. Mallory, “market intelligence leads us to believe that these counterfeit operations were related to one another.”The Dubai Gold Souk is the primary destination for gold unearthed by African artisanal miners. Dubai's leading gold market position has established it as the major transit point and distribution hub for gold prospecting equipment destined for African and Asian markets. Counterfeiters attempt to infiltrate the Dubai market and distribute counterfeit detectors through both clandestine and authentic distribution channels. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/10993-list-of-legitimate-metal-detector-dealers/

Here are some manufacturer specials running now. These are from the manufacturers and so I assume they are on top of any deals already offered by a dealer, but do check and make sure if considering a purchase. If anyone finds other deals go ahead and add them to the thread. I have not found anything for Garrett, Tesoro, Makro/Nokta or XP yet.

Just in case you were wondering - from http://www.codan.com.au/Portals/0/investorpubs/Half Year Company Announcement Feb 2015 Final complete.pdf in 2015: "Minelab launched the GPZ 7000 gold detector to the market in February. This is a significant new product platform that has taken five years to develop at a cost of over $10 million." The good news for Minelab is it has paid off as sales and profits for Codan have been up in the last few years after collapsing when the Africa GPX 4500 bubble popped. From the Codan 2016 Annual Report "while sales were strong in the developed world when the product was released last year, the most significant growth in our FY16 gold detector sales has come from the successful launch of this product into our African markets. The GPZ 7000® was launched in Africa in October 2015, and demand exceeded our initial expectations". Since Minelab's parent company Codan is publicly traded interesting tidbits can be found in their annual reports. A few more: "The GO-FIND® is now Minelab’s highest unit seller" "FY17 OBJECTIVES - Release two exciting new products – lower-priced gold machine for Africa and improved larger coil for GPZ 7000®.... Continue investment in product development to create next wave of new products in FY18." Nobody knows for sure how many metal detectors are sold worldwide but Codan alone currently does close to $100 million sales annually in detecting equipment. That does however include landmine detection equipment. Check out pages 19 and 20 of the 2016 report for more details.

41 pages packed full of photos and stories of metal detector finds download here.

"Minelab MEA General Trading LLC, the leading distributor of metal detectors and accessories throughout the Middle East and Africa continue to battle strongly against counterfeit products in order to protect their customers. On Thursday 13th October, 8am at Jebel Ali all seized counterfeit items from a recent action were destroyed and recycled in Minelab’s continuous efforts to locate, combat and terminate counterfeit products." Full story at http://www.me-newswire.net/news/18864/en

Last week my brother's GP 3500 quit working right in the middle of a patch. We've tried new cables, coils, earphones and switches, so we know it is internal. Who repairs the older Minelabs-does Minelab or is there an independent repair expert out there? We've heard that Minelab doesn't support the older models, but don't know that for sure.

Announced it today – three tones graphic screen under $100

White's has been advertising a "Garage Sale" of discontinued items including refurbished Detectors. I really don't need another Detector but couldn't resist ordering a refurbished White's Coinmaster GT with free shipping for $140.00. Probably just use it as a backup to my other detectors but I think it should work fine for parks, dry sand, and just general purpose detecting. I see on eBay their going for much more. It arrived yesterday in a brand new box, pretty cool. Might order another one as a Christmas gift for the Grandson.

Minelab has a new section on their online store dubbed Deal Of The Day with extra discounts on overstock or discontinued items. At the moment it is all clothing. Items are typically 40 - 50% off. Check it out at http://store.minelab.com/dealoftheday.asp

I just looked over on my email and I have my Garrett searcher sent to my email address. It's free and shows finds that others have found. It has what's going on within the Garrett company and maybe a new detector coming down the pipes. Just go to the Garrett site and sign up and that's all it is to it. Chuck Garrett Searcher Fall 2016 Free Download

ML's parent company, Codan issued their fiscal year 2016 annual report today - in it they announced two metal detecting product introductions for their Fiscal year 2017 (1 July 2016 - 30 June 2017). the larger coil for the GPZ (just FY 2017 - no date given) an entry level gold detector for the african market "at the end of 2016". I strongly suspect that this will be a VLF machine since the price point needs to be competitive with the current African market leader, Fisher's,Gold Bug. nothing new on multi freq. or VLF detectors mentioned. http://www.codan.com.au/Portals/0/investorpubs/21 FY16 Full ASX Announcement Final Complete.pdf Minelab is the only metal detector company which is a publically traded stock (Codan) so they are legally required to publish accurate data.

Hello all. Just to give you guys an update - we have made a change in Makro brand distribution. We will distribute the Makro brand to multiple dealers in the USA moving forward meaning we will not have an exclusive distributor.There is no change in the Nokta brand distribution. It is still distributed thru Kellyco to other dealers. For Makro, we are evaluating dealership applications and will assign a few more new dealerships based on certain criteria with location being the most important one. Any dealer interested in selling Nokta products, should still contact Kellyco directly. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at dilek@noktadetectors.com Thank you!

From http://www.trademarkia.com/xventure-86677796.html "On Monday, June 29, 2015, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for XVENTURE by White's Electronics, Inc., Sweet Home, OR 97386. The USPTO has given the XVENTURE trademark serial number of 86677796." A Russian site at http://md-arena.com/wiki/whites-xventure/ has very speculative information hinting at multi frequency, 11" DD coil, and 4 AA batteries. The fuzzed out picture is probably not the machine - I am guessing they just wanted a teaser so used a Teknetics G2 photo and blurred it. The whole specs thing could just be wild guesses so do not put much store in any if this except the trademark application, which usually means a new machine in the year following the application. Or no machine at all - not all trademarks get used.

25 color pages of metal detecting finds - free download here

Available for online viewing at http://www.flipsnack.com/Whites/whites-summer-2016-catalog.html Here is the included specifications/price list: Note that the base MXT model that had an MSRP of $799 is not listed in the catalog. The M6 and Beachhunter ID are also missing - all three were listed in the 2015 catalog. The GMZ nugget detector and TDI Pro PI detector are not in the catalog but were not in 2015 either, perhaps because they are niche units? They all still appear to be available online in some locations. I am not sure if they have been officially discontinued but leaving these models out of the catalog sure sends a message. Here is the Fall 2015 specification/price list for comparison:

I handed over the White's Instagram account to our engineering department for a while. Not as fancy as Minelab's, but we try and make up for it with hard work, fresh ideas, and heart. If you have an IG account let us know if there's anything you'd like to see while Jacob is in charge - White's Electronics Instagram

Hi Steve Just wondering if there is any new news on the Fisher rumors that were being talked about 6 months or so ago. I.e. multi frequency units. Pi units, etc. Anyone feel free to chime in.

Minelab is pleased to announce that our GO-FIND Series of treasure detectors has won a Good Design Award® for 2016. There were 34 entrants in the “Sport and Lifestyle” category and GO-FIND impressed the judges with its innovation and aesthetics. The winner was announced on Friday 27th May at the Good Design Awards ceremony in Sydney. Minelab Project Manager, Simon Mazurek, accepted the award on behalf of Minelab, stating “it was a great collaborative team effort between Minelab, Katapult Design and Planet Innovation, resulting in an exciting new product range for beginner detectorists and outdoor enthusiasts”. The GO-FIND Series is the latest addition to Minelab’s extensive range of metal detectors designed for the consumer market, featuring a lightweight collapsible design, easy-to-use controls and a smartphone app. For more information about our entry, visit: https://www.good-design.com/entry/go-find/ For more information about GO-FIND detectors, visit our product page: http://www.minelab.com/go-find-40 About Good Design Australia The Good Design Awards is Australia’s longest standing national design award and promotion program, and one of the few forums for professional Industrial Designers and manufacturers to showcase their design expertise to national and international audiences. As a result of more than 50 years of design benchmarking, the program has focused on progressively raising the standard of design and innovation in Australia. For more information about Good Design Australia, please go to: http://www.gooddesignaustralia.com/about/

Isn't it fun to beat up on Minelab? I think so. I do it occasionally. Like when I bought my GPX 4500. It had the bug, was one of the low serial number units. Or when I recently purchased a SDC 2300 I was pretty disgusted with the battery problem. Just this last week I got my new CTX3030. Thankfully no issues so far, just love that machine. In the following scenario allow your imagination to run amok.....Close your eyes, imagine it is 2020. NEWS FLASH! Today Minelab announced it was closing its doors forever. Bad management by Codan. African gold rush over. Go Find 120 debacle, millions in cost over runs. Australia outlaws metal detectors just as they did gold dredges. All combined to spell doom to the worlds foremost manufacturer of metal detectors. It is not really so far fetched, any company can fail. The question is if Minelab fails what are the worlds electronic prospectors going to do? CRAP THEIR PANTS is my guess. Switch to an ATX? No thanks, I already have repetitive motion injury. Switch to a TDI? Be like trading in your Porsche for a Miata. Maybe a new company like Makro would try to jump into the chasm created by Minelabs' absence. But we always hear how Minelab has all the juiciest patents locked up. Maybe Makro just can't create an equal to the worlds best nugget machine in a short time period. Instantly all the used Minelabs will triple in price. People will start hoarding. Thefts of Minelabs will skyrocket. Other unforeseen events may occur. LOL I have three Minelabs. If you are talking gold nugget hunting machines nothing matches Minelab. Are they perfect? Hell no. If we could not beat up on Minelab occasionally where would our forum be? Wouldn't be as fun or interesting. But I don't want to contemplate a world without Minelab. Feel free to speculate. Let rumor and innuendo run rampart. Bash, mash, dissect, trisect, and out right lie. Then stitch it all back together into your very own opinion of Minelab. But the next morning when you leave to go find some nuggets I venture the worlds best will be slung over your shoulder.

Here is the latest copy of the Garrett Searcher - basically a compilation of recent finds by Garrett users. It is always interesting to see all the amazing stuff from all over the world being found with metal detectors. I would encourage everyone to look at it and pay attention to the number of great finds made with the Garrett Ace 250. This is a nice little detector sold for $212 and considered a low end moderate performer. Yet many fabulous finds are made with it, including even a gold nugget now and then. There is an extremely important lesson here and one that drives my basic philosophy of detecting. There is of course a focus on high performance detectors, but I very much believe it is all about the operator. It is about putting yourself on good ground and mostly about lots of hours. Even relatively inexpensive detectors with moderate performance can deliver tremendous results in the right hands. To have fun and enjoy success in metal detecting does not require a top end detector or a huge outlay of money. People are making finds every day that prove that. Food for thought. Here are a few nugget hunting excerpts:

With Minelabs military contract to develop a new advanced prototype detector within 3 years, it would be interesting to see if they will model new civilian detectors from this? Dave..

From 2014

I do wonder what is up at White's Electronics. They have not put out a new detector platform since the V3i in 2009. Just rehashes of the MXT mostly. Yet they have been extremely busy on the research front, with the patent issued on half sine technology earlier this year http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/118-half-sine-metal-detector-technology-hybrid-induction-balance-pulse-induction-metal-detector/ And now a new patent for a constant current metal detector: http://www.google.com/patents/US8878515 United States Patent 8,878,515 Earle November 4, 2014 Inventors: Earle; John L. (Sweet Home, OR) Assignee: White's Electronics, Inc. (Sweet Home, OR) Family ID: 51798186 Appl. No.: 13/235,916 Filed: September 19, 2011 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The new invention provides better target object characterization and identification while eliminating ground mineralization detection. A constant current in the energizing coil establishes a constant magnetic field that goes from zero to a strong, but constant, field very rapidly, as in less than 10 microseconds. Target objects such as coins and other eddy current objects have an energizing time constant usually exceeding 10 microseconds, wherein the eddy currents accelerate until field equilibrium is reached in the target object. A constant current or constant magnetic field does not produce a significant signal in a receive coil after the transition from zero to constant current from ground mineralization permeability (powdered iron or ferrite equivalent). Target object eddy currents do produce a signal of varying amplitude throughout the constant current period, depending upon eddy current charging time or inductance of the object, usually not a simple exponential due to configuration of the target object. i.e., diameter, thickness, conductivity, etc. It will be interesting to see if these patents result in any actual product. People often make the mistake of thinking a patent means something is ready to hit the shelves and the truth is just the opposite. Patents are often filed and nothing ever comes of it. Or it gets licensed to others, who actually produce the goods. Who knows what is going on in this case, but White's is obviously still attempting to move the technology forward. I hope the best for them as they are an old name in the business and a great bunch of people. What makes this doubly interesting is Minelab also has patents in the works on constant current technology. http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/311-minelab-bruce-candy-new-patent/?p=2291 The Minelab work is an application for patent that has been in progress since 2009. This White's deal is an actual patent granted. Is there conflict here? Obviously with these two big names at work on the same thing something is up. Sad story is I am not well versed enough in the technology end of things to truly understand how this may actually improve metal detectors for the end user. Other than what it says up above - better discrimination while eliminating the ground. How much better is better?