New Coil For Ftp

[mh9162013]

6 hours ago, phrunt said:

I was doing some reading on various forums about First Texas and there was posts around 2013 to 2017 or so saying Dave J was busy working on a new detector and they'll be releasing a new detector soon....  I don't know how long soon is... but that was quite a number of years ago.   I can't remember the exact dates of these posts but it was many years ago. 

So I can't get enthused by rumours about them coming out with a new detector. 

How long did it take for the Impulse to go from rumor to being sold to the general public? Was quite some time, wasn't it?

So there's still hope that the rumor you're referring to is still true (I'm being half serious, half flippant).

[☠ Cipher]

22 hours ago, mh9162013 said:

How long did it take for the Impulse to go from rumor to being sold to the general public? Was quite some time, wasn't it?

So there's still hope that the rumor you're referring to is still true (I'm being half serious, half flippant).

I’m sure they have some things in the works. I don’t think they were intentionally misleading, I just think marketing had been getting out in front of their skies. I’m sure that part of it is they want to release something that’s going to put them on top. They’ve said as much. That’s going to take some doing when your competition is the likes of such machines as Deus, Equinox etc. and who knows what Nokta is cooking up. I’m sure they have their eye on trying to accomplish something more revolutionary than evolutionary. Still, it would’ve been cool to see machines like the T-2, F75, F70, Liberator stuffed into waterproof housing and one upping machines like the AT Pro and Simplex in the meantime. The lack of responses hasn’t sat well with the forum communities. Any sign of life brings back some hope. Prior to the coil it was the F-Pulse/Tek-point. That was a big leap forward for that category though. They went from having a strange looking kind of toy pinpointer that maybe got a half inch range and wore its tips out in a month to a very well constructed beast of a pinpointer that’s as good or better than anything else out there, particularly now that TRX is out of the game. That’s probably the kind of leap they want to make in full sized flagship. 

[mh9162013]

36 minutes ago, ☠ Cipher said:

Prior to the coil it was the F-Pulse/Tek-point. That was a big leap forward for that category though.

Good point.

If their next metal detector is on par with the F-Pulse (even with its initial hiccups) in relation to the competition, then their next product will be worth waiting for.

[phrunt]

What year was it they last released a new detector, and I mean a new detector... not a slight modification of an existing model?   And what detector was it?

The F75 came out in 2007, 14 years ago and not much has changed with it in that time, The T2 came out before that, no idea when and it's had some minor enhancements.... either way, it's old!   These are their "current" flagship coin, relic and jewellery detectors.

Their "current" flagship gold detector the Gold Bug 2 came out in 1995, 27 years ago and has had little change since.  It's first upgrade was a few months ago and that seems to be due to the parts required to make it were no longer in production from the suppliers.

Aside from the Impulse AQ that was more of an acquisition than their own creation.

I don't mean to be negative or rude, but realistically..... how long are people willing to wait before losing hope.  In most parts of the world they only exist as cheap clones as they've been on the market so long they're easy targets to duplicate. 

How about we put this into a bit of perspective......

Back in 1995 when the Gold Bug 2 hit the shelves, this was a flagship TV

And this was a very cool phone.

Wow look, no cords!

And when the F75 came out, TV's were huge with Sony's Flagship TV

And phones were really powering ahead, Apple released their first Iphone.

Now that's a big step in phones.  It had a colour screen and a camera!  And some apps and internet connectivity!

Then we skip ahead to now.....

This is a modern TV

You can get any size you dream of ?

and a modern phone, look at all them cameras!  This phones got as much power as a room full of servers in 1995.

Technology generally moves forward.... just not at First Texas.

A little more perspective.....

Yup, that's an early model Iphone.... ?

So while I wish First Texas the best, it's really hard for me to be enthusiastic about their future unless I become nostalgic about detectors and want to buy a new old model, although I haven't been doing it long enough for that to matter and I did do that when I bought a Gold Bug 2 a year or so ago, I even did a post about buying an Antique detector at the time. ?

Yes their detectors are still capable, but imagine if they were innovative and kept improving them, making real new models and developing the technology...  Like TV's and phones have, and some other detector brands.

I would love nothing more than for them to prove me wrong and come out with a killer multi frequency detector with all the latest bells and whistles and blitz the competition!  Even if they stuck with single frequency they could have made a Gold Bug 3 and took the prospecting VLF users by storm by modernizing it, as in really making it modern with wireless audio (that'd be a first for them) and all the other features we expect in a modern detector.  

In my short time detecting I've seen two companies collapse because they were not innovative, I don't want to see a third fall and I'm not a First Texas hater, I own five of their machines, I wouldn't part with any of them.

I feel better after that vent ? Partly because I've been hoping a Gold Bug 3 was in the future, then after 27 years they released the Gold Bug 2.01 and destroyed all hope of that happening.

[tvr]

4 hours ago, phrunt said:

Yes their detectors are still capable, but imagine if they were innovative and kept improving them, making real new models and developing the technology...  Like TV's and phones have, and some other detector brands.

My thoughts are that if there is not a significant improvement in real in the ground detecting capability, then what is currently available, even if designed in the 1990's suits me well. The market for detectors is minuscule compared to phones and TVs where development costs are covered with a very small part of the costs. I'm not a big feature driven guy, I don't notch targets ... just like a little info on conductive range of target. Beep and dig detectors do that.

Would be nice to see the Impulse Gold come out and see what you think of that going after nuggets.

[ScoTTT2]

are we at the point to where the science says this is as far as one can go? .. if so, as it seems, the rest is just bells and whistles .. which I really don't need on a detector .. gps on a metal detector is cool, but it doesn't get you any deeper .. I've been hunting at the depth limits of the T2 and I know in some of these places there is good stuff beyond that range .. but how deep do I really want to be digging in someone's yard? ..if on the other hand, the science is incomplete and there is more than has been discovered and some new tech will bring it foreword, then let's see it .. but it's not just FT that has stalled in this area of gain in detecting, it is every major manufacturer .. and with what real new tech that is being brought out, the gain is very small .. so in my mind, do I really need to spend the big bucks for a detector that only gains me an inch, in some places, if at all?

[Jeff McClendon]

phrunt and I along with many others on this forum metal detect for the full gamut of targets from almost impossible to see gold nugget flakes, to 10" deep or more coins, to deep ferrous and non-ferrous relics and for jewelry in really thick modern aluminum trash. Some of us have to do this in extremely variable and moderate to high mineralization. Some of us also dig permissions and retrieve targets in public areas with digging restrictions due to drought, etc. where just digging every target would obliterate a yard or park and get us banned forever.

Having a VLF detector that is capable of good target separation and accurate target IDs for its full range of detection within the entire range of target conductivity in moderate to highly mineralized ground/saltwater beach that has plenty of aluminum and/or iron trash is a big challenge for any detector. Single frequency detectors or selectable single frequency detectors (even the Equinox in single frequency) will struggle within those types of hunting environments especially on deeper targets. 

Having the necessary "bells and whistles" to deal with what I am describing sure makes detecting in those areas a lot more productive and fun. The Vanquish models can do some of that type of detecting if trash is not too thick. So can the Whites DFX/V3i/VX3, and Minelab BBS, FBS and FBS2 detectors if the mineralization is only moderate or less and iron and/or aluminum targets are not really densely packed.  The Equinox in multi frequency can handle all of these situations pretty well. Having internal wireless operation, rechargeable and replaceable lithium batteries, a good multiple setting lighted display, some waterproofing of the control box (very debatable with the Equinox track record), customer downloadable software updates and plenty of settings to handle just about any situation are a real plus for me anyway.

I would be totally supportive of even one detector from FTP that could come close to having the ability to handle all of those situations and with those features. Kudos to Garrett for bringing out the APEX which is capable of handling some of them and has many very up to date "bells and whistles" and to Nokta Makro for their upcoming release of a hopefully up to date, feature rich, 21st century SMF.

[mh9162013]

9 hours ago, phrunt said:

how long are people willing to wait before losing hope.

I'm not waiting on FTP to produce any new, groundbreaking detector. But Cipher made a great point about the F-Pulse, which is a pinpointer I love using and has replaced my Carrot as my primary pinpointer. 

So I'm hoping that FTP will produce something nicer and newer. Until then, I've got my AT Max which will take a while to outgrow...assuming I ever do. And if I do, there's the Equinox 600/800 to look at. Although by that point, the "Equinox 1000" will probably have been out for a year or two....and perhaps Garrett will have released the "AT Apex," too.

Fisher does have a soft spot for me, as the F2 was my first detector and was a very sentimental gift. So if the F70 or F75+/SE/Ltd gets released in a weatherproof form factor (yet all other features remain the same), I'd probably be willing to move over to those detectors...maybe. Depends on how well I'm doing with my AT Max.

[Geotech]

I wish I weren't the only person at FTP reading this thread.