Nokta Pulse Induction Gold Prospecting Detector

[abenson]

Yea I have to travel 5 hours minimum to get to gold. Gerry in Boise would be good. Jeff in Colorado.

Honestly I would use the PI for relics and beach, more than I would gold.

[Steve Herschbach]

32 minutes ago, Nokta Detectors said:

I know Steve is the best choice! But I don't know if he would want to, we will ask him anyways! Who knows, he may agree to it. 

I'll have to think that over. I really don't like doing stuff unless I can really commit to doing the best job possible, and I'm not entirely sure about that at the moment. But I won't blow it off out of hand either as a possibility. As always, I'm honored to even be suggested as a candidate. 

[abenson]

If Steve is willing to do it. He's probably the best choice. Gerry might be too busy with his business and classes. Both know there stuff with gold prospecting though and are respected by most as very knowledgeable when it comes to gold prospecting.

[abenson]

If you're going to make a PI it's got to be something special not just some other run of the mill PI trying to enter the market. Most people who buy it are going to be gold hunters, next would be relic and beach hunters. So right now Minelab pretty much has the market and any serious gold prospector probably already has a Minelab GPX model of some sort. So unless there is something that makes a new PI stand out, good luck trying to get someone to change over that's serious about gold hunting.

Now you could target the person who wants to try a PI out. But in my personal experience with people I've tried to help get started with one. They simply don't have the desire to learn a PI. Those people will be comparing them to a VLF and you know where that's going. Just look at the Impulse AQ and it's claim to discrimination.

I've personally owned a bunch of PI's including the Whites TDI, TDI SL, Garrett infinium, Whites surf master, and a bunch of GP's and GPX's. So for me personally to be interested it's got to do what I want it to and be at least on the same performance level as a GPX. It's also going to have to be weather proof, have rechargeable batteries, wireless headphones, have a good selection of coils and weight the same of less than the GPX 6000.

[phrunt]

For a giant head start using existing GPX coils should be highly considered, there are literally hundreds of them from various manufacturers in all different shapes and sizes, one for every task you can think of and it's part of what has made the existing GPX series such a legendary detector platform.  Very few people stick with the original coils and jump into the massive range of aftermarket coils.  If Nokta was to make their detector support this big range of coils they've got an instant head start.  Other detectors from different manufacturers like the QED have taken that path showing it can be done and benefited greatly from being able to use GPX coils, but the detector itself never took off outside of Australia and even in Australia due to reasons not needing mentioned here and not anything Nokta needs to worry about.

People already own these coils, and having another option of a detector to reuse the coils they've already got is very appealing.   It also means right out of the gate the Nokta PI will have the biggest range of coils available for it, you won't hear people complain about having enough coils ?

I'm really excited to see what Nokta do with this PI, they have a real opportunity here and there is a big hole in the market for a lightweight reasonably priced PI.  The entry level price now is now the GPX 5000, SDC2300 or Garrett ATX which is very limited by design and coil, it's obvious what Nokta need to do.

[jasong]

This would probably get more attention from prospectors if it was posted in the main forum instead of the Nokta/Makro forum. I only saw it because it showed up in the sidebar briefly and I saw the words "gold prospecting". 

[phrunt]

Yes, I probably put it in the wrong place.  Perhaps Steve or Chase can move it.

[Aureous]

On 2/25/2022 at 1:10 AM, George Kinsey said:

Set the pulse delay to 10 us if possible. Must have a manual ground balance . Critical to have a superior set of headphones and if possible a plug in exteral device.

Pulse delays are well below 10uS nowadays (SDC2300 and AQ) so fast sampling (thanks to superior processors) needs to match the ability of the pulse delay. Minelabs patents are the only thing getting in the way of this (MPS and MPF) to enable a new multi channel unit to be built. so hopefully at least the MPS patent is now defunct? Otherwise, the bias controlled single channel option is all we would have, but this could still be OK. In order to compete with ML and Garrett, ground balance will HAVE to be auto or optional (tracking and fixed with a grab), otherwise the vast African market will be disappointed and us Aussies will also not take the NM PI seriously....this was the reason the QED never gained mass approval. Yes, audio options need to be very sensitive with an ext speaker option.

[Aureous]

On 2/25/2022 at 4:43 AM, Nokta Detectors said:

Hello all! 

For our future PI, if you were to pick 2 testers (one from USA and 1 from AU) who would you suggest (other than yourself:-) ?

You know Ive already thrown my 'hat into the ring'. Ive been detecting for 40 years and have hundreds of ounces to my name, live on the goldfields,  I have access to all ground types, varying from very mild... to ground which can be arc-welded due to the high iron content. Salty soils, high  EMI....you name it. Another person who's been at this game here in Oz slightly longer than me is Reg Wilson. He's about as tough a tester as you could imagine....but will always say the facts as he sees it. Blunt as a sideways brick.....in a good way lol. Nenad Lonic (Phase Tech)  is also a good option, even though he used to work for Minelab. None of us has any current allegiance to Minelab. We all just want competition back into the prospecting PI marketplace and a performance unit that provides better value. One factor needs to be addressed though, in order for a prospecting detector to succeed here in Oz, the trial detector needs to travel....at least from here in Victoria to Western Australia. So someone will need to be selected there as well. I can test in South Australia and NSW as well though. All things to consider.