I Want To See What Minelab & Garrett Is Bringing To The Table

[Rick N. MI]

Yes, it has to be possible.

 

 

[longbow62]

Minelab has been awful quite lately. No Equinox software updates either. I would have no problem with them releasing a land only detector. As in rainproof only. If a company makes a completely submersible detector I think it probably complicates matters immensely. Maybe make 2 versions of the same detector with the submersible ones released later with the price being higher. It needs to have an ergonomic carbon S-shaft and be at least as light as the Equinox. Build quality needs to be better than the Equinox.

I want a smartphone size color screen. I like the way the Equinox menu is set up. I want recovery speed at least as fast as the Equinox, and just as deep is fine. As long as it has Etrac, CTX, or at least Equinox audio I'm good. I'd like someway to control volume of selected bins even when using 50 or even up to 100 tones. Enough with the cheap headphones. How about some audiophile quality wireless headphones with a simple way to go wired if you wanted to.

I want FE-CO V.I.D. plus some other type of visual clue to show what the target might be. Maybe a colored bar graph like the old Whites Signagraph. I'm not super interested in the pattern discrimination of the Etrac or CTX, but if it is then okay. It does need the simple horseshoe button to bypass discrimination though.

Come on Minelab impress me!         

[Cal_Cobra]

On 2/1/2022 at 10:27 AM, Rick N. MI said:

Those were the good days :).

The days of Napster and Limewire haha  It was the wild west back then.

[Muddydogz]

I would love to see Garrett iron out the apex platform as there is a lot to like about it now. It needs a few performance tweaks but I hope this is the beginning for multi flex. I would love to support an American manufacturer that has good customer service.

[Cal_Cobra]

39 minutes ago, longbow62 said:

Minelab has been awful quite lately. No Equinox software updates either. I would have no problem with them releasing a land only detector. As in rainproof only. If a company makes a completely submersible detector I think it probably complicates matters immensely. Maybe make 2 versions of the same detector with the submersible ones released later with the price being higher. It needs to have an ergonomic carbon S-shaft and be at least as light as the Equinox. Build quality needs to be better than the Equinox.

I want a smartphone size color screen. I like the way the Equinox menu is set up. I want recovery speed at least as fast as the Equinox, and just as deep is fine. As long as it has Etrac, CTX, or at least Equinox audio I'm good. I'd like someway to control volume of selected bins even when using 50 or even up to 100 tones. Enough with the cheap headphones. How about some audiophile quality wireless headphones with a simple way to go wired if you wanted to.

I want FE-CO V.I.D. plus some other type of visual clue to show what the target might be. Maybe a colored bar graph like the old Whites Signagraph. I'm not super interested in the pattern discrimination of the Etrac or CTX, but if it is then okay. It does need the simple horseshoe button to bypass discrimination though.

Come on Minelab impress me!         

Offering a land and submersible unit as separate models would be a great idea.   Take for example the D2 with it's extended diving depth rating (as per XP).  That extended diving capability didn't come free, yet I'd wager to bet that 90%+ of the people out there will never dive with a D2.  So in affect the 90% that are paying a premium for this dive capable detector [that will never use it for that] are actually subsidizing the 10% that do dive 🤔

I wouldn't be adverse to a smartphone size color screen, I thought the color screen on the V3i was brilliant (so too was the V3i, shame it didn't continue to evolve, it had a ton of potential!).  Maybe Garrett will salvage something from that.  

I pretty much agree with the rest of your next gen EQX "wants".   I wonder how much longer the CTX will live, I cannot imagine that ML is selling many since the release of the EQX. I can't see ML bringing a new EQX out until next year at the earliest.  Look how long the CTX and Etrac have been out and they're still "current" products according to the ML website.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

14 minutes ago, Muddydogz said:

I would love to see Garrett iron out the apex platform as there is a lot to like about it now. It needs a few performance tweaks but I hope this is the beginning for multi flex. I would love to support an American manufacturer that has good customer service.

They claim that the ACE APEX was just the beginning and that there would be a more advanced unit later, but that's about all they've said about it AFAIK.  Now that they own the IP from whites, I'm sure they have code monkeys reviewing the V3i code.

[longbow62]

Codan/Minelab has a mid-year report coming out in a couple of weeks. Maybe it will give a hint of something on the way.

[mh9162013]

On 2/2/2022 at 11:48 AM, longbow62 said:

Minelab has been awful quite lately. No Equinox software updates either.

...

We could see something from Minelab soon...perhaps an update for the Equinox.

[Cal_Cobra]

I reviewed the transcripts from their Feb-21 earnings report.  Honestly they mostly talk about everything Codan does EXCEPT metal detectors, but they did get some questions from analysts regarding their "consumer" products (aka Metal detectors) and here's what they said (I didn't realize Garrett was larger then Minelab at that point):

======================================================================================

Transcript of CDA.AX earnings conference call or presentation 18-Feb-21 12:01am GMT

Look, just firstly, on metal detection. You mentioned during the call that recreational is now an $8 million to $10 million a month business for you. But roughly what sort of global market share do you think that now implies for Codan in recreational? And has there been any competitive responses worth noting over the last sort of 6 to 12 months since you launched products such as the VANQUISH? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Donald S. McGurk, Codan Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [24] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. Good question, Ronan. I think we -- I think in the last call, we spent some time trying to educate the market that we weren't the biggest in the consumer space at that time. I think, Garrett, we believe, were bigger than us. They had a bigger share, particularly in America. I think we are fast-changing that market share dynamic. So at $12 million for last month, we know that we'd be #1 in the market now and we would have the biggest share. But that still wouldn't give us what I would call a monopolistic position. It's certainly not as strong as our gold position, which we estimate at between 80% and 90% share. We're probably moving towards closer to 50%. So we're probably coming up from 35% to 50% would be the latest information we have. The objective is to try and keep play into some of our competitors with some of the new product releases that we have coming and try and get up towards the 60%, 70% as time goes on over the next couple of years. I think it's been difficult for people to respond. I think we saw Garrett come out with a product to respond to the VANQUISH and they quickly almost withdrawn it from the market to rehash it because it just hasn't been successful. So people are now panicking. I think they're trying to do things with their products that the architecture of the design just won't allow. So we've taken comparative products in-house. We've looked at their intents at multifrequency, and quite frankly, the physics don't stack up. So they would have to go and completely reengineer their platforms in order to compete with products like EQUINOX and VANQUISH, which we don't expect them to be able to do. So we've kind of got them on the run, Ronan.

======================================================================================

That was the only mention of the Equinox in the entire transcript.   What a read on Garretts APEX though!!!

If anyone cares to read the transcript in its entirety here you go:  https://www.yahoo.com/now/edited-transcript-cda-ax-earnings-000100002.html

Interestingly from a stock market perspective, Codan has largely been a penny stock (stock under $5/share is considered a penny stock in the U.S.) for the past ten years. 

[phrunt]

The objective is to try and keep play into some of our competitors with some of the new product releases that we have coming

Equinox 1000?

Damn it, I didn't need this, it's been hard enough to decide which detector to buy with two new kids on the block, a third will make my ears smoke.

This is also interesting, "that strategy has been absolutely sensational for us over the last 3 or 4 years and I think, marked by the performance in Minelab. Minelab, if we go back 3 years ago, was really heavily dependent on gold with 1 product into 3 African markets. Today, we have a product lineup that is much, much more significant. So we have 3 major gold platforms selling into dozens of countries in Africa and around the world. With respect to our consumer business, I think I've been quoted previously as saying that the consumer business over time, we think, has the potential to overtake our gold business. And you can see some signs of that happening already."

It fits with what I was told that the GPX 5000 was the big seller into Africa not any other Minelab gold detector.  I am guessing the 3 gold products now successful into Africa are the GM1000, GPX 5000 and the 3rd I guess has to be either the GPZ or GPX 6000 but I'm sure in much less quantity than the other two.

And this is also interesting

The GPZ -- GPX 6000, rather, is a brand-new product that will be revolutionary, we believe, in high-end gold detecting. It's a product that's been purpose-built for the African market. It's plug and play. It's simple to use, lightweight, collapsible, waterproof and at a price point that sits below the GPZ but is still very attractive for us. We will launch that product -- we have launched that product, that we will see meaningful volume come through in Q4.

So sales of the 6000 weren't immediately strong, could be constraint with shipping or production, they're thinking volume will be in Q4, interesting to see if that materialized.  Obviously purpose built for the African market although I don't know why he thinks the product is waterproof, typical CEO 🙂