Wireless Or Not Wireless, That Is The Question

[Chase Goldman]

41 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

This group is split between those satisfied with what they have, and those who would prefer another option. That means there is an business opportunity to be exploited by somebody, and trust me, it will be eventually.

Hasn’t Minelab already exploited that opportunity with Manticore?  Equivalent performance on the beach and in water without all the pesky wireless downside.  Too late XP, you blew it.

[Steve Herschbach]

47 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Hasn’t Minelab already exploited that opportunity with Manticore?  Equivalent performance on the beach and in water without all the pesky wireless downside.  Too late XP, you blew it.

I don't think so personally, nor that XP has blown it. Do you?

If anything it appears to me that Manticore was well along when XP surprised out of left field with the Deus 2, leaving Minelab in the uncomfortable position of playing catch up. I'm not certain they have done even that. No, I'm thinking of a machine yet to be made, not Manticore. You and Palzynski insist it won't come from XP, and I do not disagree. Minelab possibly of course, but there are other players I think just as likely at this point. Time will tell.

[phrunt]

Never say never, XP appeared to surprise everyone with the Deus 2, nobody seemed to know it was coming.  Who knows what the future holds and they will want to remain as a big player, to do that you need to give the people what they want, not just your existing customers, you already have their money, you want to try take market share off the competitors   They maybe selling a lot of Deus 2 now, but that only lasts so long.  That's why new models have to come out, sales slow over time and they can fall off a cliff if a new model comes out from a competitor.   

Of course the Deus 2 works as an underwater detector, but would it have been better using a transmission cable between the control pod and the coil rather than an antenna? That's the question.  I guess we will see what happens with the Deus 3 in the future as the engineers will be looking at the flaws with the Deus 2 to improve them for the Deus 3.  Another advantage of the cable between method would mean you could charge one and it also charges the other at the same time, no need to charge individual items, it just gives end users more options. 

VLF manufacturers are getting to the point they're struggling to improve detectors and it's going to be harder and harder in the future so features and becoming more and more important as a point of difference. 

[F350Platinum]

9 hours ago, Carolina said:

When I return home after cleaning, I just install the charging cable on the coil, RC and the WS6 and plug into my 8 bank charger with a visual screen that shows the charge rate. As each device reaches peak they shut down and when all are done the charger shows 0.00 output and I’m done. My WSA ll XL phones charge with their supplied cable. The charger shows what bank is finished or not.

I just started doing this too, same type of charger that automatically shuts the port off when a full charge is reached. I am charging both the D2 and the WS6 Master, along with two MI-6 pinpointers and two pairs of WSA II headphones. ? I also periodically charge the 11" coil but I don't use it much, I keep it in the backpack as a backup. I'm pretty sure this charger will protect the LiPo batteries.

I've successfully got the WS6 Master working in shallow water with a couple bucks worth of coax and some zip ties.

Honestly I'm poorer having invested almost $3k in all this gear, but couldn't be more pleased with the stone cold accuracy of this machine, its resistance to EMI and water intrusion. Y'all have seen my posts, I don't think I have had more than half a handful of "skunk" days with this machine. With Chase's suggestions I've even been successful in Culpeper dirt. Gold, silver, 300+ year old relics and coins, you name it.

I'm neither jaded by the past nor afraid of the future. I like the modularity, the lightweight but insanely durable accessories, and the overall ability to use this rig non-stop for an entire day with no muscle cramps at all. The heaviest configuration is lighter than the lightest Equinox configuration. The lightest configuration is a dream for long distance scouting.

I only had a coil not charged once, and since then check the detector before going out for the day. Turn it on, wait a few seconds, check the battery levels and turn it off. You turn off the detector and the headphones and pinpointer shut down.

What could be better? Seriously? Do I want to struggle with EMI, water intrusion, broken coil ears, and literally no depth advantage?

Nah. I'm on the dark side now.

 

[Carolina]

2 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

is also not a piece of cake for me when it comes to maintaining Deus 2.

I would say you have a faulty coil if you have had that many bad experiences. Call your dealer and send it back. I also think maybe you should not have sanded down the ridges on the skid plate as they hold the charging connector tight to its charging pins. At any rate I wish you well and no more charging issues. Again for me I don’t even look at the icons. I just always connect the charging cable supplied with the Deus and forget it. Normally a 4 or 5 hr spin on a full charge for the RC, coil & phones requires around 1 hour charge for all to be full. This is the charger I use.

[Jeff McClendon]

 

9 minutes ago, Carolina said:

I would say you have a faulty coil if you have had that many bad experiences. Call your dealer and send it back. I also think maybe you should not have sanded down the ridges on the skid plate as they hold the charging connector tight to its charging pins. At any rate I wish you well and no more charging issues. Again for me I don’t even look at the icons. I just always connect the charging cable supplied with the Deus and forget it. Normally a 4 or 5 hr spin on a full charge for the RC, coil & phones requires around 1 hour charge for all to be full. This is the charger I use.

Some of these "dead coil" episodes have happened with just the WS6 module acting as master. There has been a handshake glitch reported that doesn't always fully shut down the coil. Hopefully the next software update will fix this issue.

[F350Platinum]

4 minutes ago, Carolina said:

Normally a 4 or 5 hr spin on a full charge for the RC, coil & phones requires around 1 hour charge for all to be full. This is the charger I use.

That's exactly the same or similar to the one I have. ?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09HYXK38K

$23, Amazon.

 

[Chase Goldman]

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I guess the reason the manufacturers have liked to work with me is instead of settling for what we have, I'm always looking for the opening to be better, and to identify and offer alternatives that people want. The world does not advance based on input from those satisfied with the status quo. This group is split between those satisfied with what they have, and those who would prefer another option. That means there is a business opportunity to be exploited by somebody, and trust me, it will be eventually. 

Yes.  It's all a matter of whether someone sees the opportunity and makes the investment to capture those who are not enamored of the baggage that comes along with wireless while still reaping a profit.  Yes, D2 has great performance and XP is in the best position to emulate that with a wired platform.  Not sure they have the motivation to try.  It's been hard enough to get them to field a 10x5 coil for the D2.  They would have to invest in the redesign, but it would not be a technical hurdle, just brute force engineering to repackage the platform.  So it might be someone else.  But who and when?  That is not readily obvious to me.   Maybe the post-Manticore machine will be a combination of the CTX, Manticore, and D2.  As a "Stranger Things" fan they should call it the "Demogorgon"

[Erik Oostra]

Wireless or not wireless? This is what ChatGPT has to say..