New Simplex Models Coming

[Chase Goldman]

23 minutes ago, phrunt said:

The Simplex will smash the Go-Find market to pieces.

Is Go Find really selling all that well such that Nokta has to really compete at that level? I mean Go Find 22 is at $120 and Go Find 66 is at $199.  With the Vanquish 340 is also at $199 and with X-Terra Pro at $269, Minelab is doing a great job smashing Go Find's relevancy on their own.

[phrunt]

8 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Is Go Find really selling all that well such that Nokta has to really compete at that level? I mean Go Find 22 is at $120 and Go Find 66 is at $199.  With the Vanquish 340 is also at $199 and with X-Terra Pro at $269, Minelab is doing a great job smashing Go Find's relevancy on their own.

They sell well here, they're quite popular as they put them in all the hunting and fishing stores and the sports equipment type of big box retailers, the most accessible detectors you can buy.  They're even in the National Geographic type shops rebranded as their detector.  I would not be surprised if they're one of the most sold detectors in the country.  I guess the similar detectors in the US would be the First Texas cheapies having the same sort of market.    I recall when everyone was desperately waiting on ships with the Manticore (the Manticore boat) and were checking containers coming in, there was quite a lot of Go-Finds coming into the US under the National Geographic type branding.

If you search Minelab's site for dealers in NZ you get some crazy number of dealers like 100, only 3 of them sell their proper detectors and really only two carry any stock, the others all sell Go-Finds and are just the various sporting goods retailers.

It's hard for me to think about the US prices, they're just so different so when I'm thinking I'm never thinking about US pricing.

[Chase Goldman]

8 minutes ago, phrunt said:

It's hard for me to think about the US prices, they're just so different so when I'm thinking I'm never thinking about US pricing.

Yep they're in the big box stores here and yeah I've seen the cheesy NG branded ones too in store and on Amazon.  But they are just not priced competitively here compared to ML's other offerings.  So it would be hard for Nokta to really make a dent for Go Find customers who could easily pay the same for a Vanquish or just $70 more for an X-Terra.  It's just so crowded in the sub $200 price point, its really hard for someone to break in and start smashing Go Find sales since all the choices down there just split the consumer's vote as they are basically just generic noise as far the consumer is concerned.  At that point they are just an impulse buy and one box is as good as another.  You would basically have to offer the low end Simplex for less than $100 and now you are competing with your own "Mini" and "Midi" "Hoard" which are priced at the Go Find level.  It's just really compressed and fractured down there in the US.

[phrunt]

yea, here its all about they're targeting a completely different market, the Go-Find market isn't the usual metal detector market, it's people that have no idea and are buying a retail product at a retail store with no knowledge about their purchase, maybe a kids present, maybe just some toy to play with when they go to the beach or on a holiday.    I always thought the much better Simplex in that market would smash it, so much better of a detector and being waterproof with Target ID's, but they'd need to get the Simplex into that market, into those shops and I'm sure a lucrative move if they did do so, being waterproof really sets it up and above the Go-Find and Vanquish to these customers that know little about the purchase.  To them nice features written all over the box sell and the Simplex has them, and a lot of them.

[Detectornado]

 

0:20 - 2:22  - A closer look at the new Simplex models (in French).

I think these are the euro prices:

Lite: 259 euro

BT: 330 euro

Ultra: 399 euro

[phrunt]

So the only difference is the frequency has changed to 15kHz on all 3 of the new Simplex models which is probably to move it away from the 12kHz area which is prone to EMI issues for many, especially because of pinpointers.  15kHz for me is generally good for EMI, they have a new membrane to make the keys easier to press as that's been a known Simplex problem and one with no wireless, one with the traditional green wireless and one with Bluetooth being the Ultra, then the Ultra having the full carbon shaft, the mid rage having the lower carbon shaft and the cheapie having the bendy shaft.

The mid range Simplex costing the same as the X-terra, yet all Simplex models being single frequency.  They may end up rethinking their pricing, the Ultra is far too expensive for what it is, and the others seem a bit pricey now too that there is competition with more frequencies.

[JCR]

I look for Nokta to release the Simplex Ultra as a Selectable Single Frequency (5,10,15&20kHz) and still match or beat the price of the X-Terra Pro. We will see.

[Digalicious]

35 minutes ago, JCR said:

I look for Nokta to release the Simplex Ultra as a Selectable Single Frequency (5,10,15&20kHz) and still match or beat the price of the X-Terra Pro. We will see.

That's what I was thinking Nokta would do. I don't know if it actually costs more to add additional single frequencies, but the 15 khz maximum on the X-Terra, is too low for my needs. Often EMI can't be mitigated until at the very least, 20 khz. Plus, 15 khz is too low for small gold. I'd be happy with 5, 15, and 40khz. 

[GB_Amateur]

7 minutes ago, JCR said:

I look for Nokta to release the Simplex Ultra as a Selectable Single Frequency (5,10,15&20kHz) and still match or beat the price of the X-Terra Pro. We will see.

Interesting prediction, but their slow/delayed release of that new Simplex detector (after that trade show in Germany having been nearly two months ago now?) seems to add support to that.