New Minelab Blues

[Daniel Tn]

I am in agreement with the dying hobby aspect of it.  When I was a kid in this area, running dogs for rabbits, coons, foxes, etc were huge hobbies.  But that was back when there were thousands of acres and nobody cared if you were on their land.  Now days...people are so protective of private property that they don't want anybody even looking towards it and there just aren't places to let the dogs run.  I don't know a single person locally any more that still does any of that.  Metal detecting for most of us, at least here in the States, is on that same path.  People don't even want you on public property doing it and fewer and fewer private property owners are letting people search their land. By the time we get a perfect metal detector, there won't be anywhere to use it.  

[Jeff McClendon]

Minelab, I know from personal experience that some of your employees are reading this forum.

The video posted in this topic and the many reports on this forum of settings being used on the Manticore and Equinox 700/900 show how these detectors are performing in moderate to high iron mineralization, in thick iron trash and for some of us in both conditions at the same time.

I would really welcome any public posts, private messages or emails that could include settings suggestions and solutions if any are available.

 

[Chase Goldman]

10 hours ago, dsb said:

Any way they could reduce the ID range with a upgrade?  Or would that be a down grade😊  I've been holding out to see how the new batch preforms, maybe next year🙄 now i feel like a cubs fan.

 

9 hours ago, phrunt said:

Even better a Nox Mode where you can switch to the Nox number of ID's if you want to.  Can't be that hard in software to have a setting to select the number of ID's, they've already got a majority of the code.

Microsoft do stuff like that all the time in their software, people aren't happy with a change so you can go to "classic" or legacy mode 🙂

Frankly, ML should just fix the TID stability issues and keep the expanded range, not revert.  There is a benefit to the expanded range for mid-conductor target identification to better differentiate small mass targets, hammered silver alloys, and aluminum, brass, lead, nickel and gold targets.  Expressive audio can also help in this regard.

Somehow, XP was able to figure this out with a 100 plus point TID scale and multiple audio and tone ID customization options with D2 Multifrequency.  Similarly, Nokta has done this to a lesser extent with Legend (though the scale is reduced compared to XP). 

ML should invest less in litigation and more in completed engineering staff work and listening better to the pulse of their user base (the ones who pay for ML’s products not those who get paid to promote them) IMO.

ML I’m here as well if you want to reach out to me directly and can stand some honest, constructive criticism and feedback from someone with a technical background who still invests in ML products despite disappointment of late.

Also, I want to emphasize that my issues are primarily related to the 900 where I have more swing time than the Manticore and a huge experience base with the 800 that I can use as an “apples-to-apples” reference point.  As far as I’m concerned, and I stated this previously, I am still acclimating to the Manticore.  Still learning it and the jury is still out.  I will say that my experience with it has been more positive than with the 900, especially in regards to EMI and audio customization.  

[strick]

On 7/25/2023 at 5:55 PM, Chase Goldman said:

about the only thing that would get me excited about a ML detector would be if they decided to stuff the brains of the Nox 800 (with dPitch added) into the body of the Nox 900.

I would be down for that...thought of trying out a 900 but the reports from you guys and the fact that I have the M-Core has kept me from getting one...I'm happy with my M-Core and will be even more happy when I get the small coil..I will admit I've not been detecting very much over the last few months...but for park and beach hunting I'm very happy with the M-Core...calling out coins for me has been relatively simple..I use mainly AT general and once in a while AT low for jewelry..

To add to the pessimistic nature of the thred  I've lost all my close to home relic spots some due to development and others I've hunted out.....honestly I've not the desire to go out right now looking for new spots..I need things close to home due to work.... 

@Daniel Tn if you are looking for a good vlf beach machine you already have it...I've considered selling my TDI pro after seeing how deep the M-Core is..only reason I'm holding onto the TDi is the clean sweep coil and it's a well balanced machine...We still have one 800 in the family with all the coils but frankly I wont be using it much once the small coil becomes available on the M-Core. 

Broach from old mining camp recently Nox 800 with 6 inch coil and a cool rock that i took home from where weve been getting nuggets..

strick 

[Bill (S. CA)]

9 hours ago, phrunt said:

The Ultimate detector, pick you're favourite Minelab detector and it emulates it, CTX 3030 mode, Nox mode, Sovereign mode, Gold Monster mode etc, How cool would that be, with the Manticore screen they could display anything to do it 🙂

You aren't far off here, Phrunt.  I was involved in the development of the Etrac years ago with another very well-known U.S. detectorist.  We pitched the idea at the time to offer the Explorer platform in the Etrac so the user could select either one.  We were told it was possible but they did not pursue our idea at the time.

[abenson]

Just to set the record straight. I like the Manticore, I just don't like the update. If Minelab can fix the issues I'm having in my soil I'll gladly go to a newer version. But for now I'll stay with the older version. Doesn't matter what mode I use with the update it simply doesn't perform the same as the old version. Here's a video of what I'm seeing in high mineral dirt on coin sized targets with the update. It's not too impressive, Manticore is pretty much calling everything iron.

 

[phrunt]

5 hours ago, longbow62 said:

You guys are blowing my mind on I.D. stability issues. In mild to moderate dirt I see absolutely no wild swings on the I.D. of targets.

You have my dream Manticore, I wonder what could be the difference as I'm in about as mild as soil gets.  I have workarounds to make it run more stable like running below 16 sensitivity but then am I getting the most out of it? Maybe... Hopefully anyway 🙂

[markinswpa]

On 7/26/2023 at 3:07 PM, phrunt said:

The Manticore was certainly a 1 step forward 3 steps back detector, I'm so glad I didn't burn my money on a Nox 900 too, I was very tempted as I love my 800 but the things I love about my 800 the 900 has lost, most importantly target ID stability.  I am rather annoyed that Minelab still market the Manticore as having more stable ID than the Nox 800 as that is the primary reason I bought it and had I have known what I know now I wouldn't have bought it and would have likely just bought a Deus 2 instead and had my more stable ID's.

My last few Minelab purchases have been disappointment's and in my currency I've spent over 10 grand on these last 3 purchases, enough to buy a decent used car.  The first of the 3 was the Pro-Find 35, bitter disappointment, followed by the faulty and buggy GPX 6000, and last but certainly not least the Manticore. 

I haven't given up on the Manticore as I paid so much to get it, in fact I'm trying my best to like it but if I could get a refund on it I would and I'd stick to my CTX and 800.

I don't know who gets these detectors across the line but it appears the finish line is a few miles in the distance yet they release them anyway to get the sales money coming in, a bit like the Legend.

The Pro-Find, 6000 and Manticore, along with by the looks of it the 700 and 900 were not ready for release when they were released.

I'd normally be in a rush to buy the new Minelab pinpointer, but not this time, my experience of the 35 has been terrible, I felt like just throwing it away, no point getting it replaced as the new one is no better, been there done that.

My 6000's been back twice for repairs and one of them took a lot of rallying for Minelab to even acknowledged the fault.

My Manticore appears to have good quality, but certainly doesn't meet what marketing are saying about it.

Does marketing meet expectations?

The  new Pro-find better this deeper that, all they did was put a new dress on an old whore. Still has 9 v batteries. Do they really think we are going to buy that after the bull they fed us on these new detectors. I hate to say this but I think Minelab has started down a slippery slope and as I have said before I don't think its Minelab per se but Codan who seems more interested in profit than product.

[schoolofhardNox]

1 hour ago, markinswpa said:

The  new Pro-find better this deeper that, all they did was put a new dress on an old whore. Still has 9 v batteries. Do they really think we are going to buy that after the bull they fed us on these new detectors. I hate to say this but I think Minelab has started down a slippery slope and as I have said before I don't think its Minelab per se but Codan who seems more interested in profit than product.

I have to agree with you that the new Minelab is not like the old Minelab.  Between the lack luster 6000 depth on coins (yes I bought it thinking it was a better 5000) not knowing they had changed to finding fly specs of gold, while eliminating the depth on coin size targets (but keeping the GPX lineage for sales of course), and now the Manticore (which is to be the next E Trac replacement?). The Manticore is way too fickle - one day it blasts out coins solidly, other days it struggles with black sand on the beach. Coins at 4-5" in dry (mixed black sand) give me unsure signals, or choppy iron signals. In some parks it's great on deep silver, other times the iron hits are so solid, I just walk away. I won't even consider the pin pointer. I just feel Minelab has a patting themselves on their back syndrome, because their technology is clever and exciting, but their execution of the finer details is missing. It's become a company that makes great machines that almost work great. 😄 It's almost like their technology is too hard for even them to get it just right, but they put it out there anyways. If that CTX replacement comes out, I won't be as excited as I was waiting for their Nox, 6000 and Manticore. It's never a good sign if people always return back to the Nox, or in my case the 5000.  OK rant over  😬

[phrunt]

Finally someone who's noticed or acknowledged the 6000 larger target depth has diminished over older models, it's fine tuned for small gold which makes sense with that being a bulk of the gold people find and it's really stirred up a flurry or excitement with people finding gold they'd missed in the past with their stock GPZ setup or their older GPX model that's for sure so Minelab ultimately achieved what they wanted to with the 6000 and it's a great success because of that, completely makes sense why they never released the small coil that they indicated was coming for the GPZ when you think about it.

I'm going to be very wary if a CTX replacement comes out, no longer am I an early adopter, learnt my lesson well and truly.  🙂 I hope one does come out as the CTX really is a brilliant machine in the right conditions, I think some are probably missing out on seeing what the CTX can really do due to their soil conditions and the CTX not quite cutting the mustard in tougher soils, if they can use what they've learnt since to improve that and people in worse soil can see the true beauty of the CTX it would be a great thing.

I like the Manticore, but I'm not as excited about it as I should be, I guess my expectations were so high with how great the Nox 800 was and I expected something of a jump over it's performance, not largely a similar machine with a nice 2D target trace feature and worse Target ID's by a reasonable margin. 

They're going to have to work a lot harder on new models to impress me and take my money in the future, I've said that in the past and caved but I'm sticking to that this time, no longer letting excitement get in the way of common sense 🙂