V80s Are In Canada

[DSMITH]

Well the new V80s are in the dealers in Canada now to figure out how to get one shipped to me in the U.S from Canada, most likely will not happen as I have been told by a couple of dealers in Canada that they were told by Quest to not ship any to anyone that has a delivery address in the U.S

[phrunt]

I can see people digging a tunnel and smuggling these across the border. 

No sign of them yet at our Quest dealer.

[Ridge Runner]

Money will make it a way to happen over time.

 Just look how many people will be coming back from Alaska down through Canada to the lower 48 this fall.

 Chuck 

 PS Who knows may be working in the upper part of Canada with pockets full of Canadian money .

[phrunt]

If you were to read the first couple of pages of this you'll see why Quest don't want to sell into America.

Microsoft Word - 5FG5447.DOC (rpxcorp.com)

 

[Jeff McClendon]

Where are the lawsuits against Garrett and XP for infringement of the '839 patent owned by Minelab? Both of those companies have SMF detectors that are sold in the USA and American Detector distributes those detectors and their parts.

Minelab/Codan has made millions of dollars on the sale of their Equinox 600/800 detectors and rightfully so since they are outstanding metal detectors.

However, the Legend with version 1.09 or 1.11 software is simply better than the Equinox 600/800 from my experience with all three at least where I hunt and how I use them and for the simple reason that the Legend has proven to actually be waterproof down to 16 feet.

Reading that lawsuit makes me want to sell all of my Minelab gear.

I go to Canada a lot. I will get a Quest V80 eventually just to symbolically raise a middle finger at Minelab.

[JCR]

Quest is a small entity and defending in a Lawsuit is probably prohibitively expensive for them.   Garrett & XP enjoy a different position.  Ever notice who a bully picks on?

What about a reshipping company's service?

[Ridge Runner]

Hey Jeff  
 How much is carrying charge for bringing another one back?haha

 Before you know it it will be more of Quest 80 detectors in the US and yet not one purchased here.

 Chuck 

[Jeff McClendon]

I have relatives in Edmonton I visit yearly. I would be happy to have them sent to their address so I can bring them back across the border.

[Ridge Runner]

Where theirs a will you can always find a way.

 Chuck 

[phrunt]

Well, I guess the V80 breaches the same patent, as likely do the XP, Rutus and Garrett detectors.

If you read the patent, it's there to stop any competitors doing a multi frequency unit, innovative of Minelab as it's a 2005 patent.  So, it sounds like Nokta will likely be guilty, along with the other competitors.  It's a very anti-competitive patent from my very limited understanding of it.  If Nokta didn't sell into America they would be fine too and not be in this situation, so Quest is wary of doing so, and rightly so.  I wouldn't sell my detectors into America either for the same reason If I was making them, not worth the risk and hassle when the world is a big place to sell into without the US market.

Nokta has done a brilliant job of making their own version of multi frequency without using Minelab's technology so they couldn't go after them for some recent patent of their multi frequency technology like Multi-IQ so they go after them for an old patent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

 

FIG. 1 shows a switched voltage signal generated by switching electronics 2 is applied to a magnetic transmitter 1, shown here as a transmit coil. Signals from a magnetic receiver 3 are amplified by a preamplifier 4 and applied to applied to approximate sine wave weighted synchronous demodulators 5. The output of these demodulators is fed to further signal processors 6 which provide a useful output signal, such as an audio alert or visual display. Both the transmitter and synchronous demodulators are controlled by a controller 7 which includes a clock to control timing. An operator selects the frequency profile of the approximate sine-wave weighted synchronously demodulation by operating switches 8, which may also alter the switched voltage signal appropriately too.

FIG. 2 shows a switched voltage signal of fundamental period T, whose waveform repeats, and this is relatively rich in frequencies 1/T, 4/T and 16/T. This waveform and the corresponding receive sine-wave demodulation may very easily be changed using digital signal processing technology, which may be controlled by an operator using for example push-buttons. It would be useful to set 1/T at say 2 kHz if an operator is seeking USA coins, which are relatively conductive, or say 1 kHz if Bronze-age or copper-age daggers which are even more conductive are being sought for example. However, 1/T would be better set to say 16 kHz if small gold nuggets are the targets which exhibit relatively short time constants.

Although the invention has been herein shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognised that departures can be made within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details described herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the appended claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

 

Patent Summary

 

1. A metal detector used for detecting a metallic target in a soil including:

a. transmit electronics having a plurality of switches to generate a switched voltage signal, the waveform of the switched voltage signal being one of predetermined repeating multi-period rectangular waveforms;

b. a transmit coil connected to the transmit electronics to receive the switched voltage signal and to generate a transmitted magnetic field for transmission;

c. a receive coil to receive a received magnetic field and to provide a received signal induced by the received magnetic field; and

d. receive electronics connected to the receive coil to process the received signal, the processing including a synchronous demodulation of the received signal using one of predetermined substantially sine-wave weighted synchronous demodulation profiles associated with a corresponding predetermined repeating multi-period rectangular waveform; the profiles being selectable by an operator; and a result of the synchronous demodulation is further processed to provide an indicator output signal in real time, the indicator output signal including a signal indicative of the presence of a metallic target in the soil.

2. A metal detector according to claim 1, wherein:

a Fourier transform of the switched voltage signal contains frequency components of relatively high magnitude at frequencies corresponding to periods within the predetermined repeating multi-period rectangular waveform and the period of the predetermined repeating multi-period rectangular waveform, as compared to other frequency components across a frequency spectrum of the Fourier transform.

3. A metal detector according to claim 2, wherein:

the synchronous demodulation of the received signal is such that received signal is synchronously demodulated at frequencies corresponding to periods within the predetermined repeating multi-period rectangular waveform and the period of the predetermined repeating multi-period rectangular waveform.

4. A metal detector according to claim 1, the metal detector further comprising:

a controller, the controller being accessible to the operator, to control the period of the predetermined repeating multiple-period rectangular 

 

Full Patent info here: 

US7579839B2 - Metal detector - Google Patents

 

I really don't know who to side with on this stuff, Patents are there to protect their R&D and income stream from the invention, Minelab are very good at doing patents and it's the main reason I think they've had little competition.  So, their patent is working, its stopping competition, competitors have to tread very carefully.  As customers these patents are bad in a way as they stop competitors and competition is great for consumers.  So, I can't take sides on this stuff.  It's a shame, but rules are rules, laws are laws.