Overview And Initial Review Of The Accupoint Pinpointer

[MFF18B]

I was lucky enough to be one of the few Beta testers for the new Nokta Makro Accupoint and now that I’m officially released from the NDA, I’m going to attempt to do my first detailed review of a new product.  I've only been detecting for around two years, but I do know what I enjoy using and what works well for me in my area of SE Ohio.  I do want to point out that I did not get a chance to test the Accupoint on a beach, all my testing was done in fields and parks.  Additionally, these are the results I got during my testing and realize that some of these results will vary, depending on your specific location.  I would also like to point out that this is just my opinion, which is based on my relatively short amount of time detecting.  I have eleven pin-pointers from most of the main manufacturers, but my “go to” pin-pointer has continually been the XP MI4 or MI6.  For comparison purposes I will use the XP MI6 and the Quest XPointer Max.  I apologize for the picture size, I couldn't quite figure out how to adjust the fonts, and the sizes of the pictures to be more consistent.  

   In the Box

When you open the box, the Accupoint comes with the items that you normally expect to receive: a holster, lanyard, charging cord, extra O-ring, and an extra tip protector.   In order to use the Accupoint paired with the Legend headphones, you must upgrade your Legend software to version 1.12 for Accupoint (Test version?).  Ensure that you do a factory reset on the Legend after you have updated to the new software.

 

Build Quality

The Accupoint is sturdily built. It has a one-piece thick plastic outer shell, with a replaceable protective tip.  The end cap houses the audio output, which acts as a cover for a removable audio booster and the internal speaker which is located beside the USB Type-C charging port. The end cap has three locking lugs that turn and lock the end cap in place, as opposed to a traditional screw on cap.  I submerged the Accupoint in my bathtub for 10 minutes and this did not have any effect on the Accupoint when I took it out of the water and turned the unit on.  Finally, the internal lithium polymer battery lasts approximately 25 hours, and remaining battery life is displayed on the LCD screen through the use of a battery indicator icon. 

 

Unscrew the cap and you can see the removable audio booster, the speaker, and the USB Type-C charging port.

 

 

Size/Weight

Dimensions are about the same as the Quest XPointer Max and slightly thicker than the XP MI6. The Accupoint weighs in at 217 gr, versus the Quest at 185 gr, and the XP MI6 at 170 gr. Not a big difference but you can feel that the Accupoint is a little heavier. 

Settings

 

The menu settings are accessed by holding down the On/Off button while the unit is on, until the red status bar indicator reaches the setting icon and you hear one beep.  The menu settings are extremely user friendly and very intuitive, unlike most other pin-pointers, where you have to memorize how to access different settings. 

Sensitivity:  Sensitivity level consists of settings from level 1 to level 9.  Factory setting is level 7, and I found that in the areas that I detected, a setting of level 8 or 9 falsed.  However, on level 8, after I performed a frequency shift, that quieted down the Accupoint.  Ultimately, I ended up using the Accupoint on the factory setting of 7, as it seemed to detect items at the same depth as a setting of 8 or 9.  After digging nearly one hundred targets, it does seem that the Accupoint hits targets a little harder than the Quest or the XP pin-pointers at the edge of detection. 

Sound and Vibration:  Not much to say about this other than the Accupoint operates in three modes:  Sound, Vibrate, or Sound and Vibrate.

Search Modes:  Tone 1:  All metal mode.  Tone 2:  Discrimination mode.  This mode discriminates between ferrous and non-ferrous items and gives a different, distinct alert and vibration for an item that is determined to be ferrous.  Lastly, the Iron Off mode, which does not detect iron.  In this mode, the Accupoint did not detect an iron square nail, but the Quest identified it a non-ferrous until it was approximately 1.5 inches away from the nail at which point the tone turned to ferrous.     

On several occasions during my testing, the Quest gave a ferrous signal on items at the edge of detection, that the Accupoint identified as non-ferrous.  In every instance that this occurred, the item ended up being a copper wheat penny. 

Bluetooth:  There are three Bluetooth settings:  Off, Bluetooth Headphones, and Bluetooth Headphones with pin-pointer speaker.

·      Please note that you pair your pin-pointer with your headphones, not your detector.

·      Leave your Legend detector off while pairing the pin-pointer to the headphones.

Pairing Process:  Turn your headphones on, the turn on the Accupoint.  Go into the Accupoint Bluetooth settings and select the Bluetooth Headphones setting.  Wait for 1-2 minutes, until you hear the pin-pointer through your headphones.  Once you pair it the first time, it will connect from there on out until you turn off the bluetooth.  If you are trying to locate a target and you power on the Accupoint, the headphone connection is immediate, but once you turn off the Accupoint it can take up to ten seconds to disconnect and revert back to your detector audio.  Additionally, while trying to locate a target, I found that occasionally the bluetooth says “disconnecting”, through the headphones.  The unit did not disconnect and performed without an issue, but it did concern me initially until I got used to it.

Frequency Shift:  This setting is used to prevent interference with other detectors operating nearby.  The Accupoint has three different frequency shifts.  A frequency shift helped reduce falsing on sensitivity level 8 in the area I was detecting. 

LED Flashlight:  This setting has two modes, on and off.  The flashlight is considerably larger and brighter than any of my other pin-pointers. 

Volume:  The Accupoint has two volume levels, Low and High.  This pin-pointer is louder than the XP MI6 but not as loud as the Quest, which is really loud.  Since I have loss of hearing, it would have been nice for a third, louder level.  But the factory high setting is probably plenty loud for those who do not have a loss of hearing. 

LCD Screen Backlight:  The Accupoint has two backlight levels, low and bright.  Even set on bright, I still had to turn out of direct sunlight to be able to read the screen.

Factory Default:  Self-explanatory.

 

Compared Pin-pointers:

 

I have eleven pin-pointers. Of those eleven, I generally use the XP MI6 pin-pointer.  After testing the depth of the Accupoint in my ground, I figured that I would compare this to my XP and the only other discriminating pin-pointer I have, the Quest XPointer Max.  Of all my pin-pointers, the deepest is easily the Fisher F-Pulse, followed by the Quest.  The Accupoint is third on that list, and beats the XP, Garrett Carrot, and the Dr Otek.  I don't count my Whites Bullseye TRX because it is no longer available, although I do really, really like mine.      

What I don't like:  Honestly, the dislikes are just a matter of preference. My opinion will probably change as I use it more, but I prefer the side On/Off button of the XP MI6.   The button is on the top of the Accupoint and is easy to push but I’m just not used to it in that location, so I continually find myself feeling along the side for the button.  The other issue I disliked was falsing in the higher sensitivity settings, but that was fixed easily enough with a frequency shift, retuning the pin-pointer, or lowering the sensitivity setting. 

What I like:  This is a really nice pin-pointer and I think that Nokta Makro did themselves proud with this one.  Its very well made and feels good in the hand while using.  It is simple to use and the menu is extremely easy to use, which is nice for a change because I can never remember how to get into menus of my other pin-pointers.  The replaceable tip protector is a nice touch for those that tend to destroy the tip of their pin-pointer.  Lastly, after digging nearly one hundred targets, I can say that the Accupoint found everything that the Quest or the XP found, and identified ferrous or non-ferrous targets more accurately than the Quest.   Great job Nokta, I think I have a new favorite pin-pointer.

 

 

 

 

[Digalicious]

2 hours ago, MFF18B said:

 

  In order to use the Accupoint paired with the Legend headphones, you must upgrade your Legend software to version 1.12 for Accupoint (Test version?). 

Thank you very much for a clear, concise, and thorough review. A+ 🙂

Regarding your above quote:

In a recent video, Dilek had said that some users were reporting a long a pairing time, but Dilek also mentioned it only occurs on the initial pairing when the Accupoint is first used. Dilek also mentioned that it only occurred on their first batch they shipped, because they updated the software on the rest of the Accupoints before shipping those out. Apparently, the updated version significantly reduces that initial pairing time.

I don't recall Dilek mentioning that Legend owners have to upgrade to v1.12 for the Accupoint to work, but I might have missed something. As far as I know, v1.12 is supposed to mainly be about the new "boost mode" that their head engineer was working on.

 

[glacialgold]

Great write-up, @MFF18B -- I'll definitely be picking one of these up once they hit the market!

[JCR]

A very good review & summary.

I will get one at some point in the near future. The Disc capability will be useful. Paired to the Legend would be nice.

Thanks

[MFF18B]

1 hour ago, Digalicious said:

Thank you very much for a clear, concise, and thorough review. A+ 🙂

Regarding your above quote:

In a recent video, Dilek had said that some users were reporting a long a pairing time, but Dilek also mentioned it only occurs on the initial pairing when the Accupoint is first used. Dilek also mentioned that it only occurred on their first batch they shipped, because they updated the software on the rest of the Accupoints before shipping those out. Apparently, the updated version significantly reduces that initial pairing time.

I don't recall Dilek mentioning that Legend owners have to upgrade to v1.12 for the Accupoint to work, but I might have missed something. As far as I know, v1.12 is supposed to mainly be about the new "boost mode" that their head engineer was working on.

 

Dig,

  I had the updated version and I still had about a minute wait time until mine paired the very first time.  I thought it wasn't working properly until I saw that it might take a bit.  Once it was paired the first time, then it connected immediately as soon as I turned on the PP to locate a target.  They wanted us to upgrade our Legend software, but since the Accupoint doesn't pair with the Legend,  I don't think it really did anything other than maybe prepare us for possible future upgrades.  

[Chase Goldman]

You did a great job testing and reviewing this PP.  Looking forward to trying this one out myself.  Thanks.

[Digalicious]

The replaceable tip with the little digging tool on the end are nice touches.

I hunt in some ground that is quite muddy, so the screen would become unreadable real quick. When need be, I could give it a wipe, but wonder if repeatedly doing that would scratch up the screen. Hopefully Nokta used a very scratch resistant screen. Although, the first thing I would do is put a screen protector on it, and replace it as necessary. I'm also glad the speaker isn't on the side, because in my sloppy sites, a side speaker gets totally clogged up and useless. Well anyway, it's great to be able to see the sensitivity, charge level, etc, and not have to deal with button sequences and the like.

MFF,

What's the word on that "Audio Booster"?

 

[MFF18B]

1 hour ago, Digalicious said:

The replaceable tip with the little digging tool on the end are nice touches.

I hunt in some ground that is quite muddy, so the screen would become unreadable real quick. When need be, I could give it a wipe, but wonder if repeatedly doing that would scratch up the screen. Hopefully Nokta used a very scratch resistant screen. Although, the first thing I would do is put a screen protector on it, and replace it as necessary. I'm also glad the speaker isn't on the side, because in my sloppy sites, a side speaker gets totally clogged up and useless. Well anyway, it's great to be able to see the sensitivity, charge level, etc, and not have to deal with button sequences and the like.

MFF,

What's the word on that "Audio Booster"?

 

Dig,

 If you look at the picture, the speaker is recessed about 1/2 inch lower than the charging port, in a small tunnel like area.  The audio booster has a small tube like portion on the back that fits into the speaker tunnel.  I believe that this directs the audio up this tube to the audio output in the end cap.  I don't think it actually boosts the audio, just directs it. 

[V3i/MXT Pro]

On 10/13/2023 at 2:45 PM, Digalicious said:

The replaceable tip with the little digging tool on the end are nice touches.

I hunt in some ground that is quite muddy, so the screen would become unreadable real quick. When need be, I could give it a wipe, but wonder if repeatedly doing that would scratch up the screen. Hopefully Nokta used a very scratch resistant screen. Although, the first thing I would do is put a screen protector on it, and replace it as necessary. I'm also glad the speaker isn't on the side, because in my sloppy sites, a side speaker gets totally clogged up and useless. Well anyway, it's great to be able to see the sensitivity, charge level, etc, and not have to deal with button sequences and the like.

MFF,

What's the word on that "Audio Booster"?

 

If you look carefully at the close-up photo of the LCD color screen above, you will see the outline of a screen protector that’s already attached from the factory… I didn’t have any issues with my screen scratching during the Beta testing.

[F350Platinum]

Great review, MFF18B. Thank you!

Guess I'll check this one out when it's available, I've always wanted to give Nokta a nod, and haven't seen much of interest lately, the new ML pinpointer doesn't seem all that great.

I have the Fisher and both the old and new Quest pinpointers, and for me the MI-6 is by far the one I go to. I've done a lot of real time and air tests with all of them.

The Quest pointers are good, but I find even the improved one is full of bugs:

It doesn't always turn off with the "Magic" function

The buttons are still hard to find

The menus are difficult to remember at best.

That listed, it does a fair job of discriminating and is a lot less prone to falsing but it almost feels like its detection range and sensitivity were lowered. I use the Quest in deep holes to stop digging if the target is iron 😏 

A lot of y'all rave about the Fisher, but I just don't see it. It's too quiet and for sure in air tests it gets hammered by most of the other pointers, maybe it's better in the ground but I've "seen" much deeper with the MI-6, could be because headphones. 😀 I've taken it with me a few times and it doesn't "gel" with me. Again the button isn't easy to find, that annoys me, albeit similar to the MI-6.

By far the best button is on the Carrot, but the Nokta has promise because it's above the LCD screen, find that and pull your thumb back. Just an observation. 🙂

Looking forward to this one!