Steve Herschbach Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 10 minutes ago, AussieMatt said: no reduction in end user price for PI/ZVT tech yet over 20 odd years Metal detectors is not a mass market and Minelab has a near monopoly on PI prospecting detectors. I can also assure you cost of production has no direct bearing on retail prices for many manufactured items. The idea is get the best margins you can. Minelab has maintained what for shareholders has been great pricing and margins. We also lived through a gold rush that supported the high prices. The bubble has burst and now Minelab PI prices are plummeting. Careful shopping in the U.S. can get you a brand new full warranty GPX 4500 for close to $2000.00 Even the GPZ took a $2000 price cut within a year of introduction. On the flip side GPZ sales have exceeded expectations so no feeling sorry for Minelab. No matter how you slice it, you can by more detecting capability right now for less money than ever. If you do not like big bucks the $499 segment is sizzling right now. New Teknetics T2 or Makro Racer for $499. Fisher F75 only $599 at the moment! We all agree it is what it is and things will happen in their own sweet time. Never underestimate however what newer more powerful batteries coupled with more powerful microprocessors can do, especially if you add the magic ingredient. That would be the new crop of young engineers coming on board who grew up with this stuff. I still think great things are ahead in the metal detecting world from a technical standpoint. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasong Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Love seeing the innovation, but I think nugget hunters can count this one out for now. Unless you are hunting gold boulders. GPR resolution is pretty slim. The crux of the problem is that higher resolution requires higher frequencies - and higher frequencies experience greater attentuation in soils, which means less depth. You can throw more power at the problem but then you end up with a cart mounted solution because more power=more weight. So basically, if you want to hunt for landmine size nuggets then you may be in luck, but even an oz'er the size of my thumb would be pretty hard to recognize on any kind of affordable GPR. Or square nails, etc. Also, GPR requires careful gridding and slow movement, and a lot of them require post-processing on a computer at home too, I'm not sure how accurate this would be swung on the end of a stick with instant results. Still. Never ceases to amaze me that a scrappy little country like Australia so consistently outperforms the US in the detector innovation arena despite our much larger population, much (MUCH) larger military budget, and the best engineering/science schools in the world. Stay hungry fellas, "good on ya". The fat cat gets complacent and I'm glad someone is out there catching mice still while US businesses would rather search for the next Hoffman than the next Candy. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norvic Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 jasong I think you nailed it, for ML and innovation and us prospectors, Mr. Candy is the key, we`ll keep him you can have the Hoffmans. Hopefully he is also successful in ensuring his genius and vision carries on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieMatt Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Oi - scrappy little country hey. I resemble that remark Metal detectors aren't the only area we are world leaders in innovation, productivity & standards either. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasong Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Haha yeah I mean it in a good way. Scrappy was the little dog in Scooby Doo who would just go directly fight whatever monster they encountered by himself instead of making excuses or running away like Scooby did. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norvic Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Big Brother meanie, picking on us downunder, we`ll learn ya.......... Crikey AuM, ya got Jasong backtracking bigtime. Good Scrappin Fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klunker Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Dang. I was having a good day until I read Js post .GPR isn't going to work for nuggets. now I'm horribly depressed. However It appears WWIII has been narrowly avoided and that makes me feel a little better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolina Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 VALLON makes a detector with GPR. My friend at VALLON said he could get me one for around $25,000.00. I got the Tarsacci instead, hahahahaha. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnysalami1957 Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 On 9/6/2016 at 5:29 PM, Norvic said: Bring it on ML. Another such detector http://www.gerdetect.de/i/13 just need a brave soul to buy one and try. I'm calling scam on that one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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