New Minelab X-Terra Voyager

[phrunt]

I would argue Minelab are known for their performance, as their slogan says, "Performance is everything", where they lack and when you consider their gold detector pricing it's quality.  Based on market conditions I would give them a 10 out of 10 for performance, however I would give them a 5 out of 10 for quality with other brands vastly superior, with estimated due to currency variances $400 machines from other brands having quality that exceeds $9000 Minelab detectors.  While performance is vital, quality is also EVERYTHING, especially with the pricing they demand.

They are outstanding when it comes to performance, that's an undeniable fact, they're subpar for quality and given their pricing they're very poor.  I think they realise this and just about every customer knows it, hopefully things improve in the future.  

They have tried to remedy this with present releases like the Manticore, it's still a sting in the tail when your vastly cheaper Manticore has a better-quality and far superior shaft than your far more expensive GPX 6000.

I must say they're very lucky they have lacked competition due to performance, as if they had some things would be very different, times they are changing though, they best not rest on their laurels

 

[DoKKK]

I expected everything, but I did not expect a Chinese device, a Chinese parody of a Chinese device from Minelab 😒

[Digalicious]

9 minutes ago, DoKKK said:

I expected everything, but I did not expect a Chinese device, a Chinese parody of a Chinese device from Minelab 😒

The X-Terra Pro is an excellent entry from Minelab, but the X-Terra Voyager is, well to be blunt, "laughable". I mean, one could say, "Well, you get what you pay for". Yet, for only $50 more, the Simplex Lite goes much deeper, and is far better than the Voyager in every other aspect as well. 

It's almost as if Minelab doesn't even realize that they have competition now.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

On 12/3/2023 at 6:53 AM, Digalicious said:

It's almost as if Minelab doesn't even realize that they have competition now.

Do they? Do they really? Minelab has been increasing their share of the coin and relic detector market, not losing it. They have done very well in quickly countering Noktas moves with detectors like the X-Terra Pro. The Voyager is a direct shot at Bounty Hunter and the other cheap detectors that sell in huge volumes on Amazon. Just check the best sellers list. Minelab own the gold prospecting market, so much so they are dramatically raising prices and taking away accessories on gold models on Jan 1st. People say they want to buy U.S. but it’s just BS. Just ask Tesoro and White’s. Like Minelab said, Performance Is Everything, and most prospectors are not going to buy an Axiom if they think they will get 1/2” more depth from a GPX 6000. The buy U.S. rhetoric is just empty flag waving not backed with real action. They can be made in Malaysia or China, the price can be sky high, the quality can suck, coils can take forever, people bitch and moan…. and line up to open their wallets for a Minelab. Because they think it will go deeper. End of story.

[Steve Herschbach]

Minelab is really pushing that Amazon store - just got this email:

 

I get it. Minelab is going after the low end market ruled by Bounty Hunter and cheap Chinese models. Here are the two best selling metal detectors on Amazon right now, Bounty Hunter #1 and some Chinese thing at #2. Both have sold in excess of 1000 units in the last month. Unfortunately Amazon does not say if that is 1022 or 10000.... just over 1000. The number of rating though indicates the Bounty Hunter selling three times more than the Pancky

However, #3 is just a different branded version of #2 called DR.ÖTEK. Same detector different look, also over 1000 sold. And I am sure there are more versions of that same detector, so it is probably the top seller when you add them all up.

Interesting to me is that when I searched the best seller metal detectors on Amazon a Minelab sponsored ad for the Voyager popped up in the middle of the results. They are paying extra to make sure they get seen with these other models. And it's working - over 200 Voyagers sold in the last month. Funny as it is the Chinese made model they are obviously targeting - with a Chinese made model of their own! Note the similarly in the package and price between the Voyager and Pancky.

The bottom line is that this is smart marketing, as the people who buy this will be getting a better detector than what the others are offering, and if they think about upgrading, chances are high it will be to another Minelab.

[phrunt]

The final frontier for Minelab, cracking the low-priced detector market, it's a big market, probably the biggest of all.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.   To complete in this market, they had to get the control pod manufactured China, something they've avoided until now with only accessories like shafts, arm cuffs, headphones etc all made in China.

The gamble is now for sure X-Terra clones will appear pretty quickly, but I guess the technology involved in it is so old it doesn't really matter and they still have the chip protection with the coils the cloners are yet to crack to make a proper clone.

You can bet at that price they're still making a tidy profit on the detector.  The problem for Minelab being if the Chinese want to compete with price they will and they will be able to go far lower than Minelab can.  Note also the Chinese Panky star rating is similar to the Bounty Hunter and X-Terra, so to someone with no knowledge it appears and may well be a decent detector, considering how many thousands have bought it yet it still has a high rating.  I'm sure to someone in the know it's obvious the X-Terra is superior, but that's not a bulk of the people buying these detectors so the star rating and number of units sold is likely their indication of the better detector.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Let's not forget our home grown First Texas though. They have been the leader in this area for a long time. I wonder why they don't make a little pod to replace that million year old muffler design on the Tracker? Not wanting to mess with success I guess, but it would seem to not be a very efficient design to manufacture, and material costs/labor are everything when you are selling for $80.

[phrunt]

First Texas are only the leader in this arena in the USA I would think, outside of the USA the Chinese detectors own the low-cost market, many stores here have rebranded Chinese detectors as their own, most of our electronics type shops brand them their own and even big box stores like K-Mart, (K-Mart in AU/NZ is different to K-mart the USA with different owners, completely different store)  Brands like National Geographic selling Chinese model metal detectors with their branding on it in their stores.  They also rebranded a Go-Find to be a National Geographic detector so Minelab has been trying to crack into this market for a while but now they're hitting it hard with good detectors with lower prices like this X-Terra Voyager. 

The Go-Find was a bit behind the Chinese models for a more expensive price. It was a pretty basic detector where features wise many of the Chinese detectors sold in stores next to it here exceeded it in both performance and price, often having Target ID's which the Go-Find lacked.  The X-Terra is really a game changer in this area for Minelab by having all the features of these Chinese detectors with the big brand name to go with it selling at a similar price.

The biggest surprise for me was the biggest metal detector dealer in the country carries the Chinese detectors too alongside the other more well known metal detector brands.  They carry a brand called Gold Century which are also branded as many other detectors on the Chinese online marketplaces and are heavily overpriced at the dealer compared to buying from China, the high prices making them look better machines than they are.

Gold Century (jacobsdigital.co.nz)

A guess Minelab just want a piece of that low priced big seller entry level detector market pie.

[Steve Herschbach]

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

First Texas are only the leader in this arena in the USA I would think

I agree, and with First Texas asleep at the wheel it will not be hard for Minelab and the Chinese to gut their bread and butter. Minelab has name recognition nobody will ever get with a Pancky detector.