AlgoForce E1500 Vs The Rest

[Steve Herschbach]

I find the speculation that the E1500 will somehow outperform detectors costing much more money to be, well, how to put this nicely… questionable at best. If this detector was GPX 6000 class it would be stupid to sell it for one quarter the price of a GPX 6000. I don’t think Alex is stupid. Here is the current price structure in Australia as of today after Garrett just introduced the lower priced stripped down Axiom package:

1. GPZ 7000 $10,499

2. GPX 6000 $8,999 with two coils

3. Garrett Axiom $4,999 with one coil

4. SDC 2300 $4,399

5. E1500 with Sadie & Battery $2649

6. Minelab Manticore $2499

7. Gold Monster $1299

I have pretty solid information in hand indicating that you are going to get what you pay for. The E1500 is a very affordable option at close the price of a top end VLF and will outperform said VLFs on gold in mineralized ground. Time will tell but I think the E1500 will fall short of SDC 2300 and Axiom level performance, essentially being a bridge between VLF detectors and those models. The 6000 and 7000 will continue to rule the roost but at twice the price of the SDC/Axiom level you are not getting twice the depth. Pulling a number out of my ass I’d assign a very debatable expectation of about a 15% increase in overall performance at each major step up in price. People can of course argue that number all day long but I think it is very important to give newbies some sense of reality. Twice the money does not get twice the performance. Gains are more like 10% - 15% - 20%…. pick your number, but it’s not double, triple, quadruple.

If I was still selling detectors I’d explain to this new customer that they can go find a gold nugget with a Gold Monster or a Manticore. I’d explain that for not much more than a Manticore they could get an AlgoForce E1500 and be able to deal with mineralized ground and hot rocks that will give the VLF models real trouble. I’d tell them that for substantially more money they could get some very solid bang for the buck in the Axiom/SDC range, a step up from E1500 but still not top tier. Finally, I’d tell them that if money is no object and they simply want the best performance they can get, to look at the 6000 or 7000. I’d comment that out of the box with provided coils the 6000 would have the edge for smaller gold, and the 7000 the edge on larger gold. Adding aftermarket coils (and more money) to the 7000 can close the gap between it and the 6000 on small gold, but nothing you do to the 6000 will have it hitting the big stuff as deep as the 7000.

That would be my short and sweet sales presentation and I offer it up as the most simplified big picture no B.S. look at the scene as you are likely to find. My somewhat educated opinions only, feel free to toss in trash bin if you don’t agree. 

In the States this would be the situation if the E1500 could be had here:

1. GPZ 7000 $8,999

2. GPX 6000 $6,499 with two coils

3. Garrett Axiom $3,995 with two coils

4. SDC 2300 $3,599

5. E1500 with Sadie & Battery under $1999

6. Minelab Manticore $1699

7. Gold Monster $799

[Lead Detector]

If I were a betting man, I'd bet your assumption will be pretty accurate 

[phrunt]

That seems a reasonable assessment to me, and why I've been pointing out all along 6000 and 7000 owners don't need one unless there is an attribute of it that they particularly like, like 7000 owners wanting a lighter machine to use for some particular reason or they want a PI they can use for stuff other than gold with its excellent Target ID's.

I genuinely think GPX 4500/5000 owners would benefit from it, it's doing noticeably better on small gold than those models, along with its ability to find the gold they often miss, the prickly stuff and not just that, I tested a bunch of regular small nuggets commonly found here, and the Algo was doing better than the GPX 5000 by quite a bit, some the 5000 didn't even hit the Algo did.  For them it's of even more benefit as they can share coils between detectors, and their Bluetooth transmitter and headphones.

While I've never used an Axiom, I've not really known its comparison.

The SDC is an iffy one to me, mainly due to my milder soil environment and it was a pretty poor performer here with the original GPX series being far better when fitted with a spiral or smaller bundle coil except for it being poor on the prickly type gold, so that one makes me wonder, as the Algo for me here in my soils is doing better on the smaller gold than the GPX, I have no doubts a GPX will be deeper on big targets though.

What I see with the Algo is a whole lot of bang for the buck, half the price of an Axiom, way less than the 6000 and of course the 7000.  The perfect detector for people not wanting to spend a lot of money and still get a very good performance machine, but not by any means the best and is filling a large hole in the market for that reason.  Its other notable benefit is its very good EMI handling, it can run well in places others cannot.

Now the big question hanging over it is benefits outside of prospecting with its Target Id's, how beneficial is that going to be in parkland and beach settings, for me so far, it's looking good.

[abenson]

Steve I'd say your assessment of the above is pretty spot on. I have a few of those machines and have seen most of the others in field right along side the ones I use. Not having seen of used the E1500, I still think your assessment is accurate. Companies price products the way they do for a reason and I wouldn't expect a 2k PI to outperform a 6k or even a 4k PI.

[Redz]

5 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Now the big question hanging over it is benefits outside of prospecting with its Target Id's, how beneficial is that going to be in parkland and beach settings, for me so far, it's looking good.

A second big question is how useful this will be in really trashy areas of the motherlode. It has potential here to do what more expensive machines cannot

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

Steve, very nice summary!

I am glad the E1500 was the first detector to meet your pulse induction challenge of under 4 pounds and under $2,000 and it looks to have some good ergonomics also.

I remember that the 6000 and Axiom were well suited for the states due to a majority of our gold is on the smaller sizes and we have a lot of quartz specimen types also here. Not to forget some of our goldfields can also be heavily mineralized killing most Induction balanced VLF’s.
 

So for 1/2 of an Axiom or 1/3 of a 6000 we have a small gold detector now with a wide array of coil option, great EMI handling, and a static target ID. The SDC does have great ground handling capabilities, even better than the 6000, so looking forward to more user feedback results of the E1500 ground handling capabilities. Hopefully the Ultra Fine Pulse timings can handle the more challenging ground types in the goldfields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gerry in Idaho]

Glad you pointed out the obvious to me and a select few.  So many folks want to compare it to top end proven detectors at such prices difference, is just stupid not reasonable in my opinion.  Did we see anything from AlgoForce stating depth comparisons to Minelabs and or the Axiom?  Not yet anyway and I seriously doubt we will.  Does the suggestion of the E-1500 not proving depth as good or better than higher end detectors make it not desired?  Not in my mind one bit.

Now with that said, I still feel this detector has a Nitch to fill and especially the price point.

Lets look back at each one of us and how our gold hunting as progressed.  The majority of us in the Sates started with a VLF type gold capable detector.  Why?  To test the waters.  Those of us who enjoyed the challenge eventually stepped up and many of us it was incremental.  A White's TDI, Garrett Infinium was within reason price points and those detectors have proven to do better at overall depth on gold.  Then for a few of us who had the financial blessings from the wife, stepped even higher on the price machines of $3000+, such as the early PI Minelabs and ATX.  With more expereince in the field and justification of finds being dug at better depths, a select few of us (many of DP), reach for the clouds and dropped the big bucks.

But what about the masses of people we chat with at Prospecting Clubs, Outings, Gatherings.  Look around folks and you'll soon realize us swinging $4000+ detectors are not the norm at all.  In fact we are the minority.

So, I'm going to stand up and Salute AlgoForce for providing so many new people an option to own a Pulse Induction gold detector that has some amazing features and functions at a price point that's focused on the missing masses.

I look forward to seeing the new crowd soon to be coming.

Will those of us who own 3 to 6 different detectors purchase one?  Some of us still will do it, just because the potential to hunt a few sites in EMI and  or use some Iron Discrimination.

Thanks Steve/Phrunt for sharing and clearing up some of the folks who have big dreams with such an affordable detector.

[phrunt]

You're on the right track there Ron, you can open up a whole market of new customers with it, and bring people in that otherwise wouldn't bother due to the crazy high pricing of the gold prospecting suitable machines.

It's basically what the QED tried to do in Australia, the Algo is capable of doing it properly with a more professionally built detector.

Think of it like the Equinox, plenty were swinging that, the Vanquish came out for cheaper, still pretty damn good but not at Equinox level, so Equinox owners had no need to buy one yet the Vanquish opened up near to in many situations Equinox performance at a far cheaper price, people could find a reasonable percentage of Equinox targets while spending less money.

The Vanquish became a good seller, not everyone wants to or has a fortune to spend on their hobby.  This is where I see the E1500 sitting, and for this reason it will become a good seller, that's a given, maybe not too many of the prospectors on this forum as they tend to be the high end buyers that already have the best, but the general market the E1500 is going to be a hit.

[Norvic]

Get it out in the fields where it will compete to some users with the rest on a number of fronts... ergonomics, coil availability and its GB 'ability', it has something different there in that it stays stable with less GBing  for a sensitive detector. Certainly as shown already not all users are going to go for it, a fixed GB machine is perhaps not for all those who prefer a tracking machine, at this stage that and not being wireless are two 'negatives' if one forgets price. It`s replaced the Axiom and SDC in my arsenal on my ground but not the Z and 6K and that`s not price influenced. I love swinging it as I suspect a lot will, but not everybody.

[Nedkelly]

2 hours ago, Norvic said:

Get it out in the fields where it will compete to some users with the rest on a number of fronts... ergonomics, coil availability and its GB 'ability', it has something different there in that it stays stable with less GBing  for a sensitive detector. Certainly as shown already not all users are going to go for it, a fixed GB machine is perhaps not for all those who prefer a tracking machine, at this stage that and not being wireless are two 'negatives' if one forgets price. It`s replaced the Axiom and SDC in my arsenal on my ground but not the Z and 6K and that`s not price influenced. I love swinging it as I suspect a lot will, but not everybody.

The stable ground balance is the most impressive thing for me. I'm certainly not ground balancing as much as I would have expected in hot variable ground with a sensitive detector.