Have Detector Companies Hit A Wall

[dig4gold]

2 minutes ago, RONS DETECTORS MINELAB said:

I guess Minelab is more concerned about the average user though.

Minelab is more concerned with how they can mine the miners to suck more money out of them.

D4G

[Lead Detector]

3 minutes ago, dig4gold said:

Maybe. But is it up there in the same league with the GPX in finding gold? If finding gold is the game.

D4G

We really don't know yet, but you have to admit, the possibility of useful target ID is a step in the right direction, and this is only the first model out for algoforce. 

[dig4gold]

4 minutes ago, Lead Detector said:

and this is only the first model out for algoforce. 

True that, good point.

D4G

[dig4gold]

Technology seems to be heading for smaller gold but deeper down. Is there enough small gold to make it pay for those chasing the money from gold found? Maybe. Bit of a catch 22. You got to be in the game to find out. There are some GPX 6000 users that think so. Involves a lot more effort & digging though.

D4G

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

3 hours ago, dig4gold said:

Minelab is more concerned with how they can mine the miners to suck more money out of them.

Totally agree,

Probably why they have made every detector with different performance  standards that largely do not compromise the other models they make unless you buy there flagship model.
 

I still think Minelab is losing money by not putting new slightly improved models out. Especially now that the competitor's options on the market are getting pretty good and that aftermarket mods and coils are making the Minelab older models better also.

[Steve Herschbach]

There are two markets. The hobbyists who do it for the sunshine, long walks and social outings. Lots of that here and some in Australia. Then there are the serious guys - plenty in Australia but the huge market is Africa.

You can always sell hobbyists stuff. People detect for coins and jewelry and relics and some people will go detect for a few small nuggets. I lean more the other way - gold was always a way to make money for me and I did quite well with it. And those Africans? They are putting food on the table.

So Minelab can come out with a multifrequency Gold Monster 2 or a lighter weight GPZ 8000 and there will be sales to be had from hobbyists. But the serious folks, the people who expect their detecting to pay for itself and then some..... that HUGE Africa market? Minelab will only see real sales numbers that matter from a detector that makes dead ground light up again. Ground that no longer pays with a GPX 6000 and a GPZ 7000 must pay with a new model. If not, it is game over because the hobbyist market is a pittance compared to the worldwide market for serious gold detecting.

Technology hit the wall? Dreamers want to dream but my decades behinds the scenes experience and contacts with engineers do not allow me to wear those rose colored glasses. Minelab faces their hardest task ever - one upping themselves just one more time. They have been eking out gains on ever smaller gold and that has been working up until now. But hitting stuff smaller than a GPX 6000? We are into VLF country at that point, and what really is the point?

I am the guy Minelab needs to sell. I'm ready to hang up nugget detecting entirely as not worth my time. If I just want to go detect for fun I can do that at a local park or at the beach and have as much or more fun as wandering around NOT finding good gold.

The Aussies want a detector that will hit a 6 ounce nugget at enough extra depth it makes them toss a modded GPX or a X Coil outfitted GPZ 7000 to the side in favor of the new model. What I really need is more depth on one gram to 15 gram nuggets. Not a "oh gosh it seems like that signal is a bit better" imaginary difference on a buried test nugget. I need a machine that when I bury this 1 to 15 gram nugget, there is no signal at all with a GPX 6000 or GPZ 7000 and a strong signal with this new machine. No BS hair splitting, but a genuine "bang" versus dead silence.

If the new machine can do that then I will buy the new one and be happy and Minelab shareholders will be ecstatic. The Africa Gold Rush and more will reignite for one last round, aided by higher gold prices. Minelab will sell piles of them, and at no doubt eye watering prices.

But can Minelab deliver? As somebody with more than a wishful thinking aspect about what it takes to make that happen, I'm not very hopeful. At some point the well does really run dry, and I frankly just shake my head knowing what I know at the blind faith in the idea that detectors will never hit a wall for depth. There are genuine reasons for why that is not true and good reason to believe Minelab is having a difficult time beating what is already available. I'm quite certain there will be something to sell, some statistic generated by a positive result in some circumstance. No doubt pictures of some gold found on "well pounded ground." All I can say is I am that guy that has always, without hesitation, ditched my last Minelab the second a new version came out, and never regretted it. Not this time. I will wait until I see inconvertible proof that the wall has been truly burst through and nuggets are popping right and left out of ground we all have now about given up for dead. Until that happens it's all just opinionating and wishful thinking.

[Bootscrape]

If Steve’s dream detector ever sees the light of day, we all better get to the gym to pump up ready to sweat it out digging those 3–4 foot holes 😅

[Slade]

Minelab don’t need to release a new gold detector at this stage. People are buying 6000’s and buying lots of them, despite the price rise. If they produce a better or cheaper one, all it will do is pinch sales from themselves. Once the other manufacturers make inroads into their sales, that’s when they will act. 

[phrunt]

5 hours ago, dig4gold said:

Because at the end of the day when chasing gold the only way to know for sure what the signal really is, is to dig it regardless of what numbers are telling you. That means digging all signals, like it has been for decades. 

Yes, but if they really have tapped out performance for PI's on gold it gives them a purpose for a new model, they can then make a do it all PI, to suit a bigger market than just gold prospectors.  PI's for coins, jewellery, beach and relics might be a decent market new models can open up.

It happened with VLF's, the dedicated gold prospecting VLF's now offer very little over the general purpose multi use machines, often they're better.

[Gold Ryder]

6 hours ago, dig4gold said:

Because at the end of the day when chasing gold the only way to know for sure what the signal really is, is to dig it regardless of what numbers are telling you. That means digging all signals, like it has been for decades.

D4G 

This^^^^
Because at the end of the day you would be a fool not to.