History of Minelab

[dig4gold]

On 9/25/2025 at 8:40 AM, Jonathan Porter said:

Advantages of the Zsearch12 over standard are, less EMI, less saturation signal, better sensitivity to small gold, better depth on nuggets up to around the 8 gram mark, equal depth to the GPZ14 on nuggets up to around the 15 to 20 gram mark and an approx 300 gram reduction in weight over the GPZ14.

This all added together means you can run higher sensitivity over standard, suffer from less shallow and deep conductive signals and EMI and operate it in tight to work areas, this all adds up to significant gains in the right locations.

 

So why didn't/don't Minelab improve their standard coil or even make a smaller one? Is it they don't care & have moved on allowing NF that market, & I guess NF pays a royalty to ML for the privilege of having the important chip. X coils proved that smaller coils could most definitely be made. But yet nothing smaller, outside of X coils, from ML or NF. Why were there no GPZ 7000 coils made from Coiltek? It's a weird world that ML marketing machine.

D4G

  

[flakmagnet]

1 hour ago, dig4gold said:

It's a weird world that ML marketing machine.

Truer words were never spoken...🙃

 

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

16 hours ago, dig4gold said:

It's a weird world that ML marketing machine.

In the end point after doing lots of my own testing, I’ve found that I have to own three Minelab gold detectors to really cover all the different types of gold I find. Minelab has made a lot of money off of me and others designing these performance variations to not overlap their other models. Basically Minelab is only competing with themselves so I better start saving up for the next release or find another hobby.

[dig4gold]

On 9/30/2025 at 3:19 AM, RONS DETECTORS MINELAB said:

In the end point after doing lots of my own testing, I’ve found that I have to own three Minelab gold detectors to really cover all the different types of gold I find. Minelab has made a lot of money off of me and others designing these performance variations to not overlap their other models. Basically Minelab is only competing with themselves so I better start saving up for the next release or find another hobby.

Yep. Minelab mining the miners. So what are your three detectors of choice? I have kind of cut mine back to just two. The 6000 & 7000 & to be honest I haven't used the 7000 in over a year now but do have a summertime mission coming up for it when the snow has gone from above 6000 feet. That is my deep, open ground set up & it does pay dividends but basically just the 6000 with 4 coil choices & that can be refined down to all monos. The 11" standard is actually a very good all-round coil. NF 12x7, ML 17" & the little coiltek 10x5 goldhawk. Just depends on conditions & the terrain.

D4G

[Jonathan Porter]

On 9/29/2025 at 2:14 PM, flakmagnet said:

Truer words were never spoken...🙃

 

What’s the differentiator between Minelab and other manufacturers? Minelab is made up of technical people, they are innovators, that’s their strength and that’s where the company makes money. They focus all their energies into development not rehashing and colour splashing the same-old, same-old! They don’t copy, they develop 🥳.

In the past 10 years Minelab has grown into a company that creates good looking well designed products too, annoying niggles aside on the 6000, the form factor and weight reduction are innovation in and of themselves, then you can add in the clear performance difference between competitors. Take a look at the latest C&R machines, the wow 😯 factor is off the charts with them.

Over 14 years ago I was working on field testing the GPZ 7000 and that product is still selling well to this day, it’s a dinosaur in the age of electronics and mechanical design. I have a unit here that is well over 11 years old and still going strong, with its original battery! We have choices in aftermarket coils that are Minelab approved and both of those options do provide real world advantages and weight savings with peace of mind on warranty. If you want more sensitivty to small gold then go get the detector that’s designed for that in the form of the GPX6000.

Me? I like Minelab weird 🤪, so long as I continue to see innovation during my gold seeking journey I’m a happy Chappy 😊, I could care less about the other aspects. I’m addicted to the crazy weird innovation. 🤣 

[Norvic]

3 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

Me? I like Minelab weird 🤪, so long as I continue to see innovation during my gold seeking journey I’m a happy Chappy 😊, I could care less about the other aspects. I’m addicted to the crazy weird innovation. 🤣 

Aye not weird at all, there are many who share this opinion, who simply try the rest but rely on best.

[dig4gold]

I can't argue & that Minelab do make the best detectors electronically. IMO

D4G 

[Reg Wilson]

No argument that Minelab build the best detectors, but they are not perfect.  Perfection is unachievable in any field. The list of imperfections in all Minelab detector models is undisputed, but they are still the best available, which is both good and bad for the consumer. 

Just take the example of formula one cars. Each time a Ferrari, or any other constructer races their car there will be some change from the last time it raced. These cars are in a state of constant evolution, the obvious aim being to improve performance. The GPZ7000 was developed and built to improve performance over previous models, and just like the Ferrari the builders knew from the moment the first one rolled off production that it could be improved. We the consumers knew that improvement was possible from the first time we picked one up, let alone actually used it, and the builders also knew, so we would assume that the development of an improved version would have began immediately, possibly and likely that the next prototype began before the 7000 even hit the market.

The big difference between the formula one Ferrari and the GPZ7000 is demand and competition. You can bet that if a competitor came out with a detector that out performed or out priced with equal performance the 7000 that Minelab would have their R and D team working overtime to reclaim their advantage. This of course has not happened. The initial brilliance of Bruce Candy meant that Minelab with their first couple of VLF detectors were propelled right to the top of the detector game, equal with, or even ahead of the main players. By taking the work done by Eric Foster to an advanced level Bruce developed a usable pulse induction detector which propelled Minelab to the very top of gold hunting detectors. Minelab then had an unassailable lead with the resources to keep ahead of any R and D competition. From the SD2000 to the GPX6000 they have kept the lead.

In all the time since the GPZ7000 has been on the market no competition has come any where near ZVT technology, so from Minelab's perspective there has been no rush for further development, although you can bet that there is something in the 'pipeline'.

[Jonathan Porter]

On 10/5/2025 at 1:49 PM, Reg Wilson said:

By taking the work done by Eric Foster to an advanced level Bruce developed a usable pulse induction detector which propelled Minelab to the very top of gold hunting detectors.

Reg where do you get this stuff from? I’m pretty certain Bruce had never heard of Eric Foster till long after he’d developed the SD 2000. 🤔