Under 4 Pound, Under $2000 Gbpi Challenge

[Steve Herschbach]

On 9/30/2023 at 11:03 AM, phrunt said:

Thanks for pointing that out, Steve, as someone in the know you'd know more than anyone about this and having worked with many companies before you would really know how it works.  That's incredible they behave that way, what's the point in having testers if you don't listen to their results.   Hopefully Nokta is more responsive to their testers on their PI.   Maybe if they have a larger group of testers all reporting the same issues it may help over a small group.

They listen. They have to decide if it’s worth the cost of making the change or not. Often cost in outright dollars but sometimes it's just the new delay it would involve. Use the 6000 rod twist as an example. It’s annoyance at worst, and lots of people never experience it or care if they do. It does not affect the actual detection capability. Spend money to change it, or let it be?

Or maybe you have an issue that may occur rarely. Do you just accept it as a cost under warranty for the few machines that experience the issue, or not?

Are we ahead of time and under budget? Or overdue and over budget? It all matters and some things get done, others don’t. Everyone has a different opinion of what is “good enough” and toss in some engineers thinking they know better than the end user what is best…. stuff happens or does not.

Whatever. I’m more grateful for what we get than for what we don’t get. Pretty amazing technology at this point compared to what I started with. That’s one of the fun things about age. I’ve seen revolutions in many things entirely in my lifetime. Where we are now with computers versus when I was a kid - simply amazing. Just one example of many, and detectors going from BFO to where we are now is another.

[Steve Herschbach]

So here we are seven years after I issued my challenge. I had no idea we would be waiting this long, though with technology it has always been a matter of when, not if. Garrett was my main hope but instead of quickly repackaging an ATX to take the prize years ago, they re-engineered the machine to win on weight but came in at twice the desired price. It was their game to lose and they lost it. My next hopes have been pinned first on Nokta and second on Fisher. Fisher has not given up on PI, at least not yet. The following news might change that.

Out of the blue we get a new company with a new detector, and it is ready to go right now! The AlgoForce E1500 has just been announced, and it looks like the detector that might finally take the prize. Priced at AUD $2275 or about U.S. $1500 but comes without a coil or power pack. It can use Minelab SD/GP/GPX coils and runs off any standard USB power brick.

The detector without coil or power pack weighs 840 grams or 1.9 lbs. A Nugget Finder 6x8 Mono "Sadie" coil weighs 500 grams. I'm going to assume a 500 gram power pack to get at least some semblance of balance, and if so that puts us right at 4 lbs. A larger power pack or battery or both could easily add another pound, but 4 lbs is possible.

Now the price at $1500 U.S. plus a Sadie coil sold in U.S. for $250 leaves plenty of room for a battery and or shipping to come in at or near the $2000 target price.

So folks, we may have a winner. The fact a longtime Minelab engineer is behind all this lends real credence to it being a performer. If it simply matched the Axiom on performance it will still blow it away for price and features, especially in Australia where the Axiom is overpriced compared to the U.S.

Anyway, I'm going to get one and find out. I have been an avid follower of metal detecting technology for over 50 years, and as a nerd tech type I always knew what I wanted and what was possible. The Minelab Equinox finally ticked off my desired VLF wish list to the point where I really didn't care what came after. Mission accomplished. But PI has been frustrating, and I was starting to wonder if I'd live long enough to see this happen. But if this is for real, and I think it is, it marks the dawn of a new age in PI detectors, of power, ergonomics, and affordability. Is the E1500 the Equinox of the PI world? If so it will set a new standard of what people expect and good luck selling detectors for over $8000 going forward. I think that dam just burst, thanks to AlgoForce.

AlgoForce E1500 Specifications and User Manuals

Visit the new AlgoForce Metal Detector Forum

65 cm or 25.6 inches

[phrunt]

From what I can see the manufacturer has listened, and gone even further than that, is willing to continuing listening to customers to further enhance it with firmware updates, they even suggest contacting them with features/fixes you want and they'll look into it.

By not including the coil they're giving a lower price while giving customers a choice, a choice is rare these days and their manual promotes aftermarket coils recommending certain aftermarket coils.  The powerbank again gives us choice, we can choose how much we want to pay, which brand and which capacity we want. 

I really think they've listened to complaints and gone with it.  

The only thing missing really is wireless audio, quickly resolved with a cheap Bluetooth LL transmitter and Avantee @Wiggins are working on new versions of this gear at the moment with LL, and in the future LE when it's ready enough.  Perfect timing by Avantee to take on making new Bluetooth gear for detecting.

 

[geof_junk]

As well as above there is a lot of standard coils that people have been forced to buy that are not used so the coil price for it will be low.

[Steve Herschbach]

AlgoForce E1500 Specifications and User Manuals

Visit the new AlgoForce Metal Detector Forum