What someone is doing for a living...

[Eugene52]

I ran across this yesterday , I thought I would share this with the forum here today . A unknown person who I do not know personally is doing minelab SD mods and I think his prices are a little high , but I think his business idea is great . I put this in a text file for easy reading. From reading this text It sure seems like Minelab is not a very solid detector . Spend thousands , and it seems it has a high breakdown rate , probably and conveniently after the warranty runs out . It is great to own a Deep seeking detector but what if you drive to a remote mountainous or desert region and it decides to eventually breakdown . If I spend big money I want the thing to run for more than just 4 years. I posted this file for the technical knowledge and the high prices.............Thanks........Eugene

[foxman]

That sure is on the pricey side.

[Topcat(WA)]

I ran across this yesterday , I thought I would share this with the forum here today . A unknown person who I do not know personally is doing minelab SD mods and I think his prices are a little high , but I think his business idea is great . I put this in a text file for easy reading. From reading this text It sure seems like Minelab is not a very solid detector . Spend thousands , and it seems it has a high breakdown rate , probably and conveniently after the warranty runs out . It is great to own a Deep seeking detector but what if you drive to a remote mountainous or desert region and it decides to eventually breakdown . If I spend big money I want the thing to run for more than just 4 years. I posted this file for the technical knowledge and the high prices.............Thanks........Eugene

I may be a little biased in my opinion but I own a Minelab SD2100 which I have had modded to improve depth & sensitivity rather then spend extra money to upgrade to a later model that gives similar performance. I don't know where you got the info on the breakdowns from, but apart from the 4500 series having some teething problems when they first came out on the market, the results being achieved (i.e. here in Aussie) by owners of Minelab units are very good with reliability & depth finding.
I agree that the prices quoted for the mods seem high compared to the costs of mods being carried out here taking into consideration the value of the Aussie Dollar. As I said this is just my opinion. Cheers. Ted.

[Sean_Goddard]

You think THOSE prices are high?? Try getting mods done in the UK!!! In fact when you buy a detector just knock the $ sign off and put a £ on instead.

Of course all the "official" dealers bleat on about the cost of import duty, VAT and shipping, then there's providing warranties because most machines are US made (my heart bleeds). Never mind the recent £/ $ rate (all US detectors would have cost HALF PRICE to us in the UK).

Bottom line is they're mostly a bunch of parasites and petty criminals who are just blatant profiteers. OK it's a small market in the UK, but HEY get life and do something else as well. Fact is they CAN'T do anything else, they're such losers.

If anyone tries to sell cheap or grey import, they all gang up on them and TRY to push them out of business. The only thing they are good at is being a**h**les. SAD really isn't it / aren't they.

RIP OFF BRITAIN....

[joecoin]

You think THOSE prices are high?? Try getting mods done in the UK!!! In fact when you buy a detector just knock the $ sign off and put a £ on instead.

Of course all the "official" dealers bleat on about the cost of import duty, VAT and shipping, then there's providing warranties because most machines are US made (my heart bleeds). Never mind the recent £/ $ rate (all US detectors would have cost HALF PRICE to us in the UK).

Bottom line is they're mostly a bunch of parasites and petty criminals who are just blatant profiteers. OK it's a small market in the UK, but HEY get life and do something else as well. Fact is they CAN'T do anything else, they're such losers.

If anyone tries to sell cheap or grey import, they all gang up on them and TRY to push them out of business. The only thing they are good at is being a**h**les. SAD really isn't it / aren't they.

RIP OFF BRITAIN....

Okay Sean, how many units can I send you and when do you want them?

Goddards import/export business.

[Sean_Goddard]

If you're serious I'll take you up on that.

PM me and let me know what brands you sell. BEWARE though, I've heard Tesoro check the serial numbers and if they catch you selling outside your area, they will terminate your dealership.

Of course I can take the numbers off and put my OWN on the units....

[Woody.au]

Its not cost effective to do cheap mods, give people what they pay for, not half assed upgrades. You have to be very careful with M/L white painted boards because if you make a boo boo then its going to be very hard to repair unless you have a schematic of the detector in question.
Then you can always ask me what the parts are if you become stumped.

[Mechanic]

Crikey, my sd2000 must be worth a small fortune by now. $108 for the input fet mod! lets see, about $8 worth of parts , Tx fets $8 (btw the original ones in mine never ran hot)(oh and wouldn't lower rds on use more battery power?), regulator $10, and what about the 5+ power supply mod? and the gpm mod, the front end preamp, Woodys new 2ch summing mod(ok that one can be forgiven).

Sorry I just couldn't resist
Cheers

[wyndham]

I recently saw a video for a Whites TDI( I assume the video was legit) where the fellow went over some old empty MD dig holes and found a small rice grain size nugget in the leftover dig dirt. A small length of wire was nearby.
The fellow before him thought he only found the wire but missed the gold.
Big $$$$ is not all it takes. BTW I've yet to find a nugget, but that's ok as well
Wyndham

[grungymike]

"intellectual property"?

Just finished reading thru this thread and oh boy have I gotta throw my 2 cents worth in!!!

Just yesterday I was watching some Youtube videos about mods on Minelab SD detectors. I was disgusted at the frankly shoddy construction that I saw inside the coil assy. Wires held in place with masking tape, some kind of metallized paint on CARDBOARD for a Faraday shield, highly variable performance from different units of the same model, and on and on.

A year ago I spent $1000 for a Whites GMT with some accessories including their recommendation for a midrange headphone set. That machine never really was stable until I replaced the headphones with a $30 set from Radio Shack of all places. When I dismantled the old set I discovered that the volume controls were absolute crap. The pot wipers weren't burned out, the pots themselves were literally falling apart!
With a cheap pair of headphones from a different company, now for the first time since I bought this dXXXXd thing, I can get a stable threshold!
I spent what for me is serious tall dollar for what I thought was the best,
and it was only persistant dumb luck that kept me from giving up on nugget shooting alltogether. This was my first machine, I tried to buy quality in order to shorten the learning curve, and would have sold it and given up on the whole scene if I hadn't discovered this website.

It was this site with the attitude of knowledge sharing for the benefit of all involved that readjusted my attitude.

I seriously doubt that I will ever again purchase a complete unit from ANY of the major manufacturers. It seems to me that manufacturing worldwide (not just metal detectors) has become focused on competing for who can build the cheapest crap for the biggest profits based on glitzy promotion
instead of good engineering. The American auto industry is a good example of what I'm talking about.

From here on out I intend to build my own units. I've learned the hard way to trust my own judgement, instead of trusting the reputation of some company who's only real goal is to separate me from my money.

And as for this site, It has become a rare day in hXXX when I find intelligent people willing to share their experience with others. It's comparable to leaving the Wall street traders pits, and entering a university library. I can't thank you enough. You guys have dulled the edge of what had become a razor sharp cynicism re the human condition.

gm

[Melbeta]

Metal detector dealer impressions....

As a former metal detector dealer, I was really impressed by the quality of the work, that I found in Garrett metal detectors, even the battery compartments were fantastic slide in units. All his parts were MIL quality, since he did a lot of business under U.S. government contracts, he had to use MIL specification parts. Yes, they are heavy machines, but they are rugged machines....I do not know what the Garrett machines are today, but back in the 1970's, 1980,s and early 1990's, they were built like tanks!

[Sean_Goddard]

I agree, Garret USED to be mil spec, but I'm afraid the profit monsters (accountants) got in there too, now it's all cheap. I have to say though, at least they still make good PCB's using good spec components, no surplus stuff like a certain other U.S. mfg (not Whites BTW).

Garrett seem to be able to get great performance from a low component count. Great job guys!!