Minelab / Chinese ???

[reddirtfisher]

Hello all, I have noticed something about the low end Minelab detectors. The Minelab Voyager looks like a sunpow OT-MD09 and the coil on the Intrepid looks like the coil on a lot of chinese machines. Does anyone know what is going on with this? Just curious. Thanks.

[Carl-NC]

The Chinese are very good at copying.

[ivconic]

The Vanquish series was just ok. But later they started making some very cheap and totally bad toys. What's going on? No, it's not just Chinese copies, the same models are also on the ML web pages.
Looks like ML is going down?
The great global economic crisis affects the largest more than the small. Because they are big "machines" with many people and a lot of logistics.
And metal detectors are really a completely third-rate commodity in human life.
Fans of metal detectors can be expressed numerically in parts per million. How long can such a business survive?
Moodz hinted at this in his own subtle way in one of his posts. But it is clear to everyone.
The Internet in every hand... it's a "revolution" that has made a lot of things meaningless.
What does this mean? Ultra-fast flow of information, fresh information available to everyone.
Forums like this one, we get to know some detector models very quickly without ever having seen them live in real life.
And it spread all over the world in a few seconds. There is no more "intrigue" from the 80s and 90s.
When we knew nothing about detectors and each seemed magical and almighty.
Back then, you could sell a bad detector for huge sums of money. And keep selling them for years... until the world gets the word out that they're bad.
And vice-versa.
Today, you can find out everything you need to know in a few seconds to a few minutes. And it's a double-edged sword.
Let's not lie, we "older" people remember the times when detectors were sold for fabulous sums, just because they were accompanied by intrigue and secrecy.
Those times are over.
Metal detectors have come to an end.
Moodz is right. Soon, every kid with 5 minutes of school will be able to make anything he wants, with the help of AI.
But that is only the beginning of the end. The end will happen when machines start making machines themselves.
No, this is not scaring people or some apocalyptic prediction. This is just a logical sequence of events.
...

I am not a Chinese lawyer and I have no reason to defend the Chinese. But to the Chinese it became senseless and trivial to clone metal detectors. This is first hand information.

[reddirtfisher]

wow Ivonic thanks for your comments. I read another post on a different channel that said there was suspicion that Minelab might have contracted with the chinese to produce detectors for the Amazon market and then put the Minelab name on them. There is no proof of this but if it is true it is a really sad day indeed. I am going to contact Minelab to see what they say.

[reddirtfisher]

OK I got my answer from Minelab direct. The Xterra Voyager and the Xterra Intrpid are made in China. All other Minelab machines are made in Malaysia except the military units which are made in Australia.

[ivconic]

[ivconic]

[ivconic]

Now this looks kinda lame... but if I had a detector like this at hand 40 years ago...! Today I would be richer than Trump!

[reddirtfisher]

Oh yes ! So would I