XP something ... something... WTF?

[ivconic]

Of course...the XP (and ML) story can go on and on, I'm afraid; in a very negative direction!
Here's a fresh example of Icon models that are about to just hit the market.
And that is that XP will first totally ignore "small" and "weak" markets like Serbia!
I just checked with a couple of official local distributors, they have not received any information from XP regarding Icon detectors!
This is where all their arrogance is reflected in XP, but also unprecedented stupidity!
Serbia is not a "small" and "weak" market! Serbia is by far in first place, above all in the world, in terms of the number of detectors per capita!
Even the USA has no chance against Serbia, keep in mind that we are talking "per capita". And that is not a small number, Serbia has about 7 million inhabitants.
But these are not the final numbers either. Serbia is the "center" of the Balkans, more precisely the center of Eastern Europe.
All surrounding countries are supplied with equipment here.
The only exception is Bulgaria, our neighbors, where this market is also very developed and powerful.
When we talk about local "local" dealers, we are not talking about 7 million, but about a figure of over 30 million, so.
If we add Turkey to that, another 80 million more!
Not to mention Turkey, which has become very modern and has an unprecedentedly developed industry.
Turkey is "Europe's China" in that sense.
Turkey is so big and developed that it can survive on its own.
A sufficient indicator is that Turkey practically has no national debt!
How much was the USA national debt per capita? Ha, ha, ha!
So... over 100 millions. Greece? 10 million more!
"Westerners", including the French in XP, are very ignorant and superficial when analyzing these statistics.
The city of New York has more inhabitants than "little" Serbia.
But the social composition of those people is such that in New York you don't have nearly as many detectorists per capita as in Serbia.
For the simple reason that in NY and in general in the USA you don't have anything old, ancient, worth mentioning.
Every old wooden fence in Serbia is much older than the USA! And it's not a joke, it's the truth.
When I say "Serbia" here, I mean the whole of the Balkans and the whole of Eastern Europe.
Here is the cradle of civilization and the modern world. Everything was created here. Everything developed from here.
Ancient nations lived, fought, etc. here.
That's why there are so many detectorists here. It couldn't be simpler than that.
The "strategists" at the big metal detector companies should know these facts FIRST... and in fact they don't, because they are totally illiterate and quite mentally limited.
Bulgaria realized this in time and that is why today Bulgaria has a very developed and advanced metal detector industry.
Which makes me very happy, because the Bulgarians are very dear neighbors to us Serbs. It is similar with the Turks and the Greeks.
"Westerners", you have ignored us for too long and considered us to be "third-rate" markets, and it hit you hard!
The reason for your slow but obvious stagnation and decline is precisely because of these reasons!
Your arrogance will come to your head and it is a well-deserved punishment.
And that's why Icon, like all previous models, will come to these local markets... MUCH LATER than it will appear in some "western" markets.
I have been appealing and trying to point this out for years. Nobody listens to me.
A wall of severe autism and arrogance was placed between my messages and the brains of those "great" strategists.
That is why I am very glad that our dear neighbors, the Bulgarians and the Turks, responded very well to this backward behavior.
XP makes pretty solid detectors. That cannot be denied. But the prices are unjustifiably HIGH and the failure statistics are getting higher and higher over the years.
When I compare with the failure statistics of Bulgarian and Turkish models; it's ridiculous to compare!
So far I've only had one Nokta Simplex on service, it was a slight malfunction, and not a single Bulgarian detector so far!
And in Serbia, according to statistics, there are the most Bulgarian and Turkish models.
This is a long post but I hope very sobering and instructive.
But I know in advance that the autism of the "big ones" will continue to work to their detriment, and I'm not sorry for that.
Will I buy Icon? Oh yes! But only in a couple of years and at a price of no more than 200-300 euros! So much for that.
Will I buy Deus 2 again? Very likely yes!
But with a white coil and when the total price is below 400e!
Because if you ask me; that is its real price and value.
Absolutely 100% the same story applies to ML!

[ivconic]

It was a long post, but with a lot of "condensed" facts, which should be "digested" slowly.
And even as such it is not well written.
Each of the claims requires further explanation.
I know from experience that the modern reader on forums has a very short focus.
Modern science claims that today anything longer than 7 seconds is something that remains out of focus.
Although it is an ugly data; it is correct though.
It is a consequence of the times in which we live.
The idea behind it is also the intention.
It is easier to manipulate the masses if you shorten their attention span.
It is for these reasons that the neoliberal idea survives in the world.
Which is based mainly on sheep shearing.
However, I belong to generations that are older and have a longer focus.
But I see that it is often pointless to struggle with reality.
Things will not change overnight. XP and ML won't collapse overnight.
They will continue with similar behavior for a long time.
But even now, stagnation and a slight decline are still very evident.
To me, the whole story about the Vanquish series at ML, earlier with ORX and now about Icon at XP; says only one thing!
PANIC!
A slight subconscious panic drives them to such moves.
ML and XP have grown into true neoliberal giants. And that story comes to an end!
The downfall begins just like that. First you start fooling around with cheaper offers.
Because the first league of offers was anyway from the beginning with unreasonably high prices.
Next is the reduction of partner resources. Then comes the reduction in the number of employees.
And during all that time, there is a slow but very visible decline in the quality of the product.
And one day all those panic measures no longer help. And then there is collapse, decay and disappearance.
There is a detail I noticed about the Icon teaser.
The rod, stem, whatever it's properly called, is "lightweight"... that's the explanation they give.
No, that's not the main reason, the weight.
It is a very cheap and low-quality material, the worst possible type of plastic, which even the Chinese are ashamed of today!
The parts that hold the elbow, let's call them "ears", break very easily. I already had a dozen cases in the local community, just in my place.
Because the same bar/stem/shaft came with the ORX models. Not from the first ORX series but from the later ones.
It is terribly bad and of poor quality.
I have the oldest one that came with the first Deus 1 series. And I can compare.
No one on the forum remembers the first ads for Deus 1, I remember them well.
Someone on the commercial put that rod/shaft/stem between two chairs and stood in the middle!
65kg of weight in the middle of the unfolded rod/stem/shaft and it manages to withstand, does not crack.
These today that come with ORX now with Icon... ha,ha,ha!
The lower part of the assembly, the plastic tube that holds the coil and the middle one, which is made of aluminum, are still ok.
But the third last part is made of the worst possible plastic.
Once it's broken - there's no fixing it! It's such bad plastic that even "welding" doesn't help.
Year after year, I very carefully notice and remember all those small and cunning "optimizations" that slip through the back door.
And that clearly shows me where it all leads.
Ok, what about ML!? Ha, ha, ha, ha!
I almost had a ML Voyager or something. Even the worst Chinese detector would be ashamed of that crap!
The first and "old" Vanquish series was up to my standards, I'm not going to say that it wasn't.
For a price below the 300e, that little 340 model really offered a lot!
But I noticed that the battery cover is done in one shade of red - while the rest of the box is a noticeably different shade of red.
And that was very unusual and confusing to me!?
And then I found out that ML has "grown" so much that it hires third-rate manufacturers (I wouldn't be surprised if they were from China) to make certain parts for them.
No, it's not because ML has "grown" so much, it's called input cost cutting in the normal world.
When you have excessively large ambitions and it all doesn't pay off on paper; then you resort to such cheap tricks.
The first signs of stagnation and inevitable decline.
...
If for some consolation, the great, respected and my favorite White's at least left with pride.
Tesoro too.
Fisher too.
Who else?
Garrett is still there, hanging on and fighting.
Some new Garrett models are hard to come by, but I hear very positive reactions.
However, the local dealers of that equipment are also short-sighted.
And the local market forces them to make some stupid moves.
Nobody here is trying to import Garrett and promote that brand more seriously.
Where is the blame?
Are the local dealers stupid and blind or has Garrett set such a market policy that he does not want to expand into "small" markets?
Personally, I am very interested in a couple of the new Garrett models, but they are impossible to get easily.
I have personally seen that Garrett is run by smart people.
Here's my public plea for Garrett to think about this whole story, which I've spread over multiple posts on this thread.
I don't have to mention FTP either!
Carl is a very smart man with both feet on the ground.
But the question is whether Carl decides anything himself.
But here, people, I am addressing you, read the entire topic word for word and draw your own conclusions.
You are smart people.
You don't need anything more than a little focus.
Overcome those (in)famous 7 seconds attributed to us all!

[ivconic]

[ivconic]

While we wait for some first experiences and reports... some good energy!
People on the forum...Oye Como Va!?

[Hristo]

[ivconic]

From the two I would probably pick Icon X, because of the 30kHz option.
Right now with the Deus 1 and HF eliptical coil; the best performances on my soils I get with 28-30kHz.