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OregonGregg
We're still getting some snow, it's possible I fell down and hit my head, Give me a few days and I'll get back to normal.

Hello OREGONGREGG,

I hope this note finds you in good health and frame of mind. . . . . turn off the snow please. Really, Gregg - i mean that. PLEASE.

I think i had a slip and fall myself when all of this snow stuff started months ago, and has continued, and appears to have NO END IN SIGHT.

It started with Minelab doing some really weird stuff, began with the mythologically named Manticore. Oddly named for Minelab as it doesn't begin with an E. i.e.; excalibur, explorer, etrac, equinox, you get the picture. Then, like a left hook out of the blue, while folks are food fighting about when the Manticore is going to make it to a doorstep near you, there's a boom and a momentary pause in the arguing and Minelab says, "Oh, by the way, we have a new Equinox 900 and 700. Same housing as the new Manticore, same search rod and arm cuff, same target ID scale, improved
EQX series coil design, improved performance. And we can ship them like now. There is a stunned silence among the Minelab community who didn't see this coming.

And then there is a social media 'leak' from the far east - China - (probably somewhere near Wuhan). The long forgotten X-Terra series that was wasting away in the corner of the basement is . . . . revitalized, redesigned. Coming to a Manticore housing near you. X-Terra Pro. New search rod. New set of coils. Still able to switch search frequencies, but this time, it is doing so by a push of the button rather than a switch of an expensive coil. And . . . a new price. It looks leaner and meaner. Oh, and if you already have an equinox, this X-Terra Pro younger brother is going to be borrowing your coils. Get over it.

And just when Nokta was firming their grip on the entry level market with their high value Simplex+ by broadening their entry offerings, here comes Minelab with a combination of punches that has left the ring side viewers stunned.

What's next? Well. Why is the Vanquish still in that 'other style' housing? Will Minelab move it over to their new multi-platform housing / search rod design? If they did it to the X-Terra Pro for less than $300, why not? Wouldn't that be an uppercut ?

As for the X-Terra Pro vs the Simplex+ series, seems there is a battle going on for entry level market share of the metal detecting world and both Minelab and Nokta are trying to establish an upper hand. Take a step back for a few minutes. This isn't ending in the 1st or 2nd round.

Nothing new in hand yet for the average consumer here, the X-Terra Pro or the newest Simplex offerings aren't quite shipping yet, so don't be making it rain over at Bob's. The best part of the fight might just be standing in the corner waiting for the next round.

UtahRich -

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Zen and the Art of Metal Detecting . . . . .