A Direct Question To Minelab On Facebook About CTX 3030 Updates!

[PMonday]

I just keep on swinging the ctx, admiring my finds, and drink more kool-aid.

It is kinda sad about the updates/upgrades or lack of. There has been some good suggestions posted. I looked for the sub-forum here for the GPZ-7000 and don't see it, maybe a update is required here.



HH

 

[chuckciao]

I think what PO's me the most is that many serious CTX users spent hours and hours offering extremely valuable suggestions for upgrades and updates without a word from Minelab!

 

[ML]

I think what PO's me the most is that many serious CTX users spent hours and hours offering extremely valuable suggestions for upgrades and updates without a word from Minelab!

Bingo !!!

 

[raylesnau]

When I spent the 2500.00 I thought I was buying the best that I could. I didn't even think I needed updates or upgrades. That wasn't even one of my reasons to buy Minelab. Now after running the machine for 6 months I read the posts and laugh. Minelab says do it this way. Andy's book says do it this way. yes I did buy the book. Maybe a good update could go for the manual if it is wrong. I will be buying a new machine this fall. I want to try to prove to myself I didn't waste 2500.00. Like I said I thought I bought the best. I wonder.

 

[jtalley007]

I loved my 3030 and would buy another one if I could swing it with my shoulder issues. Its the most I have ever spent on a detector.

There are guys like you and in Hawaii that know what they are talking about and Minelab should listen.

There is something called the lifetime value of a customer that they should study.

I have owned probably 10 Excaliburs, 12 explorers, 8 or 10 sovereigns and the 3030.

If someone ever masters the multi frequencies detectors they could lose a huge following which is a shame when a little effort to

tweak the 3030 could make us loyal Minelab customers happy, hello Minelab!

 

[jas415]

I think Minelab does listen to what we say. They are NOT a big huge company. Codan has several major divisions, Minelab brand is only a small part and it appears their real money makers may be aviation and military communications equipment. Maybe, just maybe, the small commercial metal detector division was up to their rears in the 7000 development and the new Go-Find series, while doing their best to feed the African market on gold finding stuff, and they just didnt have time to develop more software stuff for the CTX. Their stock lost 75% of its value last year, from $4 to less than a dollar, with the drop in gold prices, now they have changed course a bit and are mass marketing the Go-Find series. With their new products on the market, maybe they will have time to concentrate a few engineers and software types on our suggestions. I would love for them to sell the software development to some small group or several groups, and see what come be done 'outside' a corporate environment. I still completely believe that some hacker is going to get interested in the CTX and come up with a simple 'off the grid' patch or two to make the changes many have suggested, more bins, tones, and some sort of PC diagnostics executable.

Last winter I was having issue with my CTX, it seemed it needed to 'warm up' for 15-20 minutes and then was on steroids. I sent it in and there was quite a waiting list so I complained on here. I got many similar responses of long waits, and then I suggested some changes to their repair system. Many on here came close to saying I was an idiot for daring to suggest Minelab get more repair centers and modernize the system. I got a really nice response to my email to the CEO of Codan and there was a new repair center within weeks. I dont know if Chicago is still in business or not.

What I am saying is if a customer does not speak up and tell the seller of a product that there is an issue, then there will be ZERO feedback as to success or failure and if there is a real issue and sales go away they will always wonder what happened. Customer feedback is the number one method used by EVERY company in the world to better their products. Unless it is our federal government then we are just slaves. I agree with those that say there is a method and manner to positive feedback that gets results. Anger, threats, and "I will never buy" is not going to get much response. If someone is yelling at me I either get pissed myself and things go downhill or my brains forms an impression they are an idiot and I ignore the person!

 

[chuckciao]

I think Minelab does listen to what we say. They are NOT a big huge company. Codan has several major divisions, Minelab brand is only a small part and it appears their real money makers may be aviation and military communications equipment. Maybe, just maybe, the small commercial metal detector division was up to their rears in the 7000 development and the new Go-Find series, while doing their best to feed the African market on gold finding stuff, and they just didnt have time to develop more software stuff for the CTX. Their stock lost 75% of its value last year, from $4 to less than a dollar, with the drop in gold prices, now they have changed course a bit and are mass marketing the Go-Find series. With their new products on the market, maybe they will have time to concentrate a few engineers and software types on our suggestions. I would love for them to sell the software development to some small group or several groups, and see what come be done 'outside' a corporate environment. I still completely believe that some hacker is going to get interested in the CTX and come up with a simple 'off the grid' patch or two to make the changes many have suggested, more bins, tones, and some sort of PC diagnostics executable.

Last winter I was having issue with my CTX, it seemed it needed to 'warm up' for 15-20 minutes and then was on steroids. I sent it in and there was quite a waiting list so I complained on here. I got many similar responses of long waits, and then I suggested some changes to their repair system. Many on here came close to saying I was an idiot for daring to suggest Minelab get more repair centers and modernize the system. I got a really nice response to my email to the CEO of Codan and there was a new repair center within weeks. I dont know if Chicago is still in business or not.

What I am saying is if a customer does not speak up and tell the seller of a product that there is an issue, then there will be ZERO feedback as to success or failure and if there is a real issue and sales go away they will always wonder what happened. Customer feedback is the number one method used by EVERY company in the world to better their products. Unless it is our federal government then we are just slaves. I agree with those that say there is a method and manner to positive feedback that gets results. Anger, threats, and "I will never buy" is not going to get much response. If someone is yelling at me I either get pissed myself and things go downhill or my brains forms an impression they are an idiot and I ignore the person!

jas415

Your point is well taken but how do you explain a company (who has marketed 3 new detectors since the CTX came out) totally unresponsive when hundreds of it's most loyal CTX users spent hours and hours making very useful suggestions on upgrades and updates?

 

[Altamaha]

I think Minelab does listen to what we say. They are NOT a big huge company. Codan has several major divisions, Minelab brand is only a small part and it appears their real money makers may be aviation and military communications equipment. Maybe, just maybe, the small commercial metal detector division was up to their rears in the 7000 development and the new Go-Find series, while doing their best to feed the African market on gold finding stuff, and they just didnt have time to develop more software stuff for the CTX. Their stock lost 75% of its value last year, from $4 to less than a dollar, with the drop in gold prices, now they have changed course a bit and are mass marketing the Go-Find series. With their new products on the market, maybe they will have time to concentrate a few engineers and software types on our suggestions. I would love for them to sell the software development to some small group or several groups, and see what come be done 'outside' a corporate environment. I still completely believe that some hacker is going to get interested in the CTX and come up with a simple 'off the grid' patch or two to make the changes many have suggested, more bins, tones, and some sort of PC diagnostics executable.

Last winter I was having issue with my CTX, it seemed it needed to 'warm up' for 15-20 minutes and then was on steroids. I sent it in and there was quite a waiting list so I complained on here. I got many similar responses of long waits, and then I suggested some changes to their repair system. Many on here came close to saying I was an idiot for daring to suggest Minelab get more repair centers and modernize the system. I got a really nice response to my email to the CEO of Codan and there was a new repair center within weeks. I dont know if Chicago is still in business or not.

What I am saying is if a customer does not speak up and tell the seller of a product that there is an issue, then there will be ZERO feedback as to success or failure and if there is a real issue and sales go away they will always wonder what happened. Customer feedback is the number one method used by EVERY company in the world to better their products. Unless it is our federal government then we are just slaves. I agree with those that say there is a method and manner to positive feedback that gets results. Anger, threats, and "I will never buy" is not going to get much response. If someone is yelling at me I either get pissed myself and things go downhill or my brains forms an impression they are an idiot and I ignore the person!

What I am saying is if a customer does not speak up and tell the seller of a product that there is an issue, then there will be ZERO feedback as to success or failure and if there is a real issue and sales go away they will always wonder what happened. Customer feedback is the number one method used by EVERY company in the world to better their products.

* Really, well they certainly have had enough of that for three years and still no response!

I agree with those that say there is a method and manner to positive feedback that gets results. Anger, threats, and "I will never buy" is not going to get much response. If someone is yelling at me I either get pissed myself and things go downhill or my brains forms an impression they are an idiot and I ignore the person

* Now that seems like a really good formula for having success/keeping customers, as a company!

JMHO HH

Tomas

 

[glenn3-88]

I have not owned my CTX that long and have not yet had an issue with it. I have owned
the Safari since about April I think and yet no issues. I have had the AT Pro 2 years and
have had issues. First the coil and second the digital display. Told me to keep the coil and
sent me a brand new one the same week, and it had a bad wire, told me to keep that one
and sent a third that is still working great. Had to send the detector box in to get a new
display on it and turn around time was less than 2 weeks. No problems since. From what
I have read on here, as good as they are, the search/investigation is on for replacements
for both Minelabs I own. Bottom line. Minelab won't get that money when I sell both of them
and they will have lost sales on 2 more machines that some company with reputable customer
service and competetive machines will get. I just wish I had done more research before I
bought these.

 

[KinTN]

Geez. I am surprised at the number of people that apparently bought the CTX for what Minelab was "going" go do in the future.
I bought mine for what it can do NOW.

 

[MI-AuAg]

Geez. I am surprised at the number of people that apparently bought the CTX for what Minelab was "going" go do in the future.
I bought mine for what it can do NOW.

I think for many folks who purchased THEIR CTX's years ago, the future IS NOW.

Some quirks and shortcomings have been identified through the years. It is a microprocessor based platform, and updates are easily transferred via PC. I don't think it is an unreasonable thought by those folks, that some updates in the quirk/shortcoming realm could be addressed.

It IS a very good machine, but, even very good can be improved upon, after three years.

The Minelab GPZ 7000 was introduced in 2015. Here it is only Oct. 2015, and it received it's first improvement available for download, in it's first year!

 

[Altamaha]

Hi all, here is Minelab's Facebook response to my question regarding updates for the CTX 3030, hopefully this is a start in the right direction:

Hi Tom;

Thank you for your message. We are aware of this issue as it has been highlighted to us by many CTX 3030 owners from around the world. We constantly pass this information onto our engineering team in Australia. We understand your frustrations. Please stay tuned to the Minelab website for future updates and product releases.

Thanks,

Team Minelab

You can read it here along with my gracious response comment.

https://www.facebook.com/MinelabMetalDetectors/posts/1053510768022473?comment_id=1055484024491814&notif_t=feed_comment

Altamaha (Tomas), HH

 

[GKMan]

Wow Tom, I am surprised and very glad to see they even responded... At least the marketing team that does their Facebook knows how we feel...

 

[JamesBondaka]

Yes, I think some updates would be appropriate and appreciated by all of us that own the ctx. The main "issue" I think is the leaking problem that has plagued a lot of owners, that use them in water. As stated in another post, ML maintains that IF you do the right things ctx owners will not have any leaking problems.

Two different issues that ML could take care of but for whatever reason....they have not.

I think they should address the software updates AND leaking problems and a "better" remedy to solve the water issues....and make the ctx more water friendly....as I think we all know....it works and is fine BUT .....could be so much safer in the water!

 

[amberjack]

that made me laugh ask the Aussies after all they made the thing we just flog them I did see Bruce Candy with the GPZ so he is still around whole thing started in his garage in Adelaide all those years ago.

we do lead the world in a lot of tech but sadly customer service is not one of minelabs greatest achievements and well they are pretty bloody rude when I spoke to them and no offence to those bogans in SA , but come on fellas we are feeding your kids

so to quote aunty jack just give is what we need or we'll rip ya bloody arms off

sorry only Aussies are going to understand most of this post

but hey small back yard company gets bought out and big shares given to the owner guess he would be pushing for the best if I understand his character right a true geek and sure a perfectionist how much his hands have been on this I have no idea.

sure there is probably only one other guy who can do this multi without braking any patients and make it as good or better and that's Dave J and sure he is hard at work as we speak.

minelab loyal me nope if someone comes out with a better machine I am buying it and well minelab know they have the best and their attitude is a bit on the non meek side.

but as they say what comes around goes around/

AJ

 

[digginLa]

I think Nokta has one coming out named the Impact.

 

[KinTN]

aj, I don't know if you were referring to me or not, but brand has nothing to do with it in my case. When I buy something, I buy it for what it can do. Not what I hope it will one day do. Those that do differently can be quite disappointed as evidenced by several posts in this thread.

 

[h.m.scoop]

I for one did purchase the CTX for WHAT IT SAID IT CAN DO. I purchased the unit because I believed that it was a water machine as well. I was aware of the possible leaks and I had my unit leak twice, once in the battery compartment and once in the screen housing but even with that being said I love the CTX "NOW"... I bought the machine because it said that It could go up to 10' of water but if I submerge my head then you couldn't hear any audio from the waterproof headphones... I read that even some land hunters are having to purchase custom made headphones to get louder audio. I had to spend nearly $500 just to modify headphones to be loud enough to hear underwater... I love my machine now because of what I did to make it practical to use it for water hunting and had nothing to do with Minelab BUT, Minelab has the capability to make this correction for all other water hunters out there and land hunters as well. This is one of the issues that have been going on for atleast 2 years but still nothing has been done to resolve this issue... I am very happy with my unit like I said but I know that there are many other hunters out there that wish that they had a louder unit and they don't have the technical skills to make louder headphones like some of us...

 

[amberjack]

Nar KinTN
it was my Aussie humour dig at minelab pardon the pun or maybe not !!

AJ

aj, I don't know if you were referring to me or not, but brand has nothing to do with it in my case. When I buy something, I buy it for what it can do. Not what I hope it will one day do. Those that do differently can be quite disappointed as evidenced by several posts in this thread.

 

[TheGeorgiaCanuck]

I'd be perfectly happy if they would add "Threshold Pitch" like on the Explorer and Etrac. Then silver would give that flutey warble on my 3030.