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are most detectors overpriced?
- Thread starter peter-d
- Start date
Personally, if given the choice between a chinese knock-off of a Garrett Ace250 or a Genuine US Made Ace250, I would buy the US made one.
First of all, Chinese and Quality are 2 words that are never used together unless in sarcasm. In my industry, I have witnessed first hand product that was outsourced. The contrast in quality and workmanship is astounding.
Second, I would rather see my money circulating within the US, and not pocketed by a company in a country that essentially uses slave labor. I go out of my way to avoid purchasing any product made in China.
If anything ever happens to my Garrett detectors, I know I can ship it down to Garland, TX and they will take good care of it. If it were made in China, I may be able to find a service center if I'm lucky, and more than likely they will replace it with a refurb off the shelf which will eventually fail once again a few days after the warranty expires.
A quality product absolutely costs more to make. The engineers carefully research, develop and design a product. The manufacturers build a process and examine every mode of failure and build in methods of prevention and/or detection to contain any defect before it gets to the end user. The assemblers are trained, and earn a wage to build the product. These costs, along with materials are recovered in the price of the product with a margin of profit. The lower the production output, the higher the price will be. So, a detector which is a low volume product with a sophisticated electronics design is naturally priced 'high', compared to a mass-market cheaply made product with virtually no labor costs.
If metal detectors were cheap, then more people would have metal detectors. Not that I prefer that a detector be reserved for those with more disposable income, but when everyone and their neighbor has a detector, it is more than likely the sport will then get a bad rap with all of these new 'hunters' leaving holes and recovered trash everywhere. This will eventually lead to the banning of detecting in more places.
First of all, Chinese and Quality are 2 words that are never used together unless in sarcasm. In my industry, I have witnessed first hand product that was outsourced. The contrast in quality and workmanship is astounding.
Second, I would rather see my money circulating within the US, and not pocketed by a company in a country that essentially uses slave labor. I go out of my way to avoid purchasing any product made in China.
If anything ever happens to my Garrett detectors, I know I can ship it down to Garland, TX and they will take good care of it. If it were made in China, I may be able to find a service center if I'm lucky, and more than likely they will replace it with a refurb off the shelf which will eventually fail once again a few days after the warranty expires.
A quality product absolutely costs more to make. The engineers carefully research, develop and design a product. The manufacturers build a process and examine every mode of failure and build in methods of prevention and/or detection to contain any defect before it gets to the end user. The assemblers are trained, and earn a wage to build the product. These costs, along with materials are recovered in the price of the product with a margin of profit. The lower the production output, the higher the price will be. So, a detector which is a low volume product with a sophisticated electronics design is naturally priced 'high', compared to a mass-market cheaply made product with virtually no labor costs.
If metal detectors were cheap, then more people would have metal detectors. Not that I prefer that a detector be reserved for those with more disposable income, but when everyone and their neighbor has a detector, it is more than likely the sport will then get a bad rap with all of these new 'hunters' leaving holes and recovered trash everywhere. This will eventually lead to the banning of detecting in more places.
NOT necessarily!..ALWAYS remember!..the hobby is just that!..a HOBBY! i do NOT metal detect because of profit or gain!..i metal detect because i ENJOY the activity and finding old coins is the pursuit!..the point is if i don't find it today,then there is ALWAYS tomorrow!..it's the JUICE that's why I metal detect!..,and as stated,the exercise,and the enjoyment!..NOT the profit!
regards!
(h.h!)
j.t.
regards!
(h.h!)
j.t.
MOST chinese stuff IS crap!..cheaply made knock offs of other products!..sadly they control our economy with their crap,because MOST people cannnot afford american quality!..sad!..but true!..what i find even more disconcerting is the money sent to china is probably funneled into their military,and could be used someday to threaten us militarily!
(h.h!)
j.t.
(h.h!)
j.t.
tesoro makes a quality well assembled product with excellent materials used in the manufacture of same!..they are beyond reproach in the industry!..the compadre is a quality detector at a terrific price point!.tesoro uses quality very durable plastics and anodized rods in the manufacture of their units!..they protect the detector with a "true" lifetime warranty!..no questions asked!..best in the business right out of the gate!
(h.h!)
j.t.
(h.h!)
j.t.
Goldburn said:
Isn`t it banned already? In NY officially MDing is "allowed". With a special "permit" and in few "designated areas" (for almost 15 million people - both legals and illegals)
And if I give you the "permit" and we go to any of this reservations and ask you to find any place where MDing is allowed in accordance with the requirements in the permit - you won`t be able. Guarantee! It cannot be wood, cannot be mowed grass, cannot have American vegitation and cannot be a place where anyone could play ball!! Does a place that meet these requirements exist in the nature? A concrete bus stop! What a joke! What a shameless humiliation and disrespect!
Wishful-thinker
New member
They could spend $10.more on the electronics $10 more on the programing,$10 more on the coil,andpeter-d said:
$10 on the r&d then it would be a decent machine that cost $90...get the point.So NO there not overpriced.
Well this post is peter-d out..........goodnight all
BarberBill
New member
I partially agree with what has been posted, but remember the development costs, the money that's tied up in warehousing on an item that is not an immense seller nor fast moving in very large numbers to the general public and therefore doesn't generate profits thru a large volume of sales. As to real rips - how about the cost of computer software compared to the cost of the CDs etc.? Anyway, until competition or some other factor comes along, we'll be paying the price, whatever it is.
HH
BB
HH
BB
If the detector sits in the house or maybe just gets used once a month-and only a few hours at a time-ANY detector is overpriced. If you are a "hooked" th'er and know the in's and out's of your model and get out and enjoy God's great outdoors and provide health and relaxation for your soul-they're priceless.
cammobunker
New member
Oddly enough, I've been considering the issue of cost myself.
Metal detecting, as a hobby, is one of the most rigidly controlled hobbies I've ever seen. The only way to sell detectors is, in all but one case, dependent on being an "authorized dealer". The manufacturer sets the price and controls many other aspects of how the machines may be sold. The lone exception to this is Bounty Hunter (and maybe Fisher now that they are a First Texas company?) This means that, unless you are buying used, there isn't any real competition, sales wise, on the actual machines themselves, because as long as the dealer provides a minimum level of service, the price you pay is set at a bottom level by the manufacturer. This gives the dealer no wiggle room, unless you are trading something in. (Or, like KellyCo they throw in a bunch of cheap crap "accessories" that aren't worth 1/3 what they say they are)
Nice work if you can get it, you know?
Metal detecting, as a hobby, is one of the most rigidly controlled hobbies I've ever seen. The only way to sell detectors is, in all but one case, dependent on being an "authorized dealer". The manufacturer sets the price and controls many other aspects of how the machines may be sold. The lone exception to this is Bounty Hunter (and maybe Fisher now that they are a First Texas company?) This means that, unless you are buying used, there isn't any real competition, sales wise, on the actual machines themselves, because as long as the dealer provides a minimum level of service, the price you pay is set at a bottom level by the manufacturer. This gives the dealer no wiggle room, unless you are trading something in. (Or, like KellyCo they throw in a bunch of cheap crap "accessories" that aren't worth 1/3 what they say they are)
Nice work if you can get it, you know?
A
Anonymous
Guest
You're so right - Metal detecting is very controlled. Not just by the manufacturers, but think about all that laws that states, counties and local governments put on metal detecting. It's very tricky depending on where you live to either sell, or just plain use, a metal detector.
Bounty Hunter does allow dealers to be competitive with prices, but you're right, almost all other manufacturer's have set all kinds of MAP policies in place - and rightly so. Their products don't lose their value and it encourages their distributors to practice EXCEPTIONAL levels of customer service...
Now, where you get to be competitive is in the accessories and freebie
Bounty Hunter does allow dealers to be competitive with prices, but you're right, almost all other manufacturer's have set all kinds of MAP policies in place - and rightly so. Their products don't lose their value and it encourages their distributors to practice EXCEPTIONAL levels of customer service...
Now, where you get to be competitive is in the accessories and freebie
well I dont know about metal detector manufacturing, but at the Sears Kenmore vacuum cleaner factory units that sold for 300-400 dollars in the store cost about 75 dollars to make and on some models all we did was change stickers, color and box and sometimes this added another 100 dollars to the price. Same motor and everything else inside it. Now since they make them in Monterey Mexico now in which they pay the workers 25 dollars a day( which I know to be a fact because one of the plant executives told me so) they probably make that unit now for 50 dollars.
We also got to remember we are supporting American jobs when we buy american products. I will pay the extra money for an american made detector Look how much cars cost because the workers make 30 an hour but in 10 years a 40,000 dollar car might be worth 4,000. Or a 20,000 motorcycle that you ride 4 months out of the year. Their is alot of comparisons but if one enjoys what their doing be happy!
I also like supporting American workers, and will try to always do so, but in America we don't have these huge factory's turning out metal detectors by the thousands daily 24/7, But i;ll go out on a limb here and say that most of the metal detectors (Made in America) are actually just parts made in China stuffed into a Chinese made metal box and stuffed into a box with a made in America sticker,, and they wouldnt be lying,, since they get put together in America. . I would love to see the breakdown cost per unit of any machine and what the retail cost is,, just to see the profit being made
You mean that all these MXTs and Dual Fields that we buy for $800 in reality are Chinese- stuffed?
Very interesting.
Anyone has any information on other brands? I want to know which manufacturer uses more good quality non-chinese parts than others.
And what about Minelab? Are they also chinese inside? Any info available?
Very interesting.
Anyone has any information on other brands? I want to know which manufacturer uses more good quality non-chinese parts than others.
And what about Minelab? Are they also chinese inside? Any info available?
redneckplanter
New member
as you guys know i'm new to this....
a few questions on this topic/debate?
i would agree with the intellectual property argument to a point.....but what if we found out we were paying a 60-70 percent profit above r and d costs and final production costs?
2.as far as plastics are concerned....i thought everyone wanted a lighter detector so we could swing longer?
isn't that why we transitioned away from the heavy metal cased detectors of yesteryear?or does it mean it's a quality item if the casing and rod are industrial metal grade?
3.seems like tire kicking to me....follows the old car buyers logic of the bigger and heavier it is the better it must be....
4.i would guess that the market isn't as small as we percieve it to be....
otherwise how could we have so many different companies surviving and or profiting ,if the customer base is so small?
i don't know for sure how many makers there are but guessing 7-10?with a multitude of models available for this ''small captive market?''
just wondering...
a few questions on this topic/debate?
i would agree with the intellectual property argument to a point.....but what if we found out we were paying a 60-70 percent profit above r and d costs and final production costs?
2.as far as plastics are concerned....i thought everyone wanted a lighter detector so we could swing longer?
isn't that why we transitioned away from the heavy metal cased detectors of yesteryear?or does it mean it's a quality item if the casing and rod are industrial metal grade?
3.seems like tire kicking to me....follows the old car buyers logic of the bigger and heavier it is the better it must be....
4.i would guess that the market isn't as small as we percieve it to be....
otherwise how could we have so many different companies surviving and or profiting ,if the customer base is so small?
i don't know for sure how many makers there are but guessing 7-10?with a multitude of models available for this ''small captive market?''
just wondering...
like most of us i use different brands of detectors.i feel they are overpriced and dont do exactly what there advertisements say they will do.I feel if the top end detectors would sell somehwere in the 500. dollar range,the makers would make a lot more money due to the volume of sales.I may be wrong on my thinking but this is the way i see things.
cammobunker
New member
Mirco said:
Most of the components-Resistors, Pots, Capacitors, ICs, etc are almost certainly made overseas- China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, etc. I believe the circuit boards and housings are probably made stateside, as are the coils and poles. All are assembled together here (well, except for Minelab, of course).
It's going to be that way with anything electronic. We make so few actual electronic components here anymore it's nearly impossible to find US made ones.