I wonder if Minelab would be interested

[Furious T]

in allowing owners of the first range of X Terras i.e. X terras 30, 50 & 70, to simply buy a new control box of the new models (305,505 & 705) rather than the whole kit & kaboodle. Anyone who has the orginal XT 70, for example, already has the pole and at least one coil. I have four different coils for mine and there would be some who have more. It would mean that we wouldn't be doubling up on poles and at least one coil. Just a thought. Sapper.

 

[anglesea]

Good thought Furious but I doubt that they will do it for the owners of the 70. Not many great changes in the new model as far as I can make out, so I think I will stay with the earlier model as it is an excellent detector .You are certainly doing well on our coins.I have a coin pattern which is working well for me.Good luck and I hope they keep coming for you!
Peter.

 

[morelic55]

Yea, I would like to give the 305 a try, they could sell just the head for $199!!! Would be a good way to have a back-up detector too!!!

 

[Jack Flynn]

I feel very sure they would sell one. Why not?

 

[khouse]

That's how I traded my used 50 for a new 70. The dealer got to keep the new coil, box and shafts. I got a new head. I saved a lot of money that way.

 

[TomB]

Now that is one good idea. I would pay 50% of the cost for the control box. TomB

 

[xwyokid]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[nero_design]

Not a chance. This is like asking a car dealership for just the body of a new car - so you can put your old wheels and stereo on it and drive it around. The only part of a detector that they don't offer to sell as a "spare part" is the control box. This ensures that anyone wanting to upgrade gets an entirely new machine with a brand new warranty etc. You'll notice that other detector manufactures won't do this either because if they did, they'd never sell any new detectors. There would be a trade in control boxes and left over parts that would create no demand for people to buy a new unit. Many of the people buying new detectors already own one. By ensuring that control boxes aren't sold as an optional replacement part, the manufacturers can continue to improve quality and pursue new technology and additional features. There's enough coils and control boxes out there which are incompatible with one another or (when combined) produce an inferior result. Bad press might result from a "Frankenstein detector" that might otherwise be perfect with it's original parts.

The manufacturers want you to buy a NEW detector. Not a second-hand one of dubious history or one which had been cannibalized. By offering the control box as a replacement-part, they'd be cutting off their own income. Think of it this way: The control box is the price of a new unit. Just think of the coil and rod as extra freebies. If you find a reason to complain about the price, then your argument is based on money and your perception of value rather than convenience.

Cheers

 

[Boris]

I know that I can only speak for myself but I am very happy with the unit that I have, I don't have the time to detect often but I figure that there are not a lot of recoveries that I would make with the 705 and miss with the 705 and that is the bottom line is it not?

 

[Furious T]

Just to look at the "car" analysis.....I look upon the control box as the engine of the detector...the driving force, as it were and....people have been putting new engines in their cars for the last fifty years that I'm aware of. Here, we're not talking about upgrading or modifying, we're just talking about buying a new, available, manufactured by the manufacturer part which has been designed to use with the other parts already available (ie coils, stem/pole etc). What.s the problem? Sapper

 

[nero_design]

...people have been putting new engines in their cars for the last fifty years...

Uh... I think you're missing the point... tires, engines, skid plates and coils are replaceable parts. If they sell control boxes as "spare parts" it defeats the very purpose of designing, manufacturing, marketing and selling new & improved units. If you break it, buy a new one. If an updated model gets released and you want one... go buy it and sell your last model to cover some of the costs.

Do you think the manufacturer of my car will allow me to update the body of my vehicle when they release a newer model? Of course not. It's not in their interest to do so. This isn't about "built-in-redundancy", this is about buying a new detector if you want it ...or if you break your old one.

You can ALWAYS buy a spare control box cover! Just note that it comes with a free coil and accessories!

 

[Furious T]

The point I'm making is this: The only thing new on the XT 705, as compared with the XT 70, is the control box. Why not allow people who have already bought all the other parts to simply buy a new control box. It would allow detectorists to take out two machines when they go hunting without taking two shafts and two lots of coils. A detectorist could even carry his "backup" detector is his/her coat pocket. Frankly, I think this could be a great selling point for Minelab. Sapper.

 

[nero_design]

Already other manufactures have taken a slice of the pie by offering spare parts, rods, fittings and coils that are compatible with the Minelab detectors. Whist this continues to occur, they're likely to be losing sales on their own, identical products. Selling a single product (cameras, cars, detectors etc) around the world costs millions to design, research, manufacture, patent, register, market, promote, transport, distribute, display, insure, staff and sell. In order to sell the control boxes as an accessory, they'd have to lower the price to make it attractive. People don't like paying too much for something if they feel they can obtain it cheaper by other means or if it doesn't reflect their own ideals of value-for-money. Which is the reason this thread even exists. But X-thousand sales of a discounted unit means a massive profit loss... or just an enormous loss of gross income. And that's bad for business.

/Just sayin'

 

[SteveP(NH)]

A major part of the cost of the xx5 models was the research and development, not the manufacturing costs. So they would need to charge enough to cover those costs plus the profits they expect to make on that investment of resources. If the market was willing to pay something in the $450 to $500 range for a 705 control box, for instance, then it would probably make economic sense for them to do so.

However the problem with that is that it makes better economic sense for upgraders to sell their old machines and then just buy a new one as that would have a lower net cost. So even if they did offer them at those prices I bet few people would buy them.

 

[khouse]

I don't think it's up to the manufacturer to offer control heads by themselves. But making a deal with a dealer is something else. When I went to trade my XT50 for a new Xt70 - I did just that. When I asked if he would keep the new rod, coil and box and just trade the head he said sure. This way he could put my used 50 head on a new pole with coil and box and sell it at a higher price. I simply got the 70 control head to put on my old pole. He took an additional $100 off by doing this. Plus instead of $15.00 for shipping it was under $5.00
So simply ask your dealer. In the end it's up to them. I personally was surprised I got that deal. But you never know unless you ask.

 

[David]

I already posted about this issue 19 days ago with no online replies:

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?55,945890
Interchanging.
Date: April 13, 2009 01:16PM

"Did anyone contact a dealer or directly to Minelab and find out if only the X-Terra 705 control box and Instruction Manual can be purchased without the 3 piece shaft and coil, at any reduction in price??

Why someone may ask? To save some money, and one example is if someone has an older X-Terra 30, then all he needs to buy is an X-Terra 705 control box to slide on his existing shaft and he is ready to go.

Also, if someone has an X-Terra 70 with 2 complete shafts(including an extra aftermarket straight shaft) and an assortment of different coils already. All he needs to buy, again is the X-Terra 705 control box and not the whole unit assembly.

Because all the shafts and some coils are interchangable between machines. (The stock 9" MF 7.5 kHz coil works on all 6 machines.)

OR it cannot be purchased this way and/or there no point in doing this anyway in the first place?"



The X-Terra's are not like other detectors. Most all other detectors cannot be interchange between control boxes and coils like the X-Terra's can.

 

[Furious T]

Thanks everyone, for your replies. This is an interesting topic to me because it is not just about the cost of the unit to the consumer. It is also about responsible marketing and sales. Is it responsible to manufacture poles and coils when many of the people who will be buying them dont need them, and when there is a viable and expedient alternative. I think we all know by now that the world is going into recession, so should manufacturers (of anything) be wasting resources (such as the metal in the pole and the wire in the coils) unnecessarily? I think it is important for us, the consumers to ask these questions. Thanks again, Sapper.

 

[thedeserttortoise]

Yea Sapper..ie Furious T. To even imply that the consumer has any intelligence at all is almost anti-american... oops, I mean corporate .. I mean ... well, what the heck. If this is still a recession and not a full blown planetary depression...I'll lick my second hand boot straps. And.. I mean, just to imply that there is or should be something beyond consumerism and its sole responsibility for the markets is almost sheer madness. I think we should step up good old American stimulus and reward everyone in every market that exists a refund from financial ineptitude like we did our banks and wall street....just think....about 6 trillion now and our children's children have to pay it off.... and we cant even go metal detecting at the local park anymore because our government wants to save everything that they don't dig for someone who might never know it existed to have in the first place....try that out on a sentence structure program.

 

[Furious T]

thedeserttortoise, thank you for your post and pertinent comments.It's good to have openminded,wideranging and thoughtful comments...I should say I'm not anti-American. I'm Aussie, and we do have our own Minelab Company downunder in Adelaide. Where the parent company is now, I have no idea. The relevance of all this is that it doesn't matter whether the company is Australian or American, it relies on its consumers to exist, and its consumers have a right to their own ideas and a right to voice them The Minelab X Terra series are exceptional detectors, there is no doubt about it. A significant part of that exceptional quality is the fact that parts of the same detector are interchangeable. There is no other detector like it. The technology is magnificent. However, with magnificance and success comes responsibility. It would be great to see Minelab acknowledge the people who have given their product the recognition and acclaim (which it deserves) by not treating them like droids, but giving them the recognition which they deserve. Sapper.

 

[nero_design]

None of the manufacturers offer their control boxes as an optional extra. And even with the global recession that you've mentioned above, detectors have never been more popular than they are now. It's quite surprising actually. So I guess that's even less reason to cut expenses... unless you want to see employees out of work.