The great Equinox conspiracy.
Late July 2017: An advertisement of a person parachuting with a large Minelab banner and the headline stating, "Get the drop on Minelab's sensational new metal detector", begins to circulate the forums. There is an advertised date of September 16, 2017 for the release of information at the metal detecting festival called "detectival". Some speculation as to what this may be is discussed, but nothing concrete appears.
September 16th, 2017: As the event known as "Detectival" is going on, a man parachutes out of an airplane and lands on the ground with a metal detector in hand. The crowd gasps and begins to photograph the event. The parachutist hands the detector to a man known as Brandon Neice, AKA "Dr. Tones". He begins to speak, in detail, about this new VLF Multi-frequency detector that will render "all other VLFs obsolete" called the Equinox. A multi-Frequency, selectable frequency, low priced metal detector. Video's are release with the Equinox being used at Detectival and during one of these videos, a hint of a release date of "early December" by a credible source.
Aftermath of Detectival and the next few months: Suddenly, there begins a flow of speculation throughout the internet forums as to what this new machines capabilities are. Local and large dealers begin taking pre-orders as a frenzy of questions and news hungry buyers assault the web. Various articles and videos are released over the next few months. At this point, pre-orders are most likely in the thousands with some waiting lists alone, for a single dealer, being 200+ deep.
Beginning of December 2017: Most information has come to a small trickle. By this time, release dates given by dealers, buyers and others, range from early December to March 2018, to summer 2018. Huge verbal wars arise on most forums as to the machine being release with a "I want it now" vs "Too bad! You have to wait for it" type feuds. However, in the vast metal detecting community only one thing really matters at this point: Where is the Equinox?
December 12th-14th, 2017: A well known forum officially posts a release date for Europe being "December 17th, 2017". Investigated by a few, there doesn't seem to be any credible source behind this information and in fact, people begin to "call them out" asking what his source is. No response was given. On the 14th, this same site posts another article about the Equinox(although it is the truck) stating "Am I the one who creates Minelab news? Of course not, the manufacturer does everything by itself. I am the one who just tells detectorists and distributors some piece of news." This to me is an almost direct, pointed response to being "called out". Are they "in the know" or drawing hits to the web site?
What ABOUT, Minelab?: The now tattered and frayed relationships that inhabit the forums are the direct fault of Minelab not releasing any information, or so says the consensus. Why all the secrecy? Are there glaring issues? Is this a stunt to force the hand of the competition? This large "silent gap" is not only causing strife, but is hurting Minelabs reputation. It's a lose/lose all the way around. This gap as well as a possible missed release date(they still have a few weeks left) gives the competition like Nokta/Makro, Fisher, Whites, XP and whomever else the chance to catch-up and possibly surpass with an early release of their own cancelling Equinox pre-orders. After all, would you rather wait 200 deep or get something much sooner?
Conclusion: "The very word 'secret' in our society is repugnant" said John F. Kennedy. With the possible release date 17th fast approaching in 3 days, will it be release in December or will the veil of secrecy continue?
Late July 2017: An advertisement of a person parachuting with a large Minelab banner and the headline stating, "Get the drop on Minelab's sensational new metal detector", begins to circulate the forums. There is an advertised date of September 16, 2017 for the release of information at the metal detecting festival called "detectival". Some speculation as to what this may be is discussed, but nothing concrete appears.
September 16th, 2017: As the event known as "Detectival" is going on, a man parachutes out of an airplane and lands on the ground with a metal detector in hand. The crowd gasps and begins to photograph the event. The parachutist hands the detector to a man known as Brandon Neice, AKA "Dr. Tones". He begins to speak, in detail, about this new VLF Multi-frequency detector that will render "all other VLFs obsolete" called the Equinox. A multi-Frequency, selectable frequency, low priced metal detector. Video's are release with the Equinox being used at Detectival and during one of these videos, a hint of a release date of "early December" by a credible source.
Aftermath of Detectival and the next few months: Suddenly, there begins a flow of speculation throughout the internet forums as to what this new machines capabilities are. Local and large dealers begin taking pre-orders as a frenzy of questions and news hungry buyers assault the web. Various articles and videos are released over the next few months. At this point, pre-orders are most likely in the thousands with some waiting lists alone, for a single dealer, being 200+ deep.
Beginning of December 2017: Most information has come to a small trickle. By this time, release dates given by dealers, buyers and others, range from early December to March 2018, to summer 2018. Huge verbal wars arise on most forums as to the machine being release with a "I want it now" vs "Too bad! You have to wait for it" type feuds. However, in the vast metal detecting community only one thing really matters at this point: Where is the Equinox?
December 12th-14th, 2017: A well known forum officially posts a release date for Europe being "December 17th, 2017". Investigated by a few, there doesn't seem to be any credible source behind this information and in fact, people begin to "call them out" asking what his source is. No response was given. On the 14th, this same site posts another article about the Equinox(although it is the truck) stating "Am I the one who creates Minelab news? Of course not, the manufacturer does everything by itself. I am the one who just tells detectorists and distributors some piece of news." This to me is an almost direct, pointed response to being "called out". Are they "in the know" or drawing hits to the web site?
What ABOUT, Minelab?: The now tattered and frayed relationships that inhabit the forums are the direct fault of Minelab not releasing any information, or so says the consensus. Why all the secrecy? Are there glaring issues? Is this a stunt to force the hand of the competition? This large "silent gap" is not only causing strife, but is hurting Minelabs reputation. It's a lose/lose all the way around. This gap as well as a possible missed release date(they still have a few weeks left) gives the competition like Nokta/Makro, Fisher, Whites, XP and whomever else the chance to catch-up and possibly surpass with an early release of their own cancelling Equinox pre-orders. After all, would you rather wait 200 deep or get something much sooner?
Conclusion: "The very word 'secret' in our society is repugnant" said John F. Kennedy. With the possible release date 17th fast approaching in 3 days, will it be release in December or will the veil of secrecy continue?
HH jim tn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NwP3wes4M8
HH jim tn