Good on ya Doc and Hoss. Can't complain about the electronics, other than the need for a wider range of coils. Coiltek seems to be filling that role now anyway, and started producing coils Minelab never seemed interested in developing. So here's a few ergonomic and obsolescence-related recommendations I can think of off-hand:

1. Make it hipmountable. To do it now, you've got to make up a bracket to slide on your belt. That's time-consuming and takes a lot of trial and error, but it's not an insurmountable problem. The real problem is that unless you're about 5'8" or shorter, the coil cable won't allow hipmounting, as it's too short. I've heard second-hand that Minelab has said that the cable length is integral to the performance of the coil, yet Coiltek's coil has a longer cable and the coil works.

2. Put knobs on the outside of the box on 2100s for adjusting tuning and tone, and do away with the groping-blindly-through-a-hole-with-a-screwdriver routine.

3. Make the handles out of metal instead of breakable plastic, or at least add more reinforcement at the base of the handle where it always breaks.

4. Supply mains chargers with a built-in regulator that won't permit overcharging.

5. Provide better headphones. Strengthen the wires and cable at the points where they take strain.

6. Put some sort of optional strap over the armrest which can be used as required to help hold the lower arm in the armrest. (When your arm and hand get tired, the lower arm tends to lift up out of the armrest).

7. Supply all lower stems with a short section that can be attached to the coil and left there. This in turn can be attached to and removed from the rest of the lower stem using a bayonet plug. In other words, only one long section of lower stem would be required, and it would do away with the need to carry a full section of lower stem for each coil, or worse still, when you don't have enough stems, having to take a whole lower stem off one coil and put it on another coil when changing coils.

Just a few ideas worth considering,

Steve.

• GREAT Suggestions! I'm going to print these out and give them to the "MAIN MINELAB DUDE!" n/t Greg Lousignont, PhD 10:10:15 3/28/99 (0)