Back around 2004 Tesoro actually ran their own forum from their company website. It was great, a lot of users from all over the world were able to talk to each other, compare notes and build friendships. There was only one Tesoro employee that was on the forum a lot, and the higher-ups in the company never logged on. You'd think that for all that access that Tesoro and the customers had to each other, the company would've used that input to make the company better,.......... nope!
Whites was only a little better. About 10 years ago we were complaining a lot that Whites needed to release another coil for the GMT. And, since they happen to already (at the time), make a 6" concentric (that they only sold in Africa) we asked Whites through the forum if they could please make it available in North America. They actually listened and made it available. I was totally shocked.
Now we have Nokta/Makro that uses customers' input before, during, and after the process to make and bring new detectors to market. This is exactly what we've always wanted in a detector company. Also, during the live streams before the release of the updates, the company actually takes LIVE questions to improve future updates! The users are their lifeblood, and Nokta/Makro is bringing individual users into the process separately from the Nomads. Nomads are just field testers.
For customers, this is a great time. If we identify a software problem or a needed change, Nokta/Makro can fix it very quickly, and they're doing it. People are taking this firmware update ability for granted, it used to be what you bought is what you had until you bought a new one.
