wouldnt it be nice

[christo000]

I got sent this photo not sure if its something coming or someone playing around but if its true it would top just about anything in my book

 

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[sleepyjim]

Well it is not a Deus.....Unless it is a whole new control box design and I really do not see that happening since there is nothing wrong with what we got........

As for the graphic itself, it seems nice, would love a mini x/y screen with smaller horseshoe.....

Jim

 

[christo000]

Honestly could very well be a new version of the deus not sure I know the buttons are set up differently of course my main thing what I think would be nice is the color screen, other then that deus xp the way it is, is the top notch machine out there to date still

 

[fella]

Dunno if it's XP's next gen Deus or someones Photoshop, but it looks cool.

 

[Silver Simon]

It certainly looks cool, but I hope they don't release a new model, because I just bought mine! The horseshoe in that mock-up takes way too much real estate on the screen, and I agree, having an XY screen included in the main screen with the rest of the information would be really neat.

 

[falconman515]

Now THAT is what I would expect to see in a $2,000 Dollar Metal Detector!!!

I was shocked when I just started researching again after being away from detecting for 15 years that all the same ugly cheap no frills boring screens we're ALL still the same as they we're basically 15+ years ago when the Whites Spectrum came out!!!

Amazing that with todays technology and phones, tablets, color screens etc. being SOOO cheap to manufacturer that really only two machines exist that use this newer technology ... Whites V3i and CTX3030

And even then they are not all that great as compared to what we are used to today.

I am a Very visual guy and though I know learning the tones is KEY to detecting knowing you got your moneys worth dropping that much dough is a plus to cause I think the manufacturers really screw us over with such BORING visual displays on today's modern detectors ... hell they haven't changed much at all in like 15 years ... all the same stuff I saw back then is all the same stuff I see today ... I was totally floored to see hardly any advances whatsoever in today's detectors over what they had back when I last detected.

And yes the CTX is $2,500 and the V3i is like $1,500 .... and the Deus being $2,000 I am shocked that it has a boring little no nothing screen that looks like my old Motorola RaZr screen or something.

It is not deterring me from getting one due to the fact from what I read the XP Deus and even the E-Trac is Far better then the Whites V3i (which is a bummer because I have always been a Whites guy as that is all I have ever really detected with back in the day and that V3i would have been my FIRST choice if I hadn't read more about it and vs. comparable detectors) and the CTX unfortunately is just Way out of my price range and I wouldn't buy for that premium over an E-Trac really.

But man for this Deus to have the boring screen it has for suck a HUGE Price tag is kinda weird ... I would think it would be color and more like the comparable CTX or V3i screens you know.

I like looks coupled with technology and the OP pic is really how the screen of a $2K metal detector SHOULD LOOK.


But my vote is photoshop on that!!!

 

[Silver Simon]

I am very visual as well, and it would be amazing for the Deus to have a screen that had 300+ PPI like many top end smartphones. I'm guessing between keeping a healthy profit margin and balancing battery life, sacrifices have to be made. It makes me wonder if we will ever see a detector that allows you strap on your smartphone, run some app, and all the data is streamed to the phone to display and alter settings.

 

[sleepyjim]

Deus aint 2000 bucks unless you pay top dollar, more realistic is 1500 bucks......

Jim

 

[falconman515]

Deus aint 2000 bucks unless you pay top dollar, more realistic is 1500 bucks......

Jim

Even at $1,500 it still should look like the Pic above!

And it should be 1,900-2,000 ... but we just have some great guys who let us have them for much cheaper in that 1,500 range (which is the only reason I am thinking about buying one).

BUT ... it is still old ugly technology for that top end 2nd highest highest price MSRP detector. The CTX3030 makes sense, it retails for 2,500 ... color screen .......... The Spectra V3i makes sense, it retails for $1,799 ....... BUT the Deus not having a new age technology color or more advanced screen with and MSRP of $2,000 is crazy IMHO.

I know it;s not the screen or it being in color that is what finds you the prizes in the earth ... BUT you should get what you pay for ... and with today's advances in battery life, capacitive touch screens in color, etc. etc. ...... for a unit to retail for 2 Thousand Dollars to look like a screen from something 10+ years ago is to me nuts and just cheap on XP's end and wanting MASSIVE margins in loo of providing and appealing machine to the consumer.

I guess the more appealing part they went for instead of the screen is the wireless I suppose.

Oh well ... it's still a neat unit ... just not what I would expect for that massive of a price tag really. (I feel the same about the old boring E-Trac screen as well for a premium detector).

 

[Dave Rishar]

I think that the primary issue for the screen on the Deus (and probably a number of other machines as well) is battery life. I'm honestly surprised that they squeeze as run time out of those tiny batteries as they do, and unlike machines that take battery packs or 9Vs, you can't just swap in new batteries when the Deus dies on you - it needs to be recharged. They've likely made a few compromises to maximize run time and the screen is almost certainly one of them. Those big LCD color screens on smart phones place obscene demands on batteries. And let's be honest here...it's black and white, but it works pretty well. The only time that I've ever had trouble reading mine is when I've smeared mud all over it or its cover, and a color screen wouldn't change that.

The manufacturers of detectors with easily-replaceable batteries have admittedly far less of an excuse for the practice - even less so when the black-and-white screen in question sucks even by black-and-white standards. Yes, I'm looking at you Minelab.

I'm not up to date on how Bluetooth would work for an application like this, hence whether or not a phone would work. I've read that Bluetooth is too slow for this, but I've also read that Bluetooth LE can have a latency down around 6 ms; when playing video games online, I'm extremely damned happy to get latency that fast and I simply can't understand why it would not work for listening to tones from a metal detector. Even assuming that the phone couldn't operate as a visual display, it could still function as a control box very easily, as latency would not matter. I'm curious about why this isn't being explored.

A big chunk of the Deus's cost likely comes from "brain redundancy" - the coil has a brain, the headphones have a brain, and the controller has a brain. This gives an owner some flexibility in how they want to run their machine, but it also drives up the price. Imagine for a moment if XP offered a phone app for accessing the programming functions that require the controller, and offered a pair of "dumb" wireless headphones that required no adapters or trickery to talk to the coil. The only unit with a brain would be the coil; everything else would be dumb.

Complete Telescopic Pole Assembly: $290 MSRP
11" Coil: $549 MSRP
Dumb Wireless Headphones: Varies. Let's call it $50.
Phone App: Free with detector purchase.
Charging Cable + Coil Clip: $54 MSRP.

$943 MSRP for a Deus Lite with access to the advanced menu. Street price would obviously be a C-note or two lower. That's only ("only") about $400 less than the standard Lite, but this has added functionality and the desirable 11" coil. More importantly, it now moved down into a new price bracket. Bonus points would be awarded if updates could be performed via the smart phone, eliminating the need for the special updating cable entirely. The only drawback would be the lack of a visual display, and an owner could always purchase one of those later if they thought that they really needed it. Perhaps a "dumb" version of the control box could be offered at lower cost, which was merely a screen with an on/off and backlight button - the smartphone would still handle all of the programming and settings. Or, perhaps Bluetooth would actually work for this, and then you could have a complete Deus for under $1000. At that price point, there would be no further discussion about what to buy. It would be a no-brainer, just as long as you owned a smart phone. And who doesn't?

But that's specifically for the Deus. What if the newer Bluetooth is fast enough for metal detecting? What if I simply sold coils (and maybe a frame or two, or you could supply your own frame) and an app, and your smart phone functioned as the brains of the machine? The mind boggles. Assuming that the code was tight and the coil was high quality, and that you had an old Bounty Hunter or Radioshack detector gathering dust in the closet, you could conceivably have a high end machine for a couple of hundred bucks. At that point, it wouldn't even make sense to buy starter machines anymore.

I don't know. I'm no expert and I'm probably missing something rather obvious. It just seems to me that everyone has a smart phone these days, and there's no reason why a smart phone couldn't shoulder at least the non-time-sensitive tasks that a control box traditionally performs, particularly if it can drive the price down on an otherwise expensive machine. Shifting as many device-specific functions onto another device that the owner already has just makes sense to me. But again, I'm not an expert.

 

[Silver Simon]

I don't know. I'm no expert and I'm probably missing something rather obvious. It just seems to me that everyone has a smart phone these days, and there's no reason why a smart phone couldn't shoulder at least the non-time-sensitive tasks that a control box traditionally performs, particularly if it can drive the price down on an otherwise expensive machine. Shifting as many device-specific functions onto another device that the owner already has just makes sense to me. But again, I'm not an expert.

Another quality post, Dave. When I first thought about a smartphone as the output source and configuration hub for a detector, Bluetooth seemed like an easy choice, due to its low power consumption. Lag would be a concern, especially for such a fast unit like the Deus, but I don't know how that would apply to this type of usage. Wifi would be much faster, but it would eat a lot more power.

I was drawn to the Deus because of its capabilities, but also because I like the direction they are heading. I am also a big fan of redundancy as well. It's nice to know that if either my remote or headphones need service, it won't put me out of commission.

The Deus was a no-brainer for me @ $999 shipped for the WS5/11" version with my discount. Part of me thinks that other companies are just sticking with old formulas, adding a few features with each new model they release to get more sales. A highly upgrade-able detector like the Deus is able to stay relevant much longer, eliminating the need to purchase an entirely new detector to get the latest functionality. I really hope XP continues to push the envelope and focus on the consumer.