I just twigged why the GPS is a real good idea on the detector.

[Mick in Dubbo]

Thanks for all the great posts that cover how a GPS oprerates for those of us who are ignorant of their capabilities and limitations for a given price and size. It gave me a much better understanding of how you can use one in ways I hadn't considered before IE plotting where finds were made and looking for a patten.
Mick Evans.

 

[TURNMASTER]

I would be willing to bet, it will be used by many and will be one of the lesser reasons for buying this machine. Sounds like there will be features that will make the sale and that will be icing on the cake.

I do not own an Etrak and sold my SE, was thinking Etrak but now I will wait for a bit.

Jeff

 

[stasys]

If you can upload any map what you have in computer in 30303 it can be used, but I doubt. from my experience people around me use cheap Chine's GPS, because Garmin and other expensive dont aloud to do this easily and cheaply. Looks like Minelab will sale maps

 

[MartinNovotny]

I wouldn't question accuracy of position as long as ML decided to build the unit with the latest SIRF chipset. I'm into geocaching and if it really would be about +/-3 meters accuracy a lot of people there would give up to do this hobby... As long as the unit can see 3 satellites it starts pinpoint your position and with each new satellite in view it is getting better. With the open sky above you (fields, beaches, etc.) you will surely end up with less than 1 meter accuracy so it might be about sweeping 4

 

[E-TREC-Virginia]

It would be nice if the GPS could warn you or show you if you were getting close to forbidden ground. I hunt for Civil War relics on private property which sometimes is close to national battlefield ground, which is illegal to hunt on. It is real easy to wonder onto the battlefield ground if you are not really careful. River hunting sometimes brings me close to national battlefield ground as well.

 

[MartinNovotny]

I wouldn't question accuracy of position as long as ML decided to build the unit with the latest SIRF chipset. I'm into geocaching and if it really would be about +/-3 meters accuracy a lot of people there would give up to do this hobby... As long as the unit can see 3 satellites it starts pinpoint your position and with each new satellite in view it is getting better. With the open sky above you (fields, beaches, etc.) you will surely end up with less than 1 meter accuracy so it might be about sweeping 4

 

[ryanchappell]

Everything is going to have gps. It will probably record what you found, its vdi, and location. I always find more stuff when I go back to certain spots like old parks, apartments, and neighborhood teardowns.

The real use is for civil war relic hunters. They put up flags for everything they discover like archaeologists, so that they can see the layout of the camp!

Wifi, I hope it has wifi, and GPS are technologies that once you put them in devices new uses will just start happening, like twitter and facebook did on PCs.

 

[spoonmann8]

It'll also be a good way to track YOU! For every good use there's always a bad.

 

[Critterhunter]

I've got an interesting question on this GPS thing. Just curious what people's perspectives are on this...Would you want to have to pay extra for the machine being able to take and make phone calls? I wager most people wouldn't want to pay extra for that because they have a cell phone already. OK, if that's true...Then how do you feel about having to pay extra in the machine's cost for GPS since that also can be found on many phones these days? I'd rather not have the GPS feature myself if that would bring the cost down some. Just not the kind of person who would use that even if I did have it on my phone, but I doubt Minelab will offer a stripped down version because that might get too close to the price of an Etrac and hurt it's sales. I really believe the final pricing on this machine will have everything to do with not impacting on the Etrac for them, and following that logic I think it will be at least $500 to $600 more than an Etrac if not more. Anybody?

 

[CDDZ]

I like the idea of it. No need to pull out the secondary GPS to plot your finds. I am sure it is simple to mark your find... possibly it records the VID of the find as well. Will work out nicely later while loading the points on to a map. You should see a nice pattern developing. I felt it was a PITA to drag along a stand alone GPS, so I stopped doing it all together. I have many locations that this feature will come in handy when trying to establish where the old structure was. Days of the owner pointing in a direction saying "they told me the old house was over yonder" could be over. Is it the 11th yet?

 

[MartinNovotny]

I've got an interesting question on this GPS thing. Just curious what people's perspectives are on this...Would you want to have to pay extra for the machine being able to take and make phone calls? I wager most people wouldn't want to pay extra for that because they have a cell phone already. OK, if that's true...Then how do you feel about having to pay extra in the machine's cost for GPS since that also can be found on many phones these days? I'd rather not have the GPS feature myself if that would bring the cost down some. Just not the kind of person who would use that even if I did have it on my phone, but I doubt Minelab will offer a stripped down version because that might get too close to the price of an Etrac and hurt it's sales. I really believe the final pricing on this machine will have everything to do with not impacting on the Etrac for them, and following that logic I think it will be at least $500 to $600 more than an Etrac if not more. Anybody?

Phone in the MD? You made me laugh Even though there are rumours out there that there might be 2 different versions (or rather "packs") available for 28th I would say it has something to do with what you can add/remove to the giftbox as an accessory, not something where you have to built something with less/more chipsets on the mainboard. So I do not expect "CTX3030 light" that would be missing some of the features already known. But this might come - especially if it proves that this machine can really do better on target discrimination/precise VID/depth than current benchmark for all of us - E-Trac. On the other side - who knows where all the MD will be in 2-3 years period? Qualcomm chipsets and SIM's are going down, both on price and size so I might imagine a built-in UMTS module with some kind of "panic button" that will send an SMS or trigger some alarm when you do one more step into the water when using fully waterproof metal detector (so that police can easily recover your dead body )

 

[FooserPaul]

Agco makes tractors that map every rock, stup and tree in a field... Sample the soil, tell you what fertilizer to put in, and will check the soil for moisture levels... all while you watch from a screen in the living room... Once it know the field... They drive themselves...

 

[John(Tx)]

Will it be that accurate? HH

 

[Bryannagirl]

In the gps world there is absolute accuracy - what a surveyor needs to check property lines and Relative accuracy min to min hour to hour day to day and etc.. What matters is relative and that can be very very accurate. You are just concerned with where you are relative to we're you have been you do not need absolute accuracy. Min to min and hour to hour can be inches very easy with current technology. Come back the next day and your start point may be a foot off come back next month maybe a yard come back next year a couple of yards. But for us and many farmers that is plenty good

Bryanna

 

[ramer]

It means that you can keep track of the ground you have passed your coil over,. Sweet. The same idea is used on farm equipment ie headers, It allows for effectient ground coverage without over lap. Good thinking Minelab.
Something else I noticed when I saw a close up picture of the control housing from a link in a nearby post, was that the 3030 does not have a pinpoint button. Very interesting. Sounds like you don't need it.
Mick Evans.

Yes, I agree with another poster about the accuracy of the "public" GPS system. I own two handheld GPS units and the manual says they are good to about 10 to 15 feet of your intended target. The military GPS is of couse much more accurate, probably down to inches or less. So not sure how it could help prevent you from going over the same ground you covered the day before or last week. Just have to wait and see what they have come up with. But if you see a cellar hole on a historic map deep in the woods, then the GPS can take you by the hand and walk you right up to within 10 or 15 feet of it. I've done this many times and I've often thought how nice i would be to have my position displayed on my detector screen.
Tomorrow is the day for the details. Any idea what time tomorow they will give the goods on this detector?

 

[Digger]

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?86,1694312,1694333#msg-1694333

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

As the wide can hunt me down if I fail to return home on time from a hunt.
Mick Evans.

 

[marcomo]

As the wide can hunt me down if I fail to return home on time from a hunt.
Mick Evans.

If your wife is anything like mine, Mick, that accidental "d" instead of "f" could get you in a lot of trouble...

 

[Jason in Enid]

As the wide can hunt me down if I fail to return home on time from a hunt.
Mick Evans.

LOL, Freudian slip there?

 

[ryanchappell]

I am thinking that the GPS was a relatively cheap feature to add, as well as any wireless connection to a computer, just add a couple of $20 chips, and make sure it has the software and CPU power to handle it, which isn't much by the way! The real cost is in battery life, and you could just turn it off, if you want, hopefully. More devices should and eventually will have these things built in. Cell phones with GPS and wifi are not demanding a premium, so why would a detector?

Now wireless headsets have to have more bandwidth and be durable, and rugged ones still cost a lot more than other wireless devices and a lot of cell phones.

I am thinking that the extra $200 pays for that brick that you plug the headset into, and you won't even be able to use it in the water.