The AT series are good for the price, but a lot of short comings why I'd never swing one.
1. No volume control?
2. That BELL tone! arghhh
3. Very front heavy
4. Feels awkward in the hand
5. Small display
6. Not very good in wet sand (that is where a waterproof machine needs to shine)
7. Armrest can't go back far enough - stem is too short
CTX3030 ticks all the boxes but is right up there price wise too. If Minelab put out a waterproof version of the Safari with backlight and 4 and 2 tone audio options AND priced it right, they'd sell a heap of them!
Whites have the multi-freq technology, and the waterproof platform now (MX sport), so lets see what they can come up with in terms of a salt water machine.
Fisher/teknetics - lots of rumour about a new multi-freq platform, but still waiting for something truly new from them. I think they need to go back and refine the CZ's. If they can fix the iron falsing issue it would be a good machine.
For me, Nokta/Makro addressed a lot of things with their Fors/Racer platforms. Balance, fast recovery, excellent audio, target ID on a beep/dig (Fors series), and large clear Target ID with a simple platform (Racer series). The Racer 2 is still packed full of features, but still so easy to use!
Basically, I think that the race is on. Since the discontinuation of the Minelab Sovereign, there is a big hole in the market for an awesome discriminating machine specifically for wet sand/shallow wading, that is competitively priced and easy to use. The control box needs to survive a dunk in the ocean, and if it can still be a capable coin machine inland, it will be a big seller. So who will deliver? Judging by what has come out in the past 2 years from the various manufacturers, I'd definitely put Makro/Notka in the top 3 companies most likely to do it in the next 18 months.
Interesting times ahead for sure. What a great hobby
