Posted by Bob Sickler
on 10/13/2009, 9:39 pm
67.250.121.76
I've been corresponding with George Payne recently and letting him know that his genius is still appreciated at large by the metal detecting community. As many of you might remember, Joe Patrick and I had been working with George trying to downscale the original Tekenetics Mark I to a more lightweight package. Fact is though, I'd hate to see the Mark I go digital to achieve the downsize. I think the original high resolute audio and visual ID circuits are two of the best to this day.
Out of pure selfish interest, I'd like to do a survey here on the forum of how many people would be interested in seeing the original Mark I repackaged into a smaller hipmount configuration. Here are the general specs I'd personally like to see:
1) Original analog circuit rescaled, stacked boards, top end mounted meter for direct waist or chest view. Large pictorial meter panel graphics, yet keep the needle divisions. Miniature top mounted pots, but still keep things on a knob adjust basis. I hate tactiles and menus! I like to adjust, set and forget, but be able to tweak easily in the field. Maybe a retro lightweight drawn aluminum enclosure to better control EMI.
2) Redesigned power supply with less cells using internally charged replaceable 2300 mAh NiMH rechargeable AA's or 250 mAh 9V's.
3) Original style ultra-lightweight 7-1/4" searchcoil on an aluminum pitched "T" handle, mode toggle at the top of the handgrip. Coil cable to junction box to replaceable multiple conductor mode/signal wire. If it were even possible, a slight bit more depth with the small coil.
Hopefully George will see our comments here and we can someday see a new streamlined Mark I. The mark of genius is when you create something so good it stands the test of time... 24 years and counting. What do you think?
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