"I thought Minelab had the patents on smf.."
I don't know for certain but believe this has to be the biggest wives-tale or excuse why other companies haven't stepped up and put out a new smf. Fisher made smf in their CZ models and still make the cz3d smf. Although they haven't upgraded forever. Whites made the smf DFX. At least Whites came out with a new model, the v3 and now make the V3I, an upgrade how many years ago?. There may be other foreign companies making them that I haven't heard of too. How many years have we heard of the rumored nokta/makro smf? I think it would be hilarious if a new company, even if it was a Chinese company, put out one before the now big players who have been sitting on their azzes for years. (so long as they don't rip off someone else's tech)
I don't know for certain but believe this has to be the biggest wives-tale or excuse why other companies haven't stepped up and put out a new smf. Fisher made smf in their CZ models and still make the cz3d smf. Although they haven't upgraded forever. Whites made the smf DFX. At least Whites came out with a new model, the v3 and now make the V3I, an upgrade how many years ago?. There may be other foreign companies making them that I haven't heard of too. How many years have we heard of the rumored nokta/makro smf? I think it would be hilarious if a new company, even if it was a Chinese company, put out one before the now big players who have been sitting on their azzes for years. (so long as they don't rip off someone else's tech)