I used to own two AKA machines. A Signum MFD with a 7KHz,3KHz 15" and a switchable 3 frequency coil. I also got the AKA harness in order to use the deep feature of the MFD. The second AKA machine was a Sorex Pro which I had fitted with the A-Gain option.
Well, I bought the MFD from a German dealer dealing AKA machines. The German manual that came with the detector was a joke. Since I don't speak Russian I read the English manual which was as bad as the German one. The real information I got from the AKA forum, which I believe is run by SuchMuch, a user also present here in the forum.
The first thing that struck my was the poor quality of the shaft. My lower shaft of the MFD was drilled off a few degrees off so the coil was always slightly tilted. The cam locks did not lock well and the whole shaft was wobbly.
Some coils came with a coil cover some did not. I asked on the forum where to get covers but was told that in Russia nobody uses covers and i should not worry. I found covers on eBay, made somewhere in the Ukraine but they were poorly made and did not fit at all.
As far as using the MFD and Sorex, it was quite a learning curve since they are very different compared to Minelab, Garrett, Fisher and Whites. The hodo display is to some extend similar to what I got on my V3i or the Deus. All terms used in the machines settings are very different from any other machine. The ground balance feature took some time to learn and I had watch videos on YouTube and ask questions on the forum since the manual does not really explain it well.
To deal with the European distributor was a pain in the butt. Stephan the owner seems to be the only English speaking person in the entire company. Emails if they were answered, were answered very slow. Actually it was easier to catch him on the AKA forum than by his company email.
My MFD had software version 1.17 when i bought it and in the year I owned it, I believe 2 updates came out. Since I had to send the machine to Bulgaria for the update i never did it. Once i send the Sorex in for the A-gain update and it took a month before I had it back. So I decided against updating my MFD with a newer software.
The performance was good, I compared the MFD with my other machines I had at the time. These were a V3I, XP Deus, CTX3030, Vista Smart+ and a TDI Pro. The MFD detected a quarter deeper than the V3i. As a matter of fact, way deeper! The CTX performed well but the MFD was deeper but not as good in identifying the target. The Deus and Smart+ were equal to the MFD and the TDI was deeper.
What really threw me off AKA machines was the poor information flow. If you have to use a non official forum to get a proper manual - that's no good. Constantly news about improved third party MFD came up. Russian dealers who modify the AKA machines for better performance, pro, ultra and whatnot versions left you always asking am i up to date? Do I need that? Why did they come out with new versions right after I bought mine?
I was told several that AKA is not interested in advertising outside of Russia. So I guess they are also not interested in publishing a proper manual or offer proper customer support. I decided to end my AKA adventure and sell both machines. I really wanted to like them and I even found a gold coin with the MFD but it wasn't for me. Maybe one day I will give it another try but so far I see no real advantage in AKA machines. And frankly the whole Intronik STF thing annoys the living !!!! out of me. just finish the darn machine, send it out to independent testers and let's see how it performs. Stop publishing "test videos" on YouTube. The whole mystery seems like a big marketing plot to me to generate attention. For what if you don't even have a proper network of dealers and service centers outside of Russia?
Well, I bought the MFD from a German dealer dealing AKA machines. The German manual that came with the detector was a joke. Since I don't speak Russian I read the English manual which was as bad as the German one. The real information I got from the AKA forum, which I believe is run by SuchMuch, a user also present here in the forum.
The first thing that struck my was the poor quality of the shaft. My lower shaft of the MFD was drilled off a few degrees off so the coil was always slightly tilted. The cam locks did not lock well and the whole shaft was wobbly.
Some coils came with a coil cover some did not. I asked on the forum where to get covers but was told that in Russia nobody uses covers and i should not worry. I found covers on eBay, made somewhere in the Ukraine but they were poorly made and did not fit at all.
As far as using the MFD and Sorex, it was quite a learning curve since they are very different compared to Minelab, Garrett, Fisher and Whites. The hodo display is to some extend similar to what I got on my V3i or the Deus. All terms used in the machines settings are very different from any other machine. The ground balance feature took some time to learn and I had watch videos on YouTube and ask questions on the forum since the manual does not really explain it well.
To deal with the European distributor was a pain in the butt. Stephan the owner seems to be the only English speaking person in the entire company. Emails if they were answered, were answered very slow. Actually it was easier to catch him on the AKA forum than by his company email.
My MFD had software version 1.17 when i bought it and in the year I owned it, I believe 2 updates came out. Since I had to send the machine to Bulgaria for the update i never did it. Once i send the Sorex in for the A-gain update and it took a month before I had it back. So I decided against updating my MFD with a newer software.
The performance was good, I compared the MFD with my other machines I had at the time. These were a V3I, XP Deus, CTX3030, Vista Smart+ and a TDI Pro. The MFD detected a quarter deeper than the V3i. As a matter of fact, way deeper! The CTX performed well but the MFD was deeper but not as good in identifying the target. The Deus and Smart+ were equal to the MFD and the TDI was deeper.
What really threw me off AKA machines was the poor information flow. If you have to use a non official forum to get a proper manual - that's no good. Constantly news about improved third party MFD came up. Russian dealers who modify the AKA machines for better performance, pro, ultra and whatnot versions left you always asking am i up to date? Do I need that? Why did they come out with new versions right after I bought mine?
I was told several that AKA is not interested in advertising outside of Russia. So I guess they are also not interested in publishing a proper manual or offer proper customer support. I decided to end my AKA adventure and sell both machines. I really wanted to like them and I even found a gold coin with the MFD but it wasn't for me. Maybe one day I will give it another try but so far I see no real advantage in AKA machines. And frankly the whole Intronik STF thing annoys the living !!!! out of me. just finish the darn machine, send it out to independent testers and let's see how it performs. Stop publishing "test videos" on YouTube. The whole mystery seems like a big marketing plot to me to generate attention. For what if you don't even have a proper network of dealers and service centers outside of Russia?
