GPX4500 prediction


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Here's my take on what the GPX4500 means to those of you contemplating acquiring one. Firstly I would like to say I have absolute faith in Minelab to produce the goods, after all their products have provided me with an income for over 16 years now! I have absolute faith in my friend Bruce Candy and his amazing ability to keep on developing innovative technology time and time again.

The GPX4500 represents the future and more importantly it is the new timings that excite me the most, so to all the people who are reading this post trying to find out what is going to be the real advantage with the GPX4500 then here it is, its ENHANCE. If any of you have the same faith I have in Minelab, the sort of faith the leads me to post on numerous forums and cop all the flak and hatred time and time again then know this, the very second you get your machine head straight back to your favourite areas that produced the goods for you with Smooth timings and re-do them again using ENHANCE, the noiser the better!

I'm so tempted to head off myself (in fact Frieda just came into my work room and suggested just that :huh: ) and give the elevated gold price the work out it deserves and give everything else a big miss, because folks that's were the money is at the moment for someone like myself with the knowledge and experience I have gained over the years. I can right off the bat think of a dozen or more places where I know I can make good money because of ground noise, especially now I have even better depth as well as improved sensitivity to small gold. Think I'm joking? Think again!!!

For those of you who have supported Frieda and myself thanks for the vote of confidence it is appreciated, look to our website in coming weeks for any developments in the video stakes.

I will make this prediction though, timings like Smooth and Enhance are the future of metal detecting, it is in there we need to hang our hopes and pray for more innovation, going by what I'm seeing with the 4500 Minelab/Codan have this well and truly covered with an eagle eye towards the future.

Jonathan Porter

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Thanx JP for your insights, I suspect you are correct in your thinking and I myself believe that this unit is just beginning to flourish, to be absolutely honest I really didnt get to utilize all of the various functions on the last one as I only got to a couple of different sites, but there was gold there I didn't hear before, not large pieces but smaller more solid nuggets .3gms being the smallest I believe... Can't wait for the snow to go and can't wait to visit my friend Steve H mining site. I'm adrift now so will have some time to devote to those areas that have been hunted hard and seem to be pretty quiet....... Your help is always appreciated here Jonathan....geo

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JP I must first say your help on the forums is always appreciated.

But your last post looks like a sales pitch to me more so than the rest. I'm sure that the 4500 is a little better than the 4000 but by how much?

How much more gold are you going to find if you shell out 5000.00 more claims! I for one have only had my 4000 since last November and at that time you were already testing the 4500. It pisses me off that are detectors aren't even broke in and out pops a new model that is so much better(or so you say). I for one will be sticking with my 4000.

JP please do us a favor and stick to what you do best and that is helping people understand how to run there detectors.

I have always enjoyed reading your posts but this crap is getting old.

Let the detector come out and we will all see how good it is.

And don't give us predictions you are in the know more than anyone on the frorums about Minelab. So to me your predictions are you trying to make yourself look good about something that is already in the works.

Sorry for being neg,Matt

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Jonathan,

The majority of us very much appreciate your real world evaluations of Minelab products and your willingness to share your insights. Based upon my prior GP ownership experiences, I have absolute faith that each new GP series detector will have improvements and refinements that make it worthy of the upgrade. My 4500 was on order and my 4000 sold the instant I heard of the impending release. My 4000 was such a tremendous improvement over my 3500 for the conditions in which I detect that I cannot wait to see what the 4500 can do! Thanks again!

As for those that would continue to whine and complain like little girls with every new release of a new GP series unit, I have to say "get over it"! Minelab appears to release something new every 18 months like clockwork. Hell, I even put it on my calendar now and plan for it. If you don't like how Minelab does business, buy something else. I'll be out there finding the gold you couldn't even hear with old or poorly designed technology and it's getting tougher every day!

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Hi Jonathan,

Enhance it is! Although I am wanting to play with the GPX-4500 with ground balance off here near where I live. No ground mineralization to speak of, and small gold. Now my mine up north, that is another matter. Sounds like Enhance will be finding some gold there.

I also appreciate your posts. I was peddling away on my stationary bike last night watching the GPX Factor DVD. It sure gets harder to lose my winter fat as I get older! The video is packed with great information and even makes working up a sweat fun. Thanks!!

George, my friend, you take care.

Steve Herschbach

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Yo All...I'm too lazy to dig through the archives of the various forums, but I seem to remember quite a bit of talk about future upgrades to the GP units after the 4000 would be software rather than new hardware...Am I remembering correctly? Cheers, Unc

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I just can't refain from sticking my nose in...Matt, do you whine and cry every year when the new car/truck models come out? They do every year with higher prices and almost no change in technology...what about all the other products that have questionable improvements but always higher prices? New products is what consumerism is all about...throw out the old and embrace the new....or do what you said, keep the machine you have and miss out on the advantage a new machine will give those willing to hit the dirt.

As for JP he has been asked about a new dvd and for those interested is giving a heads up...nothing wrong with that. JP has the time to really learn a machine and his video is the closest thing to experience you could buy.

After one has bought a detector and learned of a gold-bearing area; The single most important thing for finding gold is time on the ground paying attention to what the detector has to say...

BTW, I believe JP has the same freedom of speech you do. And, please speak for your self not me, I didn't elect you spokesperson......"don't give us" and "do us a favor" .

Fred

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JP I must first say your help on the forums is always appreciated.

But your last post looks like a sales pitch to me more so than the rest. I'm sure that the 4500 is a little better than the 4000 but by how much?

How much more gold are you going to find if you shell out 5000.00 more claims! I for one have only had my 4000 since last November and at that time you were already testing the 4500. It pisses me off that are detectors aren't even broke in and out pops a new model that is so much better(or so you say). I for one will be sticking with my 4000.

JP please do us a favor and stick to what you do best and that is helping people understand how to run there detectors.

I have always enjoyed reading your posts but this crap is getting old.

Let the detector come out and we will all see how good it is.

And don't give us predictions you are in the know more than anyone on the frorums about Minelab. So to me your predictions are you trying to make yourself look good about something that is already in the works.

Sorry for being neg,Matt

Matt I do see your point, my post above was more in line with the maddeningly negative attacks I have to suffer every time I pop my head up on any forum, my only answer to such attacks is my passion for something I absolutely love. I'm sorry you feel jaded with your new Minelab experience, but would like to point out a few pertinent facts which I feel I can do with you in light of your being honest with me about your negativity.

If you wait for any length of time after a release (in your case in was right on the 12 month mark) you run the risk of Minelab bringing our a new tech within a 6 to 12 month time frame of your purchase, this has been the trend right back to 1995 and hopefully will continue to be the trend for many years to come. The release of a new machine does not herald the demise of the machine you have purchased, but it does mean your machine will be worth a little less due to it being the second best Minelab machine on the market.

I understand how you feel however just because I'm pumped about the exciting possibilities of the new offering does not mean you should get the grumps on me because I write about the new tech in a positive manner. Yes the post reads like a promotion, I did that deliberately because the GPX4500 really does offer the improvements I mentioned (and much more if you care to look).

I should also point out, how do you think I might have felt when Minelab ask me to commence testing on a new tech when I had only just recently finished a 4 month film and edit barely 6 months prior? I have a lot of money tied up in the video business and the last thing I need is to find out they are working on a new model before I even break even on the previous, you at least have a perfectly good detector which will continue to work for you long into the future, I on the other hand have a mountain of plastic and hundreds of hours of shear hard work invested in a product which was outdated before it even got a decent chance to get off the ground.

The truth is both of us went into this with our eyes open, I made my decision to produce an instructional DVD knowing full well Minelab would probably ask me to test something in the near future with the possibility of that detector becoming available this Easter and sure enough that is what happened, and you when you made your purchase must surely have understood there would someday be a new tech made available either the following Easter or at the end of the year around Oct/Nov, which are the traditional times for Minelab to announce a new release.

I am as we speak maddly trying to put together a DVD which will arrive as soon as possible after the release of the GPX4500 so I can maximise the sales opportunity, in your case you have two choices either trade in or sell and get into the new tech straight away or quite sensibly wait for the next model in 18 months to 2 years time. I know it sucks, but I would rather it this way than have the offerings from Minelab dwindle away to nothing for years on end.

JP

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Hi Jonathan,

Enhance it is! Although I am wanting to play with the GPX-4500 with ground balance off here near where I live. No ground mineralization to speak of, and small gold. Now my mine up north, that is another matter. Sounds like Enhance will be finding some gold there.

I also appreciate your posts. I was peddling away on my stationary bike last night watching the GPX Factor DVD. It sure gets harder to lose my winter fat as I get older! The video is packed with great information and even makes working up a sweat fun. Thanks!!

George, my friend, you take care.

Steve Herschbach

Steve, there are a number of other features not discussed yet about the 4500 which could be very beneficial for you in the ground types you describe. Firstly you have hit on one of my thoughts which is the GB off feature and more importantly GB off in combination with some of the timings such as Smooth/Enhance and using the Gain (things like the Stabilizer also have merit here BTW but will obviously require some experimentation in your given ground types).

But the thing which really intrigues me is the new Sharp mode, quote from owners manual

Sharp is similar to Normal but puts out a more powerful detection field
. I have tried it here in Australia and it really does punch in but in the areas I have tested it the mineralisation is too extreme to get any major benefit out of it (large amount of ground noise), however in combination with a DD coil or in medium to no mineralisation this mode could be very popular (I can see Montana Bob becoming expert on this mode, maybe using it in conjunction with Quiet mode) BTW I spoke with a guy from R&D and he informed me the mode uses about 20% more power and the field from the coil is measurably larger (hence the extra ground noise).

As you can see there are lot of features about the 4500 that have not been discussed or even mentioned yet, a lot of those things will become more apparent once operators get more time on the machine and have the opportunity to experiment in their particular ground types.

Jonathan

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Hi Jonathan,

Wow, that sounds great! Our ground south of Anchorage is so mild you can typically run even VLF detectrs at full gain with no problem. I should be able to run the GPX full out way beyond what people will be able to do in other areas. I bet I'll end up posting some settings that will be totally useless in most places. Just goes to show why the extra versatility offered in the GPX units is a big deal to me. The older units are tuned for Australia but in my local area it was leaving a lot of performance on the table.

So many may be looking at the 4500 and not seeing much they can use. But from my perspective I'm surprised by the number of changes and how they will be directly applicable to my situation. I mean, let's face it, when the GP 3500 came out, all we got was a button on the handle and a couple tracking speeds. My expectations were therefore rather low for the 4500.

Matt, I sold my GPX-4000 and so am taking a $2000 hit to upgrade to the GPX-4500. But at today's prices you are talking a couple ounces of gold. The last nugget I found last fall before I got froze out was 2.5 oz. So for me it is a no brainer. Frankly, I slacked off on my detecting the last couple summers to help others find gold and gave most of what I found away to visitors at our mine. Well, with the current gold prices this kid is going to get serious about finding some gold this summer!

Besides, I finally figured out what JP has mentioned. I'd hang back and wait on a new unit. Now I just jump on the new one quick so I can get my full couple seasons out of it. Because yes, the minute I get my GPX-4500 I expect they will be working on the GPX-5000. That used to be called progress and people used to be for it. I think most people still are, but I'm surprised by the number of people who seem to prefer that Minelab had quit with the SD2100. They could just have milked that baby.

You know, I got a White's Goldmaster II. The Goldmaster V/SAT added a knob for the same price. The Goldmaster 3 added a couple features and a price increase. The Goldmaster 4/B was basically just a new and some would argue not better box and a price increase. The GMT added automatic ground tracking and again a higher price. I'm not sure why Minelab gets singled out when that is the way the industry works. The Eric Foster Goldscan 5 is now up to version 5C and nobody screams about him drip-feeding the technology. The Teknetics T2 is like on Revision 8 in less than two years! What annoys me is when you see the same old unit like the Garrett Stinger or Tesoro Lobo go unchanged frorever. Most companies think prospecting is a niche market not worth spending the time and money on developing new product.

Truthfully, the GPX-4000 is a good unit and if you are happy with it just keep it and go get some gold. Just because a new unit comes out does not mean everyone needs to get one. Just because newer more powerful computers came out two seconds after I bought mine does not mean the one I have does not work and do all I need it to do.

Steve Herschbach

P.S. Hey, JP, put me down for your new DVD, the sooner, the better!

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P.S. Hey, JP, put me down for your new DVD, the sooner, the better!

Steve I'm currently looking for people in the US to stock our DVD's, I think I've given AZO plenty of time to shift stock so don't feel I owe them anything anymore :blink: . People are more than welcome to order from us direct including dealers although I would prefer a distributor in the US as people feel more comfortable dealing with a local rather than off shore.

Regards

JP

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I just can't refain from sticking my nose in...Matt, do you whine and cry every year when the new car/truck models come out? They do every year with higher prices and almost no change in technology...what about all the other products that have questionable improvements but always higher prices? New products is what consumerism is all about...throw out the old and embrace the new....or do what you said, keep the machine you have and miss out on the advantage a new machine will give those willing to hit the dirt.

As for JP he has been asked about a new dvd and for those interested is giving a heads up...nothing wrong with that. JP has the time to really learn a machine and his video is the closest thing to experience you could buy.

After one has bought a detector and learned of a gold-bearing area; The single most important thing for finding gold is time on the ground paying attention to what the detector has to say...

BTW, I believe JP has the same freedom of speech you do. And, please speak for your self not me, I didn't elect you spokesperson......"don't give us" and "do us a favor" .

Fred

Fred you are right about the us. Didn't mean to speak for you or anyone else.

But the as for the cars and detector comparison you are way off.

Let me tell you a little story. I bought a 04 Toyota Tacoma and in 05 the Tacoma had a upgrade that I wanted.It was a inverter. For 1800.00 I got the inverter put in my 04 truck.I didn't have to bye a whole new truck to get the upgrade.

Same with my wife's computer upgraded every year.

It would be great to have the option to upgrade your detector with the new parts.

I don't know about you but I get attached to my detector and have faith in it's abilities with upgrades it would be easier to keep that Faith don't you think.

Not to mention all the natural resources and man hours that would be saved.

It is like my old deer rifle the bluing is all gone the stock has scratches all over it and a big crack on the butt and the scope is dented. It has character to say the least. But if you were hunting with me and herd me shoot you would know it was time to drag a buck. I have faith in that rifle.I wouldn't trade that rifle for 20 brand new ones.

But I would upgrade it with a new scope,stock or internal parts

guess I'm sentamental,Matt

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JP, keep up with the input. By most people, it's appreciated. Will I trade in my 4000? No, not at this time. I paid for mine with a bit of luck and learning the detector. Some, well?

Minelab, in my opinion, is the best out there. May not pick up the invisible gold, but what the heck, nothing's perfect.

Marketing is marketing. I bought the 3000 just 3 months before the 4000 came out :( . Through you and many others, I upgraded, and never had second thoughts about it.

Again appreciate your input! Let those young'n learn to take everything with a grain of salt, quit whining and appreciate what you in the field, all the time, are offering us in your experience.

Shep

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Matt,

I fully understand how you feel about all of this. Upgrading sometimes is the right option, like with your wife's computer or your rifle. I had but 2 metal detectors until 3 years ago. I had my fathers Whites TR-63 and his Whites Prospector 4900-D Pro. Now I watched my father find alot of gold with both machines, but for the life of me I could not figure them out. I finally got enough money to get a used gold Bug 2 and have found alot of gold with it. I wanted a Minelab, money wasn't there. Like I said earier, a very kind person on this forum made his GP Extreme affordable to me. I love it and I'm still getting use to yet. Do I want a 4000 or 4500, hell yes but I'll settle in with the Extreme. I believe your blessed to have such a fine machine and I bet by the end of this year you will have paid for it twice over and have enough to get a new 4500 or wait and get the 5000. Your in a very good area and I hope maybe next spring I can come up that way and visit.

JP,

Thanks for all your input. I know I'm behind the times with the Extreme, but its way better than the White's VLF's.

Ol'29er(Bob)

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Matt, sorry about the harsh terms...I could have said complain but I didn't...I agree having familiarity with your equipment is highly desireable...and it might be nice to have modular detectors...but when you change the system you will have a different detector to learn which isn't much different than a whole new detector. I think that modular was given a try by a vlf manufacturer some time back...and I think Dave Emery is intending to offer such...I could be wrong...so, consumers could get that someday.

Any way, change is inevitable, especially things electronic as are higher prices...to paraphase an old song...if you can't have the one you want, use the one you got...

Fred

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Hey Fred

This is a remember when on Whites Eagle detector.Whites came out with the Eagle 1 and then out came Eagle 2.When the Eagle 2 was out Whites offered a upgrade on the Eagle 1 for 125.00 and this replaced a chip to bring it up to a Eagle 2.

This is the only time that I know of that Whites has done something like that.Now this was the first all digital detector that Whites put out.(Eagle 1)Well it did have one knob on the front of the box for ground balance but I never used (call Sig.Balance).

Chuck

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Hey Chuck...how you doing?

thanks for the reminder of the whites...I think "technatics" did to, wrong spelling but I believe they sold the first 1000 dollar vlf way back in the late 80's or early 90's...

if Reg was still talking to us he would remember...

Fred

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Matt, sorry about the harsh terms...I could have said complain but I didn't...I agree having familiarity with your equipment is highly desireable...and it might be nice to have modular detectors...but when you change the system you will have a different detector to learn which isn't much different than a whole new detector. I think that modular was given a try by a vlf manufacturer some time back...and I think Dave Emery is intending to offer such...I could be wrong...so, consumers could get that someday.

Any way, change is inevitable, especially things electronic as are higher prices...to paraphase an old song...if you can't have the one you want, use the one you got...

Fred

Fred I beg to differ- You would have the same detector with upgrades. It would only be the upgrades that you would have to learn.

Take care,Matt

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Hi Guys,

It is just marketing 101 and different types of people.

I sell about 1000 snowmobiles a year. Every year we get new models. Units have been getting lighter, faster, and better riding at an amazing rate.

You can have bought a snowmobile 5 years ago. It still does what it did then, which was good enough for you at the time. Unless your needs have changed, you can just keep riding that sled.

But there are others who want the latest and greatest. We have people who buy new snowmobiles every year. They are enthusiasts, and snowmobiles are their thing. They spend way more money then people like me with detectors.

I've still got my SD2200v2 and if that is what I stuck with I'd still be finding gold. Heck, if I'd stuck with my old Gold Bug I'd still be finding gold!

But I'm an enthusiast. Yes, a big part of it is about finding gold. But for me and others like me a whole lot of it is just wanting to get the latest toy and play with it. I'm not into Harleys or snowmobiles or boats or ATVs or cars or hunting or fishing or whatever it is other people spend their time and money on. There are a million more expensive things you can get into than detectors.

So when a new detector comes out I'm like a kid at Christmas with a box under the tree. I'm excited about it and like speculating what is in the box. I guess I need to get a life but there it is.

So I'd like at least one place on the internet where fools like me lining up for the slaughter can have our fun and talk about the new toys. Without somebody dropping in and pointing out Santa is not real and all there is in the box is a lump of coal. And that while fake Santa was leaving me my box with coal in it he stole my wallet.

I may be delusional, but at least I'm happy!

Steve Herschbach

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Fred

I had to look it up so to spell it right and I'd say you must be talking about Teknetics.Didn't they drop out and came back again when Bounty Hunter change hands?Now if you look at Teknetics T2 and Fisher F75 they look the same.I never had a Teknetics detector but a brother-in-law had one back in the 80's and it was a good detector for the time.

Till we meet again!

Chuck

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The Teknetics T2, became the Fisher F75, even though the advertising claims otherwise. The display is nearly the same but with some improvements like a backlight and some interface adjustments to make things better.

The F75 is $1100 and the DFX300 is $1200 and the DFX is $1100, the DFX has way more adjustments for the $$ hands down, the F75 is a rocket ship and goes deep right out of the box, easy to use and really fast but you have to swing it like a golf club to go past 8"...

I think it's a great time for detectors and some amazing stuff is being produced as we speak. Matt has a great point about upgrades... Although i'm sure it is not a simple task and probably would cost a ton of $$ to get it to work.

Conversely the problem with things like our computer's operating system is that they retain old stuff to allow upgrades and that creates limits to advances and record breaking quantities of code that disable the hardware through information overload. Additionally you have to pay more $$ for RAM just to get it as fast as the last OS...

I paid as much as a GPX for a Mac laptop and a few months later a totally NEW operating system emerged that made my computer and all the peripherals obsolete, makes the new ML release look gracious and kind when there is a way worse techno-drip being executed and making way more $$...

My old GPX works great and it will continue to do so no matter what ML does to change the technology... It was only a matter of time for another rendition of the GPX and with White's pushing for some new stuff in the PI world how can you blame ML for trying to keep advancing. We could see something interesting in the future if White's machine is kick ass and has a low price tag that takes a bite out of ML's sales... ;)

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I got my Lost Treasure Mag. today and it's may issue but the ad for Minelab still shows GPX4000.I thought maybe the GPX4500 would be in it but that's what I get for thinking.

They do show MXT300 and DFX300 on two pages with a hand full of gold nuggets plus one they say shy of 2lbs.Now they left out a little thing of what detector that this gold was found with. The coil is for sure the same that Digger Bob was using on the PI of Whites.I wonder why did Whites call this a Limited Edition being when you say something like that you only making a set number.

Chuck

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