Well, last week I was sitting in my recliner getting bored from an infirmity...and I realized I had not yet ordered Chris's GPX-series video...so I did. I ordered it on a Wednesday and recieved it on Friday...pdq service in my opinion.

I don't own a 4500 but watching this video and the ease of use that Chris, Rob and Mr Montana demonstrated got my "I NEED ONE" tingling...after hearing the solid threshold I can see that one improvement makes these machines well above previous renditions...the various options available to the user are tremendous opportunity to those willling to learn their machine...and yet Chris showed that even completely out-of-tune the 4500 could find the yellow stuff...amazing.

The one thing that is most precious to me is to see and hear the joy Chris and Steve share when they are together...they clearly love what they do and the time they share doing what they love...their father/son relationship always brings many happy memories of the times I had with my Dad who was my best friend...getting a little drippy here.....sorry.

Buy the video you will learn something just from watching these expert detectorists use their machines...but, watch out; you are gonna want one too!

Fred

Fred. I just got a call from Sudan at 6:30 AM. I have met this fellow when he was here in the States visiting his brother in Phoenix. He wants all the 4500s he can get his hands on. I tried to explain to him that any Minelab PI will find probably 90% of the gold on a new patch. He understands this, but all the prospectors over there want the 4500. Since he is only interested in buying and reselling once he gets them over there, he wants what the market wants. It's crazy , but even in a backward third world country, they will pay almost any price for a 4500 and turn their nose up at a GP3500. He says it has to have the screen ! He can resell some GPX4000s , but without the screen the PIs are hard to sell at a big profit. There is something fascinating about being able to interact via the screen that makes them almost irresistable. I think it goes right along with the fascination around the world with high tech electronics and the screen interface makes it seem much more high tech than any gold detector without it. One thing for sure, there are some features on the 4500 that are just amazing. Some ground that drives its older brothers nuts are a piece of cake with the 4500, and that may be what the Africans like about it also. Their ground may be very mineralized. Personally , when I try to go back to a GP or an SD I just can't seem to relate to them anymore. Since I have found heaps of gold with all of them I know they are very capable, but a mental block developes that I can't seem to shake off. Maybe it's like when you sell an old car and buy a new one . The old one seems now to be a clunker even though it was running fine and would get you where you were going just as fast as the new one. ----Bob

That is the way it is in Brazil too.. a 4500 new sells for about $10,000 (3.5 years average wages). But they will use just about any PI they can get their hand on.

Montana, isn't that why the 4500's are in such short supply and take so long to get delivered,
because Africa in particular is buying up any and all 4500's they can get, from any dealer anywhere.
I know for sure ML has instituted a policy of sending new 4500's directly to the buyer instead of
stocking the dealers with them.
What do you hear?


Flak

Hi Fred,
I thought the preview for the video looked great. I love my 4500 and think that it is several notches above the 4000. After swinging the 4500, my confidence level would get knocked down a little if I had to go back to swinging an older model.
I called and talked to Chris several months ago to order one of the video's from him, he said that he was all out at the time. I told him to put me down for one, but I never did hear back from him?
You better get out there with your newly learned skills and find some gold!
Take care,
Gus-

Fred I just finished seeing Chris's video a couple of weeks ago and thought it was presented in an excellent manner and proviced excellent information in a concise manner. A well produced video. I also really like my new 4500. Jerry

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the great video review, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. Getting feedback like this makes all those hours of work seem well worth it...Hopefully we will be embarking on another production in the near future, and yes, I will be recruiting my father again! He's a good sport and always willing to lend a hand. I totally agree with you, some of the best memories I have are from the prospecting trips he and I have made over the years. I am working on a new article right now about our last expedition to Australia. It will be run in the Gold Prospector Magazine and should appear in their detecting issue.

Gus,

I think when you called you might have caught us in between runs. We had another batch made up and they are in stock once again. Let me know if you want one and I'll have it shipped off ASAP.

Jerry,

Thank you also for the comments and your support of the video. I think we may have Fred just about ready to make the 45 leap!

Flak. I have no idea what Minelab is doing. I know Chris can't get nearly what he needs just to supply U.S. orders. I'm sure he could have sold hundreds of them to other countries if he could get them over the last 2 months. It's crazy, they only want the 4500s. All the production has to be going somewhere and it doesn't seem to be to the dealers who seem to be able to only get a few at a time. ---Bob