Minelab GPX 5000 Discontinued In U.S. ?

[Dutchman4]

On 1/27/2024 at 1:28 PM, phrunt said:

Plenty of electronics were built to last, especially old Japanese equipment, I have 20+ year old amplifiers that work as good as the day they were made and plenty of other old electronics still working fine, even an original Pac Man handheld game from the early 80's, I have original Xboxes, about 10 of them from 2001 to 2005 in age that are still going strong, all I've had to do is replace the lasers on some that certain brands were prone to pack up, and change a few capacitors that die with age and remove the leaky clock capacitor that Microsoft could have used on purpose as a ticking timebomb to kill all old Xboxes as it will kill them all if not removed. 

The early GPX series detectors are rock solid, great quality PCB's, with the parts like switches that can wear out easily replaced with parts from a local electronics store.  I think they'll be going strong for decades to come yet if looked after, kept away from moisture and salt although the painted PCB's also help with that, so that's an added bonus to Minelab trying to protect their design by the crude painting method 🙂

I have refurbished 80's vintage high end audio amplifiers by replacing ALL the electrolytic capacitors and they will work brilliantly for another 20 to 30 years.  Electrolytic caps age, leak, swell and degrade over time.  

[MSC]

5000's may become hard to find sometime in the future. I have 2 of them, may sell one in a couple of years, have many coils and accessories.  Still a very good detector.

[Rob Allison]

Hi Guys,

  Not to toot any horns, whether it really matters or not, but we purchased all the GPX 5000's Minelab Americas & American Detector Distributors had early last year.  We sold them all within months of the purchase at $3995.00 US.  

Prior to that, we purchased all the GPX 4500's that were selling at $2499 and we blew them out like Hotcakes.  

I personally wish they were both available, the GPX 4500 at $2500 would still fly off the shelves in my opinion here in the US. 

I agree, at some point the parts are not available forcing them to discontinue detectors.  

Rob

 

[phrunt]

I would say there is still a lot of life left in any 4000, 4800, and especially 4500 and 5000 yet, from the Minelab website.  They'll be servicing those models for many years to come.

DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS

As new technology is developed and improves upon the performance of our current product range, Minelab discontinues our older product models. These products are listed on this page for your reference.

We aim to service and support all of our older products for as long as possible. All products are supported for a period of at least 5 years after they are discontinued. Unfortunately, with some of these older detectors it becomes impossible to source the parts required for service work and so the detectors eventually become uneconomical to repair.

[Swegin]

14 hours ago, phrunt said:

DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS

As new technology is developed and improves upon the performance of our current product range, Minelab discontinues our older product models. These products are listed on this page for your reference.

We aim to service and support all of our older products for as long as possible. All products are supported for a period of at least 5 years after they are discontinued. Unfortunately, with some of these older detectors it becomes impossible to source the parts required for service work and so the detectors eventually become uneconomical to repair.

  That statement has been on their site for years.   There have been a lot of changes in the world in the last couple of years.

 I also wouldn't be surprised if the 5000 gets discontinued worldwide in the coming months.

 

 

[phrunt]

Yes, and they'll do it too, it's not likely any GPX component is discontinued, usually if something is gone a substitute exists, although when a component is getting discontinued the supplier tells you so you can stock up prior to it.  Buying thousands of 10 cent parts won't break the bank for them, and something that's normal for service agents.  They turn that 10 cent part into a $100 out of warranty repair, it's how you do business as a serving center.  They'll also know by know the common parts that fail, and be prepared for that.

[Steve Herschbach]

They still make the Gold Bug 2 after 40 years and many component substitutions. I'm sure they could keep the 5000 going if they wanted to. But by todays standards it is an expensive machine to manufacture and separate batteries are getting to be a shipping issue. The real hope for us all is they simply have something better waiting in the wings. A GPX 5000 in a CTX 3030 housing waterproof to ten feet - sign me up!!

https://forums.robsdetectors.com/topic/9655-minelab-ctx-5000/