Next Minelab

[VicR]

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

But why GPZ 8000 anyway? Seems like the three letters and a number went out of style. We have the Gold Monster already and newer Minelab models have been sporting names, like Manticore.

Brand awareness of the GPX and GPZ logo's denoting particular technologies is a pretty strong argument to keep on using it - companies spend a lot of money on brand recognition and are very protective of their brands. I would only go for a  new brand if the technology used in a new detector is leaps and bounds (pun intended) ahead of what is currently being used - and you want to completely differentiate between old and new technology.

On a side note - i just realised that in the US you would be pronouncing GPZ completely different (GP-ZEE) to what we would in Australia (GP-ZED) maybe Minelab will have a GP-ZED_ZEE.

[EL NINO77]

In my opinion, the new Gold Monster 2 will be a VLF detector,,, I expect it to have multi-frequency multi IQ technology... which can better traverse mineralized terrain.., has better sensitivity to a wider range of gold sizes and can still maintain good target identification at depth.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

2 hours ago, VicR said:

I would only go for a  new brand if the technology used in a new detector is leaps and bounds (pun intended) ahead of what is currently being used - and you want to completely differentiate between old and new technology.

And is not all this leap frog talk trying to imply just that? GPZ 8000 would just be the normal incremental drip feed where the second generation is usually the more refined version of the model before, but nothing earth-shaking. Equinox 800 to Equinox 900, whoopee. So if it is to be GPZ 8000.... yawn. Like going from GP 3000 to GP 3500. GPX 4500 to GPX 5000. Incremental. I'm sensing people are hoping for more than just a lighter, slightly tweaked up GPZ 7000. As you say, something leaps and bounds ahead.

Yes, Gold Monster 2000 will be VLF, for all the reasons Vic stated.

[VicR]

Yes - you may be right with regards to the Gold Monster 2000 being a VLF but i just go back to comments made by Minelabs CEO (Alf Ianniello)  who has a Electronic Engineering and Manufacturing (not marketing) back ground and who was my boss for 10 years (in another Adelaide based company) - my ears picked up when he said that the two new gold detectors will take performance to another level. I know Alf is very careful with his words and a straight shooter so i am very interested to see what these two new detectors will be - hopefully a revolution not an evolution. Time will tell.

[Knomad]

16 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Intrepid was shipping as of November of 2024.

But why GPZ 8000 anyway? Seems like the three letters and a number went out of style. We have the Gold Monster already and newer Minelab models have been sporting names, like Manticore.

Dominate the competition and the goldfields with the Minelab Gold Dominator....

I like the name Minelab Gold Dominator, it shortens well to MGD o GD, and would signal a true change, but if it is just a lighter more ergonomic GPZ7000 then just make it the 8000. But the Butts need to realize that the days of EASILY paying for high priced detectors with gold finds is over, Even with high gold prices, add to that import tariffs of at least 10% and that practically REQUIRES Minelab reduce not increase prices.!

[Steve Herschbach]

4 minutes ago, Knomad said:

But the Butts need to realize that the days of EASILY paying for high priced detectors with gold finds is over

If the new detector got about 20% better depth on 2 gram or better nuggets it would not be an issue at all. I don't think 10% is going to do it, but 20%, game on. We need something that you put a GPZ 7000 over it, no signal. Put new machine over it, strong signal. None of this four of us standing there trying to decide which machine gets the signal that is so much better that we can barely decide which is which. It needs to be a solid "the GPZ or modded SD/GP/GPX can't find it, this new machine can't miss it" sort of thing. Give me that detector and I would easily pay for it. Not holding my breath though and will believe it when I literally see it with my own eyes on my own ground. Would not take but one day to know if it is the real deal or not.

[Knomad]

4 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

If the new detector got about 20% better depth on 2 gram or better nuggets it would not be an issue at all. I don't think 10% is going to do it, but 20%, game on. We need something that you put a GPZ 7000 over it, no signal. Put new machine over it, strong signal. None of this four of us standing there trying to decide which machine gets the signal that is so much better that we can barely decide which is which. It needs to be a solid "the GPZ or modded SD/GP/GPX can't find it, this new machine can't miss it" sort of thing. Give me that detector and I would easily pay for it. Not holding my breath though and will believe it when I literally see it with my own eyes on my own ground. Would not take but one day to know if it is the real deal or not.

I could not say it better myself, there best move would be to go back to the original 7000 price to get volume sales of their new model.

[Steve Herschbach]

5 hours ago, Knomad said:

I could not say it better myself, there best move would be to go back to the original 7000 price to get volume sales of their new model.

If the machine did what I described they can price it anyway they want and it will sell in volume. Africa was the largest market for the GPZ 7000, not exactly a place full of wealthy people. If it did as I described they would be foolish to sell it for anything less than 15K.

Note that I expect no such performance leap frog and so no price to match.

[phrunt]

Small incremental changes are not enough on a high-priced machine anymore for a significant part of the market, the jumps between a GPX 4000 and a 4500 etc would not satisfy the market anymore at the prices they're asking, a tweaked GPZ in a new housing isn't going to have the appeal it once would especially with the locked down coils it would have vs the original GPZ that can run aftermarket coils and if that's all they do it's going to drive further aftermarket coil sales.

Immediately after release people are going to be comparing it with the GPZ and X-coils and the modded GPX 4500/5000's with their large array of coils.  The 6000 and GPZ with smaller coils is doing well on smaller gold and where any improvement needs to be on a machine in this price range is going to be the gram + deeper stuff, it has to outperform existing options by a reasonable amount and not just turn an iffy signal into a slightly sharper iffy signal or the Youtubes are going to have fun.

I still think it's not a GPZ replacement we are going to see though, my bets are on the lower priced PI and the VLF GM2000.  I think the next generation GPZ may well be the last, in 10 or so years' time when it's dated model I just can't see there being much of a market for another high priced model.

They know Nokta is coming, you only need to look at the VLF price battle and race to the bottom to see what's coming.  You can now buy a great high-performance VLF for a brilliant price even from Minelab, this is starting with PI and Minelab won't want to miss the boat.