GPX4500 - Is the JP DVD ‘The SETA Project’ worth owning?

Hi

I’ve recently purchase a GPX4500 and being new to detecting I was looking for some general info and instructional DVDs. So I’ll put the question out there. Is the latest Jonathan Porter DVD ‘The SETA Project’ worth owning? Feedback and opinions welcome by anyone that has seen it.

Regards
AuTitch

yes!

Titch
JPs vids are a great way to fully understand the functions of your machine.The information can be viewed at your leisure and is well worth the investment.
Cheers and happy hunting
Dig

Yes well worth owning, and if you can afford the rest of them, get the whole lot as a bundle package deal. There is relevent info in them all for even the lattest machine.

cheers dave

Mate of mine got a copy through a detecting club, and reckons it is really helpful. I don't have a 4500(yet) so it's not relevant to me, but when I do get one, I will be getting a copy through a club and save a packet.

It hasn't helped my mate find any more gold though

Dunnart,

I wish you the best of luck if you're trying to get a copy through your club. I contacted JP's business by phone about a year ago - perhaps a tad longer than that - on behalf of our prospecting club (I was then the secretary) and was knocked back re the purchase of a detecting DVD on the grounds that one DVD purchase, which any member of the club could presumably then view, would not have been good business (not the exact words used but that was accurately the essence of the phone conversation). I've never bought or ordered anything through JP's business since and for sure I probably would have, rather than having purchasing detecting items on several occasions (a pick, harness, external speaker etc) through firms which are his competitors - so how good was that for business?

In fact it WOULD have been good business - because I personally would certainly have followed up by a private order - as would other members of the club if they'd found the DVD useful (and I have every reason to believe that the contents of the DVDs were good value). In fact the club's purchase of the DVD would probably have been sound advertising. However, to be fair, it was not Jonathon I spoke to on the phone.

Mike W

JP's DVD are for personal use, which is no different to any other DVD you buy or hire, they are for personal use only. Which means you can not realy put up a big screen in the park and invite all to come and watch it, no matter what DVD you have bought, JP's or any other.

Compared to the rest of the detecting gear it is not that expensive to have the whole set of JP's DVD's anyway, and besides plenty of beginners will pay for a tag along trip /day trip etc to get some knowledge and advise. If you have DVD's you have got them to look at when ever you want.

cheers dave

No worries, Dave,

that's the legal and commercial line and I accept it. However, Let's be practical. How many blokes and blokesses who spend time on the goldfields would be content with watching a DVD in the club room when they could watch their own copy of the DVD at home in comfort - and backtrack on occasions when they believed it necessary? The sale of the DVD to a club would increase sales. Nor is the possibility of a DVD being illegally copied a logical argument against the type of sale I attempted. This will happen anyway, regardless of whether people are members of a club or not.

When all is said and done, t'was my own fault in being too bloody honest and chatty. If I'd merely ordered the DVD and kept my mouth shut there obviously wouldn't have been a problem. Live and learn!

Mike

Hi All,
I would say without a doubt that they are worth owning... answered alot of questions that I had about my machine... if u can get the whole series as they flow one to the other.

JP has been promising a DVD on prospecting which he may bring out soon now that he has had his holiday...

Ray

Well members,
All I can say is, I liken JP to DWdH, both did the hard yards and produced valuable information for we detectorists, David in book form, Johnathon in the following DVD technology.
In years gone by my G&G (D.W.de Havelland) went ever where I went, now Johnathon Porter's DVD's are with me to refer back too.
Love them or hate them, be too miserable to buy them, I take my hat off to both of them!

Peter

Hi Mike W.

Clubs are a great way for new people to a particular hobby to get started, and with my experiences with various clubs over the years, they are happy to give you a leg-up to kick you off, detecting clubs included.

Whether is be books, dvd's or guest speakers, it is all valuable information, and it is also valuable promotion. Maybe this is something JP's sales office needs to consider?

Anyway, if and when I want any of his dvd's, JP can be rest assured that I wont be buying them at retail.

When it comes to the 4500 , this dvd , with the interviews with Bruce Candy and explanations of settings and filters , really helped my detecting knowledge and has paid for itself instantly .....The instruction manual that comes with the 4500 , although adequate , does not go into enough detail for a detector that can be adjusted to become a better or worse detector than previous models , depending on how you set it up ..I think if the price was halved sales would quadruple but anyway , a must for the 4500 owner ....Paul....

Dunnart wrote:

"I don't have a 4500(yet) so it's not relevant to me, but when I do get one, I will be getting a copy through a club and save a packet."

"Anyway, if and when I want any of his dvd's, JP can be rest assured that I wont be buying them at retail."

Honestly...was there really a need to write these? knowing full well JP is a contributor to this forum?

His expertese and the info he shares via the forums and via his DVDs has been invaluable to many many detectorist. A thankyou should more be in order rather than a kick in the nuts over the price of a DVD.

Yeah a music or movie DVD with a 1 000 000 run will set you back $29.95 but ofcause a far smaller run of specialty DVDs is always going to cost more.

Steve,
d'you think I would have submitted the msge if Jonathon had NOT been a contributing member of the forum? Cowardly I am not.

None of us are above question re our motives in doing things. I went through my msges carefully before I submitted them - and again afterward. And there was nothing in them that could by a reasonable person be construed as being 'a kick in the guts'

I respect Jonathon for what he's achieved in life - and doing what many of us have always tried to do - namely, combining a profession with a lifestyle you enjoy. I've achieved the same thing - and I do not believe I'm above some criticism, provided it's well directed, and above all, politely delivered. And believe me, I cop plenty of ill-considered poop. I believe in this case, Steve, I was NOT 'kicking the man in the guts' as you put it. The criticism, slight as it was and over a commercial matter, was NOT personal. You appear to be trying to make it so.

Over a minor matter I've 'crossed swords' with Jonathon (to use perhaps an inappropriate phrase, on a previous occasion). I believe we get along OK in the aftermath, and I don't believe he's any 'shrinking violet' otherwise he'd never have succeeded in the corporate world. Nor do I believe, Steve, he needs you to take his corner.

Mike W

Mike...please show me where I refered to you?????
Read it again.. I agree with you, clubs would be a good way to further the DVD sales, I've bought plenty of DVDs after seeing it elswhere,.

What I was getting at was saying "I wont be paying retail or JP's price ." Dunnart said that..not you and hense why I quoted him

Read it again

OK Steve you made your point well, and I owe you an apology.

However, Dunnart's reply was non confrontational and, once again, it did not amount to a 'kick in the guts' for Jonathon Porter or his firm. To question is not to impugne.

Regards
Mike W

With due respect Mike, if I was producing and selling a DVD and someone blatantly posted on a forum I frequented that I'll get mine elsewhere and I wont be paying your price, forgive me for taking it as a kick in the nuts.
I could read into that, that the person may intend to get a pirate copy..as happens with G&G on CDRom.

Tell me how you'd feel if you yourself produced a specialist item and someone said yep I'll have that but I'll get a mate to knock me off a copy, I'm not paying what you're asking.

Not saying that's what he's intending mind you.

yep JP doesn't need me in his corner, never intended to be..Dunart doesn't need you in his either.

Gday

I think that getting the dvd's from jP is a good idea, particularly if you are completely un familiar with the 4500, as they are a ready source of information when you encounter issues with your machine.

The 4500 is a completely different machine from the sds and earlier gp detectors and the dvds are informative and its often easier to learn something when you are shown how to do it, you will also find that if you watch the dvds over a few times then when you encounter some issue or another you will be surprised that the advice given by jp will pop into your head.

Any information you can get will always help you out when you are on the ground, when you have watched the dvds then you have a fiddle with the controls on the machine to familiarise yourself with it then you will be much better prepared when you get it in to the field.

Its a fact of life these days that all manner of things are copied, dvds, cds, etc etc, so I dont know why people get so stressed about it all, anybody who produces these products will realise that there are always going to be pirate copies out there, how many people come back from bali with dozens of crappy pirated movie copies?

stayyerAU

as is life, you strike all sorts of personalities, so wont comment on any of the above.
the DVDs were worth purchasing (every one of them), the benefits that come to my mind instantly are:-

replaceing the top shaft with a otto fibreglass shaft. - gave better sensitivity for me, a small fella, and being too close to the coil.

demonstration of the comparison improvement of ENHANCE as compared to SMOOTH.

demonstration of the comparison improvement of INVERTED when chaseing deep nuggets

his personal settings for the DD and MONO coil, which are fantastic. I tweeked those settings to my preferred hearing at higher audio tone, otherwise, realised the great benefits of his settings, particularly in reference to GAIN and STABLEISER to maintain a noise free and target finding machine.

his settings enabled me to use DEEP for the first time.

thank you JP, when is you next one coming out?
.... kev