Thanks for your thoughts Heatho, I think they have a "new CTX 3030" in the works too. Maybe its called the 4040 or maybe the dirty 30! - who knows LOL.
But seriously they need to do be doing some R&D to keep at the front of the game and have a succession plan for the top of the line 3030; however after a significant cash outlay by people who bought and are still buying new CTX 3030's today I don't think five years for a model life in this case is enough. Too much cash outlay and then soon after it gets superseded -those people might be ticked off at Minelab and cautious to buy another Minelab machine.
I know about the Equinox detectors. They are only single frequency machines. In my opinion they are no where near superseding the CTX from a specifications perspective anyways.
One of the things that jumps out at me is the fact that Coiltek in the last two years have been releasing new coils for the CTX, I suspect Coiltek probably knows about Minelab's model successions plans (Coiltek would be under non-disclosure - they can't likely tell any body about those plans) and they wouldn't be sinking time into new coils for the CTX if there wouldn't be a market for the new Coiltek coils for a while.