I think that dealer networks play a huge part in it. Here in the States there are very few XP, Blisstool, Nokta, or any European made detector dealers, making repair/warranty issues a genuine concern. If I have something go wrong with a Fisher, Whites, Garrett, Minelab, or Technetiks machnine, I can send it in and be assured that I'll have it back in a couple of weeks, whereas with one of the EU units just the shipping can take that long.