Water detectors

diver420

Jr. Member
Nov 1, 2006
36
0
Would White's please come up with a waterproof multi freq. detector
that is better than the Minelab Excalibur. They have the smarts to get
it done, and their Cust. service is a thousand times better. My Excaliber
is not working, and Minelab doesn't even have the scruples to have a human,
that you can call to get a repair ticket to send the machine in. You have
to call a call center, and talk to someone that knows nothing about detectors.
Then you are told a Rep. will get back to you. After a week or so if you are
lucky a rep. may call you back. WTF? They have completely removed themselves
from any customer issues. WHAT A JOKE. And as far as turnaround forget it.
How hard would it be to have one or two knowledgable people dedicated to
just warranty and repair calls?
I wish Whites would come out with a hot Multi-Freq. Waterproof machine.
I would pay top dollar to deal with White's over Minelab.
 

Upvote 0

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
All is not Rosie at White's either. Granted their tech support is top notch but R&D is lacking or they just want to cut corners on supplies. The Beach Hunter ID 300 is a multi frequency detector, (they have 2 freq) just like the Fisher CZ-21. But they insist on putting a floating coil on a water detector because they think most people that buy it won't go in the water. You can add a sand filled sock, but then you have extra water resistance for the surf to push around. It works fine on the dry sand however just like all the land detectors that are cheaper.

Minelab is moving into a new building near Chicago I understand and they are also ramped up to produce their gold detectors.
 

Tank69

Silver Member
May 5, 2009
4,076
62
Yuma Az
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Eldorado , Fisher Gold Bug 2 , Whites MXT , Keen Dry Washer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
an you might as well forget Tesoro for any Water machines they cant figure out what to say to the customers that might make any sense because even they have no clue about their water proof connectors .
 

Jason in TN

Bronze Member
Oct 29, 2004
1,253
19
East Tennessee
Whites service is awesome there beach hunter is lacking a bit over the excal with the new super 12 coil the floating problem is gone or not as bad any way. I am with you wish they would come out with something new and better. The Excal is 15+ year old technology and there service really really sucks if it was not for the pain in the butt I would say it is a joke too. If you have a pro lem with your minelab good luck. Had a problem with my whites V3 when I first got it had a new one in hand in
Less than a week. Now that is some serious service you get there. You feel like whites cares call minelab and you think they could care less. I have a Excal II and pray I do not have a problem with it. There is something better for non minerilized beaches the Aquasound will smoke the excal for depth and iron discrimination. Love my aquasound but you will have to I vest some serious $ to get one.

Jason
 

spez401

Hero Member
Jul 13, 2006
521
9
Coventry, RI
Detector(s) used
Excal
My first detector was a surfmaster? PI from whites. I loved that thing and paid for it many times over. Then I got a DFX... loved that one too. I had heard that the excalibur was the best water machine... but I wasn't going to drop the 1K for it. Then... in a stroke of really bad (or maybe good) luck, I got into a car accident (got rear ended by a guy doing 65 mph) and both of my detectors were crushed. The insurance company compensated my generously for my 2, already-paid-for-many-times-over machines, and I started looking for another detector.

I was hoping that whites whould just stuff the DFX into a waterproof container, screen and all... but OOOOHHH NOOOOOO. that would be too simple. I "settled" on an excalibur and have had 2 since the first one. I have never looked back and absolutely think that the excal is the best water machine... But if Whites got SMART and stuffed the DFX into a WATERPROOF package... I'd probably buy another one.

steve
 

COTTON

Hero Member
Apr 28, 2008
934
12
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I thought the Beach Hunter 300 was a water proof DFX? :tongue3:
 

gollum

Gold Member
Jan 2, 2006
6,729
7,594
Arizona Vagrant
Detector(s) used
Minelab SD2200D (Modded)/ Whites GMT 24k / Fisher FX-3 / Fisher Gold Bug II / Fisher Gemini / Schiebel MIMID / Falcon MD-20
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

pongo

Jr. Member
May 6, 2009
42
4
NJ
Detector(s) used
Minelab,Whites
Minelabs customer service is horrible,they've had my Excal over three months,and I still have no idea when I will be getting it back!!
My Whites BHID300 was sent to Whites for bad toggle switch,within two weeks received brand new detector,which has worked flawlessly!
As far as the floating coil BS,if you need a sock filled with sand to hold that coil down,you better start exercising and taking you vitamins! I hunt in water all the time and have no floating problem,it"s an old wives tale!
:coffee2:
 

S.S.Tupperware

Hero Member
Jul 18, 2009
798
51
Orlando
Detector(s) used
PI Dual/Coinmaster 5500d/DFX/BHID
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I use a DF with the same coil, and I have no problem with it in the water, I wouldn't want one heavier, it would not be fun on the wet sand when the surf is too rough... :tongue3:
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,430
54,811
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
pongo said:
Minelabs customer service is horrible,they've had my Excal over three months,and I still have no idea when I will be getting it back!!
My Whites BHID300 was sent to Whites for bad toggle switch,within two weeks received brand new detector,which has worked flawlessly!
As far as the floating coil BS,if you need a sock filled with sand to hold that coil down,you better start exercising and taking you vitamins! I hunt in water all the time and have no floating problem,it"s an old wives tale!
:coffee2:

It is no wives tell, it does float. Something that is near buoyant should not float up......
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Treasure_Hunter said:
pongo said:
Minelabs customer service is horrible,they've had my Excal over three months,and I still have no idea when I will be getting it back!!
My Whites BHID300 was sent to Whites for bad toggle switch,within two weeks received brand new detector,which has worked flawlessly!
As far as the floating coil BS,if you need a sock filled with sand to hold that coil down,you better start exercising and taking you vitamins! I hunt in water all the time and have no floating problem,it"s an old wives tale!
:coffee2:

It is no wives tail, it does float. Something that is near buoyant should not float up......

Granted if you need to work out and take vitamins to use a White's BHID 300 in the water it isn't the detector we need. What about the leaking problems that are reported on the other forums? Sloppy closing of the lid maybe...... The BHID works great on dry sand and might need sens turned down some depending on your location, but many need a volume control because of the surf noise too.

Either way Minelab better get their act together and I am still waiting for Garrett to bring out a hot VLF for the diver/wader. Maybe the next water machine we'll see will have a waterproof meter. Wouldn't that be something? Leaks in the meter........ :laughing7:
 

Prairie Prowler

Hero Member
May 7, 2006
537
310
Midwest ILL
Detector(s) used
Fisher1266-/ CZ-20 / Sovereign XS/Excalibur II / Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I am presently looking into a new water machine (primarily minelab Excal II ) ..still not sure of 8 or 10 inch coil tho..I search inland fresh water lakes and am hesitant about buying a minelab until they work the issues out w/their service etc. Ive been using the CZ 20 (w/a bad pinpoint switch)..and still finding decent stuff but believe I'm missing chains and masked targets.. I guess i'll play wait awhile if I'm going to lay-down $1100.00 for a machine..I do live close to Chicago if thats where M-lab is moving to!
 

nudels

Full Member
Jun 21, 2008
145
0
Central Florida
Detector(s) used
Vantage AD-14, Tesoro Sand Shark
Tank69 said:
an you might as well forget Tesoro for any Water machines they cant figure out what to say to the customers that might make any sense because even they have no clue about their water proof connectors .

I agree, it's a bit strange, it's not like this is rocket science. All other water detector manufacturers seem to not have a problem sourcing parts, if that is the real issue.
 

crazyman

Full Member
Nov 6, 2005
100
3
Indianola, Wa.
Detector(s) used
Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Sovereign Elite, Minelab Advantage
Stick the Minelab Sovereign GT electronics into a waterproof case the same or similar to the Tesoro Stingray/Tigershark with interchangeable coils and I would never need another detector.
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
crazyman said:
Stick the Minelab Sovereign GT electronics into a waterproof case the same or similar to the Tesoro Stingray/Tigershark with interchangeable coils and I would never need another detector.

You've got that right!! :thumbsup:

I might have to go back to using a PI if my Excal, CZ-20 and Tiger Shark break. But using a PI in fresh water would really be real LABOR because of all the rusted iron.
 

FLauthor

Hero Member
Aug 22, 2004
770
203
Minneola, FL
Detector(s) used
Excalibur 800; Fisher F5; White Beachmaster VLF
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I wrote Charlie Garrett as I've done in the past. Why don't they revamp the AT3 water machine, it was a great VLF notch machine and could be there again. I own an old one that still pulls targets out of the ground. Some of the members here want to buy my AT3. If you feel the same way and want the AT3 resurrected then write to Charlie Garrett and tell him. Go to the Garrett website, click Contact Us and in the subject box write: To Charlie Garrett. Charlie likes getting email from TH'ers who use his products. Just like White's, don't mess with the hired help, write Ken White and tell him how much you love his products. Same with Minelab, find the bloke who invented it and write him a personal email and tell him what the Excalibur means to you. These guys don't get enough good feedback except from his board of directors.
I work at a Disney Resort and they posts the letters that little kids print and scribble about how much they enjoyed staying at the Boardwalk and seeing Mickey Mouse. Same applies to metal detecting companies, write them if you want results. Quit harping about it on here, harp to the Company Presidents.

http://whiteselectronics.com/videos/meet-ken-white.html

http://www.garrett.com/media/garrett_story/garrett_story.html

http://www.minelab.com/usa/corporate/contact-us-2/consumer-enquiry

http://www.oregongold.net/tag/kevin-hoagland/

https://www.linkedin.com/reg/join-p...NVe&authType=name&lnk=cnt_dir&trk=ppro_cntdir

Minelab USA Inc.
2777 Finley Road, Unit #4
Downers Grove, IL 60515 USA
Toll Free: 1-866-517-2066
T: 1-630-401-8150
F: 1-630-401-8180
E: [email protected] for Consumer products

:icon_thumleft: :coffee2:
 

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