Garrett pinpointer...its dead Jim?

[Juice in the hole]

Garrett pinpointer...it's dead Jim?

I have a Garrett pinpointer (the black one) that's about 3 years old and acting erratic for quite some time. It's always falsed when wet mud get's caked on the tip and eats batteries like a sailor drinks brews, but my first trip out of the winter season had it acting crazier than ever. It was a week ago with 60 degree temps. Ground was wet and the digging was easy. It struggled mightily with my first couple of targets and then I decided to take a closer look. I had recovered a copper piece of some sort about 8" down, so fairly old. Not sure what it is, but that's not important. The pinpointer couldn't find it in the clod of dirt, even after breaking it apart and down to only a couple of inches thick. I kept checking the clod with my Fisher F75 LTD to make sure it was still in there, finally locating it by trial and error with a bit of persistence mixed in. After pulling it out, I tested the pinpointer's response and could not get a beep unless it was directly underneath the shaft. No tip response and none on top. Other targets recovered that day only gave very weak responses from the pinpointer. This was on a fresh battery which was tested later with my fluke and was good.

So fast forward to today and I decide to test that same piece and it hits on all sides, but only weakly on tip. Other similarly sized metal objects get a response, but only if held very close. It gets a crusty zinc penny at 1.5". I'm not sure what's going on with this thing, but I'm about ready to give up and buy something else. It continues to ruin hunts because I've come to rely on it so heavily. On the plus side, when it's working well, it speeds up recovery tremendously.

So is this normal? Anyone experience anything similar?

Should I send it in to Garrett and pay them to fix it? My research indicates they charge around $40 to fix them, which seems a bit exorbitant considering the initial price of the unit. When I've had issues with Whites or Fisher equipment, they simply exchange or repair for free.

Should I consider buying something different and improved? The orange Garrett gets reviewed well, but I only half trust much of the reviews I read online and on Youtube because of the paid shills. Is it really that much better than the older model? Anything else out there worth looking at?

Thanks!

 

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[eyemustdigtreasure]

I suggest looking at the Nokta Pointer.
Competively priced, yet quality unit.
It has done me well so far.
It is tough, too.
Simple to use, once you learn the two buttons' uses.
Waterproof, as well.
Mud, dust, moisture, not a problem.
My only suggestion is to rinse off the probe and remove the coil cover after a wet hunt,
as trapped moisture can be introduced to your stored gear,
including you main machine, spare batteries...
I use a bucket with lid, for most of my digging gear, so I try to store it all when dry...

 

[Liu21]

might be time for a new one...

 

[McKinney_5900]

Buy the Deteknix X-Pointer for $80-$90 and get the full 2 year warranty back. I like the black ProPointers but not in your particular case.

 

[Juice in the hole]

Thanks for the replies. I would rather stick with American made products and at the minimum, an American company.

 

[Juice in the hole]

Okay, so who has the best deal on a new Garrett orange pinpointer?

 

[Normsel]

Make sure the speaker area is clean, if it got wet during a hunt or got mud in it the pointer will barely beep. I even put the vacuum cleaner to my speaker suck on it a bit. It seems to help

 

[G.I.B.]

My black Pro Pointer starting to act erratic like yours. It was failing a lot, eating batteries, going goofy so I finally sent it in.

Garrett told me that it was toast, and was out of warranty. They offered to sell me a new one at a really great price, but I took the opportunity to get a carrot.

I never had this one underwater, except for rinsing it off. It had a bad seal around the LED bulb. Nothing I did wrong, just a bad seal.

I love the Carrot- best one so far.

 

[digmesomestuff]

I had the black pro pointer and had the same problem. After a few months, it started falsing all the time. I did some research and it appears there was a problem with the button design (it's different in newer models). I was hesitant to buy another Garrett after that but I bit the bullet and bought a carrot. It's very well designed and works well. I've gotten it muddy and wet and it's fine. I particularly like that you can change the alert settings.

 

[TN/SC]

I'm still using my black garrett pinpointer and it works fine. when new I wrapped the speaker with silicone tape to quite it down. I'm not saying that helped it last but I've put it thru the wringer. If mine quit I'd get the carrot too.

HH

 

[Anduril]

My black Pro Pointer starting to act erratic like yours. It was failing a lot, eating batteries, going goofy so I finally sent it in.

Garrett told me that it was toast, and was out of warranty. They offered to sell me a new one at a really great price, but I took the opportunity to get a carrot.

I never had this one underwater, except for rinsing it off. It had a bad seal around the LED bulb. Nothing I did wrong, just a bad seal.

I love the Carrot- best one so far.

View attachment 1278981

View attachment 1278982

Just to add... (for what it's worth)

So that folks know, the circuit board shown in G.I.B's photos is probably not beyond economical repair.
From what I can see of it, nothing is truly damaged - but there is conductive "crud" on the board in the vicinity of what looks to be a Burr-Brown op-amp (operational amplifier).
That's the black square looking thingy to the right in the photo. As a general rule, op-amps don't like crud.

I would just about bet that a good scrubbing with denatured alcohol and a stiff toothbrush would fix this back to normal.
Would take longer than you might think - maybe 10 minutes?
Then of course, seal-up the leak(s) or the problem is likely to return.

For added protection, you could also spray the circuit board with a conformal coating prior to reassembly.
Think of it as protective spray paint for electronics.
Like this one:
https://gokimco.com/chemtronics-ctf..._d_CTFC_d_12&gclid=CO-h6Kjmm8sCFQNkhgodmEUJ2Q

But don't spray things that don't work well with conformal coatings - like microphones, volume control insides, basically any components that move.
Most conformal coatings I've worked with over the years do quite well with all but the most exotic of engineered plastics - likely not found in most consumer products.
Doesn't hurt to test a small area, if you have any doubts.

BTW: The manufacturer may have already coated the boards (though more doesn't usually hurt). Some do, some don't. It does add to the build price.
If I were on the design team for a high-quality pin-pointer, I most likely would recommend coating the boards, knowing the intended environment. However, it does add to warranty repair costs as the coating must be removed (and then reapplied) each time the device is serviced. So, it's not always an automatic decision, even if the product in question has at least some probability of coming into contact with harsh environments containing moisture and/or other contaminants during its lifetime. (In this case, failure of the case and/or case seals.)

I can't tell from the photo whether the board is conformal coated or not.
If it is, it looks pretty thin - just going by the photos. (or has been exposed to the elements for a long time).
To be fair, the thin-ness of a coating is not necessarily a reliable indication of how well a conformal coating will perform.

 

[Juice in the hole]

Good info in here. Thanks for the replies! Glad I'm not the only one with these issues.

So how does one go about dismantling the pinpointer?

No one answered my question on where to buy an orange pinpointer. Any supporting dealers running a special right now?

 

[Anduril]

Good info in here. Thanks for the replies! Glad I'm not the only one with these issues.

So how does one go about dismantling the pinpointer?

No one answered my question on where to buy an orange pinpointer. Any supporting dealers running a special right now?

I bought mine at Kelleyco. (Orlando, FL area)
Ask for Stevie Ray. Nice guy. Knowledgeable and helpful!

Metal Detectors for Hobbyists and Professionals from KellyCo
U.S. Toll-Free: 1-888-535-5926
Others: 407-699-8700

1085 Belle Avenue
Winter Springs, Fl 32708

I assume they are sponsors here.

 

[BladeRunner2019]

I bought my carrot from Bart at Big Boy Hobbies. I started out with the original black Garrett. After about 6 or 8 months I had to send it in to get the switch replaced under warranty. I never had any issues with it falsing. Even though the Garrett was still working I decided to upgrade to the Whites TRX and keep the Garrett as a backup. The TRX was terrible. Very erratic and falsed all the time. Eventually I ended up purchasing the new Garrett and it has been great. I keep my original Garrett and the TRX as backups or to loan out.

 

[Juice in the hole]

I ordered the Orange Garrett from Bart at Big Boy Hobbies. He said it was much improved, so I'm going to cross my fingers. Now the waiting begins...lol.

As a side note, I never realized just how indispensable these things are until mine started acting wonky. Yesterday was a beautiful day, so I tried detecting yesterday afternoon without a pinpointer. WOW, what a pain in the ass! I spent almost half an hour trying to find an old piece of lead shot the size of a BB in a 6" damp clump of soil. It was in the gold range on TID, so I kept searching until I found it. I knew it was going to be tiny, but I was hoping for a broken chain length or a mini nugget. With a properly functioning pinpointer, I could have found that BB in less than 5 minutes. After digging only a couple of holes, I called it quits. I don't know how guys do without one and I know some of you do.

 

[RobRieman]

Bart will have it to you in no time.

 

[s.c.shooter]

Same here. Contacted Garrett and they said I could send it in for repair but I got a carrot for Christmas and it works great.

 

[Rawhide]

Wet ground seems to cause falsing on all my pinpointers. I have to ratchet them down a notch. Just a fyi for the future.

 

[G.I.B.]

.

So how does one go about dismantling the pinpointer?

Taking stuff apart is easy.

Getting it back together, without anything leftover, is what's difficult.

 

[Juice in the hole]

I received the orange Garrett just a couple days after ordering from Big Boy Hobbies. Thanks Bart....great service and fast!

I put it through the paces on Sunday. Here's a few few pro and cons observations.

*Build quality and packaging were top notch. Instructions were well thought out and concise.

*I love the new orange color, although I only remember misplacing the old black one once in the woods. I think you'd have to be really preoccupied or in some extraordinary dense woods to lose one anyway, but a nice addition nonetheless.

*Sensitivity seems to be improved from my informal testing. On the highest setting, large object detection seems to have improved substantially. Small or tiny object detection has also improved, but only marginally so. Still, any improvement is nice.

*Being waterproof is a huge improvement and should be the number one reason to buy this unit over the others. I like the ruler on the side, but will probably never use the lanyard. The ruler indentations does collect mud however.

*No falsing whatsoever. Even in damp, muddy soil. No falsing when pressing tip to soil.

*Startup and shutdown take a little longer and the button needs a little firmer push to activate. I assume that's part of the improved durability of the new button. A slight trade off that I'll gladly take.

*The fact that this new unit can be adjusted takes a few minutes to learn. Not hard at all, just different. A welcome addition. I'm not sure I'll ever use anything other than "high setting/vibrate" but I'm open to learning uses for the lower settings.

*I prefer the old sound and cadence of detection of the black unit over the orange. It's not a deal breaker and I'm getting used to it, but I'm not sure why they switched.