Garrett ProPinpointer going bad ?

[VWandSTUDEBAKER]

I bought my Garrett PP a couple months ago and it seems to be acting flakey. I changed the batter from the one that came with it, but that didnt seem to help that much. Its hard to say what its doing, thats why I say flakey. Sometimes it shuts itself off. Sometimes it does a lot of beeping on its own. Sometimes it just wont seem to pickup anything, even though the light is on.

I switched from my Whites PP because it had batter connection problems, plus it was hard on the hand. Now, im not sure what PP to use.

Has anyone else had problems? I have yet to reach in and try to pull the little tabs up to see if I get a better connection. If that doesnt work, I assume its either the button of just plain dieing on me

David

[dazoff]

The button does tend to be an issue, send it back to Garrett they know of the problem.

[TC-NM]

Just send it in as soon as you can so you can get back to detecting! I too have a Garrett's Pro Pointer which I bought used. It works fine other when you turn it on, it has a 'raspy' sound, kinda like if the little speaker was jarred loose if you had dropped it.

For me, it doesn't warrant me to send it in cuz it works fine if you turn it on/off when detecting.

Good Luck with Garrett Mfg.

TC-NM

[jeff of pa]

Mine shuts off on occasion.

It happens for at least 2 reasons for me.

Sometimes the rubber cover over the button
gets wedged & either shuts it off Or
wedges the Button all the way in
causing alot of noise.

Once I also Caught myself accidently
hitting it & turning it off,
as I Stuck the Probe in the dug hole.

Neither of of these warrant me sending Mine in though.

[pwcguy]

Mine was doing something similar. Turns out the foam pad in the battery cap wasn't holding the battery tight. So I put a little bit of folded paper in the cap and haven't had any problems since.
Make sure that you are using alkaline battery's. Heavy duty battery's don't work.

[stilldiggin65]

Yes I have had my pro for about 2 1/2 years now. Mine was shutting off all the time in the last 3 outings with it. Like others have said in this post about the battery is correct. I cut 2 pieces of cardboard and put it in the end off the screw cap and now it works great. It pushes the battery harder against the contacts. My pointer would shut off before when you shook it as well now it doesn't. You should try this and see. I also took out the rubber button and cleaned it good with a cloth as it does get a little dirt and water in there from the general use . Hope this works

[Chug And Red]

Same Problem Here I found that Cheap Batteries Had Slightly shorter connectors!!! Payed a little more for better Battries and Have not had Any more Problems!!! HH Chug

[williusb]

I'm new to this forum and getting back to the hunt after many years of being on the sidelines. Ordered a new Garrett Pro-Pointer from an authorized Garrett dealer and found it to be inoperative right out of the box. As mentioned in this thread, it looked like the battery was not being held tight enough against the contacts. I contacted Garrett customer service and they told me that the battery that was installed in my new Pro-Pointer, an Energizer, was not the original battery that the factory installs in the Pro-Pointer due to it not working properly. The Garrett rep checked my serial number and said my unit was shipped to the distributor in August of 2011. So between August and January, the battery was replaced with an Energizer brand? Seems odd, but after replacing the Energizer with another make of battery, the pointer works fine.

After doing a little research, I found that 9 volt batteries have a dimensional tolerance from the bottom of the battery to the top, not including the contacts. Most batteries have a tolerance that includes the complete battery including the contacts because that dimension is critical for connection with spring loaded contacts. Since the 9 volt battery has clip on contacts, it seems like the dimension of the battery with contact height is not as critical (although in applications like the Pro-Pointer, it is an important dimension). I've measured several 9 volt batteries and although the dimension from top to bottom on all of them is within published tolerances, the height of the contacts do vary and can cause poor contact issues. Just for info, I have found that 1.90", from the bottom of the battery to the top of the contact, is pretty much the minimum that will work in my Pro-Pointer. As mentioned here, adding some extra padding to the battery cap will certainly add height to the battery and insure good contact.

I can't imagine hunting now without the Pro-Pointer!