Ralph @ Sunray

[TheRingFinder]

I was wondering if anyone knows what's happening with Ralph? I tried calling him and the phone was disconnected. I went on-line and both his sunray and hatcheries websites are no good.

Has he retired? Is he still with us?

Please let me know if anyone has any information.

Thanks!

 

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[Jason in Enid]

Hmmm, dunno. Haven't heard anything, but the website won't load for me either.

 

[TheRingFinder]

Thanks Jason - Anyone?

 

[VWandSTUDEBAKER]

As of early this last spring we ceased production of all in-line probes.

There are several reasons, one of them being finding parts which have been discontinued by manufacturers, so we are saving inventoried parts to service warranty and after or non-warranty repairs.

Another, is that with the emergence of the Garret Pro-Pointers and the White's TRX as well as other foreign imported pin pointers, demand for our much more expensive inline probes has been reduced to the point that we could not justify further production.

As for our Sun Ray Pro Gold Headphones we still have those made and we still distribute them and a few other items.

Our existing website is no longer accessible to us as of last February due to a malware virus and outdated program to make changes and will eventually have to be taken down.

Thank you for you concern and for contacting us.

Ralph (Sun Ray)
Sun Ray Detector Electronics

 

[shootist]

Wow I am so sorry to hear that Ralph,I have used a Sunray for MANY years and have never had an issue with it,it has seemed all I have seen mention of lately are the carrots and I actually came to general discussion to see if something was going on with Sunray,dark days.

 

[jeff of pa]

As of early this last spring we ceased production of all in-line probes.

There are several reasons, one of them being finding parts which have been discontinued by manufacturers, so we are saving inventoried parts to service warranty and after or non-warranty repairs.

Another, is that with the emergence of the Garret Pro-Pointers and the White's TRX as well as other foreign imported pin pointers, demand for our much more expensive inline probes has been reduced to the point that we could not justify further production.

As for our Sun Ray Pro Gold Headphones we still have those made and we still distribute them and a few other items.

Our existing website is no longer accessible to us as of last February due to a malware virus and outdated program to make changes and will eventually have to be taken down.

Thank you for you concern and for contacting us.

Ralph (Sun Ray)
Sun Ray Detector Electronics

Thanks for the update !


Though the original Idea of the inline probes was a Great one,
I still believe the probes should come standard on Detectors. like meters do on most.
it did seem to me the prices they increased to was more Greed then was necessary. (I paid about $100.00 for my first inline probe from Clevenger's )
as they decreased in size, Prices rose
and at 2 to 3 times the price of a Garrett Probe. really didn't make sense.
I take it, it was the Greed of the parts manufactures tying to retire on
a limited production of probe parts
also saving inventoried parts to service those out there makes good sense
it is sad though that they couldn't get parts at reasonable prices.

 

[TheRingFinder]

Wow I am so sorry to hear that Ralph,I have used a Sunray for MANY years and have never had an issue with it,it has seemed all I have seen mention of lately are the carrots and I actually came to general discussion to see if something was going on with Sunray,dark days.

Yeah - I agree, very sad. The Sunray has been an incredible part of my treasure hunting for years. It went bad on me once, I couldn't detect without it - it just took so long to find the target, it wasn't enjoyable. I sent it back to Ralph and he fixed it for free - Has been working great ever since. I dread the day it goes bad.

On the other hand, I did pick up a Garrett pro pointer (because I bought the DEUS) - "Carrot" - they do work a lot better than the old pin pointers.

 

[Jason in Enid]

None of this explanation really makes sense. A virus on the website? Rediculous. He would be the owner of the domain name, it's always available to him. He can have it taken down and put back up as he wishes. No explanation for the phone being disconnected. It looks to me like someone who just decided to walk away from garage company with dwindling sales. It's a shame if thats the case, lots of people love the coils and headphones. When you build something to last, it can be self defeating. After a time, the market reaches a saturation as the older and older products just keep on working.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Wow I sure hope these aren't discontinued. It's true that eventually a manufacturer has to start dealing with "competition" that their own used products start to be sought after on the used market (hence slowing the sales of new units). But eventually, even that supply will dwindle, as eventually the items wear out, and even used ones get harder to find.

Take for example the probe for the Explorers, that are no longer made: In time, eventually EVEN THE USED price now exceeds the cost when it was sold as new. Because used ones can now fetch as much as $300

I've actually hoarded a few Explorer probes, just because I see the day is coming that you can no longer find even used ones. And since I'm addicted to the older Explorer II's as my do-all machine, it's sad that they no longer have probes for it

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Sorry to hear that. I sure like my FX-1.