An old relic in my garage

[Zman0930]

Hi folks. Santa brought me a nice shiny Garrett AT pro for Christmas. My wife is expressing an interest in joining me on beach hunts this year and wants me to resurrect an old Garrett We that was banished to the island of misfit detectors (the garage) many years ago. It has a broken toggle switch for the battery test, and a cracked meter cover. I wanted to get her a new detector but she wants to use this one. Anyone know where I can get parts to fix this relic? Do you think it will be frustrating to use on dry beach sand? I was a total greenhorn when this first came out and really didn't put in the time to learn the machine.
Any info is appreciated.

 

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[gunsil]

You can get a toggle switch at many automotive or electronics stores, but you need to determine if it is a two or three way toggle. I suspect it may be a three way with a neutral center position and a switched position on either side which my old Garrett BFO has. Any toggle of the right size will do they are not use specific in most cases and definitely not use specific on metal detectors. Cracked meter cover would be a harder fix since Garrett doesn't stock parts for really old machines, but a simple crack in the cover shouldn't hinder operation, and anyways tones will usually be better than meters for target ID. You will need to inspect the battery holders for corrosion too. Just a note: neither ATP nor older Garrett machines are very useful on saltwater beaches unless you stay above the high tide line.

 

[Zman0930]

You can get a toggle switch at many automotive or electronics stores, but you need to determine if it is a two or three way toggle. I suspect it may be a three way with a neutral center position and a switched position on either side which my old Garrett BFO has. Any toggle of the right size will do they are not use specific in most cases and definitely not use specific on metal detectors. Cracked meter cover would be a harder fix since Garrett doesn't stock parts for really old machines, but a simple crack in the cover shouldn't hinder operation, and anyways tones will usually be better than meters for target ID. You will need to inspect the battery holders for corrosion too. Just a note: neither ATP nor older Garrett machines are very useful on saltwater beaches unless you stay above the high tide line.

Thanks gunsil. Dry sand was the plan.