Detector Warehouse

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

So, after three years of honorable service my garrett carrot succumbed (succame?) to a minor crack in the rubber around the button. Or rather, to the water that trickled in while I was river hunting. About two weeks ago, my Ace 400, which has served me equally well for about 2 years, started to act up and is now relegated to the lowest sensitivity to avoid an overwhelming number of false tones. Now I'm looking at replacements for both. I was looking at a few websites for various packages and found one on a site called Detector Warehouse. It has the carrot and the AT Pro, along with some other useful junk, for $600. That seems like a pretty steep discount, though. Is this website legit? Does anybody have any experience with this seller? They also have a similar package with the MAX instead of the PRO for $130 more, should I go for that instead? I was also thinking about just waiting for a good deal on something used from High Plains Prospector, if that sounds like a better idea.

 

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[Jason in Enid]

never heard of them before, crappy website, no physical address listed.... bad marks in my book.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Call Keith at Fort Bedford Detectors, he can be found on this site in the vendor section. He will treat you right!

 

[Molewacker]

No advise, but love your User name! I'll be your bodyguard if the envoy doesn't go well

 

[Xraywolf]

I'd look into a Simplex to replace the 400, or an Apex if you can wait a bit and spend a bit more. I love the 400 but the simplex is far more advanced, modern and might just be cheaper as well.
AT still a viable detector IMO [I have a 400, AT and Simplex], especially if you do water hunting. I'd steer clear of detector warehouse and go with a vendor here, bigboyhobbies is who I usually deal with.

Might be worth the while to call Garret about the pinpointer, might just fix it for cheap or flat out send you a new one, they are renowned for their customer service. Don't worry about warranty, doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

I'd look into a Simplex to replace the 400, or an Apex if you can wait a bit and spend a bit more. I love the 400 but the simplex is far more advanced, modern and might just be cheaper as well.
AT still a viable detector IMO [I have a 400, AT and Simplex], especially if you do water hunting. I'd steer clear of detector warehouse and go with a vendor here, bigboyhobbies is who I usually deal with.

Might be worth the while to call Garret about the pinpointer, might just fix it for cheap or flat out send you a new one, they are renowned for their customer service. Don't worry about warranty, doesn't hurt to ask.

I did contact Garret, and they said that it would be $21 just to send them the pinpointer, then parts would be extra. Considering it probably needs an entirely new circuit board, I have a feeling it wouldn't come cheap. The simplex does look good, considering it is so much cheaper than the PRO. I do plenty of land detecting, but I plan on doing a lot of water detecting, both fresh and salt. Which would be better for that?

 

[Honest Samuel]

Forget repairs, buy a new one.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Very Quick Answer: Fort Bedford Metal Detectors A trusted, respected, dealer and a forum sponsor. Tell Keith that Terry sent you!

So, after three years of honorable service my garrett carrot succumbed (succame?) to a minor crack in the rubber around the button. Or rather, to the water that trickled in while I was river hunting. About two weeks ago, my Ace 400, which has served me equally well for about 2 years, started to act up and is now relegated to the lowest sensitivity to avoid an overwhelming number of false tones. Now I'm looking at replacements for both. I was looking at a few websites for various packages and found one on a site called Detector Warehouse. It has the carrot and the AT Pro, along with some other useful junk, for $600. That seems like a pretty steep discount, though. Is this website legit? Does anybody have any experience with this seller? They also have a similar package with the MAX instead of the PRO for $130 more, should I go for that instead? I was also thinking about just waiting for a good deal on something used from High Plains Prospector, if that sounds like a better idea.

 

[MKW]

I'll 3rd Fort Bedford. Great service.

 

[Xraywolf]

I did contact Garret, and they said that it would be $21 just to send them the pinpointer, then parts would be extra. Considering it probably needs an entirely new circuit board, I have a feeling it wouldn't come cheap. The simplex does look good, considering it is so much cheaper than the PRO. I do plenty of land detecting, but I plan on doing a lot of water detecting, both fresh and salt. Which would be better for that?

Circuit boards probably cost them $8 and are a breeze to install, at most you'd likely end up paying less than half the price of a new one.
Am not located around any salt water so I have no input on that, I do know from what I have heard most detectors don't do well in salt water including AT.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Circuit boards probably cost them $8 and are a breeze to install, at most you'd likely end up paying less than half the price of a new one.
Am not located around any salt water so I have no input on that, I do know from what I have heard most detectors don't do well in salt water including AT.

Multifreqency and pulse induction detectors all do very well in salt water, single frequency detectors struggle in salt environments.

 

[smokeythecat]

Garrett will fix both dirt cheap. I had a carrot go bad and the repair was quite reqsonable.

 

[Dirty Digger Doug]

Bought two AT Pro's from them for the wife and I.

 

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

Circuit boards probably cost them $8 and are a breeze to install, at most you'd likely end up paying less than half the price of a new one.
Am not located around any salt water so I have no input on that, I do know from what I have heard most detectors don't do well in salt water including AT.

Maybe I will just send in the pinpointer for repairs in that case.

 

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

Well, it sounds like I should contact Fort Bedford about a new machine, ask them about info on the Simplex vs the PRO, and send in my pinpointer to garrett to get it repaired. Thanks for the help so far, but please feel free to give further input.

 

[Xraywolf]

Both simplex and pro are single freq machines and thus are not suited for salt water use.

What is ? In theory, the Equinox is, being multi freq ,,, But I'd be hard pressed to recommend it [I have one of those too] because there are loads of reports of units dying after being submerged.
Excalibur 2 comes to mind, it is at or near the top of the heap when it comes to water machines. Downside is it is expensive, have heard it doesn't do well on land because of its weight/balance. Must always use headphones as they do not disconnect.

There are others, maybe someone can jump in with some recommendations, or perhaps you need 2 detectors, one for water and one for land.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Both simplex and pro are single freq machines and thus are not suited for salt water use.

What is ? In theory, the Equinox is, being multi freq ,,, But I'd be hard pressed to recommend it [I have one of those too] because there are loads of reports of units dying after being submerged.
Excalibur 2 comes to mind, it is at or near the top of the heap when it comes to water machines. Downside is it is expensive, have heard it doesn't do well on land because of its weight/balance. Must always use headphones as they do not disconnect.

There are others, maybe someone can jump in with some recommendations, or perhaps you need 2 detectors, one for water and one for land.

I find the change in warnings and recommendations from people to be funny. First, there are tens of thousands of EQX in use that have never had a problem. The Excal has had plenty of problems and hate thrown its way over the years. I've read from many near-full time beach hunters say that you need 2 of them because one is always going to down for repairs, but they are were the best performers, so it was worth it. Now you have the EQX being accused of the same problems. Simple answer is that when the majority are using, there are going to be more people who have problems.

Long story short, get the EQX for beach. If you are worried about flooding, then stay to knee-deep water and sand.

 

[Xraywolf]

You can find it funny, I think it is anything but.
There are lots of people with fried units, including right here. My cousins fried out after the 1st outing in the water. Calabash reported no less than 3 fried units right here. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/equinox/637854-my-3-rd-equinox-bites-dust.html
Surely thats not funny, or at least wouldn't be funny if it happened to you.
Also, I suspect that many users who have a problem don't necessarily report them on forums, only minelab knows how many fried units they fixed or replaced. And/or, many users don't necessarily dunk them. Me for example, I have an 800 but its never been in the water and perhaps never will be. Thats fine, I don't live near salt water and I like the AT - But if the nox was up to snuff, I would have eventually sold the AT, now thats not an option. It claimed waterproof was a factor in my purchase, as it is for most. When comparisons are made with the nox to the coming Apex, people say "oh but look, the Apex is not waterproof !" IMO, neither is the nox.
You seem to imply that all these reports is just chatter, gossip, and should not be brought to the attention of prospective buyers. I think just the opposite, people should know. And if they only intend to hunt on land, not a factor. If they are going to dunk them, very big factor. I would have never got mine if there were this many reports last year because I water hunt quite a bit, and am not content with going only knee deep to be on the safe side..

Yes the Ex2 has had problems, I would say they are minimal compared to the nox ,, Then again, the nox user base is substantially larger so its tough to quantify these things, but that doesn't stop people from making recommendations or giving advice based on what info is available. Want to get a nox and water hunt with it on a regular basis ? Then I got 1 question - Do you feel lucky ? [Well, do ya ?]

 

[Jason in Enid]

.... Want to get a nox and water hunt with it on a regular basis ? Then I got 1 question - Do you feel lucky ? [Well, do ya ?]

Punk. I cant believe you left out the best part of the quote!

You seem to be mis-interpretting my post. I'm not saying "its funny when a detector fails". I'm saying its funny how every new detector has problems and people immediate say how great the last model was, even though the old model had problems and suffered the same accusations. It's not a knock on users, its a comment on human perceptions.

 

[Xraywolf]

Punk. I cant believe you left out the best part of the quote!

You seem to be mis-interpretting my post. I'm not saying "its funny when a detector fails". I'm saying its funny how every new detector has problems and people immediate say how great the last model was, even though the old model had problems and suffered the same accusations. It's not a knock on users, its a comment on human perceptions.

Well people can take things the wrong way on forums, thought calling you a punk might set you off, would be just my luck to run into someone who never heard the quote.

Point taken, I know you are not literally laughing out loud about people with fried units. Fact remains, for a number of reasons, nox seems to have an exceptionally large share of water bricked units, I personally think that minelabs claim to this machine being waterproof should be legally challenged. AFAIK, there are defined standards to be adhered to when making that claim about a product, though of course no product is infallible.