Thanks for the info. I will call Whites tomorrow and see If they will ship me a third one or maybe I can just get a refund and go with a different detector. Why would they keep sending detectors with brittle plastic problems out , knowing the results will be the same.
Well, that's the rub.
Right now there are many long time, loyal to a fault customers that are totally baffled at a the hoopla surrounding this unit...and very upset and disappointed.
Not to mention a few dealers that won't sell this model right now because they have a conscious and care about their customers and evidently a few more that are selling them but do not know about the issues and were never alerted by the company.
Their customers had to tell them and point them out to the huge bad buzz going on about this thing on most of the forums.
All the forums except the White's forum that is...on that one they are acknowledging they do have issues and stated they are working to fix problems but their attitude seems to be this is all no big deal, it is business as usual and a very small problem because the bulk of the units already sold are perfect and most of their customers are very happy.
Looking at what is happening this seems to be far from the truth because words like lemon, debacle, total recall and total refunds are being used all over the place in most forums at present.
Many dealers and customers and even a few very respected heavy hitters with experience that know how a good working unit was supposed to perform according to the specs and stated features got one, immediately noticed some major issues in performance, watched the company deny there were problems that were obvious to all of these experienced detectorists then when they finally admitted there were issues and came out with a firmware fix at the end of March noticed posts about way too many customers who sent them in and what they reported they got in return was just as bad if not worse
That was mostly just about the firmware and performance, this thing with the cracked faceplates is relatively new and the drowning thing is just starting to be noticed because most that got one haven't taken it into the water yet and some that wanted to haven't taken the chance because of those cracks.
Right now there is much confusion about exactly what is in the new boxes in dealer's stock, which units being shipped back and forth have the new update fix and exactly how many have these cracks because it now appears there are a lot of them starting to show up.
Do dealers break the seal, open the boxes to check these out for firmware updates and cracks before selling them which many don't want to do because they might be then considered used or deal with the problem in other ways suggested by the company one of which was telling them to sell their stock unopened and hope for the best and let their customers deal with the fallout.
At least one dealer was shocked that this rout was even suggested, written down in actual words in letters or e mails that can come back and haunt them.
With their reputation on the line most dealers would rather not take this path and option.
After reading about all this for awhile in several threads on many forums it appears to me, and keep in mind I am not a dealer and have never had any experience with this unit as of now myself, that it seems obvious that the company really does not know which units are bad or which are good in their own stock or exactly what they have already sent out to dealers or worse, they are sending out existing stock to customers that have sent them in like you, not caring or checking out what is being sent back as a replacement and hoping that most of them are being bought by clueless new detectorists that don't know they are not working correctly because they have nothing to compare them to in their limited experience and will just keep them so many that do have problems will never be returned or will have a need to be dealt with ever in the future.
I didn't come up with this theory out of nowhere, there are enough reports of owners sending in 2-3 or even more units back and receiving units with the same or even more problems in return.
Plus there is this which is posted on the White's forum by the super moderator representative of the company...
"We have updated the Sport firmware to address a concern related to audio on targets in close proximity. In some programs closely spaced targets will lock on as one long tone. This issue has been addressed and the resulting audio now sounds off for each target separately.
While the update will be especially helpful to experienced users, the current version's long-tone "lock-on" audio may be preferable for some users. Updating is at the user's discretion."
This is shocking to me since this specific problem they are addressing is not going to be an advantage to any user of any experience level in any way, shape or form.
I sincerely feel sorry for the clueless types which the company seems to be saying exist out there that would actually prefer to use a unit that behaves this way over one that works the way it was supposedly designed to do.
You might have had this specific problem yourself and didn't know it on both your units but considering they were both drowned before you understood and realized this if you had it now you will now never know.
If it were me I would be directing all my effort into getting a refund and then wait it out.
This would be a great addition to the marketplace with feature and benefits galore if they can get the thing corrected and working up to quality and performance levels it was actually designed to be.
Many brands have had issues with new units upon rollout so this is not exactly unheard of in the industry but all those companies eventually addressed all the issues fully and satisfied their customer base.
That is what everyone is waiting for to happen right now, the old time highly regarded White's customer service to return, clean up the mess and get this thing working right and out there to the many that have high hopes for its eventual success.
Many loyal dealers and longtime customers have stated because of their past history they know for sure White's will step up and get it done, no question.
Most others are hoping they are right but at this minute as we speak it seems to be a waiting game to see if this becomes a reality.
