Ready to buy V3I but where????

[the13bats]

I have to admit I have found it a bit odd or idiosyncratic how the manufactures treat the venders,
Whites more so than some, venders can't post prices on web sites ( if vender even has a web site ) etc etc,
I learned that Many venders do it out of their homes or garages reminds me of my CB radio days.

So like anyone I want the best bang for the buck, after countless hours of "looking" it would seem that used prices are close to or higher than some used prices, I just can't justify buying used, in some cases missing parts, dead warranty, and a big pile of trust it is working correctly, at or above retail prices.
But if you have a used one at a fair for used price feel free to hit me up.

So what I am asking here is who is selling the Whites V3I at the best price?
I hope someone will clue me in or a vender or two will hit me up,

I am not dragging, cash in hand really to make it happen, wife has her 3030 and I need my V3I

Thanks,
Bats,
The13bats@aol.com

 

[airscapes]

Well if it is much more than a few bucks less than the posted price on White's website it is probably not legitimate. White's does not discount.. like JVC, Runco and other manufactures of high quality products, they control the price that the products are sold for when new. Whites product is not made in china they are made in Oregon by US citizens that need to make enough money to eat and pay their mortgage just like all of us. The company has to make enough to stay in business and pay a decent wage so they are not going to discount products, they have to charge what they charge. Yes, I agree they do not treat the dealers to well from what I hear talking to the dealers in my area. Not sure why that is since they have treated me (customer) very well with a service issue.

 

[chad898]

Check out metaldetectingstuff.com. Class act people! Wayne is a great guy. I had a problem with my pro pointer and talked to him about it. He called Garrett and are shipping me a brand new one. Customer service is the best!

 

[christo000]

I myself for a whites machine would call ed at treasure mountain detectors he is a great guy to deal with & well been selling whites machines well enough that he has the awards for best vendor so he must be doin something right lol. You'll be treated well

 

[the13bats]

Whites website is 1799.95 a fair amount more than even Kellyco who I can drive over and get it.
I hope 100% of the dealers who offered Kellyco pricing or better are not illegitimate.

Right, Bargain hunters are not anti America...just like US who live and work in America we all have to get the best value for our money to be able to eat , pay those montages etc,
American companies have to at least try to compete but I am not playing Whites Vs some import brand so this is all moot. ( Minelab gives military a discount...hum )

The way Whites does business is very odd there is like a conspiracy of silent about posting prices,
I believe the only posted prices beside the whites site and kellyco are way high, only a clueless noob would pay that much...

This is like all my other hobbies for fun and relaxation is there some weird taboo in trying to find the best price?

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

Check out metaldetectingstuff.com. Class act people! Wayne is a great guy. I had a problem with my pro pointer and talked to him about it. He called Garrett and are shipping me a brand new one. Customer service is the best!

Thanks Chad!

Wayne

 

[Greybear]

I have know Stu who started Kellyco back in the early 70's. I bought my first 2 detectors from him and just got my ATGild from Kellyco. They have great customer service and very knowledgable staff. As far as prices Whites and Garrett set the minimum that a dealer can sell a detector for. They can not sell below the price or they could loose their dealership. That is why you will see the same prices all over EBay. I would rather deal with a tried and true dealer then someone off of EBay I never heard of before. Just out of curiosity what sold you on the V3i. I had a friend who bought one and sold it as soon as he bought a Garrett. I have 2 Whites now ( XLT and GMT ). The CLT is for sale and I just did a head to head test with my AT Gold and the GMT and will be selling the GMT as well. I was very skeptical when my friend told me his AT Pro beat the V3i but when I went to visit him in Ohio the AT Pro beat the XLT as well.

 

[RobRieman]

Trust me. If he said his ATPro beats his V3i it was either broken or he did not understand the machine.

 

[Greybear]

That was part of his problem with the machine. It is very program heavy much like my XLT. It did beat the XLT though. I tried every setting I could think of to pick up the buried quarter at 10 inches and could not do it. That AT Pro got a light response. One thing I found out about the AT Gold is it is way more sensitive to silver then gone GMT send almost exactly the same on Gold. The GMT had a slight advantage on .5 gram and less. I think the V3 I is going to have a pretty steep learning curve if you are not familiar with using it but once you learn it you should be OK. I will admit that my friend did jot want to take the time to learn the machine. He doesn't felt as much time to detect these days due to his job so wanted a machine that pretty much a turn on and go machine.

 

[christo000]

The v3i can hit coins with ease at 10" settings is everything with the sites variables aswell. The xlt is a great machine but the v3i has a million more combinations of options to make it really do anything, the curve of learning it depends on the user

 

[the13bats]

Greybear,

Let me wing the more fun for me parts first,

The original idea was I wanted a Garrett 2500 the wife would get the V3i

A few weeks ago I started reading lots of forums and net posts on detectors, I watched lots of videos,
I talked to a lot of dealers and venders and one thing I will not sway on is none of the "VS" tests I have seen are fair, they are all 100% biased. ( I do not care how big an expect the tester claims to be )

So a fellow who loves brand XXX takes it with a machine he doesn't know and claims one beat the other?!?!?!? a fellow has two machines and ....blah blah blah.

Nope, unless we get a tech from brand XXX and a tech from brand YYY to tune their respected machines then the tests mean zero to me.

If a person can't use their machine I can out do them swinging my bounty hunter 840...lol

My wife a Phd professor at the College used to do gov contracts and has all kinds of published works on things like EMF she got the minelab 3030 and is all over it she has no clue why some find it hard to use.

No one machine is going to do it all perfectly, I also learned that at least 90% of people bashing a high end machine simply do not know how to work it and ego will not allow them to admit that.
Saying his machine beat your machine means little in this context, and no offense is mean in any way.

At that point I gave up on the 2500 because I read too much about it being yesterdays tech, I then stepped up to the v3i,
For me the screens on units like the 3030 are too sterile I need the little picture show...lol

When I weeded out biased reports I find the v3i a top end unit with the features I desire, plus she has minelab I don't want two same brand high end machines.


I am not fueling some drama about dealers selling under some price whites told them not to but 100% of venders I have considered undercut Kellyco and by a lot....Kellyco for what ever reason gave my wife the 3030 for less than anyone else and it was nice to go get it that day, but they are hard on the whites price so be it, several venders out there want my toad pelts and I am buying tonight or tomorrow, in hopes I have it for the weekend....yeah, thats pushing it but point is I tried to give kellyco the business they didn't even offer a pile of extra junk to sweeten the pot.

 

[christo000]

True report I had many different machines brands ect I liked em all all had there ups & downs. There just tools none are goin to do it all. I'm tech guy guy myself so playing with settings was my thing & the v fit well

 

[the13bats]

See..my point, a couple posts were made as I typed that other reply about the v3i being a great unit,
I really do believe that most any high end machine will find a coin at 8-10" or better BUT the user has to know how to make it happen, fooling around with settings doesnt mean the person knows how to adjust it, i saw a post where fellow "A" said that fellow "B" didnt like brand "X" unit because he couldnt adjust it, Fellow "B" of course got butthurt and ego bruised and replied something to the effect "Why is it that if I dont like a machine it means I dont know how to use it?" well that speaks volumes, if you don't like a machine chances are you were baised from the start and never took the time with it or the learning curve was too steep and you gave up and hated the machine.
Just today in my own yard I found a penny with the 3030 about 8"
so my tired point is, if me and my buddy are out hunting and I find a nickle at 5" with my 840 that his um ____________( fill in high end unit name ) can't that doesnt mean my 840 is better not by a long shot.

 

[the13bats]

True report I had many different machines brands ect I liked em all all had there ups & downs. There just tools none are goin to do it all. I'm tech guy guy myself so playing with settings was my thing & the v fit well

Right on, if I get in too much trouble with the v3i I can get my wife to bail me out,

 

[McKinney_5900]

The v3i can hit coins with ease at 10" settings is everything with the sites variables aswell. The xlt is a great machine but the v3i has a million more combinations of options to make it really do anything, the curve of learning it depends on the user

Don't get me wrong, I like my V3i, BUT I have never found a 10" coin and can't even hit a 10" buried clad quarter I've had down since late 2010 in my coin garden. I've also missed an 8" silver quarter on a hunt to another hunter with a XP Deus after after the V3i lost the blippy signal and my digs just made it worse, and I gave up.

So, the V3i maybe just doesn't like Texas dirt or something, but I am still trying to actually dig a 10" coin. It hasn't happened yet though, and continously missing seeing that 10" quarter 99% of the test garden time over the years gets frustration.

I will never personally tout my V3i experiences of finding deep coins. I still hope to grab a silver dollar maybe at that depth though.

I just can't agree that the V3i finds 10" coin signals "with ease."

martin

 

[the13bats]

Don't get me wrong, I like my V3i, BUT I have never found a 10" coin and can't even hit a 10" buried clad quarter I've had down since late 2010 in my coin garden. I've also missed an 8" silver quarter on a hunt to another hunter with a XP Deus after after the V3i lost the blippy signal and my digs just made it worse, and I gave up.

So, the V3i maybe just doesn't like Texas dirt or something, but I am still trying to actually dig a 10" coin. It hasn't happened yet though, and continously missing seeing that 10" quarter 99% of the test garden time over the years gets frustration.

I will never personally tout my V3i experiences of finding deep coins. I still hope to grab a silver dollar maybe at that depth though.

I just can't agree that the V3i finds 10" coin signals "with ease."

martin

Texas dirt? really?!?!?! giving up?!?!?! you did or the machine did
I just find it hard to call this a fair test, I do not even have a v3i yet but why not share your settings with someone here...I just find it hard to believe any high end machine wont find that 10" coin...so which machines do you own that beat it?
You must be pretty deep into this hobby to have a coin garden going for 10 years to test detectors...lets hear some details on the testing....

 

[christo000]

Don't get me wrong, I like my V3i, BUT I have never found a 10" coin and can't even hit a 10" buried clad quarter I've had down since late 2010 in my coin garden. I've also missed an 8" silver quarter on a hunt to another hunter with a XP Deus after after the V3i lost the blippy signal and my digs just made it worse, and I gave up.

So, the V3i maybe just doesn't like Texas dirt or something, but I am still trying to actually dig a 10" coin. It hasn't happened yet though, and continously missing seeing that 10" quarter 99% of the test garden time over the years gets frustration.

I will never personally tout my V3i experiences of finding deep coins. I still hope to grab a silver dollar maybe at that depth though.

I just can't agree that the V3i finds 10" coin signals "with ease."

martin

I've had a deus xp aswell as the v3i I'm telling ya I got no reason to make up stories the v will find coins at 10" set properly. Thing is its such a beast it needs to be tamed at different locations from filters,bands, all that stuff makes it happen. What helped me a lot was Google whites v3i advanced posts book I downloaded it read it many times its a manual to the machine an easy to read one that just makes sence of what the settings do. I'll look into some files I have a got some very good coin/jewelry & relic programs that might get you 10" coins.
The deus xp is another great tool totaly different with an aray of settings & that to set properly will get great depth & to this date its still the fastest machine I've used & it will find a small coin easily in a pile of nails old or new. Has its faults aswell they all do thats why there are so many differences in detectors. Although they all claim there the best there not because no site,spot,ect or user is the same its all different, & what works for one may not for another.
If I get another v ill do the same all over grab all the sef coils & the sunray. Ull have any machine you want with it with its options period

 

[McKinney_5900]

I've had a deus xp aswell as the v3i I'm telling ya I got no reason to make up stories the v will find coins at 10" set properly. Thing is its such a beast it needs to be tamed at different locations from filters,bands, all that stuff makes it happen. What helped me a lot was Google whites v3i advanced posts book I downloaded it read it many times its a manual to the machine an easy to read one that just makes sence of what the settings do. I'll look into some files I have a got some very good coin/jewelry & relic programs that might get you 10" coins.
The deus xp is another great tool totaly different with an aray of settings & that to set properly will get great depth & to this date its still the fastest machine I've used & it will find a small coin easily in a pile of nails old or new. Has its faults aswell they all do thats why there are so many differences in detectors. Although they all claim there the best there not because no site,spot,ect or user is the same its all different, & what works for one may not for another.
If I get another v ill do the same all over grab all the sef coils & the sunray. Ull have any machine you want with it with its options period

I am getting the 10x12 SEF tomorrow and I have hopes and expectations that it will have me totally set my D2 coil to the side indefinitely. I was almost silver-skunked up until I went to the 8x6SEF last February and had two months of nice silver finds. I called one of my Barber quarters a 9" dig but a buddy scoffed at the hole saying "Naw! that ain't nine inches." I wish now that I'd taken the time to measure." That same 8x6 found me a 9" penny in a football field a few months later. Oddly though, I couldn't get tone on pinpoint, just Vdi. Dug it to see.

I have had on-going doubts in the Whites 10"D2 really seperating well and seeing 10 inches down for forever after getting the V years back. It will be interesting so see how the new 10x12 SEF does. I've read testimonials similar to yours about the 10x12 so I just had to find out. Tomorrow will be the maden voyage when it gets in. Going directly to my deeper coins in the garden. Weather here will suck for about a week so I have some home test time to prove it out.

Years without finding a 10" or greater coin with the V still seems unusual.

I have high hopes. martin

 

[Greybear]

First off I did not mean to sound like I was bashing the V3i. If that is what you thought I apologize. I have been detecting for over 40 years and have also used a lot of different machines. Like I said I do not have any first hand knowledge of the V3i, only what my friend told me. We started detecting at the same time while in college. I asked why you chose that particular model. You answered one of my questions when you said your wife has the CTX 3030. I would agree that it is a top detector and a direct competitor of the V3i. The V3i is also the next generation up from the Whites XLT that I have. I find the XLT easy to use but it can be a bit overly sensitive on pull tabs. I have also heard this from other users. One tip if the icons have the pull tab to the left of a nickel it will almost always be a pull tab, if the nickel shows up first you have a 50/50 chance or more of it still being a pull tab. I also am friends with Bill of Golden Detectors in Golden, a Co and he favors Whites detectors above all others. Of course he does not carry Minelab in his store so doesn't like to talk about them. He favors the MXT above the V3i because of the simple operation. Again, understand this is his opinion not mine.

I would really like to hear your opinion of the V3i once you have had a chance to run it for a while. Especially how you feel it stacks up against the CTX 3030. I too am looking for another detector to put into my stable of detectors and gave been considering a Multi frequency machine or a PI detector. I agree the GTI is older tech and why I have held off on it. Although I like the idea of being able to use the deep seeking box array. Best of luck with the new detector and again please let me know how you do. The information will help in making my next purchase.

 

[RobRieman]

I am getting the 10x12 SEF tomorrow and I have hopes and expectations that it will have me totally set my D2 coil to the side indefinitely. I was almost silver-skunked up until I went to the 8x6SEF last February and had two months of nice silver finds. I called one of my Barber quarters a 9" dig but a buddy scoffed at the hole saying "Naw! that ain't nine inches." I wish now that I'd taken the time to measure." That same 8x6 found me a 9" penny in a football field a few months later. Oddly though, I couldn't get tone on pinpoint, just Vdi. Dug it to see. I have had on-going doubts in the Whites 10"D2 really seperating well and seeing 10 inches down for forever after getting the V years back. It will be interesting so see how the new 10x12 SEF does. I've read testimonials similar to yours about the 10x12 so I just had to find out. Tomorrow will be the maden voyage when it gets in. Going directly to my deeper coins in the garden. Weather here will suck for about a week so I have some home test time to prove it out. Years without finding a 10" or greater coin with the V still seems unusual. I have high hopes. martin

I look forward to your review on the 10x12 SEF! I have no problems with my 10" DD but if it's better I will pick one up for sure. I know Christo swears by them.