Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Not impressed

B

beachrumbum

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Messages
474
Location
Near the equator
Recently got back into metal detecting. Bought two brand new detectors. The garrett sea hunter and the garrett AT pro. Figured I could cover just about everything that I wanted to do with this combination. Well so far a few junk jewelery finds and a knife. Also a whole lot of problems. The sea hunter thresh hold will ramp up with every wave that passes over the coil, the only way I have found to remedy this is to add discrimination up to at most two. I have read about this problem elsewhere but wanted to hear garretts thoughts on this and if I would pass gold with it set like this. I had to call them multiple times as the woman on the phone was not quite familiar with its operation. Finally got ahold of (Gary?) He seemed less than certain as well. Just told me I could send it in if I so disired for them to check it out. This does not instill confidence if the techs dont know the operation of the machines. Garrett needs to make an effort to put their products in the techs hands. Second problem is with the AT Pro, it goes bonkers every other time I power it up and only a reset will quiet it down and then it operates as normal. I am at this moment kind of wishing I would have just bought an excalibur. Well I guess anything can have problems but two problematic machines in one go? Could anyone familiar with either of these machines please chime in. Was garrett having an off day at the office?
 
I have a pro and it doesn't act crazy.
I had a sea h and I don't remember the thresh problem with waves but mine did waver everytime I swung it left until I placed the control box behind me.
 
Sounds like I just need to send them both back for repair. Its a shame too, I had very high hopes. I guess I will send one then the other after. What also rubs me wrong was that there was no offer to send me a prepaid label to ship it back. Sounds like I'm out shipping as well. I also at this time feel that I should also mention that I bought both machines on amazon which may account for both having issues but they were new and in package. I registered both and checked the serials when I called them so they are legit garrett. I'm just a bit dissapointed at this time. I've been itching to hunt and this is quite a set back. What is the turn around time for sending in a machine to garrett? Hope the mail doesn't lose it.
 
You can have problems with any brand of detector but over the years my opinion of Garrett Detectors is not that good. Their ProPointer on the other hand gets high marks from me. I once had a sea hunter and got rid of it after less than a year.
 
Just wanted to update here what is happening. So I contacted garrett once more. They have agreed to send me a shipping label and I will need to send both detectors back for repair at the same time. This has so far been a less than great experience and I am saddened that my second post on these forums is one of such nature. I really hope that garrett gets it in gear and sorts this out less painfully from here foreward for me. I have heard so much good about this American company that this has been a huge supprise for me.
 
Kinda weird getting 2 new faulty machines I would think but hey I guess it can happen. If so then yeah that would be a bad experience for anybody. Good luck getting on track with it. HH -Aaron
 
Aaron,
Thank you and exactly. I was initially unsure if the sea hunter even had an issue. But after talking to their tech the first time he said I should send it in because I could lose some gold with disc set at 2. I have read a total of two other post on these forums where others had the same issue in the gulf. So assuming the tech is just being cautious it could be working fine. It finds metal, no gold yet. But as a poster above has said his never had thresh hold fluctuations. So on the sea hunter I have no idea what I should acctually expect as optimum performance. As for the AT pro, when it works it works great but goes nutty every three times it is powered on and needs a reset. Could be someone ridding themselves of junky stock on amazon I suppose but then again why not send it back to garrett for replacement. I'm just darn confused.
 
beachrumbum said:
Just wanted to update here what is happening. So I contacted garrett once more. They have agreed to send me a shipping label and I will need to send both detectors back for repair at the same time. This has so far been a less than great experience and I am saddened that my second post on these forums is one of such nature. I really hope that garrett gets it in gear and sorts this out less painfully from here foreward for me. I have heard so much good about this American company that this has been a huge supprise for me.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear. I had my first SH for five abusive years and it never failed... BUT ... I do recall a few occasions where I had a similar scenario with the threshold. One time it was due to loose wires. I had hip mounted the box and left the coil wire to dangle while I swung the machine. The surf was rough and when the coil wire slammed into the detector shaft, it caused a false signal.

The other times were after a storm and there was noticeable black sand. I was at the edge of the surf where the coil was barely submerged, then exposed, then submerged, etc. As soon as I went to dry land OR went a little deeper in the water, I had no more issues. In all fairness, the same thing was happening to my Excal. I mentioned the anomaly on the forum and some folks said it happens right at the edge of the surf ???

Eh, let us know what Garrett says. They usually have a quick response :D
 
I will update any further happenings. I am aware that it is somewhat normal in the surf but the detector was fully submerged and the coil wire was tight and zip tied vertical for the first 10-12 inches. The ramp up happened as a wave would pass over. I read somewhere here that others had experienced this and said it had to do with the amount of salt water over the coil. Ie. Increasing the minerals over the coil and then decreasing here Is such a thread to read. He describes my issue exactly so I am not sure if this is normal or not. So many conflicting informations. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/white-s/187379-what-i-hate-about-pi-dual-isnt-iron-bobby-pins.html
 
Good thing you got a Garrett tho,cause they’re customer service is great.I mean,if you had gotten another machine,brand,and had problems you might not get the quality customer service Garrett has.All machines have failures,good luck on your machine.
 
Woodbutcher,
Well they did say they will fix or exchange it. They are making me send both in, so I wont be detecting for however long it takes them to get my machines back. I would have felt a lot better if only one of the techs I spoke with had a real answer to my question of, is this normal and what may be causing it? Reference the link I added above, there is some speculation there but no definative answer one guy says, yep thats all pi machines and another said, I sent mine in and was confirmed as a problem. :?:
 
Minlooker said:
You can't find gold if it isn't there..
Click to expand...

Agreed, O actually think I did great for my first three days on a beach with a somewhat decent detector, I found some cheap hoop ear rings, a few fake gold or plated necklaces, a few stud earings all fake and stuck right to a magnetic spiderman I also found, I recovered a super sharp throwing knife from the surf, and a pirate themed ring! Also the customary fish hooks and lead sinkers I'm not dissapointed with that at all. I just want to be darn sure I'm not passing up the one item I am actually seeking by setting disk to 2.
 
A couple of things you could try if you haven't sent them in yet.

Check the connections to the control box from the coil. Make sure that it's tight, and that the cable isn't flopping around. Not TOO tightly wound, but you dobn't want a lot of slack.

Also try fresh batteries. I know that they're new...but new batteries won't hurt.


I know that with my AT Pro if I have issues like that, to check the connection (especially if I just swapped coils) and to replace the batteries.
 
beachrumbum said:
. Could be someone ridding themselves of junky stock on amazon I suppose but then again why not send it back to garrett for replacement. I'm just darn confused.
Click to expand...

Amazon is a dodgy operation for "new" items.
Hard to tell where it comes from.
Could be old dealer stock from a going out of business auction
or worse yet bootleg knock off stuff.
 
TabZilla said:
Amazon is a dodgy operation for "new" items.
Hard to tell where it comes from.
Could be old dealer stock from a going out of business auction
or worse yet bootleg knock off stuff.
Click to expand...
Definitely not bootleg as Garrett confirmed it as real the atpro did have some redeeming qualities today and manage to find me a mens silver ring I'm a play with it some more to determine if it was Emi causing my issues

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk
 
woodbutcher said:
Good thing you got a Garrett tho,cause they’re customer service is great.I mean,if you had gotten another machine,brand,and had problems you might not get the quality customer service Garrett has.All machines have failures,good luck on your machine.
Click to expand...

Except for XP.

Only difference is the frequency of repairs needed. I've had nothing but problems with everything Garrett that i've ever owned. To their credit, they always took care of me on the repair/warranty side. Personally I'd rather have machines that don't need constant repairs.
 
were your issues with the AT Pro noticed while powering it up over wet (salty), or black sand?

In my opinion that's business as usual for AT Pro. You could probably fix the 'bonkers' by manually ground balancing it and turning down the sensitivity but it won't go away completely if salty wet sand. You will also get lousy depth and performance.

The AT Pro is just never going to act well in wet salty sand because of the nature of its single frequency detecting tech. If your issues were noticed while on dry sand or dry land I'd be more suspicious of EMI (maybe your phone) or a faulty unit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Ace 400
Replies
3
Views
56
Xxray
Xxray
T
Deus 2 seems has a horseshoe button…hmmm
Replies
1
Views
55
tnsharpshooter
T
B
Does the Nokta LG24 have any advantages over stock coil?
Replies
8
Views
134
Jose159
J
S
Minelab Sale
Replies
10
Views
475
Beachhunt1
B
J
Xcal coil question
Replies
0
Views
94
jimsvillage
J
Back
Top Bottom