DaviDs
Forum Supporter
If you are intrigued by water hunting, you are probably looking at used waterproof machine and understandably are on a budget. But what are the risks?
“DetectorPro PULSE metal detector…..super clean, hardly used, no cracks or damage, air tests incredibly deep, selling as-is and for only $…”
When I read the above ad, I thought, I’ve always wanted one of those detectors in my collection. The price seems great. The seller says it works and heck, the pictures look good too. Why not, what could go wrong?
A short time later, the detector arrived at my home. It looked just as described and when I air tested it….WOW. I did a few more yard tests and felt confident the detector worked as it should. I put the detector in my man cave and walked away thinking how stoked I was to take this on an upcoming beach vacation!
The following month I began to pack for vacation. As I placed the detector in the suitcase, something caught my eye. I looked closer and my stomach dropped. Cracks! What the heck? There where cracks all over my coil wire! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! My vacation beach hunting plans were ruined!
Even worse, when I called the manufacturer, I learned a bad cable wasn’t the worst of my problems. The founder of DetectorPro, Gary Storm, sold his business to Ron at Gold Diggers. Ron made some calls and a short time later called me back to explain that the guy that made the PULSE coils for DP had passed away and there were no parts available or knowledgeable person to service the PULSE machines. Bottom line, there was nothing DP could do and inferred its time to look for another machine. ARGH x 2
Now over the years, I’ve learned Friendly Metal Detecting Forum has some amazingly knowledgeable members, one of them being OBN. When I told him my predicament, he provided me with references to some people that “might” be able to help.
One of those references agreed to look at the unit and “see what he could see” about fixing it. His assessment led him to believe the coil wire had hairline cracks that let water get inside and make its way down to the coil connection. Perhaps the shipping and/or winding of the coil wire in shipping were enough to motivate those hairline cracks to become fully visible.
Nonetheless, he solved the mystery of where to source a proper replacement coil wire and, with an agreed upon modification to the coil, he was able to save the coil too! YAY!!
Two biggest take-a-ways from this are…
“DetectorPro PULSE metal detector…..super clean, hardly used, no cracks or damage, air tests incredibly deep, selling as-is and for only $…”
When I read the above ad, I thought, I’ve always wanted one of those detectors in my collection. The price seems great. The seller says it works and heck, the pictures look good too. Why not, what could go wrong?
A short time later, the detector arrived at my home. It looked just as described and when I air tested it….WOW. I did a few more yard tests and felt confident the detector worked as it should. I put the detector in my man cave and walked away thinking how stoked I was to take this on an upcoming beach vacation!
The following month I began to pack for vacation. As I placed the detector in the suitcase, something caught my eye. I looked closer and my stomach dropped. Cracks! What the heck? There where cracks all over my coil wire! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! My vacation beach hunting plans were ruined!
Even worse, when I called the manufacturer, I learned a bad cable wasn’t the worst of my problems. The founder of DetectorPro, Gary Storm, sold his business to Ron at Gold Diggers. Ron made some calls and a short time later called me back to explain that the guy that made the PULSE coils for DP had passed away and there were no parts available or knowledgeable person to service the PULSE machines. Bottom line, there was nothing DP could do and inferred its time to look for another machine. ARGH x 2
Now over the years, I’ve learned Friendly Metal Detecting Forum has some amazingly knowledgeable members, one of them being OBN. When I told him my predicament, he provided me with references to some people that “might” be able to help.
One of those references agreed to look at the unit and “see what he could see” about fixing it. His assessment led him to believe the coil wire had hairline cracks that let water get inside and make its way down to the coil connection. Perhaps the shipping and/or winding of the coil wire in shipping were enough to motivate those hairline cracks to become fully visible.
Nonetheless, he solved the mystery of where to source a proper replacement coil wire and, with an agreed upon modification to the coil, he was able to save the coil too! YAY!!
Two biggest take-a-ways from this are…
- When buying used from a private seller, always consider there may be an unknown repair. I agreed to buy the detector as-is with no warranty so I assumed the risk. But, I negotiated a price that was fair, even when including the cost of repairs.
- The forum is a rich environment for knowledge and networking. In my case, the networking made the difference between throwing the detector away vs. writing this post about my success.
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