“Sometime in early 2012, after starting the hobby of metal detecting, I decided to purchase a pin pointer to assist in finding the items that I dug up. With my love of history and all things “old and cool” (no MB, I am not describing myself), why I did not take up this hobby twenty years ago still begs to be answered.
Anyway, basically a pin pointer is a mini metal detector about 9 to 12 inches long. It is used to narrow down the location of a dug relic, either in the hole or in the plug that has been dug. They emit an audible signal and/or vibrate when in very close proximity of the relic, greatly reducing the time spent recovery the relic and reducing the chances of damaging the relic that has been dug. They range in cost from about fifty dollars to a couple of hundred dollars and as is normally the case, you really do get what you pay for.
I decided upon the Garrett Pro-Pointer for the following reasons. It was of tight and sturdy design, water proof (to a point) and the reviews for it were all good. Plus while not cheap, it did not cost an arm and a leg for the job it did. I was getting what I was paying for.
I used it with success in North Carolina and, upon my return back home, in Utah and Wyoming with the expected great results. In early November one of my metal detecting buddies back east asked if he could borrow mine because he had misplaced his and needed one for a relic hunting event in Virginia. I mailed it out but quickly realized that with winter not being here yet, and that I still had some metal detecting to do, I bought a second one.
Fast forward a week or so and there I was in Illinois getting ready to hit the bottle dump at Mama Bear’s aunts property. I popped in a new battery and nothing happened when I pressed the power button. I took out the battery and it was almost hot enough to use as a hand warmer!!! I mailed it to Garrett while in Illinois just after Christmas, explaining what had happened.
Today Fedex delivered a brand new Pro-Pointer, no questions asked from Garrett..
While I am very pleased with the resulting new Pro-Pointer, my one quip would be the lack of communication from Garrett. A simple email from them letting know that they were working on it would have been nice.
Other than that…..roll on late spring…..”~PB
Try not to get it dirty ;)
That’s the whole point, right?