I was looking at an F75+ on amazon but I'm kind of leary about buying it because they don't tell you who the seller is. Is Amazon selling bootleg chinese copy machines?

Wildbill I've heard stories about China knock off detectors. Personally I'd steer away from them. I feel fortunate to still have an old school dealer in my area where I buy all my detectors and equipment. hhrickinmi

Get it then call Fisher with serial number etc. If it is a copy then you can return it.

rick in mi said:

Wildbill I've heard stories about China knock off detectors. Personally I'd steer away from them. I feel fortunate to still have an old school dealer in my area where I buy all my detectors and equipment. hhrickinmi

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I hear you Rick, I've bought my last two machines from Bart Davis at Big Boys Hobbies. I had a bad experience with a Garrett carrot pin pointer I bought off Amazon, turns out it was a fake, a good one right down to the packaging. I paid $60.00 for it and that should have been my first clue. The thing worked and I still use it but its not a Garrett and doesn't work anywhere near as good as the true Garrett pin pointer. Bart's got the F75+ on his website but it's about a hundred dollars more than the Amazon detector.

MuddyMo said:

Get it then call Fisher with serial number etc. If it is a copy then you can return it.

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I don't want the hassle of doing all that. I'll just buy it from Big Boys Hobbies.

Lol. I hear ya wildbill I done the same thing with a cheap carrot nock off. It sucked. You know what they say...if it's too good to be true....hhrickinmi

I have dealt with Bigboyshobbies a lot. He usually never charges me tax and also get free shipping. Kelly Co rarely does either.

wildbill!! said:

I was looking at an F75+ on amazon but I'm kind of leary about buying it because they don't tell you who the seller is. Is Amazon selling bootleg chinese copy machines?

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Fisher has a list of people who are not authorized dealers and it includes most of the amazon dealers.

Dig-a-holic said:

I have dealt with Bigboyshobbies a lot. He usually never charges me tax and also get free shipping. Kelly Co rarely does either.

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You got that right, nothing but good experiences with Bigboyshobbies for me. Kellyco always charges tax and shipping and wants to charge you for a lot of extra crap you don't need or want but I will say they have good customer service and returns are not a problem.

vlad said:

Fisher has a list of people who are not authorized dealers and it includes most of the amazon dealers.

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Thanks for the comment on Amazon, I won't be buying a detector from them.

Not only are the knock offs low quality, but they take money out of the pockets of our reputable dealers. There is enough crap made in China , when we can get something made in the USA or somewhere other than China then its a win win.

ronaldj2 said:

Not only are the knock offs low quality, but they take money out of the pockets of our reputable dealers. There is enough crap made in China , when we can get something made in the USA or somewhere other than China then its a win win.

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The low quality detectors I see on amazon and ebay from China is crazy, and the bogus name brands are criminal. Pinpointers from $10 to $20? Twenty years ago you could not buy a Tiny Tek for that and you maybe got 1/2" of depth. Whites made one that hit at1 inch and there was a revolution. (Years ago there was a GPX 5000 being shown by some Chinese "lab coated techs" for sale new for $750 on ebay and it had Delta Pitch and TID? On a PI? And on youtube a guy from the UK bought a new T2 for $100, and would not only would it not ground balance did not want to pick up targets more than 2 inches and the i.d. was insane. He beat it to pieces on a tree. And they sell Electroscope type gold finders, but they only sell for $125 instead of $2500 like the original........even fraud now is, "reasonably priced." My friends in federal LE tell me the highest quality US counterfeited currency comes from China. If they can copy that detectors are nothing.....if we do not find anything obviously there is "nothing to be found.")

wildbill!! said:

Thanks for the comment on Amazon, I won't be buying a detector from them.

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Here it is.

Monte said:

Buy a good quality, reputable-name detector from a good Authorized Dealer rather than some of the bulk mail-order / internet-order outfits. You'll get what you expect for the dollar.

Monte

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The flip side is even people reputable now started out small-I did. Overhead is a killer: a business phone was several times the price of a pvt line, and ad size added on to it. (it cost $ to NOT be listed?) The best advertising starting out was a newspaper ad for Sat/Sun and NOT a business ad, and word of mouth! Get a personal loan and deal from the house was the way to go with every cent reinvested, and an inexpensive business card. No 'net in the '70's. Talking to people in the industry was a must: Charles Garrett was the nicest and most knowledgable guy there was, and his books were great. Ed Moody, Ty Brooks, Frank Ball and Dorian Cook, Jerry Tyndall were great too as was Stu Auerback, Troy Galloway, George Payne, Dave Johnson, Tom Dankowski,, Ken White Sr and Jimmy Sierra. (And the two Bills, Mr, and Ladd.) I spent a whole day with Van Fossen in Houston and the least thing he said was get an aluminum foil label with name, add & phone and put it on each detector. Talking to the old prospectors like Roy Lagal, and coin hunters was a library of info. As were the Civil War hunters like Tom Dickey, Pete George, John Sexton, Steve Sylvia and Mike O'Donnell just to name a few: my God you have not lived till you made some Civil War Shows, and got copies of the North South Trader's Civil War Magazines & Price Guide. And Mel Fisher of Atocha fame: your pockets would not even have zinc cents after a talk with him. And of course the recently deceased inestimable Eric Foster who brought along a little know detector known as the Pulse Induction. How many fellow hunters & clubs have added in to the network is unknown. (And a lamented and late hunting partner, James Carnahan.) It takes a lot to make a business work and Best Buy proves that a big box store with crap customer service is not better than a small dealer who knows the products and keeps their word.
“C'est la vie !”

Wild Bill you hit it with me why I don't do business with Kellyco. After all the add-on "stuff" that an established hunter should have, why pay for it again. The quality was not the best either. It was the same old story with having to pay for something you don't want. A few years ago I needed (wanted) a particular detector that was hard to find. Same old story. They would not sell me the detector without all the add-ons. It was all about their "policy" and not what the customer wanted. My good friend R.R. at Backwoods performs above what would normally be expected. This man personally delivered a Deus II to my motel room in east Tenn. this summer as I was passing through. He is a true southern gentleman and a man I absolutely trust. It's the little (sometime big) things that count. Honesty and hard work comes natural to him. He's not what some would call a Bible thumper but I believe his business is based on Christian principles.