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Pinpointer Low Batteries?
- Thread starter u2robert
- Start date
still looking 52
Well-known member
Yes. I've got the Garrett carrot and it goes stupid when the battery gets a little low and so does my brother's, he's got the same model.
My Detector UniProbe (built in headphones )will act up when the battery gets low or if I try a rechargeable battery too. I always carry extra 9 volt batteries just in case and use the ones I take out in something else as it need a full battery to work right. My other brand probe is rechargeable one and never seen a problem yet.
Rick
Hand-held Pinpointers Vs. Power Source: I have owned and used a lot of Pinpointers, looking for one that was 'Simple' to use, had a 'Functional' settings control w/o a lot of tinkering around, and provided me reasonable 'Performance.' I do not use a pinpointer all the time because I can usually isolate a target well enough with the detector, and a lot of the sites I hunt, targets are easily acquired in a medium like bark-chips or sand in tot-lots, or simply 'toe-scuffing' a lot of the softer soil in ghost towns or similar out-of-the-way places. I see people who draw their pinpointer on just about every target they detect .... I don't. I used them, don't get me wrong, but I don't over-rely on them.
Some Pinpointers I didn't like do to lack of performance or reasonable depth, some I didn't like because of their lack of build quality, and some I just didn't like, period. Through the end of 2014 there were two Pinpointers I liked and kept around. The White's Bullseye II and Garrett Pro-Pointer. I liked the feel of the Pro-Pointer better, but for whatever reason, they just didn't seem to last and sometimes didn't make it through one year's typical detecting season. Both of those pinpointers would go through perhaps 2-9V batteries a year. Always a quality alkaline battery was used, and like I said, I don't grab them on every recovery, so I don't know if any of them had a circuitry design where there was a little battery drain even when Off and not-in-use. The Pro-Pointer seemed to need battery replacement a little more often, but there was not a major warning they were getting weaker in either device, you could just sense it when using them and the detection depth and signal strength started to weaker. Just time for a battery change.
Early January of 2015 I got a Makro Pointer and really liked the feel and performance and simplicity of adjustment. It immediately went on my gear belt, and has stayed there now for just over 5 years. Works well and is very reliable. 5 years, and it's still running fine on its 2nd 9-V battery. I didn't put my VOM on it to test, but used a simple Battery Checker recently to check batteries in all my devices and that 9-V still registers well up into the 'Good' range. Two 9-V batteries and I'm starting my 6th year with the same Pinpointer. It made me wonder, at the time, why so many pinpointers I have had in the past go through a battery more often, and some much more often? One P-P used 3 in a year. Oh, I was out detecting more often than I can now, but why 3 in a year when my current Pinpointer is going into its 6th year on the 2nd 9-Volt. ????
Anyway, today I use three (3) different Pinpointers. My very trusted Makro Pointer just starting year #6, and starting it 1st year is my Nokta / Makro Pulse-Dive Pinpointer. I easily check the three boxes I apply to any evaluated product, and that is to be 'Simple' yet 'Functional' and provide 'Performance.' Plus I like the feel of the device, and this one relies on a built-in Li-Po battery to charge. My 3rd pinpointer in the wireless XP MI6 that pairs with my XP ORX detector, and the MI6 is also a rechargeable battery powered pinpointer. So, only one I use requires a 9-V battery, and after 5 years of reliable performance and long-lasting battery power, I still wonder why some folks have to change a battery more often.
I did have one pinpointer that I gave away last year. Had it for almost two years and kept it ready as a 'quick-grab' if I just hopped out to check a site or hit a tot-lot or something. It was solid and reliable and worked well. but it also worked when I didn't want it to. Sometimes I'd hear a weak beeping nose, and with my bad hearing and the pinpointer on the back seat or in the back of my GMC Envoy it wasn't loud and sometimes I didn't hear it but someone riding with me would. I'd get out to check and it was the Pinpointer that had mysteriously turned On. I'd turn it Off, check it by my car body and verify it was 'Off, but maybe in a while or the next day or, whenever, I would hear a noise and, sure enough, it had turned back On. That was a Nokta RS Pointer I got on a detector purchase deal. It looked fine but I don't know if it had every been dropped or what the cause was. It wasn't loose and rattling around, just laying on the seat or in a holder in the back of the vehicle.
All the Garrett Pro-Pointers I had that didn't last long were the original black versions so maybe they had some sort of glitch and batteries discharged a little even when 'Off'? Sometimes they'd get erratic and a battery change corrected that, and other times a fresh battery didn't seem to fix a thing and I just junked them ... keeping the fresh battery of course.
Monte
Some Pinpointers I didn't like do to lack of performance or reasonable depth, some I didn't like because of their lack of build quality, and some I just didn't like, period. Through the end of 2014 there were two Pinpointers I liked and kept around. The White's Bullseye II and Garrett Pro-Pointer. I liked the feel of the Pro-Pointer better, but for whatever reason, they just didn't seem to last and sometimes didn't make it through one year's typical detecting season. Both of those pinpointers would go through perhaps 2-9V batteries a year. Always a quality alkaline battery was used, and like I said, I don't grab them on every recovery, so I don't know if any of them had a circuitry design where there was a little battery drain even when Off and not-in-use. The Pro-Pointer seemed to need battery replacement a little more often, but there was not a major warning they were getting weaker in either device, you could just sense it when using them and the detection depth and signal strength started to weaker. Just time for a battery change.
Early January of 2015 I got a Makro Pointer and really liked the feel and performance and simplicity of adjustment. It immediately went on my gear belt, and has stayed there now for just over 5 years. Works well and is very reliable. 5 years, and it's still running fine on its 2nd 9-V battery. I didn't put my VOM on it to test, but used a simple Battery Checker recently to check batteries in all my devices and that 9-V still registers well up into the 'Good' range. Two 9-V batteries and I'm starting my 6th year with the same Pinpointer. It made me wonder, at the time, why so many pinpointers I have had in the past go through a battery more often, and some much more often? One P-P used 3 in a year. Oh, I was out detecting more often than I can now, but why 3 in a year when my current Pinpointer is going into its 6th year on the 2nd 9-Volt. ????
Anyway, today I use three (3) different Pinpointers. My very trusted Makro Pointer just starting year #6, and starting it 1st year is my Nokta / Makro Pulse-Dive Pinpointer. I easily check the three boxes I apply to any evaluated product, and that is to be 'Simple' yet 'Functional' and provide 'Performance.' Plus I like the feel of the device, and this one relies on a built-in Li-Po battery to charge. My 3rd pinpointer in the wireless XP MI6 that pairs with my XP ORX detector, and the MI6 is also a rechargeable battery powered pinpointer. So, only one I use requires a 9-V battery, and after 5 years of reliable performance and long-lasting battery power, I still wonder why some folks have to change a battery more often.
I did have one pinpointer that I gave away last year. Had it for almost two years and kept it ready as a 'quick-grab' if I just hopped out to check a site or hit a tot-lot or something. It was solid and reliable and worked well. but it also worked when I didn't want it to. Sometimes I'd hear a weak beeping nose, and with my bad hearing and the pinpointer on the back seat or in the back of my GMC Envoy it wasn't loud and sometimes I didn't hear it but someone riding with me would. I'd get out to check and it was the Pinpointer that had mysteriously turned On. I'd turn it Off, check it by my car body and verify it was 'Off, but maybe in a while or the next day or, whenever, I would hear a noise and, sure enough, it had turned back On. That was a Nokta RS Pointer I got on a detector purchase deal. It looked fine but I don't know if it had every been dropped or what the cause was. It wasn't loose and rattling around, just laying on the seat or in a holder in the back of the vehicle.
All the Garrett Pro-Pointers I had that didn't last long were the original black versions so maybe they had some sort of glitch and batteries discharged a little even when 'Off'? Sometimes they'd get erratic and a battery change corrected that, and other times a fresh battery didn't seem to fix a thing and I just junked them ... keeping the fresh battery of course.
Monte
u2robert
Well-known member
Monte,
I remember the days of no Pinpointers just scanned a handful of dirt under the coil.
But now that the Pinpointer (Pro-pointer) is here and at the price they cost it should not matter if they are used every dig or not.
I do not believe the problem is a glitch & the batteries discharges because the battery power most of the time has between 8.70- 8.50 volts when the pro-pointer
starts acting erratic. This is almost a full battery & I always use Energizer or Duracell Procell Alkaline batteries. We all know 9V batteries ain't cheap
I do believe it's a design flaw with the Pro-pointer.
I remember the days of no Pinpointers just scanned a handful of dirt under the coil.
But now that the Pinpointer (Pro-pointer) is here and at the price they cost it should not matter if they are used every dig or not.
I do not believe the problem is a glitch & the batteries discharges because the battery power most of the time has between 8.70- 8.50 volts when the pro-pointer
starts acting erratic. This is almost a full battery & I always use Energizer or Duracell Procell Alkaline batteries. We all know 9V batteries ain't cheap
I do believe it's a design flaw with the Pro-pointer.
professor-tones
Active member
A Duracell PP3 should easily give 30 hours + hours of use which is a hell of a long time before a battery swap is needed. My own pro pointer AT gives a few months use before a new Duracell is fitted.
I know someone who uses a rechargeable battery in his pro pointer and he says the pro pointer is falsing and failing after just a day detecting. He is constantly recharging. Avoid rechargeables with the pro pointers the thing just sucks the rechargeables dry in no time.
u2robert
Well-known member
What it should do and does is two different thing.
I never use rechargeable batteries.
GeorgeinSC
Well-known member
I use batteries in my Carrot that were previously used in a church microphone. The batteries are only used for two weeks so they are still fairly well charged. I get months of use out of those batteries. I do turn the carrot off after each use.
If you mean you put it in the hole and it goes off on the side of the hole,, move it around the hole, then get back to the spot it alerted on , and does nothing,, then alerts on the other side of the hole. Then lay it on the ground beside the hole and it just starts beeping continuously,,, even when you pick it up and nothing is around it , and its still beeping,, then that's what mine has been doing. And I will get some new batteries before my next outing. Thank you.