DETECTORPRO
Wader and Diver
Both Detectorpro Wader and Diver are water;beach hunting metal detectors. They are also lightweight,waterproof and can be broken down for backpacking. The Wader can be submerged to about 6 feet before it starts to leak. The Diver can be used for actual Scuba diving for treasure.These units are very easy to operate, only three controls, more or less a turn-on and go machines. Tuning is very stable in most soil conditions, rarely do you have to make any adjustments. They excell in finding gold, silver, jewelry, rings and coins.
Many have compared the Wader and Diver against the Tesoro Tigershark, Fisher 1280x, CZ20/21 and the Minelab Excalibur. The Detectorpro units are in a class of their own with only the Fisher 1280x having almost identical performance. The Tesoro Tigershark will only out perform the Wader/Diver hunting in freshwater. The Tigershark operates on a higher frequency which makes it more sensitive to smaller gold and silver. The Tigershark does not handle saltwater conditions very well, the Wader/Diver handle it much better. Neither Wader/Diver will surpass the performance, depth capability or ability to handle salt/freshwater conditions like the Fisher CZ20/21 or Minelab Excalibur. Plus side, is that you can get into water hunting for about half the dollar amount of the CZ or Excalibur.
Wader/Diver units are excellent for treasure hunting on land. Perfect for coin and jewelry hunting school grounds, parks, playgrounds etc. If it ever starts to rain, just keep on hunting they are waterproof.
What about depth? I used the Wader on land, it's a very capable detector and my average finds are no deeper than 6" on a penny. Others have claimed finding quarters up to 10". I have yet to see that in my soil conditions. No doubt that it is possible in non-mineralized beach sands of Florida.
My Wader was also used for land hunting when we lived in the Atlanta,Georgia area for about 6 years. It was not affected by the red clay minerals to the extent as many other detectors I have tried. It would still pick up coins to the 6" mark. The Wader is not a depth demon, it does get the job done.
Now for the Nitty-Gritty on these units. The electronics are housed inside one of the earcups, batteries in the other. A great concept!! But,you never want to drop the headset. If it slides off your head, resist the urge grab the headphone cord. If you do, there is a good chance you may jank the cross-over wires. If they break, they will have to be repaired. If the headphones hit hard ground, there's a good chance the earphone cups will develop cracks. You may not see the cracks, they will show up under ultra violet light. Those cracks will allow water to leak into the earcups. Not a good thing, batteries can short and the electronics can be damaged. Being careful with the headset and treating it with respect, the Wader/Diver will not need any service.
When replacing batteries, you may notice they slide around a little in the ear cup. Add a small pc. of foam to keep them in place. When replacing batteries, before re-assembling the battery earcup, always check the o-ring waterproofing seal. Look for any burrs or nick, if you see any, get a new o-ring. Always, clean out any sand or dirt in the the groove that the o-ring is seated into.Make sure you lubricate the o-ring before re-assembly. Use only silicone lube specially made for o-rings. Which can be purchased at most Scuba Dive & Photography Shops that sell underwater cameras and housings. Apply a very light film on the o-ring, just enough to look slick. It provides a barrier between the o-ring and and earcup assemblies, which keeps water out.
By following the above tips, the Wader/Diver should remain maintenance free and work for many years without problems.
Setting up the Wader/Diver for most conditions is easy. Run sensitivity as high as possible to start without hearing excessive chatter and noise. The sensitivity control uses stepped detents. This may or may not be the best type of control for fine tuning. It does work ok...I find that it can be fine tuned just a tad. Run the knob maxed out at any detent setting. Back the knob back a very little and not to the point of detent clicking down one setting. This gives some adjustment bewtween detents. Clicking into lower sensitivity settings, there will be some depth loss. So always run the sensitivity as high as possible.
The discrimination control for most of my hunting is set at no higher than "2". When water hunting I just want to disc. out the skinny hairpins. Then again, I also hunt with the disc set so I will pick up the hairpins. This will allow you to find most gold and silver. Hunting on land I also set the disc. to "2". Still find the nails, you can usually tell the sound of a nail. Nails give off a distinct double-beep signal. Two coins will also give off a double-beep slightly sounds different in sound of a nail.
The volume control can be set to where it's comfortable to you.
Your Wader/Diver should air test a dime at 9". It may only sound off with a click. This is how Detectorpro sets them up at the factory.
The Wader is one unit that will find modern Canadian coins that other units will disc. out. In case you wanted to know.
The Wader/Divers does have a strong following, there are folks that love them, others who hate them. Mainly due to earcup issues.If you treat them with respect and take care of them properly, they will not need repair. They are a high quality metal detector that work as well as any other, if used as intended by Detectorpro. Problems arise, when a used unit is bought on-line for $300-500, from an unknown seller. Buyer has no way of knowing if it was dropped, etc. If it was, did it sustain any damage? Used units are not covered by Detectorpro Warranty. Warranty is only for original owners. Detectorpro will not fix any unit for "free" unless you are the original owner. It will cost you for a simple electronics adjustment. Repairs that can easily cost $100+ and higher. Detectorpro repair service is superb, and will repair in or out of warranty units within a few days of receipt.
If a used unit is bought. Buyer may find that it doesn't have spectacular depth like many claim they get. Buyer may end up feeling disappointed, thinking it was a mistake buying the used Wader/Diver. Not all is lost, many times it's an easy fix. What seems to happen, curious owners decide to open the electronics side earcup to see inside wondering what makes the unit tick. Then play with the adjustment trimmer pots inside...... They just don't get it right, so they sell the detector, rather then sending to Detectorpro for recalibration. They may decide to sell it quick after realizing they will be incurring shipping costs to and from DP, plus the repair cost.. If you have purchased that used detector at $300 or less in the above state, it's still a good deal. Even if you have to ship to DP for recalibration. If you have the ability to do your own service work and save some money.
Those who are electronically inclined and want to adjust their unit internally, I have written up a How-To Tutorial. You should be able to adjust your unit to perform better than a unit with factory specs (dime at 9" air test). Please take note that breaking the white warranty seal on the electronics earcup will void all warranty, if you are the original owner. If your the owner of a used; out of warranty unit, it doesn't matter. If you decide to do any electronic adjusting , you do so at your own risk. If the white warranty seal is missing, it's maybe a sign that someone has played with the electronics. Or it once leaked water, the earcup was opened to dry out the inside.
If you make internal electronic adjustments, are successful, you'll find yourself a happy Detectorpro owner. If your unsuccessful, Detectorpro will be more than happy to service your unit for a fee.
Interesting tidbit, Gary Storm of Detectorpro was instrumental in the design the original Minelab Excalibur beach and water hunting metal detector. Which is the most popular fresh and saltwater machine in use today.
TUNING YOUR WADER HOW-TO
Interview with Gary Storm of DetectorPro
