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White’s Electronics Done After 70 Years


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They also create their own reviews under multiple names so you can't trust any of their info or ratings.

Bottom line is this is all guess work regarding these fake machines and having been lied to by a few people at whites I find it impossible to believe or put stock in any thing they say, But from my direct treatment from them and seeing how they handled the MXS affair the only part I deem truthful in their statement is where they say they are shutting shop,

The sad part about it is the workers at the factory are going to loose their jobs because of what those who are higher up have done.

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The White’s GMT came out in 2000. Two decades ago! Twenty years ago!!! Some new detectorists were not even born yet when it came out. This is technology. Electronics. Who still makes anything electronic just like it was made 20 years ago? Almost nobody. You may as well sign up for the “take your time to copy me, you have all the time you need” counterfeit volunteer list.

There are many reasons for innovating, and not being a sitting duck is one of them.

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2 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The White’s GMT came out in 2000. Two decades ago! Twenty years ago!!! Some new detectorists were not even born yet when it came out. This is technology. Electronics. Who still makes anything electronic just like it was made 20 years ago? Almost nobody. You may as well sign up for the “take your time to copy me, you have all the time you need” counterfeit volunteer list.

There are many reasons for innovating, and not being a sitting duck is one of them.

I had been detecting for a few year before I learned of you and then I saw the results you were getting so I started to buy the machines you used, Back then lucky for me it all panned out in my favour, I remember thinking "If it works for him it should more than do what I need" Luckily your reviews gave a person a good solid starting point which sort of gives a person a head start fast tracking them to becoming better sooner. A lot of success is down to the amount of hours a person is willing to put in, Back then I would detect 8,10,12 hours a day every day for months on end,

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3 hours ago, jasong said:

I both called on the phone, and I visited the front office in person later too, both with identical results. I didn't demand a higher up though, I was young at the time and took people at face value. I had met a White's product tester on the OSU campus who detected the campus early in the mornings and he told me to speak to someone at White's about leaving a resume with them, a guy who's name I forget now, and that's who I spoke to on the phone. Then I spoke to a guy in the front office later on my way to prospect for gold in Quartzville. It's been 16 years so I forget who they were exactly, or if they were the same person.

It kinda breaks my heart to learn that they did accept interns, if so. I was practically pleading with the guy to let me work for free, just to get a foot in the business, when I showed up in person. White's was my #1 job choice, I lived in Corvallis right near them and was an active detector user already, and I figured I'd have a sure shot since everyone else was vying for positions at Intel and HP at OSU after graduation, and my field of research was literally E+M and applied physics which I thought would be a shoe in for detector work.

When I couldn't even get someone there to look at my resume, I wrote them off and never looked back.

The guy you saw detecting at OSU would have been Bob Canaday. He did PCB layout and my office was next to his. Wonderful guy, he died very suddenly a year and a half ago.

He was the key tester for White's, nothing went to production unless Bob said it was ready. After I left, that policy changed. I used to occasionally meet Bob for breakfast at Sharon's and asked him about the MX Sport debacle. He said he was not asked to test it, instead they had it tested by outside people. Had Bob tested it, it would not have had all those initial problems.

The front office guy was probably Steve Howard. Steve's a nice guy and means well but sometimes he makes bad assumptions and can be a little abrupt with people. I think if you had reached Mark things would have turned out differently.

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On 6/18/2020 at 4:06 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/12929-important-announcement-from-whites-electronics/

9A168A52-66DB-4B2F-BA7F-919589504D44.png

Important Information from White's Electronics

June 18, 2020

To our valued White's Dealers-

This is a very difficult message to write, but the time has come for retirement from White's Electronics.

We are suspending manufacturing operations at our Sweet Home facility while we re-evaluate the future of the company. It is never easy to make these decisions, however, we are faced with the reality of intense competition in the industry and ongoing counterfeit instruments coming from China. Lastly, there have been critical material shortages since the Covid 19 shutdown that we now find insurmountable.

All of us here in Sweet Home are grateful for your service. We consider each you part of the White's extended family.

Sincerely, 


Ken White

American Made Metal Detectors since 1950

He put as much effort into writing this letter as he did in making his detectors.. 

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7 hours ago, Geotech said:

The guy you saw detecting at OSU would have been Bob Canaday. He did PCB layout and my office was next to his. Wonderful guy, he died very suddenly a year and a half ago.

He was the key tester for White's, nothing went to production unless Bob said it was ready. After I left, that policy changed. I used to occasionally meet Bob for breakfast at Sharon's and asked him about the MX Sport debacle. He said he was not asked to test it, instead they had it tested by outside people. Had Bob tested it, it would not have had all those initial problems.

The front office guy was probably Steve Howard. Steve's a nice guy and means well but sometimes he makes bad assumptions and can be a little abrupt with people. I think if you had reached Mark things would have turned out differently.

Yep, that last name sounds familiar now that you mentioned it, I'm sorry to hear he died. He was the first person I met who also detected. I actually met him a number of times and I would run into both him and/or his buddy fairly often since I detected in the mornings mostly too (I couldn't risk looking uncool detecting as a 20-something in front of the ladies during class hours haha). His buddy actually used a Fisher machine, go figure. I had an Ace 250 (my first detector), which had just been released that month, and Bob saw me detecting with it and came over to look at it.

He gave me his personal Bullseye pinpointer, said he or someone at White's had modified it to go deeper and it was one of a kind.

Largely because of talking to him I bought a GMT, my first gold machine. Serendipitously, that GMT ended up a decade later making it's way to another White's tester, Reg Sniff who I sold it to, and who's brother I know from when I moved from Oregon to Colorado. Circle of life. :smile:

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Man that is really sad!  I still have the Prizm which my kids love!  I always loved the way they were made and the ease of operation.  They were always in the convo when I was looking for a high end machine.  You can see by all the new tech we are at a crossover point in our hobby.  The DEUS really got the really competitive brands moving to catch up or accel.  White’s, like Steve said above, never moved forward from the V3I and some of the other great units they made YEARS AGO.  For us detectorist...we are in a golden time but I’m bummed out over White’s that is for sure.

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For whatever reason I for one am glad that Howard never sold out to Whites. They probably would have stuffed a good detector.  I have worked with both Bruce Candy and Howard Rockey. Very different people, but both brilliant in their own way.

There are two sides to every story, and two of you have had your say. I will only say that neither of you are in the same league as Bruce or Howard, regardless of your opinions.

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