History Of Garett Metal Detectors

During the mid-1960’s a husband and wife team of Charles and Eleanor Garrett first produced “The Hunter” (a zero drift dual search coil metal detector) and thus Garrett Metal Detectors first came on to the scene and challenged the way in which people viewed the world of metal detection. There philosophy was as they said “We will build the best possible metal detector and offer the best customer service”.

Now more than 40 years later Garrett Metal Detectors are still as passionate about metal detectors as they were in the beginning. But whether you wish to look for treasure which is at the bottom of the sea, or buried on an old battlefield or just something that got lost in the park yesterday then you can be rest assured that Garrett Metal Detectors have the right kind of metal detector to fit your needs and even your budget.

It was during 1970 that Garrett Metal Detectors manufactured the first one which eliminated oscillator drift by placing a crystal which does not change frequency. Although this change is fundamentally simple, it is still not widely used in the metal detector industry. Garrett Metal Detectors were also the first company to overcome search coil drift by placing a small diameter coaxial wire around the search coils.

Then on 1st April 1970 Garrett Electronics Incorporated, better known as Garrett Metal Detectors, was formally created and right through the 1970’s Garrett Metal Detectors were producing more and more models and in 1971 Garrett Metal Detectors moved to a bigger facility because of the increase in production and also the products Garrett Metal Detectors were producing were much more sophisticated than previous models already available.

As Garrett Metal Detectors made the decision to keep all their advertising and video production in house, as well as publishing their own treasure hunting books they decided to create a new division of the company called RAM Publishing.

From 1972 onwards a number of new metal detectors were introduced to the market by Garrett Metal Detectors the first being The Mini Hunter (1972 – a low cost metal detector), then came the Beat Frequency Oscillator (BFO) in 1973, then in 1974 the Gravity Trap Gold Pan was designed, patented and released on to the market. Then comes the Transmitter Receiver Detector in 1975, followed by Very Low Frequency (VLF)/TR Ground Mineral Cancellation Discrimination Instruments in 1976. Shortly afterwards in 1977 Garrett Metal Detectors produced the original Ground Hog VLF/TR Prospecting and General Purpose Detector, while in 1978 the first dealership outside the USA was opened in London and this was shortly followed by a dealership opening in Australia.

By the mid 1980’s Garrett Metal Detectors had become one of the largest manufacturers with over 1,800 distributors around the world and during this time they also began to produce the Sea Hunter underwater pulse induction metal detector. Then in 1979 Garrett Metal Detectors were instrumental in setting up “The International Treasure Hunting Society”.Then as we reach the 1980’s we find that Garrett Metal Detectors are becoming even more well known and the editor of a national treasure hunting publication asks Garrett Metal Detectors if they can sell his detectors, but not only does this publication want to sell the detectors Garrett Metal Detectors are asked to write a number of articles regarding metal detection design, hunting tips and about his adventures in relation to metal detecting.

By 1982 even the FBI are asking Garrett Metal Detectors about his detectors and their capabilities and he is asked to attend a seminar by Dave Loveless to teach local Fish and Wildlife authorities on how to find bullets in animals which have been killed by poachers. These seminars are still carried out today and are now known as “The Garrett Academy of Metal Detection”.

All the time Garrett Metal Detectors are introducing even more new models such as the motion discrimination metal detector, a walk through metal detector, which he was invited to develop ready for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles following on from the tragedy that occurred at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. But not only did Garrett Metal Detectors produce a walk through metal detector for the Olympic Games they also had the G2 Enforcer (a hand held detector as well).

Soon more and more company’s were turning to Garrett Metal Detectors to provide security training and products including for such events as the Ramses Exhibition, PanAm Games in Indiana and the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

Now we have reached the 1990’s and Garrett Metal Detectors start the decade off by introducing the Graphic Target Analyzing (GTA) microprocessor driven detector that comes with multiple notch discrimination. They also provide security training and products to the US Armed Forces for use in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War, along with security training and equipment for the Olympic Games held in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. Then finally in 1994 Garrett Metal Detectors produce the first speaking metal detector.

Also in 1992 the company moves it headquarters to a state of the art facility which is still occupies today and continues to introduce both new models of metal detectors as well as continuing to provide security training and equipment to many major events around the world (1996 – Olympic Games Atlanta, Georgia, USA along with the games in Torino, Italy in 2004).

This is the history of Garrett Metal Detectors.

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