Makro Racer; protective cover gone wrong

I've been noticing some difficulty seeing thru the rain/dust cover that came from Makro with my Racer. Thought it would be just a matter of taking the cover off and wiping down the inside of the cover and the faceplate of the detector's display. Figured it was a small accumulation of dust under the cover I was seeing (or trying to see through).
WRONG! What I discovered is that the vinyl/PVC or whatever clear plastic material is used in the rain/dust cover (clear front and back with zippered black fabric surround) is actually stouter stuff than the plastic in the faceplate of the display.
Contact between the two in normal use has chaffed the faceplate, marring it and detracting from its readability. I will have to polish the faceplate and see if I can restore its appearance.

What aggravates me about this is that I bought the pro pack because it included the rain/dust cover and I have used the cover since the very beginning because I wanted to protect the faceplate of the display from scratches. And it is the PROTECTIVE cover that has, in fact, CAUSED the scratching.

Has anybody else noticed this?

Is this also an issue with the Racer 2? Does the Racer 2 use the same faceplate (material) as the original Racer? Is the rain/dust cover for the Racer 2 the same cover/material as was supplied with the original Racer?

Has anybody found (a source for) another type of protective cover for the Racer that does a better job of protecting the display from rain and dust that does not HARM the display?

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?

I don't know Wayne,,, but I suspect a person could put one of those protective films like used on a cell phone and then install your weather proof cover,,, it does sound like though you may have to change out the protective film on a periodic basis due to scratching from the environmental cover.

I probably wouldn't try to polish the screen if it is readable--- you might go from bad to worse.

Thanks for sharing-- I usually don't use my environmental cover,, after reading your post, I will discontinue totally.

I have a cover over my RG and haven't used it but once. I read on another forum that the zipper would scar the edges so I put some blue paint tape on edges to protect it until I get a screen protector on it. Will look at the thickness and if it comes in contact with screen and get back. Thanks for the heads up Wayne.

as soon as I got my R2 I pulled off the supplied thin protective film and (using that as a pattern) cut
out a Z A G screen from a large ipad piece I have....works great...
I have the supplied protective rain covers, put on them on and there was so much condensation I
had to take the screen rain cover off...maybe useful when it gets warmer.
the battery cover is great cause it saves the bottome (speaker, battery cover) when I set it down in the dirt...

Never pulled the clear sticker off the faceplates...so cant tell..

yet I dont use the covers much...

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

I tried 3 or 4 covers for my etrac. I hated every one because of the added glare and chaffing of my buttons. So I've came up with something that is perfect. It would work on the Racer just fine. The new covers last 6 plus months. I've had a ton of good feedback of others using it on their different machines as well.
[www.youtube.com]

Kenny
[www.youtube.com]

I made my own anti-glare protection in the field. It's not perfect and kind of hard to read the numbers, but it works.

[fs5.directupload.net]

Khouse, thanks for the tip, going to try that!

iqwozpoom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Khouse, thanks for the tip, going to try that!
Give me your address and I'll ship you a couple of bags to try. All you need is a heat gun and clear packing tape.

Kenny
[www.youtube.com]

x2000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I made my own anti-glare protection in the field.
> It's not perfect and kind of hard to read the
> numbers, but it works.
>
> [fs5.directupload.net]
> .jpg


LMAO - works and went green too

ncwayne Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been noticing some difficulty seeing thru the
> rain/dust cover that came from Makro with my
> Racer. Thought it would be just a matter of taking
> the cover off and wiping down the inside of the
> cover and the faceplate of the detector's display.
> Figured it was a small accumulation of dust under
> the cover I was seeing (or trying to see
> through).
> WRONG! What I discovered is that the vinyl/PVC or
> whatever clear plastic material is used in the
> rain/dust cover (clear front and back with
> zippered black fabric surround) is actually
> stouter stuff than the plastic in the faceplate of
> the display.
> Contact between the two in normal use has chaffed
> the faceplate, marring it and detracting from its
> readability. I will have to polish the faceplate
> and see if I can restore its appearance.
>
> What aggravates me about this is that I bought the
> pro pack because it included the rain/dust cover
> and I have used the cover since the very beginning
> because I wanted to protect the faceplate of the
> display from scratches. And it is the PROTECTIVE
> cover that has, in fact, CAUSED the scratching.
>
> Has anybody else noticed this?
>
> Is this also an issue with the Racer 2? Does the
> Racer 2 use the same faceplate (material) as the
> original Racer? Is the rain/dust cover for the
> Racer 2 the same cover/material as was supplied
> with the original Racer?
>
> Has anybody found (a source for) another type of
> protective cover for the Racer that does a better
> job of protecting the display from rain and dust
> that does not HARM the display?
>
> Wayne


Hello Wayne. I decided to respond back to you on the forum instead of sending a response to your email so others can also read my response. There is actually 1 protector and a sticker on the Racer screen. One is a film that some will remove once they start using the product. It is not very easy to tell that it is removable because we prefer customers to keep it. If you remove it, the sticker with the ID range sitting on the screen will get scratched and still not the screen itself. Looking at the images you sent, we really cannot tell whether the film was removed or not.
Regarding the rain cover - we cannot simulate what you are describing here in terms of the rain cover scratching the screen.
We have tried and under normal conditions, the rain cover does not scratch the screen. And like I said, if it is scratching anything it is either the protective film or the sticker on the screen.
Hope this helps…