Question for NASA-Tom

This question is directed to Nasa-Tom....but if someone can add any input or info it would be greatly appreciated.

I have a chance to buy a used CZ-3D with a 8" coil....seller said it's about three years old...the serial # ends in 1218...can anyone tell me how old it is by the serial# and where it was made?
Is this one of the CZ-3D models that had questionable depth?

Thanks

Whimpster, I think 1218 means that it was manufactured in December 2008.

It's a First Texas unit made in El Paso. The first two digits of the s/n are the month and the third and fourth digits are the year of manufacture.

Yes............ need to know the first 4 digits of the serial number........... as this is MM/YY (month/year) of Mfr.

The CZ-3D serial # is 01111218...if that helps.

Thanks


NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes............ need to know the first 4 digits of
> the serial number........... as this is MM/YY
> (month/year) of Mfr.

I would think if it 3 years old it was made by the new Fisher and judging by what I have read and heard its one of those with questionable depth.

In addendum owned and used a CZ3D both old and new and both had good depth and all goes back to the tuning of the unit in hand.

Thanks Dan for the reply... I'm wondering if I'm better off buying a new one....or take the chance and buy something that maybe not up to par...
The detector looks to be in good shape...it was bought from a guy from the Texas area a couple of years ago, by the now owner...he never used it that much and its just setting around collecting dust.
He's asking $600.00 plus the 5"coil.....not sure what to do.....

Thanks

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would think if it 3 years old it was made by the
> new Fisher and judging by what I have read and
> heard its one of those with questionable depth.
>
> In addendum owned and used a CZ3D both old and new
> and both had good depth and all goes back to the
> tuning of the unit in hand.

$600 is too much for a FTP 3D, unless it's validated to air test at least 11"

You can get a Los Banos #1021 unit for that much.

Aaron

I agree with Aaron. The newer cz-3ds have are apparently a crapshoot as far as depth, and the Tom validated ones I've seen don't seem to be as deep as most of the 1021s. I've seen newer validated ones test in Tom's soil as little as 8.something inches.

Fisher is obviously not interested in promoting the older cz platform, it is said to be labor intensive with less of a profit margin than their newer detectors.

So even the newer CZ-3D's are sub par....their selling for $900.00 new here in Canada?
Sound like it's a dogs breakfast.... weather you get a decent machine or not....just might be to risky to lay out any money on a CZ-3D these days.



marcomo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree with Aaron. The newer cz-3ds have are
> apparently a crapshoot as far as depth, and the
> Tom validated ones I've seen don't seem to be as
> deep as most of the 1021s. I've seen newer
> validated ones test in Tom's soil as little as
> 8.something inches.
>
> Fisher is obviously not interested in promoting
> the older cz platform, it is said to be labor
> intensive with less of a profit margin than their
> newer detectors.

Go ahead on ebay and just search the completed sales of the CZ 3D and you'll have you'll find used FTP 3Ds for less than $400. And yes like macromo said the FTP ones are a crapshoot, I know because I had one, it only air tested at 6"

On another note.....

As I was looking this up on ebay I was shocked at how many NASA Tom calibrated machines there are for sale, AND the prices they are getting.

[www.ebay.com]

I know I'm gonna take flack for this but you guys who are doing this are real JERKS.

Toms doing this as a service while your turning it into a money making opportunity....


Aaron

$736 for a 10.3" Tom calibrated cz-3d?????????????

Aaron, I don't understand why you think the seller is a jerk. If I had Tom calibrate a cz-3d for me and it tested at 10.3" I'd unload the unit quickly for sure and I'd guess you would too.. And I'd be tickled to death to sell it to the highest bidder for a price like that.

A price that high seems silly. Quite possibly even "shill-y"

Yes Marcomo, agreed. However are all those listing w Toms name on them sub par?

Aaron

I'm not in the CZ market but most of the ones I've seen have not been the best of the air tested Tom calibrated detectors. One guy used the description not even giving depth. I went through buying a newer one and having much more in it than you could ever get out of it in the end. Thank goodness for Tom calibrating CZ's and working his magic. Thank you Tom!!

Tom...did you get my post??

Thanks




Whimpster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The CZ-3D serial # is 01111218...if that helps.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> NASA-Tom Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes............ need to know the first 4 digits
> of
> > the serial number........... as this is MM/YY
> > (month/year) of Mfr.

Hello, I recently bought a cz-3d off of e-bay for $726. It was a demo model that had been sent to Tom D. to be calibrated. It was in like new condition and came with a extra 5" coil. It also came with a 5 year warrantee. That being said, why would that be a bad deal? Yes it calibrated out to only 10.3 " on a dime but, as Tom D. has said many times. You could get a New cz-3d and pay $900 for one and the depth may be only 6" after being calibrated. You pay Tom D. a $100 to calibrate it and you got $110 in a 5" coil. It's a crap shut. I would rather have one that I know goes 10.3 inches than to put out all that money for a new one with no guarantee of what kind of depth I will get. And as for the $726 price. Lets break it down. Tom D. charges $100 to calibrate a cz-3d. The 5" coil cost $110. So $726 - $210 = $516 for the cz-3d. So $516 vs $900. $1110 vs $726. Looks new and comes with 5 year warrantee. Calibrated and 5" coil. I think that is a great deal. This cz-3d was recently sold on e-bay for $736. The high bidder backed out so I was contacted by the seller asking if I was interested in this detector for my bid of $726. I took it and am very pleased with the look of this detector. Looks just like new. 10.3" may not sound deep for a cz-3d but, I know of many brands of detectors out there that couldn't come close to picking up a dime in the ground at 10.3". That's how Tom D. calibrates a cz-3d. Since then I have bought 2 more cz-3d's. A 1121 series that is calibrated to 11.6" and a 1021 series that is calibrated to around 12". These are very hard to come by and a 1021 series was just pure luck. I have sold the first cz-3d that I got off of eBay and had no problem getting my money back. I still think it was a great deal for the money. Thanks

Toms charging for calibration?

That's news to me however, 1 C-note still sounds fair to me...

Aaron

If you bid but don't win something on ebay and get an offer to buy anyway from the seller, be wary. If they say the high bidder backed out, that's possible. It happens. But it's also very possible that the high bid was a shill.

A shill bidder driving up the price was my original thought when I saw that 10.3" unit go for $736 even before I knew that the unit was offered to the second highest bidder.

Marcomo, I have no doubt that's possible. However a sure sign of that would be if the guy who backed out has really low feedback or none at all. A guy with a old account and alotta good feedback isn't going to risk messing up his account.

Any things possible though....

Aaron, you make a good point. The majority of shill bidders have low feedback...recently opened accounts.

Now look at the cz-3d example above you posted. Mccrory in his above post basically told us he was the second high bidder and got the unit when the high bidder reneged. So that means the high bidder's bid was not valid and should not have been used to drive up mccrory's bid.

Without that high bidder's non-valid bid, the unit would have been won by mccrory for $610. As best I can tell, the guy at Treasure Mountain Metal Detectors who was selling the detector overcharged him by $116.

There's so much corruption in everything now, ebay is not exempt.
Though they have improved on some things, w millions of sales every day it's impossible to monitor everything.

Hello, This is McCrory. I went back to ebay and check the guy out that had the high bid on the cz-3d. His bid came in .24 of a second after my bid. The high bid was at $600 and I knew there was only second left to bid so I bid this crazy number thinking that know one would come close to it. Next thing I know I am out bid by $10. I never dreamed that someone would out bid me at that price. The guy that out bid me had 311 stars. I can't understand why he would bid that much and then not take it. I was contacted by Treasure Mountain wanting to know if I wanted it for my bid of $726.57. I said yes not thinking that the closes bid to me was $600. If this other guy that had bid the $736.57 had not bid I would have been the high bidder at $610. I want to believe that Treasure Mountain wouldn't do that to me but, I made the deal and I see you guys points. OH well I guess that's just the way it goes. There's nothing I can do about it now and I have already sold the detector to someone else. Thanks guys for pointing this out.

My advice: If you can not locate a proven 1021 unit buy a new FT CZ-3D directly from Tom! Why? It will be a 'hot' one, hand picked by Tom himself and calibrated by him at no extra charge. I have a Tom calibrated 1021 that gets 12" on a clad dime (in his soil) and my son has a new Tom calibrated FT unit that we purchased from Tom that gets 12" on a clad dime (in his soil). That's right... they both perform the same! And the FT unit seems to ID zinc cents deeper than my 1021. Why risk a crapshoot when you KNOW what you are getting with one from Tom? If I recall Tom's price for the new FT CZ-3D was the SAME as other dealers and Ebay @ $807 and was hand picked and calibrated for free.

Hello, I did not know that Tom sold cz-3d,s. He never said anything about selling them. If I had none all this it would have saved me some time and money. Thanks for the info.

McCrory don't feel bad, that's an easy error to make. But that Treasure Mountain place has sold a lot on ebay in the last year alone and you can darn well bet he (she?,they?) knew what he was doing.

Illegal or fraudulent? No, but definitely shady. And against ebay rules. And assuming the high bid that backed out wasn't a shill, the guy has probably applied to ebay to get his fees back. And that's another nice little chunk of money he makes on a $700+ item.

The silver lining for you is that you had no problem getting your money back when you sold that detector, and you've got two even better ones now. So all's well that ends well.

Even though Ebays fees have gone up over the years, their customer service has greatly improved. Being a regular buyer/seller, I'm on the phone w them regularly to resolve problems or ask questions. Their pretty helpful.

Thanks guys for the support. What I don't understand is. How was this guy able to out bid me in .2 of a second? I never dreamed someone would out bid me and do it so fast. Really makes me wonder if it was as you say. A shill. I don't want to think that Ed from treasure Mountain uses those kind of tactics to get the most out of his detectors. I just pray it's not true and just live with it. I like the cz-3d,s I got and I got my money back. It all worked out anyway. Thanks

> What I don't understand is. How was this guy able to out bid me in .2 of a second?


There is software available that will allow its user to snipe a present high bidder at the last possible second or possibly a fraction of a second in your case.

Search "auto bidding software" on eBay for examples.

-NEBeachcomber

Thanks for the info but, why would this person have his eBay set up this way on this item and it being the only bid they made to only back out after winning the item. They said the guy backed out on his bid because he said he couldn't come up with the money to pay for it. But yet he set it up so he would be the garrenteed winner by having a machine bid for him faster than anyone could with out it. I guess we will never know.

The high bidder could have been a shill or just somebody with buyer's remorse, I don't know.

Either way, he or she wasn't the guaranteed winner.

All a sniping service or software does is put your highest bid in a few seconds or less before the close of the auction.

There are sound psychological reasons/financial benefits for a bidder to only bid once within the last few seconds.