Whites Bought Out!!

[mxt sniper]

Great news, Whites detectors has sold out to Garrett detectors company. Should be interesting to see what Garrett can produce under Whites name in the next yr. I hope the half sine wave hybrid appears on the market. Its been a long long time in testing. Over 5 yrs.

 

[OzzieAu]

Hopefully a interesting and productive partnership.. :goldnugget:

 

[Ded Driver]

All too often 1 company buys out another, only to pillage & plunder whatever is useful to them, then on-sell whatever bits are left, & proceed to close the business down & lay off most of the employeees.
This is often done to acquire a company's patents, manufacturing licences, trademarks, technology, etc, & then remove a competitor.
We can hope Garrett dont do this to Whites, but dont hold your breath!

 

[mxt sniper]

Well, Garrett got all of Whites machinery necessary to mfg Whites detectors, including a state of the art circuit board assembly machine and a soldering machine for the boards too. And they got all the held patents and new projects too and software needed for mfg of new machines. All the defunct unused machinery was put on a site by Whites to sell, things not directly related to the actual mfg of the current detectors, etc.

I hope Garrett keeps the two brands seperate and distinct. I hope that Garrett continues the mxt pro in the Whites line, gmx, 24K, and other notable machines that would bring instant income to Garrett. Hopefully Garrett gets the help needed from a current Whites key employee to get the Whites line going again.

 

[aussiefarmer]

Garret is a very smart well marketed company , but they struggle to sell in Australia, with the whites brand already trusted they with gain a good market share and the competition with minelab will be great for us. Imo.

 

[mxt sniper]

I have high hopes for the half sine hybrid nugget machine Whites was working on. Carl Morland developed the machine and already had prototypes on the ground when he left whites in 2014-5, Whites just didn't have the engineers needed to debug and bring that machine to market. Supposedly the half sine machine is better than the gpz for depth, I heard this from one tester who had time with it on the ground. I do believe this half sine patent is why Whites actually was able to sell to Garrett.

Personally I would put the Whites current lineup of machines above most of Garretts offerings, other than the garrett ATX PI. It is quite a bit better than the Whites TDI PI which is at the bottom rung of pi machines. I hope Garrett is able to run the Whites side of things seperate from Garrett and not cross contaminate machine tech. At least Garrett has excellent marketing people, and uses big box stores to market their machines, this would be a huge boost the the Whites line of machines. The 24K and GMX were just gaining in popularity when whites shut down. The old standby MXT All Pro was still selling, the lower end line mx sport could use some refinement still. Garrett does have the beginnings of multi freq covered with the entry level multi freq Apex. If Garrett can develop a line of multi freq machines they should be off and running with both lines.

 

[mxt sniper]

Garrett website now has Whites past detector models manuals available to view.

 

[Davent]

Gday Dave, any news that Garrett is doing anything other than that with whites?
I would have thought that Garrett buying them out, they would have been active in keeping them running?

 

[mxt sniper]

I also hear Garrett is going to produce small parts for the older machines such as batt boxes, etc. This came from the factory in a call. I hope the whites lineup will be produced again by Garrett, time will tell.

 

[grubstake]

I also hear Garrett is going to produce small parts for the older machines such as batt boxes, etc. This came from the factory in a call. I hope the whites lineup will be produced again by Garrett, time will tell.

Particularly that last, newly-introduced, Whites digital gold machine (was it the GMX 24K?), which users have rated as outstanding. Garrett don't have a decent VLF gold prospecting detector in their range, so you'd think it would be logical to keep it in production, even if only as an interim stop-gap while they sort out a better long-term business strategy than just endless repackaging of old Garrett designs. (AT Max - I'm looking at you!) That's a strategy that killed off Whites and Tesoro, and it will do the same for Garrett if they keep it up.

 

[PhaseTech]

Garrett still hasn't said exactly what it'll be doing with Whites detectors? Kind of seems strange to me.

Garrett Announces Acquisition

Garland, TX, October 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Garrett Electronics, a design and manufacturing company specializing in sport and security metal detectors, announced the acquisition of certain assets of Whites Electronics.

Whites, who had been in business since 1950 as a premier manufacturer of metal detection products, announced the suspension of operations on June 18, 2020 in a memo to its dealers. Whites founders, Kenneth and Olive White, built their business the same way Garretts founders, Charles and Eleanor Garrett, did, by innovating and committing to producing high quality products in the United States. Whites current principals, Kenneth R. and Mary White, are choosing to fold the Whites legacy in with Garrett Metal Detectors as a way of extending their Made in the USA tradition.

Garrett CEO Steve Novakovich commented, The White family and the Garrett family have had a high level of respect for one another as competitors in the sport market for decades. Now we at Garrett are proud to combine our respective legacies as Garrett continues on as the premier American metal detector company.

The transaction includes Whites trademarks, intellectual property, tooling, and other assets. It does not include Whites real estate in Oregon or Scotland. Garrett intends to rigorously defend all of Whites trademarks, patents, and other IP wherever infringement may occur.

Novakovich continued, Garrett recognizes that the Whites brand has a loyal following in the US and around the world. We are pleased to welcome those customers to Garrett, and we hope we can earn your future business.

 

[user 4485]

I always thought, IMO, that the main reason they acquired Whites was so nobody else did (particularly certain offshore manufacturers). Strengthening Garrett's position in the US market with their own USA made products & one less US based competitor + removing the threat of a foreign owned entity re-introducing Whites products at lower pricing?
I thought they might use some of the Whites IP in their own future products or even just re-badge or continue production of some of the more popular Whites detectors but US manufacturers seem to move slowly? Either that or Whites detectors as they were are now a closed book?

 

[Toysandthings]

Never fear Whites will live on, most likely under new Garrett models.
We would like to see the goldmaster24k and gmx continued.
These would slot into and not effect the garrett line up.

We live in hope..

 

[Ded Driver]

Its been about 6 months now with no movement.
My post #3 is looking more real by the day! :argh:

 

[Toysandthings]

Garrett Goldmaster24k is now available in Aus.