FYI Equinox Users

[bigscoop]

So I was curious, noticed the difference in the headphone pin jack connector provided by Minelab and the one provided by the Grey Ghost headphones for the Equinox. Go ahead, take a look and compare. What you will notice is that the the pin connector on the GG headphones has a watertight compression connection, the one's provided by Minelab don't? So, I went the additional step and searched for the IP rating for the Minelab pin connector as this is what I discovered....they are only rated at IP67.

"Water and dust proof connectivity products are defined by their Ingress Protection (IP) numbers. ... IP67 equipment is most commonly found in the connectivity market. It is 100% protected against solid objects like dust and sand, and it has been tested to work for at least 30 minutes while under 15cm to 1m of water."

What's this mean? What it means is that if you were to lose grip on your machine and it were to sink to say, 4 feet of water, then the provided connector isn't rated for that much additional water pressure and that it could very well leak. It's also quite possible that keeping the unit/connector submerged for much longer durations might also result in leakage. So keep an eye on this, as there's good reason why GG incorporated that compression fitting into their Equinox headphone cable.

 

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[smokeythecat]

I love my Grey Ghost products.

 

[bigscoop]

A quote from the Minelab page, "EQUINOX is fully submersible, ideal for detecting at the beach and in rivers, streams and lakes. (3m / 10-feet)." So then, if the IP rating for the supplied headphone cable is only rated at IP67 then this must not be considered as part of the machine. Just don't anyone to be confused about the quote above in regards to the 3mm/10 feet statement. "If" I have the IP rating correct for the supplied headphone cable connector pin then when the supplied cable is plugged in then the IP rating "for that machine as it is setup" drops to 15cm or 1m for thirty minutes. Rather deceptive, be it intentional or not.

 

[billb]

I also Love the GGA h/phones

 

[cudamark]

I use the Tony Eisenhower waterproof headphones. They work great and He uses the good connectors too.

 

[bigscoop]

For all of the technology Minelab packs into their machines they sure are terrible with their headphones.

 

['Tectin]

you can dunk your nox underwater without the dust cap. it is sealed internally.

 

[bigscoop]

you can dunk your nox underwater without the dust cap. it is sealed internally.

The male and female connector are rated at IP67. So water can possibly invade the connection itself which can disrupt the connection, this already being a known issue, and....how is the female portion of the connector sealed internally? I don't know the answer to that but would like to.

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

In second yr w 800 and it drowned the other day (total of about 6 months water use). Sent to Minelab and they're sending me a new 800 Pod and will arrive Saturday - about a week after I sent it in!!! Hurry for Minelab. Nothing to do w headphones...
After warranty expires (good for 3 yrs), I will not dunk the 800 in water much like my CTX 3030 that has drowned twice now and is now more or less a land machine. But while warranty is good go for it!

 

[bigscoop]

In second yr w 800 and it drowned the other day (total of about 6 months water use). Sent to Minelab and they're sending me a new 800 Pod and will arrive Saturday - about a week after I sent it in!!! Hurry for Minelab. Nothing to do w headphones...
After warranty expires (good for 3 yrs), I will not dunk the 800 in water much like my CTX 3030 that has drowned twice now and is now more or less a land machine. But while warranty is good go for it!

Where did it leak at?

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Where did it leak at?

It leaked at Clear water beach... Just kidding. Don't know how water got in and they didn't tell me. Not much pressure given the control unit/pod was under about 2 ft of water. Koss waterproof headphones. The detector worked well the first season (about 6 months use) and the pod was regularly down at 2 - 4ft deep (snorkel). BUT, drowned second time out this season, recently, in 1-2 ft water. Suggests something changed with waterproof ability in past 9 months or so.

 

[Irishgoldhound]

Minelab has changed the name apparently they’re calling it the “Leakquinox” now.

 

[Irishgoldhound]

Just make a hybrid already Minelab! The Nox and Excal in one machine...the ExNox! The submerge depth ability of the Excal, the VDI and adjustability of the Nox.

 

[billb]

I hope ML can release a new detector soon where the water leaks topic can be corrected..has anyone heard anything coming down the pipeline

 

[bigscoop]

Minelab is in a difficult position given that they have to be careful not to compete with themselves. In other words, they don't want to produce a machine that kills the sales on all of their other popular models.

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Well, for one water hunter, the 800 has killed the CTX 3030 totally and the Excal by a lot. Had 800 for about 23 months and once I got it I never looked back (at my other detectors). I've had a CTX for 5 years and have been using it since the 800 drowned last week and I just can't see paying $2500 (again) for the CTX when the 800 goes under 1K. Can't beat the Excal that I've had for 8 years for being waterproof; but most water hunting is in rather shallow and mild surf that the CTX and Equinox (both with better discrimination and customization) can handle.

Just got back new 800 pod/control unit from Minelab after a long WEEK (can't believe it only took a week!) and put back together...Darn forgot my specialized settings...was it 4 or 5 for iron bias? How many and what tones did I use? FYI might want to write settings down for future reference. Thankfully, had Andy Sabisch's 800 book near by.
Happy Hunting

 

[bigscoop]

There's the first 10 inches and then there's the second 10 inches, features like Disc, VDI, seldom being much help in the later unless those targets are pretty dense. Same being said for the broad spectrum of gold which can show up just about anywhere on the non-ferrous scale. Where the Excal really excels is that second 10 inches because it's unique threshold feature can still respond to those deeper targets and even tell you quite a bit about those deeper targets while still responding to everything in between. With the exception of the gold Mode and it's true threshold, the Nox can't do this, though only in this mode that does have has a true threshold which still allows it to respond to deeper targets but still lacking the three tone return feature of the Excal. Another reason why the Sov Series of machines are still king of the beach.

 

[billb]

Bigscoop good comparison here I think you could be a great consumer products reporter ..take care out there

 

[bigscoop]

Bigscoop good comparison here I think you could be a great consumer products reporter ..take care out there

It's just that everything is a tradeoff. Make an improvement in one area and it almost always results in the loss of performance somewhere else. There's just no getting around this. Take the Nox, per example, it seems to be heavily weighted toward shape, something I noticed pretty quickly, and it's VDI scale is also rather narrow. What am I getting at? Well, take a clad dime and a Mercury dime and compare them on the Nox, there is almost no difference in those returns, the clad dime at 25-26, the Merc also at 25-26. If we put the machine in 50 tone there is only a slight difference in the audio response, hardly noticeable. On some other machines, however, we would see a significant difference in both VDI and audio, these machines being more heavily weighted towards conductivity. So where does this become an issue? Take a selection of sterling silver jewelry and you're likely to see it show up all over the scale, and with the Nox it does, which sort of puts this pursuit in that same broad spectrum as we see with gold jewelry which can also show up all over the scale although for other reasons. With machines like the Excal, per example, sterling silver almost always returns with a high pitch, there being a very noticeable audible difference between a clad dime and a mercury dime. It's just the nature of the technology, make one area better and you've likely lost something somewhere else. One of the reasons why you see folks owning several machines, some perform better for this, others are better for that, etc.

 

[Mike L]

Thank you! I just ordered the GG head phones>>>

So I was curious, noticed the difference in the headphone pin jack connector provided by Minelab and the one provided by the Grey Ghost headphones for the Equinox. Go ahead, take a look and compare. What you will notice is that the the pin connector on the GG headphones has a watertight compression connection, the one's provided by Minelab don't? So, I went the additional step and searched for the IP rating for the Minelab pin connector as this is what I discovered....they are only rated at IP67.

"Water and dust proof connectivity products are defined by their Ingress Protection (IP) numbers. ... IP67 equipment is most commonly found in the connectivity market. It is 100% protected against solid objects like dust and sand, and it has been tested to work for at least 30 minutes while under 15cm to 1m of water."

What's this mean? What it means is that if you were to lose grip on your machine and it were to sink to say, 4 feet of water, then the provided connector isn't rated for that much additional water pressure and that it could very well leak. It's also quite possible that keeping the unit/connector submerged for much longer durations might also result in leakage. So keep an eye on this, as there's good reason why GG incorporated that compression fitting into their Equinox headphone cable.