Another one bites the dust....flooded EQX

[vferrari]

I have to disagree wit your disagreement

:P

Um... I have seen massive cases of failures due to obvious overall quality since its release... update problems... shaft wobble problems... falsing problems... on and on... I could type for 5 minutes about the things I have read.

Ya can dress up and slap on some lipstick on a pig and call it a girl all ya want... but it is what it is.

I would not buy an EQ if they were 100 bucks... just for the simple fact.. I don't want hassles and I don't see it doing anything my detectors won't...
With a MAYBE exception to small chains... screw tiny chains.. you can have em... and you can have the "downtime" with em. heh

When I purchase something... a tool of any kind... a T.V. set... A car... I want and need it work.... I could care less about being able to send it in or get it fixed.. to me this is a major "no go".

There are not enough hours in a day as it is...and I definitely do not have time or the will to ship NEW things back to only wonder after getting it back when the next time is gonna come.

Perhaps you are "ok" with a tool that was built half arsed.

Not me.

Please give me the hard data you have on these "massive cases" of all types of failures. Anecdotal complaints on forums don't give a true picture of overall failure rates. However, repeated waterborne failures reported by folks indicate something is truly wrong with the watertight design. ML has done $83M of business in North America just last year - wonder how much of that is Equinoxes? And what percentage of those failed. That is the data needed to say "massive cases of failures". Not saying it is or isn't so, just saying where's the proof beyond the expected forum complaints of typical failures from such a popularly sold detector?

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

I've had my 800 something over two years - would have to look back through records to see.

The drowning problem showed up pretty quickly after their introduction. So, I never put mine in the water - that's what a REAL water machine is all about (love my Excal II).

I used it some dirt digging, but I found I really liked my Tesoro Tejon doubly better than the EQ.

Thus I look back in retrospect and ask myself = JUST WHY THE HECK DO I OWN AN EQ?

Money outta my pocket and gathering dust.....

I should have paid better attention to my actions. I fell into the guppy game and wasted good money.

 

[Bayoutalker]

20 is massive to me. heh

That may be, but I would venture to guess that you don't own any piece of equipment of any kind that hasn't had at least 20 failures of some kind somewhere in the world. What kind of vehicle do you drive for example?

 

[ARC]

Please give me the hard data you have on these "massive cases" of all types of failures. Anecdotal complaints on forums don't give a true picture of overall failure rates. However, repeated waterborne failures reported by folks indicate something is truly wrong with the watertight design. ML has done $83M of business in North America just last year - wonder how much of that is Equinoxes? And what percentage of those failed. That is the data needed to say "massive cases of failures". Not saying it is or isn't so, just saying where's the proof beyond the expected forum complaints of typical failures from such a popularly sold detector?

100 would be massive if ONLY 1000 were produced,,, and we both know BOTH numbers FAR exceed this.

I have paid attention to Minelab since my original Sov purchase... which I liked but had a few gripes with and later sold... overall I had become a fan of Minelab and was watching them as a company etc.

When I saw someone with a brand new Excal Blue... I had to have it... and was from that point a "fan" and really into Minelab at that point.

Watching all the other detectors they produced one by one I continued to see "steps" in the right direction as far as I saw it in metal detection industry.

IMO... the EQ... took 10 steps backwards. heh

 

[cudamark]

The Equinox, even with it perceived and real flaws, is still the best all-around detector I've ever owned......and there have been plenty in my 50+years of detecting. Best for every situation, no, of course not, but, it does just about everything good to excellent. I've had my Nox800 in the ocean, desert, crammed into a suitcase for a trip overseas, dropped onto the concrete or rocks too many times to remember, and it hasn't failed me yet. (knock, knock!) I have had the wireless headphone fail (bad cable socket, and to be fair, Minelab doesn't make them), and I have had the dreaded broken coil ears on my 15" coil, but other than that, no other problems. Just trying to balance out the scales here, YMMV, and apparently does.

 

[ARC]

Its like the EQ was developed solely to compete with the Dues "style" etc ... and lets face it the reason why was the dues was a huge success.

Minelab IMO took its eyes off "ahead" and starting looking at what "the other" popular competition was doing and in which started the lust for a bigger share of the market... cant blame em for that... they succeeded to a point... we all know the EQ is VERY popular and sold like hell... BUT ! ! ! the design is so much unlike Minelab detectors... and the goals of super compact design was... I imagine... tough enough to accomplish... and we all know Minelabs have never been known for "lightweight detectors"... let alone to take it to the next level(s) and also make it watertight and cheap.

 

[cudamark]

What I can't understand with today's design and the straying from repairs vs. replacements of the main control pod, is why don't they just make the control pod like the coil? Just incorporate all the electronics into potting resin and make it completely, easily, and permanently waterproof. You won't be able to repair it, but, it looks like they don't want to get into repairing them anyway. Seems to me, since they will have a lot less failures that way, it would be cheaper in the long run. Give up on having these things repairable and make them more reliable.

 

[ARC]

Its like the EQ was developed solely to compete with the Dues "style" etc ... and lets face it the reason why was the dues was a huge success.

Minelab IMO took its eyes off "ahead" and starting looking at what "the other" popular competition was doing and in which started the lust for a bigger share of the market... cant blame em for that... they succeeded to a point... we all know the EQ is VERY popular and sold like hell... BUT ! ! ! the design is so much unlike Minelab detectors... and the goals of super compact design and we all know Minelabs have never been known for "lightweight detectors"... let alone to take it to the next level(s) and also make it watertight and cheap.

 

[vferrari]

100 would be massive if ONLY 1000 were produced,,, and we both know BOTH numbers FAR exceed this.

[Snip]

IMO... the EQ... took 10 steps backwards. heh

That's the thing, I DON'T know what the percentage of failures is and neither do you. Only ML knows. If the failures were excessive (i.e., greater than even just 5% much less than the ridiculously atrocious 10% number you are throwing around) then they would be taking a huge financial hit honoring the warranty pod replacements. That means that ML folks intimately involved in the Equinox design would probably be losing their jobs and production would be halted. Again, I think the issues are primary related to watertight build quality and the fractional Equinox water user base plus any other isolated failures is keeping the overall failure rate small and tolerable from a ML business perspective. That doesn't mean the overall build quality is good. It obviously stinks. But electronic reliability is probably about average otherwise the Codan higher ups would be screaming for heads to roll in the ML metal detector division rather than increasing metal detector sales 30% over the past year (nearly $20M increase in North Amerca alone if it scales across the board). Do your homework and get some actual business stats and not just forum anecdotes. Those tell the true story. Business concerns self regulate design and production quality when a 3 year warranty is at stake. This information is publicly available btw.

So yeah, huge steps back in build quality and an obvious swing and a miss on watertight design. Everyone, including Garrett now with Apex, is going with the cell phone on a stick form factor. Apparently Nokta knows how to get watertight right in this form factor (Simplex and Kruzer), so it CAN be done.

As far as performance is concerned, Multi IQ and fast processing is obviously the next Multifrequency generational iteration for ML. It's fast and allows for significant signal processing potential. If they can get Multi IQ to be as fast as Equinox and as precise at deep silver target ID as FBS2 (CTX and eTrac) with sophisticated 2D discrimination, that will be a hard flagship detector to beat. But they are going to have to deliver a true waterproof machine or suffer the consequences to their reputation if they roll out another drowning dud.

 

[mortaky]

You are correct. They do pressure test the replacements before sending them to you. I just got my replacement on Saturday. I emailed Minelab to verify it was tested because I was without a detector for 2 months waiting for replacement. I love the NOX800 but now I am afraid to take it under water. The 3 year warranty sounded good but, the repair time was slow in my opinion.

 

[nuggetdog]

The equinox 800 is an amazing detector, we’ve been many different places together. Mountains, deserts, parks and sports fields to residential yards. Unfortunately the waterproof down to 10 ft claim was a huge selling point for me. Wish I didn’t have to worry about going in the water but on land this machine is a beast. For that reason I’ll probably keep her dry except for rain.

 

[ARC]

That may be, but I would venture to guess that you don't own any piece of equipment of any kind that hasn't had at least 20 failures of some kind somewhere in the world. What kind of vehicle do you drive for example?

I was joking about 20... and erased that post and made the following one with "100 /1000".

ME ? ? ... I drive a Lamb o goonie.

 

[ARC]

I am thinking of getting a van... there is a nice waterfront spot down by the river.

:P

 

[Toecutter]

AAC have you used a nox ? I know you said you pay attention to these post about equinox failures but have you used one? The machine seperates like no other Iv used but i havent used a Deus, point is the nox on land is a beast this machine in the fresh water " no salt water around these parts" works same as any vlf machine it repeats you dig it at least for me the performance is noticed on land.. Doesnt change the fact that some of them leak though...

 

[Toecutter]

July 25 2019 was my first equinox purchase. Im now going on the third control pod. Ill send this one back again with my second flooded panel and await my third replacement. These units fail in the water after repeated use. This one failed in 4 feet of water....this replacement unit lasted about 6 or 8 water hunts. If you count my second backup nox ill be working on my 4th unit.

I feel your pain Bart, just got my 800 back but had to get me a 600 while I was waiting, I mostly hunt 1800s home sites and trying to do that with the ATpro is torture...

 

[ARC]

AAC have you used a nox ? I know you said you pay attention to these post about equinox failures but have you used one? The machine seperates like no other Iv used but i havent used a Deus, point is the nox on land is a beast this machine in the fresh water " no salt water around these parts" works same as any vlf machine it repeats you dig it at least for me the performance is noticed on land.. Doesnt change the fact that some of them leak though...

Why would I buy an EQ ? ? ?

I own 2 of the best detectors on the market...

To be honest TC... I am not a big fan of cheaper made tools... or tools that have "limits" in the quality areas.

I remember when I shelled out on the blue I was nervous because it was not built like pulse... to me the construction materials seemed "weaker"... but after using one I found it was "adequate" and ran with it... and then upon their release had no problems purchasing the X2's.

You gotta remember... I grew up on Pulse's ... They are basically industrial grade... so to go "backwards" in a sense was hard... BUT I wanted to upgrade to some new tech beings I heard all the rants and raves just like now with the EQ and I did sorta kick back and watch and saw it was "working well" for those that owned the blues... so I decided to buy one... and was hooked.

People complained that the blues were heavy was about the main complaint going around... BUT it was 1/3rd the weight of my pulse... but not like I had the pulse shaft mounted anyway... I had been experimenting with hip mounts with that for years and never shaft mounted it again.

Anyway.........

 

[Toecutter]

I was just curios if you ever used one, seems I got my answer... No offence but you remind me of a ATpro fan boy.... sorry ARC

 

[smokeythecat]

I personally like to keep my "stuff" in good condition, cars, carpets, toys, everything. Its no fun if your machine if the one that dies prematurely. When the warranties start to expire now pretty soon, then the whole game will change. My best advice is if you still have an Equinox to consider it a land machine only and get something else for the water. Yes, it's not what they advertized but if it breaks due to water use after warranty you're out about a grand. I see plenty of 800 packages about $1k each for sale. Everything seems to be bundled now. I am certain a replacement head will be several hundred dollars, not $59.95. They work very well on land.

 

[Toecutter]

I think retail is around 250$ for the pod by its self... I have came to that same conclusion Smokey..

 

[ARC]

I was just curios if you ever used one, seems I got my answer... No offence but you remind me of a ATpro fan boy.... sorry ARC

What is an ATpro ? ? ?

:P~~~

Heard of em... never owned or used one... never even seen one.

CZ21 is the only detector I have never owned but wanted to.