Nox 800 out of warranty pod replacement info.

[Dan(NM)]

I spoke with Martha at Minelab this morning. The reason I calle I spoke with Martha at Minelab this morning. The reason I called is, my machine is out of warranty and has been replaced three times since I bought it. I wanted to know how much it was going to cost to replace the pod and if the replacement was going to have a warranty. She told me it would cost $350 for a new replacement, or $225 for a refurbished unit. What she meant by refurbished, if someone returned a whole detector because of a faulty coil, shaft etc, they would send out that control pod if there are any available. I am still waiting to hear back from her on the amount of warranty that will come with the replacement pod. She wanted to double check on the amount of time before she gave me an answer. I have her permission to share this information on the internet forums.

 

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[smokeythecat]

Actually, $350 doesn't sound too bad, considering the high cost of everything these days. I would stay away from a refurbished unit. It may have been one that was underwater (theoretically), and they repaired. We all know from past posts here some repairs are better than others. In other industries, a refurbished unit has a 30 day warranty. On a new control head, it will be interesting to see what the warranty is. And for refurbished unit, the part they repaired I would think is the part you need. I'd run away from that. They are not going to give you a perfectly good used head because a shaft broke.

Good info. Thanks for the post.

 

[Bayoutalker]

Were the other failures due to water? This is a known problem. They should extend your warranty and fix it for free. If they don't I'd sell the rest of the parts and buy a different brand. Why would you think the new one would be any different?

 

[cudamark]

Were the other failures due to water? This is a known problem. They should extend your warranty and fix it for free. If they don't I'd sell the rest of the parts and buy a different brand. Why would you think the new one would be any different?

Buy a different brand? Who makes a detector as good as the Equinox?

 

[Dan(NM)]

Were the other failures due to water? This is a known problem. They should extend your warranty and fix it for free. If they don't I'd sell the rest of the parts and buy a different brand. Why would you think the new one would be any different?

. First time it was the power button, second time it was the battery not charging and the third time was water intrusion. There's nothing wrong with it now, I was just curious before I took it swimming again. I haven't had another metal detector in the last 3 years that performed like my 800 for the type of hunting that I do. Every time I had an issue, it was taken care of within a week or less.

 

[JerV3]

Sucks,

Minelab does make top notch machines. However they could be built a little better in my opinion. Except the 3030 is extremely well built but cost three times as much.

I am very careful with my units. I don't like them bumped dropped scuffed up etc. I also noticed my nox 600 power button sucks.

I also have a brand new vanquish 440 and right out of the box the power button is iffy. I would think they would have mastered power on buttons by now.

However both machines are bad asses. So I guess if I have to press a button 3 times for it to turn on I'll live with it.

Hope you get that screen fixed.

Jer

 

[Bayoutalker]

. First time it was the power button, second time it was the battery not charging and the third time was water intrusion. There's nothing wrong with it now, I was just curious before I took it swimming again. I haven't had another metal detector in the last 3 years that performed like my 800 for the type of hunting that I do. Every time I had an issue, it was taken care of within a week or less.

Since it was different issues each time that would make a difference on how to handle it. I really like my Nox but if I had the issues that some have reported I'd have to try something else.

I had a problem with my wireless headphones and had to send them in. Several weeks later still no replacement. After 2 or 3 phone calls and getting upset with them they finally sent out a new pair. Not exactly what I consider good service.

 

[Singlestack Wonder]

I have a Garrett AT Pro that’s been to hell and back with no issues. I’ve been wanting to upgrade to the Equinox 800 because of its feature set but each time I get ready to pull the trigger, I see another thread like this one.

 

[smokeythecat]

I have been told the failure rate is quite low. Maybe it is. However, I'm not hearing about nearly as failures on other brands. Go figure.

 

[midalake]

I have been told the failure rate is quite low. Maybe it is. However, I'm not hearing about nearly as failures on other brands. Go figure.

I think it a total of the sum. Pods have broke, arm cuffs, coil ears, rods shaky. The Equinox is an engineering disaster in 2021. Myself, have had a pod and coil replaced. Never used the rods or cuff. Minelab needs to knuckle down.

 

[Singlestack Wonder]

I think I’ll wait until they announce durability upgrades for the Equinox series.

Does the CTX 3030 exhibit quality issues or has it been more durable?

 

[smokeythecat]

I don't know about the 3030 but I haven't seen anything on this website talking about failures in the last couple years. Of course, I may have missed something.

My XP Deus is 5 years old (actually it was a demo machine and is 5.5 years old). Looks like it was a dog's chew toy, but has not failed.

 

[vferrari]

I think I?ll wait until they announce durability upgrades for the Equinox series.

Does the CTX 3030 exhibit quality issues or has it been more durable?

Lol. You'll likely be waiting awhile.

ML is so confident in the Equinox sales figures (its the best selling mid-range detector in the world) they raised the price of the Equinox this year by $50 without doing a thing to enhance the Equinox's well known build quality issues.

The fact remains that despite these issues, ML does honor the 3-year warranty with basically no questions asked.

So, in other words, they have decided to choose the we'll fix it if it breaks path rather than investing in design changes across the board, which just opens them up to recall claims by folks who already own an Equinox even if they are not experiencing issues.

Based on the popularity of Equinox you are naturally going to hear about these problems more frequently than other less popular detectors. What we really don't know is what PERCENTAGE of Equinoxes experience these issues.

Also, there is a reason the Equinox is just about everywhere you look when you go where other detectorists are gathered. It performs very well, is fast (separates targets better in trashy sites), and is highly versatile as a water, beach, park, relic, and gold prospecting detector in a single package. While some people decide to wait on the sidelines for perfection, the fact is thousands of Equinox owners are snagging targets every day, now. Some address the light duty shaft and arm cuff issues by opting for third-party Carbon Fiber shafts and metallic vice plastic cuffs.

If the Equinox was a total build quality disaster, I think the word would get out and suppress sales growth, but that doesn't seem to be the case (hence, the price hike). I do know a number of people who have had to send their Equinoxes in for service (mostly water hunters). Some multiple times. I know many, many others who have had no issues whatsoever.

CTX had its share of flooding issues initially due to poor o-ring/gasket and battery compartment latch. It has a flawed design that requires you to physically remove the battery for charging which means you are constantly breaking open the watertight boundary creating wear and tear on these critical watertight boundary compartment. They've improved these components somewhat. A more extensive design overhaul woukd be required to address some of the flaws and vulnerabilities in the Equinox design. I suspect ML will address these issues when they develop the Multi IQ (Equinox/Vanquish multifrequency scheme) variant update to the CTX 3030 which has overall higher end build quality despite the battery compartment issues I mentioned.

 

[smokeythecat]

V is right. You will be waiting till the Equinox is obsolete and they have come up with something else. Sales are quite good.

 

[billb]

The company needs to check their mean time to fail in house.Over and over we here of quality issues and there are few upgrades.Yes the technology is among the best but better AQL needs to be performed in the assembly line to reduce these defects.

 

[Singlestack Wonder]

The company needs to check their mean time to fail in house.Over and over we here of quality issues and there are few upgrades.Yes the technology is among the best but better AQL needs to be performed in the assembly line to reduce these defects.

This +100......while the detector may have great features it’s is not finding anything while being sent back to Minelab.

 

[vferrari]

This +100......while the detector may have great features it’s is not finding anything while being sent back to Minelab.

I guess you guys missed my point. That's what ML SHOULD do if they were all about quality and not profit, but as long as sales are unaffected, then there is nothing driving them to do it. Quality control costs money. It may not even be quality control in the first place, just simply a marginal design. A company that boosts the price on a consumer technology based product after it has been on the market for 3 years doesn't sound like they are worried that these issues, whatever the cause, are going to impact sales. ML's parent company CODAN is having a banner profit year despite the pandemic.

It's pretty apparent, nothing is going to change on Equinox, other than periodic firmware updates (which are cheap - just post the update to the website and let the users install it on their own). That's because the detectorist community has spoken with their wallets and have made the Equinox a huge cash cow for ML. No one is competitive with them when it comes to the mid-range enthusiast level detector market.

 

[smokeythecat]

I guess you guys missed my point. That's what ML SHOULD do if they were all about quality and not profit, but as long as sales are unaffected, then there is nothing driving them to do it. Quality control costs money. It may not even be quality control in the first place, just simply a marginal design. A company that boosts the price on a consumer technology based product after it has been on the market for 3 years doesn't sound like they are worried that these issues, whatever the cause, are going to impact sales. ML's parent company CODAN is having a banner profit year despite the pandemic.

It's pretty apparent, nothing is going to change on Equinox, other than periodic firmware updates (which are cheap - just post the update to the website and let the users install it on their own). That's because the detectorist community has spoken with their wallets and have made the Equinox a huge cash cow for ML. No one is competitive with them when it comes to the mid-range enthusiast level detector market.

You nailed it.

 

[vferrari]

You nailed it.

And believe me, I am not happy about it. Equinox is a fine detector but lack of competition with ML is not a good thing for the detecting community. Really disappointed especially in Garrett for resting on their AT Pro laurels and not stepping up to continue to innovate. They phoned it in and served up a warmed over AT Pro with the AT Max rather than investing sooner in more advanced MF technology at affordable prices. The Garrett Ace Apex is a great first generation MF effort but they are still in a huge hole as the next MF detector ML releases will be their fifth iteration of MF technology.

 

[Bayoutalker]

And believe me, I am not happy about it. Equinox is a fine detector but lack of competition with ML is not a good thing for the detecting community. Really disappointed especially in Garrett for resting on their AT Pro laurels and not stepping up to continue to innovate. They phoned it in and served up a warmed over AT Pro with the AT Max rather than investing sooner in more advanced MF technology at affordable prices. The Garrett Ace Apex is a great first generation MF effort but they are still in a huge hole as the next MF detector ML releases will be their fifth iteration of MF technology.

I was disappointed that Garrett didn't make the Apex water resistant like the AT. Would it really have cost that much more?