Bad points about the Equinox series

[vferrari]

Going through this thread, I haven't seen one thing that may make you think twice...
The units are powered by a lithium-ion battery in the hand grip. Nice...except that you will NOT be able to check that unit on an airline! No Lithium Ion batteries allowed on U.S. Carriers except for those in computers that are carried aboard. If you attempt to sneak baggage check of a product that has a Lithium Ion battery, you can be subject to Federal Crime statutes, with fines and potential prison.
So... if you are always going to your hunting sites by land...no problem, but if you're taking a vacation and plan to take your MD via air... it better be by private plane, because the airlines will send you home from the airport. You could ship it by ground to your destination, but that's it.

The lithium battery is relatively easily removed from the handle and can then be stowed in carry-on luggage to meet the most stringent FAA regulations, but the size and capacity of the cell is WELL below 100 WH (18.5 WH) so is considered a small consumer electronics LI ION cell and is therefore actually allowed to be placed in checked baggage per the current regulations. Only e-cigs and vapes are not allowed to be stowed in checked baggage because they contain a heating element. Minelab states the user warranty is not voided by the end user removing/replacing the battery unless the end user damages the watertight seals and subsequent water damage to the battery/detector internals results.

The FAA FAQ can be found here:

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...fo/media/Airline_passengers_and_batteries.pdf

HTH

Battery Removal Thread: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/equinox/569474-equinox-battery-photos.html#post5711170

Minelab Warranty Blurb: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/equinox/569719-warranty-info.html#post5714038

New Minelab Slogan BTW: "Unequaled Performance is Everything if not Obsolete"

YMMV for international travel.

 

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[lookindown]

Now that's what I'm talkin about. Thanks for elaborating. Still keeping the Equinox on order because my AT Pro experience in wet sand was not the same as yours (one of the many reasons why I don't have an AT Pro any more) but I have seen a broad range of Equinox beach videos that convince me to take a shot. Why? It seems stable in salt surf (ie not noisy like Deus) and while the numbers may jump, the tones sound solid and the gold chain results are impressive. Also, I do believe a lot of the variability in the demonstrations does have to do with folks lack of familiarity on how to properly set up and tweak the machine (mode selection, noise cancel, GB, sensitivity setting, recovery speed setting). The last parameter being key to depth and one that folks are not used to being able to adjust.

From what Ive seen it is super stable in the salt...jumping numbers don't matter to me because I dig everything except iron...if it gets as good of depth at the beach as other water detectors then I will own one.

 

[chub]

Summing up. Early days, no real complaints. Didnt nail the nail board apparently...Thread is just here to quell the hype and keep things real. Nose heavy hasn't come up again.
VF busted the travel myth (tidy work).
Lets see how we go in the coming weeks and months.

Can hear crickets over in the Nokta forum re kruzer not making an impact - yes pun intentional

Chub

 

[Terry Soloman]

I don't like that Minelab did not include a hard copy of the instruction manual with the machine. I like to have it handy when I'm learning a machine and I'm not always in a place where I can get the PDF on my phone. I wish it had a standard battery pack. Other than that, I'm a happy camper.

 

[vferrari]

I don't like that Minelab did not include a hard copy of the instruction manual with the machine. I like to have it handy when I'm learning a machine and I'm not always in a place where I can get the PDF on my phone. I wish it had a standard battery pack. Other than that, I'm a happy camper.

I'm going to take up Vaping so I can easily just change out the battery whenever I need to surf, sand or sun.

 

[vferrari]

Summing up. Early days, no real complaints. Didnt nail the nail board apparently...Thread is just here to quell the hype and keep things real. Nose heavy hasn't come up again.
VF busted the travel myth (tidy work).
Lets see how we go in the coming weeks and months.

Can hear crickets over in the Nokta forum re kruzer not making an impact - yes pun intentional

Chub

You are terrible at making predictions - short thread....lol.

Couple of quibbles I have found people mentioning. As Noxtradamus has not made an appearance at my house I pass these on for discussion as they are only 3rd party hearsay:

Built-In Pinpointing seems a little wonky with lowering initial volume, lack of lock on, and some accuracy issues. Could just be some folks are not used to the self-ratcheting pinpoint algorithm.

Related to that, the depth meter seems inaccurate or based off a quarter sized target vs. the dime sized target that is used as the typical reference for depth meters.

Lower shaft readily fills with water and does not drain making for some sloshy swinging when you come back out of the surf/water. Coil cover retains water also.

 

[tnsharpshooter]

Good thing about the Nox 800.
I can find targets using, say targets reading 10 or lower TID reading in meter, if I sweep with 15, 20 and 40 kHz and no signal, I can say with pretty good odds that specific target likely never been detected before period. I just might dig those in a park.
Not bad for such a lower priced unit.

 

[vferrari]

Good thing about the Nox 800.
I can find targets using, say targets reading 10 or lower TID reading in meter, if I sweep with 15, 20 and 40 kHz and no signal, I can say with pretty good odds that specific target likely never been detected before period. I just might dig those in a park.
Not bad for such a lower priced unit.

What program do you have set up in your user profile slot?

 

[tnsharpshooter]

What program do you have set up in your user profile slot?

Nothing really right now.

 

[Echoplex]

Got out for a short hunt at the park today to try it out. IMO, one negative, since this is a "needs improvement" thread, is the balance. I don't like the way it feels when I swing it. It felt very unnatural and I had to fight the coil from rocking with each swing. Seems like it took unnecessary concentration and effort to keep the coil parallel to the ground. I'm used to an MXT, which is a breeze to swing and seems to float naturally parallel to the ground, so I probably just need to retrain those arm muscles for a different kind of balance, but it definitely jumped out at me immediately as a "that don't feel right!". I'll have more time with it this weekend and see how it feels after a few days.

 

[chub]

I'm going to take up Vaping so I can easily just change out the battery whenever I need to surf, sand or sun.

Terry is also used to vaping the old way... with papers

Chub

 

[lookindown]

You are terrible at making predictions - short thread....lol.

Couple of quibbles I have found people mentioning. As Noxtradamus has not made an appearance at my house I pass these on for discussion as they are only 3rd party hearsay:

Built-In Pinpointing seems a little wonky with lowering initial volume, lack of lock on, and some accuracy issues. Could just be some folks are not used to the self-ratcheting pinpoint algorithm.

Related to that, the depth meter seems inaccurate or based off a quarter sized target vs. the dime sized target that is used as the typical reference for depth meters.

Lower shaft readily fills with water and does not drain making for some sloshy swinging when you come back out of the surf/water. Coil cover retains water also.

Your scaring me with that pinpoint talk...my CZ21 pinpoints easy and dead on target.

 

[chub]

Got out for a short hunt at the park today to try it out. IMO, one negative, since this is a "needs improvement" thread, is the balance. I don't like the way it feels when I swing it. It felt very unnatural and I had to fight the coil from rocking with each swing. Seems like it took unnecessary concentration and effort to keep the coil parallel to the ground. I'm used to an MXT, which is a breeze to swing and seems to float naturally parallel to the ground, so I probably just need to retrain those arm muscles for a different kind of balance, but it definitely jumped out at me immediately as a "that don't feel right!". I'll have more time with it this weekend and see how it feels after a few days.

This is exactly what the thread is for. Not to criticise unduly. Do you think its the straight shaft? or combo of balance / vertical grip/ straight shaft. I read someones comment once that they hate S rods. The ergonomics of the Srod put weight on the top finger of your hand though - which seems natural to me and much like a small fishing rod. Then there were the people that said Noktas grip (Fores, impact etc) was pitched a little too far fwd. causing some fatigue.

Chub

 

[Terry Soloman]

Got out for a short hunt at the park today to try it out. IMO, one negative, since this is a "needs improvement" thread, is the balance. I don't like the way it feels when I swing it. It felt very unnatural and I had to fight the coil from rocking with each swing. Seems like it took unnecessary concentration and effort to keep the coil parallel to the ground. I'm used to an MXT, which is a breeze to swing and seems to float naturally parallel to the ground, so I probably just need to retrain those arm muscles for a different kind of balance, but it definitely jumped out at me immediately as a "that don't feel right!". I'll have more time with it this weekend and see how it feels after a few days.

Experiment with the lower pole setting. Shorten or lengthen it and see if that helps. I lengthened mine and that made a noticeable difference in the balance.

 

[sprailroad]

I don't like that Minelab did not include a hard copy of the instruction manual with the machine. I like to have it handy when I'm learning a machine and I'm not always in a place where I can get the PDF on my phone. I wish it had a standard battery pack. Other than that, I'm a happy camper.

What!! Come on Minelab, No "hard copy" of a instruction manual?, I LIKE having "printed" material in hand to read, and with a new machine in the field, I LIKE having "printed" material in hand to refer to. Does everything now have to be "PDF", Smart phone, internet, text, twitter, tweeting, face book, you tube etc. etc. Sometimes having alittle printed material in hand is best. Again, come on Minelab, Really?

 

[flgliderpilot]

Built-In Pinpointing seems a little wonky with lowering initial volume, lack of lock on, and some accuracy issues. Could just be some folks are not used to the self-ratcheting pinpoint algorithm.

Related to that, the depth meter seems inaccurate or based off a quarter sized target vs. the dime sized target that is used as the typical reference for depth meters.

Lower shaft readily fills with water and does not drain making for some sloshy swinging when you come back out of the surf/water. Coil cover retains water also.

1) .. I can't believe people use built in pinpoint AT ALL totally unnecessary ..
2) .. or depth meters .. I don't bother looking because I know it's not accurate ...
3) .. also don't use coil covers .. they just catch dirt .. and I do own a drill so lower shaft will be fixed pronto

 

[Dr. Witty]

Summing up. Early days, no real complaints. Didnt nail the nail board apparently...Thread is just here to quell the hype and keep things real. Nose heavy hasn't come up again.
VF busted the travel myth (tidy work).
Lets see how we go in the coming weeks and months.

Can hear crickets over in the Nokta forum re kruzer not making an impact - yes pun intentional

Chub

Well there's still no Makro Kruzer sub forum yet and the crickets you hear are Kruzer owners getting out in the field and actually using their machines instead of doing nail tests, air tests, gold chain in water tests, and depth tests, and then posting all the neat trash they found.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Well there's still no Makro Kruzer sub forum yet and the crickets you hear are Kruzer owners getting out in the field and actually using their machines instead of doing nail tests, air tests, gold chain in water tests, and depth tests, and then posting all the neat trash they found.

Request to add Makro Kruzer sub forum has already been requested, waiting on admins to do the coding.

 

[Echoplex]

This is exactly what the thread is for. Not to criticise unduly. Do you think its the straight shaft? or combo of balance / vertical grip/ straight shaft. I read someones comment once that they hate S rods. The ergonomics of the Srod put weight on the top finger of your hand though - which seems natural to me and much like a small fishing rod. Then there were the people that said Noktas grip (Fores, impact etc) was pitched a little too far fwd. causing some fatigue.

Chub

IMO, it is the height of the control/grip box that creates the feeling of imbalance on the x-axis. The high weight on top the grip seems to cause the rocking of the x-axis, which translates into the edges of the coil hit the ground, and takes away the feeling that the coil is floating. This morning I tried gripping it as high as possible, with the screen resting on my hand, and that tamed it a bit because I lowered the center of the axis by doing so.

Thank you for the suggestion, Terry. I tried that yesterday, but extending the shaft only made the y-axis too toe heavy for me and had no impact on x-axis. For reference, I am 5'10" with a small frame/build.

I don't think this is a big deal at all, but something that could certainly be improved on in the future, perhaps, by lowering the center of gravity on the grip/screen section, or a combination of that and maybe relocating the battery to the rear shaft for some counter-balance. In the meantime, a little muscle memory training should sort things out for me.

 

[detectorben]

Well there's still no Makro Kruzer sub forum yet and the crickets you hear are Kruzer owners getting out in the field and actually using their machines instead of doing nail tests, air tests, gold chain in water tests, and depth tests, and then posting all the neat trash they found.

Lol this made me laugh. The Kruzer is so awesome that everyone is too busy out finding treasure to to talk about it or post on the forum. [emoji23][emoji23]