My Nox has just flooded.

[smokeythecat]

Treasure_Hunter is correct. For most or maybe all detectors, it's out the door as fast as fast can be. Tesoro had a GREAT build quality and the lifetime warranty, alas, the old days! They may have tested theirs (briefly) before shipping them out. You really couldn't break one. I worked at a manufacturing plant once. Quality control was a joke. If the "O" rings we were making were too large, it jammed up the machine that was making them with a monstrous BOOM! and it shut down. We pulled out the big "O" ring and started it right up again and kept trucking. The only thing we did was an untrained visual inspection before stacking them in boxes. We weren't trained, no measuring devices were used.

I would like to know which detector brands are going back in the first year under warranty. I don't care especially which ones, I'm not in the market at the moment, but all I'm hearing about is one right now, with an occasional problem with a different brand machine. Ganging up on one company looks lopsided.

 

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[SanMan]

No detector manufacturers test each unit before shipping and having worked on multiple brands of detectors all detector manufacturers have ocassional manufacturer issues.

Rusty Henry is a good friend of mine.
I remember him telling me that all the water machines are tested for integrity after building.
Brings to mind when Tesoro started charging a reasonable amount when the repair was a water machine.
The reason being that after the repair there was shop time spent on setting up and doing the pressure test.

After a repair, White's, Fisher, Garrett, Tesoro, other makers as well, the unit gets tested before shipping.
Water machines are unique. The user can take them, and use them, under water.
That "underwater" part is a big deal, any water unit should be checked that it's sound.


Here is a look at quality in place.


Every 30th part is checked , because the job is very stable.

Every 10th part is checked,......

Every 5th part is checked,.......

10% of the parts are checked, 10 out of 100.

100% of the parts are checked

Check a percent of each batch

Check a percent of each lot

On and on.
A quality system should "reasonable", but at the same time assure the specs are met.

In this case, where there is a rash of failures, by all means test units before shipping.

Doing so also helps pinpoint the problem.
There may be just one place that breaches each and every time, or more than one place.

Testing the units will yield an education as to why they are failing.

As well as help assure that an end user doesn't receive two or more bad units in a row.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Tesoro is out of business, they were losing money hand over fist. Detector repairs are different, they are individually tested after the repairs. We would put water detectors in a pressure tank, ran the tank to at least 3 atmosphere then dunked then in a water tank to check for air bubble leaks. New units are not tested before shipping, there are only spot inspections on assembly lines. .

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Here is some of what I have learned here:

1) Some Equinox units might leak.
2) Minelab is covering them under warranty, send it back if it leaks.
3) Deal directly with Minelab, not the dealer.
4) I won't be submerging mine anytime soon.

I'm not a Beach/Water hunter. I bought mine for coin shooting and nugget shooting. The waterproof feature was attractive, mostly because of chances of getting caught out in the rain.
I hope that everyone who's detector leaked gets their issues resolved. I also hope that Minelab is improving their Quality Control. Get it fixed, and move on...Stuff happens.

 

[SanMan]

Tesoro is out of business, they were losing money hand over fist. Detector repairs are different, they are individually tested after the repairs. We would put water detectors in a pressure tank, ran the tank to at least 3 atmosphere then dunked then in a water tank to check for air bubble leaks.

New units are not tested before shipping, there are only spot inspections on assembly lines.

Random spot checking is a reasonable quality approach, on units that routinely seal 100%.

But believe this, if the time came where machines were failing and being returned by the
end user at an alarming rate,.... testing would have been increased.
No question about that.

"When in doubt, double check"

 

[sandmartin]

You really do want to know. If it is defective, you need them to honor that warranty should you choose to use it in the water in the future. It also helps others by giving ML the additional data point of a defective machine if that is the case so they can gey their quality control act together. Don't let minelab or your dealer off the hook. Demand excellence for your money.

I will. I have given it a lot of thought over the past few days and have decided I will stick with it. If it wasn't such a good machine I would look for something else but in my view the Equinox is the best performing, value for money machine out there. I had around put a lot of hours on it and I can't honestly think of another detector that I want. But I need to know if it's what it should be, waterproof to 10ft, so I will dunk the replacement and if it leaks I will return it to Minelab for another replacement and so on until I get one that doesn't leak. I only beach and shallow water hunt so a waterproof machine is important, that's why this problem has been so frustrating for me.

 

[sgoss66]

sandmartin, in my opinion that is a sound approach. That's exactly what I would have concluded, and how I would approach things from here forward, if I were in your shoes, for what it's worth.

Steve

I will. I have given it a lot of thought over the past few days and have decided I will stick with it. If it wasn't such a good machine I would look for something else but in my view the Equinox is the best performing, value for money machine out there. I had around put a lot of hours on it and I can't honestly think of another detector that I want. But I need to know if it's what it should be, waterproof to 10ft, so I will dunk the replacement and if it leaks I will return it to Minelab for another replacement and so on until I get one that doesn't leak. I only beach and shallow water hunt so a waterproof machine is important, that's why this problem has been so frustrating for me.

 

[sandmartin]

sandmartin, in my opinion that is a sound approach. That's exactly what I would have concluded, and how I would approach things from here forward, if I were in your shoes, for what it's worth.

Steve

Thanks buddy, the replacement should be here in the next day or so, will post what happens.
Paul.

 

[Rawhide]

I have had better experiences when purchasing a detector. The Nox 800 arrived with a broken arm cuff out of the box. I t was replaced quickly and no hassle. Thats a pretty good track record for me. Had a real bad experience with a pin pointer purchase once. Just went back to that brand after years of avoiding it. I blame most issues on the post office, but the cuff was not tapped properly in the cuff and that happens if tap gets dull. If you want to fail in liofe dfor sure, just complain about everything.

 

[smokeythecat]

Jeez. I have nothing to complain about with my machines. Sandmartin, regardless how many times you send your machine back for a repair, at 3 years from the original purchase, the warranty will expire. This was explained in another thread recently. It does not reset if you get a new part. I believe that is pretty much for any detecting product.

Do you have an Excal? I understand they do better. If I went in the water I believe that would be my choice.

 

[Jason in Enid]

regardless how many times you send your machine back for a repair, at 3 years from the original purchase, the warranty will expire. .

Thats why we keep saying to dunk the new one as soon as you get it. Why wait until the warranty is about to expire before finding out if you have a good one.

 

[SanMan]

Thats why we keep saying to dunk the new one as soon as you get it. Why wait until the warranty is about to expire before finding out if you have a good one.

My opinion is they should check them before they ship them.

1) It's not an elaborate set up.
(truth be told, they had to at one point check machines to test for leaks)
So, they should have a set up.

2) Plenty of money to be saved when all the shipping back and forth is put to rest.

3) Customer sends in a unit that leaked, factory sends him a replacement that's been tested.

4) Until they have the problem solved, it's advisable to test before shipping.

 

[sandmartin]

So I got my replacement Nox 600 yesterday. I took it out to my local beach, tried pairing it with my Bluetooth headphones, wouldn't pair. Came home, tried them with a couple of other things, worked perfectly. Must have tried pairing with the Nox around 30 times, it did pair once, then nothing. Tried it again this morning still not pairing. Rang Minelab, they said it sounds like a Bluetooth problem and I have to ring my dealer, again. Rang the dealer and he said he will ring Minelab, says he will 'hopefully have some good news' for me. Waiting to hear back.

**I have just heard back from my dealer. He has spoken to Minelab and told them of my recent problems, I am getting a complete new 800 upgrade! They are also picking this 600 up at the same time the new machine arrives. I couldn't ask for anymore than that, WELL DONE MINELAB!

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

That's a great outcome! Kudos to Minelab for stepping it up a notch.

 

[vferrari]

Talking to US Minelab repair center manager in person, he estimates less than 1% of all US sold Equinoxes have been turned in for repair for ALL reasons (not just flooding) for what its worth. Glad ML is standing behind its product in the UK too. Glad to hear it, Sandmartin.

 

[s.c.shooter]

Haven't had any problem with mine yet .

 

[Bayoutalker]

Talking to US Minelab repair center manager in person, he estimates less than 1% of all US sold Equinoxes have been turned in for repair for ALL reasons (not just flooding) for what its worth. Glad ML is standing behind its product in the UK too. Glad to hear it, Sandmartin.

I would think that is reality. It is easy to think there is a major problem when you only read about the ones that had issues especially if yours is one of them.

 

[RobNC]

So after reading posts here about Equinox flooding problems today I decided to dunk my nox…..it flooded. I have just got off the phone to my dealer, he tells me I have just been unlucky(!) He then says they are not covered under warranty if used with wired headphones if submerged!?? I luckily had already told him I used it with bluetooth ones so he will exchange it. This is the second faulty Nox I have had, as good a machine as it is my confidence is rock bottom right now.

I can't understand WHY the Equinox is having all these problems, especially with "flooding" when one of its strengths is supposedly being "waterproof". I know it's a sore spot to mention such a thing but I don't recall hearing of many Garrett AT Pros having such a flooding problem.
You would think with all the money and resources Minelab has the least of an owner's worries would be the famed "waterproof" claim. Certainly appears that maybe it is not so waterproof after all. But I wonder where exactly the problem is. If I had to take a guess I would say the speaker.
Having owned an Equinox myself in the past and not being 100% pleased with it (due mostly to the tones and me not being able to adjust), I'm sorry people are having issues.
I will add that the first 6" coil I bought had issues out of the bag/box. Minelab did replace it, but come on.. a new coil that is faulty- that is ridiculous. It sure seemed the more I used my Equinox the worse it got for me. The tones just didn't resonate in my head and really never felt the love a lot of other owners did.

But back to my point here. Why is it so many issues are happening with the Equinox? Surely they put enough time into development and testing. My take is poor QC and cheap parts to make more profit. What's you take?

This is NOT an Equinox basing fest, just observations of a consumer and previous owner in search of opinions.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

There isnt a lot, flooding percentages are low, ML sold thousands of Equinoxes, their repair center has confirmed they havent had a high failure rate with Nox flooding.

 

[SanMan]

I can't understand WHY the Equinox is having all these problems, especially with "flooding" when one of its strengths is supposedly being "waterproof". I know it's a sore spot to mention such a thing but I don't recall hearing of many Garrett AT Pros having such a flooding problem.
You would think with all the money and resources Minelab has the least of an owner's worries would be the famed "waterproof" claim. Certainly appears that maybe it is not so waterproof after all. But I wonder where exactly the problem is. If I had to take a guess I would say the speaker.
Having owned an Equinox myself in the past and not being 100% pleased with it (due mostly to the tones and me not being able to adjust), I'm sorry people are having issues.
I will add that the first 6" coil I bought had issues out of the bag/box. Minelab did replace it, but come on.. a new coil that is faulty- that is ridiculous. It sure seemed the more I used my Equinox the worse it got for me. The tones just didn't resonate in my head and really never felt the love a lot of other owners did.

But back to my point here. Why is it so many issues are happening with the Equinox? Surely they put enough time into development and testing. My take is poor QC and cheap parts to make more profit. What's you take?

This is NOT an Equinox basing fest, just observations of a consumer and previous owner in search of opinions.

When I am trying to think something through,... I tend to look at odds.

So,.......
what are the odds that the buyer is going to get in the water deep enough that the housing is submerged?

In a sense,
"of all the units sold, what are the odds the owner is going to use it solely as land Machine?

What are the odds that the owner will do some shoreline and shallow water searching?

100% is all sold

Use is land or shallow water, (coil and lower submerged, not the housing), unknown %

Percent of users that take the unit diving, snorkeling, or chest high, etc unknown %

Until you figure in "the odds",....."the percent", look at the numbers, do the math,......


Until you do that, you're just guessing.