Silly me for believing them when they said waterproof !! My bad !! All I'm saying is that they should give you the waterproof headphones so that one splash of water in the port doesn't make it unusable for five minutes while I get it dry again !! That doesn't even make it water resistant. The fact is I'm not talking about diving im talking about any water of any kind getting in the Port with stock phones causes it to malfunction. Just one splash, or one wave, or one drop in the water and you will be sitting on the beach trying to dry the jack and the port to get going again without all sorts of static. Don't worry though I've adapted my hunting style around the machine and don't use phones in the water or out !! just snorkeled for 3 trips with it in 4-5 foot depths with it. If I lay it on the bottom to fan and dig....well its submerged for good amounts of time. I love the machine !! Got nine rings in about 12 hours over 3 trips with 6 golds, 2 silvers, and one stainless. No headphones and no scoop. The closest dry land is over a mile away. I have 2 excals when I'm diving on my own. And when I dive on the treasure salvage boat I use a vast array of other machines. Here is the big factor !!
If your snorkeling with any machine....you are limited in depth to whatever the length of the shaft is plus how far you can stretch your arm. Once you have gotten past the point that you can swim with the coil on the bottom and still be able to breathe through your snorkel.....you need an air source.....snorkeling and diving with metal detectors is 2 very different things. No wader or snorkelers will ever get to ten feet...the rated depth of this machine. You can not effectively reach the bottom with the coil head while swimming in any thing over 5-6 feet. At this point you will need air and lead to stay at depth to be effective in your search pattern. Now at about 6 foot for me I have to switch to air and excal !! This is a general rule for everyone give or take a little depending how tall the person is. What I'm saying is the company is saying the machine is waterproof to 10 feet....the way the machine comes from the factory you will not be able to use it in the water....unless you close the port and use the external speaker. I have exceptional hearing underwater and have adapted a funny looking way of hunting.....underwater the speaker is held close to my ear as I snorkel....as the depth shallows I put the speaker out of the water....and my ears. Sometimes carpenters have several different hammers for different jobs....all these machines are just tools to me. So in a beach and shallow water setting 5-7 foot max.. a waterproof machine rated to 10 feet should work in 5 foot flawlessly barring some major blow or trauma...shouldn't it ?? If you say its waterproof....and you can only use it with the external speaker...well technically you haven't lied.....but you haven't been truthful in saying " you can't use it in the water until you make an additional purchase....IF YOU WANT TO USE HEADPHONES !! And ya know what...I did want to use head phones.....but....I've learned I don't need them, but I'm sure many others will not be able to hear the machine underwater.....I can even distinguish the tones. I have 2 EQXs in rotation so both get submerged. One of them had water ingress but...I was breathing compressed air and the machine was underwater at 8 feet for 30 minutes when it failed....my bad I was pushing the limit....but it is rated to 10 is it not ?? Doesn't matter !!
Once a tool has done enough work to pay for itself and turn a profit.....then I don't care if it gets used up and replaced !! So let me clarify.....just with the money that I could get for a sale of my banner 1732 pillar dollar...I could pay to replace all my machines many many times over with change !! Just the 6 golds in the last couple weeks would pay for both EQXs.... with change left over. I will always love these EQX machines....as long as they pay for themselves and minelab keeps there word on the warranty im good. I still think they should include waterproof headphones in the initial purchase !! Just makes better sense !!
