Minelab is the WORST< many many issues with their machines!!!!!

[makahaman]

Hi everyone, something to thing about!! I own 2 Minelab machines, the 800 Equinox and the Minelab excalibur. They have only mild use and the Equinox flooded on my first water use, it just passed my warranty by 1-2 years!! I just bought my underwater headphones to try in the water, not even 30 minutes and flooded!!! Crazy! I don't even think it's worth fixing!! Bought all kinds of coils for it now I gotta sell it all!! Then my Excalibur was working weird, figured out the head phones went south and doesn't work!! So, really consider buying THEIR MACHINES!! I had better customer service from Whites and my Aqua Pulse machines are tanks and they've worked for over 10 plus years!! It's crazy that Minelabs just don't last and their customer service SUCKS!! Really do your research when buying a machine.......

 

[OBN]

Hi everyone, something to thing about!! I own 2 Minelab machines, the 800 Equinox and the Minelab excalibur. They have only mild use and the Equinox flooded on my first water use, it just passed my warranty by 1-2 years!! I just bought my underwater headphones to try in the water, not even 30 minutes and flooded!!! Crazy! I don't even think it's worth fixing!! Bought all kinds of coils for it now I gotta sell it all!! Then my Excalibur was working weird, figured out the head phones went south and doesn't work!! So, really consider buying THEIR MACHINES!! I had better customer service from Whites and my Aqua Pulse machines are tanks and they've worked for over 10 plus years!! It's crazy that Minelabs just don't last and their customer service SUCKS!! Really do your research when buying a machine.......

Have 5 Excalibur's and Very Happy with them.. blues to the greens, no doubt one has to maintain and monitor, one reason I learned how to fix them. SO what's up with the headphones on the excal? Have a picture? Head phones are very simple so maybe I can help. N/C
I do know Minelab did have a great repair shop in Alum Bank PA but for some reason they took the contract away from the Detector Center and went back to Illinois.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I talked to a repair guy, not going to mention his name but he told me that ALOT of people are complaining about Minelabs customer service! My machines have had mild use!! This company is going to lose customers since their customer service sucks! If I owned a business, having a happy customer will bring more business!! Whites had the BEST customer service, its just sucks because I bought brand new headphones and have alot of coils for the 800. So, now Im not too sure if I wanna pay $800-$1,000 for another Minelab!! Everyone thinks Im an amateur, Ive found alot of gold through the years!! This was a pound of gold, if I sold it on todays market it would be worth $40,000.. So please don't act like Im an amateur and don't know what I'm doing!!!!!!

Maybe clarify how old your 800 was and if you bought from a dealer new. Again, you have established that your expectation that a decade of use without any factory maintenance for a unit utilized underwater in the ocean. This is from a unit your likely paid $900-$1000 for?

 

[Tesorodeoro]

How difficult is it to recover $1k in 5 years of use?!

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Take a look on ebay and see the crazy stupid prices for a new Manticore, like $300! Then realize that somebody was stupid enough to purchase that machine from a seller in China! Unless the buyer is a dirt bag looking to intentionally dupe someone and sell the fake as a legit machine. And ebay does nothing........

Never heard of this?

 

[OBN]

I talked to a repair guy, not going to mention his name but he told me that ALOT of people are complaining about Minelabs customer service! My machines have had mild use!! This company is going to lose customers since their customer service sucks! If I owned a business, having a happy customer will bring more business!! Whites had the BEST customer service, its just sucks because I bought brand new headphones and have alot of coils for the 800. So, now Im not too sure if I wanna pay $800-$1,000 for another Minelab!!

Danny my suggest is......... buy a D2 and move on from Minelab 🏴‍☠️

Everyone thinks Im an amateur, Ive found alot of gold through the years!! This was a pound of gold, if I sold it on todays market it would be worth $40,000.. So please don't act like Im an amateur and don't know what I'm doing!!!!!!

I just read all of the post and at no point do I see anyone question your experience.. in fact many have been over polite.
If it was your first post on T-Net I could see how some may think your a rookie but...
it's obvious you've been with us since 2006 and many post.

 

[Crow]

I hate being a mouthpiece for any company. I have used mine-lab products in some harshest conditions around the globe. Where other brands failed. There is, however, with things some things that could be improved.

Crow

 

[zigzag]

I talked to a repair guy, not going to mention his name but he told me that ALOT of people are complaining about Minelabs customer service! My machines have had mild use!! This company is going to lose customers since their customer service sucks! If I owned a business, having a happy customer will bring more business!! Whites had the BEST customer service, its just sucks because I bought brand new headphones and have alot of coils for the 800. So, now Im not too sure if I wanna pay $800-$1,000 for another Minelab!! Everyone thinks Im an amateur, Ive found alot of gold through the years!! This was a pound of gold, if I sold it on todays market it would be worth $40,000.. So please don't act like Im an amateur and don't know what I'm doing!!!!!!

I've always had great customer service from the minelab repair center and have used them a lot.
Ed

I talked to a repair guy, not going to mention his name but he told me that ALOT of people are complaining about Minelabs customer service! My machines have had mild use!! This company is going to lose customers since their customer service sucks! If I owned a business, having a happy customer will bring more business!! Whites had the BEST customer service, its just sucks because I bought brand new headphones and have alot of coils for the 800. So, now Im not too sure if I wanna pay $800-$1,000 for another Minelab!! Everyone thinks Im an amateur, Ive found alot of gold through the years!! This was a pound of gold, if I sold it on todays market it would be worth $40,000.. So please don't act like Im an amateur and don't know what I'm doin

 

[Sand Swinger]

Hi everyone, something to thing about!! I own 2 Minelab machines, the 800 Equinox and the Minelab excalibur. They have only mild use and the Equinox flooded on my first water use, it just passed my warranty by 1-2 years!! I just bought my underwater headphones to try in the water, not even 30 minutes and flooded!!! Crazy! I don't even think it's worth fixing!! Bought all kinds of coils for it now I gotta sell it all!! Then my Excalibur was working weird, figured out the head phones went south and doesn't work!! So, really consider buying THEIR MACHINES!! I had better customer service from Whites and my Aqua Pulse machines are tanks and they've worked for over 10 plus years!! It's crazy that Minelabs just don't last and their customer service SUCKS!! Really do your research when buying a machine.......

I have 2 Minelab's, a Sovereign Elite and an X-Terra Elite. Minelab made Sovereign Elites from Oct 2002 to April 2005, when Minelab owned Minelab, so my Sov is 20-23 years old. I bought it used but I believe the MSRP back then was something like $800 or $900. If made today, it would probably sell for twice that or more. My Sov is robust, built like a tank, circuit board is thick, high-quality components. I've been running my Sov for the last 14 years on the beach, never any problems, a really solid detector. But I do take care of my gear, so I have the Sov inside a sealed plastic bag, then inside a Minelab pouch worn high up on my chest, to keep sand and water from hitting the box. (see profile pic)

My X-Terra Elite is also a fine detector but to be honest, I bought it to have as a backup and haven't played around with it too much. I'm an ole' twist the knobs, beep & dig guy, so I tend to grab my Sov or Dual Field PI first. It will take me a bit more time to fiddle around with all the digital settings, as there's lot of bells & whistles & doo dads compared to what I'm used to. But the times I have used it, no problems so far.

We've all experienced what you've been going through, whether with detectors or just getting bad service at a restaurant. Because of that 1 bad experience, we have a psychological tendency to lump the problem to the entire business/company by saying "that restaurant sucked", or "that detector manufacturer sucks". But in most cases, it was that 1 restaurant server or that 1 detector that sucked. But I feel your frustration, as I've been through the same thing myself. I bought a waterproof Garrett AT Pro in 2009 after they came out. First time out on the dry, worked great and I found a man's white gold wedding ring. But the first time I tried submerging, the screen flickered, went black, then it died. Didn't have a backup with me so my hunt was over just as it was getting started. I was bummed more than pissed off, but I learned a valuable lesson that day to always take a backup detector with me on every hunt, because sometimes, sh*t just happens.

 

[djackson7348]

Nothing last for ever. Buy a new car and use it for your daily living, do no preventative maintenance or service and see how long it functions like new. If you were outside of the promised warranty, of course it is not Minelab's fault.

However, after saying that, there is no excuse for the often rude and incompetent customer service being provided by so many companies today just to up their shareholders/owners profit margin.

 

[cudamark]

I talked to a repair guy, not going to mention his name but he told me that ALOT of people are complaining about Minelabs customer service! My machines have had mild use!! This company is going to lose customers since their customer service sucks! If I owned a business, having a happy customer will bring more business!! Whites had the BEST customer service, its just sucks because I bought brand new headphones and have alot of coils for the 800. So, now Im not too sure if I wanna pay $800-$1,000 for another Minelab!! Everyone thinks Im an amateur, Ive found alot of gold through the years!! This was a pound of gold, if I sold it on todays market it would be worth $40,000.. So please don't act like Im an amateur and don't know what I'm doing!!!!!!

Get a 900. All your 800 coils will work with it, and the waterproofness is better with the 900. I've had my 900 underwater for hours on end with no issues. I've had no issues with Minelab customer service either, and I have 6 of their machines.

 

[dz302]

I talked to a repair guy, not going to mention his name but he told me that ALOT of people are complaining about Minelabs customer service! My machines have had mild use!! This company is going to lose customers since their customer service sucks! If I owned a business, having a happy customer will bring more business!! Whites had the BEST customer service, its just sucks because I bought brand new headphones and have alot of coils for the 800. So, now Im not too sure if I wanna pay $800-$1,000 for another Minelab!! Everyone thinks Im an amateur, Ive found alot of gold through the years!! This was a pound of gold, if I sold it on todays market it would be worth $40,000.. So please don't act like Im an amateur and don't know what I'm doing!!!!!!

What a

I talked to a repair guy, not going to mention his name but he told me that ALOT of people are complaining about Minelabs customer service! My machines have had mild use!! This company is going to lose customers since their customer service sucks! If I owned a business, having a happy customer will bring more business!! Whites had the BEST customer service, its just sucks because I bought brand new headphones and have alot of coils for the 800. So, now Im not too sure if I wanna pay $800-$1,000 for another Minelab!! Everyone thinks Im an amateur, Ive found alot of gold through the years!! This was a pound of gold, if I sold it on todays market it would be worth $40,000.. So please don't act like Im an amateur and don't know what I'm doing!!!!!!

Now that's a pretty pile of nice finds... congratulations! I live in Cartersville GA and don't have access to the beaches required for that kind of yellow haul. I grew up in Tarpon Springs FL and in 1973 had a 5 ring day at Howard Park and was hooked for life. Minelab's service don't come close to todays benchmark's like Apple, Amazon, Toyota and Garrett. They should focus on customer retention...sales sell you the first one and service sells you the rest of them. A reliable and dependable new comer to the market that understands this simple concept will do well. Hey Minelab...replace everyone's broken coils and find a way to refurb the returns... our loyalty will only run as deep as yours does to your product and customers.

dz