Returned My Equinox

[Lonnie / Vero Beach]

I purchased an Equinox 600, 6" coil and 1/8th to 1/4th adapter.  It arrived on 08/19/2019.  The detector worked without headphones.  It worked with the wired headphones that came with it, the headphone icon appearing on the screen.  When I attempted to use the 1/8th to 1/4 Minelab adapter, that I also ordered to allow me to use my Sun Ray headphones, things went wrong.  Machine was fine, but with the adapter in place, my headphones were dead.  The speaker on the unit still worked.  The headphone icon on the screen did not appear.  I re-attached the adapter several times with the same result.  There was a problem somewhere. 

Things happen.  It probably was nothing big.  I called Minelab America, expecting another adapter would be sent, or ____?  Minelab didn't answer, just a recording informing me my call might be recorded. I left a message.  Later that day I called again. Same recording.  I did not leave a message.  I did not leave a message the two times I called the next day, when the recording was still answering my call.  I called the dealer and he was, and still is, very responsive.  He provided the email for Minelab service and maintained contact with me.  I emailed Minelab about my problem on 08/20/2019.

I made four calls to Minelab America and never reached a human.  I left a voice-mail message with my contact info, no response.  There has been no reply to my email.  Though the Equinox may be a fine machine, I can live without it and it will be a long time before I consider another machine from them.  I qualify for the Veterans discount, which made for a great price and was considering purchasing one for my girlfriend.  The machine was sent back.

 

[Chase Goldman]

7 hours ago, Lonnie / Vero Beach said:

I purchased an Equinox 600, 6" coil and 1/8th to 1/4th adapter.  It arrived on 08/19/2019.  The detector worked without headphones.  It worked with the wired headphones that came with it, the headphone icon appearing on the screen.  When I attempted to use the 1/8th to 1/4 Minelab adapter, that I also ordered to allow me to use my Sun Ray headphones, things went wrong.  Machine was fine, but with the adapter in place, my headphones were dead.  The speaker on the unit still worked.  The headphone icon on the screen did not appear.  I re-attached the adapter several times with the same result.  There was a problem somewhere. 

Things happen.  It probably was nothing big.  I called Minelab America, expecting another adapter would be sent, or ____?  Minelab didn't answer, just a recording informing me my call might be recorded. I left a message.  Later that day I called again. Same recording.  I did not leave a message.  I did not leave a message the two times I called the next day, when the recording was still answering my call.  I called the dealer and he was, and still is, very responsive.  He provided the email for Minelab service and maintained contact with me.  I emailed Minelab about my problem on 08/20/2019.

I made four calls to Minelab America and never reached a human.  I left a voice-mail message with my contact info, no response.  There has been no reply to my email.  Though the Equinox may be a fine machine, I can live without it and it will be a long time before I consider another machine from them.  I qualify for the Veterans discount, which made for a great price and was considering purchasing one for my girlfriend.  The machine was sent back.

 

This subject of Sun Ray headphone compatibility with Equinox has come up a few times and is explained in various threads here.  For the Sun Rays to work with the way Minelab wires up its headphone jack, you need to have the Minelab CTX compatible version Sun Rays.  Apparently, any Sunrays can be modified (rewired) to work with the Minelab CTX/Equinox wiring scheme for about 25 bucks.  

I don't know why you were unable to get hold of someone at ML on the phone.  That's disappointing and unusual.  Folks here have reported very few issues calling ML directly and speaking to the primary customer service rep at 630-401-8150 and in getting prompt advice or service directly from ML repair at:

Detector Center
188 Oak Shade Road
Alum Bank, PA 15521

Phone: 814-283-4270

Email: shop@detectorrepair.com

https://www.detectorrepair.com/

Email does seem to be hit or miss.

Moot point now, though but for future reference, here is a recent thread on the Sun Ray compatibility issue:

Another solution is to use a different adapter like this one:

Even though a lot of the discussion centers on plugging the SunRays into the WM08, the same adapter can be used with the on board headphone jack as well.

Sorry you didn't ask the question here before you ditched the Equinox.  Might have been able to help you out.

[Guest calabash digger]

That is really a shame as it is a great machine. They called me back and I have had people answer the phone too.

[fredmason]

email and patience is best!

fred

[GB_Amateur]

4 hours ago, Lonnie / Vero Beach said:

Things happen.  It probably was nothing big.  I called Minelab America, expecting another adapter would be sent, or ____?  Minelab didn't answer, just a recording informing me my call might be recorded.

Apologies if I'm barking up the wrong tree, but given the responses others have gotten from Minelab USA, are you sure you dialed the correct number?  Did the answering machine recording acknowledge you had reached Minelab?

 

[midalake]

5 hours ago, Lonnie / Vero Beach said:

I purchased an Equinox 600, 6" coil and 1/8th to 1/4th adapter.  It arrived on 08/19/2019.  The detector worked without headphones.  It worked with the wired headphones that came with it, the headphone icon appearing on the screen.  When I attempted to use the 1/8th to 1/4 Minelab adapter, that I also ordered to allow me to use my Sun Ray headphones, things went wrong.  Machine was fine, but with the adapter in place, my headphones were dead.  The speaker on the unit still worked.  The headphone icon on the screen did not appear.  I re-attached the adapter several times with the same result.  There was a problem somewhere. 

Things happen.  It probably was nothing big.  I called Minelab America, expecting another adapter would be sent, or ____?  Minelab didn't answer, just a recording informing me my call might be recorded. I left a message.  Later that day I called again. Same recording.  I did not leave a message.  I did not leave a message the two times I called the next day, when the recording was still answering my call.  I called the dealer and he was, and still is, very responsive.  He provided the email for Minelab service and maintained contact with me.  I emailed Minelab about my problem on 08/20/2019.

I made four calls to Minelab America and never reached a human.  I left a voice-mail message with my contact info, no response.  There has been no reply to my email.  Though the Equinox may be a fine machine, I can live without it and it will be a long time before I consider another machine from them.  I qualify for the Veterans discount, which made for a great price and was considering purchasing one for my girlfriend.  The machine was sent back.

 

Well Lonnie I am with you!  There was no reason for Minelab to change a long standing industry standard and try to force everyone to use their crappy headphones. It has caused several hours of delays and chasing around to get my QUALITY Black widows to work. . Even with the supposed correct connectors I still get a crack or blip every once in a while. This is a pure Minelab fail. 

Dave

[GB_Amateur]

28 minutes ago, midalake said:

Even with the supposed correct connectors I still get a crack or blip every once in a while.

While we're pitchin' a bitch, I'm going to put in my 2 cents.  I wasn't an electronics engineer/tech but my work involved using lots of their services.  One thing I learned is that every non-soldered connection (and even some of them) can fail.  The more you string together the more likely it is to experience a failure.  Minelab has for quite a while (at least since the Gold Monster 1000 release, and I complained then) felt that going with the 3.5 mm jack system was preferred.  Why??????  At that time (and still now with one recent exception, see below), the quality aftermarket headphones have the 1/4 inch male plug.  So if that is your choice you have to use an adapter.  That's an extra connection to fail.  I can't say anything about Minelab's overpriced adapter but I've suffered from poor quality mating of connectors, even before the Equinox, with the Deteknix (renamed 'Quest' to hide the fact they got caught counterfeiting the Teknetics T2).  First Texas had what I consider a good idea when they included both 3.5 mm and 1/4" female connectors on the Greek Series (Tek Omega, etc.) and Fisher/Tek Gold Bug family.

The pure RF route (M80 wireless headphones of the Equinox, for example) does alleviate the multiple failure points, but your choice of headphones is limited.  The WM-08 module (my preference) requires *2* connections for me to use my favorite aftermarket headphones.  To be fair, when I go with my Sony corded earbuds (in the hot months) with 3.5 mm plug I'm down to one.  Buy why not do like FT and give me both to choose from?

This problem isn't unique to Minelab.  I recently replaced my Deteknix T/R system (similar issue, but worse since it required 2 adapters meaning 4 connections!) with the Garrett Z-link (https://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_z-lynk_en.aspx) but even they could have done better.  The detector-to-transmitter connection, which could be hardwired, actually has two adapters, one for the  proprietary waterproof AT connection and one for the industry 'standard' (I wish) 1/4".  They could have made two versions rather than requiring an adapter.  And the receiver module with just the 1/4 inch female jack takes care of me but not those whose headphones have the 3/5 mm male, including some that Garrett themselves market(!).

Recently Detector Pro (https://detectorpro.com/gray-ghost-gold-series-for-minelab-gold-monster/) released a new model headphone with 3.5 mm male plug.  (According to their blurb, they also enhanced the output to improve picking up weak signals.)  But that just means buying yet another set of headphones, and ones that may not fit my head and/or hearing.

[steveg]

Lonnie,

I am sorry to hear about your experience.  Minelab's customer service has been outstanding, for the past two years, for me -- and for most others I've seen post about it on the forums. 

I do know that Jamie, who Chase mentioned in his post, is no longer with the company.  However, there are others available who will take care of you.  You can reach a "human" at Minelab by calling 1(630)401-8150.  I just called to verify, and spoke with a great guy named Maxwell.

I told Maxwell your issue, and he said he'd look forward to speaking with you.  I am wondering if you just had outdated phone number information.  If you want to try again, try that number I just posted...

Thanks!

Steve

[Lonnie / Vero Beach]

Thanks to everyone for their replies, especially those that went the extra mile to contact Minelab.  I sincerely appreciate your effort.  But I meant it when I said the machine is gone and that I was not interested in another Minelab any time soon.   I will have another brand of machine and continue to enjoy this hobby.  I will also continue to come to this site to look for info and advice.

Now, I have to return to my preparations for Mr. Dorian.  He is expected in my neighborhood in a couple days and he will probably leave a mess.  Once things settle down, it will be fun to go detecting again.

Thanks again to all of you.  Good luck with your hunts!

Lonnie

[Chase Goldman]

Stay safe, man.