Reasons To Hold Onto Equinox 800 In Light Of Deus 2

[Jeff McClendon]

 

This is an interesting thread on it, https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33659&p=1

If diving is your thing perhaps the Equinox isn't ideal although with 3 years warranty there is very little risk, let it flood and get them to replace it if it ever leaks.  After 3 years especially if it's an Equinox 600 and leaks, you've got your value out of it anyway when you compare it to the price of the Deus 2 or you could just sell it and buy a new one to renew your warranty.

Or, you can take your new/used still under warranty or not waterproof to 10 feet Equinox on vacation or for an important hunt involving water, especially far from home with the expectation that Minelab guaranteed it to be waterproof to 10 feet (didn’t mention pressure proof, ie. cracked arm cuffs and coil ears). Your Minelab waterproofing fails, your trip, hunt or other specific long distance purpose is also a failure and Minelab won’t reimburse you for that. Basically SOL.

This luckily has not happened to me but I stopped pushing the limits on my Equinox long ago as far as water is concerned. No heavy surf, fast moving water, shallow diving or submersion past 3 feet for my Noxes.

[phrunt]

yea, in that case if I was going on a dive trip a long way from home I'd have a spare 600 control pod with me.  If I was a diving person I'd have two anyway with the lack of trust in the waterproofing.  Hopefully they get the waterproofing right on the Equinox 1000 though.

[midalake]

 

No heavy surf, fast moving water, shallow diving or submersion past 3 feet for my Noxes.

Heck mine had water intrusion from being showered off.  Since I am plus three years, only a damp cloth now. 😒

[☠ Cipher]

Yes, what Phrunt said. I’ve never seen anything specific from Minelab either. That’s part of the problem. They’ve never stressed that there are time limits this. Hookahs are becoming more popular among water hunters and many of them allow us to stay under for quite some time up to depths of 30 feet. I’m also not saying there’s not some defect of design, just wondering how many might be due to exceeding limits many might not even be aware exist. A lot of companies in general are guilty of omitting this information, figuring most people won’t come close to exceeding the standards I’m guessing. The dubious waterproofness of the Equinox is one reason I bought a Simplex. I’m not afraid of damaging it as much and let’s face it, Nokta Makro doesn’t seem to be having these problems to any degree worth discussing anyway. I personally have never had a problem with Equinox in any way, or any other equipment failures that seem to plague other users. But I also take care not to be hard on my stuff, no matter what it is, from my electronics to my metal detectors. Since my office and space for my equipment is right in the back of my living room everything has to come in clean as the day I bought it and neatly put away or I won’t hear the end of it. 

[CPT_GhostLight]

I'm a landlubber but I've been to the beach twice and to lakes and rivers with the Equinox and dunked it unintentionally quite a few times with no problems. I don't dive so I never intended to go deep with the Nox. I think if I was a diver, I'd get an Excalibur II for that or something similar. When I was researching the Equinox, I never really thought of it as a diving detector. My impression was that it was just an all terain detector that could get wet and keep on working. That was one of the deciding factors for me to go with the Equinox.

[mh9162013]

If I was a diver, I'd find a way to put the Equinox into a true, waterproof casing, a la SeaGhost.

[☠ Cipher]

 

If I was a diver, I'd find a way to put the Equinox into a true, waterproof casing, a la SeaGhost.

I’ve considered this. I just wish Minelab had taken greater care to design the equinox in many ways. If they had, they might not be in the position they may now find themselves in. The technology itself is about all you could ask for in a machine that does it all. The housing just doesn’t seem to be worthy of holding that technology. It has left many a bitter user, and warded off many potential users out there when you comb through the comment sections. There are a good many people out there that were just waiting and hoping for this day, and many more yet waiting for the 19th. I just hope they’ve learned everything they need to learn for their next release. At the moment their strongest argument for the equinox is that the technology is proven. Deus 2 is an unknown, both in terms of retaining all the Deus 1 was and having equally effective multifrequency. Nokta Makro is even more of an unknown and have been seeming to try to differentiate their multifrequency as “true simultaneous” whatever that might mean. 

[mh9162013]

 

I just wish Minelab had taken greater care to design the equinox in many ways. If they had, they might not be in the position they may now find themselves in.

I agree, although I wonder if what has unfolded is what they expected and accounted for. Or, maybe they knew it would be an issue, just not as bad as it ended up being.

It's a common practice for companies and business to deliberately release a faulty product or service knowing (or at least believing) the cost savings will outweigh the consequences. I can't stand this practice and believe it should be severely punished by the courts. 

At the very least, these are just metal detectors and not, you know...Boeing 737 MAX airplanes...

[☠ Cipher]

It’s possible some of it may have caught them by surprise, like the coil ears etc. Could be partly due to an inconsistent compound. If you think back, from its launch the equinox was successful beyond their wildest dreams. I bought it brand new sight unseen myself because the technology and feature set was that alluring. I almost never do that. I usually let someone make a closet queen of it first. Anyway, it seemed unstoppable. Even when it reached the hands of users it seemed to meet the vast majority of expectations performance wise. If it weren’t such an exceptional machine the problems it’s had might’ve killed any other machine in a way it hasn’t come close to killing equinox sales. In a way it’s unfortunate because they weren’t forced to fix it. Now they have to contend with competitors who are not only nipping at their heels technologically, but who will be exploiting known, existing weaknesses until their next release remedies them.

[phrunt]

At least when the time comes for the Equinox 1000 the fixes are rather simple for them, stronger coil ears, better waterproofing etc and they will have a hit on their hands.    These are things they couldn't fix on the original release or everyone would want the repairs or upgrades done for no cost to their machines, it was better to just tackle the warranty claims as they come and I'm sure the warranty is insignificant compared to the amount of detectors sold.