First The Bone-phones And Now The Headphones.. More Deus II Failures..

[Erik Oostra]

I've reached a new low with the Deus II.. Today the WS6 headphones stopped working.. I hardly ever use the things as they're bloody uncomfortable but I find the speakers on the control box hard to hear, especially on a windy beach (even with my hearing aids).. But all this is besides the point, that's now two bits of the Deus II setup which have failed.. In comparison, nothing of the Equinox setup has ever failed me - and it gets a much rougher treatment as I tend to treat the Deus II with kit gloves for fear of things breaking or falling off.. As I've said before there's nothing sturdy or tough about the thing.. I know the headphone issue has nothing to do with the physical build of this detector but I put any disaster (mechanical or electronics) in the same basket: they tell a tale about its overall reliability and trustworthiness.. I can't rely on it to do its job without worrying about what's gonna fail next.. 

I know that XP Australia will replace the WS6 as soon as possible.. Good for them, soon we'll get to know each other on a first name basis.. One day we'll have a great laugh about all the bone-phones, headphones, coils, shafts, control boxes and antenna wires I've needed to replace over the years.. Until the warrantee runs out, then I'll be off their friends list..         

[Erik Oostra]

It's a shame as the Deus II was just getting into gear.. lately it's made some quirky finds including a tiny gold earing and an old coin made into a pin.. Underwater I'd just started a bromance with the huge new target ID and ferrous/non-ferrous display.. I know the target ID on the control box has nothing to do with the WS6, but it breaking down has left a sour taste in my mouth and hasn't made the Deus II any more endearing.. I'm gonna have to break off the bromance if this keeps up..   

[midalake]

5 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

Today the WS6 headphones stopped working.. I hardly ever use the things as they're bloody uncomfortable

Sorry to hear. Us beach guys are tough on stuff. We find the weakness right away. Personally those WS6 headphones are junk, I will never use them at the beach. 

[Jeff McClendon]

I have had 2 times when the WS6 did not automatically power on when the Deus 2 remote powered on. Very annoying and kind of freaked me out. I turned the WS6 on manually both times and it worked fine. 

The WS6 works fine for me if there is very light wind and no other loud ambient noise.  I put a layer of thin adhesive felt around the area that touches my ears and I put on my sun glasses after putting on the WS6. Works for me with just a little top of the ear pain after 3 hours. Without the felt padding, I can stand them for about 30 minutes. However, at a crowded beach with wind AND wave noise.........not for me.

Hopefully XP will replace your WS6 quickly.

[phrunt]

Nokta copied Minelabs detector, XP copied Minelabs quality 😛

Just joking, sort of, it seems almost every manufacturers quality has gone down hill lately. No brand seems immune, even those that were touted as the greatest build quality have resulted in many failures with their latest release.

I don't know if it's related to their factories and Covid or what it is, hopefully things improve in the future and this isn't a sign of things to come.

I was kicking back the other day and thinking about it and the only brand I own a fair few detectors from that I've never had a problem with are Garrett, I have four of their detectors two of which are near entry level and three of their pinpointers and never once had a fault yet other brands have let me down, especially Minelab.   That's not saying Garrett's don't break down as I've seen a few Apex bite the dust, but at least for me they haven't.

My only XP is a pinpointer and I love it.

Sorry to hear of your problems Erik, I certainly know how frustrating problems with a new expensive detector can be and they really put you off using it, and you were just starting to make friends with that XP, you were starting to bond with it and now here we are.

[Chase Goldman]

Erik, that is terrible. As I did with the Equinox, trying to keep track of anecdotal common failures reported with these new detectors, especially under challenging conditions like beach and water hunting.  Out of the box coil failures seem to happen and there have been remote controller lockups with the D2 which was addressed with an update.  First WS6 failure I've heard of.  On the WS6's is it a matter of no longer pairing up with the remote or do they just fail to turn on outright?  Do they also no longer take a charge or or provide any visual indication they are charging? Thx.

[Carolina]

18 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

I've reached a new low with the Deus II.. Today the WS6 headphones stopped working.. I hardly ever use the things as they're bloody uncomfortable but I find the speakers on the control box hard to hear, especially on a windy beach (even with my hearing aids).. But all this is besides the point, that's now two bits of the Deus II setup which have failed.. In comparison, nothing of the Equinox setup has ever failed me - and it gets a much rougher treatment as I tend to treat the Deus II with kit gloves for fear of things breaking or falling off.. As I've said before there's nothing sturdy or tough about the thing.. I know the headphone issue has nothing to do with the physical build of this detector but I put any disaster (mechanical or electronics) in the same basket: they tell a tale about its overall reliability and trustworthiness.. I can't rely on it to do its job without worrying about what's gonna fail next.. 

I know that XP Australia will replace the WS6 as soon as possible.. Good for them, soon we'll get to know each other on a first name basis.. One day we'll have a great laugh about all the bone-phones, headphones, coils, shafts, control boxes and antenna wires I've needed to replace over the years.. Until the warrantee runs out, then I'll be off their friends list..         

I’m sorry to hear all your troubles and hope they get ironed out quickly. I saw the back phones as a joke when I first opened the box and have never used them. I have a set of phones from doodads that the WS6 module fit on that have never failed me yet. I am on a list for the WSAll XL phones but the doodads work fine in my salt water environment. I wonder if it’s the phones or the WS6 that failed? Although I have a third party CF shaft, I have had no issues with the stock shaft as many have. I guess I have been lucky. I also have never had the RC come off either shaft but I do have vet wrap on the handle built up quite a bit, below the RC that prevents me from sliding my hand up into the bottom of the box. I suspect that is the cause of so many knocking the RC off it’s mount. I have a friend that uses a bungee and it also knocks the box off. I have coiled my antenna wire and installed inside the shaft and also wired a set of MSA muffs with piezo’s I installed for water detecting when over knee deep. All and all I love my Deus which in my book is leaps and bounds over my Equinox 800 in every aspect. Guess I was just lucky. Hope all things work out for you. Good luck everybody.

[CPT_GhostLight]

Personally, I don't care for the WS6 phones, but that's just me. I immediately ordered one of those WS6 audio adapters so I could plug in some cheap JBL earbuds I had and just pop the WS6 puck into a shirt pocket or clip it to my hat band and that works so much better for me, specially in hot weather. Here's a link to the adapter (they seem to sell out pretty quick everywhere):

WS4/6 Audio Adapter

Another good option are these WS4/6 Puck compatible full size headphones. I have these too, but get a little too warm in hot weather for me.

WS4/6 Puck Compatible Headphones

Of course these both rely on a working puck, so I hope they get you squared away quickly on that for you.

Cheers!

[Erik Oostra]

12 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

I have had 2 times when the WS6 did not automatically power on when the Deus 2 remote powered on. Very annoying and kind of freaked me out. I turned the WS6 on manually both times and it worked fine. 

That's what mine did.. first it refused to power up with the detector and I'd have to start it manually.. Now it won't start manually anymore.. I'm using the bone-phones on the beach for now but does anyone other than XP make wireless headphones for the Deus II? Or even wired head phones that'll plug into the control box?..    

[Carolina]

18 minutes ago, Erik Oostra said:

That's what mine did.. first it refused to power up with the detector and I'd have to start it manually.. Now it won't start manually anymore.. I'm using the bone-phones on the beach for now but does anyone other than XP make wireless headphones for the Deus II? Or even wired head phones that'll plug into the control box?..    

guess you did not read my post. All accept the puck. Detecting DooDads, Serious Detecting.