Do I Trust My Manticore In The Water?

[Rick N. MI]

That does bring a little lack trust with the new Manticore & 900. Considering the Equinox history.

I hope it works ok.

[khouse]

Mine looks similar.  It feels like hard glue not silicone.

[ColonelDan]

I'm reserving judgement until field use proves the detectors worth. 

I recall the CTX flooding issues because Minelab skimped by using thin gaskets around the battery box.  When they reissued thicker gaskets, the problem was resolved.  The use of cheap gaskets cost them tens of thousands in warranty replacements. 

Then there was the weak coil ears on the Equinox that required a replacement coil.  Just a little stouter coil ear would have saved them a ton of money....not to mention the cost incurred through negative customer relations.  Then there was the flooding nightmare.  Who can forget that?!?

I used Minelab products for years and was happy with the software but the hardware skimping was a real head scratcher. 

As I said, I'll wait and see on these new Minelab detectors.  I sincerely hope these new detectors are up to the Minelab software standards which were always some of the best.

Just the view from my foxhole...

[okara gold]

I was able to get in the saltwater again today. Conditions were not the best. The swells were picking me up and placing me a few feet away and a southern bound current was strong enough making it difficult to place your scoop accurately to dig the target. Waves were breaking and rolling high off the outer sandbar and would hit you on the back of the head if you weren’t watching. Bottom line… The Manticore was submerged for 2 hours in some strong water and performed perfectly with no water intrusion. I was running a 21 sensitivity with a 4 recovery speed, prospecting mode. No gold but so far so good. 

[TampaBayBrad]

On 1/21/2023 at 8:15 PM, okara gold said:

I was able to get in the saltwater again today. Conditions were not the best. The swells were picking me up and placing me a few feet away and a southern bound current was strong enough making it difficult to place your scoop accurately to dig the target. Waves were breaking and rolling high off the outer sandbar and would hit you on the back of the head if you weren’t watching. Bottom line… The Manticore was submerged for 2 hours in some strong water and performed perfectly with no water intrusion. I was running a 21 sensitivity with a 4 recovery speed, prospecting mode. No gold but so far so good. 

Were you running the ML-105 headphones that come with the detector? If so, wired or wireless?

Sounds like you took a beating in the surf. Way to hang in there and give it the old college try!

[TampaBayBrad]

On the waterproof subject....here's a quote from page 2 of NASA Tom's Manticore thread:

"The only other thing I want to clarify: We learned some lessons with EQX water intrusion. MC is improved; yet, retains IP68 rating........to 5M (16-feet)."

So there it is from the horse's mouth. 🙂

[Chase Goldman]

4 hours ago, TampaBayBrad said:

On the waterproof subject....here's a quote from page 2 of NASA Tom's Manticore thread:

"The only other thing I want to clarify: We learned some lessons with EQX water intrusion. MC is improved; yet, retains IP68 rating........to 5M (16-feet)."

So there it is from the horse's mouth. 🙂

Thanks for pointing this out. 

Based on some of Tom's over the top proclamations (like Nox coils burning up if they were connected to the higher power Manticore) its not clear to me whether he has the expertise to actually be part of the ML M-core design team or just an outside expert user offering feedback as a consultant/tester to ML (one of many) that also happens to have a lot of loyal website users.  To me the "horse" would be Mark Lawrie - ML's Chief Engineer.  If Tom is speaking for ML as a designer with his "We" statement, it would be an interesting formal admission from ML that there were indeed some potential design shortcomings with the original Nox watertight design.

Regardless, this is a great reminder that ML did get an IP68 rating for Manticore (and Equinox 700/900 for that matter).  ML appears to have definitely improved Manticore and Nox 700/900 design in terms of waterproof integrity over the first gen EQX and the fact that they are able to actually specify an IEC Ingress Protection (IP) rating this time around (and not with the first gen Equinox which has NO advertised IP rating) which requires submission of documented test results to advertise the 5M submersion spec as IP68, is a good sign.  Plus they have never been accused of not standing behind their warranty (and in some cases even beyond the warranty) on the original Nox with all the reported water intrusion issues. 

[okara gold]

On 1/24/2023 at 4:36 AM, TampaBayBrad said:

Were you running the ML-105 headphones that come with the detector? If so, wired or wireless?

Sounds like you took a beating in the surf. Way to hang in there and give it the old college try!

Hey there TampaBayBrad! Sorry I missed your question...

When in the water I use Tony Eisenhower's wired waterproof earphones.

I am pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the ML-105's feel and sound and will continue to use those when out of the water. I haven't been in the water since my last post due to rough surf conditions and a few days of work.

[Chase Goldman]

18 minutes ago, okara gold said:

When in the water I use Tony Eisenhower's wired waterproof earphones.

Those are great phones.  👍 

[cjc]

On 1/15/2023 at 9:24 PM, phrunt said:

So I now finally have a Manticore, I'm up to the beach hunting part of my holiday and was intending to take it for a soak pretty quickly after getting it, but looking at the thing it really looks like it might fail in the water, the seal looks like it was done by a 2 year old.

Is this how they all look? Looks pretty shonky to me.

On the plus side for those of us that bought the Nugget Finder solid Skid plate for their Equinox for prospecting or whatever they'll be pleased to know it also fits the Manticore's 11" coil perfectly.

 

That needs  to go back.  

cjc