TedinVT

Interesting discussion. I use the ML80 phones, going on 2 plus months now, 4 weeks on the FL beach and the rest on dry land in VT, and haven't really noticed any lag with my older ears?. Not to say others wouldn't notice a lag. The ML80 phones did get hot on the beach in the sun and did a nice job of keeping the surrounding sounds out. They do seem to be well built and I think they'll hold up pretty well. How about construction of the ArchMage phones? Any comments on fit and finish, quality of sound, robust construction, ear comfort, etc.?

Thanks for your take on the phones, Cliff. I was hoping for the WP phones for my FL vacation. Got home a week ago and now the phones are finally available ? Figures. No rush now.

The BIG question is how do the WP phones sound compared to the BT phones that came with the EQX? Is the sound (tones) more on the pure side or more on the "buzzer" side?

Had the same problem with the rubber pad in the cuff coming off. Lasted about 3 hours before it was mostly detached. Pulled it off and removed what was left of the double-sided sticky tape and glued it back on with Gorilla clear contact cement. It's holding up fine after many hours of use now.

My thoughts on the pretty poor cam lock design and shaft wobble... Definitely wobbles a bit when hunting in the water due to the drag torque created by moving the coil and shaft through the water. Not quite so bad when land hunting. I see the wobble problem where the middle shaft mates with the upper shaft. It appears that the cam lock design has in internal stop that only lets you tighten the cam lock to a certain fixed point then stops. It doesn't allow you to tighten the lock any further - possibly to keep users from deforming the shaft diameter??. If the "nub" in the cam lock was a little thicker (some of you are adding material to make it thicker) that would help. Alternatively, if the shaft where the "nub" makes contact were a hair larger in diameter (without hindering detector assembly), that might help. When I get home from my Gulf of Mexico vacation (still without the elusive WP headphones ) I'm going to try putting some of that aluminum tape they use for taping forced hot air furnace duct joints (not the cloth duct tape) around the part of the shaft that the "nub" makes contact with and possibly the whole length of the necked down section of the middle shaft. Hopefully it will not be too thick that the shaft sections can't be mated and stiff enough that it won't compress when the cam lock is tightened.

Or possibly shorting & damaging the charger when a charger is connected to the EQ and debris is present on either the EQ or the charging cable's magnetic cable end. Probably a good idea to take a quick look at both before connecting your charger. Good catch TN!

Be sure that your coil is lifted well up off the ground before pressing the pinpoint button then go ahead with pinpointing. If you press the pinpoint button with the coil on or very close to the ground above your target you will desensitize or null out the target. The pinpoint on the EQ is deadly accurate and on small targets you may only get a quick sound if you pass over too quickly so slow your sweep down a bit when you're directly over where you think the target is in pinpoint. Or lift the coil a little off the ground. The comments above about near surface targets, coil edge, etc. are important. Learn to do the wiggle method for pinpointing. It will take a little practice. Worth the initial frustration and effort.

My parents always said “If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all”. So, I'm not going to say that compared to my ATPro shaft locks I think my 800 cam locks are pretty poor.

Some other 800 beach learnings... keep 13 in the mix. Bouncy signal around 13 (12 to 15 or 16) is usually a pop top or trash. A solid 13 is likely a nickel - no bounce. Dig it. I keep everything above the ferrous zone turned on on the beach since there are so many possibilities for gold or other jewelry. So far, the signals that have fluctuating tones and fluctuating VID numbers have turned out to be trash. Can only comment on dry & wet sand as the elusive WP phones are still not available for the deeper water hunts. On the All Metal, I kick it on for an iffy sounding signal and if there's a ferrous tone, move on. I usually only turn on AM to test an iffy target then turn it off again.

How is the cord length on the Hungarian phones? It looks like it may be a bit short and might tug on the phones when swinging. I hope the GG Amphibs for the EQ become available soon.

About the same drag as my ATPro in the water. No noticeable difference. I do agree with the sand comments. The little voids in the webs underneath do collect sand and the coil cover doesn't really do anything to prevent sand intrusion. Still thinking about the best way to fill the web voids without adding weight and adding foam would likely make the coil more bouyant which I wouldn't want. A small problem still in need of a plan. I remove the coil cover and wash after every water or dry sand hunt. I do worry that the coil cover may break some day as sometimes it is a little hard to remove. A spare coil cover will be ordered when available. I've hit enough hard things underwater in the Gulf (near jettys) or at home that I would not go without the cover. Someone mentioned a while back that the hollow lower shaft fills with water which makes the coil end heavier. I do get some water, but not that much that it is a hinderance. Raising the coil up above horizontal to the water surface periodically lets the water drain out the adjustment holes. Not a big issue for me and I wouldn't drill a drain hole in the bottom of the lower shaft since that would let both sand and water in. No advantage to that.

Also have had the same audio experience. I switch off pinpoint then switch pin point back on then it usually works as it should. I haven't tried waiting it out to see if the audio picks up on its own. It doesn't do this every time, but often enough that it's annoying.

Dan, do you get the little air bubbles with the Zagg protectors like the ones you get with theMinelab-provided screen protectors?

Yep, Relicmeister nailed it. With the EQ on and connected to the phones, a press of the power button on the phones produces a series of descending tones on power down. Likewise, with the EQ on a press of the power button produces a series of ascending tones on powering up. The bluetooth connectivity has to be enabled on the EQ first. The tiny LEDs on the phones are unreadable in sun light.

Thanks, Elf. Didn't know you could do that. I'm the last guy still using an old flip phone (it's true?) so this will be a big help for field use.

Good stuff! Thanks for another great write-up, Steve. So many of us who are new to this technology are fortunate to have your help getting us into the groove early and smoothly. Ted

Lots of great comments here and I agree with all of them. I'm still learning the ins and outs of my 800 and feel very comfortable with my ATPro which I've had for several years. That said, I miss the ATPro battery setup and the ability to swap out weak batteries in a few seconds and actually go for many days on a rechargeable set of Eneloops. I am still getting used to the idea that I have to remember to charge my Equinox after every day of detecting. I have a good power bank, but that's not going to help in saltwater and it's one more thing to remember to bring along. The other difference I've noted (other than the Equinox being a hotter machine) is the Equinox has a very sharp pin pointer and it takes a little more skill to zero in on a coin, for example, than the broader ATPro pinpointer at depth. Part of the learning curve. At this point, I plan on keeping my ATPro as a worthy backup machine and for those times I forget to plug my Equinox into the charger and if the Equinox ever needs to go for a repair. Both great machines. Question of the day.... where are the Equinox waterproof headphones now that I have some time on a sweet Gulf of Mexico beach?

Hardware stores sell rubber “corks” of various diameters. I'd take the detector or WM 08 to the store and find one of those corks that is the correct diameter such that you could “screw” it into the jack port enough to seal it until the real cap replacement is available.

Much appreciated, Scott. Big thank you! HH, Ted

Dew, I'd have more faith in the WP headphones forecast if it came from ML. My dealer mentioned the same time frame a couple of weeks ago and when I recently checked back it had changed to 6 to 8 weeks. A call to ML in IL customer service produced no time frame estimate and no word on production either. No surprise there. I hope your dealer is correct. Oh, and check out Tony Eisenhower's latest YT video. He made his own WPs.

Enjoyed the show and getting to know Steve a little better. Very interesting discussions by all the participants.

I understood your question flak. I know some people have run a bead of silicone caulk around the top of the coil cover where it meets the coil. That's what I was referring to in my comment. I should have stated that more clearly in my comment. Sorry for any confusion.

I also do not plan on sealing my 800 coil. I've hunted around rocks at beaches without a coil cover on my ATPro and ended up chipping the edges of the coil. I've also hunted with the coil cover on and had some minor cracks to the coil cover - low cost replacement compared to replacing a leaking coil. Sealing the coil would make replacing it if it is damaged more of a chore. I've seen suggestions of putting marine epoxy on the bottom of the coil to prevent wear. While this may protect the coil's bottom surface it probably won't save the edges from dings. It will also probably prevent proper reinstallation of the coil cover again. I hunt beaches (salt & fresh) as well as land and prefer to use the coil cover for both. FWIW, when hunting in salt water I take the shaft pieces apart and thoroughly wash all the pieces so taking the coil cover off to remove a little sand is a minor inconvenience.

Did some more research.... The Eq will not fit into most generic carry bags due to the height of the control pod. Most generic bags are around 16" wide or less, ruling them out. This means a case with a width at the widest section would have to be 17", or preferably 18" wide. This narrows carry bag choices down to the bag for the CTX. I verified this with ML in Naperville, IL.

Still no accessories page, so I'm wondering what owners are using for a soft, padded carry bag for their Eqs. Most padded bags I've seen aren't wide enough to accommodate the control pod. Any ideas?