Chase Goldman

That should work and is a cheaper option than getting a new NDT cord with the small plug. Let us know how it goes.

Sandi, I know Andy (I teach detecting boot camp classes with him). I will reach out to him and have him send you a signed book on me. PM me with your address and I'll have one sent out. And let me know who you want it signed to: you, your husband, Nate, or both of you. Chase

Welcome to the forum. You might get more views if you post this in the Equinox forum, but I’ll try to get you started on some possible solutions. First some clarification needed - The proper what? Headphones or adapter? I’ll presume you were referring to the adapter. When you say the GG’s don’t work - are you getting no sound or is the on-board speaker not cutting out? See below for more information on what works and doesn’t work as far as 1/4 inch adapters, headphones, and the Equinox. Also, you can get an NDT cord with a 1/8” mini plug that should plug right in without using the M/L adapter. Lots of good info in the Equinox Essential Info thread.

There is a First Texas machine called the Impulse AQ but it is geared towards jewelry hunting on salt beaches/surf vs. prospecting. You can read all about it in the FT forum. The other rumors revolve around a successor to either the GPX 5000 or GPZ 7000 that was purported to be word of mouth by “trusted” ML insiders but nothing official out of ML in terms of an announcement or even a Vanquish-like tease promotion.

What does this mean?

That would be my recommendation, also.

Man, I hope you saved it! Great tear down and refurb. Nothing to lose by doing it since the warranty was out the window. Let us know how it turns out. I would put some sort of tether on them if you go back in the water or use a cheap set of earbuds with the WM08 module in a plastic bag or dive pouch and secured on your person somewhere if you you don’t go with full blown waterproof wired phones.

I love this quote... I knew you were not being negative and agree with you. And being a 1 million questions guy myself, I've known for awhile now that ML is just not going to be forthcoming with how Multi IQ does what it does, so, like you, I am just happy to just know that it does it and am resigned to not knowing how it does it.

I wasn't really talking intensity of the surf per se or referring to your control head leak issue, but the intensity of the loading surf and shallow water hunting puts on coil ears in general. Starting to see more frequent reports of coil ear snapping by avid shallow water hunters and I think that is no accident but reflects the cumulative fatigue effects of submerged coil drag combined with a likely insufficiently robust coil ear design by ML that didn't fully account for the fact that people might actually want to frequently use their "waterproof" detector in the water (go figure). I figure the control head issue you experienced was related to the same poor manufacturing quality control shortcoming gotcha that has bitten other early units that have reportedly failed after the first few immersions or exposures to streaming water intrusion. ML's public silence on the issue speaks volumes. I'm guessing they hope it just eventually fades away as they quietly replace the control heads of the affected units under warranty, but no one really knows how many folks have actually submerged or exposed their control heads to water intrusion or the extent of the quality control issue that led to the failures in the first place. In either case, it is disappointing. But as Steve says, he hasn't encountered a water detector design that didn't eventually suffer some degree of leakage or degradadation as especially salt water hunting just results in accelerated wear and tear on a detector vs. solely using it for dry terrestrial hunting.

Hope Minelab promptly addresses your issue, then. I get you are pissed and the hassle of having to get a warranty replacement component sucks right out of the box. Don't take it out on me. My point was that what you experienced is not an "omen" but unfortunately an Equinox fact of life from what I gather based on postings and first hand experience and feedback. Equinox's mechanical design and overall reliability is average at best compared to similarly priced detectors. It is apparent ML is cutting some corners on the mechanical design of Equinox to drive down cost for the sake of competition and there are apparently some quality control issues that are letting defective material escape the factory. It doesn't take long to realize the board is full of folks selling and folks (including myself) buying third party stems, shafts, coil ear tab supports, and armrest products, even before stuff breaks, to overcome these Equinox design shortcomings. And units like Midalake's above are falling apart after a couple years of intense surf usage. Make them honor their warranty to you and in the mean time consider a more robust third party alternative armrest and shaft for the long haul. It is one of Equinoxes not so secret shortcomings and it is not pretty nor satisfying, I know. Oh, and by the way, whether you need it or not, I am free to express my opinion here also, without getting your permission, so feel free to take it or leave but most of all, have a great day...

Omen for what? Things can break on Equinox just like any detector, it is not immune to that (like someone else said, it’s not perfect). ML will likely send you a replacement under warranty if you phone it in. When something breaks on Equinox and it isn’t your fault, use that relatively generous 3-year warranty, as needed. Equinox appears to be about average as far as reliability is concerned.

Call ML for the absolute answer to that question (but I think you already know the answer). The warranty is against design and production defects if used in accordance with the specs. The BT headphones are not designed to be exposed to or submerged in water according to page 61 of the user manual: ”Do not expose the headphones to liquid, moisture or humidity, as the headphones are not waterproof.” You can attempt to plead your case with the repair center, but the words are pretty clear. You took a risk, gambled and lost. There are a number of water resistant BT APTX LL earbuds out there that cost much less than the ML phones (~$30). Clone (non ML branded) or similar equivalent BT headphones cost between $40 and $60. Quest makes a rain resistant over the ear low latency BT set at about $90. Frankly, if you are regularly entering the water to detect, you should probably get the appropriately certified waterproof phones because even the water resistant phones mentioned above likely can’t survive an accidental dunking. Attempt to repair them yourself or just take your medicine and buy a new or used replacement pair, if the repair center does not take mercy on your situation. Internal salt water damage to electronics is pretty obvious to a repair technician, so being coy about the actual failure situation will likely not get you anywhere. HTH

Not saying you shouldn’t tweak the user adjustable settings (e.g., ground balance, discrimination, tone ID breakpoints, recovery speed, and iron bias) for specific conditions, you should absolutely do that and can with Equinox. The Multi IQ tweak is selecting the right mode for the job at hand and that is why ML provided basically 7 different multi IQ search profiles (Park 1/2, Field 1/2, Beach 1/2, and Gold*). *Even though ML provided Gold 1/2, it appears the Multi IQ profile is the same for both Gold modes with the only apparent difference being the default recovery speed setting between the two.

Yes, the point is it doesn't matter, that's why I wrote the following in my post above. But that doesn't stop people from repeatedly asking the question. The reason being, misleading and contradictory detector manufacturer marketing claims that imply more combined frequencies (in simultaneous multifrequency) is somehow better. BTW it isn't better and even Minelab comes clean about this but buries it in their "What is Multi IQ" articles that are mostly just read by hard core detector tech geeks or when Steve quotes these gems in his posts. Heck, you can barely get the typical Equinox user to read the comprehensive user guide, which is pretty good. Yet, we repeatedly explain how the different modes should be used and answer the "what are the best "programs"" questions. The nature of these questions often betrays the fact that the poster has not cracked open the manual. Fortunately. I enjoy answering those questions, perhaps going into more depth than the user guide and try provide "real world" perspective on the info that matters to the detectorist.

The Multi IQ frequency profiles are not and likely will not ever be user adjustable, that is the purpose of having multiple modes (Park, Frequency, Beach, etc.) available. Furthermore, transmit frequency profile, is only part of the Multi IQ secret sauce, the other being how the Equinox software processes the received target signal to provide target identification.

Magnet fishing would be more compelling in countries that use ferromagnetic metallic coinage, I suppose and that probably improves its popularity in European countries. That type of coinage does not exist in the US.

While the debate rages on regarding the actual answer to this question, there are a couple of things that can be said about the topic: Minelab has never actually precisely described what comprises the MultiIQ frequency spectrum for any of the modes and even though some folks have attempted to measure the the frequency output, there is still debate about how those measurements have been taken, etc. It is pretty clear that the 5 individual frequency settings for the Park and Field modes really do not have anything to do with the actual frequencies that are combined to create the various mode Multifrequency profiles and it is also pretty clear that "all five" individual frequencies are not combined in the spectrum in any mode. It is more like 2, 3, or 4 depending which mode you are using. Minelab created a lot of confusion by tying the 5 discrete frequencies into their overly simplified Multi IQ cloud diagrams. It is a myth that just because the 600 has fewer discrete individual frequencies 5, 10, and 15 khz) vs. the 800 (5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 khz) that the Multi IQ frequency spectrums for the equivalent modes are NOT the same between the 600 and 800. Measurements show that they are likely identical. Gold mode Multi IQ does appear to be heavily weighted to 40 khz with perhaps some 5 khz thrown in. Suffice to say, whatever the actual combinations of frequencies it optimized for gold prospecting. While true for single frequency ops, not true for Multi IQ for gold mode, see above. Gold mode does use multiple frequencies but it is likely not combining 20 and 40 khz, it is probably 40 khz combined with 5 khz based on measurements. Now that I have totally confused you and if you folks want to drive yourselves crazy on this topic, check out these posts: Bottom Line: Despite all this debate, it really isn't important to know what and how many frequencies are combined in any of the Multi IQ versions of each mode. Just press the "I believe" button and be confident in the fact that Minelab has provided different Multi IQ profiles for each mode that are "optimized" to be suitable for the intended target objective of each mode as described in the Equinox user guide (e.g., Park 1 optimized for high conductive coins, Park 2 for mid conductive jewelry targets, etc.) and know that as an added bonus, Minelab has seen fit to provide certain single frequency options for each mode. Also know this, even though the modes appear to be optimized for specific types of targets in Multi IQ, the fact is that most of them, with the possible exception of gold mode are suitable for general purpose detecting. In other words, you are not going to be "blind" to gold or jewelry just because you use Park 1 or blind to silver coins because you are using Field 2 and even Gold Mode has uses in other types of detecting (such as for meteorites or relic hunting) besides gold prospecting. HTH

Thanks. Yeah, regarding the case, since each visit there has resulted in walking away with something interesting, I decided to see what it looked like gathered all in one place so I threw it in the largest riker I had and was surprised that it filled it. Probably the most productive site per sq. yard that I have access to.

Magnet fishing showing up here is ironic to me by the very fact it will attach to the same metal that metal detectorists try so hard to discriminate out, iron. Since gold, silver, copper, and nickel will not attach to it, it has never really intrigued me (except when I was a kid and bought one out of a magazine ad). That's not to say that there are not interesting iron and steel things to be recovered, but especially attempting to recover those things from the water, you know they are going to be pretty corroded.

Things are starting to peter out for the season. Need a good spring plowing But still managed a few keepers including a 1901 V nickle, minie balls, and a couple flat buttons (red background below) . Orx still getting it done... This site has been an amazing find in itself. My finds over the past several visits. Most recovered using Deus/Orx, but that large Eagle Plate, some of the silvers, coppers, buttons, brass and bullets were also recovered with my trusty Equinox (I'd say a little less than 20% of the total finds shown). Deus/Orx seems to tolerate the iron, mineralization, and aluminum junk better (foil is much more spread out from brass on Orx, TID wise) so that has been my go to lately as the site has gotten more stingy. Anyway, enjoy the pics.

Nice digs. Keep clearing out that trash, and more should emerge.

So it is funny you posted this , Steve, as the last time I was out with the Simplex I was thinking it would be great to have the Equinox in the Simplex package. So when Nokta finally delivers on a simultaneous multifrequency detector, my wish might be granted. I must say that despite the similarities to Equinox, I really prefer the ergonomics of the Simplex configuration both in terms of the handle design and navigation of the modes and settings (for example you can go back and forth between modes on the Simplex, whereas on the Equinox, you can only cycle through modes in one direction). If Equinox adopted a fwd/reverse approach to switching modes and switch the user profile and frequency buttons, I would be ecstatic. Otherwise, the Equinox is ok. However, I really like the Simplex handle design. It is not constrained by having the battery compartment in the handle, therefore, it has a more natural pistol-like grip (though the battery capacity is fairly small compared to Equinox at 2300 mAh vs. 5000 mAh for the Equinox.

Besides the treasure trove of information and expertise here, that is why I said earlier in the thread that this is the greatest forum in the world.

Well said. I really want FT to get back in the game. But a niche detector may not be the answer even though I DO want to see Impulse come to market, if only to see if the Impulse designers can follow up with a viable "terrestrial" focused detector for nuggets or relics.