Apparently coils breaking a big problem, but Minelab is on top of it

[Treasurechic]

I sent my stock coil back to Minelab because the "ears" broke on it, apparently this is a common problem because when I called and asked to find out the status of my return the first thing the woman said was " let me guess, the coil ears broke" I said yes thats right, she said she had had alot of calls about that. I sure hope Minelab plans on rethinking the coil design, If that many are breaking its got to be as frustrating for them as it is for the consumer. Needless to say even though I tried to repair my coil, Minelab still gladly replaced it. I should have it any day now, Kudos to Minelab on their fast replacement they shipped me out a new one only 2 days after receiving the damaged one. So If your coil breaks dont try fixing it yourself, as long as you have a Warranty still they will promptly replace it with a new one.

 

[morelic55]

Yea, they replaced the 9" stock coil on my Xterra 70. I'm picking up my new 705 tomorrow and the stock coil will never be used with it................

 

[Donut]

That is the reason I'm sticking with Minelab, I think they are a great company and i like my X70. My stock coil is broke and just over 13 months old so I'll be making a call to them sometime next week.

 

[Beale]

This is very good information to know. Thanks for sharing, Beale.

 

[Dirt Poor]

I have noticed that the ears on the stock coil are thinner than the ones on some of the smaller coils, which is kinda backwards. That's great that Minelab is on top of it. I remember when the Explorer XS(first model) came out, there was a problem with the upper shaft latch breaking(plastic), but Minelab realized it and begin fixing them for free. That was good. Minelab makes great machines.

 

[weston]

this just happen to me last week its not bad at all i can still use the coil without any problems, but there is a chunk out of the left ear. guess ill have to send minelab an email.

weston

 

[Treasurechic]

Weston. Id advise sending it back to Minelab, in about two weeks youll have a brand new one. If it already is weakened by a break its only a matter of time before it breaks completely, as luck goes probably when your a mile in the woods at the site of a lifetime!

 

[Cliff KS]

The ears on my 3 kHz coil for my Xterra 70 broke after I had only had it for about 5 or 6 months. I sent it in for warranty replacement and the package arrived today, but they sent me a 7.5 kHz coil, not a 3! So I called them and they will send me a 3 and a call tag for the 7.5 so I won't be stuck with shipping costs again.

I used to have an F75 I bought new that was defective from the get go, so they had me send it in. They said it was a bad coil and replaced it -- but forgot to hook the speaker up-- so back it went again. I got it back and it still wasn't right so I sent it in and they said it was another bad coil, replaced it and sent it back. By this time, I had lost all confidence in First Texas products and sold a machine I had spent $935 on for $700 and used that money to buy the Xterra.

Both of these experiences together, makes me wonder about the quality of workers these companies employ when they make simple mistakes that should never have been made in the first place. It really makes me wonder if I pay a lot of bucks for a detector if I could really count on them to get it fixed right if it had some major problem develop with the main circuit board. If you can't handle the minor issues quickly and correctly, what about major problems? Maybe they are paying such cheap wages that they don't get quality workers??? I mean ...How much daydreaming are you doing on the job if you can't remember to hook up the wire going to the speaker or simply replace a broken coil with the same model of coil? These are simple tasks that a high school student should be able to accomplish. It really makes me uneasy about making major purchases anymore. It leaves me lacking confidence in the goods I am about to purchase. I'm thinking---is this product going to be durable and perform?---or am I going to have to send it in for warranty work and how many times is it going to take for them to get it right? I used to never worry about that. I just assumed a product would be well made and not give me any problems and that was usually the case. However, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

And as I stated on another post: Why not make the ears on the 9 inch coils as thick as the ears on the 6 inch coil. I don't think there would be any significant difference in weight and I don't think they would be having this problem with their 9 inch coils.

 

[Cliff KS]

They sent it overnight air express. They must have noticed I was kind of irritated about the screw up.
They provided a prepaid return label for UPS ground and I sent the 7.5 coil back today.

While I appreciate the promptness, I still have to wonder how much this one mistake cost them and how many times simple mistakes like this get repeated over the course of time. If such mistakes occur frequently, then I'm sure that cost gets passed on to the people who buy their products in the form of higher prices. I've had the same type of thing happen recently with a couple of other items not related to metal detecting, so if I'm experiencing this type of problem with several types of businesses it makes me wonder why can't these businesses seem to find employees who can FOCUS on the task at hand and complete them correctly the first time so there isn't aggravation to the customer and extra cost occurred by the business? I kind of doubt that I'm just "an unlucky Joe" that has by pure bad luck had several similar occurrences lately. I suspect that if it is happening to me that it is probably happening to a lot of other folks as well, and I kind of suspect that unfortunately we will be seeing higher consumer product prices down the road as a result and that the only one benefiting from absent-minded/daydreaming employees is UPS and Fed-Ex.

Both of the new 9 inch coils had that same thin ears that the previous coil had, so I have to wonder how long it will last. Hopefully, Minelab will change their design soon and make them as thick as the ears on the 6 inch coil I have.

 

[Digger]

I think the reason they break is because of the space between the ears and not necessarily their thinness. If you measure them carefully, you'll find that the space between the 9-inch concentrics is a bit more than the other coils. Sure, they are thinner. But you can see the difference when you mount the different coils to a rod. If you aren't careful when you tighten the coil bolt down, it bends those ears. And, as in your case and several others, they break.

When I field tested the coils, I made mention that the 9-inch concentrics seemed to "flop around" quite a bit. At that time, the only coils were the 9-inch concentrics. I blamed it on the rod being narrower and used an Advantage rod (which is a bit wider) on my X-Terra concentrics. Needing the Advantage rods for another project, I've resolved my "spacing issue" by putting a couple layers of electrical tape under the rubber washer. This spaces it out and doesn't bend the ears when you tighten down the nut. I have rods for each coil, so it isn't like I'm taking them off and on all the time. If I were, it would be more of a problem for me. Once I got the other sized coils, I realized it was not the fault of the rod, but in the design of the 9-inch concentric coils. I agree that this is a manufacturing problem that should have been resolved prior to being released. However, it wasn't. And to be honest, although the costs of replacing coils is passed on to their customers, it is probably less expensive to replace a small percentage of coils as opposed to retooling the machine that molds them. I ain't saying it is right. But it is what it is. And I'm glad they are working with customers who have this problem. JMHO HH Randy

 

[David]

Good reports Cliff, Randy, etc. So the ears are too wide apart on the 9" Concentrics and when the wing nut is tightened it bends the ears and could then break. Randy said either use a wider Musky rod or wrap it with about 2 layers of electrical tape to thicken the rod so the ears will not bend as much.

I suppose some of us also have this problem with too much space between our ears. I rectify this problem by drinking beer, I did find a 40 ounce size(1.18 litre) beer in a glass bottle with a screw cap, yesterday with about 10% alcohol, double strength, I drank one yesterday and really like it. No hangover and I am having part of another one today, this gives me less space between my ears and tightens things up a bit. I saw on TV yesterday they serve very large size 1 litre beer mugs at the 16-day Oktoberfest in Munich, about 7 million litres of beer sold. This is a space tightener for between the ears in Germany, and they also drink beer all year long. That is why the Germans are so smart and efficient!

Is it ONLY the 9" Concentrics that have that too wide of ear space problem? How about the 5x10" and 10.5" DD's? I am buying both of these DD coils second-hand next month but I am getting the round HF 10.5" DD's, and not the MF.

Minelab needs to make a 6" LF DD and a round 10.5" LF DD for coin hunters in working trash, for using Randy's technique of iron audio sound ID grunt used on the 9" LF Concentric. I am probably beating a dead horse here with Minelab and re-preaching on this one.

One coil size I personally would like to see for the X-Terra's is a bigger version of the existing 5x10" DD, like an SEF, rectangular, or elliptical 10" x 18" DD(in both LF and HF) for covering those very large areas, for large farmers fields-homestead hunting, and also for gold prospecting.

 

[Donut]

Minelab is a great company, i just received my 9" replacement coil today. I did make a spacer and placed it behind the rubber grommet. I now have to save up to buy a lower shaft for each of my coils --- they are not cheep. Oh well one at a time.
Thank you Minelab;
Doug

 

[Furious T]

The only coil where I have noticed an aberration is the 9" concentric 3kHz. It is much looser than the others, and when I last took it off (about an hour ago) I thought to myself that if I have to tighten it up that hard again I will break the "ears". So next time I put it on I will slip a small soft washer in just to keep it firm and the bolt wont have to be tightened so much. Just my observation.

 

[usmc0351]

what about a loop support,,,,,,i havent been to kellyco's in a while,,,do they make one for the xterra line?

 

[Goes4ever]

I just now read this post and was surprised to see Randys suggestion with the electrical tape, I have had electrical tape on mine for quite some time, it makes it much snugger and prevents the ears from bending on the 9" coil