Blue Headphones took a dump...Advice needed :sadwalk:

[mudpuppy]

Up at 3:30 this am and out the door at 4 on a massive gold run on the Big Lake!...it was flat and surprisingly warm, one of those very rare PERFECT days up here to get in the Big Water! So I fire up the Pro and was not getting any sound out of the phones! There was sound coming out of the machine, and if I wiggled the wire just right I would get a squawk every now and then, but I could not isolate and pinch off the short or break in the wire to make it operate...I unhooked the phones and thought I'd give it a go without them....alas, its just not the same, (I did find a Q though!)...so I fire up the Pro's unwaterproof brother from a different Mother (F70) and worked the dry for a few hours grabbing clad and thinking..sun came out and I had formulated a plan....

I got home at 9:30, and took those phones apart, which is not advisable or easy, they are sealed and glued together pretty good, gotta run a knife blade around the outsides, and even then, inside is coated with some sort of amalgam, I was hoping the break was in the straight part of the wire inside the cup, or, I thought maybe a wire came loose at the speaker, or I could find the break and do a quick fix... but no, from what I can figure, its broken inside the coiled sheath between the speaker and maybe 8" from the headset..I quickly grabbed a very old and cheap set of phones, all duct taped up and run ragged, they had a 1/4"plug on them, cut that off, soldered the Garrett plug onto them, and Voila! Sound!

So...do you guys think these blue phones are covered under warrantee? This is what might be considered the first issue I've ever had with the Pro...and I generally dont take advantage of warrantees...I just up and either fix something myself, or buy something new...so I dont want to give the idea that I'm out for something free..I just dont know, so I'm asking....normal wear and tear? Should I just call Bart and order some GG's?

I just now Emailed Garrett asking about wheter this is covered by the warrantee, but its the weekend and all, and I may have voided it by taking things apart anyway, I dont expect to hear anything back until Monday...anybody else ever had this problem? That main wire does need to be about a foot longer, and even though I work the heck out of my rigs, I'm sort of gentle with wires..not gonna let this shut me down, we dont get many days like this up here and a guy has to be in the water...
Mud.

 

[tabman]

Duct tape keeps things rolling and going.

I bet they fix them for you without any problems.

tabman

 

[surfman]

Yeah, you probably did in your warranty when you took them apart. I'd just put the cable from the older set on the blues and call it good. Of course if you've been tinkling about trying something different nows the time.

 

[John-Edmonton]

I believe you also get 2 years on the blue water headphones. That is the first time that I have ever heard of the blue set having issues, other then it is very loud. Good luck Mud! Hope it works out with you. Glad to did a quick fix. We would really miss your posts here if you got water - stalled.

 

[John-Edmonton]

I have used the product (link below) many years back to water proof my connections when converting a land detector to a water detector. It worked 100% with no issues ever.

http://www.rescuetape.com/

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah thanks guys..this is the first I've heard of it too...I tried everything at first before the major dismantle...unplugging and all that..even reset the detector, all the easy things..I do have a very wide swing so I suspect that may have caused some stress..its been swing quite a bit in the past few years and in all sorts of conditions, so its a wonder they held up at all...I can always rewire these ones like you said Surfman..everything else seems to be OK except for the wire itself.
Mud.

 

[WaterWalker]

After about 1400 hours of water hunting I had a Blue set fail do to a broken wire near the connector. I did manage to take the connector apart NOT A TASK FOR ANYONE THAT DOES NOT HAVE NASA MICRO-MINIATURE REPAIR TRAINING! The connector is potted and very, very difficult to get apart without destroying the connector. About another 600 hours later the cable broke again. I then ordered up a set of Gray Ghost Amphibians. I only wish I had got the GGs sooner.

Another experience I had was when I got my ATPro...the Infinium (OLD) Blue headphone did work BUT they did NOT turn off the ATPro's speaker. The OLD Blue headphones for the Infinium are not compatible with the ATPro/ATGold/ATX in the fact that they will not turn off the speaker. Garrett has corrected this problem about a year and a half ago. The NEW Blue headphone are compatible with the Infinium/ATPro/ATGold and ATX. The newer Blue headphones I have seen came with a little white sticker on the inside of the headband saying ATPro compatible.

 

[Diggin-it]

I'm sure the warranty is voided now. If you can't get them working contact me. You know me if its anything ATP related I usually have extra's

 

[mudpuppy]

I sure appreciate the offer Diggin-it! You saved me last year with a Pinpointer for which I am eternally greatful!

I just got off the phone with a great Garrett customer service person, Mary, who is sending me out a new set of blues! Outstanding service experience!
Mud

 

[William-NM]

That's great, Mud! There aren't many outfits that would go that far to please the customer.

 

[upnorth]

I was wondering how it would work if I didn't use my blues......interesting. I'm glad that it all cleared up for you muddy.