Equinox coil and headphone connector pictures

[Dan(NM)]

I found these on a facebook page and thought someone might be interested in seeing them. I'm not so keen on the 1/8" headphone jack receptacle, hopefully there's an 1/4" adapter to be be had.

 

[Mr. Carolina]

Good to see. Not so keen on the headphone cable period. More reservations for me. Thanks

 

[sprchng]

I don't particularly like the way it's recessed,,,will make it difficult to plug in headphones with the 90 degree plug. A 1/8 to 1/4 adapter is going to stick out pretty far so the wireless option will be a must have if your phones have the 1/4" plug. Makes the waterproof headphone set up even more interesting.

 

[amberjack]

just by looking at that only the minelab jack will fit and its on the wrong side if right handed sold detectors for less so this is losing appeal by the day..

AJ

 

[Mr. Carolina]

Oh man, this is looking worse and worse for me. That 1/8 jack and phone cable is to delicate for hard beach work and try and picture the path and bend on that little cable going up to your head for the phones. This is looking more and more like a Bluetooth machine for dry and damp sand. Now I understand the speaker also. This does not look like waist or chest deep material for me.

 

[greenmeanie]

I hope Grey Ghost comes out with a thicker cable the wire will break in that small of a cable just from repeat movement.

 

[dewcon4414]

Needs a 90 degree bend and thats pretty small phone cable. Strain relief will have to be attached to shaft if needed. I see a small O ring, but unless those YELLOW headphones have one...... we will have to add an O ring over those threads for in salt water use. I can tell you right now....... that coil cable will be an issue. Its going to bend, twist and vibrate in the water sticking out like that. When they had some bad coil cables on the Blues near the coil....... vibration caused breakage when you didnt tape it off NEAR the coil. IF that phone cable is a tight and short as the yellows we are in trouble. Anyone use a machine IN the water that doesnt have its phone cable at the end of the shaft? Wonder how thats going to work?

 

[amberjack]

not sounding like a full on water detector , not that I go swimming so no bother to me, but guessing this is a do it all and not dedicated water machine more water resistant you know caught in the rain or sea spray etc..

its a step up from the 705 that has a multi if needing a wet sand detector at some point..

just have to be realistic about the price point and what's on offer, minelab are trying to transition to light weight detectors and while they have great electronics they seem to fall down on how they house those electronics and for mine part of that failure is they don't want their detectors to look like anyone else's and stand out as minelab and that is hurting them as they use parts hard to find or only they have made for them and so making it hard for us to mod the machines to fit us.

so their do it all inflexibility is hurting them in that they try to listen but cant see past well minelab and maybe if I was CEO I would get some new blood to tell them the truth but they continue to believe their own bullsh$t and their war on XP has blinded them and this is the result, a do everything detector that's going to end up with the go find..



AJ

 

[TomNH]

I smell trouble here. Using a 1/4 & adapter will leave a nice long ( apx 4") thing to snap off.
Of course it will snap off the 1/8 part IN the machine killing the audio ! Thats providing it will even fit.
That means a trip to the shop for a warranty repair IF they cover it for non approved accessories !
Also on the OEM pix the cable looks VERY thin. If its made in Red China I guarantee ML
will have near 100% % failure rate on the headphones.
Another reason not to jump on this until it sees a few months of real field work.
Equinox still on my list for a new spring MD. BUT the little details are nipping at its feet..........

Tom
LFOD !

 

[Jason in Enid]

Well, I have never liked the supplied Minelab headphones and havent used them since the first few hunts with the E-Trac. I think the phone jack is an interesting design that can be either a standard phone or a waterproof one, unlike the CTX which requires an adapter to be used. Yes, the phones are Chinese. Some someone else posted they are a "BT-40" that sell for like $20 online. I'm pretty sure they went with the 1/8" jack because of space available. You can't keep making things smaller if still want giant old-school components. Hoping that Sunray is already designing a better quality wired WP phone for this.

 

[Dan(NM)]

Well, I have never liked the supplied Minelab headphones and havent used them since the first few hunts with the E-Trac. I think the phone jack is an interesting design that can be either a standard phone or a waterproof one, unlike the CTX which requires an adapter to be used. Yes, the phones are Chinese. Some someone else posted they are a "BT-40" that sell for like $20 online. I'm pretty sure they went with the 1/8" jack because of space available. You can't keep making things smaller if still want giant old-school components. Hoping that Sunray is already designing a better quality wired WP phone for this.

For me, a land hunter here in the desert Southwest, I'll never connect headphones straight to the detector anyway. I'll be tethered to the WM8 module and will have no use for the wireless phones. I use a periscope probe and have to use a cord from the module to the probe and connect my phones to the probe. Thankfully the headphone jack isn't a deal killer or issue for me.

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

The 1/8 inch jack is irrelevant, once its screwed in tight there will be no movement. The issue is the placement, instead of plugging the headphones in at the rear of the machine its way out front on the control module that's going to swing back and forth 1-2 feet each swing vs the rear swings maybe a few inches. I would not want the cord tangle personally but I don't see a headphone cord connected there lasting very long before it breaks and shorts out.

On the other hand IF the headphone cord is long enough I'd wrap it around the shaft and tie it off at the rear near the arm cup then its like any other machine really.

 

[ML]

I agree with Charles, the placement looks to be the potential issue. To be honest, the entire setup looks a little iffy (in quality) to me. Certainly doesn't appear that this unit can hold up to some of the conditions we all hunt in, but until we get one in our hands who really knows.

 

[greenmeanie]

I had the MX Sport briefly and I had to run the cable down the shaft with Zip ties to the back of the detector near the arm rest.
I see I will be doing the same on the NOX.

 

[Jason in Enid]

The 1/8 inch jack is irrelevant, once its screwed in tight there will be no movement. The issue is the placement, instead of plugging the headphones in at the rear of the machine its way out front on the control module that's going to swing back and forth 1-2 feet each swing vs the rear swings maybe a few inches. I would not want the cord tangle personally but I don't see a headphone cord connected there lasting very long before it breaks and shorts out.

On the other hand IF the headphone cord is long enough I'd wrap it around the shaft and tie it off at the rear near the arm cup then its like any other machine really.

That would be a decent work around. I wonder if the new WM-8 is going to have the same 1/8" jack too, or if it also allows a 1/4"

 

[Mr. Carolina]

I have already devised a mod for mine should I decide to purchase one. I will simply cut the headphone cable to the length needed and with heat take the curl out. Then I will route the cable down with the coil cable and secure with tie raps and then run the cable up the shaft to just past my elbow and terminate it with a inline female IP68 M12 connector and secure all in place with tie raps up the shaft. Then all my 7mm phone cables with the male M12 will just attach behind my elbow. The secured Equinox phone cable will then be secure and I can use any of my CTX and modded Excal. phones no problem. A brand new machine and I already have to mod it!!!

Carolina

 

[Ksdirt]

like to see a pic. of that...might do the same thing.... sounds like a mess thou

 

[Mr. Carolina]

If you are handy with a soldering iron it should be no problem. It is however a shame it has to be done on a new machine. I really don't like the location of the jack period nor the size.

 

[amberjack]

logistics is always going to be a problem with a do it all ( light weight) detector, if they made a land IQ and a water IQ it could be done right as it stands for me its a land / wet sand machine which is fine for me if the wireless works like the Deus its right to go..

I hope they can make it work to keep everyone happy but history has shown that's a tough ask..

AJ

 

[Fire Fighter 43]

It’s wireless!! Once you go wireless you’ll never go back. Why get so worked up over a headphone jack.