MINELAB...PLEASE READ!!!!!!!:thumbdown:

[craigV3]

Everyone,

To those of you who have "excallibers" you are aware of the cheap Koss headphones affixed to the excals from the factory. I've read forums here and on TNET and decided to buy a set of Peltor's to reduce the background noise and increase my finds. With the Koss headphones, I was constantly battling the back ground noise of the waves and visiting family's whilie water detecting. In a perfect world there would be nobody at the beach on those hot sunny days, but in real life everyone is screaming and having fun which is usually pretty noisy.The "mod" is simply completed by taking the black plastic ear cup off your Koss headphones, taking out 4 screws which secure the existing speaker to the koss headphone frame, reducing the diameter of the solid plastic speaker frame and inserting the speaker into the Peltor ear cups. It took less than 10 minutes and nothing was modified with the wiring, internal components or any other piece of the detector or existing headphones. I READ ON MANY FORUMS THIS WAS COMPLETED BY MANY MEMBERS AND THIER WARRANTY WAS NOT VOID SINCE WIRES WERE NOT CUT, SOLDERED, SPLICED, AND SINCE THE DETECTOR BODY WHERE THE HEADPHONE WIRES INSERT WAS NOT DISASSEMBLED. It makes sense though, if you put a pair of stock headphones next to my headphones (once disassembled) there is nothing different except the diameter of the plastic frame.

I used my excal all summer and found 86 ri ga in Michigan, one of which is a 1820 cameo ring I recovered over 3 feet under the bottom of the lake. I was extremely pleased with my excal purchase and couldnt be happier until the last 5 water hunts. The audio became real quiet and fuzzy sounding. After a quck inspection of the "ear cup speakers" ( I assume that describes them good enough) I noticed the clear silicone poured in the ear cup appeared to be falling apart and exposed the wires where they inserted into the ear cups. I sent my excal to Aurora Illinois to be repaired over the winter since thats our down time in Michigan.

After three weeks I finally recieved a call and was told the "peltor kit" I replaced the Koss headphones with prevented Minelab from conducting a pressure test or doing further testing. This would prevent the repair facility from determining if my headphones were faulty due to the crappy silicone job done at the factory when my detectors were made. The guy I spoke to kept telling me the "pressure test" simulates the detector being submerged to 200 feet, but the "Peltor Kits" are only usually submersible to 8-20 feet, since he was very familiar with these kits and has tested them in the past..... I think he was making stuff up since Peltor is a ballistic hearing protection, not a upgrade "kit" sold for detectors.
"John" was extremely rude and wouldnt let me explain the process of fitting the factory speakers and plastic frames to the Peltor cups...He was just plain belligerant at one point and told me he would prove his point by destroying the existing headphones on my detector in his "water test", then he would charge me $260.00 for a new pair of the factory Koss headphones before sending it back to me.....WTF

I spoke to "Jeff", Johns manager and pretty much was told to just pay the 300 and get new headphones since my Peltors violated thier policy's and warranty.....I told them to send my machine back and I would fix the problem myself...Hell, it appears the warranty is already void, at least in Aurora Illinois....Jeff told me the detectors are not assembled there and he wouldnt be able to compare my headphone internal components with a stock set of Koss headphones since he didnt have another detector at the shop..... NICE

Just FYI...Ive owned many detecors and currently own 4 minelabs totaling 6000 dollars...Ive owned Whites in the past and couldnt say enough about thier customer service, Im sure you've heard...THEY ARE LIKE FAMILY!!!

Jeff at Minelab told me two years ago the factory in Vegas was closed and all of thier employees were (FAMILY VALUES). The company started over and rehired new employees and changed thier policies. Minelab used to be able to replace factory excal headphones with different waterproof variants for a small cost. Also, as described earlier this "peltor" modification would not have voided your warranty in the past...BUT IT DOES NOW.. Im glad they replaced thier employees and are not taking care of customers which purchase these 1500.00 detectors. It makes perfect sense since most companies and most people dont stand behind thier product anymore these days.....Just my thought and advice ... hopefully make a better decision than I did by trying to "upgrade" my headphones so I could recover targets more effectively.

Sincerley
Michigan Disabled Veteren
(service related hearing loss)

Semper Fi,
Craig

 

[EZrider]

If you modify a white's DF or a CZ21 you would run into the same thing. These are not wadding machines but dive machines that a diver would use. "Not sure of dive rating on the DF". We adapt these "dive" machines to our beach hunting hobby. They can not tank test your modifications.

 

[JHM]

I hate what has happened to you. But this verifies I'm not the only one who has big case of the red a$$ at minelab service. It's not the same as it used to be. Yes you might run into the same thing with whites but I do know they are fair and value their customers. People are thrilled with their customer service. It's why I now own 3 whites detectors and one minelab. And by the way minelab will no longer work on the one I have. If it breaks, it's in the garbage.
Here's my story:

I bought a Sovereign GT that was 1 1/2 years old. Shortly after I received it the tabs that hold the rechargeable battery in broke. I called ML and talked to Joe(not his real name but I don't want to get Joe in trouble). Joe said they had had issues with bad plastic and to send in the pack and they would put the batteries in a new case. Most I would have to pay was 5 bucks for the case and maybe the shipping. I explained to him it was not under warranty. He said no problem. Great service I thought.
This was about the time Codan bought out the company. Two weeks later I get a call from Joe's new boss. He wants to know how old the pack is. I explained to him everything I told Joe and what the agreement was. He said we (minelab) can't do anything about the battery. I said then sell me a case and I will fix it.
Reply: Sir we sell detectors not parts
I said then sell me a new battery at cost.
Reply: Let me look that up. That will be $99 plus shipping
At that time you could get one from a dealer for $89 free shipping. At this time I was getting aggravated. I said just send it back and I will tape it in until the batteries wear out. It will be good advertisement for you company.
Reply: If I ship it back it will be a 1 hour labor charge $55 at that time.
This jackass wanted to charge me $55 to put my property back in my box and drop it in the mail. Buy the way I've owned 5 minelabs in the past few years.


I emailed the main overseas office and a month or so later got it straighten out. And had just about got over this when I decided to sell the GT and get an explorer SE. I had drilled a small hole in the lower part of the case for a remote pinpoint. Something that should be on everyone when it comes from the factory. I wanted to put it back original before I sold it and guess what. You cant buy one but you can send the detector to the service center and they will install it for $65 per hour. At this point I decided to get a tesoro and eventually changed my mind and wound up with a (made in the USA) MXT. I agree with you the sovereign is a great detector and I still have an older one that I'm keeping but their customer service stinks.

 

[craigV3]

I totally agree....I posted on TNET and a member said "well if I put a roof on your house and you modified it and it leaked I wouldnt warranty it either"....really.... He must work for Minelab... That isnt at all what happened... The comparison would be this, you put a new roof on my house and addition after the fact, not altering the existing roofing what so ever. Then the damn roof starts to leak in a different spot. The addition had no effect on the way the roofing was layed, but you come up with a bullshit excuse not to warranty your work.. it sickens me. I left many friends over sea's that I served with and I just feel disgusted sometimes that I dont see treatment I think the general public deserve's back here in the states. Im not asking for a new detector, just to fix the audio problem thats associated with the stock components of the headphones THAT WERE NEVER ALTERED INTERNALLY (just in size by 1/8").

 

[Neil]

Sounds like the whole incident could have been been prevented by calling minelab in the first place and checking to see if they would still warranty the excal.

 

[Smudge]

Tesoro, who has the best warranty of any detecting company, IMHO, would tell you your warranty was voided also.

Any time you open the housing to do any kind of adjustment or replacement on your own voids the warranty immediately.

Most Excals users I know will eventually change the headphones and the coil, but they only do so after the warranty expires.

Some will do it beforehand, but they also know it will void the warranty, but they don't care about that.

That is standard for the industry, so I don't feel like Minelab put the screws to you in that respect.

 

[tomcatpl]

i have the peltor mod on my excal and love them ...my problem is with the excal2 breaks to fast i cant tell u how carefull i am with the knobs on my excal and yesterday my thresh knob is acting out (it clicks 2 times when i turn it on and then i get the sound) it still works but it piss is me off that for 1300$ and and so much care this thing still breaks

 

[TURNMASTER]

I found the ML customer service to be just fine, I did not need much but they treated me well. Granted I did not have a modified machine. Garrett was equally pleasant to deal with.

I expect good service from those who provide service. I also find that in most cases if what I want is reasonable then I get reasonable service in return. If what I want is out of the ordinary then all bets are off and I make a different approach, knowing in advance that what I am after will take a bit more sugar.

Jeff

 

[mike k.]

Just wondering what brand name for the ear plugs ??

 

[Bling]

all i had to do was seal all the holes in the head phones with silicone seal + where the over the head band comes into the ear piece and after this i had NO wind or ocean noise at all. cant speak of coustomer service as in 40 years of hunting iv never had to send a detector in for any service. and iv owned over 200 of them.

 

[Tin Fin]

Bling, by doing that, if you end up going to any depth in the water, the pressure in your ears won't equalize the same way it would if those had not been filled. Just so you are aware of that.

 

[raider rich]

Every forum every week there's some thing about minelabs sh$ty customer service. Far more than any other detecter company.

 

[Bling]

Bling, by doing that, if you end up going to any depth in the water, the pressure in your ears won't equalize the same way it would if those had not been filled. Just so you are aware of that.

if i was going to dive with it i wouldnt need to plug the holes from wind noise.

 

[MHirschmann]

I'm sorry Craig, but I have to agree with others on here. If you modify a machine, you have to go into it assuming that you WILL VOID warranty, PERIOD. I am not pointing fingers at you, but there has to be something said about that fact that most people that don't alter their machines never have problems, whereas people who alter them come on here complaining about problems. Minelab does an extensive amount of testing on all of their products and I believe in their quality 100%. I know this doesn't help you, but I am certain that if your machine had been stock, Minelab would have done everything possible to make you happy. Too many people are trying to be "creative" with their setups these days, while still expecting manufacturers to stand behind their products. Sorry this doesn't help, but I had to give my opinion because I have had nothing but exceptional customer service from Minelab, but I also don't drill holes in my machines and I have never sent one in for repair with external damage due to user error/abuse. I hope everything works out for you. HH -Marc