Way back in the spring of 2018 - two years ago...
A half an hour into my second salt water hunt, while digging a target the Equinox’s audio went wild, multiple beeps of different tones and would not stop. I saw the Cd error code, powered the unit OFF and went back to the car where I dried it off. Checked both the connectors for water, they were perfectly dry. I turned the Equinox back ON and got the Cd error again. Then I could not turn the detector OFF. I tried holding the power switch down for 8 second for a factory reset, no help. I headed straight to my dealer. On the 8 mile ride the detector first kept cycling and giving the Cd error, about half way it stopped and then 3 miles later it started to cycle again. This time the error was FP. FP is not listed as an Error code in the manual.
At the dealer’s shop the Equinox kept cycling, stopping with a FP error for a minute or so. We tried my coil on an Equinox 600 with no problems. We then connected the 600’s coil to my control panel with no difference between the two coils. I left and at home I connected my Equinox 800 to the charger. The green light was on solid in about 3 minutes it started to flicker – not a normal blinking. Another two minutes and the green light went completely OFF. Another two minutes and it the green light started to blink as if the detector was charging. Note: the detector was in use for only 30 minutes since it had been fully charged.
About 20 minutes into the charge the FP error message disappeared and the unit remained charging as the green light was still blinking. Between an hour and a half and two hours of charging the green light stopped flashing. I disconnected the charger and tried to turn the detector ON, no sign of life at all.
I called Minelab Monday left message 4/30 at 5:35pm. An E-mail reply with Two Day UPS call tag came on 5/1 in time for me to ship the Equinox back on Tuesday. The unit was received at Minelab in Naperville, Illinois -not the PA repair center! One day for Minelab process the failed unit and ship it back by Ground UPS which took 5 days. Yes, in 8 days I was back in the water. I could not believe that the replacement detector along with a new Good Luck Charm from a fellow detectorist lead me to a faint signal reading 4 on the display. I could not believe it I have read of the Equinox’s ability to find gold chains, well IT DID. A beautiful 14K 27gr bracelet. Equinox is now paid for and in less than 3 hours of detecting in salt water and two trips to Minelab. The first trip back was for the shaft slop.
Two problems, two rapid fixes, three hours of detecting and I am almost a believer that the Equinox will obsolete some of my other detectors. But each detector I have has its own special use so no commitment to sell is still many hours of detecting with the Equinox away.
Two thumbs up for the Equinox and Minelab!
I have to add that the 800 went back a third time for the leaking of water into the front screen. Since mid 2018 and after the third return of one of the first production units I have not experienced any problems with the detector. I chalked it all up to infantile mortality. Now I would not trade the unit I have for another.
