Thinking about submerging my Nox 800

[OBN]

My God son just go hunting in the water, makes no difference what kind other then rough water. I know 3 hunters who have had issues in ruff waters, Nox can not take the beatings. Seems the cuffs can be a issue over time, but Minelab has been very good at replacing machines that were flooded and cuffs that broke, and fairly quick. So get that baby wet ASAP and find us some treasure to look at...

For in the Water is where the gold is..

 

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[vferrari]

My God son just go hunting in the water, makes no difference what kind other then rough water. I know 3 hunters who have had issues in ruff waters, Nox can not take the beatings. Seems the cuffs can be a issue over time, but Minelab has been very good at replacing machines that were flooded and cuffs that broke, and fairly quick. So get that baby wet ASAP and find us some treasure to look at...

For in the Water is where the gold is..

View attachment 1670928

What's a "cuff"? Mine didn't come with handcuffs.

 

[secondstar]

Go ahead and submerge your machine while it is still under warranty. I waited until after my old AT Pro came off of warranty before I submerged it. It was OK, but it scared the crap out of me when I realized that the machine was off warranty as I was submerging it for the first time.

 

[Deep1]

Ordered a nox 800. Mainly for land. Use PI on salt water.
After 2 canes a few of the beaches I hunt had many cabins wash into the ocean.
Near impossible to hunt with PI, I dig everything with a PI, including a kitchen sink.
I bought the nox to try on these beaches,as well. Mainly wading and some shallow diving.
Haven't thought about the waterproof issue til I saw this post.
I guess the first thing I do, is take it down to the dock and sink it to 10 feet, and while in warranty do it every now and again to test it.

 

[OBN]

What's a "cuff"? Mine didn't come with handcuffs.

lol..maybe it should have?

 

[sprailroad]

I had the same concerns, about any leaking, then one day while hunting near a riverbank, I figured lets find out, now or never, set it down in about two feet of water, waited a few minutes then took it out and, exhaled, it was fine.

 

[vferrari]

lol..maybe it should have?

View attachment 1670980

Wasn't thinking ARM cuffs because the thread was focused on watertight integrity of the detector control head, but at least now I know what you are talking about regarding overall durability in rough surf. Your use of the shorthand form of the term ("cuff") and the thread focus on leaking seals threw me. Durability is a good consideration in addition to leakage if considering surf hunting or other rough water situations. Use lanyards and tethers for everything you carry into the water (detector, scoop, floating sieve, etc.)

 

[saanich2018]

I know there are waterproof headphones sold today.
Since the ones that come with the 800 are not waterproof and and you need wired to hear under water, is there a jack slot to plug in a set of head phones on the 800?

How do they keep it waterproof?

 

[Racso]

I wonder if rough water was the cause of those Nox leaking. Maybe the rough water introducing the scoop to the head unit. As far as the cuff goes I agree those are flimsy as can be. To make the perfect cuff just buy a large can of corn and.... j/k. Good luck on the baptism.

 

[Bodkin]

I haven't tried yet, but couldn't the 800 be used without headphones underwater and just go by the audio speaker? And as for the broken cuffs, I replaced my cuff on my Excal with a short piece of 4" PVC. Looks wonky but works great for me for years.

 

[Owassokie]

I go away for the weekend and all the jokers come out...lol. Good stuff. I needed a laugh.

To put the questions to rest... yes, I want to make sure it doesn't leak. I'm "worried" because I'm lazy and don't want to deal with a dead detector. I guess worried wasn't the appropriate word. Thank you everyone for the informative and entertaining answers.

 

[vferrari]

I haven't tried yet, but couldn't the 800 be used without headphones underwater and just go by the audio speaker? And as for the broken cuffs, I replaced my cuff on my Excal with a short piece of 4" PVC. Looks wonky but works great for me for years.

You can use the speaker submerged but your head has to be continuously underwater too to do that. There may be situations where just the control head is submerged continuously, in that case you need to use the headphones.

 

[vferrari]

I know there are waterproof headphones sold today.
Since the ones that come with the 800 are not waterproof and and you need wired to hear under water, is there a jack slot to plug in a set of head phones on the 800?

How do they keep it waterproof?

There is a jack on the back of the control head. It has a plastic dust cover that screws into the headphone jack cavity but that alone is not designed to keep water out completely at depth. The headphone jack has threads and ideally mates with a metallic waterproof headphone connector to keep moisture out of the jack cavity, but you can still submerge the detector without anything (including the dust cover) screwed into the jack because the back of the headphone jack is sealed with o-rings to keep water from leaking into the control head itself. Regardless, especially if you use the detector in salt water, it is best to use the waterproof headphone connector to minimize salt water intrusion into the jack. If you think salt or dirty water got into the jack cavity, then flushing the jack with freshwater is a good idea to keep the metallic contacts of the headphone jack clean of debris and from corroding over time.

 

[saanich2018]

There is a jack on the back of the control head. It has a plastic dust cover that screws into the headphone jack cavity but that alone is not designed to keep water out completely at depth. The headphone jack has threads and ideally mates with a metallic waterproof headphone connector to keep moisture out of the jack cavity, but you can still submerge the detector without anything (including the dust cover) screwed into the jack because the back of the headphone jack is sealed with o-rings to keep water from leaking into the control head itself. Regardless, especially if you use the detector in salt water, it is best to use the waterproof headphone connector to minimize salt water intrusion into the jack. If you think salt or dirty water got into the jack cavity, then flushing the jack with freshwater is a good idea to keep the metallic contacts of the headphone jack clean of debris and from corroding over time.

Thank you

 

[Bodkin]

Owassokie, I agree with you (and others) Submerge the thing, even in a controlled environment. It's supposed to be able to take it. Otherwise, how will you ever know. Better to find out now than wondering in the field when you may want to use it as such. And yeah, it's winter, best time to get it repaired if it does leak (I'm pretty sure it won't) Fear not

 

[holepuncher]

I had the same concerns, about any leaking, then one day while hunting near a riverbank, I figured lets find out, now or never, set it down in about two feet of water, waited a few minutes then took it out and, exhaled, it was fine.

You need to get it down a little deeper to get to where the pressure will impact the detector, water pressure is the problem that is why minicab says 10 ft. max

 

[vferrari]

You need to get it down a little deeper to get to where the pressure will impact the detector, water pressure is the problem that is why minicab says 10 ft. max

True but if you are only going into waist deep water, you just need to make sure it can take an inadvertent dunking. If the housing seal is not made up properly due to a manufacturing defect that will become apparent by simply completely submerging the unit. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to challenge the o-ring seals at depth unless I was planning to definitely use the detector at max spec depth which I presume is a small number of users. Every depth pressure excursion cycle probably weakens the seals over time. If I was definitely planning to take it down there, though, then I would definitely test it at max depth to be sure because you are right about pressure on the seals being the proof of the pudding.

 

[boxxxer]

Vferrari once told me to it's hard to swing it in the water around 32 degrees so swing it soon as possible....I did mine the second day it was fine....