Garrett Z-Lynk review

Planedoc

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Derby, Kansas
I received a Garrett Z-Lynk from South West Metal Detectors through Amazon. It arrived 3 days later in great shape. Having an AT Pro I also had to purchase the proper cable to allow use on the AT Pro. The first thing I noticed was the lack of an O ring on the 2 pin connector. this is not needed as the Z-Link is not sold as water resistant. (I do have in mind a way to make both the receiver and transmitter water resistant and will post a how to in a few days.)

It took about an hour and a half to fully charge both units. Garrett supplies 2 USB cables for charging which will come in handy if you need to charge them in your vehicle provided you have a cigarette lighter USB adaptor or your vehicle has an onboard USB outlet.

Instalation was pretty straight forward! The transmitter is held in place by a rubber O ring which is easy to install but takes both hands. I feel the tension on the transmitter to the shaft and the heft of the O ring is more than adequate to hold the unit securely! Also note that you'll receive an O ring for mounting the transmitter with the AT adapter cable.

My main reason for purchasing the Z-Lynk is so that I can use the smaller earbuds rather than using a pair of cumbersome, hot and heavy headphones! With the ability to control the volume and the elimination of being tethered to the detector the Z-Lynk is just what the Planedoc ordered!!

Keep in mind that you'll need a 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch headphone jack adaptor to use earbuds.

My only complaint has to do with the length of the AT Pro / AT Gold cable. I wanted to mount the transmitter under my forearm between the hand grip and the arm saddle but the cable is too short to do this.

The perfomance of the Z-Link is as advertised! Flawless reception and instant response!

Overall I'm very happy with it!! I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars!!

Disclaimer: I am not a paid spokesman for Garrett nor do I play one on TV / Youtube.
 
Congrats on the review , glad you brought up about not being water proof , even though not useing for water hunting , still get caught it some hard rain situations . HH
 
I received a Garrett Z-Lynk from South West Metal Detectors through Amazon. It arrived 3 days later in great shape. Having an AT Pro I also had to purchase the proper cable to allow use on the AT Pro. The first thing I noticed was the lack of an O ring on the 2 pin connector. this is not needed as the Z-Link is not sold as water resistant. (I do have in mind a way to make both the receiver and transmitter water resistant and will post a how to in a few days.)

It took about an hour and a half to fully charge both units. Garrett supplies 2 USB cables for charging which will come in handy if you need to charge them in your vehicle provided you have a cigarette lighter USB adaptor or your vehicle has an onboard USB outlet.

Instalation was pretty straight forward! The transmitter is held in place by a rubber O ring which is easy to install but takes both hands. I feel the tension on the transmitter to the shaft and the heft of the O ring is more than adequate to hold the unit securely! Also note that you'll receive an O ring for mounting the transmitter with the AT adapter cable.

My main reason for purchasing the Z-Lynk is so that I can use the smaller earbuds rather than using a pair of cumbersome, hot and heavy headphones! With the ability to control the volume and the elimination of being tethered to the detector the Z-Lynk is just what the Planedoc ordered!!

Keep in mind that you'll need a 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch headphone jack adaptor to use earbuds.

My only complaint has to do with the length of the AT Pro / AT Gold cable. I wanted to mount the transmitter under my forearm between the hand grip and the arm saddle but the cable is too short to do this.

The perfomance of the Z-Link is as advertised! Flawless reception and instant response!

Overall I'm very happy with it!! I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars!!

Disclaimer: I am not a paid spokesman for Garrett nor do I play one on TV / Youtube.

What earbuds have you used successfully? I'm currently trying to find a set that will work good. I bought a one earbud set (SCOSCHE hp32m) that I was using with the ATP 1/4 headphone adapter (used a cheap 1/4 to 3.5mm adapter) and they got LOUD because it has a built in volume wheel so they worked perfect. But now plugging them into the Z-Lynk, they are way too quiet. I can't get them any louder than a whisper with the volume wheel or the reciever volume all the way up. Tried a pair of iphone earbuds, but I think they might have been faulty as I got no sound at all.

Also, do you need to need to match the ohms up for best sound? I plugged normal headphones in and it seems to have lost the proportional audio (pro mode sounds) where deeper targets are quieter and shallow targets are louder. All the targets sounded the same deep or shallow like running in standard beep mode. Did you notice this as well, it could just be my hearing unit (headphones, earbuds) which is why I'm trying to find some earbuds that work as the detector audio should.

Thanks for any help, been reading around and they say matching the ohms output/input is best for hearing whisper targets like 8 ohm, 16 ohm or 32 ohm, don't know which one? But yes, I love the Z-Lynk and being disconnected from the detector too. No more pulling my head off when setting the detector down to dig, just need to get the audio back up to where it was with headphones but prefer earbuds....
 
Kind of an update: called Garrett and they said all their headphones run 8 ohms and the Scosche earbud I was trying was 32 ohm which means it needed a larger "push" because the higher impedance = low volume. I will try to get some 8 ohm earbuds and see how they work out.
 
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I've been using those cheap JVC earbuds from Wallyworld. I use them at work and when they give out.(usually losing sound in one earbud) I'll cut off the broken earbud and use the good one for detecting. I like using only one earbud. That way I can hear what's going on around me while detecting.


Kind of an update: called Garrett and they said all their heasphones run 8 ohms and the Scosche earbud I was trying was 32 ohm which means it needed a larger "push" because the higher impedance = low volume. I will try to get some 8 ohms which are pretty standard and see how they work out.
 
I've been using those cheap JVC earbuds from Wallyworld. I use them at work and when they give out.(usually losing sound in one earbud) I'll cut off the broken earbud and use the good one for detecting. I like using only one earbud. That way I can hear what's going on around me while detecting.

Sweet, thank you! I'll try those. Does your proportional audio work with those too? Can you hear the difference in deep vs shallow?
 
Sweet, thank you! I'll try those. Does your proportional audio work with those too? Can you hear the difference in deep vs shallow?


Absolutely!! I usually run in Coins mode but it works great in Zero and Custom mode. You can definitely hear the difference!
 
Absolutely!! I usually run in Coins mode but it works great in Zero and Custom mode. You can definitely hear the difference!

Maybe I have a bad 1/4 to 1/8th adapter or something then. Z-Lynk works fine with the 2 sets of headphones I tried, but just finished trying some iphone earbuds and it was barely audible again. I guess it's something about mic attached or inline volume control stopping the signal. Just need to try regular earbuds. Wallyworld here I come, fingers crossed!
 
Congrats on the review , glad you brought up about not being water proof , even though not useing for water hunting , still get caught it some hard rain situations . HH

The standard water resistant connector for the headphones and the Z-Link have identical dimensions. The Z-Link is missing the o-ring.

Using the industrial standard o-ring size chart you'll need a #013 o-ring. These should be available at any automotive supply.
 

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Maybe I have a bad 1/4 to 1/8th adapter or something then. Z-Lynk works fine with the 2 sets of headphones I tried, but just finished trying some iphone earbuds and it was barely audible again. I guess it's something about mic attached or inline volume control stopping the signal. Just need to try regular earbuds. Wallyworld here I come, fingers crossed!

I only use the cheap JVC earbuds at work! Without the mic or pause/play button. If those aren't available I'll get the next cheapest set! Best Buy carries the cheapies also. There are waterproof earbuds on the market. Check amazon!
 
Thanks NAVY for the O ring info , what about the receiver would that be a problem in a rain storm . Finds are getting scarce so I'm thinking about the Nell thunder , what coil do you like . See your retiring in July , Congrats ! X Navy too ? . I Was on PERRY DD844 , wood and sails back then :lol:
HH
 
Thanks NAVY for the O ring info , what about the receiver would that be a problem in a rain storm . Finds are getting scarce so I'm thinking about the Nell thunder , what coil do you like . See your retiring in July , Congrats ! X Navy too ? . I Was on PERRY DD844 , wood and sails back then :lol:
HH

I'm working on a mod to water proof both the receive and transmitter. So far so good!! I'll post a video in the next couple of days. I need to learn how to edit and add graphics to videos!

I was on the USS Kitty Hawk 82 to 85. Ships armorer. All I did was clean small-arms and watch TV! If you were on the Perry you are a few years older than me!!

I have the standard coil, the sharpshooter and the 5X7 coil.
 
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Alright, just another update. 16 ohm earbuds work fine, 32 ohm will not work, and 8 ohm is the magic set but hard to find. Had to settle for 16 ohm right now, but they are loud! Thanks everyone! Supposedly 8 ohm is optimal since that's the resistance the Z- Lynk is putting out, I guess that would help hear those ultra quiet whisper targets.

I looked it up and the Iphone earbuds I originally tried using were 45 ohms and I couldn't hear jack. So the lower the better on the Z-Lynk.
 
Alright, just another update. 16 ohm earbuds work fine, 32 ohm will not work, and 8 ohm is the magic set but hard to find. Had to settle for 16 ohm right now, but they are loud! Thanks everyone! Supposedly 8 ohm is optimal since that's the resistance the Z- Lynk is putting out, I guess that would help hear those ultra quiet whisper targets.

I looked it up and the Iphone earbuds I originally tried using were 45 ohms and I couldn't hear jack. So the lower the better on the Z-Lynk.

thanks for the info!

That explains why the First texas machines sound great with them. Those have 8 ohm headphone jacks/output. (most detectors do)

I've had mixed results on stereo or higher ohm headphone output like on minelab FBS.
 
thanks for the info!

That explains why the First texas machines sound great with them. Those have 8 ohm headphone jacks/output. (most detectors do)

I've had mixed results on stereo or higher ohm headphone output like on minelab FBS.

Problem is most earbuds are at least 16 ohm and range up to 600 ohms. Hi-Fi has taken over the marketplace and I think if you want 8 ohm for true response, you're looking at buying something like this for $2 unfortunately...



I just can't find much else and hardly anyone rates earbuds by ohms.
 
I only use the cheap JVC earbuds at work! Without the mic or pause/play button. If those aren't available I'll get the next cheapest set! Best Buy carries the cheapies also. There are waterproof earbuds on the market. Check amazon!
I too have found out that the only ones that work are the ones without built in mic. Which I'm more than happy with because they will be cheap to replace.
 
I use JVC HAEB 75 earbuds for both music and the deus. They are 16 ohm and sound great. They are pretty rugged also and cheap, 10 bucks on amazon.
 
Just an update. Took detector into Garrett, I have a bad 1/4 inch to 1/8th inch adapter causing connection issues. Garrett engineer said ANY earbuds that work in a phone - should work on the Z-Lynk regardless of ohm because the voltage is strong enough to push them.

They even gave me a free 2 prong direct to Z-Lynk adapter ($20) to avoid running through the AT Pro 1/4 inch headphone adapter and cut down on cables. Very nice people!
 
I felt the same way. i enjoyed the unit. But the transmitter is having issues. After 2 days of using, and before the third day, i recharged them so i would have a full charge. On day 3 i reassembled the transmitter on machine pressed button and nothing happens ughhh. The receiver works flawlessly but why not the transmitter. So i bought a new transmitter and all went fine until i recharged the system again so i would have a full charge. Cant keep buying transmitters so back to being connected with head phone cable
 
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