I had some money burning a hole in my pocket so I decided after much thought to buy from one of this forum's sponsors a Garrett MS-3 Z-Lynk wireless system for my detectors. The package has headphones that are wireless so it's a true wireless setup. It also has fittings so that I can use it with my AT Pro or my Ace 400. Does anyone here have this setup? If so, how do you like it?
Yup. I ran the Z-Lynk on my AT Pro for a while, and then moved to the AT Max (which is where the latest Z-Lynk Headphones were developed).
The headphones will work with any Z-Lynk transciever (either mounted, or in-box as with the Max).
Here's what you'll LOVE about the Z-Lynk setup.
1) Wireless. Duh. No brainer here, it's so much LIGHTER carrying the rig, without a curled wire hanging off of it. You'd think not, but it's noticable (especially with the big Master series headphones on the AT Pro).
2) Hopefully the MS3 setup has a receiver BOX in addition to the Wireless headset. You'll want that. BADLY. Why? Because the wireless headphones are fully over the ears... as in SWEAT BOMBS in the summertime. It can get nasty quick. So why the receiver box? Because you can clip that to your pouch, and run a set of earbuds under your shirt. Still no wire connected to your rig, but it's a LOT more comfortable to wear earbuds than it is to wear those padded headphones in the summer. if you've not tried it yet, you're in for a treat. Also, the box has a volume control button on it (which is freaking awesome!)
3) wow, what a difference in the summer to walk around with open ears and no sweat! (or weird tan lines).
4) The headphones are wicked warm in the winter! I love them for cold windy days. They're the best! better than the stock headphones that come with the AT Pro.
5) The batteries last 20+ hours. I typically recharge them every 3 hunts to be safe, though the instructions say let them wear down to the beeping light. I don't hunt that often anymore. I've been using mine for 2 years now, and no problems, other than an initial failure that was warrantied on the transciever (the receiver is no issue).
Something to watch out for. If you've got the receiver box (assuming it came with), you'll eventually run into a situation where you think "It's not working!" I've done this 3 times now... tried everything I could think of to get it back to normal (recharge, disconnect, etc.). What I didn't try was the VOLUME buttons. Sometimes when bending over, my leg will bump and hold the volume button (when there's no noise to tell). I'll stand up, and if I'm in a fairly silent area, I'll swing a few feet before noticing. Then I'm very confused, and I think the receiver isn't working. Works fine... but it DOES help to have the volume up! Just something to watch for.
Last thing to watch out for, is that when the receiver gets low, it can actually miss the signal from the main rig if you get far enough away. This can happen on the "out swing" but it'll immediately reconnect on the in. As a result, you don't really notice it's not working, but you'll get spotty signals. took me a LONG time to diagnose this one (as I had to encounter enough "low battery" conditions). The solution is simple... wear the receiver box on the same side as you hold your rig. It never gets far enough away to matter. Stronger signal.
I've gotten to where I just drop the receiver box (connected to my earbud wire) into the good finds pouch on my Garrett pouch. Works great, and I don't bump the buttons anymore, too!
One more bonus, I just thought of. When I got the AT Max, it comes with headphones, but no "receiver box". So, you either are stuck with the big padded headphones or a wired one. I already had the receiver box from the AT Pro, and it works flawlessly with the AT Max.
Cheers!