Why So Many People Not Sure Of The Equinox?

[FollowTheBeep]

1 hour ago, Skate said:

I would be ecstatic if every 18 months a newer, better, more capable machine was introduced by Minelab or any other company. If it could get me more treasure, more rings, more old silver coins, neater relics then I'm all over it even if I have to spend $800-$1000 every 18 months to do it. I am the farthest thing from being brand loyal. I just don't get the angst and worry associated with an item costing $800. Some people are unhinged that ML would intro the EQ while still calling the CTX their top model. Why should they care? If the Nox allows you to swing 8 hours a day it's better than the 4-5 hours the CTX gets most folks due to the weight. 

I'm excited the nox is coming and I hope that really soon something even better comes out because it will benefit me doing what I love to do, which is detecting. If I could only detect a few times a year I think I'd find another hobby or just own an ACE 250 and call it a day. 

I'm truly happy for everyone that is able to afford the latest and greatest whenever it comes out.  But not everyone has that ability. Perhaps when the kids are grown and the house is paid for...  But many people love this hobby and want the best bang for their buck and just because they have other life obligations doesn't mean that when the time is available to partake in the hobby that they should use entry level equipment.

I am planning on buying an 800 but the question posed by Gerry was 'Why so many not sure of the Equinox?' and I posed one possible answer to the question.  I was saving up for the CTX and now I'm glad that I won't need to spend so much to get the results I'm looking for.

[Steve Herschbach]

I hear you FollowTheBeep. The good news is I would think that a metal detector is like the ultimate non-essential item in most people's lives. Almost nobody "needs" a metal detector and there should be no hurry or pressure to buy one.

[hawk]

Skate I am with you on the pass up the iron waiting for the Equinox.  It will be loads of fun discovering what was missed by my Garrett Ace 400.  The 400 is a nice starter but with what is in store with the Equinox 800, I too am feeling the " Christmas Morning" excitement for my Equinox 800 to arrive.  Until then I will keep getting out often when the weather permits and enjoying the thrill of the hunt.  Happy Hunting Sir!!!!  Mark

[WesH]

  I used to be one of those that purchased the latest and the greatest, usually the PI Minelabs, from the sd2100 up to the gpx4000.  I do however have a financial limit and when the 5000 first came out the price was the brick wall.  Only when they lowered the price to $4000 was I able to afford it.  When they came out with the 7000 there was no way I could afford it.  If I would have bought that one I would have had to find a new place to live.  Now comes the Equinox which is totally affordable for me and will allow multiple types of detecting.  I have one on order and am impatiently waiting.

  

[Bayard]

I've used an Etrac for years, dug 102 silver coins with it in 2017.  Why should I bother to get an Equinox?  Minelab says the Equinox is less sensitive to silver coins than FBS.

I figured I could happily do without an Equinox, until Steve posted some Mercury dimes he found with the Equinox that his CTX had missed.  I intend to buy an Equinox solely because of this.  If the Equinox doesn't help me find more silver coins in the turf, it will either become my dedicated water machine or get sold off.

There is confusion and ambiguity about where the Equinox fits in the Minelab product mix.  Is it a stealth flagship?  Will it outhunt the Etrac and CTX for a fraction of the cost?  This ambiguity is the source of resistance and hostility.

 

[midalake]

20 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

 

Now if you could only get what is in that picture to me in Mexico right now!  I could have many questions answered in 48hrs. PS, Had a two gold ring day yesterday! 

[Steve Herschbach]

51 minutes ago, Bayard said:

There is confusion and ambiguity about where the Equinox fits in the Minelab product mix.  Is it a stealth flagship?  Will it outhunt the Etrac and CTX for a fraction of the cost?  This ambiguity is the source of resistance and hostility.

Ambiguity exists because ambiguity is real. It is not a matter of saying “CTX is our flagship, therefore there is NOTHING that any detector can possibly do better” or “Equinox is our flagship, therefore there is NOTHING that any detector can possibly do better”.

Equinox was made to compete with the Garrett AT and XP Deus, not the CTX. Now think about Deus versus CTX. Which is better? Most reasonable people would say there are things each excels at, and that a CTX and Deus complement each other well. Only partisans insist on going further and making one out to be “better” than the other. One is not better than the other per se, they are just different. Which is “better” depends on the task at hand.

The same story is true with CTX versus Equinox. Seeking clear, pat answers smothers the reality that one is not better than the other. There are targets a CTX might do better on and targets a Equinox might do better on. The CTX in some ground will have an edge for depth on some silver. In other ground the machines will be a match. Equinox has the clear edge in trash, and can easily find coins that the CTX can’t find due to masking. CTX is likely to be more stable in saltwater, Equinox a little less so due to being the “hotter” machine.

Trying to force detectors into a “lineup” is something done for marketing purposes, and they always line them up by price. Does that mean more expensive detectors are always better? Of course not.

I would love to be the provider of easy pat answers but that would be misleading people and is not true. Anyone that clearly states that a CTX is a better machine under all circumstances than an Equinox or that an Equinox is clearly better than a CTX under all circumstances is either ignorant or a liar. It just does not work that way in real life. I am therefore planting my feet firmly on ambiguous ground because that is where reality is. Those seeking to pigeon hole one detector as “best” are closing their minds to the concept that all machines excel in some ways for some people. My advice is keep an open mind and realize no detector has a corner on “best”. The goal for me is to figure out how to get any one detector to do the best job it can, but I don’t insist the detector must be perfect at everything.

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, Bayard said:

This ambiguity is the source of resistance and hostility.

 

Hostility?  Seriously?  Are we talking about human rights or metal detectors?

 

7 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Equinox was made to compete with the Garrett AT and XP Deus, not the CTX. Now think about Deus versus CTX. Which is better? Most reasonable people would say there are things each excels at, and that a CTX and Deus complement each other well. Only partisans insist on going further and making one out to be “better” than the other. One is not better than the other per se, they are just different. Which is “better” depends on the task at hand.

The same story is true with CTX versus Equinox. Seeking clear, pat answers smothers the reality that one is not better than the other. There are targets a CTX might do better on and targets a Equinox might do better on. The CTX in some ground will have an edge for depth on some silver. In other ground the machines will be a match. Equinox has the clear edge in trash, and can easily find coins that the CTX can’t find due to masking. CTX is likely to be more stable in saltwater, Equinox a little less so due to being the “hotter” machine.

Trying to force detectors into a “lineup” is something done for marketing purposes, and they always line them up by price. Does that mean more expensive detectors are always better? Of course not.

I would love to be the provider of easy pat answers but that would be misleading people and is not true. Anyone that clearly states that a CTX is a better machine under all circumstances than an Equinox or that an Equinox is clearly better than a CTX under all circumstances is either ignorant or a liar. It just does not work that way in real life. I am therefore planting my feet firmly on ambiguous ground because that is where reality is. Those seeking to pigeon hole one detector as “best” are closing their minds to the concept that all machines excel in some ways for some people. My advice is keep an open mind and realize no detector has a corner on “best”. The goal for me is to figure out how to get any one detector to do the best job it can, but I don’t insist the detector must be perfect at everything.

Actually, I think I can make the same argument for the Deus vs. the Equinox.  In my opinion they will compliment each other.  I can see myself using the Equinox under many situations (definitely over the Deus at wet salt beach hands down and possibly over the Deus in highly mineralized soil for relic hunting, we'll be testing that this spring).  But I still see situations where the Deus with the small elliptical coil may be the right choice over the Equinox for both accessibility, weight, and the fact that I can operate the Deus at frequencies higher than the Equinox can achieve.  I think less of a "complimentary role" argument can be made for detectors such as the Garrett AT series, Whites MXT,/MX Sport, Nokta Impact, and Fisher F75 (except for coil choice) and similar First Texas detectors vs. the Equinox which appears to eclipse those detectors across the board.

[Chase Goldman]

26 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Hostility?  Seriously?  Are we talking about human rights or metal detectors?

 

Actually, I think I can make the same argument for the Deus vs. the Equinox.  In my opinion they will compliment each other.  I can see myself using the Equinox under many situations (definitely over the Deus at wet salt beach hands down and possibly over the Deus in highly mineralized soil for relic hunting, we'll be testing that this spring).  But I still see situations where the Deus with the small elliptical coil may be the right choice over the Equinox for both accessibility, weight, and the fact that I can operate the Deus at frequencies higher than the Equinox can achieve.  I think less of a "complimentary role" argument can be made for detectors such as the Garrett AT series, Whites MXT,/MX Sport, Nokta Impact, and Fisher F75 (except for coil choice) and similar First Texas detectors vs. the Equinox which appears to eclipse those detectors across the board.

Apologies for quoting myself, but with respect to the Deus vs. Equinox argument (or CTX vs. Equinox, for that matter), I think a valid point could be made that my perspective for the above is that with the exception of the Impact and CTX which I just mentioned,  I have or presently own all of the above detectors.  If I did not already own a Deus, and purchased an Equinox and it lived up to its promise, would I run out and buy a Deus to compliment it?  That is a key question.  I am thinking, at this point, no.  Same thing regarding a CTX.  Even knowing they are likely complimentary to the Equinox (i.e., superior to the Equinox under some specific circumstances), it would need to be a very compelling gap before I would pony up the $ to purchase either of these high end detectors on top of the Equinox.

In other words, asking those already owning a Deus or CTX and who are thinking about getting an Equinox if they would then get rid of their Deus/CTX would be quite a different answer than asking those who presently own neither and who are getting an Equinox if they would then buy a Deus/CTX (unless selling the Deus/CTX was necessary to make purchasing the Equinox viable).   Just because someone answers "no" in the second scenario does not mean that they do not necessarily consider the Deus/CTX complimentary to the Equinox.  It is a nuanced argument, but an important aspect to consider, IMO, when discussing the concept of the flagship detector.  It certainly should not be something that should generate hostility among existing CTX owners or those who are contemplating either the CTX or the Equinox.

Similar to the point Steve was making earlier, I understand that folks are uncomfortable with the whole Equinox vs. CTX thing because most people look at the Flagship detector as the detector that encompasses all the features of it's lesser cousins, an evolutionary paradigm.  Using the evolutionary metaphor, I think of the Equinox as a parallel branch off the multifrequency evolutionary tree, and as such it cannot hold up to a pure apples to apples comparison with the CTX or Excal or eTrac etc... (that is somewhat borne out by Minelabs own multifrequency evolutionary technology charts).  The thing about the Equinox is that it is ALSO fast and light weight and that makes it truly "disruptive" tech as is the popular term for such things whether you are talking cell phones, laptops, virtual reality headsets, or automobiles.

 

[Skate]

I just don't get the anger. You would think an outsider would look at some of the responses on these forums and think we were talking about life and death issues. How dare minelab say that the EQ will obsolete all other VLF detectors! We must go to war with Minelab now to show them that in this day and age all detectors are equal regardless of where the detector came from and it's background. We must realize that whether the detector came on a container ship or in the back of someones trunk they are all the same. 

Everything has to be an argument nowadays.