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Batsignal For Geotech - Can An Inline Probe Be Made For Equinox?


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Carl I know you're not working for ML, but as an expert on simultaneous multi frequency technology you likely know a few things about the Equinox technologies. 

As Sunray will never do it, and ML Is challenged just to get machines out, let alone accessories, how complicated would it be to build a 3rd party inline probe for the Equinox ?

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I see you found Carl over at Toms and got an answer.

As a person with a finely tuned nose for what sells there is no market of consequence for inline probes anymore. It was wiped out by the original Garrett pinpointer. They were never as big a seller as people think anyway - I was a Sunray dealer so have an decent idea about that.

Making a wireless version is not easy either. The Sunray was just a coil, and employed the detector electronics to do the processing. For a wireless probe to do the heavy lifting it would have to be a complete detector in a coil, just like Deus coils. And even Deus, which is made to work that way, stumbled with their pinpointer.

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Hi Steve,  Yep saw Carl's reply. 

To be honest, the inline probes from Sunray were really only good on the Minelabs.  I had a few on Fisher's (C$ and F75) and to be honest they just weren't that great on a machine like the F75.  For one thing their a motion detect device (because as you pointed out their basically another coil) , unless you're in PP mode, but on the F75 you had to hold the PP trigger, while digging, while trying to operate the probe, which was a bust.  I finally sold of my F75 Sunray probe after I had an encounter digging a barber dime out of a mess of tree roots.  In the roots you didn't have any room to move the probe enough to work in disc mode, so it became useless.  Now on a machine like the Equinox, where you can press on/off the PP mode, it wouldn't be a problem at all, and you'd get those great flutey tones when going after deep silver, with iron tones on the nails, so in my mind it could work well, especially if made wireless. 

I wonder if in the case of the Equinox for example, that already has a well integrated Bluetooth system, if they couldn't effectively make a wireless probe that worked the same as the Dues coils, and simply relay the signals back to the EQ for processing?

I think XP attempted to do something on that order with their Dues wireless probe, but at the end of the day it was kind of a fail as it wasn't really a wireless inline probe. 

Just spit ballin' :wink:

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All the Bluetooth is doing on Equinox is piping the audio signal to headphones. For something like that to work I think the detector would have to be designed from the ground up to process a wireless coil signal, as was the case with Deus. Even then, a Deus coil is more of a detector in a coil with much of the work done in the coil itself. The Deus pinpointer is not the same and does not give you tones or target id information. It’s merely a pinpointer like the Garrett that connects wirelessly. To act like a Deus coil XP would literally have to somehow take everything that is in one of those $400 coils and stuff it in the pinpointer. Not only are there technical issues there but price issues also. I think you have a better chance of getting your inline probe for Equinox than a wireless probe that acts like an inline probe. And the only way that’s likely to happen is if you make one yourself.

I guess like a lot of people I don’t really see the need anyway. Once I decide to dig I don’t need to know anything else about the target. I just need to find it, and regular pinpointers do a good job at that. Getting the audio piped into the headphones would be nice but I am so accustomed now to using pinpointers in vibrate mode only that it would not actually make my detecting any better.

With Garrett now making a wireless Pro-Pointer AT it appears to me that Garrett is well on the way to creating the best thought out system of wireless headphones and pinpointers. Their new Z-Lynk module works well with any detector that does not have built in wireless. The new AT Max integrates the same system and is compatible with the module, as are the new Z-Lynk headphones. All new Garrett detectors will no doubt use the same system. And now their pinpointers will also integrate, and all at quite reasonable prices.

Minelab has done a very poor job with wireless so far. The CTX WM10 wireless audio module, GPZ WM12 module, Pro-Sonic system, and now the Equinox WM08 module are all basically incompatible with each other. Garrett is designing an Apple type ecosystem where all the products work well with each other. Minelab every time they do a new detector series it’s like they start fresh and there is no thought for backwards compatibility or even compatibility between existing products. 

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I agree that an in-line probe does not provide a whole lot of value on typical beep-dig single target recovery situations. However, one niche area where a tone ID probe would come in handy is in tight quarters detecting such as in a pit or trench where you are digging out a large hole for relic recovery.  In that case, it is more convenient to use something like a handheld probe or pinpointer to cherry pick keepers from amongst the hundreds of iron nails  and tin ration can pieces that will set off a typical pinpointer.  Since XP did not come through with discrimination for their wireless pinpointer, I am relegated to using the Deus and elliptical coil as a sort of pinpointer on steroids in these situations to comb through the removed dirt pile "tailings" for keepers.

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Buying a Pro-Pointer AT changed my whole recovery routine. It's so much faster using a pointer - at least for coin shooting in parks etc. I have not used it with my 7000 yet and don't expect to, as using the 50-50 technique is fast and effecient.

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