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Tim messaged me today and said "your Equinox is here" I'll give it a go asap here in Sw mo. She's charging right now but had to play in the yard a bit. ?

Folks, I have read some of the posts on here and am disappointed about what some of you think you know or what some of you might have been told by a dealer. No I’m not even going to other forums, as I heard they want to hang each other blaming the manufacture Minelab, their dealers and or non Minelab users causing their usual ruckus. I will not call out anyone in particular except Minelab, as I feel they did leave us in the dark recently with lack of communication. Here is what I want you to try and understand please. This new and exciting detector technology was introduced in the UK at one of the larger detecting events in the world. I personally had customers there who were pretty excited about it and why would you not be? After all, Minelab of old and their high dollar prices, for the most part…I think is behind us now. 1st Go-Finds (which I personally don't care for), is an introductory detector to get in a new kids hands for under $199 (and it sells well, better than I had imagined). Until the last few years the cheapest thing Minelab had was minimum of $500. Then the Gold Monster 1000 package with 2 coils and accessories priced at $799. It has really hit the US market hard and I can barely sell any of my other VLF gold detector brands. The GM-1000 is the hottest selling VLF gold machine out there and actually fun to use too. They already had the high end Gold Detector market share. So what is left to go and gobble up and try to put their product brand in to your hands. The Equinox with 2 different models and price points of course. Minelab decided to go with a detector the majority of you can afford and most importantly, you want one. Their advertising & intro outside of the US was genius. The price point along with this detectors technology is stunning. The majority of detectorists WORLDWIDE are intrigued and wanting it. Yes we were told to expect a small batch around Christmas…but that was before the upgrades. With the new upgrades, even more people decided to jump on board and I applaud you. The new year is here and most major detector manufactures have not introduced much that was totally new and exciting in the last 3 months. Tax returns are coming, the Spring is around the corner and until this week most of your retirement accounts were fat and happy. The market was riding the wave and the Equinox Pre-Sales is as well.. In fact, the last 30 days of sales of this product have been more than the previous 3 months (for me anyway). Minelab History. I have been a Multi Line Dealer of detectors for 20+ years. Minelab (which I feel makes some of the most innovative detector technologies) allows me (a detectorist of 45 years) the edge in my style of detecting most of the time. I’ve witnessed this company grow from a single weed to a bush in a matter of 3 years in the US in the early 90’s. I have seen their gold detector sales spread across the US from a bush to a garden in the early 2000’s. Then Minelab started making well know detectors we enjoyed for Coin/Relic/Jewelry hunting using BBS, FBS and VFLEX technologies, all the time while growing and the garden getting bigger. My sales of a variety of Minelab detectors just kept getting bigger and before I knew it the garden in the back yard became a City Park of many acres. Minelab has methodically kept on growing, getting bigger with each new model and improvement. The 2nd Gold Rush in Africa (about 8 years ago) was a Grand Slam for Minelab and they re-invested some of their profits by hiring more young and bright minded Engineers and yes even physicists. Now we are at present with this new Multi IQ technology and the Equinox. The biggest change I see? Minelab is now so much greater worldwide and the detector is in demand more than even the best of us could have imagined. Folks, the walk in the park along the river is no more, it has grown into a full blown Timber Forest. The Equinox with its new Multi IQ technology, the perfect timing release at a major detector event, the updated info and even the delay to get more features and performance into the detector… has the demand across the different lands and languages of this planet is totally awe inspiring to us old timers that have been around for a long time. To date - 1st shipment arrived and has been allocated. Boy was I pissed off at 1st as well as most all other dealers. Then I realized what they just went through and also realized the same thing happened with the other machines in times past and most recently the Pro Find 35 Pointer. Minelab felt it best to get at least a few machines sent out and that is exactly what came into the US? Lucky for us as some countries were allocated even less. My guess only… I expect another shipment (in the next 2 to 3 weeks) and it too will probably be small and then a 3rd shipment 2 to 3 weeks later and so forth. I feel things will open up some around the mid/late March and most customers will be happily using their new detector. All the chatter (good and bad) is literally creating a wave and it just keeps getting bigger and more curious people are watching, wondering and wanting…to get in on the game. Now I love new customers and have spent most of my adult life promoting this hobby and the many adventures it provides. But some people seems to think Minelab is taking advantage? What I ask of everyone who reads this. Please be respectful of your dealer who is trying to get the product, but we can only hand you what we get. Some dealers have not been as up front with their customers and a wise customer will shop with someone different next time. Please understand Minelab USA and their distributors are doing all they can to get them and I know for a FACT they are moving them to the dealers. Thank Minelab Corporate, the ones who make up the new technologies we so desire. After all, they could have kept their promise (machines were done) and sent them across the lands. Then a month later we are all up in arms with new info and possible downloads. Heck people, they make a wise decision and are offering us even more machine at the same price we already paid. Why be upset with that? So please don’t call and threaten your dealer for taking your money. Please don’t call and harass their distributors and or even Minelab USA. After all, if you don’t want the product let us know, we have plenty of people in line to take your spot. Now for Minelab USA or Corporate. I feel they did not do a good enough job of updating the consumers of their products. We are inquisitive people who want to know (hence the new EQ) and many of us have put money in your hands, some for a few months now. We (most of us anyway) are ok with the delay and updates. But after saying “end of Jan” and that not happening, it allowed the forums to run rampant with rumors…which causes more stories and then sometimes mistrust. A simple post to FB or on the main Minelab Site explaining the product was delayed an additional 2 weeks for any reason would have been enough for most. After all we all know BAD news is better than No news. I would kindly ask of those who want to chime in with opinions on why this or who that and Dealer A not doing something right. Please refrain. I’d like to see positive comments and feed backs only. Once the detectors are in your hands, then there will be discussions started to engage. Bottom line is this. Not a person on any forum is going to make the detectors show up any sooner. It is what it is and we just need to be a little more patient. Americans being patient? I don’t think so.. we are spoiled, self serving and sometimes non practical. Guess what. We still be waiting. Thanks for allowing me to help clear up some of the delays and ways of Minelab. I’ve had plenty of hair pulling events myself in my years with Minelab and it will all work out in the end, I promise. Oh and have you downloaded the newest version Equinox manual, I don’t understand why some come in White, Who wants a white one? https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2018/Chevrolet/Equinox/2018-chevrolet-equinox-owners-manual.pdf

Congratulations! Now as my wife would say - go find a penny!

Here's some free advice for you single guys. If you're the outdoorsey type, don't marry a prissy little cheerleader. If you're interested in a girl, take her hunting or fishing or metal detecting on your first date. If she squeals like a banshee the first time she gets a lil' mud on her, then she ain't the one.

Well seriously, nobody believes them anyway, right? What this has done however is keep a certain air of mystery going, and for all intents and purposes the only videos you are going to see the next couple weeks are from people who got in line and purchased an Equinox. It leaves the field wide open for genuine reactions unsullied by what could have been a video blitz the last month on Minelab’s part. Part of the fun of metal detecting is discovering hidden treasure, and I think this aspect of the Equinox release right now is largely intact. I am currently occupied with other business and so I am every bit as anxious as anyone to see detectors get into peoples hands and the reports to roll in. There will be a few YouTube channels getting massive interest soon, no doubt about that!

This video was posted on Facebook, unfortunately, it's not mine just to clarify.

This guy on Findmall is the first one I have seen posted.

Guess who's house is getting robbed tonite?

My wife passed gas out loud on the first date, I proposed a couple of weeks later. Still going strong after 8 years, not the gas, our marriage. LOL.

Just in case you order a unicorn and get a donkey. Hopefully the ability of the user to update the software would take care of most potential problems.

I am single so i just say to my right hand here's something else to grab. Sorry !

A trip, roses, chocolates? Wow, and all I'm getting is a nice pair of knee high snake boots for Valentines. OK, that's what I wanted and I picked them out, fair enough. Those green prairie rattlers are sneaky little bass turds!

https://quartzsitegoldshowcom.wordpress.com/ This is a really good show put on every year in Quartzsite, Arizona, so if you’re in the area, check it out!

Season 3 is available as of today on Amazon. I feel a binge coming on.

I heard that they won't take any Equinox detectors in for repair until all pre-orders have been filled. Now that's a rumor I heard from Jack Scharf from ML. They don't want to start a panic.. Besides if your that rough on a detector they take it away and make you use a pointer until you learn proper care.

Hell I haven’t even gotten one yet , surely don’t wanna think about sending my lil unicorn in for service ?

Chase, It happens in all industries and or walks of life. But the reality is...most dealers are great people and want to help their customers. Al, I was not making fun of Chevy...but trying to laugh a few people who hit the link and seen the new 2018 Chevy Equinox. Wonder how many started reading it??? InTroube, Never use REVERSE my friend, lol.

One of these days I am going to AZ just for this show. I have many good friends who say it is Top Shelf.

Hey Tom----You're lookin PLENTY SHARP with that new baby!!! Keep us posted how she's doin for yah!---------Del

Skate, I believe TallTom pointed out one of the reasons why tot lots are ring territory. Here are a few more, along with their mother, those tots most likely have some or all of the following. A father, an older sibling, grandparents, aunts and uncles, a baby sitter and more. Now, think back to the last time that you pushed someone on a swing. When you start, your hands and arms are cocked back to your chest, then they are thrust forward until they are fully extended. At this point your hands ( with fingers nearly straight ) abruptly stop. That is a pretty good way to lose a ring, or possibly even a bracelet or necklace with a weak clasp. Throw in some cool air temps and the odds of that ring leaving a finger goes way up!! Swing sets in tot lots and play grounds always get my attention. The area under and around swings is pretty good ring territory in my world. Best of luck out there....

About a half inch I'd say.

You don't know what you are missing in the ground if you don't have one right. What if the wife says "Why you have all those detectors, you only swing 1 at a time"? If my wife asked me why I have more than 1 detector because I only swing 1 at a time. I'd then ask her, why she has 20+ pairs of shoes for only 2 feet. Why she buys a new outfit each month when she has 100's. Why I need to keep buying her diamond ear rings, when I've done it now many times in 30 years and she only wears 1 set at a time...Or why the two of us live in a house with 5 bedrooms and we only sleep in 1 of them. I'm getting one because I don't really care what others say it can/can't do...I have to compare it myself in the sites I hunt in the soil conditions I have. I'm getting one because I like new technology - Multi IQ. I'm getting one because if I can find 1 way it does better (and allows the the opportunity to find more) than my favorite detector at a certain tasks, then it is good. But I am not expecting it to do all. What is your reasoning?

I vetted my wife with a 5 mile hike and a visit to the pub afterwards. My wife thinks it looks ridicules but she loves me just the same. Don't let that stop you.

Nuke 'Em, did the tv show Detectorists help or hinder your image in the local community? Art and Garfunkel certainly wouldn't have helped Either way, very funny series. Looking forward to being able to watch series 3.

I'm keeping it for now. If I had an SE Pro board it would be ok. I don't trash things just because they don't work. haha

I have Tuesday off. Will hit the beach but might cheat on the Equinox and hang out with Miss Explorer 11

The EQ is pretty cheap. The cost of a happy marriage can get expensive. You taking the EQ on the trip?

Thanks again fred as usual you are johnny on the spot and I do not mean that in a bad way just you are always one of the first to answer peoples post with useful and helpful info again thanks

Air tests are as reliable as chocolate teapots . You never get in ground what you get in air . If you do an air test then have someone at the box end too . When the sound dips and the number waiver then thats max depth in ground and thats if the ground is not bad. Still the machine does look good .

Hey Gerry, I went back and noted in the post, I came across this on FB. A KG is a type of large cent, King George, that I do know :)

OK Dan, is it really for him or you? Great to see the 1st video. When skeptics start picking on your video, tell them to buy one and do their own. Nice to see someone taking the to share a video of the detector we are all waiting for. BTW. What is a KG for us Westerners.

Chevy Equinox, does that clear it up?

Gerry, if I didn't already have a dealer who also is a good friend and sometime relic detecting buddy, it would be you. What an intelligent and informative post. The blackballing thing is a little disconcerting. Is that a dealer level thing or a user level thing (abuse of warranty, return, or just dropping off of preorder lists?). Anyway, thanks for doing the job ML USA should be doing regarding customer relations, you should be getting someone's paycheck who supposedly has that job there.

Thanks for the great post and the info Gerry.

Thanks Steve. I'm sure once the kiddo gets old enough, we'll have a new detectorist in the family too (maybe the Equinox will be out by then...sorry, couldn't resist

Well Gerry, I ordered one because you would never steer me in the wrong direction.

I propose we form the 2nd Batch Equinox Fan Club. I guarantee it will be bigger than the First Batch club.

Seriously that was funny. Since I'm in the second hundred at Kellyco mine might still be a Christmas present----Next year

The detector is a minor detail though I am sorry yours was not one of the early deliveries. More to the point Brian, congratulations to you and your wife on your new addition to the family!! Minelab will have missed out what with your hunting and video skills.

I'm thinking about canceling my pre-order. My dealer let me know that he was receiving a whopping TWO units, and that I'm #8 on the list, and likely will not see it for some time. Not anybodies fault really, but I'm starting a new job next month, and it'll be an exceedingly time consuming job for the foreseeable future, and my wife and I are expecting our first this summer, so that likely will put my detecting on the back-burner until fall. By then, hopefully, the Equinox will no longer be a unicorn. Until we started observing that the receive date was such a moving target, I had really anticipated receiving it by some time in January, or at least February, certainly not in March or April, although as the pieces of the puzzle started to land into place, that picture was becoming more in focus. Hope it works for everyone as much as we are anticipating it will.

Those 2-5 year olds have married mothers who wear wedding rings and tend to their children, sometimes dropping things along the way.

Tracking in a field is a bit of a nuisance, especially the very precise tracking of a Minelab. Any kind of harvested, plowed or worked field has ups and downs in the terrain even if you try and keep your swing level. So the machine is continually seeing more and less mineral. And your tracking is trying to keep up. Best result for me at least is perform a GB on the crest of the ground. If your in a field where you expect good stuff, GB next to each target you intend to dig. Not only will this add depth, it might give you a more trustworthy ID from one target to the next.

Here in the UK we have a similar moaning and groaning about the blank out from Minelab with product availability information and on one of our British forums I reacted with the following post and please remember that my post is directed to our UK brethren. ================================================================= Minelabs Marketing Strategy and My Theory Is. I don't think it is a case of being fobbed off about when the Equinox will arrive, I blame the marketing strategy of Minelab as they haven't just kept the end user in the picture they haven't divulged much information through the distribution and dealership network . The Equinox is so far advanced of any other metal detector that the whole world metal detecting fraternity is wanting their hands on one. Minelab did make a statement early in October that the expected release date would be late January and they are not a kick in the arse after that and we are just in the first few days of February. And the reason that the distributors are not able to give much information out is because they have not been given the reason from Minelab. I honestly believe the delay problem is the result of logistic problems as with such a high quantity to ship out to nearly every country in the world and the only logic method of dispatching such a high volume is by sea cargo, I don't even think that any airline would accommodate this type of high volume of cargo and if they did it would be at a massive cost which would be passed on to the end user, Another factor to consider is the fact that trading with a none EU country would encounter customs involvement which is a further delay. As we now know that Minelab did send a small shipment to many countries by airmail possibly just to relate to their promise of January / February release date and these few detectors will be delivered by this coming Monday & Tuesday and remember that the dealers are only getting these detectors in the single numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 and the sea shipments will be a further wait of 2 or 3 weeks. I am very anxious to get my hands on the Equinox but at present I will just have to sit back and wait like everyone else and be patient but with a bit of luck I might be in the lucky few as I am near the top of the pre-order list..

I’d rather be the guy posting pics of my finds with my new Nox lol . It’s a supply and demand issue , no way ML could have anticipated the interest and high demand for the equinox , but if they would release a statement instead of letting rumors run rampant then this would not be as big of an issue

Even a good news thread goes south....

My wife supports any purchasing decisions I make, whether it's a new motorcycle, or a new detector. We both work hard, we live and enjoy life. The funny thing is, she would say: "you should get that geiger". Shes calls metal detecting "geigering" and usually laughs when she says it. The reason I like the 800 is because of it's all around capabilities. The ultimate detector to me is one that can do it all. Do it all well, and break down into a size that's easily carried in a backpack. I want a detector I can take on a Sunday ride and not have to worry where I end up, or the conditions I might face. Freedom is what I'm looking for in a "geiger", and that's what the Equinox 800 offers.

Finding the amount of reduction of the conductivity of gold as it is alloyed has turned out to be quite difficult. Fortunately, I did find some shocking information on the old PI forum that does help. Here is that info. Eric Here are some numbers for copper-gold and silver-gold alloys. The first column is the % of gold in the alloy. The second column is the conductivity relative to copper of the copper-gold alloy. The third column is the conductivity relative to copper of the silver-gold alloy. % au cu ag 100 .75 .75 90 .14 .23 80 ??? .17 70 .11 .14 60 .12 .14 50 .14 .15 40 .17 .17 30 .22 .21 20 .30 ??? 10 .47 .44 0 1.0 1.05 Lead shot is usually alloyed with antimony, so its conductivity is less than pure lead. Robert (The above info was posted by the late Robert Hoolko). Hi Beachcomber, Alloying even a few percent of other metals causes the conductivity of gold to drop dramatically. Even if the other metal is a good conductor, like silver. I haven't seen any published values for the different alloys either. I have a conductivity meter which gives a reading as a percentage of that of annealed copper. A 9K ring gives a reading of 18%. Unfortunately the object has to have a surface area of about a square centimeter, otherwise you do not get enough signal to read. This is a very wide ring, so it can be done. No other rings I have work. Great for coins though, a nickel reads 5.3% Eric. As an example from the chart we see that gold can go from a reading of 77 at pure gold to 16 when alloyed with silver such that the gold is only 75%. The 16 reading would place that same gold closer to the conductivity of lead, while the pure reading is much closer to copper. This last post refers to a website where standardize gold alloys were listed by a company, deringerney, in 2010. Hope this info helps. Reg

Reasoning? I don't need no stinking reasoning! Oh, and the Multi IQ. I need all the IQ I can get.

Replacing my explorer se and hopefully all other machines

Gold is a good but not a great conductor of electricity. Copper and silver are better. People assume gold is better because they see it being used in electronics, but that has less to do with its conductive properties than gold's ability to withstand tarnishing or corrosion. From http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/blog/2011/11/20/the-conductivity-of-metals-used-in-hi-fi/ Even this chart is based on pure gold. Gold alloys have far poorer conductivity than pure gold, and so the difference is much greater for alloyed jewelry gold and natural gold. From https://www.911metallurgist.com/copper-electrical-conductivity/