Leaderboard

Out yesterday and found this nice little Yuma gold specimen ,not a big find but a nice one just a bit over 2 grams

Cal: I spent 21 years at Analog Devices & Maxim doing chip design. Our road maps were highly confidential, shared only with key customers under NDA. Most competitive new product development is done that way, whether chips or cars or metal detectors. As you point out, Minelab gave no hint of what they were working on until a few months prior to release, except to key people. When I was at White's I used to be a bit more liberal with development information, partly because there was no Marketing Dept to keep me in check, but also because it was some pretty exciting stuff. None of that exciting stuff ever made it to market, and it wasn't because it didn't work, but rather other factors. Maybe it will some day. At FTP I tend to keep a lot quieter about what we're doing, not because I'm not just as excited -- I am -- but because I don't want to make grandiose claims that may not live up to the hype. (Plus, Marketing has a big club, and it hurts.) Hell, I'm even pretty quiet within the company, not even telling the boss (and especially not Marketing!) what I'm working on. My preference is to get it working first, then I can make promises I know I can deliver. Steve: 25 years ago Minelab was dismissed as a nobody. 10 years ago XP was dismissed as a nobody. Today, I hear the same kind of talk about other New Kids, and I wag my finger at the naysayers. Never dismiss anyone, it's arrogant. But you're right, my job is simple: get a new product out. To that end, I have largely locked myself in the lab, and I'm finally making good progress. The pinpointer was unfortunate diversion that's now (mostly) over, and I still have other diversions and commitments, but the Main Event is high priority and making progress. Beyond that, I got nothin' to say until I got something to show. --Carl

Well, as several others have been posted, having been fortunate to be receiving an Equinox this week, I got a totally surprise, unexpected text from my dealer today with a tracking number attached! I spoke with him a few days ago, and was under the impression that he had "missed out" on the first batch of machines, being the small dealer that he is. Guess not! I was #2 on his list, and he got two! I was expecting it would be several more weeks, before I might see mine! I guess it's time for me to find a way to shift gears, shift the schedule around, load-shed a few things, and get ready to do some Equinox testing!!! LOL! Steve

Hello all, My dealer is shipping out my 600 I purchased tomorrow and I will have mine by the end of the week. I know it's not the 800 as most of you have ordered but still would like to know what videos/tests you are most looking forward to. I've seen some nice ones so far but wanted to get some input on what people want or haven't seen yet. Thanks!

“Now that EQUINOX pre-orders are starting to get to their owners, here are a few beach and water hunting tips to help you hit the sand running! The basics are covered by the Getting Started Guide and the online Instruction Manual, so I’ll just cut to the chase by sharing a few of my experiences using the EQUINOX 800 on the beach and in the water. I will start by saying this detector has a little of everything that I like about my favorite Minelab metal detectors. It’s waterproof, lightweight, easy-to-use, and most importantly, the Beach Mode and Multi-IQ technology works exceptionally well at salt-water beaches.“ Read the full story at Treasure Talk... https://www.minelab.com/anz/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/equinox-for-beach-and-water-hunting

There are several problems with releasing early information on projects. One is that it gives competitors a heads-up and allows them to react quicker, maybe even preempt our efforts. Second, it can bring sales to a dead stop if people decide to wait for the Next Big Thing. Yes, it can freeze competitor sales as well, which might outweigh the negatives. Third, sometimes things just don't work out the way we planned, and those early sneak peeks come back to bite us hard. If, ferinstance, you're still waiting on a CZX or a Mosca, well, my point exactly. FTP has a lot of stuff going on. I think it will be really good stuff and may even get us out in front for a change. But things don't move at a lightning pace at FTP, nor are things highly predictable. I thought the new PI machine would be getting released this Spring, which is partly why information on it got leaked. Not Spring. And since I can't predict exactly when it will be ready, I won't even try. The "5 new machines over the next 4 years" should rightfully elicit a chorus of yawns from everyone here. I don't even know why Marketing says stuff like that. The reality is, if all we can muster is 5 new machines over the next 4 years, then I probably should be fired. Expect more, and demand more. But don't expect a 5-year roadmap.

You just did it Carl. I know it is marketing’s job, not yours, but the fact is an interaction like you just initiated is in my opinion the number one thing FT or any manufacturer can do to break the bubble. One company that came out of nowhere is still probably being ignored by U.S. manufacturers because of their current small market share. However they are steadily stealing away customers and building a reputation for caring about and directly engaging their customers. It is the closest thing to interactive detector design I have seen. A certain Australian company was similarly ignored once. I digress however. The main point being, just seeing you here this morning makes an impression. Even if you relay little genuine information, it does show you care. You took your time to engage. Except as much as you are a really great guy, and I love discussing things directly with engineers... you should be locked in the lab. I would suggest what you just did is the job marketing is not doing very well if at all. Thanks for taking the time Carl. It really does make an impression. I for one am waiting patiently on the PI. If it matches or exceeds the ATX for performance but weighs less, I would be quite pleased. Right now ergonomics is starting to matter to me more than anything else.

I ordered from a smaller dealer in early December. He only received a couple 800s last week and I'm still #7 on his list, so like many of you I may have a bit of a wait. But what I'm hoping is that Minelab airfreighted a small initial shipment to the US, with perhaps a much larger shipment on the way by sea, so the pace of deliveries to customers may pick up. Of course this is just speculation and wishful thinking on my part, but here's hoping.

Cheers IG! Enjoy!

Since this is an Equinox forum, people may assume it is supposed to be all sunshine and roses. The truth is I love well written critical commentary. The problem with most negative posts about detectors is they come down to "I saw a video somebody posted and that machine sucks". Personally, I see minimal value in that sort of thing. What I want to see here is posts and reviews from people who A. have actually run the detector and B. can offer straight up critique without the extraneous "boy, how dumb can they be" commentary. What do you like, what did you not like. What worked well, what does not work well, and why. Things to do, things to avoid. Whatever. It's not that you have to heap praise - if you don't like something for some reason then simply explain why. Here is the first review I did on a Nokta product. Notice I mentioned several things about the machine I was not wild about. I did not beat the company up for it - just stated the facts as seen from my perspective. Notice I went back later and also commended the company for later addressing those very issues. Where is my similar review as regards Equinox? Can't do it until I have an actual production unit in my hands or assurance that what I have would match a production unit in every way. When the time comes I will do my thing, though it will not need quite the detail of the Nokta review just because so much of that stuff has been covered already here on the forum. Just wanted to get that out there. It is probably premature so I will bump this up again when units start shipping. All we want to know, all of us, is what people around the world think about various aspects. Some things will be great, some ok, and a few not ok. That's real, and real is all I ask for. Thanks!

Go! Dad! Cheers Ig

Took delivery today of what I think might be the first production Equinox in the state. Got an email from my dealer, Gerry, who said his first batch had arrived earlier today and I was free to come down whenever to pick it up. Naturally, I immediately high-tailed down there on my lunch break. It's a beautiful day and my backyard test garden awaits, which is making it awfully hard to get anything done at the office this afternoon! The floodgates indeed are open as all the reports start coming in from around the country. I'm going to put this machine through the paces and compare notes with all the other new Equinox owners and see what kind of performance we can wring out of this nifty new Minelab. Thank you Gerry, you're the best. You really know how to take care of your customers. And greetings from beautiful Boise Idaho!

Very nice find mate, it`s a good looking piece

Personally I like the 50 tone mode stock setting which is the same on both the Equinox 600 and Equinox 800. It has been years since I ran an Excalibur so I can’t make a clean comparison, but it “sounds like a Minelab” to me. The main thing is Excalibur responses are much slower and tones drag out. Because Equinox is much faster you have to expect shorter tone responses, but this can be modified with the Detect Speed setting. Lower settings produce longer tones. Five tone is very nice but the tone breaks for use worldwide are equally apportioned and being able to move the breaks around is preferable. However, out of sheer laziness I have used it as is most of the time and like anything detecting I adjust quickly to it. Detectors talk and all you have to do is learn the language. Full tones takes more time to learn, but in the long run I think it conveys more information about the target, and that is what I want. So call me a fan of the 50 tone setting. You can modify it on the 800 a little, but the 600 would work just as well for me at least in that regard since the stock setting is just fine.

Look at this, Carl calling me to the carpet Kidding, and actually Carl I'm pleased that you asked. First I know you've only been there a short while (well according to Linkedin, 3 yrs 10mos), so their current state of affairs isn't your doing. That said, for starters a less ambiguous statement then "huge game changer" that carries zero substance without context. As Steve H. pointed out, that's the same blurb that's been used for the past 5 years or so. Sharing anything about future plans would be 100% more the what FTP has shared with us in the past. I have no doubt that FTP is working on something, nobody invests money to build a new state of the art facility for not. We just witnessed a "huge game changer" release, and Minelab wasn't making claims four years ago that their deathstar was almost operational. Nobodies asking FTP to release their source code, secret sauce, or any proprietary information, but the silence has been deafening. How about product road map? It doesn't have to be a five or ten year road map, start with something within grasp, like two. Again, something is better then nothing, which is exactly what's been delivered basically since the F75 was released (not counting all the mid to lower end machines that've effectively been derivatives of other models). No offense, but IMO saying "One is that it gives competitors a heads-up and allows them to react quicker, maybe even preempt our efforts." that's a cop-out. I've been working in Silicon Valley as an engineer for the past 20 years, and been involved in many large product projects from inception to release (think six digit data center & core switches), and all of the projects have one thing in common....customers. Nobody is releasing the PRD's and functional specs to the customers, but sharing a basic road map is a good place to start. I hate to see the American detector industry following suite of the American auto industry, and although I doubt FTP will be on Capitol Hill with their hand out any time soon, as I'm sure they sell plenty of machines to afford that shiny new facility, yet you can only sell a K Car for so long, at some point, people are looking to you for a Viper , but instead we get minivans. Carl I realize your not the CEO of FTP, but right now, simply put, the overseas vendors are running circles around FTP. OK, we now return to your regularly scheduled programming

I can't completely speak for Cal, but It sounds to me like frustration that what was once his favorite manufacturer has now fallen behind, with no concrete details about what's going on. I've felt it too as I watch the gap between FT and others widen, that "c'mon guys, what are you doing?" Feeling you get akin to when you're watching a sport. I've often wondered if the secrecy we've seen with companies like First Texas, Whites etc is as necessary as they feel it is, or whether giving loyalists enough information to hold onto would outweigh the benefit of the secrecy. Many brand loyal guys are willing to be pretty patient if they know something competitive or superior is fairly imminent, but give up hope and jump ship in the absence of anything concrete. Sometimes it's hard to get those guys back. But I understand the other side of it too and how the competition can use information to tie up patents etc., and so giving up too much can hurt a project. From my perspective I'd probably like to hear something candid about the obstacles they've faced that has had them running over their desired release targets, and has often given guys like cal the impression they are crying wolf or holding an empty hand with a poker face. But I have faith that the talent and resources are there and eventually it will all come together.

Tailings from a heap leaching/cyanide recovery operation should not have any detectable gold if any at all. A mine dump may have some gold as Andyy suggests. Dredge tailings maybe have nuggets if the area they dredged was known for nuggets rather than fine gold. Most of the dredge piles in Montana are now sitting on private land because the original claims were patented. I am not sure where one could get access to dredge piles. If you don't already have this book get it. It shows all the places in Montana that were placer mined: http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/mbmgcat/public/ListCitation.asp?pub_id=11597& I would think your best bet would be to check for open land on the streams indicated in the book. Also check our the Libby Creek free panning area south of Libby. The Northeast Montana Prospecting Club has claims in that area. Cost to join $50 or $75. http://www.nwmtgoldprospectors.com

When I started the GPZ 7000 thread at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1230-minelab-gpz-7000-the-controversy-ends/ it was for owners of the detectors who have had time on it to air their opinions. It became apparent lots of other people wanted to weigh in with their opinions. I am therefore starting this thread for everyone else who owns anything else or not to voice whatever opinions they have on the detectors or companies themselves. Say anything you want, no holds barred really, but it would be nice if it was kept constructive. I prefer myself to keep things upbeat and positive. It is just who I am and I have tried to keep the forum as a whole along those lines. But I do not want people to feel like certain opinions or viewpoints are not welcome and so this is the place for whatever opinions you may have about any detector manufacturer or their products. I am not going to get involved as long as people do not get personal. This in no way is my relenting on my overall expectations for the forum as a whole. There is a time and a place for everything however and going forward this is the thread on which to air suggestions, complaints, issues, or just plain gripes. Again, all I ask is keep it civil. Thank you. Just to get you going here are some new metal detector bumper stickers for you.... First Texas - Even we don't know how many we make or what they're for! Garrett - We already made a flagship detector so quit asking for one. Minelab - The most hated name in detecting! Tesoro - Search for the past with detectors from the past. White's - Anything happen while we were sleeping?

Strapped in and ready for the ride home.

Capital Report. Boise, ID this just in Things ground to a halt in Idaho's Capital today as a new arrival turned attention away from the business at hand. Key Government personnel were distracted by the arrival. The Governor has been seen peering out his office window trying to make out what was causing the uproar. News team 800 reporters are en-route and we will have more details as they become available.

Ya you don't look to good. Probably a good idea to take it easy tomorrow. The nox flu is a particularly bad strain. Once infected some people have been reported missing. Take care.

Where's the snow? I thought Idaho had snow this time of year. That park looks like a great place to start your equinox career.

Congrats and Good luck, wayfarer, with your new equinox!

I find it interesting that the meter is black/grey. I have the same machine and seen others all have the blue background with yellow numbers/letters. That is so great that you found one brand new. I love mine. The four filter design blows away all my other machines except my Fisher CZ 6a. The 5900 ignores iron better though, the CZ6a gets fooled on deep nails.

Steve, Thanks for posting your thoughts on 50 tone. I have long struggled to understand why seemingly everyone 'dumbs down' their machines to 4 or 5 tone mode and deprived themselves of information. You are the first of the elite level detectorists (don't be modest) I have seen state what I thought was obvious. I've even asked on forums for someone to tell me why a few tones would be the preferred hunting setting (I understand why you would use it in some specific cases). Seriously, I've had myself wondering if I didn't misunderstand something important by preferring 50 tones.

Hello, I would like to know how deep the machine is in normal soil on different things and how it behaves in wet grass and when hitting trees and roots. best regards, Legolas!

Wow that is awesome. Do you have a story behind the pieces?

I like his blog and I like what he does but I can't watch that show Curse of Oak Island. Mitchel

Thanks Hibby I dug a Miller beer twist cap yesterday at a depth just beyond the length of my MI6 pinpointer. I thought it was surely going to be a standing liberty quarter at that depth. It made no sense at that depth as i've found a silver dimes in that same park at 4". It's another reason why i dig almost everything.

Sounds just like me I get mine tomorrow I was #2 on the list and he received 2 he is a very small dealer as well gl&hh!!!!!!!

Well capitalism isn't a bad thing and I bet you could make a nice profit by reselling it via here in the classifieds or ebay.

Thanks @Steve Herschbach ! I had success this time.

Perhaps of interest, a "story" told from the early gold field days in NQ OZ, 4 Chinese men were seen carrying a hessian covered heavy object overland to the Port of Cooktown ( took them weeks apparently) to send off to China, rumor has it when they come across someone they`d put it down and sit on it. Myth, reality or what, we`ll never know, but how big was it...............

That is a lot of tabs, Skate. A lot of large pull tabs. Why do you think that you need to be digging square tabs to find a gold ring? How many types of gold rings are likely to give the same ID as a large square pull tab? Who would wear a large pull tab type of ring? What activities would cause someone who wears a large pull tab type of ring to be lost? Are any of those activities taking place where you dug all those square pull tabs? Does that activity take place often enough that there is a good chance of a ring being lost, and, most importantly, lost and not recovered? I'm trying to be helpful. If you are going to go out and dig pull tabs at least understand why to dig them and where to dig them. I cannot over emphasis the importance of those books titles I posted if you really want to be successful at this. You hunt gold with your mind and recover it with a metal detector. HH Mike

Thanks for putting this up. Very interested in learning more.

The Equinox is not the detector to end all detectors and anyone that has had more than one detector knows that until you get 100+ hours of using it you won't know if it is what you expected or not. I like to start in pre programmed modes and get comfy before I try to tweak anything. I tried to get my V3i to do all the things the experts said it would do when I 1st got it and within two weeks I was ready to junk it. I went back to the basics and in about 3 months I gradually tried other stuff but I gave myself a chance to learn it. I think the Equinox will be great out of the box and as time goes on and I learn it better and then I can come back to the forums to learn what I didn't understand before I got it.. They beauty of these forums is there is always someone that learned a magic trick that helps everyone or posts a good video that you understand without a 10 minute narrative 1st.

Great that you received your new Equinox! Those unexpected items along with your purchases can be as memorable as your new detector for many years. I bought some items over time from Doc's Detecting some years ago. I got a cool kangaroo nugget pouch (ouch), a nice custom stitched Doc's Detecting hat, as a token of appreciation for my purchases, which were significant over time... I helped the Apex pick manufacturer with some photo shoots and he gave me four of his awesome picks...totally unexpected!! This isn't a inexpensive hobby, to be sure. When I was in the hospital with a collapsed lung and pneumonia, my good friend and metal detector dealer Gerry McMullen came to my room and tossed a super nice cordura double zippered detector carry bag on my hospital bed. That was over twenty years ago, and I still can see him today, as if it were yesterday... Sorry for the long post... ~LARGO~

here is gary blackwell explaining ground sens in v4.1

Complaining with a sense of humor beats raw anger in my book. At least when discussing toys instead of life support equipment! The more I think about it, even with me having an Equinox, I am still going to deserve one of those t-shirts before this is all over.

Minelab equinox first shipment

Minelab to include a shirt with all Equinox orders!

Chase, please send me a pint of your favorite over-the-counter sedative. Wise words - thanks

People talk about testers being afraid they might piss off a manufacturer because they won’t get another “free” detector. Interestingly enough, I appear to be valuable because I speak my mind. The trick is to not be rude or stupid, and I see neither in what I posted. Just good solid advice should someone choose to pay attention to it. If that was enough to get me “canned” then I would not care. As far as I know nothing has changed since Minelab’s last statement regarding detectors shipping. One thing to keep in mind when reading Minelab notices. It appears to me that “shipping to customers” is the same to them as “shipping to dealers”. The key thing is units are on the move on the way to end user hands. I am “pretty darn sure” it really is a shipping and logistics thing, but if you want to then ignore that and go with whatever rumors you like best.

Don't!!! Lol, actually you should just to get an idea of how great of a forum this is compared to several others.

Lol.....crying here? You must not have visited a couple of the other forums. This is probably one of the most civil and sane minded forums on the internet right now ?

I am primarily a prospector but have also been coin and jewelry detecting since 1972. Like most people when in parks I use discrimination to pick targets but when prospecting I usually dig it all. Not always though, sometimes I am tired or an area is just too trashy so I crank in a little VLF discrimination to sort things out. The problem is when prospecting I have seen some pretty scary things. It is one thing to walk away from a dime because your detector called it a nail. Think about walking away from a solid multi ounce chunk of gold because your detector called it a nail. Not likely, you say? Far too likely, I am afraid. I and others dig big nuggets other people leave behind on a regular basis, and I know I have missed some very big ones myself in the past. It gets your attention to realize you may have walked away from $40,000.00. I have this pile of detectors headed my way to check out. One, the Nokta Fors Gold, showed up yesterday. Good first impression out of the box, but that is another story. The main thing is today I got it out along with a Gold Bug 2, Gold Bug Pro, F75, White's GMT, and CTX 3030. I rounded up a 1 gram gold nugget and a collection of nails and hot rocks and did a little playing around this afternoon. I am still waiting for the XP Deus to show up and a V3i so this was more about coming up with some methodology more than anything. My interests run more towards hot rocks and magnetite sand than would be the case with most people. So the particulars do not matter at the moment, except this. Discrimination sucks! You fire these babies up in all metal and they are all powerful detectors that do the job, with some amazing depth for VLF units (not counting the CTX which lacks a true all metal mode). It is pretty easy to compare units as it really just boils down to depth and how well they handle hot rocks, which is mostly a function of frequency and ground balance. EMI is a big factor in urban areas also but much less so when prospecting. So then I put the detectors in disc mode and I just cut the legs out from under them. Bam, instant lost depth. Also, target masking or so-called reactivity is usually a non-issue in pure all metal modes. Not so at all in disc modes, and disc modes that lack true zero discrimination settings mask targets immediately even when set to zero. Anyway, all I can say is playing around for awhile with these units and my pile of hot rocks and little nails was rather disheartening. It was just so darn easy to get that little nugget to bang out loud in all metal, then disappear entirely in disc modes. Or get detected but called ferrous. Or get masked by a nearby hot rock or nail. It just hammered home with me once again the huge difference in raw power between something like a GPX 5000 and even the best VLF detectors in all metal mode, and how that huge difference becomes an almost impossibly large gulf once you turn to disc modes. When you just go detecting in a park you do not see what you are missing. But in my case it was all to visible and really kind of bummed me out seeing just how far we have to go when it comes to metal detector discrimination. The only icing on this cake is that there is a huge amount of fantastic stuff in the ground, and not deep at all. It is there, quite shallow, just under or near that thing you discriminated out. If we could see through discriminated items rather than be blocked by them an amazing amount of stuff would come to light. Beneath The Mask by Thomas Dankowski The Painful Truth by Thomas Dankowski More Reasons Discrimination Sucks by Steve Herschbach

The second timeline helps explain that. The truth is Minelab owns a huge chunk of the gold detecting market, and that is where the big money has been for a decade now. Producing detectors for coin and relic hunters is a far distant and much smaller profit area. Minelab has focused their efforts on gold prospecting for most of the last ten years. It should be obvious that detectors like the GPX 5000, SDC 2300, and GPZ 7000 took up a lot of the available engineer time and monetary resources. Perhaps we are seeing attention shift the other direction now that Minelab has a relatively new stable of top performing gold machines out and in the field.

Going by those graphs its amazing how many machines were brought out in the earlier years unlike now where it seems very few lately. No wonder the competition took a big slice of the pie lately.

How can I be critical of something that I’ve yet to have one in my hands? Oh I’ve seen pictures and videos plus heard lots of peoples opinion . I look at the Equinox and getting married about the same. Getting a new wife you don’t know every little thing about her. Just maybe what you do learn you only want it to be between only you and her. My problem is when I get it everybody is going to know all about it. Like my wife it takes all the adventure we would had together is been taken away. If she had been married before I wouldn’t go ask her ex what he could tell me something maybe I don’t know but he does. The Equinox has so many ex’s here It may be nothing left when I get it alone to learn. I have the Equinox 800 on order but a old saying fits this statement above. My money goes from hand to hand and my woman goes from man to man . In this case it’s my Equinox. This is as critical as I can get about the Equinox. Chuck

I speculate if it would be possible for a 'garage mechanic' to retrofit one of these into a modern case/housing, similar to what Steve did with a Garrett ATX. Yeh, the circuit board is still moderately heavy compared to today's, but that steel housing and, I'm guessing, handle and shaft getting replaced could make a significant difference. I'm assuming the coil isn't much heavier than the modern White's 950s, but maybe I'm wrong there. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if there isn't some headroom, still, for the modern IB/VLF. Hopefully I'm not insulting the entire field of engineers with this next statement, but I've noticed over the years that some designers/etc. are more interested in using the latest, coolest devices and tools and not caring as much about performance, at least in terms of depth. (For sure other performance characteristics such as TID have improved.) This happens often in the software world. E.g. the C-language and its offspring, C++, outperform most of the modern high-level languages, and it's not close. The rationale is "processors are so much faster now we don't need execution efficiency like we used to...." Sound familiar? It's unfortunate more engineers aren't end-users as well. Now I better duck while Carl and sidekicks reply with guns blazing....