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Did Minelab Handicap The Equinox?


JohnnyRox

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The target id range on the Equinox does absolutely nothing to inhibit my ability to Identify anything so personally I’m not being handicapped in any way. Equinox is an expansion of target id range over the X-Terra series - see the link below. I don’t think Minelab is going to expand the range on the Equinox, though I would not be surprised if a future model does.

Bottle caps have been fully addressed in the latest update.

Presumably since you are posing the question you are feeling like you are handicapped. You own an Equinox, so what do you think? Is the target id range holding you back? Time for a different detector?

 

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I think that the 40 scale acts to limit the amount of incoming information.  It's worth noting that the Anfibio has a "VDI Sensitivity" type control--but lower settings can limit  your ability to spot good targets amongst junk.  "Stacking" is more of a mid range (gold hunter's) problem as well.  cjc

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Not for me and all I hunt is gold. How is it a problem for you Clive?

Just to clarify... I’m not in opposition to an expanded target id range. I’m fully on board thinking more is better. :smile: I simply don’t find the range on the Equinox impeding my detecting in any genuine way for my own uses. I’m curious therefore, from a real world perspective, actual examples, not theory, of how it’s screwing up detecting for other people.

I’m guessing it’s about notching. I never notch gold range targets, so maybe that’s why it’s not an issue for me.

There are quite a few alternative machines you could use if notching is an issue. The CTX 3030 would be an obvious solution, and the V3i can do some amazing tricks with its customizable display and three frequency responses. The Multi Kruzer is a close alternative to the Equinox but with an expanded target id range.

Equinox is not the be all end all detector and there may be better machines for what people are doing.

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This a great topic with many lines of discussion.  I like the stability of the compressed range and for me it is more about the audio anyway because the tonal nuances tell me more about the nature of a target than a number on a screen.  

So if we are talking single number VDI, I am ok with less is more.  People fool themselves into thinking that a metal detector is a precision instrument.  There are so many variables and variations in material properties that can result in disparate targets showing up with the same VID just as there are so many variables that can make almost identical targets show up with disparate VIDs.  The detectorist needs to integrate the visual and the audible as well as how the target signal behaves when the coil is manipulated to make a dig decision.  

That being said, I am all for having the detector give me additional USEFUL visual information to enable a more reliable pre-recovery ID whether that is graphical imaging or even the 2-D target ID numbers (Ferrous/Conducitivity) used by ML FBS machines such as the eTrac and CTX.  Perhaps a future Multi IQ based machine with the sophisticated ID and discrimination pattern features of these high end ML detectors will follow Vanquish.

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50 numbers of equinox IDs are sufficient .. for normal search .., here is more important accuracy and stability of ID in deep and more difficult terrain ..,
Of course, I would have liked if Equinox had the ability to set more in some programs  for extended ID range on lower conductors, and more narrow ID range on high conductors.

 

PS .. Equinox ..possible in next Update...:wink:

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2 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

This a great topic with many lines of discussion.  I like the stability of the compressed range and for me it is more about the audio anyway because the tonal nuances tell me more about the nature of a target than a number on a screen.  

So if we are talking single number VDI, I am ok with less is more.  People fool themselves into thinking that a metal detector is a precision instrument.  There are so many variables and variations in material properties that can result in disparate targets showing up with the same VID just as there are so many variables that can make almost identical targets show up with disparate VIDs.  The detectorist needs to integrate the visual and the audible as well as how the target signal behaves when the coil is manipulated to make a dig decision.  

That being said, I am all for having the detector give me additional USEFUL visual information to enable a more reliable pre-recovery ID whether that is graphical imaging or even the 2-D target ID numbers (Ferrous/Conducitivity) used by ML FBS machines such as the eTrac and CTX.  Perhaps a future Multi IQ based machine with the sophisticated ID and discrimination pattern features of these high end ML detectors will follow Vanquish.

Chase,

I could NOT AGREE MORE with the first part of your post, that I bolded.  Spot-on, iMO.  As for the part that I underlined, I am ALSO hoping for 2-D target ID numbers and smartfind screen (or something similar) for Minelab's next Multi-IQ unit.  Obviously Minelab has now covered the "lower tier" of the market, with the Vanquish, and they have the "middle tier" well-covered with the Equinox.  SURELY, a high-tier, "flagship-type" unit based off of the Multi-IQ technology platform, must be in the works at Minelab...and FE/CO numbers and smartfind screen would be a VERY welcome inclusion, on that unit, IMO...

Steve

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14 hours ago, JohnnyRox said:

with the narrow (-9 - 40) VDI?  

Could Minelab update the Nox with a full range VDI?  Couldn't that possibly help with discrimination of bottle caps?

To me the ID number span has no effect regardless  of -9-40 or -100-100.  Maybe if you are strictly hunting old coins but I predominately am hunting jewelry and gold can be almost anywhere in the non ferous range and even dipping into ferous with regards to tiny chains and earrings.   
Asto bottlecaps, that has been debated to no end already but in my experience with the EQX if you use 50 tones, keep the Iron Bias at 0, and have the horseshoe engaged( i.e. “all metal”/iron tone on) the machine makes them an obviously erratic signal indicative of trash. Every once in a while one will give a solid signal in the nickel to zinc range but that is going to happen with any machine wearing  a DD coil, just the nature of the beast. If you want to eliminate bottle caps 100% you need a detector wearing a concentric coil.  

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8 hours ago, cjc said:

I think that the 40 scale acts to limit the amount of incoming information.  It's worth noting that the Anfibio has a "VDI Sensitivity" type control--but lower settings can limit  your ability to spot good targets amongst junk.  "Stacking" is more of a mid range (gold hunter's) problem as well.  cjc

I do agree with your basic assertion and I also agree that as you stated in one of your manuals, the upper range of the scale on the Equinox is a wasted part of the scale. If the VID for silver (high conductors) was moved to 35-38, that would allow a more definitive differentiation of lower conductors by simply allowing a more finite definition of the properties of a target. Adding seven or eight more areas (TID numbers) of classification would serve to greatly reduce the stacking of targets. If you are going to stack targets why not stack the good ones and try to classify the bad ones as much as possible?  Even so, the Equinox is still a very advanced detector, but nothing is perfect. 

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