Is There A " Good " Upgrade From Equinox 800 Without Paying Thousands Of Dollars?

[okara gold]

On 5/3/2020 at 10:50 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

You might want to wait for the upcoming Minelab release cycle to play out.

 

In March of 2021 my Equinox will be years old and the warranty is up. I'll be thinking about another purchase of a VLF. I'd like to see a "better" Equinox or something that will make you sit up and take notice.

[cudamark]

I'd love to see the new Minelab CTNox3030 myself! 😃

[rvpopeye]

I personally prefer the detectors that go beep.

The ones that go boop are so old school outdated..

Oh my goshk !

It only took me 30 years to decide to upgrade and then 10 more years to pick "the one" for me !

It's an 800.   So far ,,,I feel it's was worth the wait.  

Bells and whistles ? 

The 800 doesn't have enough of those ? Who knew !  

I think your decision to wait for the next wave of offerings may be the best at this point.

Until then , the one in your hands seems more than just adequate.

AND it's a lot more detector than a lot of people will ever have.

All this talk of the Minelab "1000" or any other you may choose to be your ticket to happiness.

Maybe it won't. and you'll still be wanting more .....

 

In my former life in pro audio we had a saying ,,,,,"it's not how many channels you have , it's what you're doing with them ". (AKA: It's not the gear , it's the engineer)

[Goldpick]

When I had my Explorer SE Pro and Etrac, I really longed for a lighter MF detector with faster processing and recovery speeds, though still with the discriminating abilities and descriptive audio of the older machines - and with FE/CO ID's.  I guess we got part way there with the Equinox answering many requests and wishes, and at a much lower price than expected considering what was on offer.  

Forward a few years later and many are probably still awaiting a more comprehensive lightweight package to replace the ageing Etrac, and to fill out that void between the Equinox and the CTX which itself is also well overdue for a refresh.  That will probably be the detector that I would be looking for as an upgrade to the Equinox.  What I don't know is whether it is even feasible for multi-iq to allow both FE/Co numbers, or offer higher resolution discrimination as on the FBS/2 detectors.  I guess we will leave that up the Minelab engineers to sort out, hopefully progress is being made in the background as the Equinox platform gradually matures.

[Tiftaaft]

I completely understand where you are coming from CmonNow.  

I agree with GBA's quote:

On 5/4/2020 at 8:32 AM, GB_Amateur said:

1) 150 hours doesn't sound like much.  It took me 3x that long before I felt like I was really communicating with my Eqx800, and there's a lot more room for improvement.

When I was bitten by the detecting fever, it hit me hard, and I had money to invest.  I quickly jumped from the ATpro to the Etrac to the CTX within a span of months.  I'm not proud of it... and knowing what I know now... I realize my novice approach and urge to get "something bigger and better" was not making me a better detectorist... just equipped with more expensive gear, and the same novice detector I was at day 1.  I was spending a lot of initial detecting hours on the ground... but not learning the machine hours... more like covering ground hours.  My finds were mostly surface clad and a few lucky finds that had nothing to do with my ability, just got the coil over a shallow target.  Most of that time was on the CTX, since I skipped and jumped through the other detectors pretty quickly to the "better" model.  And there is no doubt, the CTX is a phenomenal machine, but so are the ATPro and the Etrac in their own right.  I spent time setting up my tone bins to target the silver, and the nickels, and expanded that for park gold (and trash), but I never really connected with the 5 tones... it always felt like the tones were bouncing all over and I couldn't get a read on it from a tonal standpoint... but the ctx target trace was tremendous, I just never spent the time to really learn what it was telling me.  

Frustrated with my lack of success in old coins and relics while hunting old ground (and honestly, watching the various forums and you tube videos of hunts that were yielding old coins all over the place), I decided to do more research on how to detect - back to square one (and a hard NW winter helped make me take the time).   I be-friended a couple of experienced detectorists in my area, and started to really learn how they approach detecting... and that is by spending a lot of time with whatever detector you have and learn what it is telling me  At that same time I found a used Explorer SE Pro so while the other machines were sitting in the corner of my office, I went back in time a bit and dedicated to the SE Pro.  I found that the tone bin issue was resolved with the SE pro by the multi tone setup... and that beautiful "warble" you can't get in tone bin setups.  Honestly had I spent more time with the CTX in 50 tone, I think I would have started connecting with it more, but one of my regrets is trading the CTX straight across for a pristine ATX... wanting a PI for the difficult mineralized ground in the NW, specifically in swimming holes, lakes and the occasional beach hunting.  I'm not sorry I picked up the ATX, it is also a great machine (with some drawbacks due to the weight and bulkiness of the military style housing), but I do wish I wouldn't have let go of the CTX (or the Etrac for that matter).  

Anyway, about that time I also ran across the DetectorProspector site and the incredible knowledge that Steve and the rest of the group share on here.  I have learned so much while on this site, I can't even begin to express.  And there is (rarely) a flame war that breaks out... so that is so much different than all the rest of the sites.  I really commend Steve for maintaining a true detectorists forum here.

Then... came the release of the Equinox.  Oh the HYPE!!! As soon as I could get my hands on one... It replaced my Explorer as my daily detector.  And back to GBA's comment, I don't know exactly how many hours I have with it, but well over a thousand of "in the wild" hunting.  And a lot of that time is testing settings and covering the same ground time and time again... learning the machine... and finding new targets every time I go based on a tweak here and a tweak there... and that has become the true joy of detecting for me... learning how to detect, opposed to trying to "buy skill".   

And one other thing that helped me learn the art of detecting.... I have spent a fair amount of time using beep and dig machines to remove that tendency let the machine discriminate for me.  And honestly, those machines are just as powerful as the "new tech" just less bells and whistles.  Some of me coolest finds have been either with a Tesoro Vaquero, or park hunting with the ATX (and I have to tell you... you learn patience hunting a park with a PI :)).  

Of course, I will be anxiously awaiting the next releases from Minelab, and will no doubt upgrade when they do... but in my opinion, you are leaving nothing on the table by using the Equinox.  And I should add, this isn't an ad for Minelab, while I don't have experiences with some other great detector lines, the same is most definitely true for them.  I am convinced it is more about the person swinging and understanding what the machine is telling him/her.

None of that probably helps your search, but I thought I would share the "trap" I found myself in at the beginning as a cautionary tale 🙂 

Best of luck and I am looking forward to hearing about your choice of machine, and your hunting experiences and finds.  

~Tim.

 

[Jeff McClendon]

There is a lot in Tiftaaft's and some other posts in this topic that really rings true for me since I only got into actual coin and jewelry detecting a few years ago. I was just using mostly beep and dig gold prospecting detectors with very few other features for many years before that. I went through many detectors fairly quickly, have circled back for a second opinion on a few and have definitely settled on what I think is currently the best detector combination for my detecting style, ability and places I hunt. So........

To me still, there is not an upgrade yet for the Equinox in the intermediate "all around, all terrain" detector category. 

The Equinox 800 for sure and even the 600 to a degree are the ultimate "almost" detectors.

The Equinox 800 has a feature set and adjustability that is "almost" at the top of the list when compared to detectors that cost a lot more (Deus, Tarsacci, V3i, CTX, Etrac etc.)

The Equinox has target separation, recovery speed and unmasking abilities that "almost" rival the XP Deus and easily equal or surpass other VLF detectors.

The Equinox has numerical and audio target ID accuracy that "almost" equal the CTX 3030 and Etrac series on medium to deep higher conductors and exceeds them on mid to low conductor targets while easily surpassing other VLF detectors.

The Equinox has raw depth capabilities that "almost" equal the F75 and Anfibio.

The Equinox has ground mineralization handling capabilities that "almost" equal some pulse induction detectors and far surpass any other single frequency or multi frequency VLF.

The Equinox has salt water mineralization handling capabilities that "almost" equal specialty saltwater VLFs and PIs.

The Equinox has waterproofing capabilities (if one doesn't take it into environments and situations repeatedly that expose it to heavy surf, undertow, sudden/violent immersion and exceed depth/pressure limitations) that "almost" rival proven specialty waterproofed detectors.

The Equinox 800 and even to a degree the 600 "almost" could be the best VLF gold prospecting detector ever made.

For me in my detecting try out journey, going from several beep and digs to an AT Pro/AT Gold,  a Minelab X-Terra 705, Whites M6/MXT/MX7, Fisher F19/F75, Racer/Racer 2 and then to the Equinox even using just default Park 1 on the same sites............it was like I had been detecting half asleep (and missing a lot of targets) to detecting wide awake from drinking a pot of coffee. Just like with the XP Deus/ORX and some of the Nokta Makro intermediate level detectors, the ground that I thought was hunted out literally came alive with tons of targets, even good targets and those places keep producing (not referring to just recently dropped stuff) good quality targets. 

 

[Tiftaaft]

Amen Jeff.  

[Chase Goldman]

On 5/4/2020 at 10:45 AM, CmonNow said:

Awesome.  I put a calendar reminder in my phone to check into any news on this after the first of the year, in case I don't stumble into it.  The excitement mounts.

Whelp - It looks like 2021 its the GPX 6000 - a new PI not a new MF VLF IB.  Maybe next year will be the ticket for a tech refresh of the Equinox or eTrac/CTX.  We'll see if 2022 also brings new MF players from Garrett and Nokta (perhaps even 2021).  But as far as value (vs. cost) and versatility - nothing is really beating Equinox at the moment, and ML was confident enough in that stance to bump the price of the 800 by $50 so that has got to tell you something about answering your original question.  I'd say the answer is "probably not".

[Jeff McClendon]

For those of us that have been taking good care of our Nox 800s, if we decide to sell one, its value just went up too..........

[maxxkatt]

On 5/4/2020 at 10:32 AM, Mike Hillis said:

F44 to the Equinox 800.   That skipped a lot of tech and you don't know what you don't know.

I'll point you to look back to the Minelab Etrac, or White's V3i, and even the Fisher F75+.   All three are Flagship detectors that offer different and varied feature sets and performance gains in different scenarios.  

So before looking forward, look back and get some bench marks.

Good luck,

HH
Mike

 

 

 

 

There is a lot of truth to what Mike said. I had been using an AT Pro for 3 years and then bought Nox 800 in Mar 2018. I really did not have a clue about what I didn't know about metal detecting in general and specifically the new technology used in the 800. A lot of stumbling and fumbling around during the learning process. Now 3 years of Nox 800 use I bought a New CTX3030 and it was/ is easier for me to learn how to use properly. I must add in your situation and my situation with the Equinox, it could and can be a frustrating detector until you master it. I figure it took me the better part of 2 years to finally get somewhat comfortable with it. I do prefer the CTX3030 for many reasons. But the main reasons are the better ability to identify targets and a pretty accurate depth gauge. Also the ability to tell when you are moving on to changes in ground mineralizations which is shown in the sensitivity panel display by the green numbers.

Too early to make and absolute judgements (only have been using it for 2 weeks) but  the CTX is looking good to me. The heavy issue is totally solved with the Minelab Pro-Swing 45 harness. The $30 harnesses did not work for me on the CTX. Pulled at my shoulder too much. The Pro-swing transfers the load to your lower back.

Hope this helps some.