Someone Convince Me The Nox 800 Is The Machine To Buy!!!

[Chase Goldman]

11 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

So you’d consider the Deus instead. These omissions on lower price machines are not accidents, but carefully chosen. You will find myriad lower price models that lack one or two features a serious detectorist might feel is “essential”, for the sole purpose of moving the person to the higher price model.

Funny, I just made this exact point in this thread regarding Equinox.

Specific feature differences/omissions between Orx and Deus are almost essential to me but other Deus features I can live without.  Regardless, the value proposition of the compendium of missing features does not justify the huge price delta between Orx and Deus. [Although if you consider any single feature essential, the value proposition could be considered infinity - you will pay whatever is required to ensure you have that feature].

[dogodog]

Thanks Steve,

I'm thinking that taking a road trip to have a hands on experience is the way to go. Buying site unseen so to speak is a bad idea for me. I'm a pretty simple kind of guy when it comes to things. I like easy to use, easy to repair and access parts and coils. Warranties are great but always favor the mfg. and sometimes don't always work out so smoothly. The Nox 800 has a lot of great features but do you really need simo-multi frequencies? or would a single pick multi machine be just as good? I'm not a gold guy and I hunt mostly old farm sites for coins and relics. Iron separation and volume is something I must have, and I encounter coal/hot rock infested areas that I need to somewhat control. A water resistant machine is also a plus, as I do not go swimming for finds. But I do not want rain to toast a $1000+ machine. And yes (sorry to jump off the 800) I have considered the ORX and the Deus. The audio is something that sounds a little more understandable to me. Also coil selection and parts and accessories seems to be much larger than the 800? I'm trying to not confuse myself or my fellow detectors, but just want to make a sound decission based on how and where I hunt. I DEEPLY value everyones opinion on the hobby and will base my choices on thoughts you all have.

Chase I value your opinions greatly and if you have any thoughts on the ORX or Deus I would love to hear your opinion, Remember I just do not need 5 detectors to squeak out I more coin. I love this hobby for what it is (fun being outside and finding something that makes your heart jump and that includes the stuff that most people would find disappointing.

[palzynski]

10 hours ago, dogodog said:

...) I have considered the ORX and the Deus. The audio is something that sounds a little more understandable to me. Also coil selection and parts and accessories seems to be much larger than the 800?....

Yes the Deus/ORx coil selection is large . The most used coils over here are the 9inches round coils , because they are very poyvalent and lightweight. The 11coil is more suitable for big coins at depth in low/medium iron trashed areas and the small elliptic for small/tiny targets in iron infested sites . You cant go wrong with a Deus/Orx plus a 9inches coil ...

The only thing the XPs are not the best at the beach from what I know ...

[GB_Amateur]

On 10/11/2020 at 5:29 PM, dogodog said:

I mostly coin and relic hunt, with a beach maybe twice a year. So I want the good the bad and the ugly. honest and true answers on performance, warranty and coil choices. I'm not a big fan of the tones, but I might be able to forgive that for a more stable running machine. Not looking for overly complicated either. I keep hearing that there is a BIG learning curve? Can you run in factory settings and still be happy?

Could you explain what you mean by "I'm not a big fan of the tones...?"

As far as "BIG learning curve", I may be one of those responsible for that claim.  It seems that for those with experience using other Minelab simultaneous multifrequency detectors (BBS and FBS), there is carryover in knowledge of how to set them up, what to listen for, etc.  Similarly, detectorists who have used many machines over the years (including analogs) also appear more comfortable/quicker adjusting to the Equinox.  I had neither of those prerequisites.  But I was finding things from the get-go with the Equinox, equal to or maybe a bit better than I had with my previous detectors.  So no loss there.  I just quietly lamented the fact that I apparently wasn't experiencing what others were reporting, and when I finally started to understand the nuances (particularly with the richness of the audio) I mentioned my long learning curve in some posts here.

Regarding Vanquish vs. Eqx 600 vs. Eqx 800, I'm glad for many reasons that I went with the 800.  I never run my Eqx without the WM08 (with earbuds in warm weather and Sunray Pro Golds otherwise).  I take full advantage of the exclusive tone adjustments (volume, pitch, and breaks) in 5 tones for coin hunting including USA nickels, which is about 80-90% of my usage time.  My sites are loaded with pulltabs and to a lesser extent, can slaw.  If I had to look at the screen every time I got a hit in the 11-20 TID window = default tone #3 of 5, I'd not cover anywhere near as much ground (and I go slower than most already).  I can set a high tone for the nickel sweetspot (12-13), an intermeditate tone for the pulltab range, and a rather low tone for the foil zone (just below nickels).  You can't do that with the 600 nor (AFAIK) on any of the Vanquishes.  The 600 does have 50 tones, though, and some use that rather than 5 tones, in which case much of the advantage of the 800 over the 600 disappears.

One thing I noticed right away with the Equinox is its target separation ability.  I've read that the Deus and ORX are equally good at that.  IMO separation is the most important feature the Eqx has over my Fisher F75, with reliable target ID at depth (what I consider a related properly) a close second.  But target separation, in my case, is one of the things where learning the audio subtleties is important so the better I get at that the better I'm able to separate and distinguish good targets from trash.

I wish you good success whichever detector you choose, and that includes if you give the N/M MK another chance.  But for sure you should find one that fits your style and preferences.  The last thing you should be distracted by when detecting is a lack of confidence in your detector.

[Jeff McClendon]

I am one person who has owned and used a Deus, ORX, Multi Kruzer, Nox 600 and Nox 800 enough to know which ones I have confidence in for the places I hunt which have hot rocks, moderate to high mineralization, and some coal/forest fire burned areas which can cause issues, along with high amount of aluminum and iron trash. 

For me, there is no relatively lightweight, full featured, waterproof detector that can give me the accuracy for tone and numerical target ID throughout its detection range like the Equinox 600 and 800. After thousands of hours and targets I generally have a very good idea what I am about to dig whether it is on the surface of 11” deep. I have never dug a US nickel, pull tab or other low/mid conductor target by itself in a hole that failed to report as a low/mid conductor. If I get a high conductor tone or numbers in more than one swing direction with very little variation in tone or numbers and little to no iron response on a small, deep target, I can be assured that it will be a high conductor or a really deep bent nail so very worth digging.  

The Deus is my second place favorite since it is an excellent gold prospecting detector, relic detector and coin and jewelry detector and is super fast. I mostly use either the pitch or full tones settings.  I am not a fan of the other tone settings and I am even less a fan of the limited available ORX tone choices for coin and relic hunting. The Deus is a fantastic detector but it will not correctly ID deep targets in my area. It is incredible in thick iron trash and does very well in aluminum trash using full tones for shallow and medium depth targets here.

The Multi Kruzer has less settings adjustability than the Equinox and the Deus. In my area it has less target ID accuracy on medium to deep targets than the Deus and far less than the Equinox no matter what settings I used. I still have and really like my Gold Kruzer, but I don’t use it for deep targets. It is used for gold prospecting and for micro jewelry hunting. The Kruzers are outstanding detectors in my opinion if you don’t have weird soil conditions. I would rather take my Gold Kruzer into the water than my Equinox personally. 

The Vanquish will not ground balance properly in weird soil conditions and as a result will constantly react to higher mineralization by giving low tone iron responses which are actually ground noise, which makes identifying deep targets in those conditions a pain, so if you have any of those I would move on to the Nox 600 or 800. The 600 is just fine for most detecting. The 800s extra features are well worth the money however.

 

[dogodog]

Thanks for all the help everyone, 

I haven't  completely given up on the MK, just the larger coil combo. The MK with the 9'' concentric , kicks ass but depth is limited. But I do now see the light of having more than 2 detectors for conditions. As for the tones GB,  I mean sound. The minelab sound is a little too flute like and kinda washy. The ORX and the Deus have a sound that I can interpret much better. I think the ML tone problem came from watching Gary Drayton swinging on Oak Island. Ha Ha. Seriously, I think I have become attached to the Tesoro like sounds and have a hard time liking the ML sounds. Not to say over time I couldn't learn the sounds. My method of detecting is cleaning most all shallow targets and then go back with a bigger coil and picking the rest. Most times this works quite well for me. I need a machine that can get decent depth for my way of hunting. I fully understand that ground conditions play a big part, but I do encounter some crazy conditions that will numb your brain from the coal/slag. These are the places that have the most to be found. Most people give up on these places, where I don't. I think we all have made ill informed decisisions on detectors. So thats why I'm using your knowledge to help me make a good decision, without spending big money and making a bad choice. There is no perfect machine yet, But I have at least narrowed it to 3. I need to get my hands on each to see whats best for me.

 

[GB_Amateur]

2 hours ago, dogodog said:

There is no perfect machine yet, But I have at least narrowed it to 3. I need to get my hands on each to see whats best for me.

Doesn't Chase have all three?  How far away from you is he?  Isn't everybody on the USA east coast within a half day's drive, max?   (Chase, if you don't like me volunteering you and your detectors for a test drive, my apologies....)

 

[Chase Goldman]

On 10/12/2020 at 4:56 PM, dogodog said:

Chase I value your opinions greatly and if you have any thoughts on the ORX or Deus I would love to hear your opinion, Remember I just do not need 5 detectors to squeak out I more coin. I love this hobby for what it is (fun being outside and finding something that makes your heart jump and that includes the stuff that most people would find disappointing.

Jeff pretty much said it as well as I could have regarding those two detectors.  Not sure how close you are to Ft. Bedford Metal Detecting, but Keith Leppert is familiar with all the detectors you are considering and should  have some available for testing.

59 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Doesn't Chase have all three?  How far away from you is he?  Isn't everybody on the USA east coast within a half day's drive, max?   (Chase, if you don't like me volunteering you and your detectors for a test drive, my apologies....)

 

If he's within 2 hours of a dealer  that's a lot closer than half a day's drive.    But I'm always up for a road trip and demos if there's some detecting to be had at the destination.  

[kac]

Went to order the Nel Super Fly for my MK but the dealer is only doing pre-orders. I have a good feeling that it will do very well on the MK and give the depth in the range of a Nox.

Can't compare TID accuracy between an 11" Nox coil and the MK stock 7x11. I have accurate TID's to 7" when I keep the gain <89. Beyond that the numbers will drop and how much depends on the soil. That doesn't go without saying I can tell a dime at 9" with the stock coil despite the numbers dropping.

I did not have any confidence in the Nokta 11" coil that I bought because missing 2 shallow quarters that had a TID more than 10 lower than normal and sounding like a squashed can concerned me. The fact that the signal carried too long passing over them and the drifting center made me believe it was faulty. I can definitely understand where dogodog is coming from. 

Still waiting for my refund on the 11" and if the Super Fly is still floating around on a boat some wheres I may go for the 13" but not too keen on the weight.

I am not about to ditch my machine though and think with the new machines on the horizon it is worth taking a sit back and see what rolls out.

[dogodog]

I'll be in Cape Charles Virginia on this friday till monday. Any detector shops close to that area?