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I'm Looking For A New Relic Detector...


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Hello everyone, I have been out of the hobby for 15 years or so. I have a Minelab XS and was wondering what unit I should buy as an upgrade to this machine.. I mainly search for relics and coins.. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. Oh, I do some beach searching but very little.. Most of my searching is in the hills of Georgia..

Thank you,

Tim

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Have a search through the Minelab Equinox forum, I think either the Equinox 600 or 800 would be fine replacement for the Explorer (coming from an ex Explorer SE Pro and Etrac user).  Despite not having both Fe & Conductivity VDI's (only the latter), the Equinox is much lighter, just as capable depth wise, has much better target separation in junky or iron infested areas, and is fully waterproof. 

I think you will be surprised at what the Equinox will find in areas that the Explorer has already "cleaned out", especially those older relic sites. 

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Hello Tim,

Welcome to the forum! Great to have you here!

  I'm with Goldpick; the Equinox 600 or 800 are great choices! And you can find deals on used ones! Just make sure that they have some of the 3 year warranty left! If you want some of the same benefits of a multi frequency machine, than the Vanquish is a close runner-up, minus the waterproofness! At a lower price point!

   Both great choices for what you hunt! Good luck, and keep us posted!👍👍

  

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Welcome Tim,

 

The Equinox 800 is a really great unit and it works well in iron infested areas.

There are a lot of people who use it for relic hunting without any problems, because they can use it in wet or dry areas.

Good luck.

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If you dont need a ID meter,  and want a deep relic hunter, look at the Deeptech Vista X.  It Comes with a 11" coil, optional 5", 6 x 8" , 14" coils.  It sells for around $550.  The Minelab equinox units are good versatile detectors .

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Hi,

If your soil is mild ( not too mineralized ) and you hunt on low to medium iron trashed sites , the ML Vanquish is a very good choice , its perfos are the same as the Equinox . With the V10 coil It is lghter than the Nox and simpler to use. And also cheaper . Even the Vanquish 340 at 200$ is an excellent machine ... Just there is no headphones bluetooth on the 340 and 440, only the 540 has the bluetooth.

Btw the Vanquish audio is similar to the Explorer audio. I had an Explorer XS at the beginning of the 2000s .. 

If you detect on iron trashed sites , then the XPs Deus and Orx are very good choices ..

HH

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Don't overlook a great resource this Forum provides in the Guides & Detector Database that Steve has compiled. You can access them at the top of page. A lot has changed in the last 15 years in detectors, almost all of it very good. It may take a little study and thought on your needs & wants but it would be hard to make a bad choice in a new detector.

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We get continual requests about advice on the "best detector" for various purposes. I have therefore created a new tag "best detector" that links all these together for easy review. Click below for a list. It is not relic specific, just any time a person asks about the "best detector for...." question.

 best detector

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Guest calabash digger

A beep and dig is just to boring to keep my attention.... I need the 50 tones of the Equinox to keep me entertained. Analog detectors are boring to me..to each his on....I also like the meter....part of the excitement is  knowing or having a good idea of whats under the coil...like silver ,coin, etc...

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16 hours ago, calabash digger said:

A beep and dig is just to boring to keep my attention.... I need the 50 tones of the Equinox to keep me entertained. Analog detectors are boring to me..to each his on....I also like the meter....part of the excitement is  knowing or having a good idea of whats under the coil...like silver ,coin, etc...

Beep and digs have there places for relic hunting especially on deep targets in less iron infested areas.The Vista X is definitely deep but not all targets are 12" or more.

I agree however, the best detectors right now for digging non-ferrous targets for all depths down to the limit of detection (12" or so with the 11"/12" coils) in any soil conditions while also properly identifying if the target is a low, mid or high conductor are the Equinox and Vanquish. If you are in thicker iron trash just the Equinox would be better. If you are in really bad iron trash......XP Deus which becomes a beep and dig after about 5" depth in moderate to high mineralization just like every other single frequency VLF I have used and tested which includes the Tesoro Tejon which up averages deep targets just like the rest.

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