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Help - White's TDI Beachhunter User Looking To Upgrade


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Either the Equinox or CTX would compliment your PI machine nicely. Whether the extra bells and whistles on the CTX and slightly better target I.D. is worth the extra money for one.....that's something debatable and up to you to decide. My vote would be the Nox and the big coil for the beach.

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Joe B and Strick both mentioned BBS machines. You may want to do a little research in that department. Old but a different technology that worked very well for iron infested beaches. Notice, not FBS. Excalibur line is still factory supported, WP, but a bit heavy for beach work. Many of us were hoping for Minelab to produce a lighter weight WP Sovereign but it never happened. The Sovereign has tones, a meter, good disc., but not WP and not supported. The Nox is hard to beat but...

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18 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

No titan here, just a guy who likes to beep. I only know what I’d do in your shoes. Having the TDI covers you for a PI, so I’d want a VLF to complement it, and my choice would be the Equinox. CTX is too long in the tooth for me, but the reality is we have no idea when a replacement will appear. If looking for a PI other than the TDI, then waiting for the finished version of the Impulse is about the only pulse induction “upgrade” path available.

Oh come on Steve, don't gloat so much 😁

but seriously, thank you for the input. I just don't see the reason for having two detectors for one purpose (beach hunting trashy beaches), I understand that VLF and PI aren't better than each other - just different with different strengths and weaknesses - but ideally I'd rather have one Ford Raptor instead of two Toyota Tacomas, if you catch my drift...

I think since I'm not attached to having a PI, and I just haven't been as blown away with the TDI on the Nox, I'm just going to sit on my money and see who decides to put out the next best thing.

Hoping to hear something from Minelab within the next month, I think that's about how long I'm willing to wait. If there's no news at all a month into 2021, I guess I'll just bite the bullet and go with the Nox. It seems that the most popular suggestions are "get the Nox", or "wait".

What is the typical time between product refreshes? I'm only a few years into detecting and am not really familiar with the industry yet.

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15 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

My money would be on the 800 as it is ready to go under all conditions.

It is light weight and easy to handle, headphones or wired ear buds is your choice.

It has a great warranty and almost fool proof.

I say this as I am only a newbie and I am able to learn things with it I never thought I could.

Good luck on your choice.

Thank you, Valens!

Many are vouching for the Nox, I'm just not blown away by the accuracy of its TDI - but I'm also not sure if the CTX upgrade in performance from the Nox is worth it. Plus, the Nox is rumored to be better on low conductors like gold which is what I really love seeing in the scoop. I don't really hunt for coins so hitting on deep silver isn't as big of a factor in my choice.

Leaning towards the Nox, thanks again:)

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6 hours ago, strick said:

Like the others say the Nox  would be a good choice...I’ve hunted the Santa Cruz areas with a the TDI and it’s a bit much as there’s a lot of iron on those beaches when you get down to the gravels.  We’re all waiting for a faster CTX

Strick, the CTX man himself, thank you very much for taking the time to comment my brother ~

I think you're right about the AQ, iron comprises a lot of my trash but a digital display with some kind of TDI is more important to me because most of the garbage that I dig is non-ferrous.

I'm very curious about your recommendations, you say the Excalibur? I considered that machine when I bought my TDI, but they seemed very very similar to me in terms of capability with reports of the Excal being very unreliable, easily broken, finicky, and a pain in the butt. So I went with the TDI. But the Excal uses BBS technology, correct? Which is tone based right? I guess with time I could learn the signals, but my TDI is also tone based, and while I can usually guess trash based on the sound before I dig, I usually dig iffy signals anyways because they're typically deep and become better as I work my way down to them. Can you vouch for BBS as being a *very accurate way to detect trash?

I want to walk right over anything that isn't gold, or silver basically.

I understand that there isn't, and probably will never be a detector that has PERFECT discrim to reject anything that isn't precious metal, but I want to get as close to that ideal vision as I can in 2020.

If the weight were set aside, would you pick the Nox, or the CTX for trashy beaches?

Also, would you say that beach conditions are more important than the detector?

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6 hours ago, strick said:

Like the others say the Nox  would be a good choice...I’ve hunted the Santa Cruz areas with a the TDI and it’s a bit much as there’s a lot of iron on those beaches when you get down to the gravels.  We’re all waiting for a faster CTX

oops, I think I was reading Compass's comment while responding to you 😅 but yes we both have shared that experience, the TDI seems to LOVE tiny pieces of old nails huh..

I agree about the AQ, seems to be very "par for the course" in terms of PI technology, not really seeing the huge draw there. My TDI already has iron discrim, and the beach isn't made of nails so it's not like theres gonna be a ring down there surrounded by a half dozen pieces of iron... at least I hope LOL

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1 hour ago, cudamark said:

Either the Equinox or CTX would compliment your PI machine nicely. Whether the extra bells and whistles on the CTX and slightly better target I.D. is worth the extra money for one.....that's something debatable and up to you to decide. My vote would be the Nox and the big coil for the beach.

Thanks, Cuda! I think as things stand currently, you and others are right about the NOX - just wish they made the 17" coil like for the CTX. That's another big draw for me towards the CTX over the 800.

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57 minutes ago, osbod007 said:

Joe B and Strick both mentioned BBS machines. You may want to do a little research in that department. Old but a different technology that worked very well for iron infested beaches. Notice, not FBS. Excalibur line is still factory supported, WP, but a bit heavy for beach work. Many of us were hoping for Minelab to produce a lighter weight WP Sovereign but it never happened. The Sovereign has tones, a meter, good disc., but not WP and not supported. The Nox is hard to beat but...

Osbod, good eye, and thank you for pointing out that both recommended BBS machines-  after some research, it appears that BBS is a multifrequency technology, but it is tone based? There's no sort of display with numbers, or anything like that? For iron, this may be a killer, but iron is probably only a third of the trash that I dig, and I am looking for a machine that will help me recognize uncorroded bottle caps, clad, tent stakes, and other non-ferrous targets.

I think what I'm realizing is that I probably just need to wait for the CTX 4040/replacement 😕

Unless BBS discrim is such that it can help me not dig those non-ferrous items?!

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The Sovereign series is tone based and has a digital meter. Meter scaled for target ID 1-550 but many have been converted to 1-180 for ease of use in the field.  That said, it's forte is knocking (nulling) out iron, better than the TDI. It has notch capabilities... but as you discriminate out... chance of missing good targets is inevitable.  Weighing options.

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1 hour ago, JesseAllen2 said:

and I am looking for a machine that will help me recognize uncorroded bottle caps, clad, tent stakes, and other non-ferrous targets.

I think what I'm realizing is that I probably just need to wait for the CTX 4040/replacement

Good Luck With That.  Take a number and stand inline.

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