Fisher 19 Or Xterra 705

[Dasbear]

Hi all. Im a new member here and my mind is still reeling from all the great information on this site.  I've been looking for a new detector mainly for parks, fields and an occasional beach. My budget was $500 so a BH Time Ranger Pro or fisher 19 +5" coil would get me there until I started looking at the ML Xterra 705 duel pack $800 a huge jump in caliber and budget. What are your thoughts and experiences on the Xterra?

[GB_Amateur]

4 minutes ago, Dasbear said:

ML Xterra 705 duel pack $800 a huge jump in caliber and budget. What are your thoughts and experiences on the Xterra?

I would delete the seller who is asking that from your list of potential suppliers.  I'm pretty sure the X-Terra 705 is discontinued but before that happened they were going for under $500 (with choice of 7.5 kHz round concentric or 19 kHz 5"x9" DD).  Adding a second coil shouldn't cost an addition $300+.  Caveat emptor.

The ML X-Terra 705 has selectable frequency, but only by changing coils.  As you can imagine that wasn't a popular feature, having to spend $150 and up for a new coil just to change frequency.  Maybe that was cost-effective in 2010....

Back a few years ago (say 2015 when I got back into detecting), for a gold IB/VLF, Steve recommended three which he felt were more/less equal in strength for that task -- native gold detecting.  Two of those three are ones you are considering (more accurately the highlighted the Fisher Gold Bug Pro as the F19 was just being released -- I think he later preferred the F19 because it came with his preferred size gold detecting coil -- 5"x10").  The third competitor was the Garrett AT/Gold.  At that time all three were priced in the $800 ballpark.

All three of those detectors will work reasonably well for general coin/relic/jewelry detecting on land.  (The X-Terra 705 has more features than the Gold Bug family; I'm not sure where the AT/Gold falls in that area.)  Ebay has the AT/Gold for around $550.  Amazon has the TRP for $400.  (Neither Ebay nor Amazon has a new X-Terra 705.  But as I mentioned, Ebay had them a few months ago they were under $500.  Did you look at what Steve H.'s database had the price for that??)

I have both a Gold Bug Pro and an X-Terra 705.  For coins (what I spend 95% of my detecting time searching for), they are about equal, IMO.  I liked the multitones of the 705 but didn't like the iron wraparound at 3 kHz and 7.5 kHz.  Note both are 10+ year old single frequency designs.  You can get multifrequncy (three models of the ML Vanquish and the Garrett Apex) in the under $500 price range and even a waterproof single frequency (Nokta/Makro Simplex) for under $300.  Is there a reason you've eliminated those from your list?

[Jeff McClendon]

Minelab Equinox 600 is still $649 on some dealer's sites. I think the price will go up soon to $699. 

Equinox 600 eats the F19/Gold Bug Pro/Teknetics G2+/Time Ranger Pro's breakfast, lunch and dinner 24/7/365 days a year. It also out performs the Vanquish models and the Garrett APEX. Its only competition in the USA is the Equinox 800, Deus 2 (not readily available yet) and the Nokta Makro Legend (not released for sale yet).

If the Equinox 600 is not included on some of the "Best Metal Detector" online sites that you may have visited........those sites must be way out of date. Pay no attention to that drivel. You did the right thing coming here.

Just to be clear, I own a Vanquish, I own the Equinox 800, I owned the Equinox 600, I owned two F19s and a G2+, and I owned all of the X-Terra models along with the AT Gold and AT Pro. I like them all so anything I said above is from experience using these detectors in moderate to high iron mineralization like we often have to deal with in the Western USA. What folks back East have for ground conditions is a different story entirely. This is important since you are from the Pacific Northwest/Washington.

[phrunt]

The problem with the market is there are so many detectors available that are redundant by newer modern detectors.  That is only going to get worse as some brands are releasing new detectors while others are riding off decades old stock.  The X-Terra is discontinued as it's been replaced by better detectors, Minelab doesn't leave old detectors on the market just to make them look like they've got a lot of models, if a detector is replaced the older ones are gone, the F19 hasn't been discontinued as Fisher have nothing to replace it with, it came out in 2010 as a Gold Bug Pro and has changed decals a few times over that time but it's essentially the same detector when it comes to the guts of it.  Nokta have recently discontinued a large number of their models as they're now entering the multi frequency game properly, the older detectors Nokta made similar to that of Fisher's F19 are now nuked.

Jeff is right with his advice on the Equinox 600, if you can get it the price he's saying the other detectors you've suggested are not even worth looking at.

[Dasbear]

I stand corrected $499 is the going price I was going by memory of which I seem to have very little of these days. I was talking to a local shop owner that has a really clean used 705 with 10x5 18.75hz coil $400 and will sell a new 7.5hz sml round coil for $125 cash and no tax but that may be a mute point based on what you folks are telling me. To this day I only have experience with an ace 250, HF9 and a BH tracker IV an the reviews online for the xt705 are very good so lack of of experience would be my reason for not considering other detectors. I really appreciate your input on this.

[Jeff McClendon]

56 minutes ago, Dasbear said:

I stand corrected $499 is the going price I was going by memory of which I seem to have very little of these days. I was talking to a local shop owner that has a really clean used 705 with 10x5 18.75hz coil $400 and will sell a new 7.5hz sml round coil for $125 cash and no tax but that may be a mute point based on what you folks are telling me. To this day I only have experience with an ace 250, HF9 and a BH tracker IV an the reviews online for the xt705 are very good so lack of of experience would be my reason for not considering other detectors. I really appreciate your input on this.

Like I said earlier, I like the X-Terra 705. However, as soon as I was able to use the Equinox 600 and 705 at the same time on wild, in the ground targets here in Colorado, it was abundantly clear which one was the better detector. It took about 5 minutes…….that was back in early 2018. I detect a lot and I am a member of a detecting club with over 100 members. No one is using an X-Terra 705 here anymore. 

 

So your local dealer would be very happy to sell you a used X-Terra 705 with the 18.75 kHz coil and 7.5 kHz coil for $525 and no warranty. You would have a single frequency detector that has two selectable single frequencies when you change coils. Or you could spend $649, have a 3 year warranty and have a brand new Equinox 600 that has four different multi frequency weighted programs…Park1-Field1, Park2-Field2, Beach 1 and Beach 2 with simultaneous multi frequencies ranging from around 5 kHz to 40 kHz along with selectable single frequencies of 4, 5, 10 and 15 kHz that can be used in the Park and Field modes instead of multi frequencies. You don’t need to change coils…….you just press a button. The Equinox models are all-terrain detectors and were intended to replace the X-Terra models, with a much more versatile and feature rich model line which the Equinox 600 and 800 did very well. So basically as far as frequencies, you have 4 different multi frequency detectors built into the Equinox 600 and 8 different single frequency detectors instead of 2 different detectors frequency wise, with the X-Terra 705 along with a very good prospecting mode.

[Tometusns]

Equinox 600. You should be able to pick up a used one in your budget or be really close. 
 I’ve owned a lot of the detectors you mentioned and the f-19 or g2 plus (same machine different shaft) would be ahead of any of the others for me if I was having to use one. 
 The only thing wrong with the 600 is it’s not an 800 lol. But having said that it is a really good detector and in my humble opinion a better deal for your money.

[Dasbear]

I am seriously looking at the Eq 600 I've found it for $649. at amazon and ebay but would rather spend my money at a "detector shop" vs a mega store. The other thing I'm concerned with is my budget started at $500. the Equinox 600 will easily go over $700. After tx which is really pushing the RED zone. On the plus side the equinox would slowly pay for itself every time I use it.

[phrunt]

And the fact you won't feel the desire to upgrade quickly.  If you bought something like an F19 you'd always wonder how much better than Equinox would have been and would end up wanting to upgrade it at some point anyway. 

[Tometusns]

1 hour ago, Dasbear said:

I am seriously looking at the Eq 600 I've found it for $649. at amazon and ebay but would rather spend my money at a "detector shop" vs a mega store. The other thing I'm concerned with is my budget started at $500. the Equinox 600 will easily go over $700. After tx which is really pushing the RED zone. On the plus side the equinox would slowly pay for itself every time I use it.

Talk to different dealers and see if they’ll make you a deal on one or look at a used one with warranty. Put a post up you’re looking for one. Who knows you might get a good deal. Good luck!

 Be patient…at least for a while. lol