The Hunter Gt Tests Ctx, Deus 2, Nox And Legend

[Steve Herschbach]

I think it’s perfectly valid to compare detectors with different coils. I think a major problem with the Deus 2 versus Equinox is the lack of very large and very small coils. It’s Equinox with 15x12 versus Deus 2 with what exactly?  If the Nox can outperform the Deus 2 using the larger coil, does that not matter?  Can the Deus 2 with any coil hit a gold nugget as small as an Equinox with a 6” coil? Is even asking the question unfair?

Apples to apples comparisons are important, and can be revealing of certain inherent differences. But coils are the single most important way a person can enhance the performance of their detector, and a lack of coil options has a real world impact on any detectors ability to compete in real world situations. I’m more than happy any day to “cheat” and use a coil my buddy does not have, to make finds they can’t. 

[cjc]

The sense I get is that these ultra light machines try to substitute digital wizardry for pure processing power.  That power is heavy just as was the Sovereign.  However where you have a number of adverse things that would overwhelm said circuit--fast salt, incline, iron, black / grey sand summating to overwhelm detection--this is  where these software dandies  show weakness.  The NOX for example can just barely process it's own big coil in salt and goes into digital "clickey-click" noises.  Also, many of these types of comparison tests ignore the fact that what a detector does is to SEPARATE metal from ground and therefore hyped up almost random settings may not be what's needed to accomplish this separation.  Everyone wants to take this gonzo jam the signal down approach and compare on that basis.  A signal balancing approach is based upon letting the conditions dictate--not being taken in by industry hype and superlative  claims.  As this video shows--with that approach--one of these new ultrallght supercomputor type machines is as good as the next--and the tough conditions show that even more.   At all  of the sites  I hunt there's a "troll under every bridge."  I succeed not by having the latest machine but by knowing when to use which one of the old ones--and how to tune those based upon what the conditions will allow--not wishful thinking.  Even the Excalibur will lose depth without losing threshold and a lot of hunters miss  targets because they don't understand basic multi FQ theory.  I count on it.

cjc

[mh9162013]

4 minutes ago, cjc said:

The sense I get is that these ultra light machines try to substitute digital wizardry for pure processing power. 

Are you saying that's a bad thing?

[cjc]

18 minutes ago, mh9162013 said:

Are you saying that's a bad thing?

well--there's such a thing as a confounded signal.  High gain, digital, multi FQ, modulated, super fast, high bias--thats rich fare...lol

It helps to know what any of them are....

cjc

[phrunt]

I've never been one to like the apples to apples comparison thing, yes it can give you a baseline to see how good your detector would be if the manufacturer gave you more coils for it by forcing another detector to use a similar size coil as yours is locked into to compare how they go against each other, but if the other detector has a range of coils that give it the leading position so be it, it makes more sense to use that detector to me.   I'm one to use the best coil for the job so that's my apple.

If I'm comparing detectors on a nugget I put the most suitable coil on both of them and test them, and the winner is the winner, I'm not handicapping one detector because another doesn't have a coil as good as the other.  Likewise if I'm checking depth, big coils all the way, as big as the manufacturer will provide/allow.

Steve worded it better than I but realistically, if your hindered by coils and another detector isn't, and the other detector is better once you put a different coil more suitable to the task at hand that makes it the superior detector, even if it can't keep up with the other when they're using the same size coil.

The Deus 2 is VERY limited with coils, The Equinox has a reasonable amount of coils as does the CTX, the Legend will likely end up with the most coils if Nel survives this crisis in Ukraine 😞, if not it'll likely end up with three or so coil options and be similar to the others with its range, if not a smaller range.

XP can't say they can't fit the electronics into a big coil, there is no reason there isn't a big field hunters 15x12 or 17x13" size coil like the Minelab's have.  Where I hunt they're the only coils I want to use.

The thing that stopped me wanting a Deus 2 was the coil options, I sat down and thought about it, on my Nox I mostly only ever use the 6" or the 15x12", the two size coils the Deus 2 won't have.  I rarely use the 11" and to me 9" may as well be 11", still too big for prospecting for me as I want a tiny gold hunting VLF and way too small for coin hunting in my area.