The Truth About The Legend Compared To The Deus 2, To Me

[Joe L]

I’m not sure if there are others like me out there, but I imagine there MUST be. I am so used to my Fisher Gold Bug Pro that I wanted to give myself a challenge.  I purchased a legend. My oh my, I need to be a computer genius to operate this thing.  Now, I’m getting used to it and coming along, that’s one of the reasons why I’m parting with my Bug. I want to put all the learning into the legend.  Now as for the Deus 2, I would love to maybe have one some day, but my rocket scientist license has expired. Wow, I think you need a college class to learn that girl. I don’t even understand a lot about it when I hear you guys talk about it.

So my comparison, I believe I will be able, over a bit of time, to be comfortable with the Legend, but the Deus, I don’t think I can.

But from what I read and see, both FINE machines.  So just enjoy ‘em.   Joe

[GB_Amateur]

I like(d) my Fisher Gold Bug Pro (still have it but never use it...).  It's simple but still rather powerful, a good (not top-of-the-line) gold nugget detector and a capable (not top-of-the-line) coin, jewelry, relic detector.  It has many brethren (E.g. Fisher F19, Teknetics G2, Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro) which are identical in performance but with slightly different features and stock coils.

The three competing modern multi-freq'ers (Minlelab Equinox, XP Deus 2, Nokta-Makro Legend) are not close to the GB-Pro in their simplicity/complications, but that doesn't mean they won't hit the ground running.  They all have multiple canned programs -- think of each as several detectors with few adjustments, all rolled into one.

As of now I only have an Eqx 800 and have never even seen either of the two new kids.  However, at the risk of overstepping, IMO none of them is simple if you get into their full capabilities by adjusting their many features/options.  Yes, anyone can turn a knob, but understanding how that change affects things is a whole 'nother ballgame, and depending upon a person's previous experience it's going to take some time to really take advantage.  But in the meantime you have a tool (when using the pre-programmed settings) which is already one of the best performing detectors.

[CPT_GhostLight]

I thought that the Deus II would be daunting to learn too. It took me a few years to get comfortable with the Equinox coming from a lower end White's, and Gold Bug 2 that I never took the time to learn. But I took a chance on the Deus II and I've only had it two weeks and I'm having no problems navigating the menus. The biggest challenge for me is training my ear to the new sounds, but even using the stock programs, I'm getting up to speed pretty quickly. I've only been able to get out detecting a few times so far, but it is getting pretty easy to tell good targets from bad. I definitely feel that learning the Equinox helped me easily transition to the Deus II.

So good luck with your Legend. You should be able to get up to speed fairly quickly, and I think that once you're comfortable with any SMF machine, it makes it easier to use any other one. Happy Hunting!

[Joe L]

Agreed,  at least I have the tool now, it’s time to get crackin and learn her.  I have a old homestead I will be starting this coming weekend and the gold bug will stay home.   I ll keep him comfortable in the closet, 😆 

[Joe L]

But there so many stock programs on the Deus, I wouldn’t even know which one to use.

[Carolina]

13 minutes ago, Joe L said:

But there so many stock programs on the Deus, I wouldn’t even know which one to use.

They are clearly listed in the manual along with frequencies used.

[CPT_GhostLight]

15 minutes ago, Joe L said:

But there so many stock programs on the Deus, I wouldn’t even know which one to use.

The manual does a pretty good job of explaining which programs are intended for which use. I do mainly land and park hunting so the Deus II programs P1-General and P5-Park are what I use 90% of the time and I'm just now beginning to explore the more exotic programs.

As with any detector, always start with the presets and learn how they sound and what they do. After putting in many hours with those, you will start to feel more comfortable with how the machine works and then you can explore more of the options. The main thing is to trust the presets. They are usually the best settings to get going. It always seems like a lot to learn at first, and it is, but the best way to learn any machine is to get out and detect. You'll be surprised how fast you learn in the field.

And I'm not sure how it is on the Legend, but if you fiddle with preset settings on the Equinox or Deus II and don't like them, you can just reset the stock programs so you really can't mess anything up.

    

[Joe L]

The Legend really doesn't have resets for presets, at least from what I read.  Once you change them and power off, when back on it opens just like you changed it to. I'm doing good though, I came out of park mode and ventured on to field.  I'm on my way.

As for the Deus, I never really read the manual, no need to its out of my reach right now.  I'm hoping the Legend has all I'm gonna need for now, until like some say, it's time to move on to a bigger challenge. In all fairness, I read the Legend manual cover to cover a few times and it really isn't as bad as I make out. Granted, I do understand the button pushing for all, just got to figure out the why's.  For now I am working in my Preset parks and I venture and tweak settings a bit here and there. 

Like my wife always says, at 65 you need to keep the mind revolving, and this may just do that. Anyway, it"s fun.

I mentioned above, heading to an old homestead, or where there was one, in the Fort Ticonderoga area and will sure put some time into it and the detector.     Joe

[Chase Goldman]

37 minutes ago, Joe L said:

The Legend really doesn't have resets for presets, at least from what I read.  Once you change them and power off, when back on it opens just like you changed it to.

Read p. 24 of the manual for the process for resetting any of the 4 custom user profiles to factory default settings.

[NCtoad]

1 hour ago, Joe L said:

But there so many stock programs on the Deus, I wouldn’t even know which one to use.

If you have sites that that you can hunt multiple times just try different programs each time you go.  I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t be afraid to try a certain program.  Obviously this doesn’t work to your advantage if you have a site where you have a one-time shot at it.