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Equinox - What's Improved?


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13 hours ago, mcjtom said:

The Nox 700/900 seem to have doubled the ID scale resolution.  Could anyone offer a guess if this simply means doubling the numerical resolution (as in US nickel moving from 13 to 26 etc.) or also stretching/compressing the scale and thus ID values changing locations (i.e. knowing the IDs on older Nox/Vanquish wouldn't be useful in predicting how items will ring on the extended scale)?

This should help answer your question:

 

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14 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

The DP tone option sounds like a form of Pitch tones with a VCO type audio for more modulated audio quality, better target separation and maybe just a bit more overall depth on edge of detection targets.
 

This could make a lot of difference for picking non-ferrous out of ferrous, for deeper silver cherry picking and maybe give the 700 using Park or Field a VCO type audio for gold prospecting or meteorite hunting which would be a big improvement over the 600 and for using an alternative to 1 tone in Park or Field on the 800. 

Yes.  The new audio tone options (pitch) are flying under the radar here and are a big deal for me in addition to the other improvements (including vastly improved pod menu navigation...we have a back arrow now!) because I use pitch almost exclusively with the D2. Always wanted to be able to use Nox gold mode audio in the other modes. Hate losing the APTX-LL and Wi Max options, though.

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I like the separation of different targets that now read closely together.  I think this addresses my sandwich coin/metal issue.  Size and metal type influence the VID so there is probably an audio enhancement.  Certainly good if you are not a dig everything type of detectorist or a detectorist on limited time.

And where do the crusty beach pennies go on the scale?

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This expanded ID scale is great as long as the stability and repeatability of the Nox TIDs are maintained and the scale does not suffer from high end (high conductor) compression.  Legend is a little jumpy and only goes to 60, D2 is pretty stable through 99 but the high conductors (and large aluminum) targets really get compressed into the mid-80 to 99 range limiting ability to resolve the type of high conductor.  But frankly I'm digging all those targets unless I get an indication it's an aluminum can based on the audio and traced target footprint via the pinpointer.

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51 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

This expanded ID scale is great as long as the stability and repeatability of the Nox TIDs are maintained and the scale does not suffer from high end (high conductor) compression.  Legend is a little jumpy and only goes to 60, D2 is pretty stable through 99 but the high conductors (and large aluminum) targets really get compressed into the mid-80 to 99 range limiting ability to resolve the type of high conductor.  But frankly I'm digging all those targets unless I get an indication it's an aluminum can based on the audio and traced target footprint via the pinpointer.

Yep.  The D2 suffers from that compressed upper vdi range.  I’d really love an update that could address that issue.  When you’re pressed for time, it’d be nice to be able to distinguish silver from clad.  I know that usually silver dimes and quarters come in ever so slightly higher (usually by 1 digit) but there’s been many times I was expecting clad and a silver popped out of the hole.  
 

oops!  Forgot I was in the nox forum.  Feel free to move this to the D2 forum.  

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On the audio, AptX-LL is not part of Bluetooth, it is a custom Codec owned by Qualcomm and the chips are produced only by them. Bluetooth does support "standard" audio but the latency is too high. Starting with BT 5.2 there is a new low-latency audio called "LE Audio" and it is part of the BT standard. I've used a Nordic chip running LE Audio and compared it to AptX-LL and Garrett's proprietary wireless. LE Audio is dead even with AptX-LL which means that Qualcomm's AptX-LL will likely be discontinued. Garrett has slightly better latency but all 3 are low enough that you won't notice.

Minelab only says the new headphones are "better than standard Bluetooth" which could mean they are AptX-LL, LE Audio, or proprietary. My guess is proprietary.

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13 minutes ago, Geotech said:

Minelab only says the new headphones are "better than standard Bluetooth" which could mean they are AptX-LL, LE Audio, or proprietary. My guess is proprietary.

https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=YwdXmpsuaYfdk%2FQl6JsBDw%3D%3D&fcc_id=Z4C-0049

TEST CERTIFICATE
Device: Manticore Metal Detector
Model: Manticore
Manuf acturer: Minelab Electronics Pty Ltd
Radio: Bluetooth Low Energy (Nordic nRF5340)

They say the new headphones work on both the Manticore and Nox 900.

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That means they are likely using the new LE Audio standard. The nRF5340 is the same chip I was testing with. LE Audio adoption has been slow, so far I've only seen earbuds and not headphones. But they're coming, and then you'll have lots of options. One cool thing about LE Audio is that it streams left & right separately, so earbuds do not need a wire between them.

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2 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

D2 is pretty stable through 99 but the high conductors (and large aluminum) targets really get compressed into the mid-80 to 99 range limiting ability to resolve the type of high conductor.  But frankly I'm digging all those targets unless I get an indication it's an aluminum can based on the audio and traced target footprint via the pinpointer.

The video linked above by TedinVT shows surface (and a few buried) USA coins' VDI's on the new Manticore.  It seems closer to some of the Fisher detectors than the XP Deus2, IMO.  One thing about the highest VDI's on some detectors (Fisher F75, ML Equinox 800, ML X-Terra 705 in my arsenal) is that they include iron wraparound targets.  They seem to be fairly easy to distinguish because they read so high -- higher than USA silver dollar for example.  I guess we'll need to wait for more Manticore testing to know if Fe-->Ag wraparound occurs on the Manticore.  But hopefully (fingers crossed) if it does, the iron wraparound signals are well separated from the large silver coins.

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