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Equinox 900.. Yes, No Or Maybe?


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9 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Why are you only looking at the Equinox 900?

It seems to me from your detector usage that a 700 would make more sense.

I'm also thinking about the 700 for beach hunting, it'll give me the features I like on the 900 without spending the big bucks.. As far as losing the 'gold' program goes, a mate wants to sell me his Goldmaster 24K.. He's had a lot of luck with it in North Queensland's high country, especially along creeks and in river catchments.. This is the same country my son likes to pan and sluice.. I'm planning a few more trips up there so a GM24K could be a worthwhile substitute for an Equinox 900 (unless it turns out to be exceptional on small gold)..    

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20 minutes ago, Erik Oostra said:

I'm also thinking about the 700 for beach hunting, it'll give me the features I like on the 900 without spending the big bucks.. As far as losing the 'gold' program goes, a mate wants to sell me his Goldmaster 24K.. He's had a lot of luck with it in North Queensland's high country, especially along creeks and in river catchments.. This is the same country my son likes to pan and sluice.. I'm planning a few more trips up there so a GM24K could be a worthwhile substitute for an Equinox 900 (unless it turns out to be exceptional on small gold)..    

This is a repost of something I wrote a week ago. I have rechecked again with the same results.......

"Back to the gold prospecting point that people often make. That reason is no longer a reason in my opinion. The Nox 700 due to DP tones, just became a really good gold prospecting detector compared to the Nox 600 being just OK. 

I did a little comparison air testing and in the ground testing with my Nox 900 using Gold 1 and Field 2 with Field 2 setup to match the settings of Gold 1. Other than the frequency weighting possibly being a little different between Gold 1 and Field 2 (impossible to know for sure) the only other big differences are the true threshold in the Gold modes vs the reference threshold of the other modes, Gold modes have VCO audio for all target IDs with no iron tone and no nulling threshold, versus Field 2 using DP tones the VCO audio is 2 tones with a moveable ferrous break point and nulling threshold.

So I changed the ferrous tone break of DP tones using Field 2 multi down to -18 which meant -18 to +99 would give a non-ferrous higher VCO tone and -19 would give an iron grunt VCO tone versus Gold 1 VCO giving a higher VCO tone for all target IDs. The results on a 0.15 gram nugget and a 0.05 gram flake were virtually identical with a 1 to 2 millimeter difference at most in favor of Gold 1. Equinox 900 using basically the same settings but putting Field 2 in 1 or 2 tones like on the Nox 600, the results were between 1 and 2 centimeters of difference in favor of Gold 1.

So, the excuse that the 800 or 900 has gold prospecting modes.........at least where the 700 is concerned, basically no longer applies in my opinion."

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5 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

So, the excuse that the 800 or 900 has gold prospecting modes.........at least where the 700 is concerned, basically no longer applies in my opinion."

Thanks for this research Jeff, your knowledge is always appreciated.. I realize you prospect in different country but how does the Equinox stack up compared to the GM 24K in your opinion? I remember you've also have a lot of experience with it.. My mate up in the high-country claims the 24K punches a bit deeper and is more stable than the Equinox 800.. Again, country wise we're comparing apples to bananas but did you notice any performance advantage of one over the other in the wild?  

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22 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

On my beaches both the Equinox and Deus 2 have the same stability on iffy targets.. Both struggle with identifying smaller deeper targets and jump about without settling on a TID until you've got the target out of the hole.. I think it has more to do with working out a detector's nuances over time than any inherent stability problems of a particular model versus another.. There's so many variables that come into play in the 'wild' that only experience can make sense of what the detector is really telling you.. I've dug targets where the TID and tones were telling me it was another bottle top, but there there was something about the detector's reaction which told me it was a gold ring.. I suppose spending time with an Equinox 900 would achieve the same results, it's just that I've also got a Deus 2 demanding quality time.. It's already jealous of my bromance with the Equinox.. 

Ya these high fidelity detectors all have one shortfalling.  They  don't tell you what settings to use from  the dazzling array, or what the condtions call for.  It's like the NOX spoilt hunters into this "push button detecting" mentality that is just not a good way  to learn the hobby.  As  the tech  becomes more involved there's an  over-reliance  on it.  Even as I compete with NOX hunters--I feel sorry for them--digging flyspecks  and quarter panels--anyting metal.  Its basic skills that make you  thorough--not insane digging. While its true discrimination and meters will only take you so far--a broad based approach to target testing can make those anomaly responses stand out more.  People get so fixated on meter and tone they  forget to use the whole detector--much easier.

cjc

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40 minutes ago, cjc said:

They  don't tell you what settings to use from  the dazzling array, or what the condtions call for.  It's like the NOX spoilt hunters into this "push button detecting" mentality that is just not a good way  to learn the hobby.  As  the tech  becomes more involved there's an  over-reliance  on it.

Well said.

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23 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

Thanks for this research Jeff, your knowledge is always appreciated.. I realize you prospect in different country but how does the Equinox stack up compared to the GM 24K in your opinion? I remember you've also have a lot of experience with it.. My mate up in the high-country claims the 24K punches a bit deeper and is more stable than the Equinox 800.. Again, country wise we're comparing apples to bananas but did you notice any performance advantage of one over the other in the wild?  

If you have done gold prospecting with the Equinox 800 using one of the gold modes then you already know a lot about using the 900 in one of its gold modes. You also have the option of using the 900 or 700 in Park 2 or Field 2 setup sort of like I explained above using DP tones.

I have hunted eight different gold prospecting sites with the Equinox 800. It could easily handle the mineralization at those sites. The GM24K couldn't and was very unusable at two of the sites. At the other sites the GM24K was outstanding.

That is my experience and others may have a totally different take from their experiences.

 

 

 

What makes the Equinox be "high fidelity" as Clive described it, is what makes it an incredible gold prospecting VLF. I wouldn't change that for anything.

No one that is experienced with the Equinox 600 or 800 would ever recommend it as a "beginner's" detector unless the one recommending it is willing and able to help that beginner personally for a good stretch of time.

I have helped many of the club members in my area transition to the Equinox 600 and 800. Those that had some previous experience have eventually done very well if they put in some time with their Nox. The absolute beginners to a person..........gave up detecting period, as I expected they would. The 600/700/800/900, the Legend and Deus 2 are way beyond the capabilities of even brilliantly gifted beginners, unless they are willing to hunt in the most basic mode with sensitivity on 1/3 or less of max gain for quite some time. Otherwise, there is just way too much audio information for a complete beginner.

I don't have a problem with Minelab refusing to spoon feed beginners with tons of advice on how to detect with the Equinox. 

I'm glad that Clive and Andy have written some good books for using these more complicated detectors.

A Minelab Vanquish model is a much better/safer detector for a beginner.

Just my opinions from experience.

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18 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

The 600/700/800/900, the Legend and Deus 2 are way beyond the capabilities of even brilliantly gifted beginners,

Thats very well said, Jeff.  The NOX's "funny" latent audio frustrates me sometimes--to this day.  It's like popular knowledge just has not kept up with the tech and new hunters want "shortcuts" to expertise when there really are none.  Ive  gotten some great feedback from hunters who just needed a little theory and a few simple basics to get the results they had hoped for.  Shame that to this day, with the exception of Nokta, these "tech-heavy" manuals just dont give the new guy / girl the grounding needed to avoid a frustrating beginner experience.  

cjc

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4 hours ago, cjc said:

Ive  gotten some great feedback from hunters who just needed a little theory and a few simple basics to get the results they had hoped for. 

Indeed. Could you talk more about that?

4 hours ago, cjc said:

Shame that to this day, with the exception of Nokta, these "tech-heavy" manuals just dont give the new guy / girl the grounding needed to avoid a frustrating beginner experience.  

They are in the business of selling machines, and everything else is secondary. The detector itself assumes an overlarge importance in mind as though that is all that is required. If only a better machine, better finds goes the thinking. To my mind, thought and technique is far far more important. That does not sell nearly as well. 

Which of your books to buy would be a better question to you than what detector you recommend. Knowledge beats machines.

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