Legend Vs Nox In Goldfield Mode

[Steve Herschbach]

Jeff, given your very fine review of the Nox vs Legend for general detecting, I was wondering if you have any updated thoughts on Nox vs Legend specifically for gold prospecting? Equinox Gold Mode versus Legend Gold Mode - which do you prefer and why?

Put another way, given that a Nox 800 costs 50% more than the Legend, is there any reason for a new buyer to consider the Nox over the Legend for gold nuggets?

Thanks in advance for any answer. 

[Jeff McClendon]

Before software version 1.09, I would not have recommended the Legend as a gold prospecting detector due to its fixed iron bias setting of 8 which was way too high and created unnecessary small non-ferrous target masking in high iron mineralization. 

Now that user adjustable iron filter and iron stability settings have been added, the Legend with its iron bias set as low as possible is now a very good substitute for the Equinox 800. Setup to fit ground condition, both detectors perform very similarly. I wouldn't hesitate to use a Legend in Goldfield Multi running version 1.09 or 1.11 software with the appropriate coil and settings for the ground conditions and nugget sizes in the area. 

In addition, I have the option of using Park or Field M2 and two tone VCO Pitch tones as a secondary diagnostic mode. The 800 does not offer that option. The 700/900 does.

Also, at least from my experience, the Legend falses on hot ground and iron rich ground noticeably less than the Equinox 800.

Your second question: some people are just going to buy a Minelab and for good reason considering Minelab's habit of making excellent gold prospecting detectors. I trust my Equinox 800 partly because it is a Minelab and mostly because I know what it can do in the goldfields around here.

Would I recommend one over the other just based on performance? At this point.....no. So name brand and price to me are the deciding factors.

[Jeff McClendon]

I had 2 hours yesterday to do a little target comparison on wild targets with the Equinox 800 6" coil in Gold 1 multi and the Legend with 6" coil in Goldfield multi. Both detectors were accepting all targets, recovery speed was on 5, iron bias on 0 and both ground balanced at 1 and I had to reground balance often. Sensitivity on the Equinox was on 20 and sensitivity on the Legend was 22.

I was mostly concentrating on really small targets if at all possible. I did end up hitting enough small targets to give me a good idea of how they compared. I flagged potential small targets and checked them with both detectors before recovery. I was lucky enough to get the Legend over a 0.17 gram nugget/flake. The smallest target in the photo is a lead fragment that weighs in at 0.02 grams.

Both detectors hit these targets easily. No target was deeper than 3". ALL target IDs were in the iron range due to the extreme mineralization at this site. There is tons of magnetite black sand along with big chunks of magnetite like the ones I brought home with me that are pictured in the photo. They are everywhere. Virtually all of the metamorphic rocks at this site are hot enough to signal as a hot rock. So the abundant magnetite and hot rocks from pea size to the size of small cars make detecting with just about any VLF or PI detector lots of noisy fun at this site.

The only differences that I noticed between the Equinox 800 and the Legend was the Equinox was a lot noisier as far as iron falsing and it was hard for me to get the Legend's threshold just right for my ears. It was a bit thready. There was a high tension multi strand power line 50 yards away.

The US copper penny is for size reference.

 

[TexasJackKin]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:22 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

I had 2 hours yesterday to do a little target comparison on wild targets with the Equinox 800 6" coil in Gold 1 multi and the Legend with 6" coil in Goldfield multi. Both detectors were accepting all targets, recovery speed was on 5, iron bias on 0 and both ground balanced at 1 and I had to reground balance often. Sensitivity on the Equinox was on 20 and sensitivity on the Legend was 22.

I was mostly concentrating on really small targets if at all possible. I did end up hitting enough small targets to give me a good idea of how they compared. I flagged potential small targets and checked them with both detectors before recovery. I was lucky enough to get the Legend over a 0.17 gram nugget/flake. The smallest target in the photo is a lead fragment that weighs in at 0.02 grams.

Both detectors hit these targets easily. No target was deeper than 3". ALL target IDs were in the iron range due to the extreme mineralization at this site. There is tons of magnetite black sand along with big chunks of magnetite like the ones I brought home with me that are pictured in the photo. They are everywhere. Virtually all of the metamorphic rocks at this site are hot enough to signal as a hot rock. So the abundant magnetite and hot rocks from pea size to the size of small cars make detecting with just about any VLF or PI detector lots of noisy fun at this site.

The only differences that I noticed between the Equinox 800 and the Legend was the Equinox was a lot noisier as far as iron falsing and it was hard for me to get the Legend's threshold just right for my ears. It was a bit thready. There was a high tension multi strand power line 50 yards away.

The US copper penny is for size reference.

 

 

Thanks for that assessment of the Nokta Legend, I'm considering one for my first detector, not necessarily focused on gold (Northern Nevada) but gold is always in the back of one's mind where I live.   

[Jeff McClendon]

4 minutes ago, TexasJackKin said:

Thanks for that assessment of the Nokta Legend, I'm considering one for my first detector, not necessarily focused on gold (Northern Nevada) but gold is always in the back of one's mind where I live.   

The Legend is a solid, excellent performing detector. For me, its only drawback is the convoluted menu navigation. It is crammed full of very important features and settings that make a difference. If you get one, be patient and start out in Park M1 and lower the iron filter down to around 2 to 4 and play around with the preset discrimination patterns using ferrous and non-ferrous targets for practice. Again, be very patient as a first detector owner and practice a lot on easy targets. The Legend can be a handful if you start digging into its menus and settings too quickly while trying to go really deep in trashed, mineralized ground. The gold prospecting multi mode is easy to setup. Use the A or G discrimination pattern and lower the iron filter to 0 or at most 1 with sensitivity around 18 to 20.

[Ridge Runner]

Jeff  

 I have the Legend and I thank you for your time plus the setting that came with it on nugget hunting.

 I was wondering if you ever had your hands on the Gold Monster 1000 . If so with both having the 6” coil who may be on top comparing the Legend against the Monster.

 Thanks again!

 Chuck 

[Jeff McClendon]

25 minutes ago, Ridge Runner said:

Jeff  

 I have the Legend and I thank you for your time plus the setting that came with it on nugget hunting.

 I was wondering if you ever had your hands on the Gold Monster 1000 . If so with both having the 6” coil who may be on top comparing the Legend against the Monster.

 Thanks again!

 Chuck 

I would give the same answer if you asked me to compare the Goldmonster 1000 to the Equinox 800. I can setup a Legend or an Equinox 800 and run it on highly iron mineralized ground very easily with just a few ground balances. I could take a Goldmonster 1000 with its automatic tracking on the same ground and I would be ground balancing constantly after every detected target if I could get it to ground balance at all. The simultaneous multi frequency setting for the Equinox 800, 900 and the Legend will handle more difficult ground conditions using their ground grab ground balancing way better than the GM 1000. A detector that ground balances easily, effectively and quickly will be much more likely to hear borderline/difficult targets. Plus, the Legend like the Equinox also has adjustable threshold tone, adjustable iron bias, adjustable recovery speed, adjustable discrimination settings, on screen target IDs, single digit notching, pinpointing, ergonomics, collapsible shafts, waterproof, wireless audio.......I could go on and on with the advantages of the Legend and Equinox 800/900 over the GM1000. And the most important of all, there is very little difference if any in the overall sensitivity to gold nuggets of many sizes between the GM 1000, the Legend and the Equinox 800/900. I like the GM 1000 and have owned more than one since it was released. It just isn't my first choice compared to the Equinox 800/900 or the Legend.

[Ridge Runner]

Jeff

 You’re just bubbling over with great information and with what you said I don’t see the need to put out more money when I got all I need in my hands already .

 Thanks!

 Chuck