Brandon Neice ( Dr. Tones ) Detectival / Equinox Report

[Steve Herschbach]

From http://www.minelab.com/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/detectival-rally-2017

Detectival Rally 2017

September 28, 2017 11:05am

Brandon Neice

All across the UK and Europe metal detectorists gather for rallies. Permission to detect hundreds (sometimes thousands) of acres of historic land is obtained by the event coordinators and groves of eager treasure hunters gather for a chance to make the find of a lifetime. England’s very own “Detectival” is among the largest detecting rallies in the world. This year Detectival was held in the quaint country setting of Oxfordshire between the medieval market towns of Burford and Charlbury. Seemingly overnight the countryside morphed into a buzzing (and beeping) tent city of more than 1500 attendees accompanied by every vendor under the sun. Knowing that Detectival would be the year’s biggest metal detecting event, Minelab took full advantage of the stage and literally dropped the world’s newest, lightest, fastest, waterproof, wireless multi-frequency metal detector onto the world... “Behold… The EQUINOX!!!”

The parachute wasn’t the only thing that hit the ground that day. When Minelab announced the price of the new EQUINOX series, there were more than a few jaws that hit the floor too! Is it too good to be true? How could Minelab possibly put all of those features into something that light? Furthermore, how could they get away with an expected retail price point of USD 899 for the flagship EQUINOX 800? Minelab has been saying they are going to “obsolete” all other single frequency VLF detectors, but if the EQUINOX actually does what it claims, it really WILL!

Even though, as I write this, the EQUINOX is still in the final stages of refining and tweaking, the performance is astonishing. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that a multi-frequency detector could be so fast without losing depth and stability?

The hunting conditions were tough. The finds seemed to be very random until a small Roman villa site was discovered that afternoon. A feeding frenzy of detectorists converged on the site and a few hours later, close to 100 Roman coins had been unearthed. The finds slowed to a crawl and when the crowd finally cleared, I saw an opportunity to put this new detector to the test in “hunted out ground”. To this day I know there’s more in there, but with my time at Detectival coming to an end, I knew I’d have to make do with a few short hours of hunting. Luckily for me, that’s all I needed. The EQUINOX continues to impress with each refinement and I’m truly excited to see what the future holds with this amazing machine.

Check out the video of my Detectival experience uploaded on Sep 26, 2017. I went out detecting with a prototype of Minelab's new EQUINOX and found a nice Roman coin at an impressive depth. "It's important to note that this machine is still being tested and refinements are still being made. This video should not be used to accurately gauge what the final product will perform like".

 

 

[Tiftaaft]

Thanks for posting Steve.  It is difficult to abstain from drinking the kool-aide that is coming out of the festival by those using the prototype and to sort through the hyperbole that accompanies any marketing blitz... but there is plenty there to justify giving the machine the true test... which is getting one in my own hands and dedicating several months and a few hundred hours of ground time to see what it can really do in my conditions.  As well as open dialogue with other users on the multiple forums as the machines hit ground all over the world. 

The key factor is the price point, that opens up the door for more detectorists to "give it a chance".  Even if only most of the claims are true... this is a game changing machine.  Looking forward to it being available and in my collection.

Tim.

[Steve Herschbach]

I never pay attention to the Kool-aid or hype though I sometimes am accused of creating it! I just look at specs/design and I know I either want something or do not. "Going deeper" is a joke for me and not a concern for any decent machine by a reputable manufacturer. They all get the depth - it is faster recovery speeds that are getting more targets these days, not more depth. The bottom line is the first detector that gives me everything I want in one detector.

1. Waterproof
2. Runs in multifrequency for saltwater and superior target id
3. Can run in choice of single frequency modes including a high frequency for gold nuggets
4. Fast target recovery speeds
5. Wireless headphone capability built in
6. Bug fixes can be downloaded from internet
7. Large target id display
8. Simple control interface
9. Light weight
10. Inexpensive, wired coil options

And more. You can get parts/pieces of all this in other detectors, but there is literally no other detector made that puts all this and more in a single detector, and for under a grand. People are way off mark if they think this is a E-TRAC or CTX replacement per se. The obvious target here is the AT Max and Deus. If Minelab combines the best attributes of both in a single detector and adds multifrequency they have a winner. The goal is to take market share from other companies, not undermine existing detector sales. Minelab is a lot of things but stupid is not one of them.

The thing here is not any one feature. It is a sum of the parts thing, with the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

[rod-pa]

Steve,

I mostly like your list.

11. I would like the detector to show me the level EMI interference it is experiencing..INSTEAD of changing frequencies, hoping to hear a difference or first trying to find a weak target and fool around with finding the best channel.  I also don't want to trust an autofind feature...show it on the screen, and let me select.  Or show me a screen with the (in case of F75) 7 channels it just sampled, and the resulting emi level on each, showing why it just picked channel 3, for example.

 

 

[Steve Herschbach]

The Equinox offers both auto and manual Noise Cancel (EMI) settings

[Steve Herschbach]

Some commentary by Brandon over at Tom's forum.

[Road Dog]

Steve,

Steve you say going deeper is a joke to you. But I feel in the states you're right we need better separation and recovery speed. But in the UK deeper is a advantage that can get you saxon gold when other detectors can't. When I used my minelab 705 it was obsolete to the CTX or XP deus in the UK.  So sometimes deeper is better don't you think in this case?

RD

[Steve Herschbach]

Deeper IS better! What is a joke is the idea that anything coming out will be deeper than the best that are already being made. So when I hear anything about new detectors “going deeper” I just tune out. And to be sure what I am talking about is accurate target id to any particular depth. I don’t look for new detectors to “go deeper” simply because I think we are already at the limit with what is already made. Once you stop worrying about whether new detectors go deeper, you can just focus on the feature list.

I have a CTX but I can’t run it in single frequency mode.

I have a V3i which I can run in multifrequency mode or single frequency mode, but it’s not waterproof.

Neither is as fast as a Deus, but the Deus is not waterproof and can’t do multifrequency.

So for me it is not about deeper, it is about getting more functionality all in one package.

[Road Dog]

 You mean I can't have it all! Maybe I'm just stuck on the GPZ 7000 going deeper. And want all the other detectors to do the same. But you do need the proper ID when your coin shooting and separation.  I see your point Steve well taken. RD

[Steve Herschbach]

Yeah, it would be nice to get PI or GPZ depth PLUS discrimination. Too many years, too many false starts - I will believe it when I see it. If such a beast ever does arrive you can bet it won’t be for $899!