Calm Before The Storm

[Steve Herschbach]

Well, here we are with a new year around the corner. Unless somebody else pulls a real rabbit out of the hat, 2018 is shaping up to be the Year of the Equinox. In general, people have no idea just how good this detector is, and I expect things will get a little crazy once they hit the market and the word gets out. The main problem for some time will be a person getting their hands on one. I expect they will sell as fast as Minelab can crank them out for quite some time.

Things are quiet right now, and will probably remain so for the next couple weeks, but by the middle of January I expect the floodgates will open and I will no longer be a lone voice in the wilderness. I look forward to stepping back a bit as others come to the fore and speak out more on Equinox. In the meantime, I will push the next few weeks to get out as many technical details as possible. I know there are still questions about many of the finer details of how the Equinox operates. All will be made clear soon. The one area everyone has to be patient about is waiting for Minelab to explain the underlying technology and what it is doing specifically as relates to the different modes. My focus is more on what Equinox does and how to best apply it in the field. Only the wizards at Minelab can really explain what is going on under the hood, so I won’t attempt that.

I am really looking forward to 2018, if for no other reason that I can focus on just going detecting again. Equinox has rejuvenated my detecting interests especially as regards coin detecting and 2018 might just be my best coin detecting year ever. And that says a lot for a guy that has been detecting now for 45 years!

[Skate]

I think your idea that 2018 is going to be the year of the Equinox is spot on. It's going to change the detecting landscape for sure in many different ways and really dictate what the other companies are going to do going forward. I suspect that the reason we haven't seen the Deus V4.1 finalized is because the folks at XP are waiting to see the release of the Equinox and then see if what they're planning for as an update will work against what the Equinox does. 

As for obsoleting other VLF machines I think we're already seeing that just in the number of machines being sold to purchase the Equinox. ML is going to win with Equinox on many different levels. Think of just how many youtube videos showing it in action are going to flood the internet in 3-4 weeks. Is ML a privately held company? Time to invest in Codan I think. 

[Steve Herschbach]

I think it’s funny the number of people who think that when something becomes obsolete it stops working, and so are calling Minelab out because their single frequency detectors will continue to work. Well, last I looked a rotary dial phone still works when I plug it into a phone jack, but that does not mean cell phones have not made them obsolete for most people. BFO metal detectors still function to this day, but would anyone argue they are not obsolete?

Peoples existing detectors will continue to work just fine, and there will always be a place for low end product. However, anyone that thinks the future of detecting lies with single frequency is just kidding themselves. The future lies with multifrequency or other sophisticated processing methods. Single frequency has hit the end of the road, and it all comes down to looking forward to the future, or clinging to the past. Equinox is the future, and the latest 13 - 15 kHz single frequency detector dressed up to look new is the past.

[Skate]

I could not believe how many people took umbrage and were offended because ML said the EQ was going to obsolete all other VLF detectors. What did they expect ML to say? We're producing a detector that might be pretty good when compared to the AT Max? People are very brand loyal in this industry and i understand that but the only things I'm loyal to is my finds rate and how much enjoyment I get out of detecting. I figure both of these are going to go up here very soon.

Along with releasing the EQ I need God to release the rains in SoCal. The ground is that of cement in some parts. 

[Gerry in Idaho]

As a dealer, I know this.  The day the intro in UK of the Equinox, I had 2 cancellations on the arriving AT Max.  It got so bad, I cancelled the rest of my AT Max orders and still have some in stock.  Not saying the AT Max is not a good machine, heck I actually like it and have doen well.  it is just that in reality it is a re-wrapped AT Pro for extra features.  Now, nothing wrong with that as most of the manufactures have done the same thing for many years...but the EQ is something quite new and it has gotten the attention for many.

You'll soon be finding out for yourselves in a few weeks.

[Wayfarer]

34 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

the latest 13 - 15 kHz single frequency detector dressed up to look new is the past.

Ouch, MX7 and F75+!  

It remains to be seen if the Equinox will have the raw power in multi-frequency mode.  I suspect it will, but that has been a shortcoming of other multi frequency designs.  With the White's V3i, for instance, you do get noticeably more power and depth out of a single frequency than you do in multi frequency.  Multi still has the advantage in every other way, but if you are looking for depth over all else, single frequency still is the best choice usually.  With the CTX, we never really knew what the potential would have been in single frequency operation, since that was not an option.  

That's one of the many questions I can't wait to see answered in the next month or two:  whether the Equinox in multi frequency is as deep as it is in single frequency.  

[Brushcreek]

Steve, it is easy to see you are excited about the Equinox and to be able to share more of your thoughts when the time comes Minelab allows you. I would guess after the dealer conference we will be getting the info we have been waiting on. 

Looking forward to checking one out for myself!

 

[tsunamiscott]

The MX7 is a repackaged MX Sport.  I owned an MXS earlier this year and tested in all my hunting locations.  

37 minutes ago, Wayfarer said:

Ouch, MX7 and F75!  

 

More like: MX7 and F75!

[Steve Herschbach]

52 minutes ago, Wayfarer said:

It remains to be seen if the Equinox will have the raw power in multi-frequency mode.

Not for me. It only remains to be seen for those who have not seen it or who just don't want to believe what Minelab is saying. The secret sauce with Equinox is Multi-IQ, not single frequency. Anyone can build a great single frequency detector and if that's what people crave there are plenty to choose from. Only Minelab will be building Multi-IQ and the Equinox is going to live or die based on it's multifrequency performance, not it's single frequency legacy modes.

[Wayfarer]

35 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Not for me. It only remains to be seen for those who have not seen it or who just don't want to believe what Minelab is saying. The secret sauce with Equinox is Multi-IQ, not single frequency. Anyone can build a great single frequency detector and if that's what people crave there are plenty to choose from. Only Minelab will be building Multi-IQ and the Equinox is going to live or die based on it's multifrequency performance, not it's single frequency legacy modes.

Admittedly, I have not seen it, but I *do* desperately want to believe what Minelab is saying.  By "what they are saying" I assume you mean their statement that the Equinox "obsolete all single frequency detectors."  If they actually have a detector that can, in multifrequency mode, beat the raw depth and power of any number of flagship single frequency detectors, then they will truly have a winner on their hands that will live up to the hype.  

From a technological point of view, if the Equinox Multi-IQ uses some sort of a rotating frequency transmission, like pulses of each frequency in rapid succession, then that would make it more likely to achieve the goal of matching single frequency raw power, since essentially it's operating in single frequency but rapidly changing and then combining the info into a single output via powerful processing.  The V3i, in contrast, is *true* simultaneous multi frequency, in that it operates in all three of its frequencies literally simultaneously, so it must split its output power amongst the three frequencies.  The Equinox, by contrast, if it's rapidly (talking milliseconds)rotating through each of the single frequencies, wouldn't have that limitation.  

I'm a beleiver, as I've had my 800 on preorder, and prepaid, since the first week it was announced in September.