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Calm Before The Storm


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On 12/30/2017 at 10:57 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

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

I am not looking to name names or pick fights, but I have to admit that after years of rumors about new patents and truly new designs, the latest round of repackaging kind of broke this camels back. The game was there to win for first out of the starting gate, and I was as surprised as anyone that it was Minelab that got off the first shot. Maybe it will be a case of the tortoise winning the race but that works better in fables than in real life. I am the first to admit that fully half my excitement over Equinox is just to finally be laying hands on something new and genuinely different. Repeat after me - FAST Multifrequency. There are many implications in those two words. Multi-IQ is different; in that sheer difference alone it will unlock previously hidden targets, and it is not all about just depth, although that is there also.

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34 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I have to admit that after years of rumors about new patents and truly new designs, the latest round of repackaging kind of broke this camels back. 

I'm totally with you on that, Steve.  It's very frustrating to see promises made time and again only to have them not live up to the hype, or never get released at all. 

It appears what Minelab has done, is bring together ALL the possible and desired capabilities of current VLF state-of-the-art combined with modern processor power into one detector.  It's not really any "new" tech per se, just a complete total package of everything that is possible with today's technology in a thoroughly well thought-out design.  Any detector company with a sufficiently large R&D budget and bright engineers could have done that, it's just that Minelab beat them to the punch.  

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The Equinox.... Will provide the jolt this hobby needs!   To reopen " cleaned out sites".    It is getting to the point now that when hunting on public lands , I don't expect to find old coins.  We need new tools( technology)  to unlock more good finds again.  Sounds like the EQX  is the tool to make it happen.   Thanks Minelab!

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It's almost scary at the number of people who have "obsolete" and "extinct" confused/mixed up.  I've poked fun at it on a few forums and Facebook.  The automobile didn't make horses go extinct and people still ride them.  The Amish and Mennonites still use them daily for transportation.  I live less than 10 miles from a Mennonite community and they come by often with their horse and buggy.  But for most people, a vehicle is what we use for most of our travel needs.  The Equinox won't make other detectors die off from extinction and quit working.  But it might make people not want to use them.  I don't see why so many have trouble seeing the difference there.

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50 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I am not looking to name names or pick fights, but I have to admit that after years of rumors about new patents and truly new designs, the latest round of repackaging kind of broke this camels back. The game was there to win for first out of the starting gate, and I admit to being as surprised as anyone that it was Minelab that got off the first shot. Maybe it will be a case of the tortoise winning the race but that works better in fables than in real life. I am the first to admit that fully half my excitement over Equinox is just to finally be laying hands on something new and genuinely different. Repeat after me - FAST Multifrequency. There are many implications in those two words. Multi-IQ is different; in that sheer difference alone it will unlock previously hidden targets, and it is not all about just depth, although that is there also.

I ordered 2 when i first found out about the machine . I have had to postpone the second one for now but i will get it . Anyway i wont sell my Explorer's and ET . With over 10 k in coins to their credit and many Golds they have and can do the job . 

I will use the Equinox as a backup !!! till i get the second one later in the next year . I wont be rushing out with it straight away , the Explorers if they lose value will just soldier on till they drop or totally pay for themselves . 

Being Multi Freq they find more than single freqs on beaches anyway . In that sense the Explorer made all single freqs obsolete in 1999 . Apart from the lack of waterproofing .

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On 12/30/2017 at 12:33 PM, Wayfarer said:

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.  

Ok, now those are different things. Remember, what you first said was that multifrequency has lagged single frequency for sheer depth. So technically speaking all Minelab has to do is EQUAL single frequency for raw depth while delivering the extreme target id accuracy for which multifrequency is famous.

Here is a key quote from Minelab:

“A significant advantage with Multi-IQ is it's FAST. Think of it as the typical multi-frequency performance of a Minelab detector, at the speed of any good single frequency detector you are familiar with. Also, expect no performance downside running in "Multi" compared to a single frequency. Unless in Gold Mode, we recommend "Multi" as the best frequency option. But, you can use a single frequency if you wish, in Park and Field modes."

Ultimately it comes down to the semantics of what is truly new or not. I am hanging my hat on one simple fact. I have swung a multitude of detectors in 45 years and have put in insane hours doing so over the years. In the last three years in particular I have been a regular revolving door of the latest and greatest, and when I hit the ground despite great efforts taken by engineers single frequency always just ends up being single frequency. In my opinion the Fisher F75 pushed single frequency to the limit as far as the target id accuracy that can be achieved at depth with single frequency. The battle to get the Nokta Impact to merely match the F75 for max depth as outlined by Tom Dankowski is very enlightening.

I still believe that if you don’t care about target id then you can get more depth than the Equinox running quite a few different detectors in pure all metal modes. I think we can agree that what we want here is better target id at depth, and by depth I simply mean in such a way that other detectors are currently not doing it. Equinox needs to accurately identify targets that other machines do not identify correctly or miss entirely. Otherwise we could all just detect for everything everywhere with a GPX 5000. If depth is all that matters, get a high power PI or a GPZ 7000.

What three years of detecting locally did for me was show machine after machine hitting an identical wall to the point that I could hardly work up the desire to care anymore. Machine after machine, hit the parks, same old story. I got the Equinox, and silver started appearing in the very same places. I am not saying it is anything more than that magic extra inch or whatever, but I know darn well this machine is doing something different, and it does not take long to see it. It unlocks targets other detectors do not unlock, plain and simple as that.

I am therefore of the opinion that while no detector satisfies everyone, I have every confidence Equinox is going to be a real winner. I don’t have to make crazy claims or waste my time trying to prove anything about Equinox because in my opinion in 60 days what I say and think won’t matter anymore. Equinox will either perk up everyone out there or it won’t, but using me as my favorite guinea pig it just can’t lose. I actually held onto my detector collection until the last possible moment so as to not tip the hand too early, but the fact is I cleared them out as soon as I could once the time came because in my opinion the existing market prices for used detectors has nowhere to go but down. I held onto a few as an insurance policy for oddball applications but the fact is that in 2018 I doubt I will use anything but my GPZ 7000 and Equinox 800.

And if any company out there would like me to evaluate or report on any new single frequency detectors - not interested! It’s either new tech, multifrequency, or compact PI, but no single frequency machine is getting a second look from me anymore.

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3 hours ago, Tnsharpshooter said:

The coil sizes that will be available at first,,there is chance we may not know just how good or bad the Equinox is.

Very good point, and one that worries me a little since it seems impossible to find out what the coils are going to cost. This late in the game that smells like a delay in getting the accessory coils out in time for the release. No - I don't know anything about that! Just saying. And if we can't get our hands on either larger or smaller coils then certain things will go unanswered until we can.

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1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

So technically speaking all Minelab has to do is EQUAL single frequency for raw depth while delivering the extreme target id accuracy for which multifrequency is famous.

Here is a key quote from Minelab:

Also, expect no performance downside running in "Multi" compared to a single frequency. Unless in Gold Mode, we recommend "Multi" as the best frequency option. 

I think we can agree that what we want here is better target id at depth, and by depth I simply mean in such a way that other detectors are currently not doing it. 

What three years of detecting locally did for me was show machine after machine hitting an identical wall 

Thanks for clearing up which statement by Minelab you were referring to.  That statement is very significant, since it asserts that with the Equinox you are getting all the benefits of multi without the downside of reduced depth. 

And yes, we are talking about Target ID at depth.  I can hit the deepest of targets all day long in G.E.B. Max mode with my old White's 6000, but that, of course, is in all-metal mode without any ID information.  But ID at depth is the current holy grail for VLF.  If we could get accurate ID at the depth the old 6000 in all-metal could hit targets at, then we'd be cleaning up at all the old worked-out sites.  I have to believe this potential can be unlocked by better implementation of multifrequency with faster processors and more finely tuned and better written DSP algorithms.  Sounds like that's what Minelab has done with the Equinox. Even if it's not quite at the max depth of all-metal, if they have made significant improvements at getting closer to all-metal max depth with accurate Target ID, that will be a huge leap forward.  

And I totally agree with you that all Minelab really has to do is EQUAL single frequency flagship depth as long as it also has better Target ID at depth.  

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