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The waves have been small but the tide went out far so I had to have a detect and get my fix. Well ... surprise, surprise ... something I could never imagine. It will be my most unusual find of the month at our metal detecting club meeting. In case you can't read it it says: ADVERTISING CLUB OF NEW YORK ANDY AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

The Florida Clan wanted to come for a visit and try some of that Arizona Sweet Tea. Haven’t seen them all in a group for close to 30 years. But, Robin’s and I trip started on Halloween Day from our home in Reno to Laughlin, NV. That’s about as far as I can drive in a day! We cut through Searchlight, NV and passed a couple washes I’d like to revisit. Next morning we cut out to Wickenburg, AZ for a visit with Friends that just moved there a few months back. Mike & Yvonne formally from Rural Oregon made the move to Wickenburg for the love of Team Roping and the Hunt for gold. Didn’t take Mike long to find a Welcome to Arizona Patch which currently is close to a 2-oz patch! (Below in my hand are the fat ones). Mike took me when we arrived to their home for a short swing! It was a hill side small drainage wash that feed into the big wash. I explored the patch and several nearby spots in the Reno Summer like temperature of 87 degrees. I was roasting when I noticed a Cholla stuck to my Boot which I removed with 2 rocks with a dozen or more of its spears stuck deep into the leather! Well 1/4 mile more and they worked their way thru the leather and now poking my foot! We had to leave with no tools to remove needles. Well off to my Folks and a week of fun with my Family traveling the sights from the Grand Canyon, Sedona and Tombstone. Heading back we stopped at Mike & Yvonne’s again for a longer hunt and then hit the local Rodeo grounds for dinner and some cold beers. Again, it was more than warm for this Northern Nevada guy. We seen some likely hills with some colors we liked. I was 3 gullies over (1/2 mile). I just worked up the side hill wash to the top of the hill and swung over to the next wash to work down it and repeat. I heard Mike say, hey the old timers worked this one! Sure enough old dry wash piles. I was up at the head of the wash and he was midway swing up. I pulled a dink nugget out and then Mike got on a string of nuggets. Sure there was some trash, but there’s 9 little nuggets the old timers left us! We know there is more to find at this spot, but water was getting real low and cold beer was at the Rodeo Grounds. Off we went leaving the new patch to catch it’s breath after a 30 minute beating. There’s still plenty of ground to explore in this old placer area(s) of Morristown! What a great Vacation and yes, we are home to nice and cool Reno 😂. Until the Next Hunt LuckyLundy

If you have a few extra dollars in that IRA then you might want to buy this. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10203363/Massive-20lb-gold-nugget-big-babys-head-near-Klondike-sale-1million.html

Still something ... you don't always have to have the detector technically the best separation properties ... and not everything is just about separation ... sometimes you just use a detector that you like to use well .. and you have nice finds with it .. I am quite often in Poland ,,, sometimes I am also invited there for detection ..or for testing detectors ... ,, in really difficult terrain ...whit Saper... As for the above detectors ... Minelab Equinox 800, Rutus Alter 71 v.2 and XP ORX ... I have all 3 of these detectors ... and I can say one is a very powerful Top Detectors .. 1. Minelab Equinox 800 is a multifrequency waterproof detector with 8 programs which is really universal, it has good and excellent 2D / 3D separation and depth ... and good ID for targets in 90% depth ... it can work on different terrains .. on the field both on sea beach and water ... I found really nice finds from them ... you can update the software at Equinox ... the price of Equinox is around 970 euros .. ----------------------------------------------------- 2. RUTUS ALTER 71.v.2 ... I have been using Rutus detectors ... since 2012 .. when I bought my first detector .. which was Rutus ARGO v.3 it is still a detector with potential .. I liked the work with Mix mode ... and I prefer working on Mix mode so far ... also with other detectors that I have ... Rutus Alter 71.v2- excellent adjustable with frequency 4.4khz to 18.4khz detector with Mix mode .. with excellent 2D and 3D separation, sensitivity and depth with 180 point quite deep VDI and Graphic signal graph ... I have been using it for several years .. Alter 71 has found me most of my best finds so far ... price 650 euros .. -----------------------------------------------------. ... Now as the Tester of the new Rutus ATREX. ... but I would buy an almost new model .. Rutus ATREX ... because it is technically better and more powerful than Alter71 v.2 .. ..and it works great on different types of terrain ... and the MULTIFILTER function improves already ATREX's excellent detection properties ... even in mineralized terrain. ..I as a beta tester of Atrex I have been testing and detecting for several months .... and I also found some nice finds with it ... You can upgrade the ATREX detector software yourself .... The price of Rutus Atrex is around 650-680 depending on the type of coil. ---------------------------------------------------- 3. XP ORX ... is a very light detector wireless detector with RX from 4 programs / 2 coin programs and 2 gold programs / and a control panel .... which has excellent separation as well as quite good depth, but it does not have as deep VDI identification ... like Equinox or Atrex., .. although it works well in mineralized terrain ... You will find good finds with it .. it is a really good detector ... If you want a very light detector, XP orx is a good choice .... the price of Orx is somewhere around 680 euros ... ...All 3 detectors are TOP detectors ... it's up to you which one you choose .👍...

I have detected for metal in thousands of logs. The best I have found is a danged old Fisher bold bug. It's light, inexpensive, batteries are cheap and after decades it has never failed. It's depth is better in wood than in the ground so you will be amazed at how deep you will be chopping out nails. HINT-do your detecting while the log in still on the stump. Unless there were overhead wires through the logging site, rarely will you find metal above what you can reach above you with the Gold Bug. And tell your customer not to get distracted looking for gold. He has work to get done!

If the mineralisation is low then there will seem to be little effect. The main thing is to not have much or any signal with the coil being lifted up and then pushed down to the ground again with a movement of say 100mm when there is a big signal and say 40mm when there is a small or minimal signal. The GPX6000 has a ground balance that is continuous, that is to say it is slowly tracking and compensating for ground signals all the time regardless of the modes used. The Quick-Trak button is for when the ground is extremely variable and the slow auto GB can’t keep up, at start up there can be a big difference in GB if say for instance you have driven hundreds of miles to a new gold field and the ground is completely different etc. A good operator in variable ground will be using the QT button all the time, successful VLF users from days gone by will know all about keeping on top of the ground balance as a means of wringing out max performance. When the QT button is depressed the tracking algorithm ramps up really quickly then throttles back over time while the button is triggered, in variable ground it pays to keep the coil controlled and accurate when pumping so the initial fast GB state doesn’t get knocked off course by excessive movement signal from things like salt ect, always used a controlled measured pumping of the coil just varying the height of the pump if the conditions require it. Usually a good rule of thumb is big signal, big slow pump, small signal, small controlled pumping of the coil. Hope this helps JP

Well there's something you don't see everyday. Right now I'm wondering if Andy had that on his boat... and has anyone seen Andy lately... 😮

I have been pretty consistent finding a few meteorites hunting the gold basin placers lately, nice finding something in between finding a nugget. I’m averaging at least a tiny piece of gold maybe about 75% of the time most of these have been shallow 3” down or less and ring strong out on the 6000 like a large caliber bullet on the surface, they are a great motivator to dig all the trash sounding targets because they sound just the same.

That's a specimen, not a nugget.

Found my first Barber yesterday! And a Model T key, too! An old, long abandoned ranch site in the middle of nowhere. No standing buildings or anything, just rubble and outlines. Found both very close to what I think was the house. Both less than an inch deep, on the hard rocky desert. Darn shame that winter snow is probably going to hit soon and lock me out of going back until next year! - Dave

Hello, I would like to jump back into metal detecting hobby, however as technology made a huge jump I have many doubts regarding new equipment available. The more I read the more I cannot choose and decide what's best bang for buck and best for my purpose and terrain. Could you please help? I will try to describe all necessary information below. Around 12-13 years ago I bought my first detector which was Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro. It was recommended to me by a person who had Minelab Sovereign and I have to tell I was pretty happy with it as it was kept simple - adjustable power and discrimination were basically the only settings used daily. There were no number indicators like my friend had in Sovereign, just the sound of what's under the coil (or might be). I also loved the way that I had battery back that lasted me 2 full days of detecting (2x8/10h) and even if they would run out of power I still had backup case for 8xAA batteries that I could switch in less than 30 seconds. Musketeer also was pretty heavy and reliable, I cannot count how many times I dropper it or it hit a tree trunk heavily and nothing ever happened or broke. I do not know how deep in searching it was, but I have never been really checking that and comparing to others. These are my memories with it. As I would like to jump back into this, I have read many thread on multiple forums, watched countless videos with comparisons etc. and I am really stuck with what to choose now. What did I check so far (among others): 1) Minelab Equinox 800 - seemed complicated, but after some reading and videos I understand how most of things work. Packed with tons of options which I worry I will not know how to use in reality. Sound seems strange and not like in Musketeer or Sovereign. People write good reviews, however some field tests I have seen show that it does not detect that good and deep as others, especially on ancient/medieval coins or artifacts and some military stuff (eg. belt buckle). What I really dislike is battery that lasts around 10h and in field or 2-3 day trip there is no way of changing it as in my old Musketeer (why?!). I have read that it is also very vulnerable to hits and needs reinforcement. It is supposed to be able to work in water, I thought about some shallow rivers here, but again I read that is has many leaks and issues with that. Equinox 800 seemed at first as obvious choice after using a Minelab previously, but field tests for European stuff disappoint a little? I am really unsure, maybe I just got into this race for best machine and people fighting over 0,5cm of depth? Point that for me if you think that's an issue. 2) Rutus Alter 71 - local, Polish manufacturer. Works in a strange way that I cannot compare or simply describe here, maybe some of you are familiar with this stuff? Many people in Poland have them and say that it is at least as good as Equinox 800, furthermore, tests I watched shows that it can be better in some ways and just little worse in different. Unfortunately this detector is discontinued since this October. It does not have multifrequency, but can be adjusted manually from 4 to 18 kHz by 0,2kHz (madness?). 90 levels of sensitivity, 120 discrimation levels, feels too much and a lot of clicking... I just want to search and dig, not play with it whole day. 😞 The good stuff? It has AA batteries, easily replaceable in field and lasting little longer than Equinox 800. I just don't know about it, of course it's cheaper than Equinox 800, but not sure if I can handle it... 3) ORX and DEUS - I never had any experience with such models and brands, but I read that they are considered as top detectors. I am unsure about their reliability and how easy it is to use them? DEUS is supposed to be for experiences operators only, but after knowing how to set it up and outperforms other detectors (many people claim it this way). I also read that DEUS 2 is supposed to be released, but in such scenario I can always be waiting for next stuff that will be released to stay on top of equipment. Now, I am mostly interesting in coins/buttons/buckles from belts and other artifacts. In general I guess like universal detector, not like smallest stuff only as you can always encounter here something that is bigger and not necessary shallow in the ground (eg. sabre or bayonet). Terrain that we have in Poland is really different, the region I live close by has a lot of limestone rocks (I guess that's English name for it - check pictures), rocky soils mixed with sand mostly. We also have heavily mineralized and iron black soils. Forest is well, forest. 🙂 I think I can say I will be using this detector more or less like this: - 30% fields unused for 10-20-50-100 years (very bushy) - 30% used fields - 30% forests - 10% for little wet ground, kinda swampish in forests, maybe riverside or very rocky/difficult terrain To sum up, I would love something that will last me good couple of years, be as simple in use as possible with all that modern stuff and settings, reliable/strongly made (bushy areas or rocks) and will allow me to work for as long as possible. I also want, like everybody 🙂, best performance in finding stuff (good depth coverage and identification of nice stuff). Sounds like a dream detector, but why a man cannot dream? I am having a difficult time deciding, I hope that your insight or opinion will help me as I think I suffer from overthinking and I am kind off overwhelmed by modern technology in detecting and all that can go wrong with me not setting equipment right and losing interesting stuff in the ground. Polish terrain conditions are also not easiest with all trash in the ground (iron/aluminum) and the soil itself. If I could give you any more details that would be necessary for you to advise me on detectors, just let me know. Thank you all for your time in helping me out!

I am a newbie at metal detecting and was given my detectors from my grandfather. He passed away not to long ago and I have been learning the detectors. I have always left the 800 in the factory settings and have never had any issues finding many nice items with it. For me it has been the easiest unit to use for any type of detecting. I have never put it under water as they have had issues with water leakage and I don't want to damage it, but I have been out in the rain and it has been more wet than I was I do believe that it would benefit your type of hunting areas and make you very happy. You also have a 3 year warranty with it and now you can get the 10x5 CoilTech coil for them. Good luck on your decision and happy hunting.

Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut ! Gerry would need the Channel Lock jaw upgrade for that one !!

Excellent historical saves again! Maybe it's just me, but if I were purchasing 3 Merry Widows for $1.00, I would prefer 3 new ones instead of 3 selected and tested ones. 😎

Finished up the other half of the small field today, Sorry @GB_Amateur, there was no silver. Brutal day, it never got out of the 50s and the wind blew 15mph+ all day. The only saving grace was that it was sunny. The farmer was out there turbo tilling (yay), so when it warms up later this week I'll have the whole 200 acres completely flat and tilled. 🥳 He's also going to do the fields in front of my house! Can't wait. Finds were sparse but cool, got the most interesting rein guide yet, my first "Merry Widows" tin (I've been reading that people find these all the time, wondered when I would dig one), it was a 19-21 ID. A lead splat that was too regularly lobed to ignore, and an IHP, so corroded I could only get "19" for a date. 😵 This is what the Merry Widows tin looks like new, it holds 3 condoms. 🤗 Circa 1930. There are older ones that are 50 cents, and have 3 female names on them (1920s) the boxes are aluminum. I dug a lot of .22 caliber shells, shotgun shells, one .32 Auto shell, and a lot of molten metal and other junk like nails.

Rang in a solid 28, so I had a good idea it was going to be a ring. The field has a TON of trash that rings up in the 20's... mostly buried aluminum can pieces and random car parts. There are large power lines that cause interference with the wireless module which causes it to drop out a lot if I am walking in a certain direction. If I turn around, the issue goes away. Equinox 15", all metal, Park 1, 7 recovery

You got me Steve 😂. No one I know buys a lotto ticket in the hopes of not winning. I also know your 100% correct because I keep a steady eye on the gold price, a sure sign my gold hunting motivator is firmly attached to its value. And finally how I know your right is I’ve found many amazing pieces of gold over the years and I’ve basically sold them all, if gold was of no value to me then I would have a huge collection and now be a gold nugget millionaire. 😝 Good call Steve you pegged me good and proper you cantankerous old fart. 😂 JP

Hello, I am happy to join you all here. I have been a detectorist in my teenage years and now, after a long break, I would like to start exploring again and feel the same way I used to. Greetings to all from Poland. 🙂

good on you guys

I always keep a leatherman and a comb in my truck just in case for those cholla's. If I would of known I could of pointed you to another location by Tombstone. Congrats on the gold. Nice ring BTW.

This just goes to show : People can loose the DARNDEST things.

It is a Crypto specimen! Just think about the mining costs ... before you buy a Bitcoin ... buy this instead. (I've got a lesser Crypto specimen that if this catches on it will go from a $20,000 nugget to ????) You have to think big when you are in the auction and mining business ... with the cost of fuel at an all time high ... 🤪

Some pics showing up on Instagram. Something to look at.

With perhaps 5 pounds of quartz (guesstimate), it leaves a US$ value of $364,000. A realistic 'unique specimen' value might drag its value over $500K. But $1M???..... all depends on how much someone with deep pockets really, really wants it.

Found 1998 at about $300 US an ounce now 23+ years later about $1900 US an ounce. That is about 6+ times increase in pure gold value. Asking price of $4000 an ounce raw gold 90% purity. But it is the second largest gold nugget ever found in the Western Hemisphere, and the largest ever in Alaska. For that money I would buy an Australian nugget of much greater weight. 🤑

they came in two and three pieces...somewhere I have a good one in my pile of junk lol... strick

Steve ... you asked a really good question ..... Yes ..The consistency of the separation results is very important ...👍 The Monte Performance Nailboard test is also mainly about the repeatability of this test .... you can repeat this test with a different coil ,,, or with a different setting of the same detector. .... and so you can improve the separation results of your detector ... and thus improve your detector for a given type of separation ... ...Sometimes you find that just slow down sweeping the coil.. you get better separation results.. On the other hand, in my opinion, "Monte Performance Nailboard Test" ... one of the 3 most important separation tests .. which can really evaluate the separation properties of the detector .... These results can then be easily translated into truly comprehensive detection-separation tests ... on a developed test field .. as well as on excellent detection-separation properties in the field .... The point is that these tests can help extract the maximum detection properties from the detector you are using .... And finally, the most important .... after various separation tests, go to the field with the tested detector and try to detect other new .... iron-masked targets.. !!! Still something ... you don't always have to have the detector technically the best separation properties ... and not everything is just about separation ... sometimes you just use a detector that you like to use well .. and you have nice finds with it ..👍... ------------------------------------------------------- However, I can already say that the topic of separation is important ... and therefore in the Top Digin test field, special test part of the field has been added to.... the for very demanding 2D and 3D separation ... in iron or coke.

Thank You! Those were some Great times when things were so much more simpler. I missed all of the 50's characters since we lived in the Hills. We had very limited TV, and AM radio was a Big thing for us, not many stations during the day, maybe 3... but at night we could hear the big stations of NY and Illinois.

Ground balance at best indicates the type of mineralization being canceled, not the amount. Some detectors have a separate reading that indicates the amount of magnetite type mineralization being canceled. In neither case are the numbers telling you how much “ore” you have in the ground. The Equinox does most of its ground cancellation internally via multifrequency processing. The ground balance number in my experience has a minimal range in actual practice, and in my case is usually in the single digits, not far offset from zero. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/1599-gb-numbers-mineralization/ In other words, you want those numbers to mean something they do not. It’s just another type of discrimination number. There is no discrimination number for gold, or copper, or silver. The numbers are a mix of size and conductivity, and any metal can read almost anywhere depending on size. A single disc number can mean gold, or aluminum, or lead, or copper, or silver, if each of those items is sized properly. If you know the metal, the number sorts by size. If you can set the size, there is a rough correlation as to type of metal. Unfortunately we don’t get to preset target sizes we find. It’s the same way with ground balance numbers. The correlation between a GB number and mineralization is loose at best, and generally only tells you if you are dealing with iron type ground, or salt type ground. I’ve never seen a correlation list for the Equinox but maybe the salt water users can tell us the GB number they see most often.

I did not mention the Garrett Apex in my list . It is a fast , light and easy to use detector I like it however I have had some reliability issues with it. Perhaps because mine was coming from a 1st batch . It looks like Garrett has fixed the issues now but this has to be confirmed

Welcome Dzweidz, You might also consider the Garrett Apex. There are a few on the forum who have had great success with it. I own an Equinox 600, and have found just about anything you can imagine regarding relics. You're going to have to spend some time with any detector you choose, I've been using my 600 for almost a year now many days a week, and so far am not disappointed. It is part of me now. I run it mostly default, just a change to iron balance. I think getting used to ground balancing the machine made it work best for me.

1) Equinox 800 : a detector very popular in the US and other countries because it is a very good all purpose machine which can be used for coins hunting in parks , gold prospecting in hot soils as well as saltwater beach hunting etc . Goes deep on medium/big coins on clean soils. - Eq800 + 11" coil weight : 1260g 2) Rutus alter 71 : I have never tested this detector - Rutus alter 71 weight : 1630g 3) XP Deus1/Orx : the most popular detectors in western Europe , because they are excellent for coin/relic hunting in the iron trash , they have an excellent iron filtering and they are very fast/accurate on targets, then they perfectly match the European conditions with tons of irons everywhere, especially in fields ... 🙂 They are also by far the lightest machines and they are very cumfortable to use . Very reliable too . The Deus might be a little too complex for a full beginner due to the number of settings , the Orx is a simplified version of the Deus which is easy to use and still very efficient in the field. - Deus/Orx + 9X35coil weight : 750g The Deus2 is coming , it will add the multifrequency then the saltwater beachhunting ability , and for inland hunting it will probably go a little deeper than the Deus1 on medium/big targets in clean soils . However it is a quite expensive machine at 1600e ... The Deus2 Lite will be cheaper but it is not yet released ... 4) The Minelab Vanquish is also a good detector , it is based on the Equinox electronics platform. It is very good on clean soils and goes deep. Very easy to use , very reliable with affordable prices ( from 240e ). But for me it is not the best on iron trashed sites where it is a little noisy/unstable. - ML Vanquish + V10 coil weight : 1200g Hope that helps ... Thx for the pictures btw , they are very nice ..

When I was a teenager in the late 70s, I used to detect for silver coins. Back then at its peak a 1964 Roosevelt dime put $2.50 in my pocket. I could hunt an old house yard or 100 yr old park and score 4 to 6 silver coins in 2 to 4 hr hunt. That would give me $10 - $15 for the weekend. I sold most of my common date silvers back then. Gold is different for me and I work hard to find it, so for some crazy reason I'm not as inclined to sell? As I get older, I'm starting to realize, it does me no good just sitting in a box at the bank. I have staff members who sell to help support the next hunt, toy or detector. Guess I'm an odd duck, as me and selling detector finds doesn't happen. Like I said above, as I get older, I'm starting to think maybe selling is'nt as painful as I think? JP, For the most part, I know you as a gold nugget hunter. Being where you live and play, the pursuit of gold makes perfect sense. Have you ever decided to chase old coins or rings in the water? I know Steve/I, also enjoy water hunting jewelry. It's kind of like hunting trophy gold nuggets. Go to a rich beach and try to find a nice diamond ring. I've been fortunate at that as well. I'm probably like Simon in a way. I usually spend money on detectors than what I find, but at the same time, I've scored some amazing finds as well. Maybe time to sell a few?

Sigh. Me too. All that gold sold under $300 an ounce. And all that I sold around $750 an ounce. But I had bills to pay, and the price was good at the time, or so I thought. I’ve made up for it a bit by getting super premium prices for my last couple pounds, but still, I do envy those who just put it all away just a little. It would be nice to put it all in a pile now and see it all in one picture. Oh well, here I am well and truly hijacking Gerry’s thread. “Stay on topic” he says. My apologies Gerry. And congratulations again on your finds, and on being King of Detectors. Or did you mean the 6000? Naw, I’m voting for you - long live the king! P.S. the 6000 continues to suit me almost perfectly. I’ve called it the Gold Bug 2 of PI detectors, because just like the GB2 it’s deadly in the right hands. The more you use it, the better it gets…..

It could well be. I see a lot of lime where I'm digging too, I also imagine other chemicals like oil and grease. They work on the farm vehicles in this spot, I've dug lots of grease gun pull tabs and the discs they pull out with them here. They hit exactly the penny IDs. I will send you 20% of the silver I find if what you write is true. 😀 Maybe I'll find another 20% of that Trime...

Got a great link about the Dr. Scholl's metal plate. It was called the "Foot-Eazer": https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/dr-scholls/ Apparently it was a metal plate attached to a piece of leather that provided arch support. 🤯 It dates back to 1911.

I went back to a park that's been producing some good finds. Today was a very unusual nickel day. Ended up with 3 silver war nickels, a v nickel, an unidentified coin, 4 Wheaties and a religious medallion. I didn't really have a goal this year for silver coins but with today's finds that puts me at 112 for the year. Running park 1...2 tones..no disc...manual gb at 30..recovery speed 3..iron bias at F2-0.. tone break at 10...sens 23. All war nickels hit at 15, the V hit 12-13, the unidentified coin(?) hits at 12.

I don't care what you own, like or swing. I know who the King of detectors is at Rye Patch. Over 60 nuggets on my last trip there and part of the time was even after record 100 yr rains saturated the soils. The Minelab GPX-6000 owns Rye Patch for Success and no other detector made (including the GPZ-7000) can get these results. I just love the characteristics of NV gold.

Nice gold Lucky, good story!

The Alaska nugget is no longer up for sale....I bought it

Might have been used as an anchor by a discruntled spouse or competitor... Very cool find.

I have a customer with some logs that are about 30” to 36” in diameter. He’s looking for a metal detector that would shoot about a foot into the wood. (I tried a TDI SL with a 14” x 9” Elliptical and it only went 9”.) What detector and coil combo manufactured today would work? The targets are mostly iron. Thanks! Walt P.S: He was hoping to not have to spend too much as this may be a one time thing for this batch of logs.

Yes, it seems plenty of CTX owners have had coil ear problems over the years, it's not unusual at all by the sounds of it but mostly with the 17" and 11" coils, never have I seen someone break a 6" coils ears. The Vanquish coils have the same flimsy ears as the Equinox although so far I've not seen anyone break one. Being the detector isn't waterproof so won't be used in the water near as much which stresses the ears and most people with a Vanquish end up with a v10 coil which is quite small I doubt it'll have the ear breaking problems as bad. Also being entry level I'd expect a lot more weekend warriors will own it using it a lot less than the Nox and CTX owners which should mean less breakage, just an assumption there. I think the Vanquish should be quite safe from the problem.

Wonder if there is a "lay away" program for payment?

Yes, I believe the geo sense is part of the magic optimizing the settings in all modes?

first thing I thought of was an Academy award..stick that on the mantle lol strick

Well, to validate my theory I used a marine 2 part epoxy that we have in NZ that you can rub into a surface, you can then wet it to wash most of it away only leaving behind what fills holes, I wet it then used a flat piece of metal to scrape over it cleaning the excess off each time, I ended up with a level surface and you can clearly see where the wear was. This is my CTX 17" coil. The layer of epoxy is very thin, but you can see the washer's area was worn, if it wasn't worn at all you'd not see the white washer shape that's very obvious. Before doing this I couldn't see the wear with my eyeballs other than a bit of discolouration where the washer is, so the wear is very thin, but once highlighted with the white epoxy it stands out. You'll see the epoxy is so thin you can see the black through it in many locations. This coil isn't very old, it is rather heavy and I do move it around a lot so the wear happened rather quickly I think. On an older coil this wear would be far deeper. I've got a tiny crack in one side of this coils ear, I've repaired it but I'm going to add a 3D printed coil support onto it as I really think the ears are far too thin and weak for such a big heavy coil, especially seeing I've put a hairline partial crack in it already. Sure it's still under warranty but what's the point, people seem to break coils multiple times under warranty, they get a new one and break it again. I'd rather just fix it myself and be done with it as if I got it replaced I'd want to toughen it up anyway and void the warranty in the process. The fact is Minelab's Equinox and CTX coils are poorly designed. It is a shame I didn't practice what I preach with the CTX, I've always silicone sprayed my NOX as I've had it for years, never once my CTX as I've only had it 6 months or so...

Me too, takes all the guesswork and worries out of it. In general can do a three day outing with no charging needed, or have the first dead one charging off the solar panel while I use the other two.

Thank you and great points. Even for me, this test isn't the end-all-be all. I did some testing in my yard and local park. The results weren't as obviously in favour of the Equinox 600, but the advantage the Equinox 600 had over the AT Max was clear in terms of VDI stability, depth and overall ease of use. By ease of use, I'm referring to how easy or not-annoying it is to use each machine. The best analogy I have right now in comparing the AT Max and Equinox 600 when it comes to hunting in places I like to hunt (parks and yards) is like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle. With the AT Max, it's like doing it without your glasses (assuming you're near-sighted). You can do it, but it's slow(er) going. With the Equinox 600 and its recovery speed and improved target recognition (thanks to SMF), it's like doing the jigsaw puzzle with your properly prescribed glasses.

I only test to satisfy myself, and applaud you not only doing that, but compiling and sharing your results with us. Monte offered to send me a genuine 100% for sure calibrated test board recently, but I declined, as I have my own rigged up with square nails. It’s not standard, but tells me what I want to know. I don’t hunt often where there are clean store bought round nails in the ground, so I prefer my version. I guess the idea is we are all supposed to use the perfect Monte board, do tests, publish results. Then some master wizard will be collecting and compiling all these results to create a master list of detector comparisons. Nice idea, except that I don’t accept the main premise, which is that the Monte test board represents anything more than a sliver of reality. Passing or failing the test really should not condemn any detector per se. Something to take in to account, sure, but it’s not the final arbiter of what makes a detector good or bad. Detectors can fail this test, yet still perform just fine in your typical park setting, or especially beach scenarios. Slow recovery often can equate to max depth, so some deep seekers will fail this test out of hand. Does that make them no good? If all you do is relic hunt dense ferrous the test has applicability, but the test really has no applicability as far as max depth in cleaner ground.