Steve Herschbach

When you look at the profile page (in upper right menu) you can create a cover photo and an avatar. The Cover Photo in upper right is obvious - clicking on the round avatar in the left side less obvious. Pictures can be uploaded and within limits “slid around” to fit. It may take some experimentation. I will find out what the best sizes are and report back, but for now just give it a shot. You can’t hurt anything.

Big bold high contrast screen Del - designed for old eyes! And with a solid backlight to help where needed. One of my favorite things on Equinox is the big, bold screen. The image below is with screen protector applied. Click for larger version... This shot shows about as much glare as one might expect (no screen protector applied)...

People may be wondering, with machines shipping, will I be shooting any of the super popular “this versus that” videos. I think my doing that sort of stuff with me involved in Equinox as closely as I have been would be in poor taste. I am not trying to show anyone up or prove anything, so I will leave all that to people who are. Anything I do would be blown off as biased anyway so really just not worth my time. They will be shot and posted by others however. I don’t really care if somebody posts videos showing anything one way or the other about any detectors. All I ask is they get posted where appropriate. As a general rule, if a video is this versus that, with the express goal of showing one machine as better than another, then the Metal Detector Advice & Comparisons Forum is really the most appropriate location. Expect such videos to be moved there if posted anywhere else. The videos most welcome here will be the ones helping people get the best performance out of the Equinox or fun live dig videos, etc. It certainly need not be all sunshine and roses. If somebody finds a glitch in Equinox and can document it with a video, great. The main thing is to stay focused on facts and leave the tirades that seem to accompany such things aside. Good critical feedback done well results in better product going forward. Thanks!

Hello Nenad! Well, I was just talking about me and my uses/preferences. The SDC 2300 I think is a fine wading machine. For underwater use it is too buoyant for me, though I suppose a lead weight would fix that. The tall vertical box fights every swing underwater. I prefer a machine like the ATX which has coil options, and the SDC does not. These are all reasons why I have an ATX and not the SDC in the first place. The final kicker - I prefer not to learn how long a $3500 detector goes before leaking, and nearly all waterproof detectors do fail eventually if the get lots of use. An ATX is almost half as much money at risk. The ATX has mainly been riding shotgun as backup for my GPZ, and got a few days use last year due to that. I also tend to saltwater hunt about once a year. So for me this is a detector that might see two weeks use per year. This is partly a rebellion. The GPZ 7000 is the last detector I will ever get that weighs over 6 pounds. I am keeping the GPZ but at 7 lbs. the ATX can hit the road until something better comes along. In the meantime my GPZ can serve for above water, and Equinox will suit me well enough for saltwater. The Whites Surf PI is an extremely good non-ground balancing option, and in a pinch so cheap I could get one and ditch it again should I feel I need a PI backup for the Equinox. Long story short I just figure for the limited use that even were I to hit a saltwater beach right now I prefer to use the Equinox just because it is new and fun. I like a ground balancing PI for saltwater but I want and will hold out for whoever next makes something I like better than the ATX or SDC for that particular purpose. If nothing comes along for a year or two, fine. I have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime! I am not sold on Manta per se. If Garrett stuck the ATX back in the Infinium box as I suggested in the first place I would get one. Or maybe that mystery Nokta. GPX in CTX box? Whatever. Something better has to be possible and First Texas and the Manta Project have first shot at the empty slot.

The best tone setup for getting really customized is Equinox 800 five tone mode. You can make each of five segments any size you like, and you can assign each segment it’s own tone and volume. To make just nickels at 13 their own tone, you would have to dedicate one of the five segments just to the 13 notch. Five tone mode can also be manipulated to create four tone and three tone schemes. Pages 46 - 50 of the Equinox Instruction Manual

Sending positive vibes your way that your marriage survives this - with 52 years under you belt it probably will. Congratulations to you and you wife for passing the 50 year mark!!

I never thought about how being able to pipe audio to multiple sources could be a tremendous aid in shooting video. Goodbye wind noise! Great observation Vez.

Personally I think Minelab did an excellent job going beyond the bare bone basics of many manuals out there. Personally, I like big bold color graphics and this manual is full of them. There is also some basic information for beginners. One of the better efforts out there for sure in my opinion.

I have not tried to connect to XChange2 if that is what you mean. But yes, I have had to hook to my PC for software updates.

That is an incredibly kind and generous offer to a stranger - kudos to you Skate!! Terrific starter tips from everyone else also!

Basically it is a flat plastic screen. The glare will be related more to the screen protector in use than the actual screen. Regardless, as a flat surface it is usually glare free, until you turn it exactly right into the sun and now you get a flash of glare. Just another detector in that regard, no better or worse I guess since it’s something I don’t notice.

I assumed that when the 70 page owners manual came out there would be people finding all the neat previously unmentioned function details and would be excitedly discussing them. Who knew that the “what comes in the box” photos freely available here and elsewhere for a couple months would suddenly be the issue of prime importance now that some people have noticed after a couple months that no charger comes in the box. Wow, secrets hidden in plain sight! “Charger Gate” is a perfect characterization. The decision may have been logical - I have no less than maybe thirty ways to charge my Equinox, and have randomly grabbed any USB charger in sight the last couple months will no ill effects. Yet the blowback may have Minelab wishing they tossed one in. Good chargers typically retail around $10. Then you have adapters for international use to deal with. Whatever, it is what it is. Hopefully dealers are educating themselves so they know to inform customers they need one. Online dealers should add a purchase option for one on their sales pages.

Just to repeat, there are 6 “Profiles” (three modes each with two profiles) on the Equinox 600, each of which saves its own settings. The Equinox 800 has the four modes (Park, Field, Beach, Gold) each with two saved profiles, plus the separate “User Profile” which can store a complete custom version of any of the other eight profiles. With time and a little tweaking I am sure most people will settle into a few saved sets that cover their needs. Each profile can be reset on its own to its factory default or you can do a full master reset of all profiles.

Gold Mode is extremely high gain, extremely sparky. From my perspective as a prospector Gold Mode is for finding sub grain gold. Yet you do have a great deal of control, including notch discrimination. Like many things Equinox there really is no equivalent in other detector’s so people are going to have to experiment and find what it can and can’t do. I hate to admit it but between weather, time constraints, and on going software tweaking my ability to fully learn the ins and outs of Equinox is not much ahead of anyone else’s in some regards. It is only now that the software is locked down that I can truly learn anything.

I used to do nugget hunting classes in Alaska but it’s not something I am doing currently. There are a few western dealers that offer classes for those that are interested. In my opinion nugget detecting is one of the most challenging types of detecting, and that can make classes very worthwhile.

It is simply a default that was deemed a good idea for the Gold Mode and not the other modes, but easily engaged at the touch of a button. However, many detectors can have issues with employing ground tracking on saltwater beaches or alkali ground. The salt range and gold range overlap, and aggressive tracking in a salt environment might tune out small gold. I always use manual myself in a salt or alkali environment. Even in prospect mode I usually turn tracking off unless I need it to help me in really bad variable ground. Defaults and presets are just best guesses. You can’t possibly come up with one group of settings that works for everyone. If you could, we would not need settings!

Definitely not at this time at least. You never know what the future may bring but right now Equinox does not interface with XChange2 at all. You cannot save settings outside the machine and you cannot adjust it via any external methods.

The presets are pretty good. I am hard of hearing so I tweak the audio, and as Jackpine notes I will push the sensitivity. However, the default sensitivity of 20 is quite good. I may go 21 or 22 but above that you are getting into the “red zone”. The thing is Equinox saves your settings independently in each mode except for the few global settings. So the presets just get you going, but after one use you may end up with slightly different settings as you tweak the machine for your own purposes. I will discuss nugget hunting separately in another post soon.

You can either run the detector from an external charging device or charge it from an external charging device, but you cannot do both at once. They are awkwardly saying that if you run the machine while attached to a charging device charging is going to take longer....... because you are running the machine and not charging it!

I assume it just notifies you of the call? Don’t know directly as I admit the phone and music functions got no experimentation from me. Still, the ability to interface nearly any Bluetooth audio device is interesting.

I have to say Chase I am amazed that you think no thought went into the decisions about what features to have in each model and that the decisions were arbitrary? The Equinox 600 is specifically aimed at people that do not think the features you are talking about are important. You think they are, so you get the Equinox 800. Other people think they are not important, they get the Equinox 600. By definition people get to choose what they think is important or not. You may disagree with the design decisions that were made, but just because you disagree with them does not mean a lot of thought did not go into all this. I know I have poured blood , sweat, and tears into the project as have many, many others. There are millions of dollars and the future of a company riding on this Chase. Not one single detail of anything, from the color used on a page in the manual to the icon on a button, took place without tons of meetings and input from experts. There is not a single unthought or arbitrary thing in these machines and to imply so just because you are confused - really? Heck, I thought this would be a big day of celebration about machines shipping and the new manuals being out, not a defense of the Equinox 600. I am taking the day off - see you all tomorrow.

Chase, in my opinion the only confusion lies in the fact that both machines are covered in one manual. If a separate manual existed for the 600 that simply left out all the Equinox 800 information, it would work better in that regard. I might just make one up when I have time. If there are things you are confused about I can try and address them, that is what the forum is for. The two models are what they are however, and everyone has their own opinions about what should or should not have been in the Equinox 600 versus Equinox 800. You are not happy with the decisions that were made, and maybe a couple months ago that may have made a difference, but it is officially too late to do anything about it except educate people in those areas where confusion may exist. There is a lot to absorb in the manual, and it just might take more than 12 hours for people to digest everything in it, and longer yet to fully understand it. And again, is that not what the forum is for?

Chase, if the Equinox 600 had all the features of the Equinox 800 it would be an Equinox 800. I guess I am surprised you would call the Equinox 600 the “unnecessarily crippled 600”. What a horrible characterization for an incredibly great detector. Two detectors, one with less features for less money. That is the way it works with everything in retail. Is the White’s VX3 an unnecessarily crippled V3i? Is the Fisher F70 an unnecessarily crippled F75? Products are differentiated by the features they have or that they lack. People evaluate those features and decide how much they are willing to spend extra to get those features. You are being offered options and choices. I think the Equinox 600 is a killer deal and I could use it and do just fine. It will find near anything the Equinox 800 will for $250 less. Tone options are just that, but at the end of the day people saving $250 are doing it because they are not willing to pay for the very same options you are decrying as critical. Anyway, you say you don’t want an Equinox 600 because of the features it lacks. You are getting the 800 instead. So now you have decided to complain about the Equinox 600 because, well, because for less money you get less features? Or is it just that you personally would have left those features in and left others out? All I can say is If you don’t like what the Equinox 600 offers, don’t get one, and you aren’t. The most feature packed detector ever offered for $649 is “unnecessarily crippled”? Where is the better value for the money? What does that say about the competition? This information has been available for months, and now it is a huge issue? Color me confused, but I just don’t get it.

From the Minelab Equinox Full Instruction Manual, page 56-57 (click to enlarge)... Welcome to 21st century metal detecting!

From the Minelab Equinox Full Instruction Manual, page 63 (click to enlarge)... Portions marked with asterisk are Equinox 800 only. Minelab Equinox Factory Presets