Steve Herschbach

They are just covering their posteriors. The issue is not the detector, it’s the power cable. Frankly I’m doing the same thing, calling it a wader unit, but the machine itself is good to much deeper than three feet. Great reporting Joe! 👍🏼

That’s odd... they ship all over the world that way. Get something in writing and provide to Minelab as to why you need to remove the battery for shipping. I’m not sure simply removing the battery voids your warranty, since it is made to be replaceable. But seems like all you need to send is the pod, not the complete detector. Just stick it in a box and mail it?

I have no idea what’s best. Like devilsrenegade I just use my Sun Ray Pro Gold (CTX Edition) on any “not wireless” detector I have, and am happy with them. I like them because they work with anything, including various Minelab models that don’t work with other headphones.

Thanks Jim, I pinned that at the top of the forum. 👍🏼 Not sure yet about the situation in the UK

Wow, very nice, I really like that one!

Very wise words. I am guilty of running my sensitivity higher than needed, which introduces noise, and could well be counterproductive a lot of the time. Reducing sensitivity can be a smart thing to do, and very good to hear it said every now and then!

Now that White’s has closed the factory in Sweet Home, these are the officially designated places to have warranty work and service done. Garrett has purchased White's, and will continue to support the product, with manuals here. Centreville Electronics (East Coast) 9437 Main Street Manassas, VA 20110 (888) 645-0202 (703) 367-7999 Fax: (703) 367-0868 bobnpaul@centrevilleelectronics.net www.centrevilleelectronics.net Centreville Electronics Northwest (West Coast) 1550 Maple Pl. Lebanon Oregon 97355 (541)409-7263 www.centrevilleelectronicsnw.com centrevilleelectronicsnw@gmail.com Canada Ed Sebulski 21920 44A Avenue Langley, British Columbia, Canada V3A 9J3 604-532-8153 Use this Service Center for Older Water Detectors Specializing in repairing legacy White’s water detectors. Please call for other repairs. Warren’s Repair Center Freeport, Florida (850) 835-3344 warren32439@gmail.com Europe At last report the White’s facility in Scotland closed in November and is no longer accepting items for service: White’s Electronics (UK) Ltd 35J Harbour Road Inverness Scotland IV1 1UA Email: info@whites.co.uk UK Customers: 01463 223 456 International Customers: +44 1463 223 456

I’ve been involved in a number of group claim situations created by myself and others. Rather than a club thing, it’s an association claim ownership as defined under the mining laws in the U.S. You need like minded people to pool money and resources in order to own and work a set of claims. There are things that can go wrong with any group, but there are significant upsides. Lower cost for all involved, ability to buy claims one person can’t afford, limited number of owners compared to clubs, and make your own rules. https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-mining-journal/mills-creek-gold-cooperative/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-mining-journal/gold-mining-at-mills-creek-alaska/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-mining-journal/gold-dredging-mills-creek-alaska/

I don’t know, as I do not have both on hand to say for sure. It would likely be close, but here is the catch. On the F75 it would be a faint all metal signal with no target id. Raw depth I read as meaning no discrimination... just a signal. Chuck has both and a U.S. nickel - test time!

Great write up Chuck! I would still consider myself a F75 fan. The raw depth thing I am betting is a reference to the excellent true threshold based all metal mode, something the Equinox lacks. I have owned a lot of “Dave Johnson” detectors over the years. Dave went from designing the Diablo UMax and Tesoro Lobo ST for Tesoro, and then on to the GMT and MXT for White’s. If you owned Dave’s detectors over the years you can note the progression in his specialization of VLF gold nugget detectors and related mid-frequency designs. Dave went from the 14 kHz MXT for White’s to designing the 13 kHz T2/F75 platform for First Texas. The F75 in my mind is very much the MXT 2 in many ways. I was a big MXT fan and was very excited when Dave came up with the T2/F75 platform. The F75 in particular featured ergonomics that in my mind are second to none. Just reading weights on a chart does not do it justice. Balance matters, and anyone swinging an Equinox and then an F75 can attest to that. Absolutely no comparison in the ergonomics department, clear win for the F75 as less fatiguing than the lighter but nose heavy Equinox. For me the Achilles Heel of the F75 is the inability to adjust the ferrous/non-ferrous tone break in any mode except monotone. After much back and forth I ended up with Dave’s simpler Gold Bug Pro/G2 platform almost entirely for the ability to adjust the tone break setting in two tone mode. In any F75 tone mode except mono the tone break is set at 15, where in reality gold can commonly read as low as 6 on the F75, meaning in any multi tone mode with the F75 weak gold targets can read ferrous way more than they should. The only fix is all metal and watch the numbers, or mono tone mode and set the disc where you want to blank rejected targets. All that said, I really liked the F75 and made a lot of great finds with it. Every time Fisher drops the price I look again. But I have to remind myself that it is very likely to sit unused while I grab my Equinox yet again. I’ve never found nostalgia players to really ever work out for me. There was a reason I moved on in the first place, and it never seems to change if I go back and revisit old models I used to favor.

Excellent, I'll do some experimenting this week and report back.

All Metal is TOO POWERFUL for heavy magnetite concentrations, overloading the machine. So you have to lower sensitivity to a minimum and pulse delay to a maximum. Even that may not work, so you have to "downshift" to less powerful modes. The far end is Volcanic Mode. That leave Tones and Mute as intermediate choices, with Alexandre indicating Mute may be the better choice between the two. It is counter-intuitive to many people, but the way to deal with intense ground is not to jack the power up, but to tone it down. The problem is not lack of power, but machine overload. Smaller coils are also an aid because the detector is "seeing" too much ground. Another old analogy is that running in magnetite is like driving your car in a snowstorm. High beams leave you blind. Low beams lets you see what is right under your nose.

So in your opinion Alexandre, MUTE would be preferable to TONES in heavy magnetite, heavy but not so bad that VOLCANIC must be used?

The overload symbol does not mean the Equinox is not working, it means it has automatically reduced transmit gain to deal with conditions. Depth is reduced, but it should work. Up to a point. Like Alexandre says it can get thick enough most detectors grind to a halt. It’s stuff like this a PI is made for.

That’s the stuff I’m detecting in, no problem with the AQ, although in the worst of it sensitivity will have to come down and pulse delay go up. In the very worst, Volcanic Mode comes into play.

The Equinox saves program changes on shutdown, so yes, you can overwrite the presets. You can also restore them anytime you like. If you mean overwrite the backup in firmware where the information for the reset is stored - no.

The bottom line is there is no easy answer to your question except this. Many minerals will give a non-ferrous response or a ferrous response on a metal detector, or a mix of both. That property is inherent in the mineral, not the detector used. However, detectors have different feature sets. The Gold Monster only separates ferrous from non-ferrous, and gives you the most minimal control over that. The Equinox not only displays target id but allows you to accept or reject based on individual target id numbers. It also allows you to pick from various frequency options, and doing so will help modify the sensitivity to some targets by enhancing some while suppressing others. In short, the GM only has the most basic discrimination possible. The Equinox by comparison has a much deeper toolbox to work with, and would be the better choice for discrimination tasks. With the caveat that you have to learn the multiple controls and how they interact with each other for this to be effective. The Gold Monster keeps it simple for a reason.

Heck with the coils.... we miss Dilek! But the coils are good also.

Then you are on the wrong forum. The White’s Forum is over here. The fact that so many MX Sport detectors leaked no doubt did not help White’s stay in business. Perhaps White’s potential customers felt like you do, same story, different company.

Well, for starters I can do a ton of wading where the detector is in two feet or less water, and control box high and dry. Plus there is all that beach out of the water. And for me nugget detecting and coin detecting. I’m not worried about a $29 module getting exposed to damp air. A ziplock baggie is should fix that, and if the module eventually dies there will be new ones for half the price by then. No, a patch cable won’t weigh 100 pounds and will be a trivial project.

My Tesoro Stingray II leaked on the very first use. Has a White’s Surf PI leak on very first use. My second Garrett ATX leaked... at least not on the first use. A lot of full time surf hunters will tell you it’s not a matter of if, but when, a waterproof detector will leak. Just have a backup plan, go detecting, have fun.

You nailed it skate. I’m just a big kid, these are my toys, I just want to have fun.

I don’t know Rick, maybe you enjoy a little scuffle now and then. The answer is simple.... don’t feed the trolls!

My partner and I started our business in our senior year of high school.... I graduated in 1976. White’s was one of our first dealerships, along with Keene Engineering. If I am not showing my age it’s not due to clean living, so must be luck of the genetic draw!