Steve Herschbach

Both the Equinox 600 and 800 feature a waterproof external speaker with plenty of volume - something that I also like as an option on a waterproof detector. You can hear the speaker at work in numerous videos like this one...

Details coming soon, I promise. For now, rest assured that target id will be available while in Gold Mode.

There is some truth in that. The reason detector companies want people like me to give their detectors a spin is that experience does matter. Give me any decent machine, and I can make good finds. That being said it is within my power to make any machine look good and we have an abundance of good detectors on the market. I hope people will understand one key thing I am trying to do here. I am not trying to make the case that Equinox is better than this or that. My brain is not wired that way - I just don’t care. The only take away here should be that this detector can hunt and in the right hands, hunt well. No detector is perfect, and I am sure there are times and places another detector might have the edge. Whatever. The reality is I can only use one detector at a time. What I am absolutely confident of is that if I have an Equinox in hand there is nobody running anything else that is going to have a serious leg up on me. And because I do think Equinox is processing targets in a way we have never seen before, I will have an edge that can only be duplicated with another Equinox. The difference is literally in the difference from what has gone before. Welcome to the forum Rick! I know exactly where you are coming from. I have not been able to get very excited about coin detecting for a long time. Especially with my gold prospecting going on, the time seemed not worth the effort for the relatively poor finds made these days. Equinox changed that for me and got me fired up. It is not that it is the best detector on the planet, though in my opinion it certainly is in the running. What makes me like it is it is light, it is easy, it is fun, and it does perform. I have said it before and I will repeat - it is the sum of numerous likable things that makes me want to just keep using the Equinox. You put it all together, and it is hard to go back to using anything else. That being the case, I think this is a great machine for people who need their enthusiasm reignited. Especially an older crowd where weight does really matter - Equinox is a fabulous take it easy and cherry pick detector. It certainly has me excited about coin detecting again, and that is high praise coming from somebody as jaded as I am about new detectors.

Happy New Year! This is a follow up of my previous post about finding a couple Mercury dimes in a row with the Equinox. There is important information there about ground conditions and so if you have not read it already now would be a good time. I was stuck in a race against time because I got a final hardware/pre-production version of Equinox just before freeze-up hit here in Reno. Prior to that I spent very little time having fun detecting - it was all development type work. Once I got the "close to final version" of the hardware I suddenly realized if I wanted to go detecting with Equinox I had better get with the program before the ground froze. With time running out what you are looking at is the results of less than a dozen outings to local parks, maybe 3-4 hours at a time average. The ground actually froze a few weeks ago and so I saved this post just to have something to show during a period of time that I figured I would be out of action. I am not trying to prove anything per se here, but what I saw convinced me Equinox has that little bit something extra I have been looking for in a coin detector. It is not purely a depth thing but a combination of depth and speed that seems to pull silver out of places where I had not been having much luck for three years with quite a few VLF detectors. Anyway, I figure everyone is starved for somebody to post something of a positive nature and this is my New Year's gift to you all. Click for larger version. I wish now I had kept the trash to show because I was cherry picking targets, and that being the case there was very little trash dug for this pile of coins. Way more coins than trash. I mostly just targeted the copper penny/silver range to maximize my time but did go after some nickel signals. As far as I know the target id numbers are locked in now, so I will mention a couple. Nickels hit hard at 16 and for copper/silver I was digging anything that gave me a 28 or higher. Corroded copper, Indian Head pennies, and zinc pennies will generally hit lower than that in the 24 - 27 range but like I say I was cherry picking. (Jan 2018 edit: the numbers have changed - nickels now at 13 and copper pennies/dimes at 25 and higher.) So we have a large pile of recent vintage coins. Junk jewelry and keys in upper right. There are 52 "Wheatback" pennies or wheaties as people call them. We all love wheaties, not because they are worth much these days since so many are in poor condition, but because if you are finding wheatback pennies then silver can't be far away. The oldest coins in this batch are in there though - 1911, 1913, and 1918 pennies. My favorite was a 1930 penny found at less than 2 inches next to a picnic table where each swing revealed a couple dozen targets. Literally a carpet of trash. There is stuff hiding in trash and not all that deep at times. A nice little squeak revealed this particular penny in the midst of the dense trash. The silver though is what grabbed my attention. One of the first places I went was smack in the middle of a picnic table type location that by all rights should have been hunted clean of silver ages ago, and I kind of thought it was using the machines I tried there before. So when a 1936 Quarter popped out almost immediately I was surprised. Every outing I was digging quite a few wheatback pennies, and on nearly every outing a silver coin or two showed up. The 1916 S Barber dime also showed up early, only the second one I have ever dug, so I was pretty thrilled with that. It also was a learning experience because I also found a 1916 S Mercury dime. Until now I had no idea both series were minted in 1916. The one that really blew me away was the 1945 S Walking Liberty Half Dollar in excellent condition. Again, right in the middle of a picnic area. I got a nice high tone and not all that deep up comes a round lump of clay with a white ring showing around the edge. I thought it was a bottle cap, and so gave the lump a twist and the half dollar popped out. The coin is really in great shape and much to my annoyance I seem to have put a small scrape in the middle of the coin when I twisted the lump of dirt off. Just a great coin though with halves being a rare find these days. What puzzled me is why it was there less than 8" deep in a location that has no doubt seen hundreds of detectors if not more over the last few decades. I hit that immediate spot hard of course, and it developed that there must have been an old pipe there that had corroded away to nothing. There was a linear zone that wanted to produce quite a few high tone ferrous wrap signals, which tend to hit around 39 very consistently, well above the 28 - 36 range where copper and silver normally hits. I suspect others have detected that half dollar before but wrote it off as a false signal or maybe it was just ferrous masking. Whatever it was, Equinox found it easily. That is what is weird about this machine. I will be shocked if people do not end up making similar reports where you are just shaking your head and thinking "but that coin should not have been there"! Obviously I found a few more Mercury dimes and some Roosevelt silvers. There is a 1942 P "War Nickel" from when they made nickels with a high silver content since nickel was a strategic metal during WW2. And a 1920 Buffalo nickel. They both hit hard at 16, which is surprising given the difference in composition. Some nickels hit at 15 or 17 but the vast majority are real tight at 16. Equinox is going to be a cherry pickers dream. (Jan 2018 edit: the numbers have changed - nickels now at 13 and copper pennies/dimes at 25 and higher.) Anyway, there it is for whatever it is worth. No doubt a few people are thinking "big deal" and that would not surprise me. The only reason I am impressed is the number of hours I have spent with quite a few of the latest and greatest in these same locations, and nothing like this was happening. The main thing I want to communicate is I was not doing anything special, like chasing lots of iffy signals. These with few exceptions were all nice solid, clean signals. Obviously pushing the edge of what the machine will do in this ground, but good signals nonetheless. Anyone that detects a lot gets quite familiar with their ground and what detectors can do in that ground. We all miss targets, and nearly any ground will give up some good targets to a determined detectorist. The thing is I was no less determined with those other detector models. I only look to prove things to myself, and this little bit of detecting over a couple week span is what convinced me that there is more going on with Equinox than meets the eye. I really am looking forward to others getting these detectors and reporting in because if they give Equinox a chance, I am convinced others are going to have similar experiences. Just remember that Equinox can't make coins appear where none are left to be found. If they are there however, Equinox is going to be the machine I grab from now on to find them. When a detector puts silver in my pocket as easily as happened with me and Equinox, I can't help liking the machine! This post has been promoted to an article

I am not a battery expert so I will leave that to people who are.

Posted here already but another can’t hurt! Stuff like that slips back a few pages over time and people miss it. 90% of what you need to know is there. The full manual will just flesh out the details Here is a stripped down version of the guide I put together.... Minelab Equinox 800 / 600 Simple Quick Start Guide

The Excalibur uses NI-MH batteries and Equinox Li-Ion so there is no equivalence. I have seen no battery spec outside of that below. Don’t forget that for out of water use the Equinox has unlimited battery life employing external battery packs.

It is a Minelab and the tones are similar, but more like halfway between the CTX and X-Terra when it comes to tones. Coins give a nice high tone squeak in the default 5 tone or 50 tone mode, but you can customize the tone as you see fit in 5 tone and to a more limited fashion in 50 tone. The CTX and X-Terra are slower machines and so the tones by necessity have to be quicker when running the Equinox at the faster Detect Speed settings. At low settings the tones are more akin to the older Minelabs as they draw out more. Here are a couple videos, the first CTX and the second Equinox, for some audio comparison. More details here. To my ear the Equinox audio is more straightforward and lacks that fluty/warbly thing.

I have not seen anything yet that details what the difference is in the new models compared to the old. There is almost no information out yet on these detectors, even on Minelab's own website. I will post a comparison as soon as I can figure out what it is!

Lots of counterfeit out there. Manufacturers and dealers all self-police MAP pricing, and so if you see anybody advertising below the Minimum Advertised Price that would be the number one red flag alerting you to counterfeit product. I am certain the counterfeiters are at work as we speak using photos and measurements published on this website in an attempt to build early fake product as soon as possible. They only have to look right - internally the cheapest VLF circuit is all they need - if that. Minelab Stop Counterfeit Campaign

It turns out to be hard to get a photo showing the difference because my smart camera keeps auto adjusting the light for me! So here goes but note the background lighting changing in each picture so this is only a fairly good representation of what I am seeing in person. The Equinox 800 has four settings (Off, Low, Med, High) and the Equinox 600 has two (On, Off). Click for larger image...

All the prices have come down sharply but only recently, and other manufacturers are doing the same. Right now top of the line VLF detectors can be had here for $499 new with full warranty. Great times for buyers but anyone sitting on used detectors hoping to sell them someday is watching the value go down by the day. I do see some used detectors going for way more than they should, and I think it is because people have not quite caught up to how fast the price of new models is plummeting.

The Go-Find was never built for nor intended for experienced detectorists. It is an entry level detector marketed to children or parents of children. I would be worried about you if you were impressed by it! Here is the intended audience: That said I doubt Minelab made much if any money on the first generation Go-Find. It is more like they bought a learning experience, and are now making adjustments in the generation 2 models.

I moved it here in an attempt to keep this thread on topic. Go-Find is an excellent example of people assuming a local thing translates worldwide. Minelab sells detectors all over the world, and it is just a fact as reported in the latest Codan financial reports that Go-Find is the number one Minelab seller going by numbers of detectors sold. Whether they have been a money maker is a separate issue, but the fact Minelab just introduced new versions of the Go-Finds is evidence they are not a total failure as people seem to assume.

Great post and video Gerry - thanks! I will add that I find pinpointing to be quite easy with the Equinox. Of course that may be because I normally use a GPZ, and it took me near a year to get good at pinpointing little nuggets with that beast!

The Equinox 600 is selling for $649 and the Equinox 800 for $899 in the U.S. These would be what is called Minimum Advertised Price, or MAP. The Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) is a fake number. It sets an artificially high price in the U.S. for the sole purpose of making you think you are getting a deal when you pay less. Which everyone does since MAP is always what things advertise for these days. MSRP pricing is actually illegal in some countries, and most foreign companies find having to play that game in the U.S. to be annoying at best. It is one of those “everyone else does it so we have to do it also” things. There is actually an MSRP for the Equinox detectors, but in a sign that sanity may prevail someday I see most advertisers are not even bothering to display it any longer. What is interesting to me is that Minelab just released new Go-Find models. Despite rumors to the contrary the Go-Find series is now Minelab’s best selling model by unit sales. Brand new Go-Find models on the low end and Equinox higher up leaves X-Terra in the middle in a price squeeze. Rather than being discontinued, X-Terra now provides an important price bridge between Go-Find and Equinox. Current Minelab MAP - Models under $1K (United States) Go-Find 22 $149 Go-Find 44 $199 Go-Find 66 $249 X-Terra 305 $259 X-Terra 505 $349 X-Terra 705 $499 Equinox 600 $649 Equinox 800 $899

The Equinox series does not replace the X-Terra models. The X-Terra models will continue to be sold for now at least and at prices lower than what the Equinox models sell for.

Absolutely, I get it. Anybody who has the slightest concerns at all should wait at least 6 months to a year before even considering the Equinox. I am not aware of any claims at all by Minelab or anyone else that the Equinox will be a better water hunting machine than existing Minelab detectors. I am certainly not making that claim. That being the case you have plenty of reason to question why anyone would think that it is so. From Minelab Multi-IQ Technology Explained: “How does Multi-IQ compare to BBS/FBS? Multi-IQ uses a different group of fundamental frequencies than BBS/FBS to generate a wide-band multi-frequency transmission signal that is more sensitive to high frequency targets and slightly less sensitive to low frequency targets. Multi-IQ uses the latest high-speed processors and advanced digital filtering techniques for a much faster recovery speed than BBS/FBS technologies. Multi-IQ copes with saltwater and beach conditions almost as well as BBS/FBS, however BBS/FBS still have an advantage for finding high conductive silver coins in all conditions.” (emphasis added) I am 100% sure Minelab is trying to take market share from their competition. If it has got down to where the only question in everyone’s mind is which Minelab is better - what does that say about the competition? Metal Detectors and Early Adopters

They are in the sidebar. The Gold Monster, Makro Gold Racer, and White's V3i. The V3i I have to keep to run my Bigfoot coil. The Gold Monster I like for its simplicity and for it being more a work tool I don't mind beating up and because I need more time with both it and Equinox before deciding if the Gold Monster stays or goes. And the Makro Gold Racer I am keeping just because I have a soft spot for it because it was almost like Makro made it just for me. Not true but it was them that made it when nobody else would make a detector like it. The Garrett ATX is because Minelab does not make a better waterproof PI for saltwater use. I wish they would stuff the GPX circuit into a CTX housing. So to sum up I am down to just five models: Minelab GPZ 7000 - the big gun for big gold Minelab Gold Monster 1000 - clean up the tiny bits the GPZ misses Garrett ATX - backup for GPZ, ocean and lake detecting White’s V3i - runs my Bigfoot coil, jewelry detecting Makro Gold Racer - because I always wanted a detector like this and I feel like Makro made it for me Add the Equinox 800 to that and I am done, with the probability being that any of those going unused for all of 2018 will probably find new homes next winter. The Gold Racer and Gold Monster in particular seem superflous.

It really is all there is to say for anyone that has followed my posts for over twenty years. I just don't make statements like that - until now. I have had a new detector cause me to get rid of another detector before, but I have never had a new detector cause me to ditch a half dozen other detectors. It's like I kept searching and searching for something I could not find, and then finally found it. It is an actual feeling of relief, knowing that I am all set to go detecting in 2018 and am done with the detector of the month nonsense.

There have been rumors of a new XP model, and a version of the DPR 600 for the U.S. and Europe would seem to be a no-brainer. Maybe the problems with V4 software has slowed things up waiting for the bugs to get worked out in 4.1? Or maybe concern that the main company to lose sales to such a model might be XP themselves? I have no idea, but so far no word at all on whether or not we will see a version of this detector in the U.S. or elsewhere in 2018.

And do it for $649

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.

Part of the problem I think is that most testers A. are not required to speak out and B. kind of think it is a waste of time anyway. People can doubt away and frankly, who cares? It's all water under the bridge anyway once the Equinox gets into more people's hands. The doubters will always doubt no matter what if any "proof" comes from people involved with Minelab in any way at all. For me, and yes I am kicking myself to the curb here when saying so, the real proof will only come when thousands of Equinox detectors are in detectorists hands around the world. Even then the doubts will continue. Historically all new Minelab models are met with extreme skepticism along with considerable guerilla attacks from people with hidden agendas. Yet in almost every case, a year or two goes by, and what everyone once questioned suddenly becomes accepted fact. The same exact scenario will play out here except the process should sort rather quickly this time due to the huge number of Equinox detectors that will soon be in the hands of the general public. Many people are already laying plans for boosting their YouTube viewership by reviewing the Equinox. Many will of course be looking to prove predetermined things, but enough video and enough reviews from enough parties should be available in record time for people to sort it all out for themselves. The ace in the hole as far as I am concerned is I know Equinox works and works well. People will no doubt dispute some fine edges of performance difference here and there but there is no overlooking the fact that this is a heck of a lot of detector for the money. The way the detector world REALLY works is success breeds success. It is all about using machines and making finds. If enough people like me get turned on enough to use Equinox exclusively, then the finds will come. The finds become the proof that generates more sales. More sales means more people, more videos, more finds. It's the Garrett formula for success. Get good performing machines into lots of hands with aggressive pricing, and success becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Because Equinox actually works!

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.