Cal_Cobra

On 7/9/2018 at 2:20 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

It’s not supposed to be like the school where everyone gets a medal just for attending. 

Of all the VLF gold machines Steve posted, is the EQ800 equal to these detectors, better, worse or what when it comes to nugget shooting?

3 hours ago, JP.Diggzzit said:

Melt value would have been close...if only my dear old Mum didn't confiscate it! Haha

Can't help you with that one. 

My wife wants any piece of jewelry I find, so I stopped showing her - lol 

That single find just paid for the EQ600 !!  Nice going, would love to dig that monster!

I try not to let it get out of control.   I was up to around 10 detectors at one point, now I'm down to 4 + the wifes ETP.   I have a F75 LTD2 and a Racer 2 that I'll likely sell, as I feel that with having the Multi Kruzer and EQ800, their either redundant or completely surpassed by theEQ/MMK machines. 

One aspect I enjoy about this hobby is that once you have "seed stock" in place, it more or less becomes a self funding hobby.  

If you don't dig them, you'll never know. 

My 4th or 5th target I dug on my first trip out with the EQ800 I got a solid, repeatable 14 TID, and much to my chagrin, it was a beautiful 18KT antique yellow gold ring loaded with rubies, emeralds and sapphires.  So had I thought, oh pull-tab skip that, I'd left a nice $500 ring behind. 

JMHO
Cal

Sounds like it'll be fun. 

Any time I can get out to detect is a good time 

Dug a couple of silver war nickels and they TID'd @ 13-14.

18K gold ring rang in loud and clear @ 14.

Room booked!  

Would've enjoyed camping, but with a newborn in tow, and a wifey that doesn't like to stay out in the sun, I figured an airconditioned room with a kitchenette was probably a wise investment 

Need to play around with the EQ800's prospecting mode, but for the planted hunts a disc mode will be better.  

I take it they just kick sand over the planted coins & tokens?  Any surprises?  Our club used to do funny things, like the person who had the most pull-tabs or crown-caps got a prize, most trash got a prize, and other evasion tactics to keep you on your toes. 

Planted hunts aren't usually my thing, but these large rally style hunts are pretty fun, especially if some of your friends go and vendors show up. Fun to meet new people, and put faces to your internet friends. 

Looking forward to it 

Now that Carl is over at FTP, if FTP released a modernized V3i, in a lightweight, waterproof package, with modern upgrades, for >$1K, they'd have a big hit IMO.    

Heck with Carl and Dave both at FTP, they could be working on a hot new SMF (simultaneous mufti-frequency) detector? 

Only time will tell...

2 hours ago, LowTide said:

In 2005 & 2006 I was doing field testing for FRL for the Edge & Excel detectors.  After the purchase of FRL by FTP there was a great deal of anticipation mixed with angst.  The CZ series was a huge favorite of Fisher customers, with the main improvement desired by users being a lighter weight and more ergonomic design, along with a possibly updated/modern interface.  

The release of the F75 & T2 platforms excited many as they hoped that either of these was the new modern CZ they had hoped for.  But it was not to be and it left a hole in the market with pent up demand for a lightweight CZ type of product.  Even a CZ with the weight and design interface in an Edge or Excel package would have sold very well, let alone an F75 layout.

FTP made their decisions for whatever reasons, but to see the amount of money that they left on the table look at the sales demand for the Equinox.  It’s not driven by advertising but an existing demand that has been there for over a decade.  If the F75 had been a new CZ the Equinox might not even exist because there would be no market space for it.  So now rather than have gained a decade long loyal following with all sorts of coil sales, upgraded wading version of the F75/CZ etc, they face a daunting task that may not even be worth the development money.

So the question now is whether it’s worth the risk to pour money into a project, and compete against a Nox 600 that will soon likely sell at a street price of the mid $500‘s USD, if it’s not going to bring revolutionary technology?  They had better have lightning in a bottle and not just another VLF tweak.

Very well said, can't say I disagree with a single point.  

BTW The ID Edge was a decent little detector, not a depth demon, but it had good TID and separation, and it's light as a feather. 

22 hours ago, TheHunterGT said:

So if somebody hands me non-repayable cash (a grant).....that is the same as using my own money to R&D a project? 

Obviously not to finance, but to the people developing the projects, it's immaterial. 

Do you think the lack of attention to innovating/developing their high end machines is because FTP is broke?  FTP doesn't appear to be hurting for money, so I doubt this is a money problem as much as it's a leadership problem.  

1 hour ago, phrunt said:

I still have a soft spot for my T2, it was my first REAL detector...

I had a soft spot for my CZ70's, but finally sold my last one after getting the EQ800, just wasn't relevant any longer. 

10 minutes ago, Mike Hillis said:

It helps that the tiny Turkey company gets government grant money for their projects and doesn't have to rely on sales to fund themselves.

HH
Mike 

Sorry I fail to see the relevance?  Money is money, regardless of it's source. 

1 hour ago, Geotech said:

Cal, your criticisms are fair and well-deserved. FTP has been focused on owning the low-end mass market (which has been successful) but allowed the higher end to stagnate. It's been a struggle, and continues to be, but I now have people in place who can change this. It takes time and there's nothing I can do but keep working until it's done. Hopefully the result will speak for itself.

 

I'm very much looking forward to what you and your team design, I know it's not easy to innovate, and engineering takes time.   

I remember when I was in a telecommunications class in college, the professor said that modems were tapped out at 9.6 kbps.  I recall thinking this was bs because T1 carrier lines that had been around since the early 1960's used a similar schema over a four-wire transmission circuit, and low and behold, the next thing you know, a 14.4kbps modem was out, then 28.8,K 56K and so on. 

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Yeah, and since Carl is the “new guy” at First Texas, he can hardly answer for what went on before his watch. It takes time to turn the “ship”. White’s loss was First Texas gain.

Totally agree, and believe me I've been rooting for FTP for years, and have had many FTP detectors.   

4 hours ago, Geotech said:

Hear ya loud n clear. We have stuff in the works but I can't tell you to delay a purchase based on "it's in the works." The Equinox convinced a whole lotta people to sell their AT Pro, my goal is to come out with something that convinces a whole lotta people to sell their Equinox.

Carl this isn't a knock at you at all, but for the past ten years we've been hearing that FTP is coming out with the next big thing.  All of the rehashed detectors FTP has been releasing haven't exactly been setting the detecting world on fire (although apparently they sell well enough to build the new FTP plant), and you could write a book on all of the permutations on a theme that exist within the F75 line.  

I'm amazed that a tiny company in Turkey has been eating your lunch, perhaps the powers that be at FTP are unaware of this up and coming detecting competitor, but if the best that FTP can offer is "it's in the works" I wonder how they can expect people to take them seriously?  

Great find!

What settings were you using if you recall?

HH&GL,
Brian

Take it with a grain of salt, a Minelab USA rep told us in April that they would be shipping in a couple of weeks.....that was a couple of months ago ?

When we go on multi-day marathon detecting adventures, we detect until we drop.  We're usually out in BFE territory on a well researched and rare 3-5 day detector adventure, so we go as long as possible when possible, and that includes hunting into the night sometimes.  In BFE where it's pitch dark, a low backlight is a godsend.  The F75 was the worst, damn thing would blind ya to death and it was stuck on, ya couldn't turn the damn thing off...dumb idea there.

The Nokta and Makro machines almost have it right, you can lower it enough to provide a pleasant, almost non-existent night time display...switch to a RED LED/LCD display system and it'll be perfect.   

The EQ even with a red film will be visually far brighter then what's comfortable, no biggie, the 50 tones are so nice and the PP is so darn accurate, you really don't need to see anything.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the TID#s, but I can tonally tell a low-mid-high tone and oh those warbley, soft, faint high tones, the ones that even pinpoint faintly, love 'em (well not when their deep iron!).

On 6/12/2018 at 2:36 PM, Dubious said:

I use 50 tones on everything, for maximum information, so wouldn't have the extra tone adjustments even if I had an 800.  With my 600, the only feature of the 800 I have sometimes wanted is the adjustable backlighting.  The 600's backlighting is too bright for at night. But that's an issue only at night; and it can be fixed with a layer of red film.   

I don't think the 800's backlighting is that great either, still too bright, get out the red film (will be my solution as well).  I like the backlighting on my Racer/Impact/Multi Kruzers the best, has two low modes that are both useful when night hunting.  The low mode(s) on the 800 are far too bright for effective night hunting IMO.

13 hours ago, oneguy said:

...no plans to swoop on all your gold...….

From what I understand unless you have a megabucks PI machine, any gold left there is few and far between BUT this is a free hunt with over $20,000 in prizes!  Sounds like fun, and even though it's supposed to be pretty cleaned out, it would be a fun to test the EQ800s prospecting mode out there and possobly eek out some tiny speck of gold that's worth a penny haha

14 hours ago, strick said:

Never been to the nugget shoot but have been to Rye patch half a dozen times  times. If you have not been to that area then I would encourage you to go and explore the vast expanses of terrain up there.  It's magical in the Fall and it's  where I got hooked on gold nugget detecting. 

strick

I love going to the desert, gets me out of this cement jungle they call the bay area and there's so many amazing places to detect, although most are already pounded to death, but doesn't matter, stuff is still found and the adventure is the best part.

Yep.  Dan used to be a regular on the California (Kinzli) forums, but dropped off the radar the past couple of years (I know he has some health challenges).

How's he doing these days?    If you guys get an opportunity to flag some deep silver signals to check on the EQ600 that would be really interesting, I know he had an incredible knack for sniffing out those ultra deep silvers with his Explorer SE. 

GL&HH,
Cal

Nice nickel trifecta!

Those LA parks have been pretty well pounded, used to be a Minelab ExpSE guy down there that detected them (CaptSE) and he would usually get somewhere around 1000 silver coins per year, unbelievable!!