Cal_Cobra

Steve,

I believe you can drag the file to the reply box like this template example:

Annuity investment calculator1.xlsx

Thanks!
Brian

On 2/16/2018 at 4:45 AM, steveg said:

I know I'm not the first, but maybe there are a few items in here that are not on other charts...

Steve 

Steve thanks for making the VDI chart.  Is it possible to get a copy of your excel file?  I'd like to reorder the targets by VDI from low to high and remove some of the white space for my field cheatsheet while I'm leaning the EQ800.

Something like this, but reordered as noted above:

Thanks!
Brian

On 3/6/2018 at 5:31 AM, bado1 said:

I haven't done anything in Park 1 or Field 1 yet. I've used Park 2 and Field 2. My impression of Park 2 was that it is more geared to sifting through modern trash like aluminium and jumps on the higher conductors. Field 2, on the other hand, Is very "sparky" especially when the Iron Bias is set to zero and the speed set to 6 or 7. I used Field 2 on a site that is polluted with mostly old iron trash and hot rocks from rail road track ballast. It was very immune to the hot rocks. I found that if I raised the Iron Bias up to 2 that it was less "sparky" on this site. Bringing the IB up seemed to make the tones more mellow... or made it report the tiny iron bits less (?). Field 2 jumps all over the mid and lower conductors like lead and copper.  

Dean

Dean what kind of soil are you dealing with where your located?  Our NorCal soils are mild to wild with mineralization.

My EQ800 is slated to land today, and my buddy are and I going to do a small road trip to hit a few sites over the weekend.   Ones an older park, ones an old site I've never been to, so no idea as to iron or modern influence yet (suspect it has a fair bit of modern trash) mixed with oldies and likely some iron too. 

Thanks,
Cal

Nice report!  Would also be curious what settings you were using (looks like PARK1?).

Bummer that token is so hosed, love finding tokens!

HH,
Cal

1 hour ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Buddy,  I can assure you 100% they hear us and they know.  You can ask the other dealers and most will tell you, I share more negative to them than they like and can handle at times.  I do it behind closed doors most of the time.  You are correct in some ways and I have no issues with a couple posts and expressions.  There are many "that guys" this go round, so it is all good.  Heck, sometimes there are even a few "that dealer's" too.  We'll get through it my friend.  If you are ever in Boise, Idaho, look me up and we'll do a little diggin and bitchin.

Thanks.  Might just take you up on the diggin' one of these days, never been to Idaho, nor have I ever been prospecting (although I intend to change that with the EQ800!) 

I've gotten into the habit of charging my MK and phones up each night after a full day of detecting. 

Do we think the ML phones on a full charge will go a full 8-10 day of detecting? 

My apologies, didn't mean to be "that guy", I'm sure Steve would like to give me the boot.  I guess I had hopes that perhaps ML read these forums, and perhaps they cared about how their roll out was perceived by their customers.  Maybe they do, and maybe they don't, I have no idea, but in my experience, if you don't speak up, then things never get changed.

At any rate, thank you for your generous offer to test out an EQ600 or contact my dealer.  I've waiting this long, so I'll just ride this out and see what happens.

Again, apologies to the forum for coming off like a whiny b!tch, that wasn't my intention.

My Makro wireless headphones take all of about 30 minutes to charge, and last a couple of days.

How long are the ML wireless headphones taking, and how long does a full charge last ?

TIA!

22 minutes ago, Redneck said:

Cal, I am not a one for complicated detectors either.   The EQ  is rather easy to set up and learn.   If you can figure out the Impact, the EQ should be a breeze.    You will have a blast with it.   

It took me a while to set up the volume tone groups , that's really been the most difficult for me. Now that I have done it once,  there is not much to it. 

The real shocker for me has been how accurate the ID is .  Nickels, 13, with the deeper nickels bounce 12-13.  If it bounces into 14 , its aluminum canslaw.   

The EQ is deep.  Most of the plugs I cut, the target is down deeper. and my orange soil is nasty.

Cool beans!   I'll have to print out a cheat sheet with Steve's TID and some other quick bits for field use until it's committed to memory.  The TID scale is different then anything I've used, mostly all previous detectors I've used have been the traditional 0-99 scale, except for my old Sovereign w/the Sunray 180 meter.

7 minutes ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

If you would have stuck to your original dealer back in Sept. when you ordered., I am most certain you would have it by now?  Jump ship and then blame it on Cabelas?  No worries.  My Sept, Oct, Nov customers are all taken care of.  If you want to PM me the dealer I can look into it?

Sir,  you may want to get your facts correct before posting such assumptions.

Fact - I did stick with my original dealer order from Sept. I never canceled the order, in fact it supposedly shipped last week (yet appears to have never left IL). 

Fact - Yes I did order from Cabela's too when they came up there, with the intention of honoring my original dealer purchase as well.  After the Cabelas cluster, I canceled the Cabelas order.  Original dealer order was still in play.

Fact - I still have nothing.

Fact - ML's rollout of the EQ has been an exceedingly frustrating experience for a first time Minelab buyer (new that is, I've owned some a used Sov and Etrac).

Just now, Gerry in Idaho said:

I for one am happy Minelab waited and made sure all the units have the best info and software when released.  Just think of all the users of other brands and how they would jump all over Minelab for not doing it right the 1st time.

It does not bother me and most of my customers.  Now I feel some folks just like to complain.  Hey,  If you don't like the way Minelab does things, then don't use their product.  Just leaves more treasures for me.

Each to their own Gerry, I cannot tell if I like the way ML does anything yet, because my EQ800 that I ordered in September isn't here yet!.....but again, everyone's entitled to their opinion...and opinions are like...ok, I won't go there!  Peach brother!

Just now, Morris said:

I will not buy anything from Cabelas again. When they do not give our Vets the discount that comes fro MInelab they lost my patronage. There comes a time to make a stand against this kind of dishonoring our Veterans.   

Not to mention the clustermuck they did on the last EQ800 batch order that many of us received a status of shipped and emails saying such, only to receive backorder emails a few days later, what a crock of sh!t!

My EQ800 was supposed to ship last week, and get delivered tomorrow, but looking at the tracking# it appears to be stuck in IL since Thursday with zero movement:

On 3/4/2018 at 4:26 AM, dewcon4414 said:

I agree....... it all gives you a chuckle now.   But....... we clearly know where the bottle neck is and whos to blame.   Hardware should have been just waiting on the final software change...... then out the door.   ML could have even started shipping machines....... and distributors or dealers could have down loaded them.  Lot of things could have happened...... but hasnt.    I have to believe some dealers are taking care of their locals and serious customers regardless of pre-order........ and i also KNOW some guys were on more than one list and bought them and now offering them to friends who dont have them yet.   People find ways of getting them even with short supplies.   I just look at it .... eventually there wont be a need to cut in line...... who knows not having one might save me some money if they find a problem.... .. 

IF Minelab had any sense, they would've started shipping the units back in December, knowing there was an eminent pending firmware upgrade and it would've done two things to cast them in a a positive light:

1) Units would've shipped faster and the forum/FB complaints & frustration would've started to dissipate

2) As Minelab has a pathetic track record regarding firmware updates, the fact that they would've released a firmware update that added additional functionality would've been received as a very positive event, as not only would it instill confidence in buyers that Minelab was finally leveraging user upgrade capabilities, but the fact that it would've added additional functionality would also be a booster as people would perceive it as a value add event, giving their machines more capabilities.

Unfortunately ML did option 3) Nothing....   Doing nothing is still a choice, but it wasn't well received by the general populous.

It's interesting that over the past couple of months ML added some new user adjustable parameters to the EQ.

One thing that kept me from ever trying a Dues, or diving into a V3i, is not that they aren't great detectors in their own right, because they certainly are if you have the time to learn them, but that I have limited time to detect, but not unlimited amounts of time to fiddle around with an unlimited amount of variables.  It's one reason I've loved the F75, Omega, Racers, Impact, Multi Kruzer, as they employ the KISS formula, which affords me more detecting time. 

For example, I'll never forget reading a post a few years ago when I was somewhat interested in the Dues, and the OP stated something to the effect that they visited a cellar hole on day 1 and didn't get a thing, the next day they returned and by simply increasing their reactivity setting by one point (or something along those lines), the site came alive!

 I never felt with the FTP, Nokta/Makro machines that if I was off on a setting a bit that it would throw my hunt in the toilet, but now that the EQ800 has introduced these additional settings, along with the ones we read about when it was released, I'm wondering if it could potentially fall victim to that scenario, whereas your off a little bit on one setting, too much iron bias, too little reactivity, etc., that it throws your hunt in the toilet. 

Nice job Skate, two seateds in one hunt is a great day!

24 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

This might make you feel a little better - the view out my window. All I can do is read and play moderator 

Sadly that's keeping me from detecting some of my favorite sites too.....EQ800 is finally slated to land this Wed., need to find somewhere interesting and warm to detect :)

FUBAR comes to mind.  

Reminds me of Cabela's apparently prioritizing the people that paid for their shipping vs those that opted to use their free shipping coupon.....likely the last time I do any business with Cabela's, there's plenty of other resources for what they peddle.

4 hours ago, Terry Greenway said:

You are not going to believe this, just got home from staying with my sick Mother. On the front porch was my equinox 800 that I pre-ordered on Nov. 12th from Kellyco.  I was shocked but very happy. I hope everyone gets there's soon. Bluegrass Man in Tennessee.

Glad you got your machine!

I do have to say though,  it pisses me off that an order from Nov shipped before an order from September.....  I see the love hate relationship between Minelab and their customers.  They may build great detectors , but they are absolutely clueless about customer support and customer communications.  Doing business like they do is the opposite way to build brand loyalty. 

If someone else makes an equal to the EQ, I'll likely dump mine like a hot potato in a New York second....we'll see how it does in the field, I do have high hopes for it.

Finally got a tracking# from my dealer whom I placed a pre-order with in September right after ML announced the EQ @ Detectaval....

I kind of lost my enthusiasm for it to be honest, six months is a long time to be waiting for an order, but it is what it is.

I hope it's a good machine, I'll give it a fair shake at my sites. 

Florida's Treasure Coast is on my bucket list of places to detect 

On 3/1/2018 at 6:56 AM, Gerry in Idaho said:

Skate,  Good to hear and see reports from you, as some of us know you are pretty good with other detectors and not Brand Loyal.  It is nice to hear (early reports) the NOX can do things our other machines can't and are finding targets our others miss.  I'm not saying the NOX is the Holy Grail, but it is new technology and those who get on sites sooner with it, learn the tricks...will be rewarded for their efforts.  I never expected a "wow look how deep" detector, but more of a "wow, how did I miss that" and "holy crap that is cool for it to be able to do that".  In the long run I feel the NOX will eventually be used by more hunters than many other machines of all brands.  Not saying the #1, but certainly better than most.  Keep it up my friend.

Gerry not a knock on your comment, nor Skates report (which is the kind of report I'm interested in seeing until I (finally) get my EQ800 some day..... BUT that said,  I'm finding that each different detector I take to places will find stuff others didn't.  It could of course be that I didn't sweep my coil over that exact spot, or I swept my coil from a different angle, or perhaps there was a piece of iron masking the target in the ground that an underground animal moved slightly allowing it to finally be heard as a non-ferrous target. 

BUT I suspect that many times the real reason is because each detector does things differently - regardless of whether their Multi IQ, or Zero IQ...they all have different software, running different analysis algorithms, different search modes, different operator adjustable variables to tweak, with different types of coils, sizes of coils, atmospheric conditions are different by the minute , EMI changes, etc, etc, etc.  If one computed all the different variables, it would likely be an infinite number.   

I'm certainly being a bit of a devils advocate here BUT my main point/concern/interest is this: 

Can the detector repeatedly achieve an increase in non-ferrous keepers (not iron) versus other detectors. 

I found this to be the case when I went from using my F75 LTD (upgraded to LTD2) that I'd put thousands of hours on since 2009 (I seriously wonder what great finds I missed).  In my experience, in my dirt, at the types of sites I hunt I found (immediately) that the Racers smoked my F75 in each and every test when I put them head to head.  My hunt partners immediately noticed, and commented that my non-ferrous finds significantly increased. 

This is the type of result I'm looking for in the EQ800.  I'm not a fanboy of any brand, I simply use what works the best for me, and over the years, I learned the hard way that that what may work great for Nasa Tom in his inert Florida soil, or a multitude of users back east with their red clay soils conditions, or whatever the case may be, fail at my sites.   So the only way to know for sure, is through trial and error, and to look for reports from users that live in the same state or hunt sites around the same areas I do and eventually to test it out myself.  I have high hopes that the EQ800 will unlock some of my challenging sites that handicap single frequency VLF detectors due to severe mineralization, heavy alkali soils, etc.  

Interestingly your comment:

On 2/28/2018 at 7:22 PM, Skate said:

- the nox sounds way different in the iron homesteads than in a park. That may sound stupid or "duh" but my Deus sounded the same no matter if i was at the beach, park or the old rancho. To me, the fact that my deus responds the same isn't good. It means it's not AS ADAPTABLE as the Nox. I don't know if this is the reason but one is a single frequency and one is multi-frequency. I'm not trying to knock the deus but it has more limits than the Equinox and I suspect this is going to be the same for most other detectors.

I have found that to be the same experience I've had running the Makro Multi Kruzer.  I'm confident with it detecting relic sites, but when a friend that's an expert on his Explorer2 (been using it since new) and I detected a park together, for me it was an epic failure, but for him an epic success. 

This particular park had a lot of surface clad and junk, and unlike my friend that was using his Exp2, I was struggling to cherry pick deep non-ferrous targets out of the sea of signals, even watching the real-time depth meter (which is fairly accurate) was a bust.  I tried different frequencies, all search modes, and did find a couple of search modes that were better then others, yet it was no walk in the park to hunt. I surmise that if I worked the park over, stripping layer by layer of years of targets down strata by strata, that the Multi Kruzer would easily detect the same deep targets as the Exp2, but the ability to zero in on deep targets within this sea of targets was a struggle. 

I started off detecting parks, but over the past 6 years or so, I rarely hunt parks anymore, as where I live you can work all day to find a single merc (or get skunked), and I'd rather put that same effort into relic hunting for 1800's, or potentially even 1700's coins and relics then mercs.  My exception is if there's a park demo, but that's more of a relic mindset to be successful, you're not really turf detecting anymore in those environs. 

I am curious if the Equinox has the same ability to cherry pick deep conductors amidst a sea of surface targets mixed with layers of targets down to the older coins?  I've seen a few commentaries online (forum posts & vids) that seem to indicate that the Equinox, much like the Kruzer, struggles in these scenarios. 

I've been taking all forum posts and videos with a massive grain of salt, as I seriously doubt anyone was an instant expert on the Explorers when they were first released, and it took lots of time to hone ones skill set to be effective at various aspects of detecting, and the same will likely hold true on the EQ as people try various search modes and settings to unlock the capabilities of the machine...hopefully it does have the capability to cherry pick high conductors amidst a sea of surface targets mixed with layers of targets, but thus far I'm not seeing it.  

Ordered in September, dealer recently indicated that there's still two orders ahead of mine and ML was working to get them filled by the end of March (sounds like th Cabelas canned back order email I received).