Bill (S. CA)

Very well put, Jeff. Are you making most of your finds with the stock coil or small coil?

I generally can get to 22 before it gets chirpy. Most often I settle in at 20.

For those of you who have been following the issue on YouTube about The Legend and it's supposed problem with foil trash, I wanted to share with you that I think I have discovered who TN Sharpshooter is. Listen to the voice and tell me if I'm wrong. Here is TN Sharpshooter: And here he is "unmasked" (that's a detecting pun): Just having a little fun to lighten the mood. Remember, this is a hobby, right?

Midalake, This is brilliant stuff. Here in S. CA falsing in Beach 1 isn't an issue so I run it most of the time. It seems to get better depth in discriminate. I run my IB, recovery and sensitivity the same as you. Thanks for the tip about this being a whole new world. I'm going to try this the next time I hit the beach and will let you know how it goes.

This is really fascinating stuff. How high do you run your sensitivity when hunting this way and any other settings different than the pre-sets that I should be aware of? I'm very curious to try this out the next time I'm at the beach.

Steve, I just had to comment on your saying you came to the conclusion that, after looking at Equinox alternatives, the Equinox was the best thing going for you. It's easy, I think, to take the Equinox for granted, and to forget what a truly fine metal detector it is. I had gone away from mine for basically six months, exploring "alternatives" as you mentioned. Today I rolled out my Equinox 800, apologized to it for neglecting it and detected a west coast beach for three hours. Rock solid stable performance, incredible depth (I dug a nickel in the wet sand at 16" with repeatable tone and target ID!), easy to adjust, and just fun to use. Plus I was up to hunting speed in no time flat; getting back with the Equinox really is like riding a bike. I know it's been 4 years since the Equinox came out, and I know there are rumors of a new Minelab machine coming in the fall (Equinox 2 or CTX replacement). But I just wanted to remind people, like Steve did, that the Equinox continues to be one amazing metal detector.

This morning I was at Santa Monica beach with my Equinox 800 and the 15" coil. There were at least 8 hunters there at 6:00 AM, 5 - Deus II's and 3 - Equinox 800's. Targets were sparse but everyone came away with some clad and at least junk jewelry. On my way back to my car a buddy of mine who has switched to the Deus II from the Equinox 800 asked me what I was running at the beach. I told him Beach 1, 5 tones, sensitivity at 20. He told me that the best way to run an Equinox at the beach is in all metal single tone which he swears gets better depth, comparable to the Deus II. He said that he hunts by ID and ignores the tone so he doesn't need any multi-tones. I'm not a fan of all metal all the time but this guy is an experienced hunter who does very well. It's tempting to try his idea out but my experience over the years is that on really deep targets I may not get a target ID but I will get a sound. In his setup, without tone ID I would have no way of identifying the target if there is no ID on the screen. And to be totally honest, the 800 is a depth monster. I dug a nickel with a repeatable signal and TID of 13 in the wet sand at about 16". Any thoughts/opinions on this? Bill

For me I enjoy the Gigmaster and the Hoover Boys.

A comparison of the manual for 1.05 (which came with my detector) and the new online version for 1.09 showed that the default setting for stability in beach mode is now 5. It was previously 1. There is no reason given for this change. If you are going for small gold at the beach I would urge you to set stability to 1. I can't think of a reason why N/M would change this setting. I do plan on doing a bit of testing with small gold targets to see how they are impacted by the stability setting and will post the results. Bill

This morning I decided to try out update 1.09 at a local S. CA beach. The Legend performed well in both the wet and dry sand. However, I wanted to check the stability setting and was unable to since the "IF' setting had been added in 1.09 and I had forgotten to bring along my update notes. Not a big deal, though given the number of keypad shortcuts in all of these updates I think I will laminate a cheat sheet going forward. it's just too much to remember. Anyway, when I got home and reread the update notes, I came upon the update note regarding stability. Specifically: 1. Iron Filter and Stability settings have been added. When the device is working in Multi frequency, select the Recovery Speed setting and press the pinpoint button. Letters "IF" (Iron Filter) will appear on the right side. Iron Filter (IF) setting ranges between 1-8 and the default value is 8. Default value 8 is the same as the previous versions (v1.05, v1.07) Legend with no iron filter setting. Lower IF setting will increase the probability of ferrous targets to be classified as non-ferrous targets and vice versa. Stability setting (st) is the fine tuning for the IF setting. When the IF is set to 8, the st setting will be inactive in the Park, Field and Gold Field modes. When the IF is set to any value below 8, the St setting can be activated by pressing the right or left button and can be adjusted by using the + and - buttons. NOTE: The st setting in the beach mode is different than this new st setting! Now here is the problem. When I follow the instructions while in beach mode the stability setting that I get on my detector is "5" which, according to the manual, should be a default of '1" to ensure that you don't miss small gold. I did several factory resets to make sure this wasn't operator error (at least in my mind) and each time the default came up as a "5." I had to manually set it to "1." Am I missing something here or is this a bug? Also, just an observation , the black buttons are a royal pain in the neck to see. I was hunting under a pier and the buttons might as well have been invisible. I don't understand why N/M didn't give them a grey color or white highlights (which I may add myself). Lastly, my Legend was the only one on the beach. Checking targets with other multi users I ran into the Legend held its own. I came away impressed with its performance in the wet salt sand. Bill (S. CA)

Precisely.

It appears that Calabash and Nokta/Makro have made up. They are sending him a new speaker to test in the Legend as well as fixing his original one.

I really like your take on Merrill, CPT_GhostLight. His videos are entertaining (well, except for his rapping!) and I do pick up a thing or two about various machines from watching him. I also think he puts a nice face to our hobby by being a genuinely nice guy who likes to metal detect. As to his rating system, to me it is no different than the pre-Internet days. I started detecting as a 15 year old boy in 1972 and I have lost count at the number of self-appointed "experts" who I have encountered over the years who profess to know everything there is to know about metal detectors. To this day I still run into a random hunter or two at the beach who swears that a White's PI will beat any machine at an ocean beach. Whatever. There are a million different ways to evaluate a metal detector and to each their own. Merrill has picked his and if it doesn't work for you then don't pay attention to it. Lastly, as to Merrill's having a lot of metal detectors, so what? I know guys who have five or six cars, a dozen bicycles, etc. You get the idea. Some might call it collecting and I don't see anything wrong with that. I will say that I more than a few myself and I like having them. Not all of them get used much but I have a lot of memories associated with several of them and I value them as much as I do a ring in my scoop or a coin in my pouch. Bill (S. CA)

Hey Jeff, good catch on the nickel ID. Do you know if each update of the Legend has to be done in order or if these new updates include all previous changes? In other words, in the case of 1.09. does it include 1.08? I was going to update mine last night to 1.08 but didn't have time so now I don't know if I should do that followed by 1.09 or not.

Steve, I was thinking the same thing this week. Since all we ever hear from First Texas is silence my guess is that the platform has been abandoned. Reminds me of their multi frequency that was touted and then just vanished. Too bad but as a manufacturer First Texas is no longer a serious player in the industry. Bill

I"m with Chase. Look, we all love Dilek. She has an engaging personality. But at the same time, I think most of us just want to know two things: 1. What is contained in the update? 2. When will it be made available? Powerpoint would be an easy way to accomplish these things. Then Dilek could follow up with that great personality of hers for those of us who want to hang around beyond the facts.

Steve, As usual, all good points. I do know several Deus II owners who bought an adapter that moves the mount point to the center of the coil and they love the balance. And I'm so glad that you mentioned the silly antenna. I posted about that same issue a couple of months ago and got ripped for being a complainer. Bill

Jeff, I have two friends who have been using their Deus II's at several inland parks and their results mirror yours. These parks have been hit hard by every machine through the Equinox and were considered by most of us to be hunted out. The Deus II has changed the game. My buddies have been astonished how many double digit nickel days they have had over the last couple of weeks. What makes this even more interesting is that many of the nickels, including a number of Buffaloes, have been shallow targets i.e. 6" or less. They have also been shocked at how much old clad they are digging. Thank you for posting your results and I look forward to more from you. By the way, they are both using the 11" coil. Bill

Thanks, guys. I know Monte, haven's spoken to him a while. Be nice to get back in touch with him. Bill

How many read a "1" on the Equinox. When I've found chains with my Equinox they have all read "1."

Just curious if anyone has/still uses a Pantera? I know very little about the detector except that it had exceptional notch discrimination in its day. Bill

George, I just saw this post and you scored! The XS was my very first ML machine. Mine was just like yours except mine had the Minelab meter. Wish I'd never sold it. I've been looking for one myself but the XS is hard to find. I hope you hunt with yours and post a find or two. Bill

What were your favorite aftermarket coils?

I think the Pro Coil was the only difference but could be wrong. The Pro Coil originated with the Etrac and initially was only Etrac dedicated. The coil was so successful that Minelab added it to the SE.

That's interesting, George. A good friend of mine on another forum, Bryce Brown, and I used to playfully argue about which was better, the SE or an Explorer II with a Pro Coil. Bryce swore his SE was better inland and at the beach while I voted for my Explorer II with the Pro Coil. I'm assuming you had an Explorer II at one point. Ever run it with the Pro coil?