TedinVT

Great headphones, great sound. Have had my Pelsos over a year now and no complaints. Too bad they're out of stock at Kellyco where I purchased mine.

Just a thought on removing the coil cover and coating the bottom surface of the coil with epoxy... I had removed the coil cover on my AT Pro for beach / water detecting. I inadvertently hit a rock underwater with the side of my coil and chipped and cracked the plastic which led to a leak and a new coil. Coating the bottom surface of the coil isn't enough depending on where and how you are detecting. Like Dew said above, I'd sooner replace a coil cover than a costly coil. I've detected fresh and saltwater beaches in FL and New England and never found it difficult to remove the coil cover after each outing while cleaning my Nox. I also keep a spare coil cover just in case. GL&HH

Geez, what a day! Congrats and thanks for sharing, Steve.

LS Pelso WP phones First of all, I've been using these phones on fresh and saltwater hunts and am very impressed with the sound. I have not hunted with the phones submerged and would expect the sound to suffer a bit when submerged, but out of the water they are great. Second, we are vacationing in FL on the Gulf and it's been very windy. The drain hole on the non-corded side is susceptible to wind noise when that hole catches the wind. Turning your head a bit helps with that issue as does a small piece of electrical tape which solves it. The cable tie on the corded side mitigates the wind noise on that side to acceptable levels. Third, I had applied a liberal coating of sunscreen to my ears (not thinking about them being covered by the phones ? ). Big (dumb) mistake. The sunscreen reacts with the black paint that covers the inner plastic grill piece with the sound holes over the top of the speakers. Not good. The sunscreen softens the black paint making a gummy mess where ear contact is made. A little baby powder firmed up the gumminess and seems to have dried it out. Bottom line, don't put sunscreen on your ears when using the Pelsos. The No Ad brand carried by big W label lists dozens of unpronounceable chemical ingredients that should have been a clue.

Great writeups Chase and Steve! Nice details and nice job.

Congrats! You really took a bite out of that park. Bet you're chomping at the bit for another visit there.

Pretty cool!

Good point, Jeff. Using a good quality charger capable of providing 2 amps minimum is a must. That said, it does sound like a case of infant mortality failure. Call Minelab Customer service in Illinois and Jamie will take care of you quickly.

Following up on my post above, I bought the LS Pelso WP headphones. I don't ever expect to dive and only wanted a good set of WP headphones for fresh and saltwater wading where I may have to dip my head under water to scoop a find or possibly rainy day detecting. The Pelsos have excellent sound, the cord length is good for me, they are comfortable to wear for long periods and the price is reasonable.

Depends. Are you going to be using them under water at max depth or just want a pair for use while wading that can take a few waves? Speaker types may not work well (sound) under water at max depth, but work great above water - better sound quality in my estimation than piezos. Piezo types are probably better underwater. Next step, decide on your use then read reviews - many on this forum.

Just a quick reminder for those of us living in areas where old man winter is bringing our detecting season to a close. Page 8 in the Equinox manual has a “Battery maintenance” note indicating the lithium batteries should be charged every 3 or 4 months when the equipment is not being used for long periods of time in order to keep battery performance from declining. Don't forget to charge the WM-08 module and the Bluetooth headphones as well. Click for larger version....

Re my earlier post in this thread, for clarification. I have only hunted fresh water and dry land in parks and playgrounds since updating to 1.75, using Park 1 in both the fresh water and on dry land. Where I noticed the nickel / pop top readings being essentially the same was on the dry land (dirt & grass). Same for copper pennies and clad dimes reading essentially the same. I used to see pop tops run 13, 14, maybe 15 and nickels run 12, 13 with the old firmware. This was enough to give a pretty good idea of what the target was. Copper pennies typically ran 24, 25 depending on depth and condition while clad dimes used to read 25, 26, again depending on depth and condition. Now it's a toss up, just dig it. Just wanted to add this clarification for anyone trying to interpret my results while they hunt saltwater, saltwater beach dry or wet sand, etc. I can live with this and will be sticking with 1.75 even though a couple of things in the update didn't go in a positive direction, IMHO.

I'm only about 10 hours into retuning my brain to the new firmware on my 800. I wouldn't revert back to the old version. I like most of what ML did, but there's still room for improvement. I'm disappointed that the small nickel/pop top spread is gone and the copper penny/clad dime spread is also gone. The weak/strong pinpoint “ghost” issue is better, but definitely not fixed. The pinpointer is still super deadly accurate. It's too bad there are only 50 display segments, but I knew that when I moved up from the ATPro's 100 segments which would probably make the nickel/pop top and copper penny/clad dime dig questions easier to answer. Maybe a little more time with what appears to be a hotter machine with the new firmware will make it easier to discern those targets.

Stealth scoop. Stealth.com. Bought the 7” one with the smaller holes in the back to trap the smaller targets. Bought a replacement hoe handle at Home Depot for the handle for about $9 plus a few bucks for some spray spar varnish. Did some minor belt sanding to fit the handle to the scoop. Have used it in fresh & saltwater, dry & wet sand & small gravel. Wouldn'trecommend using it (or any other scoop) in rocks. It's holding up very well.

I'd remove or cover up the gun company sticker and go “plain wrapper”, making the case less of a target for theft.

I bought the Plugger CF shaft for two reasons. First, to solve the wobbly stock shaft problem caused by the twist locks not able to tighten enough. Second, two avoid the corrosion problem that saltwater can cause (actually, the corrosion problem would probably solve the wobbly shaft problem with time now that I think about it ? ). I'd say the CF shaft is a little lighter than the stock aluminum shaft, but only slightly. Not enough to warrant spending the money for making the Nox lighter only. Sept. 7 - weighed my 800 with 36” Plugger CF shaft = 2.8 lbs. Minelab specs with stock shaft = 2.96 lbs.

I stumbled across a thread on TreasureNet that had some interesting content on waterproof headphones. Be sure to read both pages 1 and 2. Here's the link: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/equinox/584289-ml-waterproof-headphones-volume.html

Daniel, Please share your opinion of the LS.Pelso phones when you have a working pair. Did you notice where these phones are made? Is the headband padded? Many thanks for yor input. Ted

That's good news about the possibility of DetectorPro working on the Amphibian volume, Chase. I wonder if it's as simple as impedance matching issue (maximum transfer of power occurs when the source and load impedances are matched) or if they're going for a piezo or speaker major change. I agree, either way I'm waiting for solid reviews before opening my wallet. Gigmaster did a Tony E phones / Minelab WP phones for the Nox comparison in a very recent YT video and comments on the Minelab phones were enough to turn me off. He wore them underwater as well as above. The Tony E phones fared very well in his testing.

I'm anxiously awaiting the GG Amphibians for the Nox as well and just as interested in reviews for same. Given that the Nox has it's own volume control, why would one be needed on the Amphibians for a Nox? As Steve mentions, the Amphibians won't be any louder than the available max volume produced by the Nox to start with. Seems like adding a volume control just introduces another potential point of failure. Emails to the GG manufacturer/dealer have only resulted in sparse responses with missed market introduction dates or no response at all. My guess is the hangup is still the proprietary waterproof connector. Not holding my breath, but still holding out for the GGs.

Donnyl, check out Gigmaster's latest YouTube vids if you want to see an Equinox under water. I've had mine submerged in the FL Gulf of Mexico saltwater with no problems while using the wireless headphones other than the BT won't communicate with the wireless headphones if the control panel is too deep underwater. I'm waiting for the waterproof wired headphones.

I have both an ATPro and the 800. Love the ATPro, but I'm going over ground that I've pounded with the ATPro and finding stuff I missed with it now using the 800. Deeper items mostly. I bought the 800 to add saltwater detecting to the detecting mix. 800 likes: Hot machine without a doubt. Like the wireless phones, light weight and multiple detect modes in addition to features like volume control, back lit display, ability to select number of tones and tone break points, etc. The list goes on. It does everything except make coffee or open a beer. 800 dislikes: Shaft wobble caused by very inadequate shaft locks that don't tighten down enough - common problem with the Equinoxes. Minelab really needs to fix this problem as it gets worse with time, especially in the water. The ATPro has 100 segments to cover the TDI range. The Equinoxes only use 50 to cover the same TDI range. Way too tight, there should have been a larger spread like the ATPro has. Pinpointer does not always come on at full volume and occasionaly has to be turned off then back on again to use. All that being said, the 800 is my go to machine. I'd buy another and recommend it or the 600 hoping that newer production addresses some of the ills it exhibits.

Use the carrot with my Eqx 800 with no problems at all.

SittingElf, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lidar_Dataset_(United_States) I am by no means an expert on Lidar or its use. I started out by contacting my state's GIS department about a week ago when I first heard about Lidar. The link above gives some clue as to which states have data available. This may be a good place to begin your search for data. Living in a small state does have a few advantages - small, easier to map & easier to have a one-on-one conversation with the experts. That said, my state is continuing to build, update and improve its Lidar data resources. It was fairly easy to learn which data set to use and then the “View In” choices were pretty straight forward. Google Earth was one of them and offered the most of what a metal detectorist looks for. ArcGIS Online viewer was another choice. GE was a no brainer for me. Once I figured this out (more like stumbled into it) I was viewing Lidar images using the data my state has available in a matter of minutes. I didn't see OK listed among the states in the above link. I'm not sure how old that list is and this is a rapidly expanding effort so the list may not be the last word. Find out if your state has a GIS department and make contact if you can. Hope this helps. GL & HH

I've recently made the Lidar discovery. To say it opens a whole new world would be a gross understatement. The lidar data files can be integrated into Google Earth Pro where Lidar imagery can be turned on or off by clicking the box to the left of the file name. Using GE allows measuring distances and pinpointing GPS coordinates. I've been able to walk right to cellar holes with coordinates put into my GPS from GE. Amazing stuff! Depending on your location and what Lidar data may be available you may need a program to convert las files to DEM files. Photo shows square cellar hole and stone walls in top Lidar image and GE image with Lidar off. Now I'm looking for a high tech way to automate digging targets.