dewcon4414

A counter balance you can move makes a difference.   Out of the water is where you really need it..... in the water not so much.  Steve i can tell you the coils stays down well..... it goes where you want it to so coil control alone is going to REALLY improve over the CTX.   That baby swings like you dragging a dead horse.... and the cover cross overs catches a lot of water.  In deep water .... the battery causes more movement if there are any waves.  You just get a lot of coil FLIP causing you to miss a lot more targets.   He should have been complaining about that.   There are always going to be people with complaints.   What did he expect..... you put a coil on any stick its going to be nose heavy.   Some people ... IE me like to have a LONG shaft.... so ya that changes things to.... shorten your shaft and everything changes.   As far as the Xcal.... best way ive found is put the pods 4" behind the cuff.   IMO...... this machine isnt as refined as someone put it as the CTX..... but its going to catch on IN the water for a whole lot of reasons.

Yes Steve that was a pretty ugly tube lol.  I cleaned it up since...... and i have to say even on the standard coil you would be surprised the difference in how it swings.   Ya..... thats sure a slow boat from China on the accessories.  The standard coil moves really well in the water.  we might just be able to move that big one in the water as well.

My idea of a counter weight for the EQ.  I took an Xcal main pod and cut it down from one Joe (ole beach nut) had sent me.  Used a plunger lock and a small lower shaft piece.  It can extend another 4" or so.  Pardon the sloppiness..... i just wanted to throw it together.   It does make a difference with the nose being a little off balance...... but lets face it this is one light machine .... however, when the big coil comes out....... here ya go.

Oooooops my bad lol.    Screw cap.... penny...or gold ring

Im not really having trouble.  For the most part you learn what they are doing.   Deep ones come in around 10..... and you dig um.... but we dug those that deep anyway if we got a peep.   this thing IDs a bottle cap REALLY deep guys.   Another thing ive found....... they sound good but bounce around off the tip..... but oddly will either disappear or give a neg digit off the BACK of the coil.   its been working pretty well for me... ive checked enough of um lol.

Recovery time does bite on the Xcal, we kind of get around that by using it in PP.... many of us now have switches.   Steves right...... there is a lot of maintenance to an Xcal so you really have to plan for repairs.   BUT.... we dont know the repair costs yet if needed on the NOX.  Also..... warranty on an Xcal ... one year, 3 years for the Nox.   Thats really huge for a water machine.   YOu also have to have a straight shaft...... that dive shaft leaves a lot to be desired..... more money.   You have those yellow headphones so you arent really getting some of the smaller targets a better pair of phones would give you..... and like Steve said they are hard wired.   Even with a straight shaft balances...... its no where near what the Nox is to move around out there.   Ive got to give the Nox two thumbs up for how well the coil moves ...... sweet even in swift water.  We both know the Nox screen wont do you much good deep..... but you have the ability to adjust those tones..... not quite the learning curve.   The Xcal HATES iron and a bottle cap is easy.   Little more of a challenge ...... but learning them and how they react.   I believe the Nox is everything we asked for as a replacement for the Xcal as a wading machine....... lighter, easy to swing, TID screen, you can change the coils and headphones YOURSELF, batteries are sealed and the charging system seems to be bringing us up to date with USB, the shaft allows easy transportation..... but that maybe an issue with constant water hunting  and torque, FAST recovery.... almost to fast,  you have the option of wireless phones if you dont plan on hitting the water to deep....... and no lag with good response... and loud i believe its as deep as both the Xcal and CTX and will end up proving its self on small gold as well.  Lets face it most wont miss a recent drop.... so its the small gold and deep this machine has to find as good as the Xcal.   BOTTLE CAPS..... thats the creature that we havent been used to digging a lot of.... but the trade offs to me .... i see a lot of plus's on the Nox side.   You can hunt with an Xcal out of the box.... but most dont..... we add a shaft, GGA or other phones, even a PP switch, or upgrade the battery to lith.   So where we at if we do all that....... $1800?   I think this is a $2500 beach machine with less than a $900 price tag..... dont get much better than that and nothing to modify.... except a few of us dont like those yellow phones... so add $150.  

Next question....... have you notice EMI from the the phone because its paired?

Maybe nothing if you dont hunt like i do a good many days a week IN the water.   That aluminum over time blisters inside which can lock a shaft up not cleaned and put up over night.   For me...... the 3 piece is great as a light weight travel shaft but in the water it takes to much torque and the locks will give out causing a lot of coil wabble.   use what you have of course..... but i change all of mine over to CF.   Mine are normally longer upper shafts using a shorter lower and i rarely take um apart.   I also drill a hole at the bottom of the lower shaft to let sand and water out as i come out of the water.  You'd be amazed how much sand stays in there.

I have a few ...... most are in the 10 digit range with stones.   I dont suspect them to be above 14.  Even on edge they seem to still hit the same.  

On some of the whites machines..... like the DFX we used to disc out the top 2 digits just because of wrap around when we ran high sensitivity from iron/hot rocks.  Jeff Fosters recommendation.   Next question....... what good targets hits that high?   What was it ... maybe a silver dollar that hit 38.   Ive been running 39 and 40 disc out.  But then im looking for gold jewelry.... which seems to have a limit somewhere around 24... so far.

The Exp 2 is one of the best deep machines still ..... its standard coil is hot.    What ive noticed is the EQ is a little more  picky about the angle of the targets than an Exp is. 

What.... no faith in me huh lol?  My info came from ML in Aussie land.  Hey, but we all know how things change right?  Ya Tony is making me a pair and sent me the info so i can make the jack.   I suspect Tony is going to get busier than ML lol.  He did mention he MIGHT make a waterproof cable with a CTX connector M12 so those of us who have them modified can use his phones on all 3 MLs.

Steve..... well said.   Ive liked the potential of this machine from the beginning too.   Its given me a lot more options ..... really opened up an area of smaller gold hunting on the beach.   Thou we dont have the phones we are learning quickly just how good this machine is for salt water.   Ive said it before....... its got everything we asked for in a wader to replace the Xcal.   Some are going to take advantage of this added sensitivity ...... some will continue to hunt the way they always have for the larger gold dismissing this machines real potential.   Its not going to miss a big piece of gold that the other machines hit on.    We've just started........ lets take a look at the end of the year... because the proof to me is always in the end of year finds.

Chase ... i got an Email and was told they are in production this week with shipping next.   NOW..... how long to get in the dealers hands?   He told me first week of April.   We will see.   I whinned for a pair....... but he said he didnt have a box by his desk lol.   I do know someone starting to make his and made the waterproof plug out of an M12 4 pin plug.   Im hoping..... we get a surprise and they actually improved the yellows.... i mean we cant dive with this machine....... audio sear speaker might be better than piezos in this case.   Ihave to say thou im impressed with the wireless phones and their volume.... not bad.   Need a bit better pads to block out noise on the beach thou .... but plenty of volume.

Basically you are creating a low form of electrolysis with salt water.   It WILL corrode inside and thats a small hole to get into to properly clean it out.   You will start getting snap crackle and pop and eventually phones will go in and out.   there will be a cable as an accessory coming which may serve your purpose for fresh water, but not salt water as is.   Your conditions arent as harsh as salt water corrosion.   drop your phones in fresh water you can likely just blow the water out and you are good.

Ya well........ ive did so much whinning people are starting to offer me cheese.  We are getting the same ole phones used on the Xcal for YEARS...... and its not like they didnt know the machine was waterproof and needed them.   Big SNAFU........ or worse intended marketing.  What IF Ron D cant work out a deal with ML on the GGA and they DONT release the cable?    Machines been out a month or two..... still dont know if its waterproof or what extended time in salt water might do.  Hey..... but i asked ML for a pair to test lol.

Seems to be an answer to PINE who has  asked on most forums WHY the presets disc out iron.   Good answer..... right there in the book.

You might be right..... you are going to get all kinds of answers on this one.   Peoples hearing really vary.... and you have bad to really superior phones or even ear buds.... and volume tolerance for hunting will be different.  Many of us beach guys make our own phones using larger piezos or audio sear speaker, better cable and air craft muffs too.  We get a lot of noise near/in the water.

I think a lot of those comparisons came out of us water hunters.   We know that there are basically 3 VLFs being used in the salt water...... Xcal, CTX and the CZ..... with PIs being mostly nitch machines.   There were and are a lot of advantages this machine offers for beach hunting..... weight, speed, multi AND single freq, simple to use,  MUCH better priced once we added mod costs ect, easy to travel with, TID screen, completely sealed to include battery, AND it appeared it was going to be as good as the BBS/FBS in the water with the benefit of picking up some of the even smaller gold missed by them.  Its overall use as a beach machine should surpass those machines IMO for gold hunting on the beach........ and lets face it we arent coin hunting.  It may not get the depth out of the water, but if it gets the smaller gold it will all average out.   Ive heard a lot of us asking for exactly what this machine gave us over the Xcal........ a great wading machine.   Not been able to test it yet in DEEPER water.... so im guessing here, but it appears it will remove some of the fear people have about dunking the a $2500 CTX as well.  I dont know going in that ML thought this machine may in fact be BETTER than what they have.   When you talk salt water machines you ALWAYS compare it to the Xcal.   Now you have a good option to bringing two machines to the beach..... one for water hunting and one for dry sand hunting for gold.

It appears to be made like the CTX.  Those cross overs act like rudders and really create drag as well.  They stretch...and lift the inside if the cover so I dont think it will work.  My suggestion on this one is use loctite marine epoxy on it and get rid of the cover.  Dont have that 1/4" with air space, black sand, or drag.

I went with Keith as well.  It made sense as far as repairs.  I have good communications with him on whats happening.   From what im told there isnt going to be a lot of repairs done.  They dont repair coils...... and will do limited repairs if any on the box.   Its a throw away and replace item for the most part... and they say its more cost effective than opening it.   I live here in Fl and rarely use KCO...... sales tax and if the item is popular seems to always be on back order because they are so large i guess.   Had a guy call me couple of nights with questions on the CTX.  He had one on order there....... he wasnt told about the military discount, but now he has it.   I was told early on they had 1000 pre-orders.....Sometimes squeaky wheel gets the grease too.

This seems like a winner for my use where i just add the M12 on the other end.   The main problem was getting the plug going into the box water proof. 

We having issues with coins/silver?

It appears to be an Andersons upper at least. But i talked to Pete he said he was going to have to do this one from the ground up and that he had NOT gotten an EQ yet to do it.   Todd..... been talking to Cliff about shafts and those connectors....... if you find a solution pass it to him please.   Ive been told not to expect phones until MAY...... and they will come out even before the cables...... OF COURSE.  I see you are using Harolds headphones.  Did you use the NON-waterproof cable that came with the machine to add that M12 connector?

Might check the ment mark.......I believe the war nickels with that composition were only made with the P (Philadelphia) ment mark..   During this period D and S were mented but not of this alloy....... also nickels without a mint mark are counterfeit.