Jeff McClendon

Maybe the Minelab dealer from the Chicago area was not joking!!! He got the Multi IQ/Vflex possibly wrong but he was close. I try to give good info when I can. Never thought I would get backup from MD Hunter.......... Jeff

medium tone to high tone break is 75. Zinc penny starts at 80 jeff

Both Gold 1 and Gold 2 are single tone VCO audio only. You can set that single tone's base pitch anywhere on the Tone 1 pitch scale. I run my kind of in the middle of the scale. I use the threshold tone which can also be set at any pitch. I set it an octave lower so I don't get the target tone and threshold tone confused. So you can have two different pitches at the same time but one is the target tone which modulates with the size and depth of the target and the other continuous tone is the threshold tone that drops out if anything discriminated is detected. You can also set volume levels independently for the target tone and threshold tone which is really nice. Like Phrunt, I have to use a little iron disc like -9, -8 and -7 where I hunt due to an abundance of hot rocks. Its either discriminate or go nuts in my case. I don't want to go nuts in the middle of nowhere...... Awesome finds, Phrunt!!!!! Jeff

Hi Chase, my Bad!!! I should have just said that the same large numerical target ID screen is used for all the modes on the ORX. Yes, there are numerical target IDs displayed in Gold Field on the Deus. Depending on which visualization screen one is using the numerical target IDs are medium sized characters to extremely tiny - 1/8" characters. I usually used the XY graph when prospecting to get an easy to read visualization with no other clutter. I never even remember getting a numerical target ID up in the top right corner of the screen. I probably would not have been able to see it anyway without magnification. The ORX seems to be tailor made for me and my age related worsening eyesight..... thanks for the correction... Jeff

When Steve H. says its crap (and he has on this forum) its crap! Jeff

Nokta Simplex sounds like a great detector but it has not been released yet. Fisher F44 is in your price range and you could get an F-Pulse pinpointer to go with it. Some vendors like Serious Detecting, Big Boy Hobbies etc. might make you a nice bundle deal. 5 year warranty. Water resistant control box and waterproof coils. This detector is not the deepest but it is an excellent buy and has a large selection of FTP and aftermarket coils to choose from. Same for the Teknetics T2+ or Teknetics Patriot. 5 year warranty. Very powerful, fast detectors. The F4 is older tech, just like the X-Terra. The X-Terra is a great detector but has very slow recovery speed/separation. The Whites Treasure Pro is okay but it also suffers from slow recovery speed and target separation. You can definitely find an AT Pro in your price range if you bargain with the dealers. Again it is older, somewhat slower tech/recovery speed and separation. Makro Racer 2 is awesome So is the newer Makro Kruzer. You can probably find one just above your price range. Jeff

Great finds and an excellent site choice for hunting. Glad to see you digging all of those zinc pennies. Some of my best finds with the Nox have been targets in the zinc penny range that I would not have found if I ignored them. I dig as many penny signals as I can stand during a session especially if I just get a single 19 or 20 or 21 reading with no jumping numbers. thanks for posting. Jeff

Hi Dave, I am not even going to try to give any hints (not being a beach hunter, you have already said you don't want to hear anything I have to say). I am going to make a general statement which is that default Beach 2 is by far the most chatty of the Park, Field and Beach modes in my high EMI detecting areas. Like Steve and Chase, my remaining productive detecting time due to my age is too short for me to even consider using much less owning a detector that doesn't suit me for the majority of my detecting scenarios. If I can't trust it or if it has as many shortcomings as you have described, it's gone.............. Jeff

Hi Rob, thanks for letting me know which coil you have. I think the HF round coil is a great coil. It is definitely a little deeper than the elliptical coil and covers a little more area too which is why it may appear to not separate targets as well as the elliptical. If I was a relic/coin/jewelry hunter only, I would definitely use the coil you have. The ORX back phones were uncomfortable on my really big head until I realized that I could unhinge the back of the head part and fold it down on my neck. I also bent the plastic by hand around the ear pieces so they would not rub on my ears as much. I think they are starting to feel better especially if I put them on first and then put on my sunglasses. I had a T2 for awhile. Due to its susceptibility to EMI no matter how I set it up, it was a no go for me. Jeff

Hi, You did not mention what size coil you are using on your ORX. I have the 10X5" HF elliptical coil which separates extremely well. I have the 6" coil for my Equinox which also is outstanding. You could get the little 5" Greek/Gold Bug Pro round elliptical for your Minuteman for less that $50 if you shop carefully. It would make the Minuteman very handy in tight spaces. All three of these detectors do very well around large metal posts, etc. if you turn the sensitivity down to about 1/3 or less of maximum from my experience, while swinging the coil towards the metal object and listening for double beeps or single beeps. The Tesoros are no different in that regard, again from experience. Since your budget is $600 or less, the two that I would have suggested are out = (Etrac or CTX 3030). Those two give you a lot more on screen information that could help with determining the identification of a target before you dig. They are not anything close to perfect however. The Outlaw and many other Tesoros are outstanding at separating targets and they have good discrimination. However, just like the ORX and the Equinox, they will not do all the work for you. In fact, most of the Tesoros require a lot more work from the user than the ORX and especially the Equinox. You have to learn what the qualities within the single tone (most Tesoros like the Outlaw, are single tone audio) are telling you and work the discrimination knob a lot. You are up against THE problem here which is too many good targets and too many trash targets create virtually the same response on most detectors under $1000. After hundreds of hours on a Tesoro Silver microMax I was just about able to predict what the target was if it wasn't too deep by the audio response and the position of the discrimination knob. After thousands of hours on the Nox, I am rarely surprised unless the target hits in the 18 to 23 range with numbers that don't jump around. Many nice finds come from that range. After less than three hundred hours on the ORX and Deus combined, I am just beginning to be able to guess......... As far as I know there is NO detector that can do what you are asking in your price range or really any price range as far as VLFs are concerned. Many manufacturers have detectors with displays that make you believe that you have detected a particular target by having labeled bins or actual words that appear on the screen. To me, those are just gimmicks and in that trashy target range that you are complaining about those "aids" are fairly useless. You have owned (Equinox) and own in the ORX/Deus two of the best detectors ever for doing just what you are asking for in this thread. The Minuteman is also very good and really reminds me of a Tesoro with a screen, target ID, discrimination and multi tone audio. All three of these treat you like a grown-up and require you to learn and remember from long experience, the target ID numbers and audio responses. That is what it is all about. You have to be the ultimate discriminator of targets.....not the detector. Maybe there will be some kind of x-ray visual imaging detector that we can all afford before too long. That however would take the fun and more importantly the skill and artistry out of detecting in my opinion. good luck, Jeff

Recently purchased the XP ORX. A family member gave me a generous dollar amount Amazon gift card. I had nothing to spend it on since I'm not a Prime customer and I was sort of missing my former Deus. I had read a lot of speculative reviews (how can you write a review without having one in your hands to use) and some really negative ones too which had lots of seemingly inaccurate information. So I was eager to give the ORX a try once it became possible, money wise. I sold my Deus because of the lack of ID normalization for the HF coils which made coin and jewelry detecting no fun with them. Those coils were great for gold prospecting and I loved the packability of the Deus. The ORX really does have full ID normalization for all four search modes and all of the 21 frequencies I have tried using the elliptical HF DD coil. It has a much improved numerical target ID screen and gives accurate numbers and tones down to 4" using either of the coin modes in the moderate to highly mineralized dirt where I detect in the Rocky Mountain region. It outdoor air tests and test bed tests very well on .2 gram to 1 gram nuggets and lead in both gold modes at 68kHz and is comparable in depth to the Makro Gold Kruzer and Equinox 800 (6" coil). The iron probability bar and the large numerical target ID are displayed when a shallow to fairly deep target is detected in all of the 4 search modes and the two customizable modes. There is no horseshoe graph, XY graph, microscopic mineralization bar, or small, hard to see target ID numbers on the ORX. It comes with two gold modes which are based on the Deus gold field program. One is for milder soil conditions and the second gold program is for highly mineralized areas and smaller gold. It also comes factory preset with the Deus Fast and Deus Deep programs which work very well in my area. It also has a salt mode when needed. There are no adjustments for audio response and the silencer is adjusted when reactivity is adjusted in the Coin Fast program. It has three tone audio which may sound very limited to long-time Deus users but works very well. US nickels and almost all aluminum trash and gold jewelry down to about 4" depth register as medium tone. Zincs up to large silver coins and jewelry register as high tones. The target ID numbers are also very stable down to 4" here. They should be stable much deeper in mild soil. Modern nickels hit hard on 62-63 while most coin sized or bigger aluminum trash hits between 65 and 80 which is a nice large range. Smaller aluminum seems to hit in the 40 to 60 range while small foil hits in the 30s. I have dug several 1/4" in diameter foil wads which sounded great at 6" in Coin Fast at 28kHz. Being a micro jewelry/gold prospector, this is very encouraging. So, I can't wait to get the ORX and its gold modes up to some prospecting areas in the Colorado mountains this summer. It comes with simplified wireless back phones that just control the volume level. I couldn't see the display on the WS4 module without magnification anyway so not having that problem to deal with is fine with me. The back phones work well. The ORX remote control has the same 1/8" jack as the Deus so that is an option for wired headphones along with using the Deus wired headphone adapter card that is an accessory and attaches to the back of the ORX back phone module the same way as the Deus WS4 puck controller. It will pair and has advanced functions when using the Mi6 Pinpointer also. At 1lbs 14 oz, it feels a lot lighter than the Deus, has a great, easy to see target ID/iron probability display, HF coil ID normalization and is simple to setup without all of the sometimes cumbersome audio features of the Deus. The only adjustments I have made coin and jewelry hunting are slight frequency shifts and lowering of the sensitivity in highly mineralized areas. I have not experienced any EMI problems at all above 28 kHz. 14 to 17 kHz is a little more chatty of course, but can be controlled. Despite much of the speculative and negative pre-release opinions, the ORX is an outstanding selectable multi frequency, multi purpose detector that is a joy to use and have success with, without wondering most of the time if I have it setup correctly. For me and my detecting needs, it is actually an improvement over the Deus not just a simplified Deus and it definitely isn't a DPR 600 which uses much of the same display platform as the Deus and has four single tone threshold based all metal modes for prospecting and no coin/jewelry modes. The ORX has all of the audio sensitivity of the Deus if you were to set the Deus up in three tones. So, it looks a lot like a Deus, sounds like a Deus, detects like a Deus and swings like one too. It has been a lot of fun so far. Jeff

Hi, this is an update with some corrections of previously stated information in this thread after very preliminary testing of the ORX using the HF elliptical coil. ID Normalization is definitely on full-time with the HF coil. Shifting frequencies on surface to 4" deep coin sized targets (used a nickel and quarter) in my test bed did not result in any major changes of target IDs. They stayed roughly the same with only slight up averaging on deeper targets. After 4" in my dirt (ground mineral bar on the ORX is up to 2/3 filled) only the Nox will ID a nickel with any accuracy. Target IDs also stayed the same when changing between the four search modes regardless of frequency used. So even in the gold modes the target IDs remained the same. Nickel=61-63, zinc penny=85-86, copper penny/clad dime/mercury dime=90-92, clad quarter=95-96. One of my biggest complaints with the Deus using the HF coils was the complete lack of ID normalization which resulted in a tiny target window for most US coins between 90 and 95 and high tones on almost all targets that weren't on the surface. Tone Breaks are adjustable for the lowest tone. You can put it anywhere from 0 to 99 by changing the discrimination. So for instance, if you set you discrimination on zero in either of the coin modes you will not have a low tone for any target above zero. Medium tone starts at the highest number of the user set discrimination level and goes up to 75 where high tone begins. Audio Modulation does exist on the ORX. In the 3 tone coin modes surface to shallow targets have much louder and broader responses and deeper targets have progressively softer and shorter responses. In the single tone gold modes the same holds true. It is similar for pinpoint mode. Surface to shallow coin sized targets produce strong higher pitches and deeper or very small targets produce much softer and lower pitches. A Depth Meter of sorts does exist on the ORX. It is built into the pinpoint function just like on the Deus. I have only tested this on coin sized objects. Surface to shallow (0 to 3") coins pinpointed will fill in or almost fill in the pinpoint target box. Deeper to very deep coin sized targets (4 to 8") will only fill in less than half to only 1/8 or less of the pinpoint target box. The updated armrest and shaft are amazingly lightweight. I know that there is only a 2 ounce weight difference but to me it feels like a lot compared to the Deus. Jeff

I heard rumors at a recent GPAA gold show that Minelab was releasing a low to mid range detector to counter and one up the Simplex. So, something Multi IQ between the Go-Find/X-Terra and the Equinox. Jeff

Hi, I owned a previously used XP Deus with 9" HF coil version 4.1 software for 6 months. I was able to use it for some basic coin and jewelry hunting and for gold prospecting. I found it to be an outstanding metal detector. However, in highly mineralized soil I found it to be fairly hard to find the right settings in order for it to get much depth for good audio signals past 5". 14kHz did not work well for depth. Sounds crazy, I know but 28 to 30 kHz was much better. Unfortunately, this made the target ID numbers for US coins at depth to be in the 70s to mid 90s along with most of the other jewelry targets I was after. Much of the coin sized trash also ended up in that target ID range unless it was very small foil or tiny can slaw pieces. So, coin and jewelry detecting squeezed into a 25 segment target ID range with the HF coil was not particularly pleasant even after lots of tone break and tone pitch adjustments. The Deus worked very well as a gold prospecting detector for smaller gold using 28 to 54kHz settings with the 9" HF coil. I had no trouble setting it up for the sites I was prospecting. It was fairly quiet in high mineralization and abundant hot rocks. The XY graph worked great for iron probability and for visual support for lead and gold range targets. The 9" HF coil went fairly deep on sub gram gold (up to 5") and it was a pleasure to swing and especially to put in my backpack. Eventually, I decided to sell the Deus. Using the HF coil only for relic hunting and gold prospecting makes sense. Using it for coin and jewelry in medium to high mineralized soil did not. I was using only two of the 10 programs regularly since the others could not handle bad mineralization very well and did not see the point since I already had some very capable gold prospecting detectors and great coin and jewelry detectors which the Deus was not appreciably better than in the field. Hopefully, the person that bought it from me will not have my soil conditions to deal with. For most normal soil conditions and with fully supported coil frequencies that have ID normalization, the Deus would be fantastic. Jeff

From experience and from the manual, there is no change in the target ID number or the depth reading after you press the pinpoint button. The number you see and the depth reading are just the last number and depth reading remembered by the Nox before you pressed the pinpoint button. If you happen to press the pinpoint button without having detected a recent target or you have to press it again because of the weird ghosting that sometimes happens (one of the issues GB Amateur was referring to) you will get no depth reading and the two dashes _ _. So, the only thing that you should pay attention to when Nox pinpointing is the highest pitched tone and the filling in of the speedometer arch. Jeff