Jeff McClendon

Your question "Does the SDC 2300 go deeper than lets say an Equinox 800 on a small coin?" That is a very relative question. Does the SDC 2300 have its original 8" coil or has it been upgraded to one of the larger Coiltek coils? Equinox 800 has a 15X12 Minelab coil and there are bigger coils from Coiltek. If the ground one is hunting isn't too mineralized and a 14" coin is not being masked.......SDC 2300 8" vs Equinox 800 15X12" that would be an interesting scenario. I have found 14" deep coins and larger caliber fired bullets with an Equinox using its 11" coil in moderately mineralized ground. Those targets were identified as non-ferrous and actually had some correct target IDs mixed in with some up averaged ones. GPX 4000 to 5000 with the same sized coil as an Equinox 800 would get deeper raw depth. The Equinox however will very likely give more useable target ID information if the ground is only moderately mineralized on any non-ferrous, edge of detection target that it can hit. The same can be said for Deus 2 and the Nokta Legend from my experience.

So basically, this upgrade is a no harm to humans or animals recall. This issue won't hurt you physically (might piss you off though) but it is still messed up. Plus, I am not buying that statement saying using headphones there won't be any difference in performance between a speaker upgraded GPX 6000 and one that hasn't been upgraded.

Insurance upper limit is $500 so I bought that. The actual shipping cost was $16 and change. I followed the take apart instructions originally provided by Minelab that phrunt posted early on in this thread and the power/speaker unit fit in a medium sized box that I provided. It would not fit well in a USPS Priority Mail flat rate Medium or Large box since those boxes were not quite tall enough for my liking. I have been selling on Ebay since 2000. I have shipped thousands of items safely and securely using the United States Postal Service. There have only been a few exceptions and those have mostly been using Fedex SmartPost where Fedex AND the USPS handle delivery together. The worst damage and loss has been from UPS during those 22 years from my experience but I still use them too. Cow Dung happens. Sorry you have had such really bad luck with USPS Matt.

To me, "falsing" is an inadequate word to describe what the Equinox, Legend and Deus 2 are doing which is trying to correctly identify targets or at least identify portions of a complex target. Where I often detect for coins, jewelry and relics, the ground itself including the naturally forming and transforming parts of it can be an audible target. -9 to -6 usually takes care of those "false" responses. Accepting -5 to 0 as Rick said, lets me hear actual iron target ID range responses that are mostly coming from man-made targets. Depending on the composition/decomposition of those actual man-made targets, they may have other responses in the non-ferrous part of the ID range on these SMF tech detectors. I don't mind hearing those non-ferrous responses as long as I can hear the same target making iron responses too in most cases. All of those responses give me a more complete and accurate audio idea of what may be under the coil. So instead of being "falsing" I look at all of those responses from the ground and from iron and steel alloy objects that may also be altering or decomposing as "truthful" responses on those three detectors. When I am gold prospecting with the Equinox I sometimes can get away with rejecting -9 and +40 if the ground is really noisy to take care of ground noise that is driving me nuts. Usually I just hunt wide open though, since a lot of the smaller gold nuggets and pickers will often also have -9 responses along with a few other higher ones. The Legend works very much like the Equinox. On the ORX, the Gold Modes have Deus 1's negative number range built into them and there is no way to change that but that is actually a good thing. The ORX Fast and Deep modes stop at the equivalent of Deus 1 zero so trying to hunt for small nuggets (or small micro jewerly that is being masked by the ground!!!!!) that are giving responses in the Deus 1 -6.4 to 0 range using those modes......I won't hear them and I won't hear quite a few mixed ferrous objects like small tin either. Ken noticed that fairly soon after getting his ORX and got rid of it too since the possibility of unheard tin fragments reading below zero and masking good non-ferrous targets without the user knowing about it is very real using the ORX "Coin" modes.

I paid postage from me to Detector Center Minelab Repair.....I just used USPS Priority Mail for around $20 US. Detector Center are paying for the postage back to me using the same USPS Priority Mail method. So the repair cost me $20 in postage and I was without my GPX 6000 for about 2 weeks.........no big deal for me and well worth it hopefully.

I was notified today that the speaker upgrade repair was completed and my GPX6000 battery/power compartment is on its way back to me with return postage paid by Minelab.

Hi Rick, The only times I turn up F2 iron bias on the Equinox much above zero are when I am trying to avoid lots of bottle caps and when I am in a sparsely targeted area but most of the trash targets are iron. The rest of the time I am at F2=0 or 1. However, I never hunt with iron audio OFF or with all of the iron range target IDs rejected. I don't mind iron/steel targets falsing. I do mind it when I can't hear the actual iron responses that those targets are also producing because I refuse to hunt with any iron target IDs accepted. I just put the iron tone on a pitch that I like and adjust the iron volume level where I can clearly hear it but it isn't overpowering. I did try hunting with iron targets rejected for awhile when I first was getting used to the Equinox BUT I used the reference threshold at the same time so it would null over rejected iron target IDs. It works pretty well, but now I don't mind listening to iron on the Equinox no matter what number of tones I'm using.

Ken, all I can say is high magnetite from my experience means use a high quality SMF detector that is effective in magnetite at least. If that doesn't help its time for a basic PI and dig it all. The video I posted in this topic and one other one that I made a few years ago clearly show that all SMF tech is not equal. It's not even close and at least in my area, magnetite effective SMF tech like what is in the Equinox, Deus 2 and the Legend will out perform single frequency no matter what single frequency is chosen both for target ID accuracy and depth. Saying all of that doesn't mean that this is the case everywhere. I already have some targets in dirt filled tubes. That way I can control their depth and retrieve them or change them out. I try not too if I can help it so the dirt has a chance to stratify and be undisturbed for awhile.

Setting up a Silver Slayer type pattern for US silver coins (just type in Silver Slayer in the Search Engine of this site) or a US coin/jewerly pattern (those jewelry items that also land near some US coins or clump together) is really easy to do on the Legend, Equinox and Deus 2. Since their SMF tech is really good, (the whole reason for this topic being target ID accuracy or not) there will be very little up or down averaging so notching for the most part can be trusted to a high degree even in poorer soil conditions and on most deeper coin sized targets. The advantage that the Legend and Equinox have over Deus 2 is unlimited single digit notching as opposed to just three separate notches on Deus 2. The advantage that the Legend and Deus 2 have over the Equinox if a non ferrous tone and ferrous tone are desired which is a good idea in thick trash whether iron or aluminum or worst case scenario....both, is that the Legend and Deus 2 have Pitch Tones which is a VCO type hybrid signal strength/proximity modulated tone that on the Legend and with Deus 2 Square Waves sounds quite pleasant as opposed to raw VCO or PWM Pitch tones. There is also the option of having a similar type of iron tone that can be adjusted by notching, volume and by tone break. On the Equinox, using 2 tones in a similar way results in using a ferrous and non-ferrous tone that is only very slightly modulated for signal strength/proximity. Pitch tones are almost like boosted audio so they will hit more clearly on deeper targets than that basically unmodulated slightly dead high tone using Equinox 2 tones. I often hunt with everything wide open (accepted) when hunting trashy park and relic areas. However, fatigue will eventually set in and I will give myself a break by hunting with a very notched out pattern in just 2 tones so if I get a pure high tone audio response in a sea of iron or broken up or silenced aluminum trash type audio, I investigate it, kind of like cherry picking just for silver. Here are two basic patterns for US coins/jewelry that I sometimes use.....there are many other possibilities. Sure, the potential for missing some good targets is there....... Both patterns can easily be duplicated on the Legend and Equinox with their unlimited notching. That complicated looking one on the Legend with some iron, women's small gold rings, US nickels and medium sized gold rings, a small 2 digit accepted range for some large gold rings and anything above zinc pennies.....Deus 2 simply can't do that kind of detailed notching due to its notch limitations.

Speaking of the Simplex, I found it to be a little more stable using 2 tone Field mode than the Park modes. I wish the Apex had the option of 1, 2 or 3 tone operation.........it might help its symphonic sound instability.......but, 5 tones is currently the only option. Also, I believe the Simplex also has the backlight On/Off function when a target is detected....it think it has 4 settings=A1 to A4 which determine the length of time that the backlight stays lit. The two Simplex I owned using the 3 tone Park modes would at least keep the mid tone in the correct audio bin for low to mid conductivity targets down to about 4" deep along with keeping the IDs there too. So I could predict the likelihood of a US nickel, gold jewelry, or pull tabs a little better than with any other single frequency detectors I have used. The difference was subtle but it was better than Deus 1, ORX, and even my former F19 but just barely as far as not up averaging those low/mid conductor coin sized targets into the high conductor tone and ID number range. Deeper than that and the IDs and corresponding tones were all over the place just like any other single frequency detector I have tried here.

The Legend is very similar to the Equinox as far a what settings to use in thick iron, thick aluminum etc. and most of the terminology is the same, unlike on Deus/Deus 2. The hardest part for me was and still is, navigating all of the hidden menus on the Legend. The Equinox has some hidden menus but the Legend user interface is a nerds dream....much like Deus 1 and Deus 2. I am not much of a nerd so I have had to work at it and still do. The somewhat expanded low to mid conductor range of target IDs on the Legend is what I always wanted on the Equinox along with Pitch tones. For example, with that expanded ID range, single digit notching and Pitch tones, I have setup a user profile that almost exactly matches Rattlehead's Deus 2 Silver Slayer program for accuracy, depth and even speed on my Legend that works great. The Legend will absolutely scream on any good target in range that is not being notched out using that version of Rattlehead's program and it is super accurate even in higher mineralization just like Deus 2....... Can't do that on the Equinox except for a very noisy VCO tone with no iron tone possibility using NOX 800 Gold 1 or Gold 2......😪 Can't do that on the Apex or even the ORX either. Hope you find the Legend very useful.

If I just detected turn on and go with the Equinox in many of my areas, I would encounter so much iron falsing and apparent target ID instability in the mid to upper conductivity range along with the digging of numerous iron/steel alloy targets along with plenty of ghost targets (magnetite mineralization) that I would be very discouraged and unimpressed with the Equinox after just a few hours. We heard that over and over again (and still do) from inexperienced/stubborn default only users and so did Minelab obviously since they came out with the F2 iron bias option soon after the release. The Legend is no different than the Equinox if a new user decides to not accept at least a portion of the iron range target IDs and also chooses to ignore/disregard its Ferro Check meter for shallower targets. The Legend having four preset ground/iron discrimination patterns instead of the Equinox iron On/Off option (if a new user even knows about that Horseshoe button option) makes a big difference in my opinion. Any serious detector user that just wants to use default turn on and go settings......fine. Those settings may or may not really demonstrate the detector in question's real potential and scope. For more inexperienced users, they may get the completely wrong idea about a fairly complex detector by just sticking with defaults. On much less feature rich detectors, defaults may give a really good idea about how that detector will perform in ones ground conditions and on ones normal targets within minutes. Then again, sometimes defaults work out just right depending on how a detector deals with iron using its default settings, in particular....XP Deus 1, ORX and Deus 2 defaults being good examples of that on much more feature rich detectors. Simon, if you asked me the question "Should I buy an Ace Apex?" knowing what I know from experience......absolutely NOT in triplicate. Your Ace 300 or AT Gold would hands down out perform it, the exception being use on a low iron black sand, very mild saltwater beach.

As for the used Legend advertisement you posted. I hope he sells it. I detected over 39 hours (more like 100) on several different days, sites and ground conditions using basic Park 1 with a few audio adjustments to fit US coins way before the release of 1.09 and I had my Nox 800 with me for comparisons. That was before the extra Multi modes, Pitch tone audio, iron bias adjustments (wonder if the user in the advertisement ever tried them out or just used the default maximum IB setting) ground balance improvements and the speaker issue. I could already easily see the potential for the Legend even then compared to the Equinox which is still my favorite detector of all time for good reason. Personally, I have barely begun to scratch the surface on the Legend's capabilities. 39 hours on a fairly complicated detector......not a good enough amount of evaluation time and then news of the Manticore happened. Now, if I was a hardcore detectorist that was dying to own just one or two detectors for coin, jewelry and relic hunting only both above ground and for shallow diving....I would probably be scrambling to sell everything in order to buy a Manticore and/or a Deus 2 with its improved diving shafts by Steve G and XP.

There are people here trying to sell Legends and Equinox also. Since Minelab and Nokta dropped prices for these detectors for the holiday season.......those slightly pre-owned, like new attempted sales at the same price or higher than the new models look foolishly ignorant to be honest. Whether they are selling to help fund Manticore or Deus 2 purchases....they could probably do just as well trading them in instead at this point with the prices where they are right now for brand new units or just wait until the sales are over after January 1 2023.

You and I have already spoken about how detectors behave differently in different parts of the world. You also noted in your post how they are priced differently too depending on where one lives. I flat out told you beforehand that Deus 1 would have similar target ID accuracy and depth capabilities as your Simplex. That appears to be correct from your description of your experiences. I am just going to say also that what you saw in the video comparing the ORX (running the same program as default Deus 1 Fast) and APEX target ID accuracy, audio accuracy (or not) and depth capabilities may transfer to your conditions too and they may not. Now, compare those to the Legend's characteristics in the video using its most basic and most derided program Park M1, a tiny coil and at 69 of 100 sensitivity......ORX was 90 of 100, APEX was at 80 of 100 and you be the judge. Plus you couldn't see the crutch I was leaning on in the video so my coil control was not the greatest with any of those detectors. So those are results that could be equated with a newbie's experiences. I can't speak for your examples of people selling their Legends. Was that before or after the latest software update, speaker issues and has there been a price increase or decrease relative to the Equinox. Personally if I was an Aussie, I would try to stick with Aussie tech especially if the Legend and Equinox 800 were the same price roughly. Here in the USA, the Legend Pro Pack is less than an Equinox 600........

This topic was started because of my struggling friend. He would spend minutes over a target trying to decide what to do and then once he started digging, the target was usually trash unless he got over a recent coin drop. Anything deeper than 2 or 3" using any setting on his APEX created a kaleidoscope of tones for him as he described it. My little bit of using his Apex and the two I owned previously....see, I thought it might be me too, a bad unit or I just didn't give the APEX a chance......exactly the same performance for a detector in the upper entry level to lower intermediate level price range. 😪 I included the XP ORX in the video because it also has a very competitive price and is considered by many to be XP's entry level Deus 1. It up averaged those deeper US nickel low to mid conductor targets just as much as the APEX did but the ORX was running in single frequency unlike the APEX which was running in MultiFlex......and the ORX had much more consistent tone and ID responses. Some of us that have been detecting a long time and have used many different detectors know how great it is to finally have some detectors with very accurate target IDs for the most part even if the coin sized targets are deeper than 6" while also having outstanding, competitive VLF depth even in pretty bad soil conditions. I would also include the very affordable Vanquish models under that umbrella if the ground isn't too trashy or mineralized. That is the advantage of most of the latest SMF technology from XP, Nokta and Minelab. I really wish that Garrett could add its name to that list so that even their future entry to intermediate level detectors would be a success not just for their bottom line, but also for guys like my friend that want to buy affordable AND dependable USA tech first when they have a choice.

I would have to disagree with that. The Legend is a far better detector than the Minelab Vanquish and is on another planet compared to the APEX. For me, what I was describing is a Garrett SMF detector that has some SMF guts not just a setting that says MF when it really is not better than the single frequency settings that are on the APEX at least where I detect. Back when all of the Deus 2/Equinox/Legend wars were happening on YouTube, several people expressed the belief that the Legend was in the same league as the APEX and Vanquish or even the AT Pro.......... At least in my backyard test area and for general coin and jewelry detecting the Legend absolutely eats those detector's breakfast, lunch and dinner 365 days out of the year. Right now, the Vanquish 540 complete package, APEX with headphones package and the Legend WHP are within $50 of the same price here in the USA. The only time I can realistically conceive of using my Equinox 800s at this point over the Legend is for gold prospecting (simply because my Nox setup is lighter and I trust it) and for going as deep as possible on clean ground. Otherwise, the Legend or Deus 2 are the detectors that I pickup for everything else at this point.

If Garrett could get the rights legally to put the Vanquish tech inside of the beautiful APEX control housing.......now I would gladly pay $400 to $500 for that detector if they added manual ground balance and selectable single frequency and Z-Lynk. It could even be a joint Minelab/Garrett venture somehow. That detector would sell out fast here in North America. Just waterproof it and.....Holy Cow! As it stands right now....the Apex is a $400 to $500 ergonomic/exterior beauty with Ace 200, $200 performance unless its being used at a saltwater beach where its Multi Sand setting actually offers a bit of an advantage. I am being generous with that assessment at least for where I detect. On the other hand, if selling plenty of the APEX detectors helps Garrett fund its more advanced SMF tech.......then it is worth it.

The sandstone is from my area (Fountain formation sandstone) and it has fairly high magnetite. The ground underneath them is really bad. I look at using the foam/PVC pipe this way.....it is way more realistic than air testing for sure and I can use it for trash, relics, nuggets and jewelry too. The 6" nickel and 6" quarter along with the other targets in my test area are all "in the ground" well established targets. I don't see much difference between the established targets and the PVC/foam setup.

The Apex is a straight forward easy to learn detector so the only thing left to "figure out" is will it work well in difficult soil conditions. Apparently for some including me, the Apex doesn't if good target ID accuracy on coin sized targets deeper than 3" and achieving advertised depth are what is needed . The ORX would not be my first choice for coin/jewelry hunting in high mineralization and high modern aluminum trash either since target ID accuracy and maximum advertised depth are severely affected and digging restrictions (can't just dig it all without being banned from city parks and private yards, etc.) makes using the ORX pretty frustrating. In scenarios where there is milder mineralization, no digging restrictions and digging all good sounding targets where basically ignoring target IDs is the way to go.....no problem with either detector.

Nothing wrong with the Legend. I can set it up so that the screen backlight will turn on when a solid target is detected. Many Nokta Makro detectors have had this feature as an option.

All three detectors are challenged to varying degrees by the soil conditions in my area. However, I agree....the Legend did very well even using the smallest coil, an average reactivity setting and with the lowest sensitivity setting of the three. With them all being priced very similarly at this time, I hope I can sell his Apex so that he can buy a Legend or another detector with simultaneous multi frequency technology that actually works well in our area.

The Apex being used here has the latest update. I also bought my friend the Ripper coil which is being used in the video so there would not be any question about whether his Viper coil was functioning well or not. Both coils have the same results. I have had a chance to use a different APEX at two very mild black sand East coast beaches. It did fine and it handled mild mineralized ground much better than the dirt in my area. The Legend in the video has the latest 1.09 update which really helps it a lot in thick trash like you experienced.

This test could have been done with pull tabs or aluminum canslaw as substitutes for the US nickels and the results would have been very similar. Just to be clear, the first target is a surface US nickel. All three detectors identify it correctly. Then there is a 4” deep nickel in the removable PVC pipe and a 6” deep nickel under the hard to read white label. The other surface coin is a US clad quarter which is also identified correctly by all three detectors followed by a 6” deep clad quarter under the other hard to read white label.

It was his first detector……and he thought he was the problem not possibly the detector. I hope he will keep detecting using a different detector in the future. Money is an issue for him however.