Jeff McClendon

Burundi gold coin. I tested 9” Deus 2 FMF coil versus 9” HF round coil on the ORX. The HF elliptical coil runs at 14, 31 and 81 kHz so it is not a good comparison with the Deus 2 FMF 9” and I don’t have one anyway. When Nokta release their 10x5”, I will do another chart versus the Equinox with the Coiltek 10X5”.

Okay, people have had plenty of time to look carefully (or not) at that chart. What are some obvious things that one notices if you believe that I did this testing correctly and fairly enough settings wise and considering coil size differences. Also note that Deus 2 and the ORX are running at sensitivity 95 of 99 while the Legend is running at 25 of 30 and the Equinox is at 20 of 25.....Do the math !!!! Deus 2 FMF Goldfield does okay if the gold target is bigger than .25 grams. It is woefully bad at or below .25 grams.....take note micro jewelry hunters and none of the other higher weighted FMF programs do any better including Beach Sensitive..... Deus 2 Mono setup wide open (-6.4 disc) and using Pitch Tones with the FMF 9" coil at 45.4 kHz slightly out performs the ORX with 9" round HF coil at 54 kHz using its VCO Gold Modes. The Legend and Equinox whether in the simultaneous multi frequency or single frequency setting are neck and neck and are really hot on the small stuff while being really hot on the bigger stuff too. They appear to be slightly better in 40 kHz than in Multi. That is an illusion if you hunt for small gold or micro jewelry in any sort of mineralization. Their SMF tech will make up the difference in the real world and their 40 kHz single frequency will lose stability, depth and ID accuracy fast as targets get smaller/deeper in mineralization. That said, this is why the woeful performance of Deus 2 FMF Goldfield is such a disappointment. If XP had done their due diligence they would have caught this easily. It was obvious to me immediately and I am just a nobody. Their FMF tech should offer gold prospectors a real advantage in higher mineralization over single frequency use. I mean......Minelab and Nokta made that happen with ease......????? So, for now, I will mostly use Deus 2 Mono with Pitch tones (when I can walk someday) and hope that XP will fix FMF somehow for small nugget gold prospecting. Also, I wouldn't hesitate to use a Legend or Equinox anywhere for small gold nugget cleanup or for micro jewelry hunting. When Nokta release the 10x5" coil.........whoopie!

Steve, I would readily pay $40 to $50 for a carbon fiber or other properly sturdy extension that attaches similar to the 3D printed versions that don’t hold up. I don’t need your beautiful shaft/arm cuff upgrade for what I do but I get tired of chasing my XP detectors down hills and over cliffs😀 thanks Jeff

Mine broke months ago. Its was the one in the second photo. Nice idea……..wrong way to produce it.

I am no expert, but I believe the threshold on the TDI is the carrier for the target tone. You can hunt with "silent search" on the TDI but the only target responses will be really strong ones if the threshold knob is set to minimum. If you are just hunting for big stuff....no problem. If you are hunting for smaller stuff like tiny sub gram gold nuggets the threshold needs to be at least barely audible since your tiny gold target may just sound like a slight repeatable waiver in the threshold tone. When I am using a TDI for coin hunting I turn up the threshold until I can just hear it and back it off just a tiny bit. If I am hunting for smaller gold nuggets I turn up the threshold until I can hear it softly but clearly in the background.

My last attempt here. I would take Nokta’s word as good especially if both of your Legends are doing the same thing. No high gain VLF detector that I have ever used is very stable in magnetite that pegs a mineralization meter. The Legend and Equinox are two of the better performers in that situation and from that chart I posted recently that is pretty amazing since they are also highly sensitive to tiny low conductors like small gold nuggets. Next time you go to this hot ground site try doing a ground grab and then do a manual ground balance just to check. Be very gentle when doing a 6” to 1” pumping ground balance in hot ground conditions and make sure the ground balance spot is as free of targets as possible. Do two or three ground balances in a row just to make sure.

I understand that the onboard clock is important to you since you need to take care of a loved one in a timely manner. I had incorrect time keeping on my Deus 2 also. This usually happened to me after one of the three battery operated components got into a low or critically low battery charge situation. So, this may be a power management issue that XP is still trying to fix......... This being the prospecting section of this forum, I will say that XP has other software issues with 0.71 that are prospecting related so I hope they get those fixed too. I wear my watch on the outside of my sleeve or below my cuff when I need to know what time it is for certain......

First, are you using version 1.09 software? Also, when you say "is it normal for the Legend to just automatically drop to zero" are you referring to ground balance numbers and are you using Tracking Ground Balance when that happens? Zero is the default value just like on the Equinox but the Equinox will go all the way down to -9 for ground balance numbers while the Legend stops at 0. So, I absolutely will not use Tracking Ground Balance in places with high iron mineralization from magnetite along with numerous hot and cold rocks. The Legend's ground balance tracking system cannot keep up with that kind of severe ground conditions and it is not recommended by Nokta for use in places like that (page 12 in the manual, last paragraph). Instead, I use the methods outlined on page 12 for Automatic and Manual ground balancing and I do it often when hunting for small nuggets/pickers in high magnetite areas. Like the manual says in the second blue box on page 12, "The sound may not be eliminated completely on certain terrains. In this case, if the ground noise is minimized, it means that the ground balance has been done." The Equinox ground balance tracking system can't keep up either in these type of places so I just use its Ground Grab or Manual ground balance procedures. Sometimes it will completely quiet down if I use good coil control and sometimes it won't quite get quiet. Same goes for the Legend. If I manually raise or lower the ground balance number by just one value, both detectors will let me know real quick that the Ground Grab number was correct. So I often recheck the Legend Automatic ground balance value by doing a quick Manual ground balance check. Doing that Automatic or Ground Grab form of ground balancing in some of the worst magnetite areas I hunt at, usually results in a ground balance number from 1 to 5. I have not seen it be a 0 yet. I have seen my Equinox go into negative numbers occasionally. My own backyard ground balances at 2 most of the time and it is full of small magnetite particles and volcanic ash. My former Simplex ground balanced from 91 to 93 in my backyard. I think GotAu mentioned the Equinox in his post. I have mentioned it too. The Equinox and Legend operate very similarly and the way they operate in their gold prospecting modes is no exception from my ongoing experience currently owning both. I definitely use the mineralization meter and have seen it pegged in high magnetite areas that also have hot rocks under the coil during every swing. My backyard is 8 out of 10 bar mineralization also.

The Legend and Equinox give the opposite ground balance numbers from other VLF detectors. My ORX and Deus 2 ground balance on high iron mineralized ground with maxed out mineralization bars at 86 to 87. The Equinox and Legend on the exact same spot ground balanced with numbers from 1 to 5………

The Legend has done really well for me using the 6" coil in its Gold prospecting mode on Multi. It will ground balance and using a little threshold tone smooths out the audio too. I just use enough sensitivity to get the detector to barely chatter and go with that. I use that tiny bit of chatter to help with hot rocks, cold rocks and magnetite audio recognition. There is zero way to eliminate responses from magnetite while allowing responses from small gold nuggets where I often detect. They can share the same target IDs and the magnetite rich ground will easily mask smaller gold. Running the Legend in magnetite with any iron target IDs discriminated out is asking for trouble and will definitely eliminate some gold responses if your ground is anywhere as bad as it sounds from your description of it.

Some of the places I detect, there are solid magnetite specimens the size of golf balls with every conceivable smaller sized magnetite pieces throughout the dirt down to sand grain size. Thinking of it as an iron curtain is very realistic. I have found that the higher frequency weighted modes on the Equinox and Legend will at least have a fighting chance at these places. The original XP Deus and the ORX did fairly well too with the HF coil and frequency set above 31 kHz. Deus 2 using its Multi frequency Goldfield has basically been a bust for me. It just can't handle that kind of thick magnetite the way Goldfield is setup right now. I hope XP fix this. The other single frequency gold prospecting detectors that I have tried in thick magnetite (if they will even ground balance!!!!) will overload fairly easily. So turning down sensitivity below half power and using a DD coil instead of a Concentric coil (if there was a choice) was the only way to keep detecting with the Nokta Gold Racer, Gold Kruzer, Whites/Garrett 24K and the Minelab Goldmonster 1000. At least with the Equinox 800 and Legend using their Gold modes in Multi setting, I can run the sensitivity up high enough to get some background noise along with a threshold tone (if you want one) and the target tone. I listen for what the background chatter and target tones do over different targets and learn their tendencies. For instance, many of the big magnetite chunks will double beep on the Equinox 800 and give -9 to -8 responses with a sort of whoooop pow audio response along with a big blanking of all sounds between the whoooop pow and after the target response ends. The Legend does something similar. Compare those audio responses to the mostly clean zip/zip sounds of smaller gold nuggets which also only momentarily blank out the background chatter. Dealing with the smaller bits of magnetite.......that is where these simultaneous multi frequency VLFs in their high frequency weighted gold modes are supposed to get better depth than a single frequency detector and that has been true for me with the Equinox and Legend. Don't expect anything close to incredible depth and expect iron target IDs on smaller nuggets like 1 or 2 on the Legend and -9/-8 on the Equinox if they aren't on the surface, but they will sound different from magnetite even though they will have the same target IDs. The SDC 2300 did okay on larger chunks of magnetite. So did my GPX 5000 but neither could get the smaller bits of gold that the Legend and Equinox can hit with ease. The GPX 6000 using its DD coil does okay on magnetite too but again some sensitivity is lost. Using the 11" Mono in golf ball sized magnetite is not a pleasant experience. Hopefully the Axiom will do okay..........

Being laid up after surgery for another 4 weeks I got bored and thought I would do some comparison air tests between the current big three SMF VLFs and the excellent XP ORX. So Deus 2, ORX, Legend and Equinox 800 were air tested outdoors in a low EMI environment using settings that I have used in moderate to high mineralization. These are not settings that will give the absolute best depth on these targets during an air test. So please don't suggest a reactivity of 0 or 1 for instance since that would be unrealistic in the areas I hunt. So would maxing out the Audio Response on Deus 2. I also can't do anything about the 6" vs 9" coil size discrepancy....... These are settings that actually work in the real world in tough gold prospecting areas where many of these smaller targets will actually give target IDs that are in the iron range or even at the very bottom of the iron range depending on depth. So think of them as conservative settings that can be pushed a little bit to gain an extra quarter of an inch. The simultaneous multi frequency setting on the Legend and Equinox will absolutely out perform the selectable single frequency settings on those two detectors as far as being able to ground balance better, handle hot rocks and magnetite better, and run more on the edge. It is just the opposite on Deus 2..........The ORX is a solid performer and does really well even though it is just selectable single frequency. Just for reference, I remember finding some of these nuggets with the ORX and with the Equinox 800. The depths those targets were found at were within .5" of these air test results. So think of these results as the best possible depths in mild soil using the selectable single frequency settings and subtract a bit for higher mineralization. As for the SMF results, they are very realistic even in high mineralization. XP Deus 2 Settings Goldfield: Square Wave VCO, disc IAR=0, Sensitivity =95, Iron Vol. =3, Reactivity =2 or 2.5, Audio Response =4, Threshold=6 Mono with Pitch Tone Square Wave: disc. =-6.4, Sensitivity =95, Frequency =45.4 kHz, Iron Vol.=3, Reactivity =2 or 2.5, Audio Response =4, Threshold=6 XP ORX Settings Fine Gold: PWM VCO, disc IAR=0, Sensitivity =95, Frequency = 54 kHz, Iron Vol. =On, Reactivity =2 or 2.5, Threshold =4 Nokta Legend Settings Goldfield: VCO, disc. =A for All targets accepted, Sensitivity =25, Frequency =Multi, Recovery Speed= 4 or 5, Iron Bias =1, Threshold =6 Goldfield: VCO, disc. =A for All targets accepted, Sensitivity = 25, Frequency = 40 kHz, Recovery Speed= 4 or 5, Iron Bias =1, Threshold= 6 Equinox 800 Settings Gold 2: VCO, disc.=All targets accepted, Sensitivity =20, Frequency=Multi, Recovery Speed =4 or 5, Iron Bias = F2 set at 0, Threshold =4 Gold 2: VCO, disc.= All targets accepted, Sensitivity =20, Frequency =40 kHz, Recovery Speed =4 or 5, Iron Bias= F2 set at 0, Threshold =4 I did test Equinox 800 in Park 2 with 2 tones set on Multi with the same settings for those that happen to have an Equinox 600. The results were very similar to Gold 2 Multi above minus .25 to .5" so as has been said by me and others, Park 2 and Field 2 are perfectly acceptable gold prospecting modes. US Mercury dime is for size reference.

Similar thing happens using the Beach Diving program. Those lower (larger) frequencies require more power to maintain is all I can guess. There are hints about this in the manual too. Power management must be tricky to design.....

Speaking of fanboys.........and people that don't want to or are unable to let go of their single frequency detectors or their overweight Whites and Minelab SMFs from the turn of the century, I always chuckle when I read that stuff. For me, the APEX is an okay detector, so is the Vanquish. The Legend, Equinox and Deus 2 are definitely a cut above, not just because they have more versatile ground handling SMF tech and are mostly waterproof and wireless.......they also have fantastic selectable single frequency choices which work great when they are needed. The Equinox Multi IQ tech and the Equinox selectable single frequency tech along with similar tech on the Legend and Deus 2 at least for me have definitely made owning any other single frequency or selectable single frequency only detector that I own or have owned absolutely obsolete as far as would I buy one new at a similar price opposed to an Equinox, Legend or Deus 2......I would be nuts to do that. So, I think obsolete was a good word to use. I think Minelab was not specific enough when they used that word concerning the Equinox and should have made it clear that with the Equinox, people are getting a simultaneous multi frequency detector and a selectable single frequency detector that is fairly lightweight, has wireless audio, internal rechargeable battery, is supposedly waterproof and can handle just about any ground/beach conditions and is sensitive to a huge range of target conductivity and size. That had not been done before. I had to own several VLFs to equal all the things the Equinox could do by itself. Other than too many regularly encountered aluminum targets (don't mean canslaw) showing up in the 11 to 14 target ID range and no pitch tones for the Equinox Park and Field modes, the Equinox is still a fantastic detector and well worth the money at least in the USA.

I have owned two different GPX 6000s and both acted just like Jasong’s. I never got the chance to use mine at lower elevations or on flatter land with sparse vegetation. All of the areas I hunted were between 5,000 and 10,000 feet elevation and miles away from any towns much less larger cities. I always used the stock headphones. The 11” mono was unusable due to the behavior shown in Jasong’s video and the 14” DD while quiet, was totally inappropriate for the terrain and vegetation.

Dog Soldiers were Cheyenne not Apache. The figure depicted on that object is not from North America.

Personally, it doesn’t really matter so much what land program is used for this type of notching as long as it is one of the first six FMF program which have different frequency weighting. I wouldn’t use Deep HC for small gold jewelry but otherwise any of the rest will do fine. One factor is where to set the notches to match the targets being looked for. The biggest factor to me is the use of the Deus 2 Pitch tone setting whether using PWM or Square and adjusting the actual pitch of this highly modulated tone to fit ones hearing so it will stand out from the low tone used for the notched targets when iron audio is ON. Using the audio equalizer has helped me too along with having the best ground balance, reactivity and audio response settings for the ground being hunted.

Since Silver Slayer is based on the Deus 2 Fast program Since "Silver Slayer" is based on the Deus 2 FMF Fast program with one of its frequencies around 40 kHz, it is just fine for gold jewelry. The idea behind Silver Slayer of using notching to effectively eliminate unwanted targets ranges can be transferred to any target range. In the past with the original Deus, notching was an adventure (often unsuccessful) unless the only targets accepted were in the high conductor range. At least where I hunt in higher iron mineralization, every non-ferrous target would end up in the mid 80s to high 90s depending on its depth (3" or deeper) including gold rings and nickels due to up averaging no matter what frequency was selected or if IDs were normalized or not. Using Deus ll's notch feature and the FMF modes, that up averaging simply doesn't happen until the targets reach the edge of detection. So you can set notches wherever you want and for instance, low and mid conductor targets will maintain their correct tones and target IDs very accurately.

Dwayne (Rattlehead) is the real deal. He is a member here too by the way. The Silver Slayer can be set up as a USA clad coin slayer too or a gold ring/silver coin slayer or even a relic slayer for times when the aluminum or iron trash is just overwhelming. I use it as a last resort, raise the Pitch tones pitch as high as I can stand and lower the iron audio volume to 1 or 2……….great starting point for an emergency “I just can’t stand the noise anymore” program. I used it yesterday before my ankle surgery at an old home site and came out with similar finds to CPT……including a Mercury that I wasn’t expecting and some 1950s nickels and wheats. I had gridded the same site with Deus 1 and the Equinox so I am impressed. Nothing deeper than 6”……in moderate enough mineralization to alter Deus 1 target IDs pretty severely so notching it in a similar way in the past would have been a joke at this site. Not trying to hijack this topic by any means, it is great information so far. Here are some easy links for people that haven't seen some of Rattlehead's posts Rattlehead's Silver Slayer program Some more of Rattlehead's Deus 2 content from this site.

Alright. After that little interlude I thought I would do a comparison. I am not in any way trying to stir anything up with these three photos below. I love and regularly use (and backpack) all three detectors. The backpack being used is just like any middle school to high school age child's 20" (51 cm) tall backpack that can be purchased at Walmart or any "Big Box" store that sells school supplies. I usually use my Minelab backpack which is 26" tall when I am gold prospecting and need to carry an extra detector and gear. Otherwise, for local coin/jewelry/relic hunting day trips, a backpack like this works fine even if I am riding a bicycle. The Deus 2, Equinox and Legend all fit easily inside. I did not remove the coils from their lower shaft, nor did I remove the control units or even disconnect the coil connectors from the Equinox and Legend control boxes. All I did was remove the lower shaft for each unit. I can remove these three detectors from the backpack, put the lower shafts back in and be up and running in less than a minute. So, whether there is a design flaw or a huge difference.........you be the judge. Deus 2 Equinox (with TeleKnox collapsible shaft) Legend

With the Minelab 15% US military discount, an Equinox 600 is going to cost you around $500 and it will keep you busy for a long time. Your only other immediate expense will be a decent handheld pinpointer. A long flat blade screwdriver and/or a good garden trowel will get you started. Go through a dealer that offers the US military discount like Gerrysdetectors or Robsdetectors who are participating members on this forum or with one of the excellent dealers in Texas like Metal Detecting Stuff..... ask for the best deal including a pinpointer. You may be surprised.

Hi and welcome to the forum. The control box is held on the hand grip by one screw located on the back of the hand grip. It makes the system control unit really easy to remove. All of the electronics and battery are inside the control unit so just disconnect the coil cable, remove the Phillips head screw and the control unit comes off very well. No water ingress issues doing that or other wires to worry about.

I really appreciate these responses from experienced Minelab PI users that have also used the Axiom. The wait for the Axiom is kicking my butt. So is my Minelab PI detector inner fanboy that wants me to call up a guy near me to negotiate for his SDC 2300 that is already priced really well. I went down the SDC 2300, GPX 5000, GPX 6000 road already and know for a fact that my body and hearing (GPX 6000) does not want me to play with those anymore.......unless I get some kind of incredible stem cell plasma treatment for my gradually falling apart body. Thanks for reminding me that the Axiom is the most ergonomic of the bunch, it's plenty sensitive to smaller targets and is capable of being a very versatile PI which is what I really want from a PI.

I've never owned a 7.5 DF so I have no idea how it performs. I love the Sadie coil. Personally I had the exact opposite experience with the MJD 8X12 versus the MJD 5X9. I really like the 5X9 that came with my SPP. So, I got to do a lot more testing today. I think the entire overheating and maybe fried U3 and 100uf cap were caused by the Detect 8" coil. On power up I get all kinds of weird, loud tones for almost 3 seconds and all three of my battery trays heat up quite a bit. With the MJD 5X9 I get the normal quick startup tone that I am used to with TDI Sls and all of my battery trays from 12 volt to 16 volt just get warm not hot. Does that make any sense?

$500 sounds like a good price if everything is included.