Jeff McClendon

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.

Thanks for the quick answers. Is there a "Makers Mark" or indication of karat type. Some older rings like that one may not have both.

I got some time today to test the repaired SPP. I went ahead and charged the lithium pack to 16 volts, got a 9 AA NiMH rechargeable battery tray charged to 12.6 volts, some targets..... US quarter, US nickel, 0.5 gram gold coin, 1.2 gram specie and .25 gram flat nugget and headed out to the testing area I usually go to that has next to no audible EMI. I had the Miner Johns 9X5 folded Mono and the Detech 8" Mono. I found the 16 volt tray got about an inch more air test distance than the 12.6v tray. Results with the 16v tray were = the .5 gram gold coin (7"), US nickel (11"), US quarter (11.5") while .25 gram flat nugget was barely detectable at 1" and the 1.2 gram specie was detectable to 2" using the Detech 8" Mono. The Miner Johns 9X5" folded Mono was about 1/2 inch shorter distance than the Detech 8" on all the coins, hit the specie at about 1" and could not detect the .25 gram flat nugget unless it was touching the coil. So the 16v tray was marginally better than the 12.6v tray. However, the 16v tray got a lot warmer to almost hot at the +/- terminal end of the tray where the tray is closest to the PCB. The 12.6v tray got slightly warm but definitely not hot......... I also had the Ukrainian orange, three lithium battery 12.6v tray with me. I tried all four batteries in that tray to see if I might have a bad cell among the four. That tray did not get hot, only slightly warm. Maybe I made a lousy 4 lithium tray or something else is going on. thanks for reading. Jeff

That is a beautiful ring and a fantastic find. Since I am mostly a turf hunter, passing up a quarter or a coin sized 94 would be sheer lunacy. Just for my own curiosity, what is this ring's VDI in the higher weighted modes like General, Sensitive or Fast? Also, it looks like it was about 6 to 8" deep.....is that about right?

Even a preliminary manual would be nice for sure. Translating a pre-release manual into dozens of languages and then having a long list of addendums before the actual manual is released......not Minelab's style. Since that has not happened yet, for me that means there is more going on than some software tweaks as far as the Manticore being production ready for release on a large scale.

Just go to Gigmaster's YouTube site and read some of the comments when he has posted a video about the Equinox leaking...... The answer is NO.

I have been able to jump on the new release bandwagon for several recent releases thanks to being retired, having a little extra money and lots of time. To say that my experience has been totally positive with all of these newly released detectors would be dishonest. In fact, it has been very much a mixed bag. Believe or not the marketing/Youtube influencer hype at your own peril. I wish it wasn't this way but it's 2022/23 Equinox absolutely changed the world of detecting for me due to where and what I hunt even though I wish the target ID scale had more room in the low to mid conductor area. I also wish it had a "Pitch Tone" option in its Park and Field modes for modern Canadian coins and other steel core coins/targets. I have had no issues with any Equinox I have owned aside from wobbly shafts that were replaced with carbon fiber. So the Equinox blew me away as an incredible detector. Garrett ACE Apex.....just didn't cut it as an intermediate detector and both of the ones I owned had major problems right out of the box and spent a lot of time traveling from Colorado to Texas and back. Simplex was a fantastic detector for a beginner or casual users but its ability to handle high iron mineralization (being single frequency why should it????) left it sitting in the corner. Vanquish models in spite of being simultaneous multi frequency couldn't handle high iron mineralization either and had the same ID scale/tone limitations as the Equinox.......also sat in the corner. Minelab GPX 6000.....great detector, super sensitive......but way too limited as a PI......basically it is having an unofficial recall. For me, all Minelab had to do was release an 11" or smaller DD coil for EMI mitigation and I would still own it...... a PI with four automatic coil type Mono/DD sensing search modes (2 DD coil modes) and only one 14" DD coil released versus 8 Mono coils released/in production......No small DD coil on any horizon I can see. Lost an owner/customer. XP Deus 2......fantastic lightweight simultaneous multi frequency detector that thankfully is still in its Beta software stage. Hopefully it will actually have a functioning small nugget gold prospecting mode some day. It is one killer coin/jewerly shooter in modern aluminum trash and since it's a Deus, it already excels in iron trash. When an official or aftermarket surf/dive shaft is released that can route the antenna wire more securely, this detector will also be even better. Nokta Legend..... this detector, besides the Equinox is the only newly released detector that has really surprised me in a good way. It performs way better than I expected where I detect on the targets I most often hunt. It actually has the two improvements that I wanted on the Equinox= expanded target IDs in the low to mid conductor range and Pitch Tones for Park, Field and Beach. Plus it has several more user profile slots, collapsible carbon fiber shafts, robust coil ears, doesn't leak so far........ Sure there have been some software, chip, speaker and coil problems that have been quickly addressed (well quick for a pandemic, chip, labor shortage/ supply chain hampered, industry) If a person off the street that had some beginner level experience with basic detectors asked me to recommend a good quality, intermediate level, affordable, waterproof SMF, right now I would recommend the Legend over the Equinox every time. Well done Nokta!!! Manticore.....the Equinox is such a good detector that the Manticore will have to be substantially better in performance and actually (proven by users not hypers) have a better shaft system, won't leak, coil ears won't break, etc..........No proof of any of that yet so like others, I am sitting this one out.

Hi Jim I am being super careful and only charging to 3.7v per battery so 14.8v.

Got my SPP back from Centreville Electronics NW. Todd replaced U3 IC and a 100uf SMD Capacitor. It is definitely back up and working well for very little expense. My only small gripe is that it is not as sensitive to smaller targets .5 gram and under as it was before those parts fried. It air tests to less distance with coin sized targets than it did before also by about an inch using the MJD 9X5 folded Mono and Detect 8" Mono. Both are detecting a .5 gram gold coin at 6" and will barely hit a .25 gram nugget. The .5 gram gold coin was air testing out to 7" and the .25 gram nugget was testing out to 2" before the parts fried. Also, I am seeing no difference in depth or sensitivity with the 14.8 volt 4 lithium battery pack and the 12.6 volt 3 lithium battery pack and the 12.6 volt NiMH 9 battery pack......... I will keep testing and maybe get to hunt with it tomorrow a little.

I jumped right into the fire by getting a Legend and Deus 2 fairly early. I got called all sorts of things for reporting what I experienced (not so much on this forum). You couldn’t pay me enough to be the brunt of that kind of crap again. I also got burned with iffy performance from one of those detectors compared to all of the other glowing reports and the same happened with a different Minelab detector that now basically has a recall. I can wait……

Several people have mentioned or implied that simultaneous multi frequency detectors do not outperform single frequency detectors in dirt. That is not my experience in the dirt I hunt in at all, it's not even close. Different soil conditions I guess. The good news is for anyone who wants to upgrade to one of those "high end" simultaneous multi frequency detectors, those detectors (like several people have mentioned already) will put you into several different selectable single frequencies with the push of a button. So the single versus SMF debate is really kind of pointless. You get the best of both sides of the argument with these newer SMF tech detectors since the Equinox, Deus 2, Legend and even the more humble Garrett APEX can also be easily operated in single frequency. The ORX right now brand new, with WSA headphones and an HF coil costs more in the USA than an Equinox 600 or Legend, and $100 to $150 less than a basic Deus 2 WS6 Master and an Equinox 800 (until December 31st........) The features included on those detectors compared to the ORX are incredible. I am not dissing the ORX by the way just XP's price for the limited features included on the ORX compared to the other detectors mentioned in this post.