Jeff McClendon

What do you not buy about it........ I like the Equinox. It has found me more gold nuggets and gold jewelry than any other VLF times at least 20...... Mine hasn't leaked, others have. Why would I bash a detector that works well for most people and for me? Why would I post a video about the Equinox leaking on camera for any other reason than to show where it is leaking so owners can check their Equinox. If you want to go after Minelab.....and the Equinox, feel free under the appropriate forum topic. As far as accepting that Minelab will probably never release an official statement about the Equinox leaking issue or the coil ears breaking issue.....its been over 4 years and crickets. If I owned Minelab, I would have released an official statement. I don't. Instead of thinking negatively about it or complaining for the last 4 years, I have just enjoyed using my Equinox detectors and have especially enjoyed what they have found. I enjoy sunshine too....sometimes I wish the sun rose in the west but I have accepted the fact that it doesn't.

There have been no reports that I have seen of Deus 2 or the Nokta Legend control units leaking, especially in salt water. They are both excellent detectors for sure and are very similar to the Equinox in many ways as far as how they can be setup, how they sound and how they detect.

The XP branded waterproof bag shown in the photo on page 1 of this topic works just fine. It looks very similar to the ones I have from Deus 1. I have put the Deus 1 WS4 puck and the full Deus 1/ORX remote in those bags many times.....no problems with water ingress or connectivity as long as the antenna is close by. So, yeah, if you want to go near or in the water with the WS6 puck in that bag it should be fine and it's covered by the warranty that way. Put it in a zip-loc bag or don't use any kind of water protection, its probably not covered.

Right now, I would be happy with just version 0.8...............

Apart from Steve's work on the Equinox, the Equinox was not aimed at gold prospectors either from the way it was introduced, initially marketed and is still marketed today. This is why so many people still come to this forum just to ask or find out if the Gold Monster 1000 is the best VLF option of gold prospecting compared to other detectors. Most, don't even know about the Equinox unless they spend some time here.

Stating the obvious, Manticore using its Gold mode in Multi or single frequency vs Gold Monster 1000...... hard to tell since any gold prospector that has tested or used a Manticore isn't talking about it. There has been plenty of information about the Equinox 800 versus the Gold Monster 1000 on this site however and all I am going to say about that is do some research here on that subject before just going out a getting a GM 1000. The number one factor that should be considered in my opinion and from my experience is the level of iron mineralization, hot/cold rocks and variations in the ground at the sites being hunted. If the Manticore's Gold mode using the Multi frequency setting acts anything like the Equinox 800 using its 2 Gold modes set on Multi, it may have some advantages over the single frequency only Goldmonster 1000 as far as ease of ground balancing, ground handling and useable depth in more challenging ground conditions. At least the Equinox 800 can be used in ground tracking mode, ground grab or manual ground balance mode. Gold Monster 1000 is tracking ground balance only. I'm not saying that is good or bad. It is just not an option on the GM 1000. So, Manticore/Equinox 800 have a lot more possibilities for effective use at more sites (even submerged) than the Gold Monster 1000 and the overall sensitivity between the Equinox and GM 1000 especially with the Equinox in 40 kHz single frequency for air testing versus the GM 1000 is very close. As far as the features that Manticore's Gold mode may have that are the same or similar to the Equinox 800.....I just haven't looked into it much at all. For a gold prospector, the Manticore's 0 to -99 iron range has me intrigued a bit......... I will say that the Equinox 800 has many features in its Gold modes that can help a prospector which the GM 1000 does not have. That gulf may be even bigger with the Manticore. Gold Monster 1000 may be easier to make smaller in it's stock configuration, but in my opinion it is not any harder to do the same with the Equinox even in its stock configuration. Adding collapsible carbon fiber shafts to the Equinox 800 makes it super easy to backpack and very lightweight. In my opinion, you actually have more coil choices now with the Equinox than with the Gold Monster 1000 with the addition of the excellent Coiltek coils made for the Equinox. Coil choices for Manticore that are good for gold prospecting.........don't know when those will be available.

Other than EMI susceptibility which is a problem for SMFs and some single freqs, the more recently made higher quality SMFs...Equinox, Legend and Deus 2 simply outperform the older SMFs and any single frequency detector on a wider variety of targets and target sizes, trash levels, trash types and especially for target identification accuracy all the way to the extreme depth of detection....where I hunt. If EMI is overwhelming, all three detectors have plenty of selectable single frequencies to choose from. I have owned every type of earlier SMF tech except for the Fishers. These newer detectors for me are simply better.....especially when the ground has more mineralization. Hey, maybe I am just weird or have unique hunting scenarios. All I can say is that all three fit almost all of my needs as if they were tailor made for me. Finds have quadrupled in quantity and quality and these detectors have easily paid for themselves except for Deus 2 but its my most recent purchase and its getting there.

I can only echo what CPT said. If you are posting about the Vanquish 540....there is no target ID 41. Also, from my experience a 40 on any Vanquish model is usually big iron or deeper iron, large or small that is falsing in the very highest target ID numbers....39/40. Try moving around the target and see how the target ID numbers react. Also, don't use any discrimination so that the iron numbers and tones will be seen and heard. Any kind of shovel or sturdy scoop will work. Just shovel the dirt into a plastic bucket (5 gallon size in the USA) that is partially filled with water and has large rock in the bottom to keep it still in the stream. Once that target is in the bucket it should be easy to find if you can pour the contents on the bank of the stream.

I didn't post the video to bash Minelab. Neither did Gigmaster. Sure, I wish Minelab would talk to their loyal and potential customers about things like this........they don't and I can accept that. I do hope, like Gigmaster mentioned repeatedly, that the Manticore won't crack and leak in the same area.

one of my favorite quotes about the most recent SMFs=Equinox, Deus 2, Legend..... "Long story short nobody needs to defend or hype any one of these machines. They are all very capable detectors. Anyone that can’t do well with one of these models needs to go back to detecting school, rather than blame the detector. We are fortunate to have not one, but three great options to choose from, all delivering good top tier performance." I don't particularly like the detecting performance of the ACE Apex so I would not include it among those three listed.

I am not a submerged saltwater beach hunter so I have no reason to really want a Manticore. However, compared to the Equinox 800 in its stock configuration, if the Manticore absolutely does not leak, has a shaft/coil attachment system that works well submerged and in surf (doesn't need all sorts of expensive modifications) and actually out performs the Equinox in saltwater conditions, it might sell very well for serious beach/water hunters that don't want to spend $300 on Equinox water hunting mods (and it still might leak) or don't want to spend an equal amount on Deus 2 water hunting mods.

Steve (Gigmaster) does a lot of jewelry recovery in neck high saltwater surf and snorkeling for people that have lost their jewelry. So, his Equinoxes have been in some rough saltwater conditions in moderate surf and tidal pressure. Who knows, maybe that has had something to do with the cracking around the charging ports of his Noxes especially if there is a weakness or thin area in the housing around that port.

According to Gigmaster, all FIVE of the Equinoxes he has owned developed cracks around the charging port and leaked so not just one unit.

Thanks Steve for stating the obvious in your first paragraph. As far as the second paragraph.....I sure am glad that Minelab and Nokta did not follow that type of business strategy with their releases of the Equinox 800 and the Legend even though they also still have outstanding single frequency gold prospecting detectors in their current lineups.

It is not the first time that I heard of this cracking around the charging port. I have been keeping an eye on my two Noxes for awhile..... Maybe this clearly done, matter of fact video will finally at least get Minelab to say something. I would be happy with them just saying "we know about it and have fixed the issue on Manticore".

Thanks, but I often post some whining and some wrong information too. But, thanks for reading. Just for a different viewpoint. I have two Equinox 800s that are out of warranty that were manufactured in mid to late 2018. Both have been submerged in freshwater. Neither have been submerged in saltwater. They have not leaked. They do not exhibit any cracking around the charging port area of any kind under 10X magnification...........

As usual, no BS from Gigmaster. Excellent problem/diagnosis video showing where Gig's Equinox detectors all leaked and making a correlation between the similar charging port on the Manticore.........

That was a great explanation and I have no doubt that you know what your are talking about. I can totally accept those User Profile limitations and work around it. At least there are plenty of Deus Fast based programs to work with in Deus 2’s FMF program lineup. I will just need to plan better when I want to go back and forth between programs. Hopefully it really is true that there is no loss in overall performance between the two platforms .

This little statement from XP's WS6 Master Function/Settings list......."More settings coming with the following updates"..........and a similar one in the WS6 Master manual gives me a bit of hope that XP may be willing to change a few things if enough users request it instead of just accepting whatever configuration XP thinks is best.......... XP have already proven that they are willing (either for competitive reasons or from user suggestions or more likely both) to make on the fly adjustments through updates along with long term product changes like FMF, waterproofing and audio enhancements. Confirmation has already been directly received that XP will add Notch OFF in the next 0.8 update for the WS6.....see, they listen. I can live with no further Notch expert options......one notch is kind of ridiculous and petty in my opinion but, no big deal. I have already accepted the weirdness that XP will never give its Deus users full target ID scale single digit notching with no limits like its competitors have provided. It's just bizarre........It's like building a luxury car, charging a luxury price but the only option provided for opening the windows is with a manual hand crank...... The big one for me and you also are the (arbitrary???) limits placed on the 12 User Profile custom programs. Deus 1 WS4/5 had a limit on how many could be created.......fine, not a big deal. WS4/5 did not have a limit on how many could be created from one program and in what order a user would arrange them. Are they picking up on my forgetfulness and are making it easier for me to remember which program my Custom Program is based on since I can't name it using the WS6? Those two restrictions on WS6 custom programming just seem to me to be another step in the extremely wrong direction and like the inadequacies of FMF Goldfield........a real head scratcher and forehead smacker🤪

The diving bag shown in the photos works great. There is definitely a market for used Deus 2 remote controls if you price it right and include the pressure plugs, charging cable and waterproof kit as an option. Some people want a land remote and a diving remote. Mine sold in less than 6 hours on Ebay. Sell the remote and buy a set of WSA lls or use a different wireless audio system with the audio adapter. The wristband is humongous by the way.......

You are missing the inexpensive horseshoe shaped audio adapter. Put it on the back of the WS6, put the WS6 in the neoprene stem mount and you can use your own wired headphones or use an aftermarket wireless transmitter and headphones like a Garrett Z-Lynk. You can also not mount in on the staff and just put the WS6 in your pocket with wired headphones plugged into the audio adapter. Or you can pay $150 (something like that) and by the XP WSA ll wireless audio only headphones and pair them to the WS6 and put the WS6 wherever you want. As long as you don't turn on the main RC, the WS6 will automatically be the Master. It has exactly the same display and features used that way as the WS6 standalone being advertised here.

It even says Gold Prospecting in the brochure..........go figure. I have this setup and man it is super lightweight. No major complaints. The three things I want changed (besides poor gold prospecting performance)......Notch can only go to 00-00. I definitely do not want notch set at 00-00 when I am gold prospecting or micro gold jewelry hunting since so many of the targets I hunt tend to read 00...... XP has said that they will include Notch OFF in the next update..........Notch only applies to one notch being available unlike the three that are available on the full Deus 2 remote. 12 programs and 12 user profiles is a bit misleading. 12 programs and 1 user profile for each program is what it really means. I could create 12 user profiles based on just one program using the full Deus 2 remote. I can only set one user profile per program on the WS6 currently. Otherwise, detectors don't get any lighter than this or more fun to swing. The display is easy to see for the most part and very easy to navigate....easier than the full remote in my opinion so far.

Here is a link to XP's full manual in English for their WS6 controller. Great information that covers the WS6 as a standalone controller, its settings and what it can do very well. https://www.xpmetaldetectors.com/uploads/files/document/gb-ws6-deusii-userguide.pdf

I agree Alain. Mineralization is definitely a factor. I can do the same with all of the targets in the video and with targets similar to yours and Deus 2 Goldfield will detect them even on highly iron mineralized ground. Bury them even 5cm and they are very hard to detect. Those same targets in the video were fairly easy to detect with Deus 1/ORX Goldfield at 5cm even using XP's conservative settings and frequencies around 31 kHz at the site in the video during testing in the past. However, even in air testing (which I do not put much faith in by the way especially with SMF detectors) there is a really quick drop off in sensitivity to small sub gram low conductor targets using the higher frequency weighted FMF modes and especially Goldfield which should hit small sub gram targets very well, in theory. While I still had my Deus 1, I compared air tests between Deus 1 and Deus 2 Goldfield modes in a low EMI environment on the exact same targets used in the video above. Deus 1 in Goldfield at 31 kHz using the HF Elliptical coil was hitting those targets easily a full 3cm farther than Deus 2 in Goldfield using the exact same settings except for single frequency versus SMF and different coils and with much stronger audio responses.

Thanks Carolina. I saw your JMHO. It is totally fine to comment if you question something. I tried to give you some very exact answers to your questions. Just because you raise fair questions and I gave your fair answers does not mean that I will agree with your assumptions and suggestions. My disagreement with them is based on experience not conjecture. I can't tell you how many times I have done similar testing with Deus 2 and just scratched my head in frustration. I have tried all of your settings and other suggestions and those by others here who have suggested them using Deus 2 since I got it and have also experimented with them previously using Deus 1 and the ORX while prospecting. All I can say is for very small gold prospecting and for micro gold jewelry hunting, XP got the default settings very close to optimal for moderate to high iron mineralization using their Goldfield modes. Right now, from memory and my testing write-up notes, the ORX and Deus 1 using a 9" X35 coil in Goldfield set at 27kHz would have similar results that approach what the Legend shows in the video. Put on an HF coil running at 31 kHz and the results at least for sensitivity and target response would be nearly the same as the Legend. Raise the frequency on Deus 1 and the ORX and it will out perform the Legend and Equinox IF those XP detectors can be ground balanced. I have tested all of my gold prospecting VLF and PI detectors at the exact spot shown in the video numerous times. GB Amateur and I tested our QEDs at that exact spot two years ago. I chose that spot several years ago because there are overhead and underground power lines about 50 feet away, lots of auto traffic on a nearby interstate highway and the ground has enough iron mineralization to challenge a detector. So, keep questioning. It is totally okay. I do it all the time too as you probably know.