Jeff McClendon

That is great news Alain, thanks for posting. The new Deus 2 remote is really nice......however, so is the newly redesigned WS6 control module and its enhanced standalone features. If one is mostly an audio only type hunter and isn't diving or using Deus 2 for surf or shallow submersion (since the WS6 is not waterproof) Deus 2 Lite is definitely an alternative to paying a lot more for features that one doesn't really need. I could easily see my WS6 module's screen mounted on the telescoping shaft. Adding the inexpensive horseshoe audio adapter with 3.5mm plug in for any wired headphones, aftermarket wireless transmitters with phones and/or the aftermarket headphones which accept the WS6 module makes the Deus 2 Lite even more fun and versatile for "land only" hunters. That price is very tempting......... If XP improves micro jewelry and gold prospecting performance.........I may have to pony up!

CPT_GhostLight I was actually very happy using Deus 2. Great detector. I just don’t need a $1500 coin and jewelry detector, since at this time that is all I would use it for where I live. That is a luxury that I just can’t afford especially when I have two other detectors like the Equinox and Legend that can actually do more of what I need to do with a detector than Deus 2. I actually like Deus 2 better than the Legend as far as a really fun and exciting detector to use. Like I said already, if XP decide to or are able to improve Deus 2 for gold prospecting and micro jewelry I may get another one someday, especially the Deus 2 Lite model. That is all dependent on XP. I have nothing against Deus 2 and really enjoyed using it. Now I just need to find a buyer.

I am basically a beginner saltwater beach hunter or at least I don't have as much experience (around 100 hours) hunting some east coast and SoCal west coast beaches with the Equinox. I have hundreds of hours hunting freshwater beaches and too many hours to remember turf hunting and gold prospecting with the Equinox. I agree with some here and use Beach 1 as long as I can. When salt/black sand noise levels get overwhelming in wet sand and shallow surf, I switch to Beach 2. I usually use 2 tones, low tone for ferrous with iron volume just loud enough to hear and the other tone with volume on max for all non-ferrous targets. One tone has worked for me too. I hunt with the horseshoe button pressed so that no detectable target responses will be discriminated. I have dug some 12" deep silver and gold rings and coins that had mixed ferrous and non-ferrous audio responses all the way down to -9. The same goes for some very shallow micro gold jewelry which may give mixed audio responses between -3 and +5 or so and will give their actual target ID only on the surface. For a total beginner you might want to dig as many targets as you can to learn the detector's behavior at the beach you are hunting. If trash levels aren't too high that should be easy. If they are, you will learn fast what each trash target especially iron targets sound like. Collect a good sampling of trash targets and the targets you are after, take home some sand from the beach and practice.......

Great post Calmark.... For me, I too would only use Deus 2 for coins and jewelry at this point but in highly iron mineralized ground where it is simply equaled or outperformed from my experience with all three by the Legend and Equinox at half to one third less in price. The ergonomics are fantastic but I wouldn't be using half of the detector since Deus 2's most outstanding part is submerged and saltwater beach hunting and its least outstanding part is gold prospecting and micro jewelry. I can use the Legend for submerged gold prospecting and micro jewelry and it will do very well. I can also use it for the same coin and jewelry hunting that I would use Deus 2 for and the Legend will also do very well. Relic hunting, I would prefer Deus 2 for a lot of that, but still, the Legend and Equinox can handle that very well too.

If I was a saltwater beach hunter and the beaches I hunted weren’t loaded with black sand I wouldn’t have even needed to do this testing or write this post. Deus 2 would be a slam dunk even knowing what I know about now. I’m not….. I like to hunt for 2 to 4 hours a day. I just wish I was in a position to walk out my door and detector prospect everyday for 4 hours or so. That would be the find of a lifetime for me even if I didn’t find lots of nuggets. Turf hunting for clad pays off for sure especially when I don’t have to drive far at all and when gold and silver jewelry gets mixed in. It does get tiresome sometimes.

Great questions 907trouble. I hope Steve or somebody answers them because I want to hear them too……..

If I had experienced, dramatic, overwhelming differences in the ground I usually hunt on, this decision would have been easy. I would have expected those kind of results from Deus 2 based on what people in other places have seen. The guys I know out here that gold prospect and that have used Deus 2 and other competitive SMF detectors saw something different which is too bad. I saw something similar to them too. We can’t all be wrong. Moving on from Deus 2 for now….. I got to basically rent a great detector for free for three months. I bought it at a brick and mortar MD store in Georgia. It was their store demo model so I got a really good deal out the door. I won’t lose any money and I really enjoyed using it.

Hey KOB, I’m sure this testing would not be welcomed by some over on Friendly………no way will I post it over there. Most people here who are prospectors and have owned a Deus 2 already know the current situation with its limitations from experience. It’s not a big deal either way. Someday XP will improve that part of Deus 2 or they won’t. I actually get some wrist pain swinging a Deus in beach sand……or trying to deal with stubble and long grass. The slightly heavier detectors like the Equinox and Legend don’t hurt me anymore than Deus 2. I get out and hunt 2 to 4 hours almost everyday swinging something. Good to hear from you…..

You don’t need to dare me…..the testing WAS done in Sensitive. Deus 2 Mono gets no depth here by the way. I’ve owned a Deus 1 or ORX since 2016 which is what Deus 2 Mono is based on. No way will I use Deus 2 Mono for coins and jewelry here after using the same program (original Deus Fast) for 6 years and hating it. Deus 2 Mono for gold prospecting however, is the best choice out of no other good choices at the moment using version 0.71

There are definitely plenty of coins left in Denver parks. Most local hunters that I know were still using older Whites, single frequency Garretts and Deus 1s until recently so they missed a lot of the 3" and deeper coins. Denver parks get a ton of use too so fresh drops happen a lot. As far as 9" to 11" making a big difference......I doubt it. It was just the opposite with 9" and 11" coils on Deus 1 and the ORX. Larger coil here for those detectors meant more trouble with ground masking.

Chuck, in the older iron trashed sites I hunt in that are highly iron mineralized I have not noticed a dramatic difference. If I did hunt often in much lower iron mineralization I would also reconsider this choice. Despite what many are showing on some YouTube channels, the super fast recovery speed and target separation of Deus 2 are hampered by the iron mineralization out here more than people may think possible. I actually saw better separation with Deus 1.

Thanks Calmark, First, my Equinox 800's are not even part of my decision process. They aren't going anywhere except on hunts with me. I look at it this way. I bought Deus 2 for the ergonomics, SMF tech for target ID accuracy (opposed to Deus 1), reports of great depth from some people, and most of all for a lightweight, easy to back pack gold prospecting detector that has SMF tech for better ground mineralization handling. I am not diving to 60 feet and I am not a big fan of the antenna system for submerging the coil. I have used that system a lot with Deus 1 so the entire added benefits of its beach and water capabilities are not very important to me. So far Deus 2 has delivered on the ergonomics and the excellent SMF tech for target ID accuracy which is way better than Deus 1. I can actually set US coin tone breaks and even very exacting notches with little worry of missing up or down averaged 2 to 3" targets like I would if I set notches on Deus 1. However, so far Deus 2 has not delivered on great depth, dramatically better ground handling than Deus 1 and it fails miserably compared to Deus 1 as a gold prospecting detector. I have not noticed any major differences in EMI handling between the Equinox, Legend or Deus 2 in my area. The Legend has met or exceeded every expectation I had for it except that it is a bit heavy with the 11" coil. I bought it to keep me from using my out of warranty Equinox 800's submerged. I would rather pay $700 for a new detector that won't leak instead of paying $425 for a replacement Equinox 800 control pod that could leak next week.......Plus, Nokta has been doing everything humanly possible to update the Legend with bug fixes, performance improvements and incredible features. I particularly wanted to see which detector...Deus 2 vs Legend had a clear advantage as far as target separation. There was no clear advantage. I have already seen in the field that the Legend with 11" coil is appreciably deeper than Deus 2 with 9" coil in the places I hunt. For me, both of those neutral to negative strikes against Deus 2 come mostly from inferior high iron mineralization ground handling. That testing and my hundreds of hours using both detectors has made it clear to me which one fits my needs and my environment the best. If XP can or will correct the gold prospecting shortcomings of the software programming I might consider looking at Deus 2 again down the road. If they release a smaller, more sensitive coil, I will definitely consider it. Right now.......bye, bye Deus 2.

Just for people that are new to my posts, I can get long winded quick. I did this testing for me and me alone to help determine which of these two detectors will be saying bye, bye. I am posting it here for anyone that wants to read it. This testing is not definitive, absolute or even remotely relatable to what you may see in other testing videos, may experience or have experienced if you actually read this post. This testing was semi controlled. I used a 18" by 12" by 12" black plastic container filled to within 2" of the top with dirt from my backyard that has had all detectable targets of any kind including hot rocks removed. I did not remove any of the tiny magnetite particles with a magnet. It has been allowed to become very dry and crumbly over the 4 years that it has been in this container. It shows 10 of 12 filled up bars on the XP Deus 2 magnetite mineralization meter. This dirt is as bad as it gets around here and mimics the unwatered dirt in the ground in this area up until yesterday when we got some well needed rain.....it is still raining today which is awesome for our water shortage here in the Colorado Front Range area. EMI was also an issue......... This testing includes foil and beaver tail aluminum targets vs a US clad quarter in separation testing and a depth test that includes a .25 gram piece of lead from a fishing sinker that was cut in half and flattened (mimics a small gold nugget or piece of micro jewelry), a modern US nickel, a modern US clad dime and a modern US clad quarter. The target separation test had three parts and no targets were elevated so all were at the same level laying on top of this nasty dirt: test 1. foil or beaver tail laying directly on top of the clad quarter, test 2. foil or beaver tail laying roughly one quarter's diameter above the quarter, so on the Y-axis or parallel to the center spine of the detector's coils and test 3. the foil or beaver tail laying roughly one quarter's diameter left of the quarter on the X-axis so perpendicular to the center spine of the detector's coils. Normal speed coil sweeps for both detectors were as flat as possible and roughly 2" above the test targets. See photos below. The depth test was done in the same container using two slightly different sized 8" long PVC pipes sunk vertically into the dirt 4 years ago. Inside the smaller PVC pipe is a foam insert with notches cut into it at one inch intervals that are big enough to insert coin sized targets. See photo below. The results from the depth test may be startling to some. These results are however fairly consistent with what happens in some areas of western Denver when the soil is bone dry. Add in some moisture and the results will improve by 1" to 2 " on coin sized targets. The improvement on micro jewelry and small nugget type targets is minimal since they already are so close to the ferrous/non-ferrous borderline. Just for your information, these separation tests, depth tests and field results are very similar to the Equinox 800 results on coin sized targets. On micro jewelry and small gold nuggets, the Equinox and Legend are roughly equal from my experience. Both detectors were properly noise cancelled and ground balanced. Deus 2 target IDs for the test targets on the test dirt's surface are: .25 gram lead =30, US clad nickel =63, US clad dime =91, US clad quarter =96, square of candy wrapper foil =26, beaver tail from a ring pull =61. Legend target IDs for the test targets on the test dirt's surface are: .25 gram lead =14, US clad nickel =26, US clad dime =46, US clad quarter =51, square of candy wrapper foil =11, beaver tail from a ring pull =23. The settings I used are the ones that I have settled on to hunt most of the time for coins and jewelry from trial and error. You can question them if you want, but I already have. They work as well as some others I have tried and much better than others that are recommended back east or in the UK. Deus 2 9" coil (I don't have the 11" and won't buy one since I don't need it and it is not as comfortable to swing for me): Sensitive 5 tones, discrimination =10, sensitivity =95, frequency shift (today) =3, volume =3, iron volume =3, reactivity =2.5, audio response =4, silencer =1, bottle cap reject =1, notch =OFF, 5 tones with tone breaks set at 10/59/65/88/. Legend 11" coil (can't wait for the 10X5"!!!) Park M1, discrimination on the G-ground setting, sensitivity =25, frequency shift today =4, volume =4, iron volume =6, recovery speed =5, iron filter =3, iron stability =3, 6 tones with similar tone setting to Deus 2 above that help me audibly distinguish possible target conductivity and type of US coin. ________________________ Deus 2 foil directly on top of quarter test: solid IDs from 87 to 96 indicating a high conductor. ID stability lessened near the edges of the coil Legend foil directly on top of quarter test: solid ID of 48, indicating a high conductor, very stable. Deus 2 foil roughly 1" away from quarter and directly above it on the Y-axis: IDs from 76 to 82. Sounded like one target. It was easy to cherry pick and identify each target by conductivity of tone and ID by moving the coil along the Y-axis until the front or rear edge of the coil was only over one target. Legend foil roughly 1" away from quarter and directly above it on the Y-axis: IDs from 20 to 22. Sounded like one target. It was easy to cherry pick and identify each target by conductivity of tone and ID by moving the coil along the Y-axis until the front or rear edge of the coil was only over one target. Deus 2 foil roughly 1" away from the quarter and directly to the left on the X-axis: three distinct target IDs and corresponding tones in the 50s, 70s and 99 which clearly showed multiple targets swinging from right to left. Swinging from left to right there was blanking/nulling of the background noise and then 99 as the coil's left edge left the foil and was only over the quarter. Legend foil roughly 1" away from the quarter and directly to the left on the X-axis: three distinct target IDs and corresponding tones in the 20s, 40s and 50s which clearly showed multiple targets swinging from right to left. Swing from left to right there was blanking/nulling of the background noise and 48 to 55 IDs as the coil's left edge left the foil and was only over the quarter. _________________________ Deus 2 beaver tail directly on top of the quarter test: solid IDs 88 to 96. Legend beaver tail directly on top of the quarter test: solid IDs 49 to 52. Deus 2 beaver tail roughly 1" above quarter on the Y-axis (like above): one target sound only. IDs 72 to 82, targets easy to separate like above with good IDs using front and rear edges of coil. Legend beaver tail roughly 1" above quarter on the Y-axis (like above): one target sound only, IDs 33 to 36, targets easy to separate like above with good IDs using front and rear edges of coil. Deus 2 beaver tail roughly 1" directly left of the quarter on the X-axis (like above): sounded like one target swinging in either direction, ID 99, not easy to separate, target IDs for beaver tail 44 to 50, quarter 99. Legend beaver tail roughly 1" directly left of the quarter on the X-axis (like above): sounded like three distinct targets from right to left with IDs of 38-46-54, swinging left to right there was blanking/nulling of the background noise and then target ID of 46 or 54 when the left edge of the coil moved past the beaver tail. Easy to cherry pick with beaver tail reading 23 to 30 and quarter reading 46 to 55. _______________________________ Depth test Coils were swung as close as possible to the top of the PVC target holder. Deus 2 on .25 gram lead at 1" depth: =faint response with target IDs jumping from 30 to 99. 2"= no response. Tried default Goldfield.....no response at 1". Legend on .25 gram lead at 1" depth: =iffy response with target IDs jumping from 11 to 20. 2" =faint response (definitely something there) IDs alternating 11 and 60. 3"= no response. Default Gold Field using the A discrimination setting (all metal) hit this target down to 3". At 3" it was a faint response (definitely something there) with no ID, only tone. Deus 2 US nickel at 3" depth: =61 to 64 ID, good audio, 4" =64 to 74 good audio but crossed over tone break, at 5" =64 to 99 iffy audio and multiple tone breaks crossed, 6"=faint response 99 ID or no ID. 7" = no response. Legend US nickel at 3" =ID 26 strong audio, 4" =25 to 29 good audio but crossed over tone break, 5" =25 to 60 iffy audio and multiple tone breaks crossed, 6" =25 to 60, faint audio, etc. 7" =no response. Deus 2 US clad dime at 3" =ID 91 to 93 good audio response, 4" =91 to 96 iffy response, 5"=99 or no ID faint response, 6"=no response. Legend US clad dime at 3" =ID 45 to 48 good audio response, 4" =44 to 52 iffy response, 5" =44 to 58 iffy response, 6" =48 to 60 faint response, 7" =60 to no ID but know something is there, 8"=no response. Deus 2 US clad quarter at 3" =ID 96 to 97 strong audio response, 4" =96 to 99 good response, 5" =97 to 99 iffy to faint response, 6"=99 to no ID very faint but know something is there, 7" =no response. Legend US clad quarter at 3" =51 to 52 strong audio response, 4" =50 to 54 good response, 5" =53 to 58 iffy response, 6" =56 to 60 very iffy response, 7"=58 to 60 faint response, 8"=no response. __________________________________ the photos show the targets and testing scenarios. The top foil/quarter and beavertail/quarter were the actual test targets. Thanks for reading if you actually did.

That 1964 P Rosie came out of the ground looking just like that. It was a shallow target under a fir tree so I don't understand its origins/condition. Since it was shaded and more protected from the extreme weather here, maybe that was a factor. That dime has some damage on the rim and some discoloration so definitely not mint or uncirculated. Some of the silver jewelry came out of the ground very clean also....others did not.

I just use the 11" coil for coin and jewelry hunting so, even worse masking according to the "experts". Related to that, any experienced turf clad hunter will quickly see the discoloration of those coins. Those are not surface or near surface finds. Most are from the 4" to 8" range in high iron mineralization with layers of aluminum trash above them......... the easy, clean, fresh drops are already in the bank.

Yep, I finally got around to painting the buttons and now Nokta is releasing that nice cover just in time for northern hemisphere cooler/wetter weather.

For you Legend owners that are kicking and screaming and crying over in the corner because you got snookered into buying a piece of junk like the Legend which won't find anything because it can't unmask anything in modern aluminum and steel trash, maybe this photo will make you feel a little better. This is not bragging or anything like it. I am just a guy that loves to metal detect, I happen to live in a very big urban area with lots of targets and I have the time and desire to go hunt. There are no pennies in that pile of US modern clad, and that is about half of the coffee can which is the second coffee can that I have filled with US modern clad using the Legend. The zinc and copper pennies are in other cans. I keep the finds from different detectors separate including jewelry. That is all gold and silver jewelry, a few choice coins (for my area anyway) and a couple of relics. Absolutely all of these things which the Legend can't unmask were found using Park M1 (stinks according to some testers) in modern trashed parks and open areas in the last four months. Believe it or not. I don't care. I will just cash them in and be happy.

I have been right in the middle of this foil issue since I have a Legend and have made some great finds with it even in extremely aluminum trashed parks. I am not going to go into the details here. All I will say is that if Nokta is able to improve target separation of co-located non-ferrous targets in its M1 and M2 land based modes without throwing the whole detector out of whack......great. If they can't, as far as I am concerned, the Legend is an outstanding detector as it stands right now and is well worth its price tag, no matter what these "hell bent on picking the Legend completely apart by any means possible" people have to say. Thanks for the good natured humor Bill.......I needed it.

In my chain finds history with the Equinox and original Deus......that is a medium sized chain. If it's not too deep both detectors should hit it well enough to say "dig me"

Many earring backs, studs, pendents, small hoop earrings, broken jewelry and especially chains will not be detected by Deus 2 at any depth except near the surface. Some of those can be slightly larger than .5 grams in weight but are only giving a very small surface to be detected due to orientation. For really small gold chains, this is even more important. I would be very careful and double check a potential area with Deus 2 Mono if possible. Do your own testing too for sure.

Deus 2's land based higher weighted multi frequency programs have a steep drop off on sensitivity to targets smaller than your 0.5 gram example. Goldfield in my opinion is the worst offender amazingly enough. Beach Sensitive for saltwater and Sensitive with Pitch Tones for land works the best for me so far and that is what I use when hunting for micro jewelry if I choose to use a multi frequency program for that. If I was gold prospecting with a Deus 2, I would mostly be depending on Deus 2 Mono set at 40 kHz at least, using Pitch tones if I could get it to ground balance well enough. The same goes for micro jewelry hunting if I don't want to miss anything that Sensitive could miss. Hopefully XP can improve this issue with a software update sometime in the future. I might consider Deus 2 as a good choice for micro jewelry including small chains and gold prospecting then. Right now, I don't recommend it for those two types of hunting.

I am a big fan of that combo. Hope to get to use it soon. I may throw the 24K (absolutely love its audio) or the Legend (water hunting) in sometimes too. My Deus 2 is also about to go bye, bye............Just doesn't fit my needs as much as the Equinox and Legend.

I'm sure Dave (midalake) will chime in eventually. I have about 100 hours saltwater beach hunting (not nearly enough to even tie the bootlaces on the pros) with the Equinox at mild to moderately black sand beaches. I usually hunt with the horseshoe button engaged, with 2 tones (ferrous/non-ferrous) and go by the sound both for possible conductivity and depth first and rely on target ID and the actual depth meter only on shallower targets.

I have no doubt that the GPX 6000 is killing it in many areas of Australia. There is plenty of YouTube proof of that from well respected prospectors. It is doing well in some areas of the USA too. I just did not experience that at all. Most of the places I tried to detect with it, the lightweight 11" mono coil was totally unusable and all the great ergonomics and balance of the GPX 6000 were negated by having to use the 14" DD along with loss of sensitivity on the specie and smaller gold that I was after and which the 11" Mono was designed for. Just for information, I actually owned two GPX 6000s and the first one had the exact same type of performance problems using the 11” coil in the same places….. I had seller’s remorse, thinking maybe it was me and not the detector so I bought a second one used…….Nope!

The MX7/MX Sport/24k/GMX form factor and internals was the last "innovative" set of detectors from Whites. I don't count the Treasure Pro/Treasure Master since those acted like and seemed to be Coinmaster's inside the MX7 control box housing........ and they certainly weren't innovative in any way. I really like the MX7. I just don't see any reason for Garrett to rebadge the MX7 or expecially the MX Sport with sales of the AT Series still going strong.