Jeff McClendon

The two main areas I have and will use a Deus for are gold prospecting for smaller gold nuggets and for relic hunting. I usually do this type of hunting using a threshold tone. For relic hunting I sometimes use disc. IAR set on 3 to 5. For gold prospecting I leave disc. IAR on 0 or at most 1. Clearly hearing the threshold tone vary, hearing very faint target responses and hearing non-ferrous responses amid ferrous responses are all important for me. Even when I am using a discrimination mode, I always have at least part of the iron target IDs accepted so I can hear iron targets either as an iron tone or as a nulled threshold tone. The WS back phone system does not help me with that hearing process. They simply do not fit my head no matter how much I adjust them, put tape or foam padding on them or literally bend them to fit my big head. When I wear a baseball hat with the plastic tabs on the back that have several holes on one side and little round tabs on the other, mine are always on the last tab and hole and the hat is still usually too tight. Since the WS does not fit, the ear phone pieces don’t fit either and the plastic rubs on the side of my head and irritates the top of my ears whether I am wearing sunglasses or not in about 45 minutes. I won’t call the WS4/6 audio modules junk. They are fantastic. I will call the WS back phone system unusable for my head however so they might as well be junk. For those that think I am complaining……I am not. I have been fighting with those back phones for 6 years now. I actually like the original back phones better than the newer “improved” design. I seriously hope that XP get the threshold that is an option on Deus 2 working as at least a reference threshold soon.

I don’t yet have a Deus 2 so my information is not first hand….sorry. Can Gold Field and Relic be run with PWM audio? Does that change the threshold behavior? Deus 1 Gold Field’s threshold does null on some iron and deeper targets if some disc. IAR is used from my memory….. thanks

The threshold in Relic and Gold Field works correctly. Why it doesn’t do anything using “pitch” audio in the discrimination modes is bizarre.

Park multi 1, ground discrimination setting, adjusted the tone breaks for iron, small gold, US nickels, zincolns, clad dimes/copper pennies, and quarters so each coin has one tone and isn’t straddling a tone break and adjusted the pitches to my classical music liking.

Very short 45 min hunt in the mud between thunderstorms. Even though the iron mineralized ground here in west central Georgia is fairly hot, the Legend ran very quiet and stable again in Park M1 with sensitivity at 24 and recovery speed at 5. It had no problem hitting and correctly identifying all of these targets. One of the nickels and several of the dimes and quarters along with the pulltab were 6+” deep. The ring is just bling but it sounded great. After 2 hunts totaling less than 2 hours, the Legend’s SMF tech has proven to have very accurate target IDs and pleasant, easy to distinguish tones to the point where I already can predict what I am digging as far as USA modern clad

The Legend in Calabash’s video was falsing and reacting to the salt level on that beach. The constant 9/10 target ids clearly showed that. The only setup step that Calabash did not show in that video was ground balancing. Maybe he screwed that up….. I doubt it. With the Legend behaving that unstable it had no chance to show what it can do. Calabash did all he could to stabilize it but those steps also cut depth and length of signal response. So, in my opinion that video showed why the Legend sorely needs software work on salt ground balancing abilities. I am going to hold final judgment until after N/M has had a chance to make some changes.

I watched Calabash’s video posted above very carefully. I cannot fault anything that he showed in the video. His comments are his opinions but the setup he used as far as settings for the Legend was correct and as said earlier, his is not the only video that shows a Legend behaving this way on USA East Coast beaches. I don’t think it has anything to do with the Legend being a bad detector. I do think that there is a software issue that Nokta Makro has already said will be addressed very soon via a downloadable software update.

We are very fortunate that detectors from some companies like Nokta Makro can be easily updated when the problems pop up. Are you listening FTP?????

I have not had a chance to hunt with the Legend at an East coast USA saltwater beach. I did watch Calabash Digger’s Equinox 800/Legend beach video where he tested planted 10”, 12” US nickels and a 12” 14K ring. That video was disturbing. Calabash was not the problem. His testing was well done. The Legend he was using was constantly displaying target IDs of 9 and 10 when any of the iron range was accepted so it was constantly reacting to the salt levels and was also falsing in the upper 30s even with salt sensitivity at 5, reactivity 5, sensitivity in the low 20s, using Multi Wet in Beach mode. Another Florida beach user posted a similar video with similar falsing/salt sensitivity issues. Hunting with the iron range accepted would have required a big reduction in the iron tone volume level, notching 9 and 10 or just not hunting in all metals accepted. Very troubling in my opinion…….

The Equinox as most know, doesn’t have a mineralization meter. Maybe that was deliberate on Minelab’s part since they knew it could handle most types of mineralized ground very well and didn’t see a need for more display clutter. The Legend may not “need” one either for the same reason and it’s display is already full in my opinion. In the short time that I have hunted with the Legend, the Ferro-Check feature has done well on shallower borderline ferrous/non-ferrous targets. I can see this feature being helpful when gold prospecting, shallow relic hunting and beach hunting at low black sand content beaches. It seems to be a “possibility/probability” meter rather than an exact iron identification meter and could be a useful, easy to use tool. It seems that Nokta Makro is addressing a weakness in the onboard pinpoint function with a software update very soon. I was pleased to discover that the supplied Bluetooth headphones have fine tuning volume control onboard which can further adjust the overall volume level. This headphone feature might also help that sudden jump in threshold volume level between threshold volume settings 9 and 10.

Quick 1 hour hunt at a local school complex. Standard US clad along with a 1942 Wheat penny and a 10k gold opened hoop earring. I was using the 11” coil in Park Multi 1, sensitivity 25, 6 tones, recovery speed 5 and was using the ground discrimination setting which rejects target IDs 1 and 2 to take care of ground noise from the red iron rich clay that is the soil here which is made from decomposition of granite and gneiss. I definitely performed a ground grab before hunting! My mother told me to get out of the house for an hour since it was my 66th birthday and she was being looked after by my sister. I obeyed. My third target was the 10k opened hoop earring (bottom right earring on the plate) which gave a very solid audio response and a TID of 14. It was 3” deep and surrounded by 16 steel 🧷 safety pins from a high school cross country race event. I could clearly hear a good target amid those pins. The other coins were identified correctly both by tone and numbers so no up averaging even in mineralized dirt. The US nickel and pull tabs were 5”+ deep. I had adjusted the 6 tones, volume levels and tone breaks to match ferrous targets, small gold/aluminum targets and the 5 main modern US coins. The only possible negative was what seemed to be a bit of Bluetooth lag since I was having some issues locating targets using the onboard pinpoint function. However, the red dirt was extremely wet and my Tek Point went nuts anywhere near the dirt so could be ground conditions more than wireless lag. So far, the Legend has been very quiet and stable and is a pleasure to swing and use. For those with a Simplex, the Legend has much better weight balance. For Dean, the vibration feature works in all of the modes, it has 0 to 5 for intensity and can be shortened or lengthened in duration by adjusting the recovery speed. Yes, those chewed up coins are modern zinc pennies which are destroyed quickly by the soil here.

Thanks Simon, George, Chuck and Dean. I am in Georgia to help take care of my 91 year old mother who developed a really bad Covid toe infection and had her foot amputated. She is in great spirits since her foot has finally stopped hurting…. I may not have much time to detect. I will say that there are plenty of settings, icons and adjustments to learn and make on the Legend. I won’t come close to being able to report on most of them yet. Dean, the vibration feature works really well in my opinion and it has several levels of intensity. I haven’t tested it much but I will soon.

Received a Legend WHP with 11” stock coil today. First impressions are that this is an extremely nice detector as far as build quality, features, layout, and general feel. Weight is similar to the Equinox but the handle/grip is much more comfortable at least for my hands and the Legend is not very nose heavy with the 11” coil. The Legend’s weight is fairly evenly distributed. It actually reminds me of a T2, F70 or F75 in that regard. The audio tones are very nice compared to previous Nokta Makro detectors and have a more tone-like audio similar to the Equinox and Deus 2 using Square audio. The audio volume, pitches, and tone breaks are easy to adjust. It was about 35 F here in central Georgia today with a wind chill of half that temperature so detecting with the Legend didn’t happen. Hopefully I will be able to use it some tomorrow 3/13/22. Please feel free to comment or leave your impressions of the Legend if you have one and want to add to this discussion whether you agree or disagree with whatever I might report.

Top four are more intermediate to expert detectors that can challenge anyone both with their versatility and adjustability. The last two are buy far the best value for the money for the beginner or slightly experienced. CTX 3030 and XP Deus 1 at least for me are very site specific specialty detectors. XP Deus ll Equinox 800 Equinox 600 Nokta Makro Legend CTX 3030 XP Deus 1 Simplex Vanquish 440/540

Fantastic test write up and photos Alain! Thank you very much for all of your work. I will need to read this topic several times before I can take it all in. It is so interesting how each person has likes and dislikes. On Deus 1 my favorite and most productive modes are Pitch and Gold Field where I can hear every target in the ground and I learn a little about which targets to avoid. Disc IAR actually works fairly well even on a low setting for just slightly causing iron targets that are in range to have broken up tones. Did you really like the Square audio? Also, did you have a chance to do any testing with just the WS6 used as “Master” and how is the WS6 user interface? Do you still think just buying the WS6 Deus 2 Lite is a good option for mostly tone hunters? I realize you had limited time for your testing and may not have had a chance to consider just the WS6 by itself. thanks

You asked for a standardized VDI chart for the Simplex and are comparing the lack of one to the Equinox. The Equinox in multi has very dependable and consistent target IDs in most soil conditions on US coins at different depths depending on mineralization. I have hunted in many types of ground mineralization and those VDIs have been very reliable in most places down to site specific edge of detection depth. Target ID accuracy using the Equinox single frequencies are very inconsistent and all over the map depending again on depth and mineralization levels The Simplex being a single frequency detector has accurate target IDs if ground conditions are favorable down to depths which again are ground mineralization dependent. At a certain depth, which is different for different locations, the Simplex target IDs can be up averaged or dragged down into the iron range very quickly and like the Equinox in single frequency, are very inaccurate. So, comparing the Equinox using Multi IQ and the Simplex using 12 kHz as far as dependable target IDs is definitely apples to oranges in my opinion and the reliability of VDI charts for both detectors is also very different.

This is Paystreak’s “corrected” Legend detecting gold chains video. Jeremy is a stand up guy who doesn’t mind apologizing and showing how careful one needs to be when videoing the process of learning a new detector

Deus 2 being a new product……we all have a lot to learn about it once we get one or are just wanting to learn about it.

Deus 2 fails at quarters. actually the detector operator failed at quarters. had you lowered the discrimination to -6.4 all of your “nothing” responses would have been “reading as iron” or 00 which is accurate for many detectors when detecting high conductor coin spills and coin rolls that wrap around into that no target ID area on Deus 2 between 99 and 0…..

I would never even consider doing 4 foot repetitive drop tests on concrete using an Equinox or Deus like the ones Jeremy did to his Legend along with throwing it several times and kicking it. Amazing.

Why does it have to perform equal to Deus 1 in iron??? For me, if it can eventually detect as well and accurately as an Equinox while having better build quality and waterproofing, that is enough for me to consider it as a viable option. It is not specifically a competitor of Deus.

Production model Legend without iron bias update, tested for durability and depth by Paystreak Superfreak.

Production model Legend with preset fixed iron bias (not updated) recovery speed and ferrous/non ferrous masking video tests from the UK by a very experienced detector tester and user.

Adjustable iron bias will help the Legend when that update is completed. Put the Equinox on F2=6 and it will also really struggle with that test.

At least for my ears, the Gray Ghost's were muffled, not particularly comfortable and very overpriced. I have the Quest headphones and they are outstanding. I have not tried the Detector DooDads version, but that company has a good reputation. If Quest is able to continue making their excellent Deus/ORX/Deus 2 over the ear headphones, they will sell well. I really enjoy using the Clip Jack Adaptor which works with any 1/8" headphone jack or adpator plug. Remaining untethered to the Deus is fantastic. So is being able to use a wide variety of wired headphones/earbuds. I can stand the supplied back phones for about and hour when wearing sunglasses or glasses. I have used those things for 5 years, sanded down the rough edges over the ears, put soft foam tape on them, bent them to fit my pumpkin head, you name it.......nothing helps.