Jeff McClendon

The manual suggests Park 1 Multi as a good starting place.

Sorry to hear that Dilek had Covid 19 but I am glad that she seems to be recovering well and still has her usual enthusiasm. I can wait a little longer for the Legend. I am not in a big hurry even though new toys are always fun especially when they are fine metal detectors. Sounds like the test units were returned in order to be updated and retested by some of the final field testers to see if their suggestions were fulfilled. I like the idea of a 4 tone mode. It will make the possibility of really jumpy audio near too many tone breaks easier to control and gives the user iron, low, medium and high conductor divisions which make sense. I also like the idea of two different multi frequency weightings for Park and Field modes. Personally, I don't see the need for two different frequency weightings in Gold prospecting mode....... and find the two Gold modes on both the ORX and Equinox to be redundant except for making one of them a sort of "custom" mode.

I haven't tried out the Deus 2 yet, but from everything I have seen so far its SMF tech will be good enough to trust the notch function. In the past, setting a Deus 1 notch in any soil that was even slightly mineralized would cause a lot of up averaging of VDIs and make using a low to mid conductor notch very unreliable. The Equinox notch system works very well for the most part and I have my fingers crossed that the Deus 2's will also.

18k and larger 14k gold rings also give zinc penny numbers sometimes……… I look at zinc pennies as indicators of someone being careless with their belongings and use them to find areas where someone hangs out a lot, a bit like finding iron at former home sites. So, I love finding zinc pennies since other better stuff almost always is in the same area. Notch them out…not for me.

Ken, there is nothing wrong with using the Legend Gold Prospecting mode in Multi at the beach…….It will have a higher frequency running but it will also have a lower one too. I know you can only select single frequency 20 and 40 kHz in the Gold Prospecting mode. Why would you want to use a single frequency at a saltwater beach when multi frequency would work as well or better. The dry and wet Beach modes using multi will also have very low and medium frequencies. They can be run in 1, 2 or more tones and a threshold reference tone can be use. To me, the Legend looks like an outstanding beach detector for any target conductivity.

Thanks for letting us know again that you are an active member of this forum. I always appreciate your videos. They definitely brighten my day and give me plenty of information that really helps. Thanks for being here!!!!

I am glad the waterproof Gold Kruzer is still around. That is an excellent detector with some great features. Haven't tried the GoldFinder 2000........ The Legend must really be something on small low conductors. From the European videos I have seen, it has much more stable target IDs on deeper targets and low conductors and seems way less EMI and abnormal ground conditions finicky compared to the detectors that were discontinued. So its SMF tech appears to be quite advanced.

Reg, I have never used the GPX 6000 external speaker while detecting. I have used and really enjoyed the new model Minelab Bluetooth headphones. My GPX 6000 with the 14" DD coil works fantastic even in my backyard which has my neighbors 70 foot shortwave radio tower to contend with along with a crowded suburb full of Wi-Fi. The 11" mono.......I stepped it off recently........I could not get within 1000 feet of a big power line at a prospecting site. My former SDC 2300 had similar issues. I was able to get inside 100 feet with my GPX 5000 using its 11" Commander Mono using the mono setting. The GPX 6000 with the 14" DD coil, I could walk right under the power lines......go figure.

I am not surprised at all by this decision. I have owned five of those listed long enough to discover that they could not handle moderate to high iron mineralization worth a darn, overloaded on some of their lowest settings and were basically too unstable to use where I live. The lower frequency models also were not that great in saltwater or on wet saltwater sand. This is another instance where high quality SMF tech really can make detectors like the ones listed become obsolete almost overnight. With this decision, the Racer line of detectors is now done along with the original Makro half of Nokta Makro. It also shows how much Nokta Makro believes in the Anfibio Multi, Simplex and of course their new Legend to continue to be great sellers as they should be. I have owned the Simplex and definitely could see its potential. The Legend is a detector that I will definitely buy in the future.

Thanks Reg. I really enjoyed using the QED PL3 I owned for about a year. Nice detector. Difficult to ground balance in North American high magnetite iron mineralization. Also, it was shipped to North America without being adjusted for our 60 Hz electrical system so EMI was hard to control......sounds familiar concerning the GPX 6000. How a mistake like that can happen is beyond me. I was told to just not use it near urban areas which happens to be where I live and often relic detect. Many of my prospecting sites are near big power lines too. Oh well. I was an early owner of the GPX 6000. Like I mentioned above, I was turned off by its hyper sensitivity to US EMI using its mono coils. I was extremely impressed with the 14" DD coil and the seamless way the GPX 6000 could switch between mono and DD coils. I sold mine and regretted it. I picked up a used one recently for an incredible price that came with several extras. It behaves exactly the same as the first one. I will just patiently wait for a smaller DD coil from Coiltek.......hopefully.....please!!!!!

I have used the XY graph on Deus 1. In ground where every small non-ferrous target isn't pulled into the iron target ID range, the XY graph is very good. On Deus 2 with its more accurate FMF target IDs, bigger screen and XY graph zoom feature it may even be better.

I tried to use the Ground Notch feature. It works but for me the notch window was too wide... and the ground handling ability of the single frequency Goldfield mode made the boundaries of the notch window very unstable meaning their values could be up or down averaged depending on mineralization and mask targets near the notch window. The Equinox single digit notching is far superior and using Multi IQ it is very exact unless the ground is just terrible. Hopefully Deus 2 with FMF will have much better ground handling capabilities.

I have zero published proof of this next statement. However, I believe there are some ground/hot rock handling things going on in the background when using the Equinox Gold modes that are not happening in Park 2 and Field 2. Also, contrary to what I used to think, the threshold in the Gold modes may actually be more than a reference threshold like it is in Park 2 and Field 2. At least for smaller gold less that .5 grams, I have experienced a noticeable difference in sensitivity between the Gold modes and Park 2 and Field 2 setup similar to the Gold modes. Deus 1 and the ORX using either HF coil in 31 kHz (similar frequency to Deus 2's 40 kHz) were much more sensitive to .5 gram and smaller gold than the other Deus 1 version 5.2 software modes by an inch or more. Deus 2 with its FMF technology along with its new discrimination search modes may change all of that. So we'll know soon.

Have you read “My Tips On Gold Nugget Detecting With The Minelab Equinox” in the Equinox section of this forum yet?

I have owned the Gold Monster 1000 and still own the Equinox 800. I found the Gold Monster 1000 to be an excellent 45 kHz single frequency gold prospecting specific detector that is easy to use and be successful with. My only problems with the Gold Monster 1000 were its lack of a threshold tone and its difficulty staying automatically ground balanced along with the time it took to sometimes auto ground balance it. These two limitations showed up the most in really hot ground conditions where a threshold tone could have given me possibly a little more depth and being able to do a button press ground grab to lock the ground balance would have saved me some time and frustration and I wouldn’t have needed to constantly have to pump the coil on really hot ground or after recovering a target. I found the simultaneous multi frequency Equinox 800 with its highest multi frequency of 40 kHz in its Gold modes to be the equal of the Gold Monster in sensitivity to tiny gold targets with the 6” Minelab coil and with the 10X5” Coiltek coil while also having the option of using the 11” or larger coils for deeper gold targets if the ground mineralization allowed. Doing a push button ground grab, manually ground balancing or using its automatic tracking ground balance along with its SMF Multi IQ technology gave me the flexibility to easily use the Nox 800 at highly mineralized sites where the Gold Monster 1000 could not operate well at all. The Nox 800 also has full single digit VDi notching, fully functioning accurate target IDs unless the ground is super bad, recovery speed adjustments, VCO audio and an actual threshold tone that is capable of adding a little boost to really weak signals. Amazingly enough, the Equinox with the 6” or 10X5” coil is more comfortable to swing than the very top heavy Gold Monster 1000. All of the Nox 800 Gold mode features are very helpful for the gold prospector and if you want to hunt in a discrimination mode you have two options….Park 2 and Field 2 that also have a high frequency of around 40 kHz SMF or 40 kHz single frequency operation along with all of the same features as the gold modes plus multi tone operation. If you plan to do some coin/jewelry/relic hunting and also occasionally get to a saltwater beach or need to submerge a detector, the Equinox is very capable of doing all of that easily. So, in my opinion, since you already have the excellent single frequency 71 kHz Gold Bug 2 for tiny gold nugget prospecting, the Gold Monster 1000 is kind of redundant. The Equinox would offer so much more versatility both as a gold prospecting detector and coin/jewelry/relic detector than the Gold Monster 1000.

The above chart by El Nino shows the situation well. It does not take salt compensation into account however. Those numbers could well be less for some modes and even show the smallest target not detected for others.

I am definitely not Steve but, it depends on which other frequency or frequencies are mixed with 40 kHz. There will be slightly different salt ground phase/ground balance values, one for each frequency. So it is possible that one of the frequencies (hopefully 40 kHz or something close) will get a good look at that small gold target. Using single frequency with salt compensation like Deus 1 or ORX........makes it much harder to hit targets with IDs that are in the vicinity of the salt ground phase value.

Thin gold chains and tiny earrings with the Equinox in Beach 1.....maybe but not very deep Beach 2 only if they are really shallow like 3" or less. If you can run the Gold modes which depends on a lot of variable factors including your sanity and willingness to dig small trash in the -2 to +10 target ID range on a low black sand beach.....definitely. Deus 2 with that really sensitive @40 kHz Beach Sensitive mode.......can't wait to try it. Deus 2 in Goldfield......same situation as Nox/Deus 1/Orx Gold modes. I am usually hearing an imaginary threshold tone 24/7 for days and nights afterwards!!!!! I get the desire to just find some gold even if it is a small 10K opened jump ring from a chain that is worth $1 dollar US. Personally, I would just rather find 4 clad US quarters.

That coil design looks really interesting. Anti Interference ??? coil that ramps up power over a target in detection mode combined with 75 kHz would definitely hit some small targets.

DETECTION CAPABILITIES The MF5 detects metal and conductive targets, including fine wires and carbon rods. It provides indications of ferrous and non-ferrous targets, carbon rods, and fine wires. The MF5 is able to detect targets in all types of soil, regardless of mineralised content, and can operate in environments of high electrical interference. Carbon rods????? Can operate in environments of high electrical interference????? Multi IQ that is on my Equinox doesn't like EMI although EMI doesn't bother Vanquish very much, but I guess the use of the word "can" is somewhat relative.

With that information provided I will jump in. The Apex is a very nice detector. I wish its multi frequency technology was as good as its other features, build quality and ergonomics. Like Steve said, it is an Ace level detector. On salt water beaches it will do fine and its Multi Flex tech will offer advantages over it single frequency use. In mild to high iron mineralization I found its Multi Flex technology to offer little or no advantage over single frequency use as far as overall depth, target ID accuracy or ground condition stability in higher iron mineralization. The Vanquish build quality is definitely not equal to that of the Apex and it is limited to multi frequency operation only while also not having a user ground balance option . Its Multi IQ technology is far superior to Multi Flex however. Multi IQ will offer obvious depth and target identification capabilities over the Apex in mild to high iron mineralization even with it being limited to internal fixed range ground balance limitations. So, it is an extremely accurate and deep detector for its price. Personally, for an iron trashed home site or cellar hole I would pick the Apex. For the other detecting scenarios you noted, I would pick the Vanquish 440 or 540 every time.

Thanks Rick, maybe for a normal kid or a person half my age it would not be much more than a bad cold. For me, at age 66, it is more like a bad flu bordering on pneumonia. I am fully vaccinated and boostered so my phone nurse assures me I will make it. Been sick for almost 2 weeks………

Detector audio is so subjective. My tone preferences are the polar opposite of yours........amazing.

Oh boy, this should be a really good read. I am staying out of it.

I can understand the original posters concerns about being able to adjust individual tone bin volume levels. I have some hearing loss and some audio frequencies sound much louder than others even when they are set at the same output levels. Sometimes the ones that sound louder are not really the ones I want to hear the loudest if that makes sense. Being able to lower mid tone audio responses and raise the volume level of high tone audio responses really helps me sometimes. So do different brands of headphones, etc. Hopefully the audio equalizer will help my situation when using the Deus 2 along with setting up custom tones in a saved program slot that sound good to me.