Jeff McClendon

Iron bias default settings do make a difference. Some have said that Park 1 and Field 1 are the exact same default modes meaning they have exactly the same frequency weighting using Multi but with slightly different discrimination patterns, different iron bias settings and different tone settings. There does seem to be a difference in the frequency weighting between them from my experience. There is a huge difference in the frequency weighting between Park1/Field1 and Field 2 for sure.

What made this change of results possible?

You have a detector in the AT Max with 1 fixed preset frequency along with a few offsets, with preset audio tones and with 3 different modes: All metal mode, Custom/Coins/Zero (which are all the same mode) and Pinpoint mode, which also has block notching, iron audio on or off and a threshold tone. Those are the adjustable features so you basically have a detector which has approximately 3 different detectors living inside of it. Taming its extreme high gain is definitely daunting for many. This is a detector that you are just getting acquainted with and it is the flagship Garrett single frequency VLF. The Vanquish 540 is very different. The differences in the iron bias settings and the possible different recovery speeds do change things a bit but basically you have 1 search mode with slightly different preset recovery speeds that can be substantially changed by changing the iron bias from low to high and doing some notching. Getting to know what the Vanquish has under the hood is doable fairly quickly. You have a detector in the Equinox 600 that is on a completely different planet even though it seems "just like the Vanquish" (I hear this a lot!). Definitely NOPE. It has 7 different modes including Pinpoint mode. The 6 main modes if using the multi frequency setting have 4 different tone options, 3 different recovery speed options, 6 different iron bias options and 50 different single digit notching options just for starters. I don't feel like doing the math on that right now but changing any of those features (just ground balancing the Nox does this too by the way) creates a slightly to drastically different detector. Then you factor in the 4 different single frequencies for the Park and Field modes and do the math all over again..........suffice it to say that just on the basic surface with 6 multi modes, pinpoint mode and 16 single frequency modes, there is definitely more than 1 detector inside the Equinox 600 Spending 50 hours or so learning most VLF detectors will definitely tell you all you need to know. Spending 50 hours with an Equinox, Deus, Tarsacci, Fisher F75/T2, Whites V3i/Vx3, N/M Anfibio just for a few examples, one is barely on a first name basis. Testing the Equinox in default Park 1 is a bit like seeing the world through a front door security peep hole.

I use my Deus 1 with HF 9" coil for two detecting scenarios: 1. gold prospecting only as a backup when I get tired of swinging a heavier detector like the GPX, 24K or Equinox or if I am high altitude backpacking and 2. densely iron trashed relic sites with shallower non-ferrous relic targets. In both cases I use the Deus in either one tone VCO or two tone Pitch mode. Otherwise, I can't stand the Deus 1 audio. Target ID in moderate to high mineralization on any sized non ferrous target where I detect most of the time is accurate only down to 3" at best. Overall depth is also severely limited using frequencies below 18 kHz. So, I rarely use my Deus for coin and jewelry hunting, never for beach hunting and definitely never for places where multi tone ID, numerical ID and depth are important. I use my Equinox 800 for everything which means, gold prospecting, beach hunting, freshwater hunting, relic hunting, coin hunting and jewelry hunting. I virtually always use the Equinox in its Multi setting. Single frequency detecting offers little to no advantage where I hunt in moderate to high mineralization. Single frequency use for target investigation or for EMI mitigation is something I use occasionally. So, in order for me to ditch the Equinox, Deus II would have to out hunt the Equinox at everything. Assuming that Deus II will be as good or better as Deus 1 for densely iron trashed sites, then currently Deus 1 and most likely Deus II beat the Equinox for densely iron trashed sites when shallow relic hunting. Deep stuff, Equinox wins currently. Also, Deus 1 with the HF 9" coil is slightly deeper and more sensitive to small gold nuggets in moderate mineralization than the Equinox with 6" coil. (I still don't have the Coiltek 10X6). In any soil conditions worse than moderate however (moderate meaning the Deus 1 mineralization bar approaches half full), the Equinox wins easily even with a coil 1/3 smaller due to Multi IQ. Also, with Deus 1 gold prospecting I just use the WS4 and no remote since the remote offers nothing in the way of displayed information when gold prospecting that I can see without a magnifier whereas the Equinox has plenty of easy to see information. So IF Deus II's multi frequency technology can vastly improve moderate to high mineralization ground handling and in doing so improve overall depth and target ID accuracy in bad dirt, (THOSE ARE HUGE IFS) along with having an easy to use ground grab button, easy to use onboard pinpointing, easy to see display and I actually like its square wave tones; Deus II might be a possibility for me. I already like the Deus ergonomics, I have no problem charging stuff before a hunt and XP makes quality products. Just having good enough SMF tech (like the Apex) to saltwater beach hunt won't cut it with me. For those wanting smaller coils, it took XP 7 years to improve coil quality and variety from the original LF coils to the HF coils..........at least they already have all of the exterior forms, molds and equipment for making the HF elliptical coil.

My point Steve, was that the 9" round coils that I have used for gold prospecting: HF 9" and X35 9"; have been more than adequate for hitting extremely small and deep stuff in bad dirt, down to 6" for .5+ gram nuggets. The HF elliptical was not as deep as the 9" coils and most of its sensitivity was at the tips. The HF and X35 coils were more stable and got more ground coverage. From my testing and in the field experience, the only VLF that is more sensitive to small gold than the Deus/ORX with its 9" HF coil is the Garrett/Whites 24K. So, if Deus II has a Goldfield program, which is appears to from the XP website, the supplied 9" coil will no doubt be more than adequate for gold prospecting.

Personally, I have found more gold nuggets with the 9” HF coil than with the HF elliptical. Sold the elliptical since the HF 9” round coil was so versatile, sensitive and deep. Hopefully for me anyway, there is still some kind of threshold based all metal mode like Goldfield that can be run in single or SMF.

Personally, any wire no matter how small or short, can trip me up or get tangled if it is anywhere near me! Yep, after using a Deus/ORX for many years on tiny gold nugget targets with a threshold tone where listening to wavers in the threshold really matters, the "gimmick" comments about wireless operation and how they must be extremely susceptible to EMI just crack me up. Sure, the Deus original and the ORX are not EMI proof, but running higher than 18 kHz takes care of most of it. Lets see how fully wireless and SMF do together. The only wireless problems I have ever had with a Deus or Orx were either self induced or minor issues with the Mi-6 to WS4 pairing/unpairing problem from earlier software.

That video was amazing. The Deus II looks like one fine detector…… SMF 4 to 45kHz, fully waterproof to 20 meters and still fully wireless. WOW!

Yep, Serious Detecting and Kellyco are still selling the stock they ordered in 2019.

I enjoyed reading your review of the X5. Unfortunately, there may be a little love left for Deteknix/Quest somewhere in the USA but there won’t be much on this forum which may explain why Quest is nowhere to be found as a brand topic or in this sites Detector Database. They were sued by First Texas Products (Fisher/Teknetics/Bounty Hunter) for infringement of FTPs intellectual property (T2 software) and settled out of court when it was obvious Deteknix/Quest would lose. They entered into a Confidential Settlement Agreement which is a court ordered binding contract. That contract was broken and FTP filed suit again. So, even though some big box US dealers sell Quest products (which may be old stock) warranty repairs/replacement and overall customer support have been reported to be very iffy here in North America. Personally, I own 3 sets of excellent Quest wireless headphones with transmitters and the very nice Deus/ORX WS4/audio controller headphones. I previously owned a Quest 30 and found it to be a decent detector. Speaking of First Texas, they make several detectors that come with a 7” coil that are at or under one Kilo. The Teknetics Alpha, Delta and the F11, F22 are all detectors that I would prefer to use over the X5 personally. Minelab’s sort of detector, the Go Find 22 is also at or under a Kilo.

I have noticed that in 2 tone audio there is that differently pitched background tone between the non-ferrous and ferrous tone which sounds just like the MXT and MX5/MX7 in relic mode. So I agree that the Garrett 24K is much more like a high frequency MX model than the original GMT. One of the best target responses I had yesterday while gold prospecting in some super bad dirt was from a US wheat penny that ended up being 6" deep. It was bouncing between 50 and 70 (normally high 90s) and really got me excited until I realized what it was. Still a great find and proves how well both the probability meter/VDI system and the XGB ground balance system work on the 24K. My Deus mineralization bar is always on maximum at this site.

The detector definitely matters as in "new" technology. Mother Nature is also a huge factor. I have detected patches where I think I have dug every target and come back to it a year later and targets have been replenished.... Normal erosion, sudden fast water flow in a normally dry wash, wind and humans/animals walking around and digging holes can definitely rejuvenate a patch.

The iron target range is the limit for discrimination. Also, the discrimination function really only silences audio from very small nails and other small iron targets. Larger nails, bottle caps, etc. have broken up audio at the edge of the coil......that's about it. I would use the probability numbers, quality of the VCO audio and hunt with as little iron reject as possible if you are trying to avoid iron targets in "all metal". You can also use the 2 tone mode for a different type of ferrous/non-ferrous discrimination. This detector will hit some incredibly small targets. 10K white gold earrings should be no problem.

Why is it called "God" (Deus) in the first place.

Do Australian stock market investors really pay that much attention to how much bad press/reviews/reports of issues that the GPX 6000 may have received. Or are there other Minelab products with problems that are much more publicized than one recently released gold prospecting metal detector.

This video was made during the time that John was an FTP only dealer so…………. Not saying this wasn’t a fair review but no way could the Hunter GT make an FTP product look bad when this video was made.

I owned an F44 for awhile. I really liked it but........it is still an entry level detector with entry level performance. Compared to the Simplex which has similar operating features not to mention the many features that the Simplex has which the F44 doesn't have, it's not remotely a contest. The similarities between the Simplex and T2 are much closer feature and performance wise. I used to just put a plastic sandwich bag over my F70/Patriot when it rained. I did the same with a T2 that I tried but EMI was just too bad in my area for using the T2. The plastic bag worked for me just fine along with the many control box covers that are available. To me, an F44 is mostly a sideways move considering you have an F2. The 5X8 coil is the way to go in my opinion (or a small coil from Nel/Cors or Detech) along with trying some of Ken's ground balancing and sensitivity suggestions.

As far as Monte’s Nail Board Test, the Equinox setup optimally will do just fine. My video showed that it is very capable. So is the Simplex and some of the other Nokta Makro detectors like the Racer series and the Impact and the FORS series. I named those Nok/Mak detectors knowing your preference for user replaceable AA batteries and the Teknetics T2, Patriot/F70 and the F75 do very well on Monte's test also. They can handle both iron trash and modern aluminum trash better than the AT Max, AT Gold and AT Pro from my experience. So again, I asked all of those questions earlier to find out what your soil conditions really are. I did not want to intrude, but knowing what part of your state you live in would help. Kentucky is known for having very good soil which is not known for high iron content. The West Central part of the state does have some high carbon content from coal sediments. In the last 20 years of living and detecting mostly in Colorado, I have gone through a litany of over 30 detectors in order to find one that would give me consistent results at various depths and be versatile enough to handle beach, water, coins, jewelry, relics, gold prospecting and especially high iron mineralization. The Equinox 800 and 600 check those boxes for me very well. They may not be optimum for you or anyone else. I do keep a Deus for relic hunting and gold prospecting in really bad iron contaminated sites and for its easy back packing and ergonomics at high altitudes. I also am totally delighted with Garrett’s Gold Master 24K. From my experience and weeding out process, it has to be the best VLF smaller nugget gold prospecting detector on the market today and it works great for micro jewelry too.

My reason for asking these questions was to see if you had other detector options IF they would work in your soil or if you could possibly be limited to SMF detectors for optimum performance. From your somewhat testy reply I wish I hadn’t asked and I am not any more certain of your iron mineralization level than I was before asking. First, the presence of clay does not automatically mean high iron mineralization which can definitely blind many detectors. The density of clay and the way it can sometimes force good targets to have poor target orientation can be a real problem. So is the presence of lots of organic material which is sometimes part of the composition of some clay layers. Clay layers can also cause a sudden ground phase shift which some detectors have difficulty dealing with. 1. As Ken correctly stated, the F Pulse is a Pulse Induction pinpointer. It can however go crazy in iron high mineralization. Mine will beep quickly and incessantly in some areas that I detect especially if the soil is extremely dry or wet and no amount of retuning will help. The only recourse is to lower the sensitivity level manually and even on low mine will keep beeping sometimes. 2. The high conductor target responses of your Vanquish when the clay layer is wet is just pretty extreme and sounds like its very limited ground balance compensation cannot handle the clay layer when wet and is high toning to indicate it won’t ground balance. Otherwise, that is bizarre. 3. If your Vanquish is basically blind to anything in the clay layer……..that might be fixed by having an Equinox and manually ground balancing it with a ground grab often. I would not use the Auto Tracking ground balance until you can prove it can handle that clay. I often hunt in areas where there are a few inches of sand or topsoil on top of a dense dark gray to black organic based clay layer laced with black sand. The black sand in the thick clay can drag non-ferrous target IDs detected by the Equinox down into the iron range. I have to ground balance frequently. There will be a few high tone squeaks on say a US clad dime, quarter or older silver coin but most of the sounds will be iron tones. After lots of experience, I have learned to dig these targets. So, your Vanquish may need to be used with zero discrimination in the clay layer (just a suggestion) so dig a few targets and see what happens. 4. Your Vanquish giving out negative numbers like -1 or -2 may mean there are very small iron targets and not just be ground responses. -1 and -2 can also mean the presence of coal, coke or high carbon organic material. High iron mineralization will usually show up on the Equinox and Vanquish as -8 and -9. 5. My AT Gold ground balanced at 94 to 96 in my area. Same with the AT Pro and AT Max that I tested. I have had my soil tested and have used detectors like the Fisher F75 in my area. The F75 always read my dirt as 4 to 5 bars, same with my F19 which indicates high to extremely high iron mineralization. Ground balance numbers may or may not indicate the amount of iron mineralization. I have read most of your posts. I still am not convinced that you have high IRON mineralization in your area. You may have a different type of mineralization happening however. The only way to know is to get your soil tested, call your County agriculture agent or borrow a detector with an Fe3O4 meter.

How do you know that your soil has high mineralization? Did you contact your local Agriculture station or another soil testing agency? You do not own a detector with an Fe3O4 meter as far as I know. Does your Vanquish 340 get good depth with stable and accurate target IDs on 4” or deeper mid conductive targets like US nickels and pull tabs? Does it give ground feedback in the -9 to -7 range when swinging over target free ground at the end of each swing or when you slowly pump the coil?

I was finally able to get to one of my favorite prospecting sites today since the torn ligaments in my left foot are well enough to do some mountain goat walking. I had the chance to use my Garrett 24K on the same ground that completely choked my former Whites 24K. The Whites version would overload on a sensitivity setting of 2 in this area using the stock 10X6” coil. It was hyper sensitive with tons of coil knock. It also had similar behavior at some other sites……… The new Garrett 24K ran smooth as glass and I had it cranked up to 7 sensitivity with just the faintest coil knock. Sensitivity 6 was very quiet and 8 was doable but with some occasional instability. Obviously, there was something wrong with my original Whites 24K………..or Garrett really did go over the original Whites design tolerances carefully and tweaked them, especially the stock coil. Very impressive detector. Thanks Garrett.

Thanks for all of the great comments and for the announcement and follow ups by Trevor/Coilek. I spent the day at a site that is at 11,000 feet altitude where there is not a square inch of flat ground. It’s a mountain side with steep slopes, massive boulders to small cobbles and some gold and extreme mineralization all left by a glacier. Unfortunately there is also a huge multi wire high tension power line running right through the site. The 11” mono was impossible to use on any setting including the lowest setting. The threshold was a mess……Even with the threshold tone off the warbling audio was a no go…….The 14” DD had a placid, smooth threshold and worked perfectly. I am so glad I brought it. However, 14” DD was no fun to swing upside down, on 45 degree slopes or sideways between boulders. So, as someone else mentioned, a 10X6” elliptical, especially a DD would be fantastic. Even an 8 to 11” round DD would have been great today.

So far, my GPX 6000 has been fine. The 11" mono is highly susceptible to EMI for sure. The 14" DD......I can run it in my backyard which is actually kind of nice since I can do plenty of testing especially on non-gold nugget targets. The threshold is definitely more lively than the usually very steady threshold I was used to on my 4800 and 5000. So far for me anyway, it has not been as annoying as the threshold on my former SDC 2300, and doing a sensitivity adjustment and lightening quick noise cancel on my GPX 6000 has helped so far when it gets a bit unstable. When I have been prospecting and relic hunting with the GPX 6000 so far, I have also had an Equinox 800 with me. Anytime my GPX 6000 has gone "crazy" with very strong disturbances in the threshold that weren't target related and which a noise cancel with sensitivity adjustment could not correct, I have also turned on my Nox 800 in Gold 1 multi and checked for EMI. Some EMI has always been noticeable on both detectors simultaneously and I had them well away from each other and only one turned on at a time when testing for EMI, so I will chalk it up to that and not a GPX 6000 internal/software issue. Those of you that have had broken/damaged/dead coils right out of the box, intermittent coil warning codes and intermittent power issues right out of the box......that is not okay and I hope you all are able to get these issues resolved to your satisfaction.

I understand Melano87’s statement but I don’t know if it is possible. All gold would have to have just one target ID number or some other unmistakably distinguishable characteristic that a VLF can detect and discriminate from aluminum. No VLF detector I know of can do that perfectly including the Deus. Certainly not XP’s fault. Speaking of gold, I guess I better find quite a lot of it so I can afford this mysterious new XP detector.

This was posted in an Iron Bias topic by Steve a year or so ago. I have no idea if it is really accurate: