Chase Goldman

I just knew my 40-45 minute statement was going to get a response, but rest assured, I am not !! I know you're not crazy because apparently you spent a lot more time swinging it than 40-45 min in a ghost town. So that makes a for a completely different story. In the ghost town scenario, I would probably use my Deus over the Equinox. I'm still evaluating the Vanquish, but one annoying thing I have come across is that it apparently has an affinity for constently ringing up pull tabs in my local park at 18 (in jewelry mode). Why is that a problem? Because it pushes the typical pull tab at that site into the high 5-tone bin on the Vanquish and the breakpoints are not adjustable. It bangs hard on actual high conductors though, but it is annoying constantly stopping in my tracks by a great souding ringing high tone and staring down at that 18 on on the VDI. Boo!

At least you gave it a thorough run through, Monte.

Alain Loubet - the founder and CEO of XP was a big fan of Tesoro detectors and the analog audio. The story goes that when Alain suggested some modifications to improve on his design to Jack Gifford of Tesoro, Jack kindly told him what he could do with his suggestions. That inspired Alain to build his own analog audio ID detector, the Adventis around 2000 which had a very familiar Tesoro look and feel. After some iterations on that concept, Alain embarked on a groundbreaking wireless design that became the Deus and it's simplified but similar performing cousin, the ORX. While the Deus and ORX do have digital target ID displays, they are also primarily about the audio and borrow their audio target ID from XP's earlier analog offerings. Full tones, pitch tones, and Gold Field's VCO pitch like audio convey a lot of subtle target information their audio and the visual target ID just provides an additional piece of the puzzle. Most relic hunters in the UK that use the Deus often hunt purely by audio and leave the control unit that displays target ID information (and helps to custom program their machines) in the car during the hunt relying solely on the wireless headphone audio to make dig decisions. You could say that the Deus audio has a little Tesoro DNA included in it's design.

That's exactly why I place little stock in nailboard tests as conclusive indicators of relative, real-world detector performance because they are unrealistic 2-D setups. Whereas the relative adjacent target depth aspect of real world 3-D target distribution in the ground changes the equation significantly as your simple demonstration illustrates.That being said, I find El Nino's test results interesting from a pure intellectual curiosity standpoint.

I guess I would call that Steve's "golden rule"

Yes. I would use 28Khz for gold/gold jewelry. You can push it to the higher frequency (54 khz) for micro gold but your depth will suffer a little.

Yes, 2.77 includes the 2.76 changes.

Just a couple of considerations for those using the ORX. The Deus Hot program utilized in the video uses full tones which gives some of the telltale tonal nuances heard in the video. Unfortunately, it is not available on the Orx which is limited to 3 tones, but some of the principles still apply (e.g., TID variability). Note also that he was using an HF coil at 14 khz. On Deus, the HF coil target ID's are not normalized. On ORX, the HF coil target ID's are all normalized to 18 khz equivalent target IDs so the Target IDs in the video will not correspond to the target IDs you will see even if running the HF coil at 14 khz on the ORX.

There is nothing subtle about it when it bangs on a high conductor, believe me. Newbs would do better with it than the Simplex from an audio, target ID, and user interface perspective. Hope to get some video up soon to show what I am talking about. It does have audio nuances the experienced detectorist can take advantage of (just like any late model ML detector) but that doesn't in any way hinder usability by beginners. [BTW - that is no bash on the Simplex. The Simplex has intermediate level features at a beginner price point - in other words an outstanding value detector with some advanced capabilities that were left out of the Vanquish (e.g., waterproof, ground balance adjustments and a threshold-based all metal mode) which are great for the intermediate to advanced detectorist. I think the Vanquish just sets up better for someone just getting into the hobby as a turn on and go detector with limited settings that someone would be hard pressed to screw up in a manner that would really hinder their detecting. Contrast that with the Simplex which actually has a bit of a learning curve (not surprisingly considering the features Nokta packed into it) including some modes such as threshold-based all metal, that beginning users would find difficulty in setting up properly.]

7. Bring Tom Boykin back. (Hey, it was a dream scenario)

I am not familiar with the dfx so I can't help with settings. First of all, after a year, I would not necessarily assume it is sitting on top of the grass. I am assuming this is a mown lawn or similar ground cover? Rain and other forces associated with the grass renewing itself, frost heave, and other natural forces will almost definitely cause it to be sunk and buried perhaps a few inches not to mention people and wildlife walking over the site, this happens over a period of just a few days or weeks for similar size and mass coin targets. If the bullet did not sink into the ground before the grass was mowed, then it could be chewed up or spit out elsewhere on the site as a result of lawn mower action, so if that happened, then the bullet would have suffered some physical damage. I would not reduce sensitivity much but if you could get an identical bullet and place it in the same ground perhaps buried and inch or two to get an audible and visual ID reading, then you can notch out anything but a narrow swatch of target IDs to include the bullet ID you recorded in your field test. Also, I would use the largest (or longest if an elliptical) coil you have to maximize ground coverage while still enabling you to see a shallow bullet. Copper jacketed lead projectile in a brass casing should ring up higher up on the conductivity scale, not as high as silver but perhaps higher than a copper penny. Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. Be careful upon recover too. Take a big plug around the supposed pinpoint spot to prevent damage to the target from your digging tool. Good luck.

Tom - is that why you had to wear that Halloween costume that one year? BTW - You might not remember, but I met you at a DIV dig a few years back. I think you were testing a souped up TDI for Whites there and you gave me the relic shovel you were using as you were leaving the hotel because you couldn't pack out on the plane back to the west coast. Thanks for that and I still have it as my backup. It was nice chatting with you there.

Great, thanks I'll check it out. Thanks for the reference. If the AT MAX has a capability that other AT or non-AT detectors lack, I would be interested in that. If he is just trying to make lemonade out of a lemon (probably an over harsh analogy) or just knows the AT Max well or is so experienced he could be successful with a pinpointer on a stick, then that is another story - . Either way, I'll go figure it out for myself. Thanks again for the pointer.

Ok that doesn't make a lot of sense because the AT Max has the lowest operating frequency of the three AT series detectors (13.6 khz for the Max vs. 15 khz for the Pro vs.18 khz for the Gold) which would make it the least sensitive to gold overall. It is like taking a flat head screwdriver and saying it works better on a phillips screw because it has a bigger handle rather than just using the right phillips head driver for the job. In other words there are other tools more suited to the job of detecting small gold jewelry than just trying to use a detector with jacked up gain. Perhaps it works better than the Pro for that task but the right tool might be the Gold.

What's Turf Gold?

They also just released new firmware that reportedly ensures compatibility with the to be released accessory coils.

You had me scared there for a second...lol. Glad they worked out.

The latest firmware installer (which can still be downloaded) allows you to install the latest FW (2.0) OR roll back to any previous firmware version (i.e., the install utility contains the current and all previously released firmware versions). No need to keep the older installer that limits you only to the latest version (and all previous versions) issued up to that time.

You are telling him to do a factory reset every time he turns on the Equinox?!

I like the tic marks on the shaft. But what do you mean by the above statement - are you talking about the noise cancel channel setting or sensitivity - i.e., what are you "adjusting"?

Can you elaborate on this method, please (e.g., how much salt do you add to the vinegar?) Please post about it separately, then. Here's a recent thread on the topic, didn't see you post in it so share your knowledge if you are willing. Thanks.

From my testing, if you already have the 540 as a an Equinox backup, the Simplex is not going to bring anything new to the table other than different sounds and the ability to ground balance vs. the 540. The 540 tends to just bang on the targets in my test garden harder than Simplex. The Simplex All Metal mode is problematic for me, it seems to be the second worst mode on the Simplex next to Park 2 as far as target signal strength and ID at depth are concerned, which is weird and overall target ID stability and repeatabilty is low. OTOH - the features such as Ground Balance, Vibration Mode, Volume, Pinpoint muting, LED light and Ergo nomics are fantastic for a macine in this price range. And Nokta appears willing to readily address issues in their frequent updates. Anyway still testing and learning mre about it. My first Nokta machine.

They addressed this with the newest update: Nokta/Makro Simplex+ Software Update (2020.04.21) : System Software V2.77 Download : System Software V2.77 1. Mute Function has been added Press the Pinpoint Button once to mute your detector without going into settings. This will help eliminate the interference noise from pinpointers that operate at the same frequency. 2. Audio levels for wired headphones 2 sets of audio levels have been added when the device is used with wired headphones. Choose between Low (L1-L4) or High (H1-H4).

Yes, it sounds like you got shafted (sort of - you came away with $60 more than you had before you found that ring), but it was completely under your control if you had done your homework beforehand. I am really at a loss that you didn't do the website search BEFORE you went to try to sell it since you obviously knew how to do that research. Lesson learned. Information is power, go in armed with as much information as you can to protect yourself. BTW - The Equinox doesn't have 40 frequencies, but I am sure you don't need to get into a technical dissertation about how the Equinox really works at this point, all that is important is that it works for you.

Well, that is not necessarily a good assumption. EMI can come and go depending on time of day, the weather conditions (can make power lines start sparking for example), and from sources that are not readily apparent such as nearby invisible dog fences, underground cables and pipelines, radio transmitters, wifi hot spots, cell towers, cell phones (you covered this one), and nearby detectors. Some of these sources are busy during the week and quiet during the weekend. Or they could be busy during the day and quiet at the end of the workday or vice versa. Atmospheric effects can change propagation paths such that EMI sourced several miles away and not bothering you one day can be load and clear the next. Also, you didn't mention whether you actually performed a noise cancel - presumed you had but no mention of it in your list of troubleshooting actions. Nevertheless, if it is doing it everywhere you go, then yeah, it's time to call Minelab.