Chase Goldman

For beach hunting you can set the IB and RS appropriate to target conditions (higher recovery speed for max target signal separation in thick trash or lower for a tad more target signal elongation/depth). Lower RS is more susceptible to ground chatter, but that is not really an issue on the beach unless you have black sand. IB is pretty useless IMO. It may reduce falsing a tad but at the expense of masking non-ferrous near ferrous targets (which sort of defeats the purpose of running at a high recovery speed). If there is not much iron to deal with, then just leave it at the default (since masking is unlikely). If you are worried about masking then dial it down to 1 or 0. The salt signal really has no bearing on why ML chose the default settings of RS and IB in the beach modes. Bottom line is don't be afraid to do some on-the-beach experimentation by tweaking these settings away from the defsults to suit the target situation and ground conditions, but do so with knowledge of the tradeoffs, some of which I described above. HTH

If by mixed mode you mean true all metal audio simultaneously combined with discriminated audio and/or visual ID, probably about 5 or 6 brands have mixed mode models. In other words most of the Top brands have at least one VLF mixed mode detector. Whites probably has the most models with it (including the V3i, MXT, abd DFX), Garrett has at least one (AT Gold), First Texas (Fisher F75 and Teknetics(see below)), and Nautilus. That includes brands that have audio mixed mode and those that have all metal audio and discriminated vdi. If you want to know more than just how many brands have it and a more detailed breakdown by Steve then read this article. Things haven't changed much since Steve wrote that article, but some additional detectors not mentioned in that article that have True and Pseudo mixed mode include the Teknetics T2 (similar to the F75), Teknetics Omega 8500, XP Deus (Gold Field mode), and Minelab Equinox Gold Mode with Disc off (the last two are debatable, I suppose). Not sure about Nokta/Makro, but they likely have it in their latest models.

Agree, do not clean it.

Not an issue. The screw-in connector is not meant to be the 100% waterproof seal. The jack itself is sealed with an o-ring internally to keep water from entering the housing (think of the non-watertight plastic dust cover that covers up the jack when no headphone is connected). The extra threads on the headphone connector ensure positive engagement of the plug into the jack, keep debris out of the cavity, and will mostly keep moisture out, better than the dust cover piece. Be sure to thoroughly rinse and dry the headphone jack cavity area with freash water if you notice any salt water intrusion into the area to prevent corrodion over time.

Since no Equinoxes can be out of warranty at this point, they should accommodate you as long as you have a valid serial number.

Fred the button has 2 modes. A single press of the button simply turns on the radio and you should see either a wifi symbol or bluetooth (bt) symbol or bt+ symbol flashing in the upper right corner of the display as it tries to connect to the last device it was paired to (presumably your WM08). If you want to put it in pairing mode, you have to hold down on the button for 2 seconds and then place the wm08 in pairing mode too. Since you reset your detector, you will have to re-"pair" the wm08 as I just described: turn on detector, hold down radio button for 2 sec (wifi wm sumbol shoukd flash in upper right hand of display), turn on wm08, press pairing button on wm08. It should lock in and pair within 30 seconds. If you are getting no wifi or bluetooth flashing symbol after holding tge radio button for 2 seconds, then the button or radio are likely broken. Good Luck.

Not so sure color is high is as high on every detectorist's list such that it would cause a market share shift, quite frankly. Coloring aside, the Simplex might be a better bet for you as it will be more different than the Equinox than I anticipate will be the case for the Vanquish. You have always felt that the Equinox lacked some of the magic the Xterra possessed. From what I can tell, the Vanquish will be an economy version of even the 600, so it might be a set up for dissapointment for you. Going the Nokta/Makro route might be a better path to fill in the gaps where Equinox is appatently not making the grade for you. Though I wish I had 1/10th the success with mine you appear to have with yours beach hunting.

I tried to see if there was any online version of the article you cited, but no joy, so thanks for the additional details, Jin. The resulting ultimate depth loss penalty would be hard to quantify with any certainty, so when a 15% figure gets thrown around I assume that it is an estimate based on the calculated gain loss of the input amplifier, but how it directly correlates to ultimate depth would require knowledge of the relationship of gain to depth and in some cases, that relationship is non-linear and/or could be compensated for by higher user settings provided ML built in enough head room in the settings above the defaults, I suppose. Bottom line, good information to have for anyone considering used or (until the existing inventory is depleted) a new 4500 purchase. Thanks.

Simon - agree that the performance tradeoff to get noise susceptibility down was indeed what ML was after, but doubt they would have done it by knowingly introducing a 15% depth penalty. I have no doubt the author if the magazine article correctly identified ML part substitutions in the latter 4500 iteration, but usually those types of substitutions are benign and mainly due to obsolesence (couldn't get the original parts so used perfectly acceptable equivalent parts) or to reduce heat dissipation (e.g., lower reseistance values) which improves overall reliability. Although raw performance tradeoffs are enevitable when combatting negative issues such as noise immunity or heat dissipation with circuit tweaks, ideally a good designer would balance such competing effects so the tweak would not result in such a dramatic performance hit. I have no reason to believe that a design team that could pull off the GPX detector series design in the first place, could screw it up with a few resistors and op amps. Also, I suspect it would be hard to pin down the overall performance impact unless you had access to all the soil conditions, coils, and target types the GPX is designed for. But I am not saying it couldn't happen either (there have been some prominent and even deadly tech busts in the news lately resulting from performance tweaks to proven designs by respected design teams outside of metal detecting). It just seems very unlikely that such a dramatic hit in performance would not have gone unnoticed by the majority of GPX users.

Jeff, You are right. I always thought ML did this by simply setting the tone break at 2 meaning vdi 1 and 2 would be rejected, of course (true for both Field 1 and Field 2), which would not be much help if you were trying for gold chains, but ML goes on to say (from the bottom of p. 24 of the manual): Coke is the charcoal and carbon by-product of burnt coal, and is prevalent around historically populated areas. Generally coke has a Target ID of 1 or 2. For this reason it is rejected by default in Field Mode. Note, this could result in some small non-ferrous targets being missed. Field 1 Multi-IQ, even with Target IDs 1 and 2 accepted, will reject more coke more than Field 2 using Multi-IQ. That last sentence is VERY interesting. So if you go to horseshoe in Field 1, supposedly you will magically be able to reject some coke but can still pick up some vdi 1/2 non-coke targets. Hmm. Wonder how they do that?

I don't doubt the the source figured out that different parts were used and managed to find the original parts, but the 15% depth reduction claims are simply laughable considering all the variables that affect depth, not to mention the myriad of other circuit components and settings involved in this detector than a single op amp and a few resistors. But if it makes people feel better about getting the earlier version, then who can argue with that. I'm sure minelab had their reasons, and it seems wise to reduce noise susceptibility. So unless I am seeing an unwise tradeoff to incorporate less reliable or cheaper parts (on a 3 to 5K detector!), the old depth performance gain seems more like detectorist folklore, superstition, and OCD perception than a reality. I got the red-headed stepchild 4800, so I wonder what funky parts were used in that one.

Gold chains are a relatively rare find compared to rings, and not just because they are more diffucult to detect, so don't expect to come across many, much less those that will register on the Nox. Even with the Nox, they are not going to be easy. At 1 to 4 vdi, they are not going to be any more obvious than the much more common trash and borderline ferrous you are going to find in that range. If you are solely targeting gold jewelry in areas littered with modern trash, then you will have a high trash to treasure ratio. That is just the nature of where gold falls among aluminum. From what I recall, what was touted about Equinox was that you would at least hear the chain target (though at a likely 1 vdi ) whereas other BBS (e.g. Excal) or FBS detectors would likely pass over the target without a peep. Most vlf induction balance detectors have trouble with chains, period. Are the freshwater sites you are hitting giving up a lot of gold jewelry besides chains? Why are you expecting to see a lot of chains at these sites? What settings are you using at these freshwater sites?

What Steve said, plus what does it sound like when you remove all discrimination using the horseshoe button? Also, have you tried comparing what your are hearing with the external speaker or plugging some different headphones directly into the Equinox to see if the audio improves (this could eliminate an issue with the wireless headphones you are using)? Put yourself in our shoes, pretend you are us unable to see or hear the problem you are having, and consider whether how you are describing the problem in words paints a detailed enough picture for someone else to really understand what you are seeing and hearing. Or post a video using the Equinox speaker as the audio source so we can see and hear what is going on.

Garrett is really good at coming up with updated AT's . Seems to be the only thing they have been doing for the past several years (but not really innovating). Slashing the price, well that is going to take some innovation and Garrett hasn't demonstrated the ability to do that lately. We'll see, it will get interesting. Especially if Simplex and Vanquish start eating into Garrett's ACE market then, yeah, Garret is going to have to figure out how to provide more for less. So you are right - it will have to be AT capability at an ACE price. The question is how quickly can Garrett react with actual product on the street.

The EDS Winner Detector by Detech operates at about 14 khz as does the Whites MXT (why did you think the coil frequency was 28 khz?). And the Detech 8x6 SEF appears to be compatible with a number of detectors from various brands. Normally, I would say it is unlikely to work as 3rd party coils tend to be manufactured in different versions and sold specific to a detector model, but if the coil connector properly mates up with your MXT, you may be in luck.

Actually, they kind of did do that. The wireless headphones come with a patch cable such that they can be used passively (i.e., powered off) and the mini-mini patch cable connected to the headphones and the other end connected to either the detector itself (the cable is a little short though) or to the WM08 wireless receiver (no adapter cable needed). It is kind of moot now that you have the Sunray Pro Golds, and a little odd to consider, but some have reported better sound using the WM08 with the wireless phones hooked up in "wired" mode rather than using the wireless phone's built-in BT receiver. I like the wireless phones as is, personally. They sound great to my ears, but everyone has different hearing, so I know not everyone is a fan. I just applaud ML for providing the myriad of audio options they do right out of the box with the 800. Be mindful of the Equinox's upper operating temp limit (122F). Folks have reported erratic operation and LCD faceplate "blackout" when the head unit is exposed to direct sunlight at similar elevated ambient air temps. The control head can quickly exceed that 5F delta in direct sunlight (especially when usung a black protective head cover that limits air flow/ventilation) and might need a little powered down shade and water to prevent an Equinox version of heat stroke. 😉

Back in business with the new Nox!

Totally get what you are saying and agree that if it is not as affordable as Equinox I am probably not going there. I am presently happy and not looking for a new detector either and haven't been since the Equinox hit the street a year and a half ago which is probably the longest stretch of time where I have not at least been interested in anything newly released in detectors (and there have been about 3 or so worth considering in that time frame). All I am saying is that there is high end capability that presently exists in the CTX and eTrac and ML now has the tech and ability to repackage that capability in a much more affordable detector. And especially with ML AND Nokta driving capability way up in the entry level detector cost class, that IS likely to happen before my Equinox battery bites the dust. If that detector does hit the streets, my Equinox might start collecting some dust. I apologize for hijacking devilsrenegades thread.

I agree it would have to be a leap of some sort. But comparing developments in pulleys and bow materials vs. microprocessors is perhaps not the best analogy (but I get where you are coming from). Perhaps a more appropriate question is whether. you are using the same cell phone for the past 17 years? Detector tech innovation over all is likely plateauing out, with the biggest leaps coming in price drops versus technology adds. But the pace of technology developments in signal processing is progressing at such a rate that I can see Minelab coming up in the not too distant future with a detector that has the sophisticated 2-D discrimination pattern programming and FE-CO target ID processing of the CTX with the speed of the Equinox’s Multi IQ multi frequency signal processing. That would be one killer combo. That would be a game changer.

Nice saves. I’ve found that coins can be recovered at decent depth (~6 inches) depending on ground conditions with frequencies as high as 28khz FWIW - The Equinox battery is serviceable/user replaceable with an industry standard Li-Ion cell vs. a custom design. Should last 5+ years with proper care. Enough time to get me to the “next big thing” should I actually hang on to the detector that long before a suitable upgraded design comes along.

Yeah, had my own typo in that sentence so no one's perfect. Lol. Let us know how it goes. EMI, especially transient EMI is just a hard thing to pin down and mitigate. Good luck. Phrunt may be on to something too. I'm not a commercial electric power engineer, so anything is possible when that much electruc power is in the vicinity of your detector. At a historic site that I volunteer at to do metal detecting surveys for the archeologists, there is a pulsed radio or wi-fi transmitter at the visitor center that periodically wreaks havoc with our GPX detectors. BTW if you want a good long distance lightning detector, get a GPX. It definitely alerts you to when it's time to leave tge field even if you don't see or hear the lightning.

Doing this on the forum versus email allows you to benefit from multiple folks who might have great suggestions. I don't have all the answers. Listen to what Steve suggested. On the dry beach 0 GB should be fine and GB should not have any impact on how low vdi numbers sound. Do the noise cancel as Lacky suggested. Can you describe the issue better - low vdi not coming through means what, exactly? Low volume? Doesn't sound off at all? Sounds off but you don't recover the target you expected? Really not sure what you mean.

High velocity of high voltage? Sometimes humidity affects high voltage line EMI emissions and/or affects insulators or when high impedance ground protection devices trigger. Malfunctioning insulation or protective components can cause this also - that would tend to be more continuous.

Tony - thanks. Sent you a reply once I got home from work. Much appreciated.

Yep, it is all about learning the strengths and weaknesses of each the modes, throwing out the implied meaning of the mode name or taking what ML or the so called experts say about how the modes should be used with skepticism, and with that knowledge applying them appropriately to the situation at hand. Dan - I know the following is not news to you but for the benefit of others reading along... I think it is unfortunate that I hear repeatedly about folks not getting the 800 because they "don't have a need to do gold prospecting", not realizing there is a lot more to gold mode than prospecting (and a lot more that is different between the 600 and 800 than lack of gold mode) or conversely skipping over the 600 because they want to find gold (which the 600 is perfectly capable of doing). This shows how these somewhat arbitrary mode name descriptors can bias inexperienced or unsuspecting folks in buy decisions or even mode selections during detecting. Knowledge about your machine AND site is power when it comes to detecting. The site knowledge piece and knowing what sites hold promise and where to go once you get there is a whole other topic but no less important than knowing your machine.