Chase Goldman

He doesn't use the cover. He snapped it back on just see if it would reattach.

Wow that IS a lot of precious metal over the decade+. What is your standard obligation to the landowner if the the finds are returned to the detectorist? I know that if the find is retained for its historic value and cash is paid out, that the landowner gets 50%.

I have only found gold at the beach and silver on land, save for one Sterling + Turquoise earring I found at the beach with the EQX. Go figure. Anyway - nice rings Nuke.

The WM08 receiver is proprietary (not bluetooth) and only compatible with the Equinox transmitter and not even other ML detectors or wireless audio accessories.

sdbirder, Welp, I switched over to the BTS Pros, installed the latest firmware and they do not connect with the Equinox as aptx-ll (no plus sign with the bluetooth symbol) so I don't know how you got yours working in aptx-ll mode. Are you seeing the plus sign on your Equinox display when the BTS pros are connected?

Let us know if it survives the stress.

So you haven't had issues getting warranty replacements on epoxied coils? The epoxy won't help a flimsy design, especially weak coil ears, though. Seems like a big chance to take water hunting with such a marginal, flimsy coil design with all the stress water hunting puts on coils.

It appears to not be up to the task overall for water work, I'd consider returning it.

Great topic. I learned of this being used at the historic site I volunteer at as a detectorist assisting the site archeology department.

As others have already stated, while neither Beach mode is particularly optimized for gold jewelry (which would mitigate their ability to reduce the salt signal ground reference) because both are weighted to low frequencies, Beach 1 is slightly more sensitive to small jewelry than Beach 2 because it is weighted to slightly higher frequencies vs. Beach 2. This is actually the opposite of the park and field modes where the "2" modes are more sensitive to gold and small targets than the "1" modes. Note also, in dry sand, you can usually get away with using just about any mode you wish. So if you are after a specific type of target especially a lost item recovery for someone, if it is small and/or gold, dial up Park 2/Field 2 or even Gold 1 if its silver go with Beach 1 unless its tiny then try Park 2 or Gold 1.

I decided that with ML and dealer discounts etc. the way to go was to not have to decide and get both. 600 dedicated for salt water and beach hunting and as a backup to my land-based 800 for relic and park hunting. Saltwater hunting subjects any detector to a the repeated abuse of a harsh environment, so the 600 will be a capable sacrificial anode. The kicker is that buying both together still cost less than what I have sunk into my revered XP Deus (not getting rid of it) and I can't reliably run the Deus stable in wet salt sand. Doh! Either the 600 or 800 are capable of getting the job done under a majority of circumstances, but I like having the 800 for those outlier situations. For example, even though I don't prospect for gold, I have found gold mode to come in handy for relic hunting in highly mineralized soil conditions and I do find the user profile button to be invaluable for interrogating targets in the field by enabling quick switching between two disparate search profile modes (e.g., Field 2 and Park 1).

I've used both Field 2 and Gold 2 to good success relic hunting in the highly mineralized soil of central VA. But the GPX still rules when it comes to depth in those conditions. In thick iron or ration cans/trash, the nod goes to the Equinox, though.

The grey ghost NDTs have a removable cord. Here in the states you can order them with a cord terminated with a 3.5 mm plug, no adapter needed. Surprised you are finding noticeable lag with the supplied BT headphones. They are low latency and should add no more than about 10 to 15ms delay (~35 ms) vs. WM08 (20ms), while normal BT is at about 100ms or more. Not sure you would gain t hat much more fidelity using the NDTs vs. using the BT phones in wired mode + the WM08. But since you got the NDTs, you can compare now.

The only complaints I've heard regarding the coil is regarding sand getting underneath the coil cover, otherwise I have not noticed it to be flimsy or suffering any ill effects from a couple hundred hours of use in various environments. Can't make out anything from the pic.

I can say I wasn't enamored with it off the bat with test runs in my yard and a couple of park runs. Mainly because it was different and it was hard to differentiate targets at first. Took it to a beach park off season and things were different (probably because beach mode is so quiet). Snagged some targets on the dry sand and then some extremely deep nickels and quarters on the wet sand and tide (where I couldn't even reliably run my Deus) and things started clicking. I think it was good that I was using it in a low iron target environment. Got used to some of the target interrogations tools and tricks (all metal to determine ferrous/non-ferrous mixed targets, pinpointer to determine depth and target size, understanding better how ground balance affects this machine) and most importantly, understanding what the tones were telling me. Not just pitch which emulates VDI but tone stability, sharpness, and quality which enable you to sort of get a mental picture of the target (e,g., coin vs. can can slaw), especially at 50 tones. Just as with the Deus it started to just click on the audio and I started killing it on the relics this spring with several bucket listers. Truth be told, I am sure many of these targets would have been snagged by the Deus too but would probably take multiple passes with different Deus frequencies due to the range of conductivity associated with the targets.. However, MultiIQ, I feel, gives me an edge in that I can basically use a single search profile to scour a site since I am covering the gamut as far as frequencies are concerned. I think that gives me an edge in time and coverage. Glad you haven't given up. If the audio clicks (especially if you can get used to 50 tones) eventually it might change the whole game with the Equinox and possibly even in the way you use the Deus. Good luck and keep plugging away.

Good karma - hope you are successful.

If you think the HF coils on the Deus are too sensitive, I now can see why you are having issues with the Equinox. I put the HF coil on my Deus last summer and have not used an LF coil since for anything (dry beach, park, and relic hunting). I also use different tones (5-tones, full tones, and pitch) and have given up on the Deus TIDs (and Equinox TIDs), frankly, as anything more than a guide, as I use the audio (including ferrous tones) to help me discriminate what is in the ground. The Equinox was a natural transition for me coming from the Deus and I have found many experienced and successful Deus users have the same experience. I am surprised you are finding a "quiet" Equinox program like Park 1 is not meeting your needs for park hunting. I can definitely tell the difference between a penny and gold ring with that program whether I am in 5 tones or 50 tones and nails may occasionally ring up high but their telltale ferrous tones (with a push of the horseshoe button), bouncy TIDs and flutey tones (in 50 tones) or lack of repeatable signals from 90-degree swings often give them away (same with bottlecaps which also sound "softer" than coins). Pull tabs are pull tabs and are someone's eternally cruel joke played on detectorists. I suspect that you rely more heavily on TID number than tone to make dig decisions on the Deus and that could be the reason why the Equinox is not floating your boat. At least you are getting it done with the Deus. The latest shiny new toy is no necessarily everyone's cup of tea, and there is nothing wrong with that. Mastering the audio is the key to both the Deus and Equinox, from my experience. [Andy - I apologize for hijacking your thread, if you can't dig a billion holes for fear of ruining the landscaping then you are just going to have to play the odds on the iffy signals.]

Do you run in all metal normally and you are not seeing negative numbers?

Are you using 5 tones or 50 tones mostly on Equinox? Do you use multi tones (4 or 5 tones) on the Deus or Full tones? Also, do you use the HF coils on the Deus or the LF coils? The lower frequencies are spread out the VDI more on the Deus.

Can you explain "discriminate better"? I have owned a Deus for 3+ years and the Equinox since March and I can say that both have their pluses and minuses. The Deus does not hold a candle to the Equinox in wet salt sand conditions. But I have not really seen anything the Deus can really do that much better performance wise on dry land even with the HF coils. I love the Deus form factor, wireless coil advantages, portability, and grab 'n' go ergonomics and the small coil form factors. However, I actually like the seamless discrimination/notch paradigm on the Equinox where I can "discriminate" (not just audio notch) huge swaths of the range without fear of losing detections depth (it is a known fact that if you push discrimination above 20 on the Deus you will affect depth). I have found the speed of the detectors to be comparable, so separation is about the same and only limited by coil size at this point so the nod goes to Deus. The 50-tone implementation (which goes hand-in-hand with discrimination and target ID) on the Equinox is superior to full tones on the Deus because you do not suffer from ferrous blending and down averaging and, unlike the Deus, can instantly cut in ferrous with the brilliantly placed all metal button or use threshold for ferrous awareness while maintaining discrimination. I don't want this to turn into a Deus vs. Equinox thread because I can go on and on with other comparisons between the two both positive and negative (ease of programming, water hunting readiness, multi frequency advantages, firmware updates, etc.). Am I giving up my Deus - no way. Love it and use it still. Does it "discriminate better", well the way I define discrimination above (combined with tone audio), I am not seeing that. Equinox as a Beep/Dig - uh, nope. Audio tells most of the target story with the Equinox, just as it is with the Deus. Would like to hear more about what you are experiencing. I am actually impressed by both machines. Thanks.

I hear you but a lot of folks are just stuck because they paid up front, have to go through the hassle of cancelling, and will have to wait 7 - 10 days before the money ends up back on their card or in the bank. So they sit and wait.

Dan(NM) said: "I think your right about the backlog being more less filled..." Tell that to folks still on the Kellyco waiting list. Yes it still exists. They are just now filling orders from March.

I got Tony to make me a pair of Frankenphones based on GG amphibians that were unterminated. He added a WP Equinox connector plug to them and noticed the dB was pretty low so he put his speakers into the GG's and that raised the dB level considerably. I also now have a pair of ML WP phones for the Equinox and Tony's are still louder and have better external sound isolation. Great work by Tony, highly recommended.

So bottlecaps are easy again. Good news, because back in June it was a dig everything machine...glad we got that sorted out. I still get fooled by the occasional bottle cap even with the above tricks. After getting warmed up to digging a few early in a detecting session, then the "softer" audio starts to also clue me in as well. But it is definitely not going to be a 100% solution no matter what. True but I think he was solely hunting for copper metal.

I have not noticed tracking slowing the machine down and I find it hard to believe that considering what it has to do to process the multi IQ signal. But may do some tests to confirm. Tracking will not work well if there is not mineralization or salinity changes for it to grab onto. So even if you have high mineralization, as long as your GB reference is steady there is no need for tracking. GB is site specific. Asking users across the globe what they prefer regarding GB defaults needs to be put into perspective with detailed descriptions of the user's local soil conditions. I detect in mid-Atlantic region of the US - just about every soil condition you can imagine is encountered here because two continental plates smashed together to form the Appalachians. So I can run with the defaults, in some places, get away with an Auto GB in others, and HAVE to run tracking in others. Also GB is search profile dependent and you will get different GB numbers ON THE SAME PATCH OF GROUND depending on the search profile mode you have selected when ground balancing. Just trust what the GB numbers AND YOUR EARS are telling you. If they deviate significantly from 0, you should GB. If you are hearing a lot of ground noise in ALL METAL (high minus numbers on the display) then you should ground balance. The key to Equinox is getting it to run quiet without OVERLY silencing the machine by applying too much filtering (especially iron bias) or too little sensitivity. Less is more when it comes to Equinox as the default settings are pretty good, but DO adjust them as necessary, in small increments, if you find the machine is chatty due to EMI or ground noise.