Chase Goldman

54 minutes ago, Morris said:

Ordered from Kellyco Dec 6th. I decided to get a refund and went elsewhere about 5 weeks ago.They just were not letting me know where I stand and they were getting small shipments and I knew they had a huge preorder list. I am now #1 on a new list from a smaller dealer and have been for a month now. I may never get to use one. I just was diagnosed with cancer. I am hoping that they can kill it. It has not spread which is good.  I may be in radiation treatment for 5 weeks in the Minneapolis VA. I'll take my Safari with. I know some good places in St.Paul that I have hunted before when I lived there years ago. I can maybe detect in between treatment each day. 

Anyone from the Minneapolis / St.Paul area that has free time to go hunting? 

Fight the good fight, Morris!  We are pulling for your speedy recovery and it is good that we are periodically reminded that there are more important things in this world than Equinox waiting lists and complaining about on/off buttons, shaft wobble, pull tabs, and maximum coin depths.  Thank you for your service.

Happiness is knowing that you have two digable signals under the coil sweep.  Happened to me this weekend with a silver dime and a Williams Cleaner bullet about 10 - 12" away.

Me Like.

Aftermarket shaft or stock?

I know I am always going to buy something from Amazon eventually, so I just upload the Amazon cash to my account after a coinstar run.  Great tip by Mitchel.  It's second nature for me now so I forget to mention it to folks.  No need to take the 10% coinstar cash hit.

Good video.  Hammered coins are mid-conductors as shown on Tones' display was hitting solid 12 - 13.  Ken is using a less than optimal Deus coil for mid-conductors.  He was right, in order to have chance against Brandon and his Equinox, Ken should have been using the Equinox or a Deus HF coil which would have hammered that hammered at 28 khz or higher.

Just noticed that Brandon was using Field 1 (I think) vice Field 2 (the latter of which would have been my choice for hammered coins) so at least he was giving Ken "a chance"  lol.  I will have to check the other version of the video to see why Brandon chose to set it up that way...

4 hours ago, SittingElf said:

I would have done the same, but when I ordered them from AliExpress, they were not available on Amazon.  Not a problem, and cheaper too. Just have to wait. (The Equinox has gotten me used to waiting!! LOL!)

Same here.  The weren't on Amazon yet.

Thanks.  I have pair on order from overseas too.

7 minutes ago, phrunt said:

I prefer mine over the Minelab version.

What are you using?

4 hours ago, Ringmoney said:

No they should of made the decision on the laws of physics/ergonomics. The S type with separate handle is best ergonomically over the straight or classic s types, and its not just my opinion, its fact. I know weight distribution can make any shaft design feel unbalanced and thus un-ergonomic, but why not just start out with the proven design in the first place???

I'm having trouble following the logic, earlier you said it was aesthetics (looks, subjective feelings) not ergonomics now you are saying just the opposite, it's now a "law of physics".  Since I don't really have a dog in the hunt as I could go either way, I am going to bow out of this whole shaft thing because it is getting exhausting running around in circles.  Thanks.

Steve - treating each of the modes as a separate entity or "detector within a detector" seems to be one of the biggest conceptual hurdles for the new users based on interactions with my detecting buddies and what I have seen on the forums.  I think this is because most detectors treat GB, noise reduction, and even discrimination as "global" settings. 

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that even on ML FBS Detectors and the V3i, I doubt the mode differences on those multifreqency machines affect the underlying multi-frequency spectra and signal processing as much as what occurs with the Equinox and Multi IQ.  On the Equinox, Multi IQ gives each mode it's own detector personality even with nearly identical "local" settings.  

It is a pretty significant depature from the "norm" in several respects.

18 minutes ago, Ringmoney said:

Exactly what I said its all about aesthetics these days and not ergonomics.

Yeah, but you said earlier that ML make a huge step backwards from X-terra, which is your opinion, but it is probably only shared by ~50% of folks who own an Equinox because users are split on the issue.  My point is that no company would make a decision based on the above poll, even if it was 10,000 people because there is not enough differentiation between the two choices.  You are going to disappoint a huge swath of people regardless of which way you go, so just because they went with a straight shaft doesn't necessarily mean they "don't read all posts".    If it was 10,000 respondents and 90 to 10% split, ML might possibly sit up an take notice.  Lol.

I do agree, however, that it only makes sense to keep shaft and stem designs interchangeable amongst product lines, if possible.  I have also said it previously, ML could show some marketing innovation by offering Equinox in either shaft design because the control pod design facilitates easy production with either configuration with minimal investment in their production facilities from what I can tell.

11 minutes ago, Ringmoney said:

I guess Minelab don't read all posts after all.

http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1564-what-type-of-metal-detector-shaft-design-do-you-prefer/

The number of people who replied to the survey is less than half of Kellyco's Nox 800 waiting list.  LOL.  This straight vs. s-shaft thing is just personal preference.  Both sides will argue that one to death and a large contingent of folks will consider ML made a colossal blunder regardless of which shaft ML went with.  I think its funny that Plugger and Anderson have made a living out of putting straight shafts on S-shaft detectors (Excal and Deus to name but a few) and are now also making a living putting straight shafts on straight shaft detectors (the Equinox).  Neither configuration is the "perfect" solution AFAIC as I use both configurations without complaint.

I checked with Keith at Ft. Bedford and he is not aware of any "official" compatible lower rods available for purchase, so we are likely on our own when the new coils come out.  I am going to check the Excal compatibility and also look at the Plugger and Anderson offerings to see if any compatible lower rods can be obtained from them.

Hoffman Mint (HM) arcade gaming token from the 70's and 80's.

20 minutes ago, wasatchau said:

White's MX Sport has better ergonomics than the NOX800. Too bad it weighs almost 5 pounds. 

What is better about it ergonomically?  You appeared to take weight and possibly balance off the table.  What's left?  Thanks.

Judy - cool.  Keep us posted.  Who would have thought a US CW artifact factoid would lead to a find ID in Australia.

That is what I have done too (have the accessory coils mounted to lower shafts for all my detectors).   I understand, I was just saying that I would be leery about trying less than perfect fit rod with the Equinox assembly due to the fit up issues being reported with the cam locks.  I mean folks are resorting to sticking felt pads in the assemblies to make them work and that just seems like not a good long-term solution, so in the absence of rods, I would just change out the coils themselves.  There may be other better fits than the X-terra's.  I know First Texas lower rods work on my GPX, for example.  I will look into this further with my dealer who also happens to be affiliated with one of the ML repair centers and report back.

Are you trying to avoid the time it takes having to repeatedly remount coils on the same rod while saving some $ using what you have on hand?  I have seen the Equinox get assembled in less than 2 minutes from scratch, including attachment of the coil, so not having a standby lower rod already fitted with a coil seems like a minor inconvenience/time sink vs. trying to hack something on a detector rod and stem system that has seen some weakness in the cam lock design.  That being said, frequent removal and reinstallation of coils on rods can introduce some stresses on the coil ears.  I think compatible lower rods can be obtained at a reasonable cost, hopefully.

I do own an MX Sport, and even with the weight distribution balance, prefer the Equinox if it only comes down to ergonomics (obviously there are other advantages).  I don't even mind the handle and I have, ahem, small hands.  I have the build for it I guess, I am as wide as I am short.  Swung it for basically 6 hours straight yesterday and still felt I could swing it for a couple more hours if I had to.  I own a Deus as most of you know, and I never find myself pining for the lightweight Deus during a marathon Equinox session.  I just don't think about it that way.  No detector is going to be the ergonomic nirvana for all detectorists because of different preferences and needs.  We are all built differently. 

The Deus user interface could be improved and while I think the Equinox is better in some respects, I have a few suggestions as well.

Overall, from my experience, the best designed detector from an ergonomics standpoint (that also has performance chops) is the First Texas F75 and T2 family of detectors.

IMO Bottom Line:  Equinox doesn't seem to be any better or worse, ergonomically, then any of the recent crop of detectors to come out in the last few years and if I were forced to lean one way or the other, I think it is better than most, waterproof or not.. 

Thanks, everyone.  Sharing the adventure is half the fun and what I am really blessed with is some great detecting friends who let me tag along to their permissions.  Even public tot lot detecting is verboten in my community, with posted signage my tax dollars paid for.  I am actually paying my local government to not allow me to detect.  Lol.

But enough with "Don't Tread on Me" themed rants.  What I really wanted to say is that I forgot to provide some target ID info.  These were the first CW military buttons I snagged with the Equinox.  Minie Balls ring up around 17 give or take and the buttons ring up around 15 give or take.

HTH

Judy - not sure what that heart actually is, but it resembles a plate that US CW Cavalry soldiers used on the martingale horse tack.  Doubt any made it Down Under, though.  Lol.  Congrats on the anniversay.

2 hours ago, Mark Gillespie said:

For shallower targets you might also ground balance, then jack the sensitivity up and block out the negative numbers. This will make shallow targets like perhaps small gold nuggets pop but does risk deeper items going missed due to ground masking.

Cool tip, Steve, thanks!

Killing it 'Hardnox.  Keep the streak going!

I have a silver coin streak going at one site and even though I have no right to be, will be sad when it ends.  Not putting the pressure on, helps.  When you force it, tend to spend too much time chasing really iffy signals.  Lol.

It's cool because it's so specific to an individual.  Hope you can date it and nail down the event.