Chase Goldman

Why is drilling the lower hole not recommended? Thanks.

You can use either headphone solution on either machine so you don't have to tie either headphone setup to a specific machine, unless of course, if you are using both at the same time with a lucky hunting partner.

Steve - that chart is right on. What blows me away about it....1943. Now let's see, where can I possibly be on that chart, hmm...

Congrats. I got the call too and it's Saturday or Monday for me. Finally.

Steve - first of all, many thanks for directly answering my question, this thread has been keeping you busy with many direct questions. Hope you don't lump me in the camp that believes you can alleviate all doubt. LOL. Believe me I have learned my lesson about asking why Minelab did this and that and about asking subjective whether this or that is a good/bad thing type questions. That is why I carefully worded my question to make it clear I was merely collecting objective user data (did you ever use this or that?) so as a grown up boy, I can make my own decisions. Your blog did not explicitly mention the reduced range of the 600 recovery speed settings (only the reduced resolution (number) of settings) and knowing that max and min recovery speed settings have a direct relationship to separation and depth capability, respectively (as you mentioned in your blog post), I wanted to get a feel from you on how significant you felt those missing endpoint adjustments on the 600 were from a day-to-day performance standpoint. I got my answer, not very significant since you rarely ever had to invoke them. This is also consistent with Deus where the analogous highest "reactivity" settings are rarely ever invoked. If your user experience had been to invoke those endpoint settings more frequently on a day-to-day basis that might have changed my perspective on the importance of those missing endpoint settings. This information further solidifies for me your blog statement that: "The EQUINOX 600 has the same features, but keeps it simpler." Which some folks have unfortunately misinterpreted. In the end, I don't know what I don't know and because of that, I may end up just getting a 2nd 800 because I may find that my style/type of hunting may necessitate more frequent forays into the high recovery region due to hunting primarily in thick iron situations. Also, as you said, "these are early days" and as time marches on and more users (including myself) get experience with the Equinox, there may be yet unknown applications for those extreme endpoint settings for recovery speed, the additional iron bias settings, the high single frequency settings, and/or for Gold Mode (i.e., for other mid-conductive targets beside nuggets). Or we may eventually find out that to get the same ML-branded wireless hardware for the 600 that is included with the 800 we may have to chew up a significant chunk of the price difference as as separate purchase. (So much for that accessory coil - LOL). Thanks again for the response and perspective.

Now I know you're joking, Norm. That is pretty funny. Especially, since ML holds the patents and will litigate with the competition at the drop of a hat. You can ask Whites and XP about that. Regarding pre-pays. (Not a Norm S. issue). This is a fluid, free market environment. If anything, you can juxtapose the Cabelas and Kellyco situations and ascertain that pre-paying did not provide an advantage in the larger scheme of things despite initial reports to the contrary that were subsequently debunked. I recall folks that adamantly maintained that ML was preferentially going to dole out the detectors to satisfy pre-orders that were pre-paid. Lesson learned. Shop around and find the dealer situation that suits your principles and if you ARE going to prepay to perhaps find an advantage with a specific dealer in terms of which list you get on to, then be prepared for your money to be in someone else's hands for a long time before you receive product. Fortunately, if you put in the effort to do the legwork you can find the situation that suits you because dealers run the gamut when it comes to setting their terms on prepays, extras, discounts, etc.. I can also say this, if you have a close relationship with a dealer, stick it out rather than jump ship. You will be better off in the long run because they will still be there for you when the big box guy is done after the last shipping notice. Don't stop believing!

Steve - good article. I am getting the 800. but I am evaluating whether my backup/companion machine should be the 800 or a 600. Your article helped but I had a few more questions and would like your input based on your extensive first hand experience with the 800. The manual on p. 51 states that the maximum adjustment for recovery speed for the 600 is less than the 800. So the 800 has a higher maximum recovery speed than the 600 (i.e., the 600 max setting is 3 which corresponds to 6 on the 800 scale, but the 800 can be set up to 8)? Similarly, the 600 can not be set to the lowest recovery speed equivalent of the 800 (600 setting of 1 corresponds to 2 on the 800) which could marginally impact depth performance vs. the 800. My question is not why that is. Instead, wanted to know whether you ever encountered situations where you needed to set the recovery speed above the equivalent max setting of the 600 (i.e., higher than 6 on the 800) or lower than 2 (800 setting)? Also, the 800 has auto and manual noise cancellation vs only auto on 600. Have you ever encountered a situation where a manual channel setting was preferred over the auto selected channel? Thanks in advance. Wish we had accessory pricing to see how much the BT Headphones and WM08 module cost separately to factor into the price differential. Thanks again, Steve. PS Anyone else out there who also has practical experience with these settings, feel free to chime in. Thanks.

Skate, Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for. I now have two Deus/Equinox user reports that are similar. Mine is showing up soon so I can't wait to run it through its paces. I get your "brain" target discrimination (left to right) description.

Thanks. The key was making sure that it was an APTX LL transmitter to get full benefit of the minimal lag. Really recommend the "used like new" amazon option as the savings is significant and you still have the peace of mind of the return policy.

Steve - I wonder if the coil drive circuitry and signal processing algorithms have to be reworked for a concentric coil? Wonder if ML could answer (or would be willing to answer) that question? Though I am thinning the herd significantly post-Equinox I am going to keep at least one detector that has a concentric accessory coil. That is one of the reasons I chose to keep the F75 over the T2. Different detectors that outwardly look like clones of each other but inwardly very different circuits and a different user interface. The T2, however, cannot accommodate concentric coils.

Nice gold. Confirmed Beach 2 is the way to go in the water just like the manual says (good!) and boy those are some nasty Quarters. lol. Thanks for the water report and no one had previously pointed out the water retention issues. Does your beach have black sand? The Equinox will sense it and reduce power in Beach mode according to the Manual.

Skate - Great report and follow up but this part is really interesting to me. I don't want to turn this into a Deus vs Equinox thread because this is not the forum so if you feel more comfortable just PMing me with a response, but I have to ask since you put it out there. I have too always thought of the Deus as a machine that will tell me practically everything conductive that is in the ground, ferrous to silver, up to it's depth limit. However, I found there is no one mode that allows this with the Deus. To "hear" everything I basically need to hit a spot 3 ways - Full tones, with no discrimination, Gold Field with no Iron Reject, and then if I want to leave the iron in the ground I can use a discriminating pitch program to unmask non-ferrous targets hiding amongst the iron. I have recently found that the HF round coil works best at this. I always felt I was running partially "blind" with multi-tones and any discrimination. It appears you are getting the same "feeling" (in reverse) by running your Equinox over a familiar site that you have pounded with the Deus. My question is simply this, how did you have the Deus set up when you were clearing your park area and what type of coil were you using. Knowing this will give me an idea of how the Equinox "hears everything". Not having run time with Equinox, I am obviously not in a position where I am willing to say that I am rocking Noxtradamus all the way and selling the Deus. I always planned to keep the Deus after the Equinox arrives because I think it still has some fringe capabilities that the Equinox may lack at very high frequencies and still like the low profile and light weight allows room for my Pez dispenser of Advil while not having to eat as much of it. But you and TNSS are really finding some things out about the Equinox that eclipse the Deus in ways I thought the Deus could not be eclipsed. Primarily in ability to separate ferrous and non-ferrous targets. As primarily a relic hunter, this capability is important to me. So I just want to make sure I am on the same page with you on how you wielded the Deus. Thanks.

Delving further into the whole sound vs. visual thing (vs. purely increased visual ID resolution). I guess if anything, I would opt for a visual aid like on some detectors, that displays a confidence indicator rather than more resolution and even then that would still not tell the whole audio story and can be redundant to observing lack of TID stability. A target ID of XX can be nickel or a pull tab or a gold ring. And in the case of the pull tab and ring they can hover around the nickel number depending on size, purity, and shape. Giving more resolution does not necessarily help for the Ring and Pull Tab. Sure they can be unstacked, but since they can move around depending on their characteristics what more are you learning about the target from the higher resolution? The sound quality (not just tone but sonic clues like edge distortion, scratchiness, warbling, etc.) is what gives me the most telling dig information and that cannot be emulated very well visually on a basic fixed icon LCD display. Learning what the sound is telling me is the thing that generally presents the steepest learning curve for me with a new detector. It does not take long to learn the numbers but they can't always tell the whole story. I recognize this is a personal "how you hunt" style thing, just putting out there why higher visual ID resolution wouldn't necessarily help me, but that's why I am putting what I do out there so perhaps I can learn how it CAN help and not just a you say to-ma-to, I say to-mah-to argument. Thanks. The Equinox will arrive soon and can't wait to get out there and learn those tones. Hoping they are as expressive as Deus. I know this is starting to deviate slightly from the main point of the thread but it is related to the question of "Why only..." Steve or any other Equinox users who also have used the Deus, I would appreciate any comments on the audio ID part of the ID equation for the Equinox and how it compares, especially in 50 tones. Thanks. Steve thanks for the link to the TID comparison.

For all of us still waiting - a repeat post for inspiration. LOL. Don't stop...believing. Ohoooo!

I don't see anyone who actually has an Equinox complaining about the VID scale. How much resolution do you think is absolutely necessary (give examples of stacked targets that would make a difference on a dig/no dig decision)? I don't have the Equinox yet but do have a 00-99 point scale Deus. I dig primarily by tone and use VID as kind of a user aid backup not as a primary dig/no dig indicator. Looking for high conductor/borderline high conductor/solid-mid conductor and ferrous. Gold can fall anywhere around the mid-conductors (and so can aluminum trash) so I make a decision to dig (Deus) based on tone quality (not just pitch which is related to VID, but what does the tone sound like). How does having more resolution help? Just trying to learn. I think if I had resolution to be able to tell between a Jefferson, a War Nickel, and Buffalo, I would still just dig them all because they would be all solid coin tones and so what if they all read 13 or 50, 53, 55. On Deus a bent pull tab will ring up here too but the tone is unmistakable as trash. I don't really use the full scale on the Deus, I would be fine if it were 5 point increments, frankly. Please help me understand the advantage. Thanks.

Just east of Culpeper is a hamlet called "Goldvein". Culpeper was at the regional heart of Virginia peak gold mining/production when Virginia was the third highest producing gold state in the country along Virginia Gold-Pyrite belt. Hence, the source of the hot soil conditions in the area making it very hard using traditional VLF technologies to recover artifacts from the tens of thousands of CW soldiers who stayed in winter encampments and fought battles there. So in a sense, when you are relic hunting in the Culpeper Virginia area, you are looking for keepers under traditional "nugget hunting" conditions and why GPX PI detectors and VLF detectors running in "gold" modes or at higher frequencies tend to have success.

Also putting a plug in for the Miccus SR-71s as a great pair of BT APTX LL phones that someone previously reported as possibly being clones of the ML Equinox BT phones. I am using them as part of a wireless setup with my GPX detector (using a companion $20 BT APTX LL transmitter that plugs into the GPX headphone jack). They work and sound great with no noticeable lag and are multipoint which means like the ML phones can be simultaneously paired with another BT device such as your phone so you can take calls. Haven't told the boss about that feature yet, though, so I still have some peace and quiet out in the field for the time being. Lol. Also, I got them "Used - Like New" for a very significant discount through Amz warehouse. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GGKNYOQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I think you know, but I got your point completely. I was responding to George and jacob7z. Just to be clear.

Exactly, Steve. Depends on if you need a sledgehammer or pliers to get the job done. Two completely different tools.

Good stuff. Give me some concrete reasons to cancel my order. I've been waiting for 5 months and you have given up on it in a little over two weeks. Impressed the first day, not so much now. What has turned you off? Can you elaborate on what you have done with the Equinox in terms of baking it off against the CTX? Sounds like you didn't bring the CTX along with you or do any test garden testing? How did you have Equinox set up? What modes were you using and why? Did you trade off recovery speed in order to gain depth or just use stock settings? What type of sites were you using it at? Mineralization, trashy, old, cellar holes, old home sites, old parks, beach? Why were you expecting to find silver there (but didn't)? Did you find anything else? Clad? Do you think you have a handle on the Equinox after a week or two? Was it noisy? Was it not separating trash? Was it falsing on iron/trash or giving unreliable TIDs/Tones? I presume that since you didn't "get your CTX out" you did not do any head-to-head testing against a known target to get a feel for the difference in target detectability were going by the "I should have found some silver by now" test? Both valid approaches but I know which one would hold more sway with me. I am begging someone to convince me to cancel my order because the agony of waiting is horrible and I would hate to get to the end and find bitter disappointment. I will listen to any compelling argument with facts. So far I have seen none to convince me not to take the plunge. Need more info. Thanks!

Awesome writeup, Steve. Really good stuff. Multiple detectors is how I looked at the various Deus modes/frequencies and why I tend to hit the same sites several times with those various Deus modes. I look at the Equinox as similar but on steroids. The modes look to be more differentiated such that they better approximate the "different detector" paradigm. I plan to do the same with the Equinox (hit a site multiple times with multiple modes if I can) and then hit it again with the Deus at an HF freq thst is not covered by the Equinox just for good measure. Lol. Also, plan to do a little more "in water" salt beach hunting this summer so I want to unerstand Equinox beach modes better. I have a question on how this beach mode GB "locked at zero" thing works because I can't find it in the manual. Manual does recommend tracking GB in the water so that implies it can be unlocked, but not in manual/auto GB?? If anyone can enlighten me it would be appreciated. Thanks.

The GPX is not going anywhere in Culpeper, it is still king. Take it into a ration can littered trash field, and I can see where the Equinox might have an advantage. Right tool for the job. That's why statements like the CTX cost $2500 so it must be "better" are misnomers. Yeah, the CTX will give you a solid TID on deep silver but it will be blind to a relatively shallow Block I button in mineralized soil that will be easy pickings for the Equinox, which is worth more to you? Only the buyer can decide for themselves.

Great review Wayfarer. A lot of us knew Equinox is likely going to be a great, if not the best, overall jack of all trades detector out there for the money (perhaps period). But you know what they say about jacks of all trades, many are masters of none. While I know that is not the case for the Equinox, and there has been a lot of discussion and consensus from the time Steve was pretesting it until now regarding what it IS a master of and just what it's strengths are. Specifically, related to what fast, simultaneous multi-frequency brings to the table. But more importantly, it is good to also hear what it DOES NOT excel at. No real surprises (deep silver TID - pretty much knew that was coming) but the other minor quirks regarding the depth meter, audio modulation, triple beeps, and balance are great tidbits of information and I thank you for pointing them out. I also liked your initial spectral analysis which was eye opening. Further scratching the surface regarding the nuanced differences between the 800 and 600 in performance in a presentation modeled after yours above would be great and would be helpful for people agonizing about which model to get. Good job.

Ain't that the truth, sir!

The accessories page itself is MIA in addition to the accessories. You're asking for a lot.