Chase Goldman

And that number was...

MSRPs would be good

Thanks for the update on the Kruzer, perhaps we should consider changing the title of the thread...Kruzer looks like a worthy detector but sticking with the EQ. Cal, I know it’s disappointing, but a majority of folks (like me) are in your shoes, glad everyone is not posting sour grapes like comments...or perhaps they have honestly moved on. The following may throw more fuel on your fire, though. Supposed to be sharing info on possible 2nd batch shipments in this thread so here’s a data point. A former (lol) detectorist friend of mine was successful ordering (no preorders) and receiving shipping information for this week from Cabelas when Equinox reappeared on their website as “in stock” last week. Now indicating “sold out”. When it shows “in stock” again may be a leading indicator of when Minelab is ready to ship the second wave. Just a guess.

That tip in the last sentence of your post is solid gold. Coming from Deus, you can’t adjust pitch when in the 50 tones equivalent of the Deus so it was indeed hard to wrap my head around the EQ procedure. Now I get it.

Pretty clear this is going to change the face of wet salt beach hunting since you won't have to make that big an investment for a VERY CAPABLE machine (600). The thing that scares me most is the sheer number of 600/800's that are now going to be on the beach vacuuming up targets this summer once the production gets going full steam.

50 tones is a little different because you also can set a tone pitch gap setting in 50 tones so that the lowest non-ferrous tone is much higher than the highest ferrous tone so you can more easily distinguish between a low conductive non-ferrous target and a ferrous target (whose actual visual target ID's may be close). That tone gap setting makes the tone pitch and breakpoint adjustments a little different for 50 tones (p. 48 of the posted online manual). HTH.

Thanks. Thought it might be something like that (rf receivier). Glad you posted the info. ML implied they were using a pulse-width-modulated scheme. If all those frequencies are being transmitted simultaneously into the coil, the resulting radiated frequencies will be a function of the duration of each of the fundamental frequency pulses which, as you noted, we can't predict without knowing the modulation scheme but can observe the resultant output (which doesn't refute that the fundamental transmitted frequencies are not indeed 5-40 khz). The really interesting finding from your spectral analysis, is that the output spectrum IS THE SAME REGARDLESS OF MODE. I agree then, the secret sauce that defines the search mode behavior/target optimizations is in the way they PROCESS the return signal from the spectrum generated since the output spectra does not appear to vary as a function of mode. Theoretically, however, there may be a number of different ways the fundamental frequencies can be modulated to result in the given spectrum. I doubt, however, that they are doing that. One advantage of not varying the output spectrum, is that it makes it easier to normalize target ID for a given target type regardless of the mode you are using (except if you switch to single frequency mode). I can't recall if there has been verification of target ID consistency between Multi IQ operation and single frequency operation across the board. Great stuff. Thanks again Wayfarer.

Congrats, Judy. Can't wait to hear from Oz.

Interesting. How are you capturing the frequencies (i.e., conducted or transmitted using an antenna and rf receiver)? And in the Multi IQ spectra, what about the prominence a few clicks under 20 Khz?

Iron Bias was a new setting added to both models. And I think there were tweaks to the default programs overall to add this iron bias default setting and to provide slightly different setups for the two profiles of each detect mode. Also, perhaps as a result of the overall Multi IQ tweaks associated with the above, final target ID impacts were not finalized until very late in the game. IOW, the "last minute" changes were not just limited to the Gold Mode profiles of the 800, both models were affected. HTH.

Actually, an Equinox recovery setting of 3 on the 600 is equivalent to a recovery setting of 6 on the 800 because they are based on two different scales. See p. 51 of the user manual.

Let me put it this way, wouldn’t it be nice if ML had an 800 option that eliminated the wireless accessories and subtracted the ML price for those accessories from the bottom line? Actually, wouldn’t it be nice if ML just published the price and availability of accessories? Also, I would like to use my GG’s but untethered to the detector and can only do that with the WM08 module. So yeah we can play that game all day. But point taken, you can look at the 600 as a capable, less expensive detector where you are not paying for accessories you don’t need. The value is all a matter of perspective based on the needs of each end user, so the value of the 600 vs. 800 will certainly vary from user to user.

Though that value is diminished somewhat if you factor in the cost of the wireless hardware (Aptx phones and WM08 module) included with the 800 vs. the 600 wired phones.

Although the software builds are somewhat different, the 600 and 800 are physically and electronically identical with the exception of the physical user profile save button which exists only on the 800. That makes it not possible to 100% replicate the functionality of the 800 on the 600 simply by flashing 800 firmware on the 600. I am certain that ML has put interlocks in place to keep people from inadvertently or intentionally doing that at the hobbiest level of expertise (though the cell phone industry shows us that it is practically impossible to stop determined hackers). This means that ML does not appear to have a planned upgrade path for 600 users to get to 800 functionality simply through a future software upgrade (paid or otherwise). Now as far as people with nefarious motives, well we have unfortunately seen plenty of counterfeit detectors out there ripping off all the manufacturers and users alike.

Cabelas is not going to get an Equinox to you any faster than any other dealer. The 4 to 7 days shipped direct from manufacturer is a boilerplate estimate that gets refined by email a couple of days after you place your order and then you get the more realistic date several weeks into the future and then get to enjoy the fun of getting a chargeback to your card in a week or so if you choose to cancel. Trust me. Minelab does not have a bunch of Equinoxes sitting around in a distribution center earmarked for Cabelas online orders while Kellyco has over 200 folks waiting on a preorder list. If that is indeed the case, then oops!

Thought I would bump this on up since more and more EQ users are starting to unbox so it seems the time has arrived. Critical is not the same as bash. It means identify the downsides from your perspective. Where does it not meet YOUR needs. It should hopefully be constructive. We can put likes and dislikes and quirks out there so that they can, hopefully be addressed, mitigated, or solutions and remedies shared from user to user as the machine is learned and experience gained. If there happen to be any serious flaws it is good to get those out there and identified for ML to fix. It's great to finally be on the doorstep of this moment where we can start sharing actual experiences and bounce them off of Steve H's pretest experiences and the other testers who helped shape this beast. And perhaps make Equinox even better. Congrats to those who have their Equinoxes or are soon to get them. It is going to be a fun February/March 2018 and beyond. I encourage you to read Steve's opening post of the thread to get the gist of what this is supposed to be about before proceeding. Make this honest, but helpful and constructive with the goal of improving not tearing down this groundbreaker.

Gerry, Oops, I guess I shouldn't have complimented your customer outreach skills at the expense of ML USA. Hope I don't get BB'd, or worse (e.g., have my EQ shipping rerouted through Antarctica by sled dog team). BTW I forgot to mention that seeing the title of your thread triggered my consumer electronics PTSD. I was a "victim" of not one but two recalls of the Samsung phone model whose battery design flaw was causing phones to spontaneously combust. Though my phone never caught fire, having to send it back in for replacement twice in one month and then finally being told I needed to buy a different model phone was not fun. Suffice it to say, the whole "Equinox Caught Fire" expression had a completely different initial connotation to me and I was relieved to see you were only referring to Equinox sales and preorder numbers and not a fatal Equinox battery design flaw.

Chevy Equinox, does that clear it up?

Gerry, if I didn't already have a dealer who also is a good friend and sometime relic detecting buddy, it would be you. What an intelligent and informative post. The blackballing thing is a little disconcerting. Is that a dealer level thing or a user level thing (abuse of warranty, return, or just dropping off of preorder lists?). Anyway, thanks for doing the job ML USA should be doing regarding customer relations, you should be getting someone's paycheck who supposedly has that job there.

I propose we form the 2nd Batch Equinox Fan Club. I guarantee it will be bigger than the First Batch club.

Probably a blessing in disguise because the Equinox is good but it is not going to pay your property taxes (unless you stuck it out and then flipped it on ebay, that is ), so better to have liquid capital back to pay the bills. Good luck and you are right that you have decent detector stable to see you through until The time is right for Equinox.

The above post makes me laugh and be sad at the same time so I just went with laugh so as not to cry.

Fortunately, I think Steve H. has shook the Equinox tree enough in preproduction testing to put those fears pretty much to rest. But we’ll all soon find out.

I will answer this - would like to road trip it to your neck of the woods some time and hit some TN sites with you so we could do some real detector test nerd damage together and find some cool relics in the process. And then I could show you some nasty hot trash ridden VA spots that just have to be hiding some buttons and plates that I think the EQ might just sniff out. Excited to get this sucker and compare notes.

“Without Equal” is not necessarily a good thing if you are on the wrong side of the “less than” sign. Gotta love the marketing department, precision is not their strong suit.