Chase Goldman

Nope. There are several other differences besides lack of Gold Mode and setting restrictions that became apparent when reading the pre released quick start guide and now the manual including: No quick save setting button for instant recall of your favorite mode and associated custom settings. Reduced range and increments of adjustment for recovery speed and iron bias along with slightly different default settings for the above parameters in the various modes between the 600 and 800. Auto noise cancel only vs. Auto and Manual on the 800. Restricted settings for threshold pitch, non-ferrous tone breaks, non-ferrous tone pitch, and 50-tone non-ferrous tone gap setting. 600 only allows single frequency operation at 5, 10 , 15 khz while 800 allows single frequency operation at 5, 10, 15, 20, 40 khz. Both detectors use all five frequencies during Multi IQ (simultaneous multi frequency ops). Wireless audio hardware (headphones and receiver) not included in the box. There may be even more less obvious differences.

Wonder how many Equinox 600 testers were out there? The reason I ask is that I found the unnecessarily crippled 600 non-ferrous tone option setting instructions confusing. While reduced adjustability on recovery and iron bias settings makes sense because they affect detector capability, I just think the tone setting restrictions seem like an arbitrary “penalty” for 600 users, promote user interface confusion, and are just going to frustrate the 600 users.

Thanks. Thanks. Yep that was all posted up on the sticky threads awhile ago so folks go check it out here: and here:

Despite this feature, still going to use the "sorry I was detecting and didn't hear the phone" excuse as I see fit.

Steve - for the 600, my understanding is that you cannot adjust tone pitch for the non-ferrous tones. For 50 tone mode (where I plan to be nearly 100% of the time), as far as adjusting the tone gap (tone pitch) from the 1, 20 default, I take it that you can only adjust the ferrous number up, but the non-ferrous pitch number remains fixed at 20, correct? Does that mean, you can lower the tone gap only by raising the ferrous tone, but not by lowering the non-ferrous tone (or both) on the 600. In other words, to lower the 50 tone ferrous - to - non-ferrous gap on the 600, you have to increase the ferrous tone which, I suppose, can be raised all the way to 19. Even though I am not getting the 600, I kind of wish they just kept the tone adjustment options the same between the two models. I think this is just going to unnecessarily create confusion and frustration amongst the ("have not") 600 users. It's minor, but this is another reason I am glad I opted for the 800.

From the Minelab Equinox Owner's Manual page 52: Iron Bias (Advanced Setting) The Iron Bias setting adjusts the likelihood of the detector to identify a target as iron if it presents both ferrous and non-ferrous signals. All ferrous targets produce a combination of a ferrous and nonferrous response. Large ferrous targets can even present a stronger non-ferrous response. Also, a ferrous target adjacent to a nonferrous target can produce a similar response. The Iron Bias Setting provides some control over the Target ID response. A lower Iron Bias setting will allow the natural response to dominate which means that the target is more likely to be classified as a non-ferrous target. A higher setting will increase the likelihood that the target is classified as iron. The Iron Bias setting has a range from 0 to 9. Iron Bias is only available when the operating frequency is Multi. Iron Bias adjustment is local; only the current Detect Mode Search Profile will be affected by changes to this Advanced Setting. In environments with dense iron trash, a higher Iron Bias is recommended in order to mask them. In areas where you do not want to miss any non-ferrous targets amongst iron trash, a lower setting is recommended. This will cause more ferrous targets to be detected and identified as desirable non-ferrous targets. Adjusting Iron Bias 1. Use the Settings button to navigate to Recovery Speed in the Settings Menu. 2. Press and hold the Settings button for 2 seconds. A line will appear beneath the Recovery Speed icon, indicating you have selected the Iron Bias setting, and 'FE' will appear on the Frequency Display. 3. Press the Minus (–) and Plus (+) buttons to decrease or increase the Iron Bias. Adjustments are automatically saved. 4. A long press of the Settings button will return you to the Recovery Speed setting. Click to enlarge...

Oh, brother. If true, way for Minelab to make this about Minelab instead of the buyers who have been waiting so long. I don't mind the realities of development, production lines, and worldwide shipping delays, but to cause an additional delay for some executive's marketing stunt, spare me. Hope he realizes that even if they do that, they will still get in folks' hands at different times due to local shipping times. Why don't they have us all show up in front of the nearest Deus or AT Max user's house at the same time and taunt them with our new Equinoxes while the Minelab blimps and drones take pictures of us all doing it across the world at a synchronized predetermined flash mob time. Lol.

Nah. Honest mistake.

In breaking news, Minelab has surreptitiously let it be known through dealers that they will be announcing an announcement about announcing a special announcement sometime in the near future about the past announcements. Please stayed tuned for announcements announcing future past announcements. Someone else mentioned something about the announcement being on Groundhog Day, but instead of the 6 weeks more winter wait time analogy, I keep thinking of the movie and that we will have to figure out how to keep reliving Groundhog Day until we get it right, enabling the UPS guy to eventually show up and deliver the Equinox but then Chris Elliott pops out during unboxing and you throw up and have to do it all over again. Am I the only one having that nightmare?

Inquiring minds want to know exactly what time it is (to the minute if possible) in your neck of the woods and whether you have seen a final shipping unit of the Equinox or whether you are simply wistfully wondering if product has shipped from down under. Try it, its fun. I'll start: It's 0645 here in Virginia and ... oh never mind.

That is what is exciting me about this detector. Hope it shows before I hit Culpeper again. And you blew my socks off with that experiment, Steve. Pretty cool stuff. Especially the rock solid TID for that entire population of nickels at various corrosion states.

Oh no, not Nickels again! Lol Just poking fun. Seriously though, not sure if Steve has an answer for you, but discussing that level of minute detail regarding visual Target IDs for a very specific target in the absence of audio ID, mode, site, and depth data may not be all that productive, especially if you are considering that at this point you are only getting essentially a single data point. However, that sounds like a GREAT question to ask a larger population of Equinox users after the product is released into the wild. When we can get a broader population of Equinox users and the resulting access to a good deal more data including first hand data then we should find out more useful contextual information on specific targets. Especially since nickels (like gold alloys), as mid conductors, are a notoriously difficult target for any detector to differentiate from mid conductive trash like pull tabs and mixed metal bottle caps, it will be interesting data that can be useful in truly assessing the Equinox's capabilities.

I can also read that as no earlier than late January.

Steve - I only recently landed here. The Equinox was the first truly groundbreaking product release in the past few years because it combined desired features into a light and cost effective product. Your forum was unique because you cut through all the rumor and fake news and provided honest and reliable first person information on the Equinox. So I came here because of the Equinox and stayed because you run a first class forum suitable for whatever machine you swing or style of hunting you pursue with great users who are here to share and learn rather than to troll and create drama. Glad I benefited from your and your users' insights, even though I was a little late to the party. Many thanks to you, Steve, and the other users of this great forum.

The ability of a detector to give you enough information to make a reliable determination of trash vs. treasure is about so much more than visual target Id's generated for various trash and treasure sample targets in a controlled single-mode air test. That information is useful to have, to be sure but to extrapolate from that information and make conclusions about detector capabilities is like making conclusions and car buying decisions based solely on published government mpg data. You need to understand the audio signature, what happens when the coil crosses the edge of the target, mode settings, ground conditions, site conditions and context, and a host of other factors. You can't make solid conclusions based soley on partial information be it, pictures, text, diagrams, or from watching videos. These are all pieces of the puzzle but you really need to be swinging the machine under real world conditions to make a credible assessment of detector capability. So when this information is graciously provided upon request, IMO it should be taken at face value and restraint should applied to making extrapolated conclusions (positive or negative) or criticisms until you have the machine in your hands and can confirm or refute your expectations on your own terms. Just my $0.02.

I think this is a great first poll. Since many folks will actually, realistically use more than one mode, I think a follow up poll ranking or prioritizing the four general categories would also be interesting, if Steve is so inclined.

Gene - Not sure of the precise technical answer for XP omitting the adjustment on the TX power setting for the HF coils, but I think it is because of the huge range of frequencies the coil can be run at. Fortunately, it is not locked at 3 like running 4 khz on the LF coil or off nominal frequency. Not even sure what TX 2 really means with respect to the HF coil. That is what XP says it is, but without any true specs on transmission power who knows if TX 2 on an HF coil actually corresponds to TX 2 on an LF coil. No way to tell for sure. Perhaps it really is TX 3 and XP is calling it TX 2 to make it sound better, who knows. On the LF coil, I mainly just set it at TX 2 and forgot about it. One thing I am glad about is that you can adjust/shift to any frequency in the range of settings and not take a TX power "penalty", so to speak, with the HF coil. To be frank, I never felt that TX power did all that much when it came to thick iron or even highly mineralized soil. The reason I say this is that I have now used the Deus with the HF coil in the super hot soil of Culpeper and never missed not being able to downshift to TX 1. In fact, I probably had my best finds ever in Culpeper using the HF coil. That being said, the GPX still blew the Deus away (no kidding) and I have video where I set a minie ball on the surface of the soil and got a solid 80 something TID on the Deus. Merely stepped on it with my boot so that it was covered by the dirt and it COMPLETELY disappeared off the radar screen. Silence. That was using multitones with discrimination at 6, I believe. I switched to Gold Field and could pick up a repeatable audio signal but no TID. Point being, I doubt that if I could downshift TX power to 1 it would have made a difference. Maybe more placebo than real, except, the increased battery drain at TX 3 was indeed real. Bottom line is that I am thankful I have one less parameter to fiddle with on the HF coil. I think you can compensate with proper use of Disc, Sensitivity, Reactivity, and perhaps even Silencer. In real thick iron, I use an unmasking program that consists simply of Disc set to 10, iron volume at 3 or higher, and use of pitch tones (I set the pitch tone to the highest frequency setting possible or whatever frequency is best for your hearing, the frequency that stands out when you hear it). In iron, I hear the iron volume through the disc filter then if non-ferrous is hiding in there somewhere amongst the iron, it will scream like a banshee. At the lower frequency on the HF coil (14 khz +/-) I might get some iron wraparound screeches, but not with the higher frequencies. You can tweak the unmasker further by lowering sensitivity into the 80's then it acts like Gary's sifter program (but with disc and pitch). I honestly do no think XP is going to fiddle with bringing TX power back for the HF coils. In fact, you are one of the few folks I have seen who has actually missed it on the HF coil. I can only suggest the tweaks to the other parameters I suggested above, with the principle one being lowering SENSITIVITY. As always, make sure you are properly ground balanced and you may want to switch to manual GB when in thick iron. Oh, and give ver 4.1 a shot and see if the new ground sensitivity adjustment helps. You want to keep it low (around closer to 1 to 3) in highly mineralized ground and higher (8 to 10) in sugar sand. 6 is the Default setting and is pretty good middle ground. I think folks have found that it has a more pronounced (and positive) affect on the LF coils and little effect on the HF coils, but it might be worth a shot. HTH

February 22 at 2:22 pm.

Mark - if your finds (solely) have totally covered your investment in ALL of those detectors, color me impressed.

I think Steve is saying that the Equinox audio does contain that nuanced target information, but the language may be different than the Nokta. So one has to learn a new language.

I was being facetious. Thanks for the info on Mr. Slomo (Slow and Low). At this point, I think some people are getting a little salty seeing people swing the machine while they have to sit on their hands waiting and commenting on how they could do it better, whether it is scoop technique, appropriate beach attire, ground balancing, blocking wind noise, or ensuring all batteries are properly topped off. So the reactions to the videos kinda go one of two ways. Either you are getting really excited about Equinox's imminent release or you are getting frustrated watching instead of swinging. In my case, I am excited about getting frustrated.

Yeah, you need to do something about that unnatural lighting in your indoor videos, Steve. Very unprofessional.

True if that were the case, but they are the same. 800 has a khigher recovery speed setting than the 600, too.

What's awesome is he is out there in that getup but NO GLOVES! Hard core! Re: the Kangaroo pouch, that typically doubles as the stuff pouch for the poncho when not in use. I have a "tactical" poncho like that and it is great to hunt in the rain with and I can keep my phone high and dry in that pouch..

Thats Better!