Dubious

Here, we've got the Kentucky Derby Festival, a two-week affair that leads up the the Kentucky Derby horse race, featuring pageants and other things, including the largest fireworks display in North America. But, while the Kentucky Derby is big locally and in equestrian circles, it's probably hardly noticed by most of the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Derby_Festival

I would probably also appreciate the extra control the 24k offers. But, in auto tracking, did the 24k perform as well as the GM1000?

Well, for anyone who isn't a fan of the 800's stock headphones, or who like me has the 600 and a choice, I like my Avantree Audition Pro low latency headphones. Better yet are my Sennheiser CX 6.00 low latency earbuds, which don't interfere with my hat.

Unless you're sure that is normal behavior for the Pro-Find 35 (I have no idea), you may consider sending it in for warranty repair. I recently had a similar situation with the new Fisher F-Pulse pinpointer--would go into these crazy falsing bouts. Since most others seemed to like their F-Pulses, I finally called Fisher and got an RMA and sent it in. Fisher sent me back a new one which works fine.

Rather than a hybrid machine that uses both PI and VLF, we'll probably have to wait for a completely different technology to come along. But for one detector that can be used effectively in place of a variety of VLF detectors, the Equinox is already here.

For me in 2018, the Explorer II and Equinox 600. The Etrac was my main machine at the time, used exclusively for coin hunting, and I'd always wanted to try the the Explorer II, a predecessor which some say goes a bit deeper with its stock coil and has better tones. So, when the opportunity arose to buy one in excellent condition, I jumped on it. I like having the Explorer II in my collection, but prefer the Etrac. I'd been reading about the soon-to-come Equinox for some time, and wanted to try it, as it seemed to represent the latest wrinkle in Minelab's multi-frequency technology. Supplies were almost non-existence at first, but I came across a place that had the Equinox 600. Later, I also bought the 6" coil. I am thinking of "upgrading" to an 800 for the gold modes, and that may be my next purchase.

Animals killing humans per year in the U.S.: Bears = 1; Bees/wasps = 48; Deer = 200. https://roaring.earth/which-animal/ You can also carry Bear Spray...

The Quest seems very good value for the money, with cutting edge features, but there is that cloud. I hadn't been aware of the story, but just looked it up: According to reports, Chinese-based Deteknix among other things introduced a copied Teknetics T2--both hardware and software--in the US as the "Deteknix Quest Pro." Surprisingly bold. Case has settled and Deteknix is now Quest. https://md-hunter.com/deteknix-is-gone-just-got-sued-by-its-competitor/ I tried a Deteknix pinpointer a couple years ago that I may still have. But I think I'll stay away from Deteknix/Quest products in the future. It's one thing for companies to be fighting over patents where they both developed the technology and things are murky, but this T2 episode was something else.

Congratulations!

I'm not sure how intelligent the auto noise cancel is on the Nox--almost seems to give a random change each time, if you do it more than once. Some advise pointing the coil in the direction of the suspected EMI source while doing the auto noise cancel. On the whole, I've had fewer problems with EMI on the Nox than with my Etrac.

If I ever visit Britain (or start hunting beaches), I'll have to pick up one of those...

Amazing finds! I like the earring theory for that mini-torc. It really is unfair, though. I am overjoyed when I find a 60-year old Mercury dime, and the Brits (and lucky visitors) are finding 2,000 year old coins. Interesting the way that British farmers are apparently deriving second incomes from the hordes of detectorists that now search their fields.

Thanks for the explanations. I did mean the Whites-type instantaneous grab as described for the 24K--did not know the term also included pumping/auto on other machines. I have it on my Racer 2 (and now also the Nox), but am not that used to pumping, as most of my detecting has been with the Etrac, which doesn't have ground balancing at all. Well, it is easier than manual...

TNSS or someone will have to do some unmasking tests. For me, I think it's been about the same with the old vs new firmware versions (hunting coins), but so many variables it's hard to tell. I have sometimes thought pennies (both new and old) rang in a little lower on the TID scale.

Three years is a long time in technology. Well, maybe not for metal detectors ?

Thanks for the video, which is very helpful. The Gold Kruzer does seem to have the best feature set of the VLF gold machines. One ground balance option I might like that it apparently doesn't have is "grab"; but it seems to auto ground balance quite easily.

Comparing the 24K to the GMT, what would you say gives the 24K the advantage? The 24K seems to have dropped true manual ground balancing. Has that been a problem?

Yes, the CX 6.00 BT are definitely Low Latency (so long as the other side is). I use them with the Nox, and like them. On the Nox, you can see the icon for LL come on as they pair up; I've also compared them against non-LL earbuds and there is a noticeable difference. Someone else found a lower-cost APTX Low Latency option in the Samsung Level U Pro, see below. However, be careful, as apparently some closely-related variants of this Samsung unit are not LL. I think the difference is that you need the "Pro" variant for LL, but Google and you'll find a discussion somewhere. http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=264745

Ditto. Scanning detector systems like the OKM are interesting but are not really for coin, relic, or gold nugget detecting. You didn't mention what kind of detecting your friend wants to do, but the OKM (even if it works) is essentially for finding very large objects and cavities, and provides poor definition even with large objects--look at the scans their testing company did of those buried metal cases. https://www.okmmetaldetectors.com/en/okm-treasure-hunting-blog/metal-detector-field-test/.

Has anyone compared the 24K's new tracking system against that of the GM1000? The GM1000 may not have the manual options, but users seem to really like its tracking.

I would appreciate the extra adjustability of the GM24K, I think. The ability to switch to manual tracking and do a ground grab when needed sounds like a useful feature. But, everyone seems to say the GM1000 does a great job with its auto tracking, and I can't figure out whether the GM24K is as capable in that respect. Since the fans of the GM1000 apparently believe its tracking does better than the GMT's tracking system, it probably depends on how well the new XGB circuitry performs and whether it really does bring something different to the GM.

Was the GM1000 one of the machines you tested the 24K against? I am trying to figure out how the 24K's ground tracking system compares to that of the GM1000, which users seem to really like.

Thanks, Buzzard, I'll try to find those videos.

I was originally aiming at getting a Gold Bug 2. Many still seem to consider it the "gold standard" for finding extremely small gold--and I actually like knobs. But, the sleek new machines with advanced features are seductive. I wonder if Minelab is planning to bring out a Multi-Q gold detector, like the Nox but with a higher mix of frequencies, maybe 15-20-30-50-70? Seems like it would be hot on all sizes of nuggets.

Good advice, and good to hear that your experience finding gold with the Nox has been positive. And you are right that a bunch of popular gold machines come in at lower frequencies. But, can I control my urge to get a new toy? We'll see ? Yes, my understanding is that both the 600 and 800 transmit the same mix of frequencies, and that the modes just tweak the way the received signal is analyzed.