NCtoad

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

I personally look at the price of detectors by if I think I would be able to get value out of them and not necessarily financial value, either in finds or enjoyment.  For detectors like the Deus I would mostly use for coins and jewellery although it seems it's quite a good prospecting detector too, I just don't like the available coil sizes for prospecting and if they wanted to make it a more realistic prospecting detector for me personally, I'd need smaller coils, the typical 5"/6" round and 10x5" would do the trick.

So as a coin/jewellery detector would I get value out of it's price? Most likely, I've paid for my other VLF I mainly use for this so many times over now with coins and jewellery that it'd be reasonable to think I'd turn a profit on the Deus, that's without even taking into consideration the value I'd get out of it as entertainment.  If I was for example to take my boat out for a spin every week the fuel cost alone would end up costing what the detector costs me in no time, would I rather use the boat or the detector? Depends... most likely I'd end up enjoying using the detector more and use it far more frequently so the money I save on fuel for the boat would quickly pay for the detector.

A boat can be rewarding too, you can catch fish which if you're good at it can turn a profit on the day I would think, not for me but perhaps for someone good at it 😛

My efforts a couple of weeks ago.   Unlike gold though, the little fish you have to throw back so even though I caught two fish only the one in the photo was a keeper.

Virtually all hobbies cost money, many are expensive, very few can pay for themselves which detectors can.

Detectors are one of the few hobbies I know of that can be profitable, and if the cost of the detector is part of the consideration of purchase then you can often justify the purchase cost by the returns in finds.

Gold Detectors for me are a bit different, I'd struggle to ever pay a non-VLF gold detector off in finds, maybe one day but so far I've only paid off my GPX 4500 and a coil for it I guess but I'm not in an exceptionally good gold location.... I'd take me a lot longer to pay off my more expensive gold detectors so for them it's more about the enjoyment of doing it than the returns although the chance of a return is always possible, and that's what makes the hobby a challenge and enjoyable.

So is the cost of the Deus a problem? Yes and no, it is expensive for a VLF, but is it worth it? I think it probably is and I look forward to hearing how the early adopters go with it and their opinions on it before I make my decision.

Awesome pics Phrunt!   Looks like you’ve got the whole lake to yourself.

Are these in stock available for purchase in the US?  I don’t know why I’m even asking that as I don’t have a detector that’s compatible with it. Lol. Too bad they aren’t making one for tesoros.  Even though tesoro is out of business, there’s a ton of them out there.  

I’m assuming the garrett apex even though an ace series is a no go with this coil.  

 

i am a bit worried that gary hasnt put up a video as hes a tester for xp ,no mention of it on his forum either

I’m curious as to why there aren’t any videos out yet.  You’d think XP would want to have some videos showcasing their new detector.  

Nice bunch of finds Dan!  It’s always fun finding old nickels like that.  

Congrats on a nice barber!  I love searching around big ole trees and stumps.  

3 hours ago, palzynski said:

At least XP is the fastest to bring a new SMF to the table this year and they always propose very seriously designed/manufactured/tested products.... 🙂 🙂

Nokta is coming but I doubt that they will propose something better than the Deus2 

Minelab 1000 , bird in my hand over a promise for the future , as it is not even announced... But they still have a very good performer with the Eq800 which is more affordable than the Deus2

But lets wait and see ... Looking forward for Nokta's answer to the Deus2 ... and for the field tests of the two machines ...

When you mention “Nokta’s answer to the Deus2”, do mean their new smf release coming out in a couple of weeks or something in the future?   I think Nokta’s new release is their answer to the Equinox.  

Here’s why I would pay $1600 for the deus II:

This is taken from XP’s website.  It looks like xp products are built to last.  They have a 5 year warranty!   I haven’t checked, but I would suspect this is one of the longer, if not the longest warranty in the metal detector manufacturing business.  Kudos to XP!

Wow! An eight silver day is awesome!   Congrats on surpassing 100 for the year. 

I’m an equinox owner and not jumping ship, but will keep my nox and get a deus II with the 9” coil.  I think the two will cover all the bases for me:  depth, ergonomics, waterproofness, and most importantly, hopefully one will do better than the other in certain hunting conditions.  I keep hearing over and over how the original deus is better than the nox in lots of iron.  Hopefully the deus II will be even better.  When I need pure depth my nox with 11” coil will probably go deeper than the 9” deus II.  If I go water hunting, deus for sure.  Coinshooting for clad, probably the nox.  Hiking out into the woods, deus.  And I’m sure there’s more reasons.  
 

If I had to sell my nox to fund the new deus that would be another story. I would probably go with what I’m familiar with and keep the nox.  But, I’ve been saving up for a while now expecting something new to come up.  So why not have both?   plus I’m looking forward to learning a new detector.  

I’m with Chase on this also. I had a very basic test garden at our old house.  Now that we’ve moved I have no intention of making another. After 3.5 years of at least weekly hunts with my nox I like digging weird, iffy signals just to learn what they are.  I wish I had done this more when I first got it.  Just too many variables out there to just dig textbook signals.  

Besides target size, doesn’t conductivity play a part in this graphic also?   Or should I say, shouldn’t target conductivity be included in this graphic?

I have to say I really like the design of the deus.  It’s a modular design imo and so versatile.   The only things that held me back from the deus 1 was the price and my experience.  Now with 3+ years of the equinox under my belt I think I’m ready for it.  Lol

44 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Also on the main product page on the website, you can see the various audio options.  Note that you can clic on those links to hear audio samples for each one plus you can switch between a PWM waveform and square wave to see how it affects tonal response and audio harmonics. Interesting.

Chase, could you please explain in layman’s terms what PWM and square waves are.  Is this something we can switch back and forth between on the detector?

3 minutes ago, Geotech said:

It's my understanding that for u/w you have to run a clip-on antenna from the pod to the coil, same as with Deus 1. The bone-phones either do the same or simply plug in to the M12 connector on the back. Underwater Scuba comms and model submarine remotes use the lower VLF band which probably doesn't have the bandwidth the Deus needs. I suspect they continue to use the 2.4GHz ISM band which only travels inches in seawater, ergo the need for wires.

The plug on the bottom is likely a vent plug. For diving it obviously needs to be sealed, for weatherproof it can be unsealed for breathing. This is important for altitude changes, especially on flights.

The red plug is for underwater use only up to 20m.  The gray plug needs to go back in once land hunting or shallow water hunting up to 1 meter.  

Go to the XP website where they showcase deus2 and scroll down near the bottom.  You’ll see “Our deus II packs”.  Click on one of the models and it will take you to another page.  At the bottom of that page it lists in red: the coil, the stem, the remote and the headphones.  You can click on any of these to learn more.  Click on the remote and it will take you to a page describing all the programs and other things.  Very informative but not easy to navigate to. 

https://www.xpmetaldetectors.com/en/gamme/deus-ii-detectors.php

Wow, that was a quick four days!  Looks like noon today for those of us on the East coast of the US. 

6 hours ago, abenson said:

Ya know that more of think about these new SMF metal detectors coming out the more I think what's the point of getting yet another metal detector. How much better can they really be than what's already on the market? Especially the Equinox. Don't get me wrong I'm excited to see what each will do and I've already pretty much committed to getting the Deus 2 unless the price is too high.

Ok so we already know that there's no perfect detector. Some have features that others don't and vica verse. But as far as performance goes, just how much better can we expect over the Equinox? Short of a PI the Equinox is by far the deepest in my mineralized soil. In mild soil the depth for most detectors is pretty close. How much better can the target ID get than say the Equinox, etrac/CTX or a V3i? Now granted the Deus is a very fast machine but so are the Nokta Makro machines. More so than the Equinox. But set up correctly the Equinox is no slouch. So how much faster at target separation can we expect without sacrificing depth.

I've done countless comparisons between practically every detector available in real life situations. Truth be known 90% of all the targets we seek can be found with most modern detectors in normal non specialized sites. By specialized I mean saltwater beaches, prospecting or very high mineralization.

So I ask again what's the point of getting yet another metal detector that might be say 1% better than what's already available?

I guess it's like a new car. The 10 year old one will get you from point A to point B just as good as a new one. But it sure is nice driving a new car with all the modern bells, whistles and a new warranty.

I guess it’s the hope that for those of us who are really passionate about metal detecting a new detector will give us a few more finds from our already pounded sites.  And let’s face it:  it’s not the detectors holding us back, it’s access to new sites that have had very little to zero activity being detected.  Like you mentioned above, I could take my nox to a virgin site and be pretty confident that after hitting it a few times that I have gotten 99% of any good finds out of it.  

1 hour ago, Chase Goldman said:

Great recovery.  Sounds like you were using an Equinox, correct? (You never explicitly said. Folks not familiar with Equinox "terminology" might not be able to pick up on what detector you were using).

Yes I was using the Equinox 800.  I’ll go back and edit that in.  Thanks!

Thank you for posting this.  With all the chatter about the new deus, N/M’s new machine and the speculation on what minelab’s new detector will be, it’s nice to read about something different!

1 hour ago, Chase Goldman said:

So you are expecting to pay 1/3 the price you pay for a new Deus even though they are adding MF.  Hmm...interesting.  🤔 

I think XP DOES need to be more price competitive and can see perhaps a lowered price point from Deus if ALL they are doing is adding an MF mode to Deus plus some other tweaks to make it a true salt beach/surf machine.  But I doubt it will make it all the way down to the Apex price point.

Frankly, I couldn't say what I would pay for any machine for which  I have not seen any published features or specs.  Same goes for comparing the imminent Nokta and XP offerings because all we really know is they will likely reuse versions of their existing stem and rod configurations (Simplex for Nokta and Deus for XP) and that the units will have multifrequency.  

Since we already know that XP (and Nokta) can deliver a high end selectable single frequency machine, it all boils down to the sophistication of the MF mode or modes implemented.  IOW will the MF be barebones basic like Apex or sophisticated and selectable like Equinox.  Other than discrimination/filters and tones customization, the rest is all bells and whistles.

I would guess that the new deus will be at least as sophisticated and adjustable as the existing deus, but with FMF and some other tweaks.  I would also hope and expect it to be as well made as the existing model.  

I just posted in the nokta forum what I’d be willing to pay for a new detector.  My absolute limit is $2000. What’s yours?

8 hours ago, King-Of-Bling said:

I'll gladly be the PIG. Which stands for Pretty Important Guy ! 🤣. According to Dilek , it will be in the simplex housing ( more robust) than the Nox. That also has a flashlight and I'm sure more waterproof. A CF shaft and coil ears that aren't going to snap off. Oh....and it's cheaper ? Sign this PIG up !

Just my opinion, but adding a flashlight to a metal detector seems gimmicky to me and surely won’t sway my decision to buy this over the deus2.  The few times I’ve hunted when it was too dark to see, a $10 headlamp worked well.  What is important to me first and foremost is performance in iron and modern trash. Second is ergonomics.  I’m definitely in the market to try something new and hopefully better than my nox which I’ve been using almost exclusively for the last three and a half years.  Price is another issue up to a certain cost.  I’d be willing to pay up to around $1700 or so.  My cut off is definitely $2000.  (Unless I dig up something really valuable in the next few months.  Lol).