NCtoad

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!

I had some paid holidays to use up before the end of the year so I took today off and drove to my favorite park.  There’s an old high school football field there that’s now used as a kids soccer field.  Everything old is deep in this field.  I’ve pulled other mercs and wheats at about the same depth, but I took a picture of this one. Third target of the morning and if I wasn’t fresh and listening well, I would have walked right over it.  I was using my equinox 800 in park 1, F2-0, reaction speed either 4 or 5, can’t remember, sensitivity at 23.  Decent enough signal once located, but with some slight iron grunts.  I removed the plug and dead center in the hole (a very good sign it’s a coin and not a nail) the pinpointer goes off, one more little scoop of dirt and then the ‘44 merc. The TRX is just a hair over 10”.  

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).  

Haha!   If you go to XP’s website they have a live countdown timer setup.  At this moment it’s 4days, 4hrs, 34mins, 16secs. Lol

Will it be released for sale in four days or will we just get all the info, details, pics and a release date?

Something’s happening in four days!

This will be my next detector purchase.  I was seriously thinking of buying a deus and then this new model was announced.  Hopefully I will be able to get on a waitlist like I did for the equinox.  

I got my nox in the spring of 2018 so one the first manufacturing runs.  Haven’t had a single problem with it and still on the original battery.  Even though it’s long past out of warranty.  I just don’t want to get rid of it and take a chance on a new one even though I know minelab would remedy any fault with the new one.  I guess I’m sort of attached to it.  

Thanks for posting this Jeff.  I have a site I’ve been hunting on Sundays for a couple of months now.  I always start out near the parking area and have done well.  I’ve mostly been using park one in 5 tones set up to my liking.  Iron bias on f2 usually set from 4-6, but never 0.  Recovery speed almost always 5 or 6.  This area used to have mill houses that were torn down back in the late sixties.  Needless to say there’s lots and lots of iron and quite a few pieces of coke from the coal burning furnaces that were used back then. There’s even a lot of surface coal from when the houses were razed.  It reminds me of when I grew up in the coal country of Southwestern PA.  But this site is in Western NC.  Anyways a couple of weeks ago I decided to try F2 set at zero.  I started out from the parking lot as I normally do just swinging randomly working my way to a new area as I’ve hit this area by the parking lot three or four times already and wasn’t getting much.  This time however with f2 at zero I immediately hit a wheatie.  Then another and another.  Then a few more.   Then I get a solid 32-34 and out comes a silver Washington quarter!   After a while I went back to the car to take my sweatshirt off since it was getting hot.  There’s this 10’ wide strip of grass between the car and a service road.  I’ve hit this area before with both the 11” and the six inch coil.  I scored two silver dimes with the six incher and covered the area really well or so I thought.  This day I had the 11” coil on and low and behold I get a nice solid 28-30 and out pops a silver rosie, but in the same hole before I found the dime was a pretty big (3”) rusty nail and then a rusty steel washer about the size of a quarter which was what I thought for sure was giving me the good signal.  After I pulled it out I rescanned the hole and still got the 28-30 so back in with pinpointer and there’s the silver rosie!   
 

I can see missing one wheat or two, but I think I got 6 or 7 wheats and the silver GW out of that one area that I had pounded previously.  Then the silver rosie out of the other tiny area that I had pounded with both the 6” and the 11” before.  

There’s one on ebay right now at $227.50 with 34 bids and 3 days left.  It’ll be interesting to see what it finally goes for.  

My guess for a name came from seeing the name Eclipse mentioned above.  I think a good name would be Dark Side Of The Moon!   Any Pink Floyd fans out there?😁   Then, when we buy one, we can say we’ve gone over to the dark side! 

On 9/12/2021 at 5:28 AM, ColonelDan said:

Coil ear bracing has been the subject of numerous posts so I thought I'd add my approach. Yes, I've used several different  designs of stiffeners and sad to say, my coil ears still cracked and I was out of business until I could replace the coil. Fortunately, those coils were still under warranty. My concern was finding a way to prevent this recurring after the warranty expired.

The ultimate solution is, without doubt, for Minelab to field a redesigned coil ear that is a lot tougher than the current design. Failing that, the best approach in my opinion is to epoxy the stiffener to the coil making the stiffener, the coil and the ears one solid unit. Midalake has done this and as I see it, ensures a solid repair. My concern with this approach would be two fold. One, would that void whatever warranty remains and two, if the coil is sent to Minelab for replacement, there goes the stiffener.

I wanted a method by which I could attach the stiffener to the coil, be able to remove it if necessary and still use the coil cover.

mn90403 has done this as shown on another post within this forum by using zip ties. A workable approach but his method shows the zip ties over the coil cover so you couldn't remove the cover to clean the coil without cutting the ties. Having said that, his system will work as he intended.

I thought I'd share my approach which I've found to be simple yet effective in accomplishing my goals. The key is making the ear stiffener one with the coil so even if the ears snap, the stiffener holds the coil and shaft in place. I decided to use zip ties but in a somewhat different way than mn90403. I wanted the stiffener to be solidly attached and still be able to remove and replace the skid plate.

I threaded the zip tie through and around the stiffener and bare coil without the skid plate attached. I then installed the skid plate over the coil as before covering the zip ties. The skid plate remains in place, the stiffener is solidly attached to the coil and there is no modification to the coil which risks voiding the warranty and if I have to return the coil, I can save the stiffener. Bottom line; with this approach, even if the ears break, I'm still in business.

It works for me....

Dan

notice the difference between your coil stiffener and the one I have.  Your slides over the ears but sits on top of the coil.  The one I have slides over the ears and also straddles the coil. On yours all of the lateral force is directed to the ears themselves with some on the ziptie.  On mine, the lateral force is shared with the ears and the coil body as my coil ear stiffener also slides down over the edge of the coil itself, not just the ears.  Something to think about in the different designs of coil ear stiffeners.  

I wonder why no manufacturer never reversed the connection and put the ears on the shaft end and the inner solid part on the coil.  If the ears then broke all you need is a new lower shaft.  

Here’s a pic of mine zip-tied over the coil skid plate.  Zip ties are pretty cheap so when I want to clean the coil I’ll just cut the zip ties and use two new ones when I put the skid plate back on.  If you use pliers those zip ties can be pulled tight enough to make the coil stiffener feel like it’s one with the coil.  I couldn’t wiggle it once zip tied.  BTW, my coil stiffener was made specifically for my Anderson shaft.  

1 hour ago, palzynski said:

Looks like there will be an other challenger coming soon ...  🙂  I had a call today with a MD French dealer who told me that XP will release a new SMF detector this autumn , during October or November he said ... I have no more detailed things but this guy is reliable and I am quite confident with this info ...  

Until then ... do not accept paying more for less !  🙂🙂 😹✌️

I’d love to see that happen.  I’ve been thinking of getting a deus to compliment my now 3+ year old equinox.  I may have to wait and see what happens with XP and the new Nokta/Makro.