AussieMatt

Could be to do with a Detech coil patent Fred although not sure which coils incorporate it: "Detech Ltd is the first company in the world, producing searchcoils with built in magnetic sensors in the middle sector. This allowed perfect discrimination of the ferrous objects by the PI detectors."

Thanks Phrunt. Seems to be different variations (bundle, spiral, spiral/bundle, GPZ modded) of these coils around & some don't appear to know what variation they've even purchased? Would be interested in one for the GPX but would also like to see some more Aussie feedback & manufacturer transparency around what your purchasing etc.

Possibly QED with PI X coil? Any news on the PI coils being sold/used in Australia. I had seen the prototypes did have issues here? Are the PI coils just another spiral wound option or different again?

Minelab coils have 3 years warranty. Same same though - a lot would now be close to or out of warranty. Just something I haven't seen, what is the X coil warranty & is it return to Russia or return to Aussie distributor?

That "Minelab Vanquish" video isn't on Minelabs proper YouTube channel so I'll take it with a grain of salt https://www.youtube.com/user/MinelabDetecting

True - I was just pointing out that whatever it is it didn't make the half yearly report but a countermine detector release did. I'm thinking it's not something that will interest most that already own topline machines? MultiIQ but possibly cheaper version of Equinox? All speculation until Minelab release something factual.

There were no gold/recreational detectors announced in the Codan half yearly report issued 20th February 2019. There was however a new countermine detector announced: "After two years of development, Minelab’s new countermine dual-sensing detector is in final testing and will be released in this half. This detector was partially funded by the Australian government and combines ground-penetrating radar with simultaneous multi-frequency metal detection in a compact, lightweight, high-performance dual-technology detector. It will be the best dual-sensing detector on the market." Been in development since around 2016.

In my experience/opinion the QED will behave like that for 2 reasons - 1. Because your ground balance isn't right (assuming other things like bias, Threshold A, gain & mode are set for the area/coil etc.) 2. The ground is very mineralised & upsets it (+ other machines). The only reason I commented was because it has also been my experience that more mineralised ground has balanced at a higher number for me with the QED i.e. 110+ vs. 89 in the video. That isn't to say that the operator doesn't have it set up as required but it was only my opinion that it may not have been 100% due to the low ground balance number - it wasn't my intention to pick holes in the video or the QED. Infact my intention was to indicate that it can & does operate better than any video will likely prove or disprove. Perhaps some reactive ground does indeed balance to lower numbers but it's not something I've experienced myself with my QED. Another QED user has previously told me he gets low (in the 80's) ground balance numbers in his area on ground he describes as high mineralisation which is several hundred kilometres from my area so it is feasible just not something I've experienced or seen before. Hope that clears it up a bit.

From what I can gather the PL2 updates haven't changed a lot, if any, since the video apart from the addition of the beach mode. They should operate fairly similarly. The reason for my recent updates was mainly to change the outlay of the detector so software was done while there. There's no constant need to be sending it back/forth for upgrades phrunt - it would only be ever required if some improvement were made that you just had to have. I'm no operational expert but to me the ground balance is fairly obviously not 100% although the operator in the vid may prefer it like that? I've never been a bloke to shoot a video & probably never will be but would try to offer any operating advice to the best of my knowledge that I could. Goldenoldie I couldn't really careless what anyone thinks of the QED or how it operates but as a user for close to a year felt I may be able to add to this QED topic. Why are you here??

I don't know that the above video is a good representation of the QED? To me it's still sounding off on the "hot patch" even after adjustment (just before he says thats ground noise then there's a cut in the video), although it is diminished in broadness it's still there. It then continues to make spurious noises as he moves forward after going back to the original balance of 89. My opinion is it doesn't sound very well ground balanced for that area. Mine is a PL2 & has been recently fully upgraded & includes the new beach mode. There are only a few areas, even after the updates, where I've been able to get a ground balance figure below 100 (lowest 92 from memory) & these were fairly mild spots so I think 89 for what he says is hot ground might be too low? When ground balanced well the "trick" of moving the balance +/- 4 depending on whether it's a rising or falling signal does work well but in some very variable ground can become a chore or leave you wondering if the signal only diminishes & doesn't dissappear - upside is when I've dug these any diminishing or dissappearing signals have been ground not targets so it is worth the effort. I've witnessed first hand a GPX pick up a "signal" that I couldn't get with the QED - turned out to be ground noise so getting the essentially manually balanced QED spot on to the ground conditions is very doable. Kiwijw - my QED is numbered just over 500 & getting close to 12 months old. I did see somewhere a user had said theirs was numbered in the 600's so if they are numbered in order of manufacture there is getting to be a few around now. It would be interesting to get one in NZ to see what you guys think of it in your ground. My thoughts are it would be very good & being so lightweight ideal for the mountainous country. They find gold but like any detector you need to swing over it in order to find it.

Equinox 600 / 800 Full Instruction Manual (English pdf 5.59 MB) Equinox 600 / 800 Getting Started Guide (English pdf 847.71 KB) Equinox Battery Charging Recommendations And Warnings Minelab Equinox Parts & Accessories Page

The quick start guide says it's a li-ion battery so nothing new there. Magnetic charging set up though. 4901-0248-1 GSG, EQUINOX 600 800 EN_WEB.pdf

My local dealer here in Australia sent out a newsletter saying they will be taking pre-orders very soon for the Equinox & delivery will be in the first half of 2018. That's a pretty broad time frame so they should meet it

One might assume that the Equinox has been successfully finding some gold - possibly in Australia

I believe the early GPX4500's were Australian made then later made in Ireland & Malaysia.

It's a strange one because if it's wired like the CTX (see page 2 of attachment) then TRS wiring, or even mono wiring, should be "sensed" by the detector electronics & shut off the internal speaker - (assuming Minelab use the same headphone sensing circuit on all their machines with an internal speaker) - the cable shouldn't really matter unless it's been wired to tip/ring only. Maybe try a straight 1/8" male to 1/4" female adapter too? Like this: https://www.storedj.com.au//hosa-gmp-112-1-4-trs-f-to-3-5mm-trs-m-adaptor?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0abf8ZzT1wIVWCQrCh1cLA4CEAQYAiABEgJS-_D_BwE That may work & they can be picked up cheaply. Be a shame to modify headphones with a 1/4" plug to 1/8" just for the GM. Or look for a cheap set of Sennheiser HD280's that are good detecting phones & have the screw off 1/4" to 1/8" adapter wired on. CTX-3030-Audio-Options-KBA_21-2.pdf

Minelab usually wire audio positive to tip & negative to ring. They use the shield wire/connection for various things like sensing headphones in the CTX to shut the speaker off or on the GPX where there is no shield connection trip on the inbuilt amp for external speaker use (if correctly wired). A true 1/4" TRS to 1/8" TRS cable should work? Are you sure it's wired TRS on both ends? Check that first if you don't want to modify the headphones - easier to check & modify the cable if needed.

All hobbies have miscellaneous costs but very few, if any, have a means to recover them. Most hobbies are a bottomless pit of costs with no return. I'd wager that with good research & time/effort that you could realise a better return on your $7k with a detector than sitting on bullion. You'll have a lot more fun out looking for gold too rather than sitting at home waiting for the gold price to go up. There are reasonable gold detectors at all budgets so buy something you're comfortable with.

Very nice jrbeatty! Kinda makes my 7.7 grams a little insignificant now

Couple of bits found with the QED & Detech 11" Ultra Sensing Mono. Hopefully the first of many!

Bump Wondering if anyone has tried the z-lynk with an external speaker or speaker/booster set up at all yet?

Was supposed to have been an even larger specimen found too. Apparently it was broken up as it was too large to be taken out in one piece. From memory it to went into that large crushing.

Yeah ya might be onto something there Luke. The spiral wrap coils were made more for the GPX so probably no surprise he had better results noise wise with it over the QED. I'll know soon enough. My QED is on the way including a Detech spiral coil. It has the mode & SMR (EMI rejection adjustment) upgrades already so hopefully that has it sorted anyway. The more I read about the QED the more I think those now "redundant" NF Advantage coils may be a good choice at a nice price.

I think the EMI Davent is having trouble with is different to suburban mains EMI i.e. from what I can gather the QED is set up to remove 2 phase 50Hz mains EMI that's why they work well in backyards. The EMI Davent is experiencing is away from suburban mains & from his posts he has been near a mine (possible 3 phase source) + northern Australia is an atmospheric EMI hotspot! His detecting mate also experienced EMI on his QED too while two other Minelab machines had no problems? Others have posted a "pulsing" near airfields also so it's not isolated to one user - I also know that Davent is quite aware of what EMI noise is & what ground noise is. He's covered & conquered that issue previously. The EVO's can handle hot ground with the right settings (people having issues are usually trying to run them at too higher gain) & Davent can attest to that after initial problems with his GPX & the EVO's which from his reports he now has sorted well. Be interesting to hear how you get on with the QED in comparison to the TDI Luke. How long have you had it? I'm waiting for the new version + tax return then I'm getting one to try.

Heres some testing on a number of coils on the TDI. May be of interest? https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21209