cudamark

I've never been a fan of the entry level detectors for newbies wanting to get into the hobby. They're fine for someone who just lost their wedding ring in their back yard, but, for someone trying to compete with veteran detectorists in the local park or beach, they're an exercise in frustration. Most people looking to get into this hobby want to find treasure.....however their mindset defines that. If they don't have some initial success, they become disenchanted and the detector ends up in the closet or garage sale. Having a good quality detector that will find more treasure than trash, or, at least some treasure to keep interest up, is crucial in "getting over the hump" in this hobby. I've also seen (and hunted with) many veteran detectorists, who after hitting a dry spell, will also quit.....at least for a while. Success breeds success, and a quality detector for that particular type of venue/search/target will help in that success.

I'd love to see the new Minelab CTNox3030 myself! 😃

Even after 25 years, that section of ground should be a lot softer than the surrounding undug ground. Get a "privy" probe and poke around until you find a relative soft spot. Now, if you plan on joining us demented and addicted metal detectorists and make it a hobby/obsession, let us know what kind of detecting you plan to do beside your back yard and we can better advise you on a good detector to buy. One might even help with your back yard treasure hunt! Good Luck!

I wonder if they're going to combine some model names now too.....can we expect an MX Bug Master AT Pro anytime soon??😄

Sounds like "Knockdown Norm" is more appropriate! 😀

27 minutes ago, phrunt said:

That's a flaw in the USA warranty rules, no such thing in NZ / Australia as a non-nontransferable warranty.  They can't play those games worldwide.

I don't know if I'd go so far as calling it a flaw. There really isn't a cut and dried rule regarding warranties in most states. Generally, a product has to do what it's designed and promoted to do, but, the warranty is up to the manufacturer to decide. That's why you need to read the warranty to see if it's something you want to agree to. If there is no warranty or it's not acceptable, then don't buy the product. I'd rather the government keep out of it. You mandate a warranty, or any other law, and the price will go up automatically. Let the marketplace decide on a product. If it's junk, they'll go out of business. If it's good, they will prosper. With online forums such as this one, the word will get out pretty quickly if a product or manufacturer are a problem.

Is the regular version AQ really not going to have a transferable warranty? That seems a bit strange this day and age. I can see it on the Limited, seeing is how we volunteered to be guinea pigs on basically a beta machine, but, on a regular production model, I would think it would be transferable.

I think the Equinox is the best all around machine on the market today. Does it have it's drawbacks, sure, as do most other machines( I.E. your MK). The pros on this machine are many. The cons are few......those being what has been mentioned about the weak coil ears, and a significant, but, relatively small percentage of water leak problems. I haven't heard of any battery problems at all, and the shaft wobble was a bit overblown IMO, but, has been pretty much resolved. You can get the aftermarket carbon fiber shafts if you're really hating the stock one. The Nox can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. The stock programs are excellent, as is, for most type of detecting. For difficult conditions, the 800 it very adjustable. The 600 less so, but, still has some basic tweaks you can make. I personally like the stock wireless headphones very much, except for the tiny and hard to see in the daylight, blue and red lights. I find it works great in iron infested areas compared to most machines I've used. The Deus is a bit better, but, I don't know of another machine that is. I didn't find the learning curve to be much at all, but, I have used lots of machines over the last 50 years, so, maybe someone with less experience might need more time than I did to feel comfortable. The only other cons I can think of at the moment is the slight imbalance with the bigger coils, and the compressed I.D.  scale, and even that isn't something I fret over. Would I like it to have the Etrac/CTX ferrous/conductive numbers? Sure. 

Yup, Beach 1 and 2 are not the greatest modes (in the Equinox choices) for tiny gold/platinum, but, better than most other machines. In the dry sand, it another story. Gold 1 and 2 are the best (naturally) and I find Field 2 is the next best. I have some gold items I use to test with and some of the smaller items only give a signal (in an air test) in those three modes. The Excal won't see them at all regardless of settings.

Where I hunt, it's pretty much a tie on depth with the Equinox 11" and the Excal 10" in the wet sand or water. With the 12X15 on the Nox and the 15" NEL  Attack, or 15" Coiltek WOT on the Excal, I get another inch or two in depth over the Nox on average. Not all beaches the same, but, most have moderate black sand. Depth comparison is similar in the dry sand, but, the Equinox is much better at finding tiny targets. 

Which machine were you using?

A lot will depend on how big the search area will be, the concentration of targets, and the time you have for the hunt. In a small area with lots of targets, I like a real small coil. It's faster and easier to zero in on a target and move on to the next one. Speed is thing here on this type of hunt. If it's a big area with few targets, I'd want a bigger coil, maybe an elliptical one. Something that will cover ground, but also be easier to swing and pin point. Usually nothing is deep on a seeded hunt, so, reduce the sensitivity to make it REAL stable and less likely to crosstalk with other detectors, including pin pointers. I'm not sure I'd want to use a sling in a seeded hunt (though I admit, I haven't tried it). It seems to me it might reduce the speed at which you make recoveries. If you have a machine that can change frequencies and/or noise cancel, I would use that machine. You get all sorts of detectors in that close proximity and you're likely to get some interference. I use my Equinox on seeded hunts with no problems. 

If you're using a scoop (or even if you're not) maybe the tiny target keeps falling into the hole. I would also try to use Beach 2 just in case it some black sand ( like magnetite) is causing a false signal.

For beach hunting, I really like the NEL 15" Attack coil. More depth and coverage than the stock coil, and I seem to get just as much sensitivity in finding small targets. It's been very stable too.....even more than the Coiltek coils I have.

To answer your other questions, a bigger coil will usually give you a bit better depth, but, they are also worse when it comes to target separation and masking. There will also be a difference between mono and DD coils on those subjects too.

I would have liked to see the test done in actual wet sand or shallow water, and not just slightly damp sand. Get down where when you scoop out some sand, water starts to fill the hole. That would be a better test to see what it would do in a salt environment.

On 2/26/2019 at 6:23 AM, Chase Goldman said:

I have heard threshold blanking even in AM, so not sure if that is just a really weak target or noise attempting to break the threshold.  The way I read it this should not happen if nothing is rejected because if not in gold mode this is not a "true" threshold. I just ignore it as an anomaly.  Would probably not do that in gold mode, though.

Same experience here too. I just attributed it to scattered ground mineralzation, or the tiniest of metal (such as the iron fuzz you get on a scoop magnet at the beach) It doesn't seem to effect the operation of the detector, so, I never investigated it any further. I've tried silent search in all the detectors I've owned that had that option, but, never got used to it. I always use a threshold now. I just think it gives me more information. I don't mind knowing that there is a "bad" target in the ground. It can sometimes alert me to a good target close by. In the past, with some machines, running no threshold would sometimes not respond to a deep, barely perceptible target. It just wouldn't break the threshold to make a sound, whereas, if you have a threshold, you could hear the slight variation in the threshold tone. Since a threshold tone doesn't bother me, I'll continue to use, since it doesn't appear to hurt anything doing so.

19 hours ago, cobill said:

Steve, 

I'm surprised First Texas did not include coil cable wrapping/securing instructions for water hunting, to prevent cable movement and noise problems. Jim Pugh noticed the problem in FL. right away.

Bill

Yes, in fact, all their diagrams show the coil cable wrapped like we do for just about all other outside cable detectors.

Your hearing must be a lot better than mine. Tabs, nickels, some slaw, melted aluminum can nuggets,and gold rings all sound about the same to me. If I get a 14 or higher, I know it's not a nickel, but it could be any of the other three. At the beach they all get scooped. Quicker and easy that way, and it won't be there the next time I hunt that beach.

Is the ring gold? what purity?

I'd rather not deal with companies that believe stealing is all fair game. I avoid buying Chinese products as much as possible, therefor, Quest would be toward the bottom (if not the bottom) of my list regardless of it's quality and/or performance.

Pretty good test, as air tests go. I would have liked to know the individual settings on the machines to see if we're comparing apples to apples. Coil size is another variable that skews the test. The last test didn't show what the 11" Equinox coil would do, and I don't know what the recovery speed or iron bias settings were either. I often hunt around fire rings at the beach and find by moving the coil real slow with high recovery speed and high iron bias settings, you can pick good targets out of a carpet of nails. Not uncommon for me to get a slight high tone chirp among the iron grunts, scoop, and find a dozen nails in with a coin or other non-ferrous target. Naturally, the smaller the coil, the easier it is to do that, but, even with the 12X15" coil, I can still hunt effectively in that situation. You just have to really slow down and when you get a chirp, barely wiggle the coil to lock in on the good target. A full sweep won't do it.

Fun and interesting video, but, it would have been better with a REAL head to head comparison and not just random individual finds. Why not compare each signal with each detector BEFORE they're dug to see what audio and I.D. signals look and sound like. He didn't really remark on how chatty the field was with the Vanquish or his buddy's Simplex, just the Apex. How would the Apex have been with the sensitivity turned down a bit to make it stable? What were the settings on the Vanquish and Simplex? Just from what little I could glean out of this rather limited test, I would choose the Vanquish.....or maybe the Simplex, but, the finds could have been random luck or operator experience/expertise.

My definition of "Hero" is probably different from most (I use that term very sparingly), but, the person that helped me early on to get into this hobby, and who I thank and think about to this day would be......My grandmother who gave me my uncle's partial penny collection that he no longer wanted, when I was 9. That started me on my treasure hunting career. When I started detecting over 50 years ago, there weren't that many people I would consider mentors, or even advisors. I pretty much learned by doing. Even though I didn't know them personally, the pioneers in this hobby such as Mel Fisher and Charles Garrett were important to me too as well as the editors and contributors to the treasure magazines that I read religiously . Once I started finding other detecting buddies with the same passion, we learned from each other. Jack R., John D, and especially Dave P, DIP (Detect In Peace) guys. All three left this earth way to early. We had some great finds and times together. Today, we have some great websites like this one where information can flow from those who know, to those of us still learning (like me!) To all those who contribute to this knowledge, thank you!

Wow, I didn't realize how big the markets was in Africa......and how little it is in South America.