RobNC

I can't speak of the Nokta Double score. I take it that one is like a Nokta Legend but without some of the extra settings. The Equinox 600 is pretty much an Equinox 800 without the extra settings of that one.

What I can tell you is I own the Minelab Equinox 800, Minelab X Terra Pro, and the Nokta Legend. The Legend can do all that Equinox 800 can. The XTerra Pro is not on the same level with either of my other two. It's got a lot of power but no way to tame it, to tune it. It's single frequency. I've had an Equinox 600. It worked ok for me but I wanted more settings to tune the tone breaks, the pitch of the tones, and the volume. I also wanted the ability to go single frequency and have the 40khz as an option so I sold my 600 and got the 800. We also can't over look the VERY numerous documented cases of the Equinox 600 and Equinox 800 leaking water. The Nokta detectors so far are not having that problem.

For ease of use I'd say the Equinox 600. However the Nokta Double Score seems comparable to that and the build quality is much better than the Equinox 600. Either one of these are going to be above the XTerra Pro in terms of performance.

If I  had to choose today between the Equinox 600 and Nokta Double Score, I would go with the Nokta. Just my opinion.

What good is it for them to make coils if they aren't readily available? Still waiting for Nokta Legend coils to be available over here in the states.

Simon, I'm upset with ya. You got me on the Nokta Legend and you still haven't gotten one?? What kind of rubbish is that?

It's time for you to get one too and enjoy the fun of learning the thing. Surely you can find the funds by selling one of your diamonds from that mine of yours. Simply no excuse Simon.. None at all! The Legend wants to torment you like it has me. It's such a curious machine. What torment you ask.. The torment of knowing there is an excellent aftermarket coil for it that can only be obtained by ordering directly from the factory (NEL). See there is another item you could correct for all of us. I just know you are tenacious enough to force them into shipping some out in multiple countries. Yes, that tenacity would make them see the light and error of their ways.

What an adventure. Times like that are ones to remember. I'm so glad you found something nice. I wish you many more great hunts. Never stop Dirt Fishing, it's good for the nerves and your character!

6 hours ago, Geotech said:

Is that a Garrett in the first pic?

Please help those people see the light.. At the very least the marketing person should be flogged repeatedly by all office staff until they can recognize the difference between a Garrett detector and an FTP device.

I look forward to the day a F75 ltd can  be had for $250 NEW. LOL

The marketing ads look weird. Especially that last one. They seemingly dug up what? Looked like some kids pendant from a grocery store 50 cent turn vendor. Some find that was. Maybe there are tapping into some Lithium-rich water and consuming too much of it? Nonetheless, Fisher has made some good machines in the past but sure seems they are content to be the "vintage" maker these days. I'm confused about what altered state of reality they are living in. Putting out new weirdo ads on very old hardware? That just looks stupid.

I don't know about anyone else,  but when I went to 1.14 b2 there was a significant DROP in my maximum wireless headphone volume level vs what it was before. Even trying different wireless headphones still equaled somewhere around a 50% reduction in maximum volume through the wireless audio.

I'm going to flash back down to a lower version and see if that corrects it. Also not sure why they would send out that message about removing the 1.14 beta 2 and going back down to 1.13 Has that always been something they told owners to do after a beta period was over? Just odd.

UPDATE- I re-flashed to 1.13 and my wireless volume returned to what it should be. Very strange. Will miss the DT feature but maybe some things are better off being missed if it caused my machine another problem. Nokta, I'm watching you 👁️

Minelab just keeps on killing it- yes all the incentives for buying their products. If they keep at it like this being sneaky and cheap along with putting something so important as the battery on a mere 6 month warranty they are really mashing their own crotch. It's becoming more clear they only want to sell their stuff and once that is done they are done with you. It always starts with small things. I get it that batteries are not always reliable, but 6 months? Come on man, the least you can do is 12 months on the battery.

Wish I had known the XTerra Pro worked only with those extra expensive special Minelab headphones that adds another $100 tot he final purchase (I won't pay that). Now I learn the battery has a mere 6 month warranty too? Yeah that great deal isn't looking so great now.

That is a real 💩 sandwich. Defective coil and they make the customer pay. That isn't customer service. That's just slack. As big a company that Minelab is and with all their money they could have sent you a call tag/shipping label. I'm sure they would not have been on the hook for $9.99 it would have been much less since they do volume.

I also am not impressed with the "can't find your registration" game either. Obvious stall tactic. I always felt like when Jamie left Minelab it would be poop. Sure sounds to be the case. She was the best.

32 minutes ago, Digalicious said:

Dilek was asked a similar question on a live stream a couple of years ago. Dilek mentioned that instead of making a lot of profit on highly marked up detectors like the competition, Nokta profits on high sales volume.

Then again, Nokta's "Mission Statement" so to speak, was and still is, to provide well built, high performing detectors at a much lower cost than their competitors. 

As much as I admire and respect the technology that Minelab has brought to this hobby, I truly believe that their empire is crumbling. I think the final blows to Minelab will be the two new Nokta PI detectors, as well as the successor to the Legend. The only way I can see Minelab surviving, is if they invent some new technology that is leaps and bounds above the competition. Failing that, it wouldn't surprise in the least if in a couple of years, Codan sells Minelab...and quite possibly to Nokta.

Hmm. Anything is possible in these times. I believe the major problem with Minelab is they have always been on a high horse and have the mentality they are the best and accordingly feel free to charge crazy prices. With the way things have went up in cost the last year or so that really puts the brakes on a lot of people spending extra. Meanwhile, Minelab has kept on raising prices but yet we see now a significant price reduction on their newest detector the Manticore. That was unexpected.

No doubt Minelab has proven itself time and time again over the years setting standards others couldn't achieve. But while they were doing it they were also creating some adversaries. Their arrogance precedes them. And that arrogance is not pretty. It appears Minelab enjoys trying to sue people anytime they get too close in competition. A cowardly tactic. Would I want to see Minelab go completely away? No. But I would like for them to stop being so greedy. Their arrogance level and greed approaches and surpasses that of White's at their peak. But we know how that ended, huh?

Minelab has had a good run, they've lined their pockets with gold at the expense of consumers. The Equinox 700/900 and manticore ushered in a new line, one that doesn't make use of the Equinox 600/800's headphones and other accessories. This of course is another money grab/proprietary garbage tactic they have used many times over the years and its getting old. There is no reason why the headphones from the EQ600/800 can't work in full AptX LL mode UNLESS Minelab specifically CHOSE to not allow it and went a step further by only whitelisting their headphones. I learned this when I bought the Xterra Pro recently. Had I known that beforehand I would not have bought it.  Stuff like that has me done with Minelab. I like my EQ800 but no more Minelab for me. I wish them well, but tend to agree with you, their gig is about up.

On 4/21/2024 at 6:57 PM, JCR said:

  
 Because I have the Versa, it will be my primary unit for deeper targets on my red dirt sites both with and without iron. I will still use the Legend with the LG 35/13” coil too. On low mineral sites set up right with the big coil & using Dt it can be deeper than the Versa on some targets. I’m glad to have both rigs.

Hell, who wouldn't be happy??!! The best of  both worlds. The Legend for rough and tumble stuff down in the muck to dig everything when you were bored, and the Versa for cherry picking places first. Seems like a winning combo.

Can you tell me if that Rutus Versa is actually better than the Legend by a large margin or is it just my infatuation with the Versa at the moment that is blinding me. I don't have the Versa but lust for it badly. I do have the Legend, The Equinox 800, and the XTerra Pro. The 3 Stooges.

On 4/21/2024 at 4:20 PM, EL NINO77 said:

If I were to compare the Rutus VERSA with other detectors... it has a really good performance on highly conductive targets...,, on medium conductive targets as well,,, and on low conductive targets it has a performance .. which can really exceed the best detectors on the market...... regardless of the price class...

 

Hey Sir.. You're just making it worse on me with this Rutus Versa lust condition I've developed. That thing is awesome!  Only negatives are price, availability, and a small-ish screen. If the videos can be trusted on its seemingly supernatural ability to separate, it's a real gem of a detector. That right there is what I've always looked for and never found.

Sadly, like most things it may look good but you never know until it is in your hands. Will you mesh with it, understand it, like the feel, the sound, etc. So many things come into play. Youtube can sometimes be a terrible influence.

I remember a long time ago I got my hands on a new Minelab Explorer S. I never found a single coin with that thing. It just didn't make any sense to me how it worked, and all the flute music really threw my mind for a flip. It was a somewhat heavy detector too but I was younger then and could swing it with no problem. Due to its cost I really didn't want to use it for fear of tearing it up. So it was sold (at a loss). Looking back today on that situation it's clear I was a moron back then who had no patience and a bad case of being unrealistic to think it would magically find things because it costed more. Much younger, stronger, had hair on my head, and stubborn but still a moron nonetheless.  I don't want to repeat that lesson again, so I haven't launched out to buy a Rutus Versa no matter how much it costs or what I must sacrifice to get it. My mediocre sites don't warrant such money to be spent at this point in time. If things align right, and I get an inflow of cash (very unlikely)I would gladly obtain one. But for now it is a detector that looks appealing and something to drool over.

On 4/14/2024 at 10:18 PM, phrunt said:

Nokta were excellent and replaced my coil so now I've got a working pulse dive again sorry, I threw the broken coil out and now need the pinpointer/handle part.  

You naughty, Naughty Man! Your brute strength has offended the Nokta people.. LOL

Yeah forget that Fakebook crowd and the other "social media" platforms like TikTom, TweeterX, Insta-grass, WeChoke, TeleGoon, and Snapchump.

Half of what is wrong with the younger folks today is basing their entire lives off that poison. The other half is pure laziness.

Well, it sure seems they are serious about going up against Minelab. It's hard to deny the fact they are being competitive with the pricing. For the price they have on the FindX($139), it is very appealing to new people just thinking about detecting. And the FindX Pro model for $179 adds waterproofing on the entire unit. They are including a stainless digger, wired headphones, AND a carrying bag.. Man that is insane.

How are they even doing this?

Spec-wise it isn't a bad machine at all. It lacks advanced feature manipulation but does include automatic and manual ground balance.  A very simple turn on and go machine. 15khz frequency. Wonder how it will do?

The only odd/weird thing I see is charging on the regular FindX. Someone would have to unscrew and remove the search coil to charge. That may be a problem or failure point over time. The FindX Pro is like the Legend for charging, meaning there is a separate port integrated for headphones also.

21 minutes ago, phrunt said:

I've read occasionally the speaker, and other times the battery area, especially with people that changed to aftermarket shafts, not sure how valid that is.

Mine spent 3 days at the bottom of my spa pool with a rock holding it down, left turned on, it went flat obviously but after 3 days I took it out and charged it up, and it was fine.  I did that while under warranty.   The water was 38 degrees c too, 100 degrees f, which I believe warmer water like that may cause leaks more than colder water as rubber shrinks when hot.  I did it a few times throughout its warranty.

That was quite the test. Maybe currents have something to do with increasing leakage possibility? Ya know ocean salt water plus washing waves/current pulling and pushing.

I believe your Equinox is considered well done at this point with that slow cooking you did on it. LOL

On 4/20/2024 at 7:58 AM, palzynski said:

Very interesting and a little surprising , it looks like from the 2 videos that the Versa is the winner of the test with a clean and clear signal on the Mercury at 10inches ..  While the Manticore signal is weaker and a little scratchy and the Legend behind the 2 others .

Of course it is just one test and this needs to be confirmed with other targets , for example bigger coins like a 10g coin for example ...

Hi Slavomir , you have tested the Versa , do you confirm this depth difference between the Versa and other detectors ? thx

From what I've viewed on the Versa, it is one heck of a detector. It seems to offer excellent performance. The problem though? it would cost an arm and a leg to get one over here across the pond. I really wish they would make it more readily available in the USA. They would sell a lot of them. It is a VERY interesting piece of equipment.

For what it is worth, my hard line in the sand on detector cost is $900 US Dollars. For that amount of money it best do everything except dig the target. Yep, I know that is unrealistic but just how I am.

7 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Can it catch it up to the Manticore for depth though as this video makes it look terrible by comparison, seems a lot of messing around when you have other detectors that natively hit the same depth without doing anything, especially switching into a tricky to access mode to check a target? whenever you get a suspect deep target.

I read a lot of people saying the Legend is a bit of an 8" max detector and many comment on it's not very deep compared to others, the same thing I found with my Simplex and a guy I know in NZ sold his for that very reason, although that was very early on in the firmware updates, he didn't give it much of a chance.

The Deep Target feature sounds more viable to use than Beast mode.  I think the naming of that was a poor choice as it makes it sound like it's something super powerful and perhaps got people's expectations too high.

"seems a lot of messing around". Agreed. But the Nokta Pirate Dude was seemingly enjoying it.  *shrugs* LOL

"I read a lot of people saying the Legend is a bit of an 8" max detector and many comment on it's not very deep compared to others" Well, depends on what the target is I guess. I've already found a coin down in excess of 8 inches. However it was in wood chip tot lot, not dirt and it was very wet in the bottom. Realistically though 8" would be deeper than I want to dig in this red clay rock soil. If it will do that consistently.

Phrunt I am totally in agreement with you on the Deep Target feature. I also think they should have renamed it to something more fitting like "Target ID boost" instead. It makes more sense. Heck this should have been in there a few versions back as an option.

In my humble and odd opinion I believe Nokta realizes the Legend is falling behind a little bit versus more expensive detectors like the Manticore and Deus 2. But hey, that is OK. How can anyone that is reasonable expect a lower $$$ detector to operate like a $$$$ detector?  I sure don't expect that. But I do expect it to be stable and would love to see the Target ID's tightened up even more. Refinement, not more power. More power isn't worth a poop if you can't use it due to instability and distracting chatter/false signals. Clean up the processing of signals, refine it. It will be even more of a formidable detector against others. Power alone is worthless, but separation and better processing/discrimination would be in my book GOLDEN.

Look at the Minelab Xterra Pro. It's a freaking beast power wise from what I've seen. But it is so crude in processing the signal the detector is crippled. The Target ID should have been a screen showing ?? instead of numbers. I don't hate it, but it is certainly a beep/dig detector. If you want to dig every signal that is the detector to get.

5 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Iffy (Mike) and many posters are hung up on the target IDs produced by Beast mode and the strange tones.

The Deep Target feature is the “beastly” feature that I will be using the most from the 1.14 Beta versions. 

Totally agree with you on that. The Deep Target ID feature is perhaps the most useful thing from 1.14

That Beast mode is just not for me. I don't see any real world application of it for myself. Why in the world would I want even more instability and guesswork from a detector I'm trying to get more stable dependable operation from? It is rare if I can run sensitivity up to 22 around here. The Black Beard pirate in the Nokta video had the thing cranked to 30. Just not realistic use for me.

I never have submerged my Equinox 800. Not really hunting watery areas. Having so many verified cases of water ingress it's just not a chance I'm willing to take anyway. My Equinox is now over 4 years old. Would imagine the seals over time get even less effective.

Were there any confirmed reports on the actual source of the water leaking?

7 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

I forgot to mention that V 1.09 and later work much better at saltwater beaches than the previous versions. 

The odds of me using it at a beach are slim. I'm a long way from a beach and the last time I even touched beach sand was back in 2007. Maybe a creek or something around here but even that is unlikely. The places hunted for me are public schools, parks, and an occasional private permission old home site.

I'm looking for the most stable version of the Legend software. From what I've seen from the 3 versions tried so far, it feels pretty solid. The 1.14 seemed a bit more chatty and touchy vs 1.13, my first experience out of the box with 1.11(it came with that) was quite dodgy/chatty.

Still waiting on them to refine it some more. I like the Legend, it has found me some stuff in places where other detectors have pounded the area but nothing earth shattering(gold items). But we all know that is a location problem.

I really liked the deep target feature of the 1.14 beta. That alone was a good thing and did make a difference on some targets that either didn't show an ID or were very jumpy. I'd love to see them refine that particular feature more. It would be nice to have a far better understanding of the infamous IF and ST settings and how they relate to each other. I've seen videos, and read countless posts but it still seems to be a black box type thing of hit and miss. It would also be nice to get more information on just what M1, M2, and M3 are supposed to be specialized for. All I've noticed is that M2 seems to hit harder, M3 seems to be more neutered, and M1 is somewhere in between. But weird mad scientists like me want to know what it's supposed to be all about.

I mostly use the LG24 coil, and depth is not what I'm after. I'm after separation among trashy iron infested hellholes littered with can slaw, micro foil and other challenging items. The condition of my swinging arm is highly compromised at this point with tendonitis and shoulder issues (thank you rear hit from car wreck in 2019, and a hit and run from the rear in 2021), and that hampers my ability to swing that LG30 much. So my hunts are not long ones, and must be effective. I'm liking the Legend, and it has fascinated me with all it's little personalities. I just want to be efficient when I am able to metal detect.  

Just a quick survey here, Of all the Legend versions available now which one is in your opinion the best one so far?

Please feel free to give your experiences with your favored version.

Why? I'm trying to get a picture of which one I need to try if I have not yet.

Only had 1.11, 1.13 and 1.14 in use. Went back to 1.11 but always open to trying previous versions and get a taste.

Nothing like having a spectrum analyzer to play with on your metal detector. I am curious JCR, when you turn the Legend off does that 25.6 khz spike still remain detectable? For some reason that one stayed up regardless of mode, looked like even still there when you went to 40khz on the Legend. Think that is the receive channel?