RobNC

I will say that not everyone likes metal detecting. They may think they do, but when they go out and expect buckets of gold and come back with pull tabs instead they lose the desire. Please understand that the pickin's are sometimes slim. I'd hate to see you spend $800+ for an Equinox 800 or near $750 out the door for an Equinox 600 and then your husband loses interest because he didn't hit gold rings and silver coins his first 5 times out. I think it would be best to go with the Vanquish series to start with. In many cases the Vanquish is even better in Target ID than the Equinox if my reading is correct. I would not buy anything less than the Vanquish 440. The wireless headphones with the Equinox 800 are to me not that great. For me, it is better with the WM08 module and wired grey ghost headphones. A lot more sharp tones in my rattle head. The wireless included phones are muddy in my ears. Please be aware that if your man does enjoy metal detecting you will create a monster, as he will forever be thinking that the more expensive detectors will net him more finds. NOT SO. It is all about LOCATION and skill of the nut on the handle. We all suck at first and on some days even years later we still suck! It is nice you are willing to enter into the fray of metal detecting. Best of wishes to you.

In my area the red clay occurs. The worst of it has little glitter specks throughout. My Equinox goes through this without chirping. My ORX also works with that same red glitter soil. The bigger problem for both are when you hit iron in that same soil. I don't see where one or the other has a clear advantage. The ORX does seem faster and has sniffed out some good targets for me in heavy iron areas. You lose a lot with the ORX though from an ID perspective vs. the Equinox or Vanquish. While I do not have any experience with it, some say that pulse machines do better in extreme soils. And again, the lack of ID capabilities with the pulse units make them dig it all machines. But admittedly, I have never owned one and only go on what I've read.

As tboykin said, still a VLF in the grand scheme of things. It does manage mineralized soil better than a single freq VLF unit. It will get better depth usually than a single freq machine in such cases. It's not perfect but a "perfect" metal detector has yet to be made. The Vanquish is a real deal in a lot of ways and should not be thought less of just because it is using VLF albeit multiple VLF's referenced at once.

I would like to see an extended ID Range. Better EMI suppression Don't run the F*#@&)%^ price so high us common folk can't afford it. This is not a p!$$!$% contest to see who has the most money, where only the "elite professionals" can afford the better equipment. Don't take a pee on me and tell me it's raining Minelab. Us common folk deserve a decent detector that will last more than 3 months without needing warranty "service".

How about one of my favorites- 3M Temflex 2155. Think it would do the trick? https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-Temflex-Rubber-Splicing-Tape-2155/?N=5002385+3290907746&rt=rud

I wish them the best with this. Hopefully we will see a hybrid using the best of tech from both companies.

I totally get it. You've lost confidence in it. That has happened to me many times. Like SVen1 said, if the detector is killing your interest in metal detecting it's GOTTA GO!! Other mentioned the Vanquish, from reports and tests it appears the Vanquish may even have more accurate target ID than the Equinox in some cases. It's a heck of a deal for a lot of detector too. Whichever direction you go I wish you the best with it and hope what you choose finds you many great things. Can you please report back to us when you get a different detector and take it out? I would enjoy hearing your comparisons and results. Best Regards, Rob

I can understand the lack of confidence in a certain detector. Most of us go through that, myself a lot. This often happens no matter what kind of detector you run. I was unable to try the Multi Kruzer I bought because it had issues out of the box unfortunately. I will speak on what I feel comfortable about concerning the Equinox 800. The Equinox 800 has far more settings than the Equinox 600. The 800 allows you to change the tone pitch and break points, the 600 does not. My hunting is mainly on school yards, old home sites, and fields. No beach hunting. The Equinox like most detectors will struggle on iron littered or trashy sites. You will get a lot of audio fatigue. This is not just with the Equinox but any detector in these conditions. I can only speak on the stock 11" coil. It's the only coil I have. I did try an Equinox 600 before the 800 and also bought the 6" coil. In my use the smaller coil did not help in that particular site. The factory presets are really good. I run a slightly modified version of Park 1 for most of my hunting. The only things I modified had to do with audio tone pitch and break points. Did some volume level adjustments too. Many may call me stubborn but after trying all the software updates I am back to version 1.75 and like it best. The wireless headphones that come with the EQ800 are not to my liking either. The audio is not sharp and defined enough for me. I use the wireless module and a pair of Grey Ghost headphones. It is annoying to fight the cable but the audio clarity is worth it. The Equinox is not a magic detector. It has its limitations like any other. Reported leakage of the control pod, wobble int he shaft, broken coil ears, battery problems, and a lot of people complain about build quality in general along with it being unbalanced. I like my Equinox, but it is not the end-all detector. We are still waiting on that one. Warranty-Minelab is generally good about warranty replacements. Some have reported it taking a while in certain cases which is more than likely due to part shortages. Bottom Line-when that Kruzer showed you a 90 ID you should have dug it. The same thing will happen with the Equinox or any other detector. Don't be too hard on yourself.

I would enjoy testing anything new Nokta puts out. I hunt primarily parks and schools with old homesites mixed in. Very trashy, iron infested places and sparkle dirt with varying mineralization is the norm here. That would be a good test. Sadly though, not near the beach.

The only things I have disc'd out are -9 to zero. I run my threshold at 3. Heard it some yesterday blanking or rather going silent. So at this point will assume it is some heavy iron garbage I surely do not want.

I appreciate this guy doing the test. No bias involved. Impressed with the Simplex. For a single channel VLF it does ok. Also agree that it would have been better to see this in actual water or water filled holes. Wonder how the equinox does in this test? I have not personally been to the beach since 2007 😞 With work how it is, along with finances it is unlikely I will see the beach anytime soon. I'm a land hunter and do heavy trash/garbage sites. It's tough detecting grounds for me. Machine gun fire iron on anything I use. I envy the people close enough to beaches that can take an hour trip and go detect.. Wish it was like that for me. At best, it is 4+ hrs one way!

Ok, so this is a subject I have not touched on much and despite me finding things I do wonder. Concerning Threshold of the Minelab Equinox in park mode and field mode specifically. Mine is set fairly low at volume lvl 4. There are times when it goes silent yet I have no "target" on the screen. What exactly does it mean when you are going over an area and the threshold tone disappears or "nulls out to silence" for a second but yet there is no target audio? Does it mean my ground balance is not set correctly? Seriously wondering, as I want to get every last particle of performance out of my Equinox 800. Thanks in advance for answers! For what it is worth, the majority of my hunting is done in Park 1 with some modified tone break points from default. I may venture into Field 1 every now and then, otherwise it is the modified park 1.

It is highly unlikely it will ever see the light of day.

I know this is a dead horse on many fronts and is highly variable and dependent upon soil conditions, metal condition, etc. But I will once again try to gain some insight. So here goes! 1) What ID range have you found gold rings to fall into on the ORX?(50-59 for instance) 2) Is there a particular ID range that nothing but junk appears to huddle into? (0-45 for instance) I know it is difficult and a dodgy question of sorts but I've never found anything good below the 60's, as it mostly appears to be can slaw, iron, or foil fragments. Another zone of junk seems to be in the 70's.

I've used my ORX in the same way behind the Equinox 800. I do consider the ORX the last vacuum sweeper on a site. It finds the last of anything valuable. I feel like the Equinox sometimes throws so many ID's at you that it is confusing and you get brain overload. The ORX ID is much simpler.

I get what you are saying, and own an ORX myself. They are good units. Like mentioned I would like to tailor the tone pitch. It is not a problem with the 3 tone limitation, just how they sound to my ears. A higher top end pitch would help me. a way to limit the iron volume would also help me. I like to hear the iron just not as loud as all the other tones. If I did not like the ORX I would not have bought a second one. Gotta admit though, the pinpoint feature on the ORX is cumbersome. I have seen times the ORX found things over same patch my equinox didn't quite pull something out of.

I do not have this problem because I am a glutton for punishment. I had the Equinox 600 first and felt it was a "crippled" version of the 800. Got rid of it. Some time later I purchased the Equinox 800, and feel better about that. It allows me to set the tones to my ears, where the 600 did not allow it. I have an XP ORX, and it is a good little unit but again I feel held back and that it is a crippled version of the Deus. Unfortunately I could not afford the Deus so I still have the ORX (this is my second one) with the X35 11" coil. Of all the things I wish the ORX would do is allow tone pitch adjustment. If it had that it would be ideal. The XY Screen also fascinates me, but Deus only feature.

I don't think you made a mistake. There are still a lot of things Garrett can do to fine tune the Apex- IF there is an update utility for it. Look at how may changes Minelab and Nokta have done on their detector via software updates. It would be a missed opportunity if the Apex does not have the ability to be updated by the owner with a Garrett supplied software update. Think about it, you do not have to rely on the "Multi" function all the time. You have multiple frequencies that can be selected and ran in single mode. That in itself makes the Apex very different than the other units they've sold in the past. I like the way it looks and hope they will smooth it up some more via updates. Get out there and USE IT!! Run it through the paces, learn it, and enjoy it!

I wonder if they made it update capable? One would hope they did. It is still in Beta phase looks like. I'm not totally shooting it down because I really like how smooth the design is and how the screen looks. Really do hope they straighten out the kinks and turn it into a more useful unit. Although it is "out" you sort of get the feeling it wasn't quite finished at this point. Some refinements internally obviously need to be done.

I have an Equinox 800 and XP ORX with 11" X35 coil. They don't take the T2's place but between those 2 I have all I need. Even at lower sensitivity (40 or so) the T2 finds things, and small if you have the right coil. I pretty much cleaned all my current sites out from 0-5" of anything worth having with the T2. Evertyhing left is deep and/or masked by junk. Difficult hunting.

I sold my T2 LTD/SE within the last few weeks. I will say that it is a nice detector. It has a lot of aftermarket accessory coils available out there which makes it interesting. Some things I noted, but this is just me and my worthless opinion. Positives: 1)Aftermarket coil selection is awesome. 2) Easy to operate, very few settings to fiddle with. 3) Superb balance, very ergonomic. 4)uses standard AA batteries. Negatives: 1) chatty at times. 2) struggles in iron and mineralization vs. other more modern detectors(multi frequency). 3) Some pin pointers interfere with the detector. 4) larger coils offer more depth but still come up short vs. more modern detectors on known test garden targets. Specifically anything over 6 inches in depth. ID's and sounds off as iron. I will say that the T2 SE/LTD with a small coil is a cherry picking monster, and in a chip bark/playground environment or park is deadly on clad. I also found 90% of my silver with the T2 SE/LTD and Cors Shrew coil. I can not tell you how sensitive that combo is to the smallest of objects. Teeny-tiny things. Countless bling and even small little sparkly things off of kids shoes I found with that combo. Larger coils for me were not as accurate nor as forgiving.

That barber dime looks like I feel these days- worn and tired of the bs. Sure seems like the Apex is similar to the what I have read and seen with the AT-Pro. It loves to call decent things Iron. I like the way the Apex looks, but will wait to seriously consider one. Rather wait until this beta version is out and see what comes after it. Should be a more polished product. The Equinox gave a wide ID range on the deep silver Barber Dime. However, there was never a hint of iron buzz in the audio. On the other hand, the Apex seems to throw all kinds of iron audio out on good stuff. Not throwing the Apex over a cliff here, just going on ONE video. I bet different soils also make a difference in how it responds. I do like how clean the Apex looks, unfortunately it is like a Corvette on the outside with a 4 cylinder engine on the inside. I hope they mature this tech and really open it up on further models. No shade or dirt thrown on Garrett, I truly want them to have something special. We desperately need USA detector companies to shine brightly. Still pulling for them. Bet it does well on more shallow targets.

I really hate to hear that. Here is to hoping they get better. Too much bad in the world today, everybody needs to send well wishes that person's way.

This has been over a year ago and the whole "don't know who will walk up on you" part means more now than it did last year! Lots of hoodlums and hateful people out there today for sure. Be careful, people are getting hard up and robbing who they can.

Really wondering how many and what type of roots you have worked to get these finds! Carry on and find more!