RobNC

Poor Ozzy, he's really pushed the edge of things for a very long time. The dude has made some great songs, been a part of Rock/Metal history, and I think he owes it to himself to just relax now.

To quote Ozzy Osbourne " I'm just a dreamer, I dream my life away oh yeah I'm just a dreamer, who dreams of better days"

I think common sense might be banned there. It's not like they are really trying hard to get interest in their "hobby" products anyway. Sad to see.

Yes that would explain it.

This dude has really been pumping the iron. On the bright side of things for Garrett, if Minelab starts any trouble over this new Apex they can send out this guy to beat some sense into them. "Our engineer will be in touch with you to discuss this". They should also use this guy to attract more women to the detecting world. Early yet to tell but it sure seems like Garrett hit a home run. This is a very good thing to see. White's has went beyond being asleep now. It's more like they are in a coma. I wish Garrett the best with this, and seriously it may be the thing that pushes me to try another Garrett after many years.

I am truly impressed with the appearance and features of this new Apex. The Multi Frequency surprises me the most. They are not resting on their laurels riding out the single frequency train. Actually think it looks good too, just enough to be interesting. Rainproof not waterproof. I could live with that. This little morsel may help Garrett out a lot and secure their longevity in this cut-throat industry a little bit. Can see the the AT Line going Multi-Frequency also in the future. They "get it", people want multiple frequencies. Seems Nokta/Makro firing a shot over the bow woke Garrett up! I wish them the best with this and will wait a little bit to see how these things perform in the field. It MAY warrant me selling my T2 LTD and replacing it with this new Apex. Happy for Garrett, this looks really good.

Yes Sir, I seen your post and agreed with you 100%. Wish they wouldn't just pretty something up that already exists. Add something.. anything at this point that might enhance it.

Would be nice if during this office closure time they have designed something new to sell. Oh wait, that ain't gonna happen.

If it is indeed an upgraded "Ace Series" I sure hope they make the display bigger. One thing I never liked was how small it was. Even with good eyes back then I had issues with it. Little tiny stuff. Make it visible. I am not against Garrett units and have had multiple Garrett units in the past. GTAx 750, GTAx550 (wife), and ACE 250. The 750 had tiny display items that were like threading a needle. That unit also had issues with the coil and simply netted me no coins past 3 inches. The Ace 250 was a wee bit better on the display but still bad. I DID find a gold ring with it once. Oh, btw, the ding-dong coin sound is a real let-down when it is junk under the coil. Will be truly SHOCKED if they do something different beyond slight appearance mods. If by chance they pull off something unique I just may be inclined to try one.

Either my machine or myself are insane because the ID received on a 1944 war nickel a little over a week ago in the ground was 15 for me. *shrugs* maybe it had something to do with the soil, or the fact it was in dirt that was rocky (old ball field gravel stuff).

I've had a number of detectors over the years. Got out of detecting a few times and back into again for the last year or so. On this last re-run (getting back into detecting after a very long time away) I did try an Equinox 600. For whatever reason it simply did not agree with me. I despised the audio and flutey tones. Maybe it just was not time. At any rate, I tried a couple other detectors after getting rid of the EQ 600- notably the XP ORX and Teknetics T2Ltd. The multiple frequencies available on ORX fascinated me. What I found was that it was a very sensitive detector, very light, but sort of limited when it came to tones and you can't adjust them. If you ever hit a target deeper than around 6" on the ORX it more than likely won't show a Target ID at all. I ditched it. I decided to give the Equinox 800 a go. And ya know what? It really has worked out nice for me. I adjusted the tones like I want them and set up break points for how I like to hunt. I've began to understand the flute wavering tones mean "hey this is a piece of can slaw or a pull tab" vs. a nice solid round sound. Still learning it , but must say I took the 800 over places detected by the EQ 600, XP ORX, and the T2 with a couple different coils and STILL found things they missed. In particular the 800 has the ability to sniff out masked targets the others could not do. I'm perfectly happy with the Equinox 800, so much that I even use the WM08 module and gray ghost headphones instead of the included wireless headphones. To me they just sound better. The only thing "up" would be the CTX but from all reports they are heavy beasts. And honestly I feel they are overpriced, so a CTX is not in my future. Laying all jokes aside and being the particular a-hole I am about anything I buy can truthfully tell you it would be really hard to beat the Equinox 800 at any price range. And THAT is coming from an Equinox "hater" once upon a time.

Will try to get it to a jewelry shop this weekend, time permitting.

Got out again today since I had it off from work. Could not resist. Found this ring that rang up 12-13 on the EQ800. Although it looked promising there are no markings on the ring. Where there should have been a marking it looks "repaired" in that area. Can't figure out whether it is plated or just some old junk ring. Will try to get it tested at a jeweler tomorrow if possible. Also found a quarter, couple dimes, some pennies and loads of can slaw with wonderful pull tabs. I also noticed since updating that corroded clad pennies ring up low, 17-19. The previous version never did that for me in the couple times I used it. So dunno if I will stick with the update or not. For fun I also ran this ring over my Teknetics T2 and it read 55. *shrugs* it may be a low karat gold but will not know til it is tested.

After last weekend's miserable trip and very few finds today I was off from work and simply had to try out a couple places. The first place was a new permission. All I found was a clad dime, 1 wheat penny, and a copper lincoln. Lotsa junk targets though at that place. Frustrated I left there and hit another place on the way back home I've been to numerous times. It's the same place other silver has been found. The T2 and ORX both had ran over this place and not found anything else worth digging. What a perfect place to test the new Equinox 800 at, huh! First couple targets were assorted junk items like thin wires and can slaw. I then decided to cherry pick and only dig high tones. Horseshoe mode engaged could hear all kinds of iron garbage in the ground. Turned that off and went to disc. Got a sweet high tone and it was repeatable. Dug it and down 9 inches popped out a 1934 Mercury Dime. Also found a crusty wheat penny but unable to determine date yet due to crud on it.Although the face is scratched up (I did not do that) the sides still have very pronounced ridges. The back edge is worn down a bit. Very happy to see this coin with the Equinox. The other detectors never seen this dime and I ran over that same spot multiple hunts with both the T2 and the ORX. This one place has been good to me but really think there is no more silver left now. Today was another one of those days where working hard was necessary to pull finds. One thing I am learning is that the Equinox 800 will punch deep down into the dirt to get the goodies.

I went ahead and flashed the newest software update. Did some "air testing" afterwards. Seemed stable and well behaved. Did FP before update and after just for good measure. Messed around a little with the notch breakpoints. Wanted quarters to sing out at the highest pitch instead of possibly falling into T4. Maybe not a good idea but want to try it out. Took the Equinox out today to a couple "hunted out" junk holes before the update. Dug some nice pulltabs and can slaw. I knew better than to dig those numbers but was trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel. The conditions were very bad in that 1st place. Down at 10 inches one target laid that was showing 30 and faint, out it came and was a rusty old bolt head looked like. There was also actual coal in this particular hole. In ages past, they used coal to heat the old school. Have hunted this old school many times this year with the ORX and T2. The ORX did find that small silver kid ring in the ground of this area. Pretty sure that place has been hunted before by many others long before I ever detected it. Not wanting to waste anymore time at that place went down the road a piece to a newer school. Have detected this one a few times also with other detectors. Nothing but clad on those old hunts and some little bling like things. Today was the day of small cans. Was getting 25-26 repeatable signal. The little cans like potted meat cans looked like. Dug 3 of them, all down in excess of 7 inches. Dug some nice can slaw, a pull tab, then finally hit a couple clad dimes. Then out in a larger field hit a clad quarter. Walked over to the other wood chip area and found 2 more clad dimes and another clad quarter(8 inches down in mineralized clay). My shoulder was cutting up so it was time to go. Not a total wipe out but I certainly did have to work for these meager things today. I did think today would be a day without any finds at all worth speaking of. Luckily the Equinox came through. Not the unit, the location sucked and maybe I did too a bit. I will say that these 2 places are difficult to hunt, and they have been with everything I've used up until today. To find anything of value is an accomplishment. The Equinox did come through today and punched down into the ground deeper than other detectors have. The soil is difficult in a lot of spots also. I'm confident the Equinox is the right unit, but there is a lot for me to learn with it. This is going to take some time. Nothing but Park 1 today with minor modifications, mainly in tone pitches. I don't foresee myself going back to those 2 spots and if I do it will be quite a while.

I'm on the fence about updating it. Things went really good on the first hunt. To be honest I'm sort of afraid to tinker with things seeing as how it did so well the way I had it set. There is always a concern that perhaps the factory flash is the best and maybe some weirdness could be introduced doing it "at home". That is me being brutally honest. I imagine they already have the chips loaded up from a hardware programming perspective (direct connection to the board itself with factory interface) vs when we do it through a USB port that is primarily used for charging. Just a thought. Now that may seem a bit paranoid to you guys but hey.. I've seen a PC BIOS flash go bad a time or two. This is really no different, as you are indeed upgrading the firmware on a chip.

I will go check right now, but thought I did press the accept key and got a bleep but no F2 change. Thank you for the info! Update: Nope, no F2 option using described method only a bleep sound

My new Equinox does not seem to have the newest firmware. I do not see the F2 option so pretty sure it is not the latest firmware. I've read varying opinions on the newest update. All sorts of things have been said, good and bad. Some say it has messed with the ID a bit too much and thrown them off from what it used to be. Some say the addition of F2 has been a good thing, others say nope. So, what do you think? Should I just run it like it is or is the new firmware somehow better in general? Curious is all and would enjoy hearing from anyone that cares to respond with their experiences and findings. Thanks for your time

Hey everybody. Since I have bought the Equinox 800 as all of you know it comes with the WM08 module. I really don't hear of anyone much using that module. Minelab claims it has 17ms latency. Supposedly the AptX LL headphones have around 40ms latency. Coming from a computer/networking background I do realize there is a difference between these numbers. But in the real world of using the Equinox has anyone ran the WM08 and found it to be noticeably "quicker" than the wireless headphones? I have only been out on 1 hunt so far with the Equinox 800 and was very pleased and used the headphones. The headphones are very nice, very comfy to wear and have good audio. However I have a pair of gray ghost headphones I use with my Teknetics T2SE and really like them. I have ordered the headphone adapter cable from Digger's Den (Thanks again Brian for having the best price) and plan to try out the WM08 with the trusty gray ghosts. I don't feel it is necessary to baby the gray ghosts vs I do feel the minelab wireless headphones need more care and gentle handling. So again I ask, has anyone else used the WM08 and found it to be better in some way? It seems it is a waste to not put the module to work. Call it ignorance, but I want the lowest latency possible.

Welcome! It's nice to meet you (in a sense). Happy hunting, hope you find many great things.

Quality products, hope you sell a boat load of them.

Received my Equinox 800 yesterday. Charged the detector and headphones up yesterday. Took my time putting it together and inspecting it. Rain and cold yesterday so no hunting. Today was different. Didn't even read the manual. Got it out this morning in the house and turned it on for first time. Ran a couple coins across the coil then went to tinkering a little bit. Park 1 stock except for threshold which I set to 3. FE to 3, left recovery speed at 5. notched out 39 and 40 , took the T1 volume down to 3 paired up my headphones and that was it. Took it to a place I had been one other time with my other detectors, and had really racked up with the other units there. Well.. The Equinox was doing really well today. 18 dimes, 6 quarters, 17 pennies 4 nickels, and a gold plated silver ring(my wife found that by eye!). less than 3 pulltabs dug today ( ID=14=pull tab for me). Used park 1 and nothing else. Didn't make any changes other than above. Ran sensitivity at 16-18. Some EMI was present so varied it according to that. Ground Balanced too. I did try 0 but found an actual ground balance did better. It handled that dreaded red dirt with gold specks like a boss! deepest find today was a copper penny at 8.5" down and under 3 different types of material (wood chip top, red dirt with gold specks, and sandy clay). I'm very happy with today's first outing and have no doubt I made the right choice in getting this unit. Seems I'm finally ready to appreciate all it has to offer. Gotta say the EQ600 I had earlier this year ran NOTHING like this unit. This thing is smooth and I can understand it. Almost forgot. I also had a piece of Skinomi techskin screen protector left over from when I bought it years ago for a tablet. Took a piece of paper and traced out the equinox control pod front as a template. Then I cut a piece best I could that would fit over the entire front, or most of it anyway. Managed to have just enough to cover the screen and buttons. So far that is working like a charm. Really cut down on the glare problem so many speak of. Had no trouble seeing the screen today.

To each their own I reckon. Any day out detecting is better than staying indoors due to cold and rain! I like finding coins and whenever I can get out that is a good hunt. Hunt whatever you can whenever you can. The Equinox is a great machine.

I think at this point it should work out for me. When I got the EQ600 earlier this year it was the first time I'd detected in over a decade. After spending a fair amount of time with metal detectors this year and actually getting out there, do believe I can learn an Equinox now. One thing I do know though, after having the little 6" DD coil with the 600, I don't think it will be something I buy again. I have the T2SE for cherry picking shallower finds with a small coil. When you get to a point you can even find a small rivet the size of a BB down to 4 inches I fail to see a reason in buying the 6" coil for the Equinox. The Equinox's mission will be to find deeper things I've been missing in adverse ground conditions. It will also be the detector I use anytime I suspect there is a chance of rain!

I appreciate it. The 800 should give me enough wiggle room with the tone pitch settings to get it more agreeable with my caveman brain and ears. The T2SE isn't going anywhere. Matter of fact I just ordered a Cors Scout for it. Already have another lower rod to put that coil in. Once the 800 arrives I can charge it up and begin playing with it. Will probably be week after next before I get it. Have to ship my ORX out to be inspected and have it deemed "good" towards the 800 as a trade. I'm not worried about that step because it has been well taken care of. Not a scratch on anything, other than a nick or two on coil cover. Never seen water beyond on a rag to wipe off the coil after a hunt. Always kept a cover over the control unit too.