mh9162013

So a fair conclusion could be: The smaller coils on the Equinox (6" and 5x10) might have better target separation than the 11" or 15", but only if the target and iron are on the same plane (and presumably, the target is on a plane above the iron)?

When you used the stock Equinox shaft, which of the 4 holes did you use for the arm cuff?

@nickeldNdimed: If I may ask, how tall are you? I ask b/c I'm thinking about getting this shaft, but I'll want it customized slightly.

Oh boy, if finds could talk...

As they say, a little bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing...

It's called search engine optimization, not search engine honesty.

If we're talking about a metal detecting rookie, I think that should be consideration 1a, with "what do you want to do with your detector?" being consideration 1b. So many newcomers truly don't know what they don't know. And for some of them, their budget is an artificially placed financial limit. So if someone comes in saying "I have $500, what should I buy?" I think at least half the time, they could go to $550 or $600, but for the right reason. For example, if I wanted a new car and my budget was $25,000, but someone told me that for $30,000 I could get a car that ran on tap water and got 100 miles to the gallon, I'd find a way to scrounge up another $5,000. This is an exaggeration, but I've seen prospective be willing to increase their budget to that of an Apex, Simplex, Vanquish 440/540 or Equinox because they realize what a step up it is to get SMF, waterproofing, wireless capability or other features.

Exactly!

If the AT Pro's retail price was $200, it'd probably be on my "top 5" list.

These lists can be anything from pure marketing mumbo jumbo driven by what model choice will give the author the most money (kickbacks or whatever) to genuine, good-faith analysis to try and inform or help prospective metal detector purchasers. Before one makes a list, I think they need to explain what the primary motivating factor is. For example, is it value? Overall performance? Specialized performance? Ergonomics? And so on...

if I ever need propsecting supplies, I now know who NOT to buy from.

I don't see many videos that you describe.

That could very well be the explanation. Even if the "guts" b/w the 600 and 800 are the same, just a few physical differences could make turning the 600 into the 800 impractical, no matter the desires of Minelab.

I agree, 100%. It would be nice to pay a fee to upgrade the 600 to an 800. I'm curious as to Minelab's reason for not allowing this. The only thing I can think of is hacking fears, but I could be wrong.

I can see that being a major factor, especially given how the average human mind (and social media) works.

I believe you're making the right decision. You're a well-experienced and educated metal detectorist who's got access to other knowledgeable detectorists and isn't afraid to tinker. You are not the typical metal detectorist because of these traits, though.

I'm just saying that when it comes to adjustability, a company is in a possibly no-win situation. Increase adjustability and many people will complain about increased complexity of their device or how the adjustability makes their device work not as well. Reduce adjustabiltiy and you get people complaining about the company taking a patronizing approach to their customers treating them like idiots or having some other nefarious goal. So what's a company to do? Crunch numbers and go with the lesser of two evils (at least that's my assumption).

But I don't think iron bias for SMF tech like the MIQ (and presumably the Legend) is something that's always best for being adjustable. Honestly, for every 100 people who use the Equinox, I'd estimate that at least 50 never touch the iron bias setting consistently. And of those that do, 25 aren't actually improving performance. If my numbers are correct, we're looking at 25% of Equinox users using iron bias adjustability to their benefit. I say all of this b/c it's almost impossible to confirm that adjusting the iron bias up or down is producing less undesirable targets and more desirable targets. That's b/c you don't know what you don't know. So people will make a change, see an extra desirable target and assume their adjustment made a positive difference. However, had they not made the adjustment, they might have found 2 extra desirable targets. I think of adjustable iron bias as manual transmission in a car. Yes, it's nice to have more control. But the majority of drivers either can't take advantage of this greater control (either b/c they don't want to or don't know how to). TL;DR: N/M's decision to not initially allow iron bias to be adjustable is 100% understandable. Heck, even Minelab's original iron bias adjustment had to be modified to allow for MORE iron bias adjustability with a later update.

Wireless bone conducting headphones are a dime a dozen and relatively affordable. But like F350Platinum, I'm not aware of any of them that are low latency APTX LL or something similar. However, they could be. I've never tried them, but I'm not hopeful. After all, why would someone who wants to listen to music need low latency like we do?

I'm all for dumbing down controls and settings for certain customers. The problem with the Legend was that it was specifically designed to go after Equinox (800 in particular, if I recall correctly) users. It wasn't designed to go after Apex or Vanquish users. Therefore, it should have had iron bias adjustability all along. However, I understand how difficult the iron bias setting can be to take advantage of, so I don't blame N/M for their original decision.

I think you should do one* that's sky blue with a white duck on it. And it would say: American Federal Lead Abatement Collective AFLAC! *joking

46 quarters in 3 hours? Impressive!

Let's hope it landed in the Sea of Tranquility as opposed to the Ocean of Storms.

My sentiments, too.

Ahh, I see what you're getting at. Yeah, that mixed message didn't register with me b/c I knew (assumed?) that he was producing that video in response to Iffy's video and at the direction of N/M.