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)? 

8 hours ago, nickeldNdimed said:

5’11”

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...

27 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Some guy was telling her the GM1000 was perfect for that (its the only detector he owns)

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

2 minutes ago, sodbuster said:

Just as an example of how unreliable an internet search can be....

this was up at the top of the "best" search 

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

2 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

IMO, the first thing most people should consider when making any purchase is "what's my budget?" 

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.

4 minutes ago, phrunt said:

A "real" list would be top 5 gold detectors, top 5 relic detectors, top 5 coin detectors, top 5 jewellery detectors, top 5 diving detectors, top 5 beginner detectors, top 5 budget detectors,  etc etc.

That's where these list really go wrong.

Exactly!

1 hour ago, relicmeister said:

What? No AT Pro?  Oh yeah that was last decade..

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...

On 3/6/2022 at 10:43 AM, BMc said:

Thanks a lot everyone. Later the same day that I had found the (highly tarnished) quarter, I stopped in at JW's Prospecting Supplies in Prescott Valley and showed J.W. the quarter.  Without saying anything, he immediately pulled out some Mercury and started melting it onto the coin to make it shiny and new looking.

 I was a little concerned and taken aback about that because if it altered the coins appearance it might affect the value. At that point however; I wasn't worrying about value since everyone in the store including myself, one customer, and Scott Johnson an employee, had all run out the back door trying to avoid the Mercury fumes.   After a few minutes, we came back inside and sure enough, the quarter looked freshly minted! 

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

I don't see many videos that you describe. 

49 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Perhaps neither here nor there, but there is a minor hardware difference associated with the physical User Profile button that exists only on the Equinox 800.  Also not sure about the LCD artwork differences between 600 and 800 as some options and settings don't exist on the 600.  This was an issue that delayed the Legend 2 Rollout as a minor layout change required a redesign and re-order of the Legend display on the final relese.

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.

2 minutes ago, phrunt said:

I would like detectors where you pay an upgrade price to unlock more features by firmware rather than having to buy a new detector, easy enough to do by plugging your detector to your computer and buying the upgrade online where it then flashes it on, beats buying a new detector.  You can start off the cheapest price to buy the unit and pay for upgrades when and if you want them.   Makes sense, software companies have been doing it for years with plugins and addons with license keys. 

The 600 and 800 are extremely likely to be the exact same hardware, paying an reasonable unlock fee to turn a 600 to an 800 would be desirable for people wanting to upgrade over time to add gold mode and so on if of course it was by design with both detectors having the same button layouts.  Even if by design when you do the upgrade they post you out a new decal when you order the upgrade but it'd be better if the detector design was just suited to upgrades in the first place by the screen having the differences, not the buttons.

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.

3 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

fear of missing out

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

14 minutes ago, phrunt said:

...

I'm confident adjusting my iron bias to F2-0 over the default FE setting is giving me my desired result when gold prospecting, I would not like to be stuck in the Legends default setting when looking for small nuggets.

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.

7 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Repetition of the “people don’t use it, or don’t know how to use it” commentary, that prompted my post.

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).

17 minutes ago, phrunt said:

This was a prime example of why a fixed setting isn't always the best, where having some manual control may in fact improve performance. 

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.

7 hours ago, KD0CAC said:

Not sure if low latency Aptx II .

Do not know , yet , tried to email , but could not without giving ph. # , so will call Monday to find out .

Has anyone else seen or tried these ?

Should be good for hot weather , rain - " water proof " , if detecting in the road 😉

This was a YouTube link  https://reward-tech.net/inductivv/US/?ci=15162874074&ai=128802866145&de=c&dm=&cr=582320750802&ts=ytv&kw=&ac=1072036149&gclid=CjwKCAiAsYyRBhACEiwAkJFKoiGFBUyJ-UjIf5rzEIrtyOX1_qHyL4xMR26RjI94lV81fXkOVgJmgRoCsWAQAvD_BwE

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.

3 minutes ago, ☠ Cipher said:

Interesting, but I’m too jaded on First Texas to believe it anymore.

My sentiments, too.

22 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Yes, they've now decided to offer adjustable iron bias.  I was specifically trying to understand the video, which seemed contradictory to me.  Its producer (Andy Sabisch) has been a reviewer (in widely distributed publications), teacher, and book writer for a many years.  I expected more clarity and objectivity from him.

Bottom line, though, is that N/M has listened to their prospective customers and now will be offering Iron Bias adjustment capability in soon-to-be-released, user-installable software upgrades.  All's well that ends well.

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.