I've only been detecting about a year and here in New England we are infested with lobster traps from the new lobster gold rush. They break up into pieces and litter the beaches deep in the sand or on top. I had the Garrett ATX and it went very deep, but even with the iron discrimination button it still loved those Lobster Traps. With the Makro Kruzer or Equinox 800 I don't have any issues with traps. Also the ATX coil cable corroded on me even though I washed it after every trip and sand would constantly get in the rod joints. I couldn't find replacement cables and it seemed difficult to replace anyway due to the way it was constructed. Garrett actually replaced the whole coil under warranty and I sold it on Ebay to someone in Texas who doesn't have to worry about lobster traps.
The equinox is a lot more forgiving to a beginner like myself and is easier on my shoulder, though its still harder to maneuver than the Kruzer even though they are the same weight i think. I may see if i can get an Equinox coil that I can move in the water easier. Both the Kruzer and ATX seem to have some issues with hot rocks. The tones of the Kruzer fatigue my ears and I accidentally ended up in the wrong mode frequently due to the menu settings/layout. The only reason I bought the Kruzer was because the local metal detecting store near me hates Minelab's customer service and convinced me the recovery speed on the Kruzer would be far superior. After reading this forum and others, I wanted the simultaneous multi frequency so I grabbed the equinox. Overall I'm happy with the Equinox though I still have yet to tinker with the recovery speed. I've been leaving it on the default 6 in beach 2. No issues with lobster traps(or hot rocks so far). My only issue is with salt water getting in the coil cover and causing falsing end of swing occasionally.