Daniel Tn

Thus far I have been highly impressed with the Equinox ability to handle high mineral. But...up until Tuesday, the most severe I had hunted in thus far would be 3 to 4 bar Fe meter type clay (on F75). There, the machine runs stable and can achieve good tones and numbers for most items down to 10 inches for high conductors and slightly deeper for low conductors. Very good considering most other machines drop off at about the 6 inch range. Tuesday I went to my bullet range...which is 4 and 5 bar soil. It will be the toughest I run the machine in. This place requires pulse machines to be efficient to be honest with you. I've never had a machine to do well there in discriminate mode. The Equinox also struggled there but I did land on a few tweaks that may help you guys should you encounter harsh soil. 1. Recovery speed. Go faster. If you think slower = deeper, forget it. Play around til you find the one that gives you decent depth...ride the line. 6 is default for most modes, and of course 8 is max. 7 is the compromise I think. You do lose some depth but it's nothing compared to what you lose in harsh soil with a slower recovery. 2. Coil position is CRITICAL. I dug some decently deep 3 ringers Tuesday....12 to 13 inch range. The only way I got them was to first run all metal. When you come up on a signal, you will hear iron mostly. Until you pinpoint the target to the exact center of the coil. If it is non ferrous and deep, you will be able to start getting positive numbers and tones JUST directly center of the coil/target. Move a little left/right or forward/back off center, and it's iron. If all you hear is iron with it centered....its iron. I dug some bullets that were 7 to 9 inches that came through loud and clear with iron disc on...but the deeper ones would be easily missed with iron disc on. I'm not use to seeing that kind of depth out of a vlf machine in soil that bad...much less one doing it in disc mode. If this machine had a true motion all metal mode on it, I feel it would have been legendary relic hunting status. It is good the way it is now...but wow. I can't wait to see how it handles with the larger coil when it arrrives. Most people are anxious for the small 6"....I'm more interested in the bigger one. I ended up with 13 minie balls Tueaday in a place in which the last few trips there, I hadn't dug but 1 or 2. I honestly left early and could have dug more but I had saw what I needed to see to know "this dawg will hunt in bad soil.

Along those lines...anyone else noticing some kind of audio bug when in pinpoint mode? The audio volume fades in and out on both my 600 and 800. Doesn't do it all the time but does it enough I have noticed it. Only does it in pin point mode, and has done it with both the wired headphones of the 600 and the wireless with the 800.

Actually, first stop is the old mill/house site that I have on my own property. When I was hunting with the MX Sport, I dug over 50 flat buttons there, and it is loaded in iron. Will be interesting to see what the Equinox can do in the way of low conductors there. The CTX 3030 with small coil didn't dig anything in there. From what I have saw others talk about, the mills would take in clothes and strip the buttons off of them and use the material to make stuff out of. I think that is what the case is at the site on my place...just too many flat buttons and other buttons in one spot. The bullet fields are about tapped out. I used to go there just to bring people that had never dug a bullet, and to just test new detectors. But some other people horned in on the spot and have about dug it to death with their pulse detectors. I noticed there had been some dig holes from time to time when I would go, and then found out who it was. They hunt it like it's the only site they have to hunt; so instead of hitting their own places, they are cleaning out mine. Makes it tough on any VLF machine to go behind pulse machines in non trashy fields and find anything.

I am next on the list of a smaller dealer for an 800 but even he seems a little ticked off at the waiting game and lack of info from his distributor. I ended up finding some 600s in stock and at least have one of those inbound to me. Maybe I can get a feel for the Equinox til the 800 finally makes it my way.

I hate you guys. I put my first preorder in on Sept 15. That dealer says he lost his list and I ended up 19th on his new list. Things happen, I know. But I found it strange when his buddies all ended up with 1 out of the first couple batches, and the rest of the people got nada. I have went thru another dealer in which I was supposed to be next in line. I prepaid with this one. Not heard a peep since. Looks like the Equinox 1000 Pro will be out by the time I get mine.

I told y'all several days ago that Cabelas was notorious for doing this very thing. I've hunted and fished my whole life and there just aren't many outdoor supply stores to order from. I've had my share of Cabelas AND Bass Pro run ins with orders. This is especially true for those spring fishing deals and Christmas deals. Cabelas has been the worse of them all about doing this very thing, and it's not just metal detectors. I have never ordered one thru them though. Same story though on other items.

The last item I bought from Kellyco was when the Fors Relic came out. I preordered one and after my initial confirmation email, I never received another message from Kellyco. I had even sent them an email asking for a status update, and never got a response. Like the person with the Equinox arrival....just one day out of the blue a delivery truck pulls in my driveway with a package. And there was the Relic. I'm trying to remember since it has been a couple/few years now, but I think it was Fed Ex that delivered it.

I was going to get a 600 to accompany the 800 I have ordered through a dealer. Cabelas came up for $60 tax and $19 shipping!! Making an Equinox 600 cost $730 or there abouts for me. I said thanks but no thanks. Hopefully the dealer will get one on its way to me soon.

Has anybody tried Bass Pro Shops? Bass Pro bought out Cabelas a while back, so technically they own them. Both carry metal detectors. And both carry Minelab. I didn't see the Equinox on their website but also didn't call them. I did stop at one of their stores and a local Cabelas last week looking for an Equinox but didn't find one.

Hopefully soon. Cabelas is notorious for advertising that they have things in stock, and then saying they are backordered. Our local Cabelas said they would only be carrying the Equinox 600 but didn't have one on hand or know when one would be available. They said the 800 would be special order only and also didn't know when one would be available. This was 2 days ago.

Dibs on your extra one if you sell it!!

I should be high on the list from my dealer but it comes at a bad time for me with cash. Have had a lot of medical bills, etc come rolling in lately. If they call to tell me I have one, I will be scraping to get the funds to get it. May have to sell a kidney on the black market. Then again, I'd probably just get $1,000 for the kidney and the surgery cost me $10,000. Haha.

Ahhh but you can't really read a whole lot into my selling of the CTX because my motive for doing so is probably not what you're thinking it might be. A lot of my soil around here is very similar to the Culpeper soil. And as you know, that soil shuts the CTX down. The CTX was a niche machine for me. I used it for freshwater and saltwater beach/water hunting, and that was it. Some guys love the FBS machines for silver hunting but the trick for the silver cherry picking relies on great target ID. And that red dirt kills the ID. Anything past a certain depth reads as iron, and this is no exception for the CTX. So my use for a $2400 unit was just using it a couple weeks a year at the saltwater beach on vacation. In freshwater it didn't really matter, as any of the waterproof single freq machines would be just as good. The saltwater is where the multi frequency really shined. If I lived closer to the beach and hunted it more often, I would have kept the CTX. If I hunted areas with better soil where I could rely on target ID for coins, I would have kept the CTX. But I don't, so the majority of the time, the CTX was sitting against the wall. I was also playing the gamble of used detector sales. I kinda feel like this Nox is going to be a big hit and because of that, I feel the demand for used CTXs is going to take a hit, therefore the price in which a used CTX can be sold will have to drop in order to make it appealing to buyers. I wanted out of mine while it still had some warranty left on it and so I could potentially get the most for it. That's it in a nut shell. It might not equal a CTX in performance on saltwater, but I think it will be adequate enough for my few days worth of hunting saltwater beaches out of the year. I do think it will excel in the iron sites, and in the fields/woods relic hunting...so I think that is a big plus for it that I could never do with the CTX. I'm excited to try one for sure. I got ahold of Van the day they were announced and told him I wanted one.

This is ALMOST me to a T....even the part about being from Tennessee. I mostly Civil War relic hunt but have taken on a big love for water hunting for jewelry in the summer months. I used to also do the Culpeper, VA hunts but quit going due to the expense of the trip up there. I'm looking for the Nox to be able to do the same thing as outlined in his post...iron patches and home site work, along with water hunting. The one extra thing I will throw in is that I usually take 2 trips a year to the saltwater beaches and like having the multi freq machines just for that purpose. I had a CTX up til a few weeks ago for that purpose and sold it in anticipation of the Nox. The CTX did not do well in my particular soil around here in fields and woods but on the beach, freshwater and salt water...I loved it.

It's almost scary at the number of people who have "obsolete" and "extinct" confused/mixed up. I've poked fun at it on a few forums and Facebook. The automobile didn't make horses go extinct and people still ride them. The Amish and Mennonites still use them daily for transportation. I live less than 10 miles from a Mennonite community and they come by often with their horse and buggy. But for most people, a vehicle is what we use for most of our travel needs. The Equinox won't make other detectors die off from extinction and quit working. But it might make people not want to use them. I don't see why so many have trouble seeing the difference there.

I'd bet a wood nickel that Gary Drayton has been testing an Equinox on saltwater beaches. He is notoriously tight lipped (except when it comes to bragging on himself haha) but he doesn't partake on forum blogs and such. He is kind of Minelabs beach/jewelry hunter face. I like that it does have a true threshold based all metal. I just wish it were also an option for the other frequencies and modes. The open screen with active disc filter/circuit is what killed the CTX for a relic hunting machine for me.

I don't envy you at all Steve! I've been in your position and know exactly how you feel. I had a small role with a couple of Whites detectors. You want to truly share something you think is exciting and as soon as you do, you have critics and hateful Richard Noggins ready to rip you apart like sharks. I took it all to heart and still may or may not have some people at the top of my list for a butt kickin' if I ever meet them in person ;) haha I am on the list for an Equinox. I notified my dealer the day they were announced. I'm ready for it for sure.

That sounds really promising!! I recently did another couple of videos featuring some heavy hitting VLF machines in my soil and figure it will get a rise out of the fanboys of each machine. I am hunting soil that does the same thing as your description of the 6 inch ferrous transition. In fact, that's almost exactly the depth of the Civil War bullets I dig on video, and all 3 detectors give that iron hit on different bullets in the field. A detector with a good all metal mode can get them but the ID still stays iron. You have to use your ears and gauge the signal by circling it to make a decision on digging or not. Pulse machines get them with no problem...but pulse machines are not practical everywhere you go. So like you say...an added inch or 2 is HUGE for a VLF machine to accurately ID something in dirt like that. People that have never experienced it just don't understand. The worse machine out of my latest video was the CTX 3030. But that same machine on a wet sand beach can accurately detect a dime down to the 11-12 inch mark. My scoop is a 12" basket and in some cases, it took me 4 big scoops to get a coin out. But in my dirt back home...5 inches was actually the transition point for it.

I just sold my CTX as well in anticipation of the Equinox. All I used it for was water hunting though. I had no worry of it ever flooding or leaking. Since water season is finished, I parted ways with it since I had no other real use for the CTX. The one thing that concerns me about the Equinox is actually the light weight. The bulky weight of the CTX was a joy in the water. Light weight and water hunting usually don't go hand in hand...particularly in moving water like ocean surf or river current. I hunt the freshwater swimming areas a lot in the summer and the CTX just glides through lake water. My only comparison might be the AT Pro in which was considerably lighter than the CTX but was a pain to use in the water with the unit fully submerged. I can't help but wonder if the Equinox will also be that way. I went with a light weight carbon fiber scoop handle for my beach scoop...and it weighs approx what the Equinox will weigh, and it gets knocked around everywhere in the ocean surf...even when it's not rough. Hoping for the best though. The freshwater beaches don't have the corrosive salt that eats away bobby pins, fish hooks, etc so there is a lot of iron masking in swimming holes. It will be nice having a fast recovery speed machine for the water.

I haven't been this excited about a machine in a long time. I've soaked up every bit of info I can find about it. I am very happy to see that you are one of the testers Steve. I've always respected your posts and find that your opinion and findings of detectors often match my own. My buddy got to briefly use the Equinox at the last DIV hunt in Culpeper, VA. They compared it with the AT Max...and just like my finding with the Max, they found it began to give an all iron report at just a few inches in the ground on Civil War bullets. They said the Equinox was still giving a good non iron signal down to 8-9 inches. That is a big plus considering all VLFs struggle in that soil and will make everything read as iron.

Thanks for the writeup Steve. That will be my next purchase for sure.

I can't stand a thief!! I had a 1st cousin that was always into mischief. He had been in and out of jail so many times he basically had his own cell. In the summer of 2016, he and one of his thug friends broke into a house that they thought was ripe for the picking. Instead, of stuff they could steal, they found an armed homeowner with a shotgun. Boom! That ended his reign of theft. Undertaker couldn't fix him enough to have an open casket. He got what he deserved IMO. I may take some flak for saying it, but if more people would put thieves in the ground, then the ones left living might consider a career change since the stakes are so risky. Because as in the case of my cousin, just sitting in a jail cell for a while for stealing, doesn't do any good.

I agree with that. I will also add that Gary Drayton is another author that has good books on hunting jewelry but the same thing applies to his books; once you've read one, you just about have read the others too. He repeats a lot of the same things. He also thinks a little too much of himself IMO but that's just my opinion. lol

Not all powerlines are equal. I TRIED to hunt under some a few weeks ago with the TDI and couldn't due to the machine motor boating and carrying on something awful. I reduced gain, turned the freq knob from one extreme to the other, trying to find a quiet spot. The only thing I found to remedy it was to get out from under and away from the power lines. I have the regular TDI by the way...not the Pro or SL model. These lines were the high tension ones with the metal towers for poles.

They were popular at the Diggin in Virginia hunts back several years ago; kind of like a domino effect. When one person saw somebody else with one, they all wanted one. They are surprisingly very light weight...not just for the size either. I mean light weight as a whole. But they weren't that great of a coil either. Other coils are far better. When people figured it out, you couldn't really give them away. Thus that coil on eBay and why it has been on there for so long. The seller keeps listing and relisting it.