donP

Sorry for the late update and thanks for everybody's input. I purchased a Pelican 1615 case for my Detector coils and shafts, scoop, scoop handles snorkeling gear everything fit perfectly in it. This case will last and be used for a long time. Hawaiian Airlines does not allow any lithium Ion Battery's in checked baggage, none , noway, nada. Sucked pulling the head out on my EQ 800 and putting it in my back pack, with the shaft attached. Couldn't unscrew it in a timely manner while in line with the allen wrench. I know somebody said put it in my back pack, I can hear you laughing at my pain. It worked though. First day was raining and windy, and the surf was really choppy, so were day 2, 3, and 4. Day 5, I was able to put one good day in and parts of day 6. I found a silver earring with a fake turquoise stone, and a penny. The water and the beach were warm and I just had to work with the chop and get some OJT. This is my very first time detecting in water and in the surf. What an experience! Cleaned and rinsed all my gear up at the rinse station. Packed it away. I went to go use my 800 yesterday and it was singing and pinging, it just wouldn't settle down. then I notice water behind the screen. So here starts another saga. Sending it to Minelab tomorrow. Oh Steve H, the Service Center Phone numbers you have somewhere on this site, in another post are Golden. Thanks!

Update...so I'm not going to try and reinvent the wheel, I'm going to take my 800. Found out I do have a Stealth scoop. Dug it out from the bowels of the toy hauler. Ordered the 2 Piece handle for it from Steve G. Great guy! I also bought the 3 piece Counter weight 800 shaft. Steve H. Pelican 1615 Case looks good? Gerry I just saw you post from Mexico and I realized I have a Pair of those Headphones made custom a coupe of years ago and had a light bulb moment when I saw your snorkeling gear. To bad about your P38 but now you have a pair of dentures to take their place. Thanks for all the advice guys. I will share my finds on here.

I'm going to Honolulu, so it looks like Waikiki Beach etc.. We went to Maui 2 years ago and the locals were hit and miss in the friendly department. I completely understand the frustration right now though. I did not know there was such a learning curve between the 900 and the 800. After looking at the sites for the collapsible shafts, they look awesome. After looking at carbon, fiber, shaft prices, I may just take my stock one. As for a scoop, I believe I have a stealth scoop in the toy hauler storage, I bought it about five years ago when I got a wild hair to go beach detecting. I'm a desert rat and when we're down at Laguna, I take it out to do a little detecting with the 800 I didn't know that I could put a carbon fiber handle on it, right now there's a wood handle. As you can tell, I don't get out to the ocean or beach as much as I'd like. I know my GPZ 7000 like the back of my hand. I wish I could go out and do my prospecting/detecting as much as you guys on this forum. But for now I live vicariously through all your posts. As the railroad does not allow us to take any time off.

Wow, thanks for all the advice! I was thinking about buying a 900 just because, stock it's collapsible, the newest detector and will serve a better purpose? Or try to find a nice collapsible shaft for my 800. I believe the battery lasted longer on the 900? The charging cable on the 800 is a bummer as it's a special cable, is the 900 a usb c or something I can easily find? I guess that's Minelab though.

Thank you, great advice! Off to look for a scoop. Just hope I can be disciplined enough to get up early and detect while on vacation. LOL

Hello all, going to Hawaii for vacation. I Want to take my Equinox 800, need a collapsible shaft or purchase a 900? . What's a really nice durable scoop to travel with and be able to put in my luggage? We typically take carry-on luggage. How do the hotels feel about metal detectorists on their beaches? Any other advice regarding airlines, laws, etc. will be greatly appreciated.

How do you make a Million dollars Gold prospecting, Start off with 2 Million.

Awsome suggestions! I guess a rifle case would scream "something" of value. Thanks!

Traveling to let's say, Mexico, Cabo or Cancun. Going to be using an Equinox 800 on the beach. Going by airline, I assume a hard case, ie: rifle case? Maybe a Pelican. Is this overkill? Do airlines allow this? Is it expensive? Do hotels allow you to hunt on their beaches? Thanks

Manganese Nodule?

Thanks all for the input. It's certainly not a that I "dislike" the machine. It has a learning curve that takes a little time and I've only had it for a couple of years. It seems, like any minelab product, that this machine is high quality and will find the "stuff". Where I live in the desert, my hunting area is 30 min away and not a lot of trash, mainly have to deal with bullets. I use my 5000 and 7000 here exclusively for the last several years. The last discriminating machine I had was GM 2, 15 years ago and it would drive you crazy hitting on hot rocks and black sand, and I was a novice. Never found a thing. So I buy the the CTX for a trip to No. Cal and after that, use in the trashy areas of the desert, where I have found gold, and there's a ton of old cans in this small area. The CTX performance and useability compared to the 7000 is night and day, of course. So its a huge difference. I take the CTX to the beach and find some trash and I'm kind of liking the machine, just need to get the coil over a ring or Rolex. Then I hear about the CTX and its relatively inexpensive and Youtube is showing guys detecting in can patches finding nuggets! I buy one, take it to the beach and start finding my first coins! Man this is the stuff! So now I have 4 detectors. I take 3 of them out to the desert to test, 7000, CTX, and NOX. The plan is to use them all! Fire up the 7000 and I'm off. Find a couple of nuggets with it and I'm thinking why switch machines when I'm finding gold, I know I'm sick like that! At the end of the day I say to myself, well I will try the others someday in that trashy spot where I found gold by all those old buried cans. Haven't done it yet. So here I am, do I sell the CTX because someone said in a post that it's 7 years old and may be replaced this year and lose value? Or keep it in my arsenal, because I will use it more often someday or maybe a friend without a detector can use it on a hunt with me. The wife is tired of me spending money on prospecting stuff, " You need to sell something or you can't by anything else!". "Honey I Put the detector on ebay" ... and hope it doesn't sell... shhhh. She won't notice. Keep it stashed it in the garage. 3 weeks down the road order the cool, colored, counter weighted shaft for the NOX the guy on the forum has for sale. Wife notices on the next trip the cool looking NOX, Wellll Honey, there was this deal I couldn't pass up. It's a sickness I tell you!

Sorry for the type O's on my original question. I'm at work and had to, dictate / voice input, my message. Not a very fast typer. It's pretty awsome to see all the guy's with Youtube channels on here. Any how, thanks!

Steve, thanks for the reply. I think we think alike in regards to Getting new stuff. It seems Amazon packages come to the house everyday and it's like Christmas when they come!

Well I guess I got called out on this.....HaHa. No fake name just kind of a private person. Can I get some Opinions? Greetings, I'm really new to your site and love it!. Not so new to prospecting prospecting. I have a 7000, 5000, NOx 800 and a ctx 3030. I mainly nugget hunt in so cal deserts and use my 7000 90% of the time. I bought the CTX for a trip up north to do some river hunting, I even took my SCUBA equipment, but when I got there the water was to fast and couldn't do what I wanted. So I took it to the beach a couple of times since then and it was just ho hum. I have some patches in the desert that are trashy and from reading posts on your site it looks like the equinox 800 did really well in trashy areas. Since it was relatively inexpensive I bought one. Some posts said that there was you or Detectors coming out next year and the CTX was a little bit long in the tooth and may be replaced. So I thought I might sell my CTX and keep the equinox. I love hanging on stuff I really don't like selling it but I don't want to have an out dated Detector either. Now I have a dilemma should I sell my ctx 3030? You seem like a Very nice knowledgeable guy and would like your opinion. Thanks Don P