Finding History

Happa54, that will be an awesome trip! I took a White's machine to the Philippines back in 1998 for my father-in-law and had fun with it, although didn't have enough time to detect much. We did go to a WWII B-24 bomber crash site in Mindanao, though, and found a lot of parts where the engines cratered in (practically surface finds in a field of debris, so no real detecting skills necessary). I've been back quite a few times since visiting my wife's family, but haven't brought a detector due to time constraints, carrying too much other stuff, traveling with a child, etc. Now that I have an Equinox it's tempting to think about the next time I go back, whenever that will be. Nice thing about the White's machine (can't remember if it was an XLT or what) is that it came with a hard plastic carrying case that was not very big and a great size for overhead carry-on bins on the long flight over... don't know what's available for the Equinox. I've never detected for nuggets anywhere and am not familiar with the kinds of ground and conditions they are in, but the video does look dubious... if it were that easy, people would be hitting that like crazy and using the proceeds to buy detectors to employ their relatives. As others have pointed out here, the Philippines has no lack of gold, as evidenced by a lot of the geographical names with derivatives of "oro", and gold is known to have been found on pretty much all of the major Philippine islands, but researching the facts/hard data of finds and claims would have to be done. As you probably already know assuming that you have family or friends there, just like here in the US the local lore can be hit or miss, and the sales hype for tourists ("Yamashita's gold") is ever present. All of that said, I think you'll have a lot of fun with your Equinox if you have family and/or friends to accompany you on your excursions and steer you in the right direction both in terms of possible good candidate areas to check out as well as current conditions of safety and security.

Thanks Steve, that is great information. I'm going to start paying a lot more attention to the 10-12 range in particular on my colonial site that I believe to be a tavern that operated during War of 1812. Got 3 Spanish silvers out of it so far (4, 1, and 1/2 reales, all 1780-1790 range), and Escudos and 1/2 Escudos do indeed get discovered by metal detectorists from time to time, so although my chances are slim, it's definitely worthwhile to dig. Really enjoying my new Nox 800 (had it almost 3 months now and one of my finds was a 1780 1 Real with a hole in it, included in those 3 that I mentioned), thanks to all who gave input about it to help me make an informed choice. Still using factory presets and mainly Field 2 for now, will get a little more adventurous with tweaking the settings in the near future.

Thanks, Steve! I've heard great things about XP and the Deus for sure, and ORX sounds tempting, but I think the Equinox will be my aspirational goal for now. But if that "palatable impulse buy" opportunity comes up sometime later down the road, that would be pretty cool to have an ORX for dense ferrous like some of the old farm sites.

Steve, Optix, Jeff, GB_Amateur, and phrunt, I truly appreciate all of your thoughtful and meticulous responses, especially to someone who is a newbie to the forum. This is just what I needed to help me make an informed decision. I was leaning strongly toward the Equinox 800 before I posted but had a few "gray areas" where I needed to seek more input, and after hearing your collective expert opinions, I feel armed with the knowledge that my earlier research and reading was on the right track. Pretty compelling information, and like most of you have commented, there's a good solid warranty to back it up in the unlikely event that is needed. I've made the decision to go with the Equinox 800 in the near future (although I would love to hear more from Steve about the Deus ORX & will read his posts about it). Thanks so much once again to all of you! Steve - You're right, after the many Equinox units sold (I have no clue how many but...), the negative reviews about tab/shaft issues probably comprise < 1% of reviews posted that are positive, or those who did not post a review but remain satisfied with the detector. Such "flaws" do tend to get amplified and exaggerated. I've been impressed with what I've seen via YouTube and heard on this forum and others, and I trust the opinions posted here... been visiting for awhile but finally signed up to the forum to post yesterday. Sounds like the Nox 800 will work really well for my intended use (hitting that colonial site in the woods) and then for about anything else afterwards. The Apex looks really nice, but I'm ready for something more advanced than the AT Pro and I think the Nox 800 truly fits the bill, especially with their expertise in SMF. Optix - thanks for the 3D printer info! Jeff - your comments are reassuring, and I don't see myself largely in the water or at least not very deep water. The info about the depth and tonal/VDI information of the Equinox 800 in relic hunting is just what I wanted to hear and is consistent with what I've heard anecdotally and the videos I've watched. GB_Amateur - likewise, that is reassuring that those problems were mainly among surf hunters, which for the time being isn't relevant to me. Thanks for the mods info. You're right about the "squeaky wheel" phenomenon and disgruntled consumers being the most vociferous. phrunt - Glad to hear that the Nox has been durable for you. I get into some rough briars and brambles, fallen trees to scramble over etc. in the woods so that is good to know, although, like Jeff said, I will also not use it as a crutch or cane (I hope!) 🙂

Looks like you nailed it, Phrunt! I'm surprised that there's been no further comment on this thread since much of the info on the Apex came out and they're taking orders. Well, now I don't know what to do to upgrade from my AT Pro... my quandaries are: 1) it's unclear to me what kind of depth the Apex will get (is it going to be deeper than AT Pro) and whether it will have the features I want (since it is at the Ace level) although it's a very attractive simultaneous multifrequency option, 2) Anfibio was an option for me but I'm not going to buy it if Nokta/Makro will replace it with a true simultaneous multifrequency machine, and 3) I'm not going to sit around waiting for months and years for N/M to bring such a simultaneous multifrequency machine to market, if they ever do instead of just continuing their habit of dropping hints and teasers since spring 2018 that they are working on one. 4) I find some of the marketing ploys on other "simultaneous multifrequency" machines with 28 or 35 or whatever frequencies a bit disingenuous so I probably wouldn't go there. I'm tempted to just pull the trigger on a Nox 800, but I am still a little reluctant after hearing about some issues with build quality ("ear" tabs at coil bolt connection, waterproofing issues, flimsy shaft etc.), depth, stacked targets & targets on edge, etc. If anyone has input on the Nox 800, whether they've overcome these problems, and their overall satisfaction with it, customer service, etc. I'd love to hear. My goal is relics and coins in colonial/farm/woods settings, depth and separation better than AT Pro (although the Pro has been great for me in that setting, I think I can do better). Getting tired of waiting on Nokta/Makro and I want to buy an AT Pro upgrade/replacement before the year is over. Thanks in advance.

Haven't heard anything new about this for months (not the naming contest, but the detector). Does anyone have a progress update from Nokta/Makro and/or Dilek? Maybe a simultaneous multifrequency machine wasn't tenable for them.