Calmark

Highly mineralized ground is a game-changer and usually its the home team that loses. I thought my Equinox 800 would unlock places I've found some older coins in the past, but it turned out to just be incrementally better in target ID and depth. In parks near me, most coins start to lose a solid ID# at 4 inches and I find few coins at all past 6 inches. Add in EMI or trashy areas and it becomes necessary to search at a crawl to find much. Slow searching, being thorough, and digging iffy signals have helped as much or more finding things missed by detectorists in the past. I can definitely see similarities to how bad Paystreak's ground is with mine in my hunting areas. It definitely cuts depth and makes signals much harder to decipher. The video is a good example of how much bad ground effects detecting limits for sure. Even multi-frequency can only do so much...

I too think a smaller coil option would really open up more versatility for the Deus 2. It would help coin, jewelry and relic hunters in dense areas of trash, prospectors in rocky areas or on uneven bedrock, and help users who hunt primarily in high to severely mineralized areas potentially mitigate bad ground affects better. A nice plus is also lower weight and easier packing into remote areas. I personally prefer elliptical shaped coils for use in tight areas, so I'd definitely like to see an option for a coil like a 10x5.

I have the Nugget Finder 12x8 Evolution. I have used it more than my NF 17x13 on my GPX 4500 since I got it around 2 years ago. The 12in length I find "good enough" for decent coverage and the 8in width is very handy any place you'd use an 8in round coil like on the SDC2300. I have found nuggets nearly as small as my SDC with the NF coil, though once nuggets get any larger, the GPX and 12x8 finds nuggets a bit deeper. In my area, mineralization is high and most gold is the flat water-worn type, so I tend to use the GPX to find the deeper nuggets the SDC misses. I prefer to use this 12x8 coil over my 8x6 NF Sadie mono coil nearly 100% of the time. I might put on my Sadie if working really tight places like bedrock or extremely rocky areas.

Thank you for the great demonstration and reminder about how broken rings tend to respond weakly to pretty much all detectors compared to a solid ring. And great reminder to people testing new machines to be patient, and double and triple check issues, rather than immediately to jump to conclusions.

One thing to remember about gold nuggets is that they can respond differently to the various detectors out there. Certain nuggets sound off on a vlf machine, but are silent on another like a PI. The porosity, composition, shape, etc. can all affect a response or lack of one. Since the D1, D2 and Equinox are all vlfs, you'd expect all to have a similar response to the smallest nugget in the video, but perhaps it just happens to be one that the D2 is just a bit more blind to? I'd say it could be helpful to try a few different tiny nuggets in other tests and see if that one nugget in the video happens to hit a more blind spot on the D2. I thought it sounded pretty good on the .1gram nugget and above. I think we need more tests to gain information on how the D2 does on various tiny gold, rather than dismissing its ability yet. Still, it looks like the D2 may just miss the smallest gold without a lot of extra work coaxing a signal out of it, which wouldn't be the end of the world if other strengths help make up for it. Time and more tests will tell.

Even though I've just seen this one video/test of detecting gold nuggets with the Deus 2, it seems clear enough the highly mineralized ground makes it difficult for the D2. Granted, this is using the 11inch coil, so it stands to reason, smaller nuggets would not respond as well as they might to a smaller coil. In my highly mineralized soil where I nugget-hunt, I will grab my PI machines 98% of the time for detecting. The times I've tested vlfs, including my Equinox 800, the bad ground, hot rocks and less than stellar depth get me to put it away after a short hunt window in favor of using my GPX the rest of the day. It looks like the Deus 2 for me would be primarily a coin detector, and I might even take it looking for coins and jewelry in water. The light weight and ergonomics would possibly give it a chance to be a backup unit gold prospecting since it looks to be quite packable and light for hiking into remote spots I go detecting nuggets. I don't mind losing out on micro gold, so there might be some value for me using a D2 when going after gold from .1-.2 grams and larger.

Thanks for putting in the time and effort to not only test, but also film your experiences swinging over some gold nuggets in that mineralized dirt, and sharing it with us.

Hi Machineman, I don't think the Detech Boomerang coil is spiral round, even if the shape suggests it has room for the flat type of windings. In general, the Detech coils that are the newer wound variety are the "ultra", "sensing", or "ultimate" named ones, such as the "Detech Ultimate Spiral" 15DD and "11in Mono Ultra Sensing". I've used several of the spiral wound offerings from Nugget Finder with my GPX and they are definitely able to find slightly smaller sized gold and metal items than say my Commander 15x12 coil. The 17x13 and 12x8 Evolution coils are nice elliptical coils for good coverage while also giving a sharp signal. However, in my medium to severely mineralized ground, I often need to run in Enhance timing to keep the ground from reacting with too many signals. But, I also recently got the Detech Ultimate Spiral 15DD coil and I have been able to run it in the same ground in the much more powerful Normal timing. It found me a few nice nuggets hiding in severely mineralized red dirt where my mono coils wouldn't stop giving me constant ground signals. Its a great all-around and versatile coil, though at a cost of being HEAVY! Here's some more info I wrote up in another thread:

Since I coin and nugget hunt in soils that are high to severely mineralized, I would think the 9in coil for me may help in such nasty ground by balancing more easily and seeing less "bad dirt" type stuff each pass of the coil. I'm willing to give up coverage of the 11in in my situation and always have my Nox with 11in coil if I really do need more coverage. I look forward to actually quantifying how bad my dirt is with a detector that has a mineralization type meter to see if it really is as bad as I think it is... I definitely look forward to more info on how the Deus 2 does in high to severely mineralized ground and if the coil size actually makes much of a difference. So far things look decent in salt conditions and in medium mineralized ground from Calabash's videos.

I'd personally go with the 9in since it would separate better, fit into tighter areas and be lighter weight. Definite pluses in trashy parks, in iron-infested sites and if I were to do a bit of nugget hunting in rough areas. I've really enjoyed the 10x5 on my Equinox over the 11in stock coil for these very same reasons.

Definitely a hunt to remember for some really awesome relics and time in the company of other like-minded treasure hunters! I hope it was just the first of many to come. You've got a nice site there and with the size of those targets, likely only just scratched the surface. Exciting times for sure.

Thank you for giving us a thoughtful review of your findings on this Quest pin-pointer. Extra depth should save time by using it to find more precisely where targets are located from the surface and limit damaging something rare and valuable when digging. I bought a Fisher Pulse that goes a bit deeper on coins in ground than my carrot and it helps save digging time that way. One idea I had for users of this pin-pointer and others using a protective tip, is to perhaps use the electrical shrink wrap and shrink some of it over where the protective cap on the tip snags the holster. This might also help to keep from getting mud and gunk underneath it.

Its good to see you've found some nice items to make time spent researching, swinging and digging worth it. I've started to do more research and made a goal like you to try to find new areas instead of always hitting the same old tired spots. The past 2 months I decided to really learn my Nox and also have looked at historic aerials online to help zero in on some older sites. This is a very helpful website to help visualize where things used to be. I've found a few spots that once had an old school, but are now parks or community centers. I've managed to find a few dozen wheat cents, a few silver dimes and some older nickels after putting in a lot of hours. Sticking to the most original dirt has been the key for me. The majority of the areas in my sites have been disturbed or filled in, paved over or are off-limits. But by concentrating on fringe areas that are still somewhat original, I've managed to pull off a few good finds like you have. EMI has been a big pain in towns, but by going slow and digging a lot, enough good finds have popped up to at least keep me motivated. All the sites I've been on have been detected in the past. I think research is going to be the key to finding some lesser-known areas that haven't had lots of detectorists over them the past 30-40 years. Good luck in your future hunts and congrats on some sub 1900 finds!

I have to say the video was really well done. Gary gave a very clear and eloquent delivery of the info, making it easy to understand. No feeling of hype, just the facts. The Deus II looks to have a lot of very nice features like the varied audio options and program modes. The audio demo in the video showed some nice-sounding tones to my ears. It looks promising for great performance in nearly any environment. I definitely like what I've seen so far and look forward to more info about the programs. But, at this stage, all we really need are just some user tests as final confirmation about how awesome this new machine seems.

Apart from my White's DFX, my Equinox 800 is my only other VLF detector and I use it for jewelry or coin-hunting. I hunt 99% of the time for nuggets with a PI since my prospecting areas are severely mineralized and make vlf machines tough to use. If reports come out of advantages the Legend has in extremely mineralized ground over the Nox, or if I decide to bust my turf skunk on gold jewelry by venturing into fresh water , the Legend may become a good second option for a muliti-frequency unit for me. I definitely am rooting for it to outperform, but we shall see once testers get the Legend out into the field.

This extra guarantee will make all Legend owners in general happy, but will give water hunters in particular added confidence and peace of mind. This extension adds to the other fine selling points of the machine, indeed.

Persistence pays off! I think they'd have been a little larger if the cold hadn't made them shrink a bit. This reminds me once of when my dad and I went dredging with snow on the banks of the creek. What we miners do to get out for a little treasure hunting after cabin fever has set in.

I think I'd like the 60 number scale, depending on the execution of it. It remains to be seen how it works. Currently, using my Equinox 800, I find numbers higher than 30 (US quarter) are not really useful and are definitely not exciting. I've yet to dig much good over 30 since I get 30+ numbers only occasionally on a larger object like soda can, or when iron target numbers "wrap around" or high tones bleed above 30. It almost makes me think 30-40 could have been better used on the Nox to spread out coin responses or something more useful than it currently is. Maybe NM will have made the entire TDI range feel more useful in giving targets a more unique ID? I look forward to how they approach this issue.

The Deus II certainly looks to become one of the top "do-it-all" detectors out there. Very interesting seeing how each company with multi-frequency units give their particular spin to features, ergonomics, etc. Beach and water hunters should be very happy with the 20m water-proof capabilities and for MF to improve performance in salt water. Like everybody watching, I look forward to more info and reports from use in the field.

The Nokta/Makro Legend reminds me of the Equinox in general terms with its look and options and interface on the screen. Though as you'd expect in a detector released later, it comes with a few added features. The iron probability meter looks useful and I like how the shaft is collapsible. The price for the Legend seem good. Since my Equinox 800 is out of warranty, I'd definitely consider buying one of these instead of a new Nox if I planned to do any fresh water prospecting or wading for coins. The vibrating feature may make the need for headphones lessened in these scenarios if looking for coin sized targets. I figure it will perform well nugget hunting since it has the frequencies and ground-cancelling abilities for that, but for me I look forward to some reports about performance on coins and jewelry in trashy sites. I can say, its definitely nice to have some choices for multi-frequency machines now and just around the corner, and watching things progress into the future will be interesting.

I've not watched developments with the new Deus 2 closely at all, but I've come to the slow conclusion the past week or so I will keep my mind open and certainly watch how this new mulit-frequency machine compares with the old Deus and the Equinox. I probably won't be an early adopter since I've got my hands full with the Nox 800 and am liking my 10x5 Coiltek. But, I'll watch how things unfold along with read reviews with interest. What made me realize I should watch the Deus 2 is noticing once again just how badly mineralized the ground is where I live. I have been coin-shooting and hunting for jewelry at parks and schools a lot the past 6 weeks after a 2-year hiatus with the Nox. I'm having the same difficulties I've always had with my past detectors these past 25 years with this soil. I pretty much max out at 5 inches at most with TID on a dime at my old sites. And that's even with the Nox, a cutting-edge technology. It definitely has some advantages like tones, sweep speed setting, and ability to lower the volume on iron targets over my older White's machines. Any further advances in multi-frequency in the future are sure to help with my soil conditions, so I actually wish for great reports from the Deus 2 and upcoming Nokta MF units.

I'll hang onto my Equinox 800, even though it just went out of warranty. The current or new Deus haven't ever been something on my radar as the Equinox is a true do-it-all detector for me. I've put mine on a telescoping monopod and with the Coiltek 10x5 on it, its lightweight and versatile. I can grab it for coin hunting or take it and prospect for nuggets with it. It fits easily in my pack for hikes into remote hill areas looking for gold. I haven't had mine in the water, but if I needed that functionality and if I didn't want to risk my current unit, I'd get another Nox instead of the Deus II, just based on cost alone. Also, if the coils are wireless, for me that is a big turn-off. That sounds like a recipe for disaster for me if you forget to charge your coils before a trip detecting far from home. And the #1 reason maybe is I'm still learning the nuances of my Equinox after these past 3 years. I wouldn't want to switch to a new machine while I'm finally making good progress of late on getting this thing figured out for my conditions.

Yes, this was using the Coiltek 10x5 coil today. One other thing that has changed is my soil was bone dry here in California up until about 10 days ago. No rain in about 250 days. Since then we've had 6+ inches of rain in a big storm and its not only a lot easier to dig finally, but this might have also affected ID numbers in my area. Ground is pretty mineralized here, though no falsing for me.

I went out today for about 1.5 hours to a modern park and ran Park 1 after I did a factory reset. I watched my ID numbers much more closely than usual. I went with 2 tones and 19 sensitivity, the other settings were factory. I found pretty much all very shallow coins and the usual foil and pull tabs. ID readings were about what one would expect: zinc pennies 19-21, corroded and/or deeper ones 18 copper penny 22-24 dime 24-26, a few blips on 27 quarters 28-30, mostly 30 These were all pretty shallow using 2 tones. I think when I use 50 tones numbers maybe tend to "smear" a little higher and lower, though its been a week since I've used 50 tones and I didn't pay super close attention. Also, I was running FE6 today and have used some FE26 in the past few weeks. I think that FE2 might also give a slightly wider VDI spread, especially on mixed metals like zinc cents and bottle caps and perhaps account for some higher numbers showing up on coil sweeps. I am getting reacquainted with my Nox after a long hiatus, so I am just going on impressions rather than hard data here.

I'll try a factory reset on mine and see if things change for ID numbers. I have noticed if I use Park 2 its often perhaps 1 number lower than in Park 1 on the same targets, which would make numbers closer to expected. I haven't used the stock 11in in a while to compare.