glacialgold

Oh man, stealing chromies! That was a big fun thing for my friends and I for a hot minute back in the late 80s, age 10 or so. Riding bikes around the neighborhood, we'd scope out a target (usually a truck with fat custom chrome valve caps) and circle back later, pretending to stop and "fix" one of our bikes while parked immediately adjacent to the street-side tires. Two chromies quickly lifted and pedal away. I ceased personally re: that big fun ASAP one time after doing my lift and getting caught in the moment. Guy owning the truck was angry as hell, young, drunk/high, and FAST. Seeing me in the act of unscrewing his chromies, he bolted out of the house and hopped in his truck and chased me down before I could escape to the bike trails around the railroad tracks. He pulled a gun, I gave up the chromies, and never went back for another taste. What I got before that I put on my bike or traded...didn't think about burying them in a chromie hoard! 🙂

Welcome, HerrUU! I can attest to the Legend being a great machine with many advanced features -- especially at its price point -- and also being easy to use out of the box in stock settings. You reside in a very interesting and historical area, and I can't wait to see what kind of coins and relics you pull out of the ground!

Gotta say, the responses here have been nothing short of awesome! I'm both awed and amazed at the length of experience users here have, along with the variety and depth of machines used. I'm still a rookie, but I am experiencing maximum fun running the Equinox 800 and Nokta Legend, testing them out against each other in my local parks and school yards. (I have some minor gold fields available which can yield flakes and tiny nuggests at shallow depth, but we'll get to that later.) No major finds so far, but I have dug out up some silver and jewelry. Cheers to detecting in 2023!

Is pretty good and contains a ton of detailed information specific to the Legend. I have his book for the Equinox, as well, and it's pretty clear that he's running off the same template for both books, so there is some redunancy in the more general information. Totally understandable, however.

I have it, and can confirm it covers the v1.09 update.

Oh man, interesting times in the metal detecting world! Have to say, I'm fascinated by all the developments. That said, oh did I ever enter the hobby for serious at the wrong time. I purchased an 800 early this summer, got hooked (having played around with an Ace 400 for a few years prior), and then added a Legend in early fall to play comparison. So, both in the pre-discounting timeline ☹️. Ah well, it's still been fun. While curious about the new models, I don't see myself upgrading to the 900...and the Manticore, D2, etc. are outside my bracket, both in terms of $ and experience.

$19.95 direct from Andy on ebay....and signed!

Oh yeah, it's easy peasy. The recharge cable is fitted with a USB connection to the AC adapter so you can plug it into a computer, as well. All one has to do is download the update from the Nokta website and plug your Legebnd in to the computer's USB port, and follow the file transfer instructions. Note, the updates are for Windows and macOS only, so a no go for Android devices...as I found out from personal experience. Still wasn't a problem since I had a spare Windows laptop hanging around.

Good question, and I can't really answer it concretely. But let me try. 😀 I'm pretty new to the Legend and am comparing it side-by-side with the 800 as a relatively novice user overall. I will say my home air tests (I know, I know) show the Legend and 800 both pick up small pickers/thick-ish flakes of gold at about the same 4" range when using 6" coils in their respective prospecting modes. I guess the Legend 1.09 software update pushed a "mineralization tracking" feature, which I look forward to using and trying to isolate black sand deposits in my local gold areas. I've also heard the 800 has a workaround option (and please, someone else feel free to provide better detail) using the threshold to accomplish a similar mineraliztion check, one where the threshold decreasing or nulling out indicates a higher mineralization level than the surrounding ground. While I prefer the 800 in actual use, if I had to pick one -- and especially if budget was an issue -- I'd definitely go with the Legend. My dos centavos, at least.

Glad you mentioned the Nokta Gold Finder 2000. Any experience w/that machine, or have you heard many first-hand reports? It's pretty lean on YouTube content-wise relative to the GM1000 (and its obviously Nokta's aim to compete against), but 61kHz is appealing vs. the GM1000's 45kHz for that tiny, tiny stuff...which is what I have in my vicinity, but the GM1000 seems to sound off just fine on 0.03g+ pickers near surface.

For background, relative novice here -- I've messed around lightly with an Ace 400 for a few years, and escalated the hobby with the Equinox 800 and Nokta Legend a few months ago. Tons of fun so far, and I'm ramping up my game finding coins, relics, and [knock on wood] tiny gold. I've also discovered I like comparing detectors and exploring their relative performance/outcomes and features. Anyways, question for the detecting veterans in this fine forum: What have been revolutionary detectors for you, and why? What changed the game after it hit the market? Best/worst quirks? What kind of history do you have detecting, etc.?

Yeah, I got one as soon as the entry price hit $635 w/the pro-pack + 6" coil. No regrets and having fun...still favoring the 800, but I need more time on the Legend to compare.

I have both the 800 and the Legend. Personally, I favor the 800 (at the moment) but that's just me. Both are discounted right now, and I see Amazon is running an offer on the Legend pro pack for $595. A great resource for comparisons is this guy: https://www.iratemetaldetectors.com/

Hi folks! Long time lurker, first time member here. I live down in the hills of south central Indiana and get to enjoy easy access to some of the better-known gold prospecting spots in the state. I've also started getting into the metal detecting hobby recently, and am really enjoying taking my Equinox 800 out to the local schools and parks, and to whatever private permissions I'm able to obtain. Can't say I'm an expert by any means, but I've booked a few pickers on the gold prospecting front and a little bit of silver on the detecting side. Looking forward to reading and learning from all the experienced posters here!