Jackpine

3 hours ago, Cabo Chris said:

Great news!  I sure hope the Equinox likes Gold jewelry in the sea!!!

You can bet I'll be using relic mode for fresh water.  Have many local swimming holes that are cleaned out of older finds to try it in.  Will see if it can sort out some more gold among the iron. 

Will be interesting to see how it does on gold chains in Multi.  If it is equal to the 19 kHz machines on small chains that would be great.

Tom

An 8" or 9" concentric would be a blast on the EQuinox.  I especially would like one for fresh water hunting.  Model it after the 9" X-Terra coil as that one slices through the water like a hot knife through butter.

Tom

Neat find Steve.  I have a couple "dead" Injuns or Indian Head pennies for those unfamiliar with US coins.  One with a hole clean through and another with the .22 lead stuck in the center of the coin.

Tom

On 12/15/2017 at 6:40 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

The truth is Minelab does not tell me just exactly what is going on under the hood any more than anyone else. My assumption is that when the detector is in single frequency mode it is just running like a single frequency detector, and that when in multifrequency something else entirely is going on. My overall impression is the single frequency modes are by and large just legacy modes tossed in simply because they can do it. It's then up to us to decide what is useful or not. I suspect almost everyone that uses an Equinox will do so in multifrequency mode except in the rarest of circumstances. The detector in a way is almost like a test to see if single frequency really does have any uses left. 

Gold Mode is a whole different beast and I can't say much about that yet. I promise the wait is not being wasted and the machine just keeps getting better during this rather intensive "wrap it up" phase.

Steve

The question I asked regarding single freq operation and IQ ground handling has been stuck in my poor old brain, just can't shake it. Reason being I love the 5kHz  Musketeer Advantage and the performance it offers on deep big silver.   In comparison the 3 kHz X-Terra freq never floated my boat performance wise.  I for one will definitely be using and comparing the low single freq to multi if only for nostalgic reasons.

Tom

22 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Accurate target id and ground handling is what Multi-IQ is all about. The Equinox 800 in particular is being tweaked up for prospectors.

People should understand that the main target here is the AT Max and Deus market. Minelab already dominates in the prospecting world and so the focus here is not on prospecting. Equinox is bringing some unique capability to the table however that I think will benefit prospectors.

Exciting Times!

Steve

Is it reasonable to assume then that Multi-IQ benefits ground handling in single frequency disc modes as well? 

So many questions and some answers!

Tom

Steve

From what you just described I'll take this over blendy bleedy audio any day.  Never liked it anyway and although I can adapt to just about anything it didn't work for me.

Enough of that,

18 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

All we can do is observe what it does and figure out how to use it to our advantage.

That will be the key.  Lots of detecting scenerios to observe it in action and figure out its language.  Sounds like a fun trip to me.

2 hours ago, Derek McLennan said:

Yes, the prototypes that we have used, have all done very well in the trashy areas we have hunted and to be honest everywhere we have taken them thus far. I'm not sure I get your "small" reference, but I perhaps should have used the Scottish "wee"  

 I was inferring small for UK users as in "Hammies" and "staters".

Wee targets works too!

3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Yeah, I did not specifically address the disc options in Gold Mode. I am pointing out there are 20 khz and 40 khz options in the disc modes, not entirely the same thing, though maybe closer than your think. Sadly (or maybe happily as the case may be), my overall answer here is similar to that at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/4738-mercury-dime-teaser/?do=findComment&comment=50562

Steve

You punted that question quite well. 

I know at some point this will all be clear and if I haven't said it before, we all really appreciate your help in answering our questions as best you can at this point.

Tom

1 hour ago, vfp7 said:

The question arises - will not the salt water corrode the contacts from quick charging?

(4 contacts on the photo)

As they appear to be gold contacts sealed in epoxy there should be no worries of corrosion in salt water.

Olddog

Steve did not say that specifically, only that the park and field modes can run the high frequencies in disc. 

I don't believe the question has been asked as to whether or not the gold mode has any form of iron discrimination or target ID.

So yes, I'm asking.

Tom

10 minutes ago, Derek McLennan said:

these recovery speeds are designed to hunt out the small targets in between it all. I hope this helps.

And hunt very proficiently I presume/hope.

I was going to quote this with an emphasis on "small",  but since you are in the UK it's not necessary.

On 12/11/2017 at 7:10 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

 

The picture of the guy swinging the Equinox is a poster child of someone that has the lower rod extended way too far.  The coil is at least 2 feet in front of his feet and he still has a large crook in his elbow. 

Hopefully he has just borrowed it from someone 6' 6" tall LOL

Steve

Have you had a chance yet to compare tracking to fixed GB at the park?  I'm curious to know if it has a little bit of X-T 705 DNA in the tracking circuit.

Thanks

Having a meticulously cared for Bluegrass lawn snow plow drivers are routinely run thru the chipper for compost.

42 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I don't know that it has been settled on since that can be left to the last second. I am pretty sure there will be only one version internationally so it will have to work for everyone. Still, with multiple profiles you could do different defaults and so that is not a bad idea. On the other hand it is so easy to modify, and the settings save automatically on power down, it is not a huge deal. The obvious most simple default internationally is ferrous/non-ferrous and go from there. Great question and thanks for bringing it up!

Steve

I had forgotten the 705 goes in steps of 2.  Using more than one detector gets confusing so thanks for the reminder and also the comparison showing the 800's discrimination range.

Yup, all metal or a simple modification to the factory set profile would suit me most of the time. Still, nice to have the option of more than one user profile available.

For those that have used the X-Terra line the jump to the Equinox should be easy,  With the exception of the new advanced features the control logic and menu operation is basically the same.  For those new to it, most will quickly adapt as it is very intuitive.

10 hours ago, Baiker said:

 

So I wanted to understand what their relationship is: 1 = 1,2 = 4,3 = 8? or 1 = 2.2 = 4.3 = 6? That is, without the slowest and fastest? I apologize, I write through Google translator

These are only wild guesses so take it for what it's worth... very little actually. LOL

7 hours ago, Baiker said:

 

I would like to ask how the 8 speeds of the response of the 800-th model correspond to the 3-rd speeds of the response of the 600th model.

I can't speak from direct knowledge on this, but will offer one possibility on how it could be set up.

600 setting vs 800

1 or the slowest setting would be the same

2 on the 600 equal to a setting of 3 on the 800

3 equal to 6 on the 800.  That leaves the faster settings 7 and 8 of the  800 for the advanced users more likely to purchase it.

On the other hand why hamper the 600 by not allowing it the same fast reactivity speed as the 800.

Since I only hunt freshwater the beach mode is of no real use to me.  I would use Relic in its place for that.   The only quibble I have against the 800 is that the 20 kHz freq should have been a disc mode.  That in my mind would have made a more "all around" machine.

If budget is a concern, the lower price of the 600 would defray the cost of buying the waterproof headphones.  So that is a consideration.

I didn't pre-order and facing 4 months of winter have time to decide which would suit me best.

Brian

Congratulations on your first gold coin.  That it is a rare one makes it that more exciting for you I am sure.

In the getting started guide it states that accept/reject has 50 segment resolution

So it should be just like the X-Terra where a single number or any combination of numbers can be notched.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/files/file/113-minelab-equinox-quick-start-guide/

Perhaps Steve can advise on how ML has set up the default profile 1 in park mode.  Possibly ML has made it US specific for general coin hunting?

Tom

8 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

There is talk about lots of stuff but the three coils currently slated are all I know of that are actually in the works. That’s enough to deliver on for now but I am sure more will follow. A 6 x 10 closed would be good but I never hold my breath for stuff like that.

Steve

Since they gave it a dedicated prospecting mode they just HAVE to make a 10" elliptical available!

Steve can you tell us a bit about the ground tracking?  Can it be left on in high iron sites as with the X-Terra 705 and sweep width dependent will it not track out non-ferrous at depth?

Thanks

Tom

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Thanks Daniel - that made me laugh! 

All I want a detector to do is two things. 1. Make more finds for me more easily. 2. Do it as ergonomically as possible. When I say ergonomics I mean visual and audio interface as much as physical design.

That is what the Equinox is doing for me. Just imagine swinging a FBS machine that is as fast as a DEUS in the trash if not faster. Yet when you are in the open, throttle it back to slow speeds for more depth. Best of both worlds.

There is more to it though. Multi-IQ is actually new and by that I mean different. There is something going on there with target id I have not figured out yet. I don't mean that in a bad way at all. This detector really talks to me. I guess I really don't care after all what everyone else ends up thinking about the Equinox. All I know it that is what I am swinging from now on! Well, that and a GPZ 

As usual great info Steve.  Was hoping for you that 16 Merc was a D! It seems you have found the sweet spot on sensitivity and reactivity settings for that site. 

I have mild soil here so am actually a bit jealous of what appears to be a site unlocker for you guys out west.  2 bar 81-85 is the worst I have to deal with and NO reports anywhere on the net of the Equinox in mild ground. 

That something about the target ID you mentioned, would it have to do with it staying stable/accurate even at high reactivity settings?  Audio as in human intelligibility?

The short time I had the Impact I found it to be a great audio machine but lacked in TID especially in co-locate situations.

Tom

Very nice Mike.  18K is hard to come by so small or not makes it a great find!

On 11/25/2017 at 12:19 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

The big thing the CTX has that the Equinox lacks is the dual target id system combined with a 2D display that can “paint” information on multiple target id numbers onscreen in real time. Similar to the White’s SignaGraph and SpectraGraph displays, this can produce target id “smears” that help identify ferrous targets.

I have several of my long dissertations in mind as regards how the more basic linear target id system on the Equinox compares to this more visual type system. Soon. For now I can say that I have been making copper/silver signals (copper penny, dimes, quarters, etc) a particular focus. Two things ARE NOT happening.

First, I am not digging bottle caps when going after this target id range though the rare aluminum screw cap appears.

I have done less work in the nickel range because I am time limited and would rather focus on silver than nickel responses. There are some bottle caps that appear close to the nickel response.

The other thing that is not happening is aluminum is not “upscaling” to a high coin signal. This has actually been my number one problem with single frequency detectors, especially the “Euro” models. They like turning rolled up beaver tails and other smallish aluminum items into coin signals. This is a known issue with single frequency detectors in magnetite laden soils.

That’s not happening with Equinox.

Basically when I target copper/silver I only dig copper/silver unless I get very aggressive going after “iffy” targets. Just a few oddball aluminum screw caps, oddball jewelry items, etc. hit the in the same target zone.

One thing I appreciate about the 705 is its ability to tell most nickels from beaver tails and pieces by the audio and TID stability.  At 18.75 kHz and equipped with elliptical coils in the 6x10" size range it's fast enough to give a varied response on aluminum shapes while nickels are more solid. 

Here's hoping the fast response of the Equinox will also let one profile Beaver tails in the same manner.

Which brings up the question.  Steve are you lobbying ML for for a 10" elliptical? I hope so.

Tom