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  1. Handheld Underwater Metal Detectors Assessment Report - February 2014 FOREWORD The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) Program to assist emergency responders making procurement decisions. Located within the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of DHS, the SAVER Program conducts objective assessments and validations on commercially available equipment and systems, and develops knowledge products that provide relevant equipment information to the emergency responder community. The SAVER Program mission includes: Conducting impartial, practitioner-relevant, operationally oriented assessments and validations of emergency response equipment; and Providing information, in the form of knowledge products, that enables decision-makers and responders to better select, procure, use, and maintain emergency response equipment. SAVER Program knowledge products provide information on equipment that falls under the categories listed in the DHS Authorized Equipment List (AEL), focusing primarily on two main questions for the responder community: “What equipment is available?” and “How does it perform?” These knowledge products are shared nationally with the responder community, providing a life- and cost-saving asset to DHS, as well as to Federal, state, and local responders. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Handheld underwater metal detectors assist public safety divers with locating metallic objects underwater by providing visual, audible, and/or vibration alerts when these objects are detected. In August 2013, the System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) Program conducted an operationally oriented assessment of handheld underwater metal detectors. Eight handheld underwater metal detectors were assessed by public safety divers. The criteria and scenarios used in this assessment were derived from the results of a focus group of public safety divers with experience using handheld underwater metal detectors. The assessment addressed 18 evaluation criteria in four SAVER categories: Capability, Deployability, Maintainability, and Usability. MODELS EVALUATED JW Fishers Mfg. Inc. – Pulse 8X Garrett Electronics Inc. – Sea Hunter™ Mark II Fisher® Research Labs – CZ-21 QuickSilver Aquascan International Ltd. – Aquapulse 1B Minelab Americas Inc. – Excalibur II Tesoro Electronics Inc. – Tiger Shark White’s Electronics Inc. – Surf PI Dual Field Kellyco Metal Detectors – Viper Hybrid Trident Download the full pdf report here
  2. Has anyone read the review on Equinox 800 at detecting365.com website? Nothing good to say about the Equinox. http://detecting365.com/honest-review-minelab-equinox-800-warning/
  3. This is a quick comparison of 14 khz waterproof single frequency metal detectors. 13 - 15 khz has proven to be an excellent frequency range for all around metal detecting. For those seeking bang for the buck in a single frequency metal detector these models offer excellent performance at affordable prices. Click on chart for larger version. 14 kHz single frequency waterproof metal detectors compared To see other frequencies compared go here Makro Kruzer, White's MX Sport, Nokta Anfibio, Garrett AT Max
  4. The following is a very detailed review of the new Makro Gold Kruzer... but first a little back story. I was asked to review a new gold detector in the fall of 2014 from a company I had never heard of before then – the FORS Gold by the Nokta company based in Istanbul, Turkey. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Nokta FORS Gold to be a very capable 15 kHz VLF detector that could serve well not just for nugget detecting, but almost any detecting tasks. The FORS Gold did have some odd design quirks, like the use of mechanical rocker switches instead of touch pads. I listed a few of these things, expecting that would just be the way it is. I was almost shocked when within a short period of time Nokta fixed or changed every item I had mentioned in my review as possibly needing improvement. This was unusual as normally once a machine has gone into production manufacturers are extremely resistant to design changes, especially changes in the physical design. It was a sign of what people have now found to be fact – that this company is serious about listening to their customers as a prime driver for product improvement. New Makro Gold Kruzer It was revealed that Nokta had a sister company called Makro, and the two officially combined forces shortly after I made my review. In other words, both Nokta and Makro now share the same ownership and management, but continue to be marketed separately under the two brand names. The detector models that each sell are unique, but there is an obvious sharing of the underlying technology between some models that the two brands sell. I had commented at the time that I would prefer a more standard configuration for a LCD based detector rather than the non-standard configuration as presented by the FORS Gold. By the fall of 2015 I was using the new Makro Gold Racer, which incorporated many ideas I had lobbied for over the years with detector manufacturers. I had been trying for some time to get somebody to create a metal detector that ran at nugget detecting type frequencies over 30 kHz but with a full target id system. It seems strange now but at that time nobody made such a detector. The Makro Gold Racer was quite unique in 2015 by offering a detector running at 56 kHz that also offered a full range LCD based target id system and dual tone based audio discrimination modes. This made it a detector useful not just for nugget detecting, but low conductor hunting in general for relics and jewelry. It is even a halfway decent coin detector for regular park type scenarios. The versatility and well thought out control scheme scored points with me, and I still have the Makro Gold Racer even after selling most of my other detectors. It seems that the moment the Makro Gold Racer hit the streets, that everyone else was working on similar ideas, as other detectors running over 30 kHz but with a full feature set started to appear on the market. High frequency detecting is suddenly in vogue for more than just gold nugget detecting. The one thing obvious now about the Makro / Nokta partnership is that they never sit still, but continue to work on and release new models at a pace that puts all the other manufacturers to shame. The companies are also big believers in seeking public feedback and then implementing the suggestions to create better products for their customers. This is readily apparent in the progression I have personally witnessed in going from that original Nokta FORS Gold to the new 61 kHz Makro Gold Kruzer just now hitting the market. In less than four years the company has gone from “catching up” to meeting or surpassing detectors made by other companies. The Makro Gold Kruzer has a full suite of functions, is fully waterproof, incorporates built in wireless headphone capability, and can be firmware updated over the internet. That short feature list alone puts the Makro Gold Racer in a very select group of detectors offering those same 21st century “basic features” that were lacking in almost all detectors made in the last century. The Makro Gold Kruzer obviously builds on the Gold Racer feature set with the following key differences. The Gold Racer runs at 56 kHz and the Gold Kruzer at 61 kHz, one of the highest frequencies available in consumer metal detectors. This continues the focus on detecting small low conductor targets. The Gold Kruzer is waterproof to 5 meters (16.4 feet) whereas the Gold Racer is not waterproof at all. Finally, the Gold Kruzer adds a three tone hunt mode, taking things up another step from the dual tone modes available on the Gold Racer. Now let’s look at the Makro Gold Kruzer in detail. Makro switched things up in that the Gold Kruzer comes with two coils, a 5.5” x 10” concentric coil, and a 4” x 7.5” DD coil; both include scuff covers. The 5.5” x 10” concentric coil, which was an option offered for the Gold Racer, has been redesigned and cut from 1” thick to ¾” thick and the weight reduced to 384 grams (13.5 oz). The coil is hollow and therefore slightly buoyant, so the 25% reduction in thickness is quite welcome in reducing that buoyancy to where it is basically unnoticeable underwater. The little 4” x 7.5” DD coil is a solid epoxy filled coil which works extremely well in smaller coils where epoxy filling does not result in too much weight. The small DD coil weighs 368 grams or 13.0 oz. There is one accessory coil available at this time, a 5” x 9.5” epoxy filled DD. This coil weighs 14.3 oz or 404 grams. It should be noted that because of the frequency change and with the Gold Kruzer using waterproof connectors, that Makro Gold Racer coils will not work on the Gold Kruzer. Makro has also learned lessons as regards coil ear durability. The coil ears on the Gold Kruzer are about twice the mass of those on my older Makro Gold Racer. Taller, wider, and thicker – these extra beefy coil ears should all but eliminate breakage issues. 4” x 7.5” DD coil showing beefed up ears The Makro Gold Kruzer employs a fairly standard “detector pod on an S rod” design forgoing the underarm battery box used on the Gold Racer. This confers a large advantage when it comes to waterproofing the detector in that only the pod has to be sealed. The change from AA batteries to a built in sealed LiPO rechargeable battery also aids in eliminating battery doors, which are always at risk of leaking. The three piece S rod itself is quite stout with no flex or wiggle. The cross hatch carbon fiber lower rod is not only strong, but lends an air of high tech quality to the look of the detector. The Gold Kruzer does not have the separate underarm battery compartment and in handle vibration mechanism featured on the Makro Gold Racer. This means the pod is totally self contained and can be removed from the handle assembly. This in turn allows for other rod options and the ability to break the detector completely down fitting in a small backpack or carry on bag. When the stout rod is combined with the beefed up coil construction you have a design that should survive those spills a person can take when working in the surf and there the detector ends up acting like a walking stick for support. It has been interesting to watch the company experiment with different handle designs. It is a thankless task because you never can please everyone. For me at least the handle / rod may be the best yet from Makro, with a molded hard rubber grip that will serve very well for a detector that may see underwater use. I personally found the Nokta Impact handle to be large for my hands and the smaller Gold Kruzer handle near perfect. Others may feel just the opposite so there you go. The arm cuff is a little different. It is narrower than some – good for me but maybe not so much for somebody with huge forearms. The adjustment is non-standard, with the arm cup sliding up and down the upper rod over a set of threaded holes. A small screw inserted into the top of the armrest and into one of these threaded holes secures the armrest in place. Kruzer upper rod showing cuff adjust holes and hand grip (control box removed) A unique feature on the Gold Kruzer is an optional external AA battery pack that can provide extra operating time in the field should the internal rechargeable battery go dead. The pack is designed to be held into the bottom of the detector armrest / stand by a separate plastic cover bracket that is held in place with two screws. I found the holes these screws go into will fill with sand if this bracket is left off, so I advise installing the bracket even if the external battery pack is not in use. The external battery pack with bracket is an option and so dummy screws or plugs should be installed to keep the screw holes clean and free of debris by those who down not have the bracket. I don’t think most people will ever need the external battery pack as long as the detector is regularly charged after use. It is a very nice touch however, especially for off grid use, as all you need is the external AA battery pack and a box of AA batteries to off grid for as long as the batteries will last. Some people may want the optional battery pack for travel into the field just in case the battery runs short on power in the middle of a hunt. The port where you attach the external battery pack also acts as a port to attach a USB style charger cable. The detector is charged using this cable by employing the included USB wall charger. You may also use most USB charging adapters and newer computer USB ports. The USB cable also allows the Makro Gold Kruzer to be attached to a computer so that updates can be made in case any bugs are found in the future. This update feature is very nice insurance that should be standard on all new detectors. Another item that should be standard on all new detectors is built in wireless headphone capability. Makro uses a proprietary low latency system that exhibits no discernible lag at all. A really nice thing about being proprietary is there is no pairing process. All you have to do is enable the wireless feature on the control box, turn on the headphones, and boom, you are in business. The downside is you only have one choice of headphones – the included Makro wireless headphones. These are a nice, light set of phones but they are just a bit too small to fit over most people ears. I have fairly small ears and they still rest on instead of over my ear. The sound quality is good, but like most wireless headphones they seem less “bright” than wired headphones. All in all the wireless headphones are quite good however and a pleasure to use. Makro wireless headphones The Makro Gold Kruzer does have a waterproof speaker with decent volume that can be used instead of the wireless headphones. If you prefer other headphone options, be sure and get the optional waterproof port to ¼” headphone adapter cable. This cable attaches to the same port used for charging and software updates and allows any wired headphones to be adapted to the Gold Kruzer. The LCD display is well laid out with a very large target id number displayed. The other setting indicators might be a little harder for those with poor eyesight to make out, but should present no issues once the layout is learned. One big change from the Gold Racer is that the four large navigation buttons, trigger switch, and rotary dial power / volume switch have all been replaced by ten small buttons on the control panel. All the buttons can be reached and controlled by the operators thumb, but the small size and closeness of the buttons may make for some navigation errors early on, and especially when trying to change settings underwater or with gloves on. Makro Gold Kruzer display and controls The Makro Gold Kruzer User Manual is available for download so I will refer you there for all the little details. What you have in the Makro Gold Kruzer is a hot 61 kHz metal detector waterproof to 5 meters (16.4 feet). The Gen (General) mode is a fairly standard VCO audio all metal gold nugget detecting circuit. The Gold Kruzer in Gen mode is very reminiscent of other hot gold nugget detectors running in the all metal prospecting mode. The Gen mode acts exactly like one would expect a threshold based all metal mode to function. There is a nice smooth threshold that gives feedback about the ground and reacts to hot rocks with classic nulling signals and small nuggets with that classic “zip-zip” VCO audio. Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) audio increases both in volume and pitch when a target is detected, giving a distinct response very common on many gold detectors. The only thing different here is that since the Gold Kruzer has an LCD readout; you can get target id number results while running in all metal Gen mode. The audio is far more sensitive than the meter however, so do not be surprised if the deepest and smallest of targets give no target id information. In a break with the Gold Racer the Fast and Boost modes are not dual tone modes, but instead are silent search (no threshold) single tone modes. Items either signal audibly or not based on the current discrimination settings. The discrimination setting, like that of the Gold Racer, is a simple up and down control. Everything above the setting gives an audio signal of “beep”. Anything below the discrimination setting level is rejected or ignored with no sound at all. The Gold Kruzer has no notching capability i.e. the ability to pick and choose individual target id numbers for rejection. Fast mode is just what it sounds like – a fast setting for working in really dense trash. Target recovery speed has been increased at the expense of outright depth, but sheer depth is useless where target masking is the main problem. Boost mode is exactly the opposite. Boost is the deepest discrimination mode on the Gold Kruzer but due to the increased sensitivity is more suitable for less mineralized ground and sparser targets. It should be obvious that the Makro Gold Kruzer is all about gold. This explains the shift from dual tone to monotone audio in the Fast and Boost. Dual tones as employed in the Makro Gold Kruzer can be problematic when hunting the smallest gold targets, especially in highly mineralized ground. It is hard for a detector to get a clean separation of ferrous and non-ferrous targets when the targets are very small. This is because the actual dividing line between ferrous and non-ferrous is not a line at all, but a zone. The Makro Gold Kruzer uses a fairly standard discrimination scale that ranges from 0 – 99. The range from 0 – 40 is considered to be the ferrous range, and 41 and above non-ferrous. Yet the discrimination default for both the Fast and Boost modes is 25. This is because if you bury small gold in highly mineralized ground or large gold extra deep in mineralized ground, the ferrous ground signal can overwhelm the very weak non-ferrous signal. It really is not about the object size. A deep large nugget is a very weak signal just the same as a shallower small nugget, and either can end up reading as a ferrous target. The solution is to lower the discrimination setting into the ferrous range and accept that you have to dig some ferrous items to get all the gold items. This actually applies to any metal detecting. If you dig absolutely no ferrous trash, you are almost 100% guaranteed to be passing up some non-ferrous items reading incorrectly as ferrous. This can be acceptable of course depending on what you are doing, but passing on a deep six ounce gold nugget because it reads ferrous can be an expensive mistake. The Gold Kruzer default discrimination setting for Fast and Boost is 25 instead of 40 for this very reason. Dual tones have issues for this same reason, with decisive results on the weakest targets difficult if not impossible to obtain. The difference is quite small, but monotone is slightly more stable and proficient at working with the tiniest and faintest of signals right at the dividing line between ferrous and non-ferrous, wherever you have set the control to tell the Gold Kruzer where that line is for your particular situation. There is no pat answer as the where to set the discrimination control. It is a judgment call based on experience, but when in doubt, use less discrimination and dig more trash. Welcome to gold detecting! Makro chart showing gold occurring in 0 – 40 ferrous range The Makro Gold Kruzer has a new control that relates to this overlap between ferrous and non-ferrous readings. The Extra Underground Depth (E.U.D.) control acts to directly impact the tipping point between ferrous and non-ferrous readings. The E.U.D. control only works in one of the three discrimination modes and when used on a suspect target that is reading ferrous may reveal by a different tone that it is actually non-ferrous. It is noted in the manual that it can reveal some targets misidentified as ferrous, but it will also give more false positives on ferrous targets. I was unable in the time allowed to figure out just how efficient this control is. In theory you can just set the discrimination lower, digging more ferrous but getting those missed non-ferrous items. Or set the discrimination a little higher, and now examine suspect targets individually by engaging the E.U.D. control momentarily. Finally, you can run E.U.D. on at all times. Is higher disc with E.U.D. on at all times going to get better results than just using a lower discrimination setting? Sadly, I just do not know at this time. I do know it is no magic bullet so the efficiency of employing the E.U.D. control will have to be determined over time by users around the world What? You say you wanted tones? Well, the Makro Gold Kruzer has you covered. The new Micro mode is a three tone mode similar to that on other company models, but running at that hot 61 khz. The 0 – 40 target id range produces a low tone. The 41 – 66 range produces a medium tone, and 67 – 99 range a high tone. Micro mode allows the “ferrous break point” to be adjusted. This is that magic point where you decide what is going to read as ferrous and what reads as non-ferrous. Note that unlike the Fast and Boost modes, the default ferrous breakpoint is set at 40 instead of 25. This is good for coin type detecting but again may be too high for other types of detecting. While in Micro mode you may use the Tone Break control to vary this all important setting. You could mimic the other two modes by setting the Tone Break at 25. Now 0 – 25 will be a low tone, 26 – 66 a medium tone, and 67 – 99 a high tone. Tone Break can only be used to set the ferrous breakpoint. The upper high tone region of 67 – 99 is preset and fixed by the factory with no adjustment possible. You may use the Ferrous Volume setting to control how loud the low tone response is. The medium and high tone responses are set with the main volume control. The discrimination control still functions in Micro mode, with a default setting of ten. Hot rocks and ground responses occur this low on the scale, and so having at least some of the low end blocked or rejected with reduce the number of low tone responses generated by the ground itself. The control can be set as high as you want and will override the other settings, blocking all targets below the desired target id setting. The Makro Gold Kruzer does have a tone control, but it does not allow the tones to be changed in Micro mode. Those are factory preset, with the Tone Break between ferrous and non-ferrous plus Ferrous Volume as the two adjustments you can make. The Tone setting allows the tone of the audio response and threshold to be changed in Gen, Fast, and Boost modes only. Micro was designed first for hunting micro jewelry. Micro jewelry is a loose term that applies to all very small jewelry items, like very thin chains, single post earrings, tie tacks, etc. Micro is perfect for hunting tot lots and beaches and focusing on the “gold range” targets represented by the mid tone reading in Micro mode. Many jewelry hunters consider digging coins a waste of time, and so ignoring high tones can save digging pocket change when the real goal is a woman’s diamond and platinum ring. The Makro Gold Kruzer has a nominal non-ferrous range of 41 – 99 which is a 59 point spread. Normal U.S. coin responses are 63 for a nickel, 83 for a zinc penny, 84 for a copper penny, 86 for a clad dime, and 91 for a clad quarter. The high 61 kHz operating frequency acts to push target id numbers higher and most coins will respond at 83 and higher. I was surprised a zinc penny and copper penny for all intents read the same. The good news is the low conductor range is expanded, which offers the ability to help discern different pull tabs and other trash items over a wider range. This in turn may help eliminate at least a few pesky trash items while hunting gold, although ignoring gold range items of any sort can be risky. Still, with a U.S. nickel reading at 63 and most women’s rings reading under the nickel, you get the 40 – 63 zone as a 23 point range where much of the most valuable jewelry will turn up. The default high tone breakpoint of 66 – 67 is clearly focusing the Gold Kruzer mid-tone on this very important gold range. Do note that large men’s rings and nearly all larger silver jewelry will read above 66 and therefore give a high tone reading. The Gold Kruzer has some obvious applications but there are a couple catches. First, it is running at 61 kHz, which means it is very hot on low conductors, but that it will have just adequate performance on high conductors like silver coins. Second, its extreme sensitivity to low conductors means it will not work well if at all in saltwater or on wet salt sand. Saltwater is a low conductor and will respond quite strongly on the Gold Kruzer, and getting it to not respond to saltwater gives up all the sensitivity to small gold. The Gold Kruzer will work very well around freshwater or on dry sand, it is not intended as a detector for use in or near saltwater. I would suggest the new Makro Multi Kruzer as an alternative to those who want to hunt in and around saltwater on a regular basis. Makro Gold Kruzer with optional 5” x 9.5” DD coil There are many features I could delve into but at over six pages this report is getting long, so I will again refer people to the User Manual for the details. Suffice it to say that the Makro Gold Kruzer has a full set of features like frequency shift for reducing interference, temporary audio boost for the Gen all metal mode, adjustable backlight, and the ability to save settings when the detector is powered down, and more. I got the Gold Kruzer prototype during a period when I was quite busy and the weather was not helping. I did have time to do a few tot lot hunts plus make a trip to the goldfields to evaluate the machine. The Gold Kruzer is well behaved in urban locations, with only a little static from electrical interference sources. I found the new Micro mode to be just the ticket for quickly blasting through a tot lot recovering prime gold range targets. I dug everything as is my practice when learning a detector, and ended up with the usual pile of aluminum foil, junk jewelry, and coins. Nothing special found but no doubt in my mind that the Gold Kruzer acts as intended in this type of setting. There were no surprises in the goldfields. At 61 kHz and in Gen mode the Gold Kruzer is a real pleasure to run, with all the response and nuance one expects from a great threshold based all metal circuit. Boost Mode also works very well as an alternative for small nugget detecting. I had no problem at all finding a couple little bits of gold weighing under a grain (480 grains per Troy ounce) on my first and only nugget hunt so far with the Gold Kruzer. Two tiny gold nuggets found with Makro Gold Kruzer To sum up, the new Makro Gold Kruzer once again ups the ante at Makro. It comes standard with two coils and is fully waterproof for about the same price as the Makro Gold Racer so I would have to assume the Gold Racers days are numbered. The one thing I am not sure about at this time is that the Gold Racer has a 15” x 13” DD coil option. The Makro Multi Kruzer has the 15” coil option, but no such accessory has yet been announced for the Gold Kruzer. This is probably not a concern for very many people, but it bears mentioning. I have no problem at all recommending that anyone interested in a detector with a focus on gold take a very serious look at the new Makro Gold Kruzer. It’s performance on low conductors of any type means that the Gold Kruzer is not just for prospectors and jewelry hunters but may also see favor with some relic hunters who focus of low conductor targets like buttons and bullets. This is a solid detector with 21st century features at a very attractive price. Makro Gold Kruzer Information Page Makro Kruzer Color Brochure Download a pdf copy of this report Steve Herschbach DetectorProspector.com
  5. Tried out a new detector on Saturday:Due to some unavoidable delays, I finally made it out with my Makro Gold Racer on the weekend to see what it could do.I don't know about where you live, but winter here just didn't want to let go this year. I mean, we had one of the coldest, longest winters we've had in forever, and snow, snow, snow (we're about four feet over the average mountain snowpack at the higher elevations as I write), but Old Man Winter finally took a breather, and so I got a chance to head to the mountains to swing the coil again.The place I picked was one that didn't have a lot of exposed bedrock, just a small section really, with the rest of the ground covered with six to eight feet of overburden on top of the bedrock, and that's just too much overburden for the size of gold I commonly find.As for the weather that day, it was a true mixed bag. I mean this time of year, we can get all four seasons in one day! Saturday was no exception. It rained early in the morning, then the sun came out and it was nice and warm, then it clouded over, started to rain again, then turned to snow, then the wind blew a cold blast of air for about an hour, then the sky turned blue and the sun came out once more, the wind stopped, and the weather did its best spring imitation for the next three hours.I unlimbered the Gold Bug Pro first, and you can't make this stuff up, within three minutes, I'd found a three gram nugget, one my wife said looked sort of like a four-leaf clover. And, Nature indeed had made it look kind of like one. The nugget was sitting in some tough clay that held a lot of former river stones, so it seemed to me that it was likely what used to be the bottom of a crevice long ago, as the surrounding bedrock had been cut down at least a couple of feet by the former placer miners whose actions would have left the sort of deposit I've described.I kept working the exposed bedrock and any places I could find where bedrock had been tossed out in case some gold had ridden out with it. (I have found nuggets this way before.) I really took my time and went slow, because I wanted to be sure I'd cleaned the area before I broke out the Gold Racer so I'd have as accurate a comparison as I could. By the time I'd finished with the Fisher, I'd gathered another gram and a half of small stuff that I'd thrown in the bottle.My wife had wandered off, and I found her panning near the foot of channel wall, but she wasn't having much luck; however, she pointed out something to me that I'd have completely missed. To the north and east of where she'd been panning, there was a short section left of what had been a bedrock drain, and there were small sections of bedrock still exposed that the boulder clay hadn't reclaimed.Nevertheless, I headed back to the original bedrock I'd worked with the Gold Bug Pro, and I broke out the shiny new Makro Gold Racer. The ground balance worked flawlessly, and setting the sensitivity was a breeze. The ground was moderate to a little hot, so I didn't have to worry about adjusting the ISAT, and I was pretty familiar with the types of hot-rocks I'd likely find, so I knew most, if not all, of them by sight. I started by running the coil slowly over the areas I'd hit with the Bug Pro, and after a few sweeps, I had several quiet but distinct signals. When I dug down, the signals got louder. I called by wife over, and she took the dirt with the signals and panned them out. Neither one of us could believe the tiny gold in the pan! The Gold Racer really did deliver on finding small gold. However, the first bedrock area was not where I realized how good the Gold Racer could perform.Remember I mentioned the bedrock drain? I headed over to it with both detectors. First, I scanned the small exposed areas exceptionally carefully with the Bug Pro, and I got a few small pieces, then I ramped up the sensitivity on the machine as far as I could, fought the background chatter, and all in all, liberated about half a gram of gold from the bedrock. I swapped out the Bug Pro for the Gold Racer and covered the same areas again. Almost immediately I had a signal. I couldn't believe it, but the signal was clear, and I could see a previous dig mark where I'd nailed some small stuff with the Bug Pro, and the Racer was giving a crisp signal, quite unmistakable, right in the same dig hole! To make a long story short, three inches of bedrock later, a nice picker was in the bottle! This blew me away, as the Gold Racer had found the target while running nice and quiet, with the sensitivity not ramped up, yet the signal was very clear.I kept at the small sections of bedrock, and kept getting quiet, but clear, signals until I'd added another gram and a half of small gold to the vial. (Sometimes I'd get a break in the threshold too, but when I dug down, the signal either disappeared or it turned out to be a target. [Some heavy iron deposits in the bedrock did give a weak signal, but I soon learned that due to the broad nature of their signature exactly what they were.]) What this weekend's outing made me realize is that if I'd have given the Gold Racer a run the end of last summer, I'd have undoubtedly recovered a lot of small gold, and I do mean a lot, that the Bug Pro just couldn't see (this test was carried out with virtually the same coil sizes on both machines, elliptical shapes and DD's as well), and knowing now what I likely left behind last summer makes me a bit sad. (Out of six grams of gold for the Saturday, a gram and a half was fine stuff from the Gold Racer, and that's a pretty good added portion of gold recovery I'd say.) In fairness to the Gold Bug Pro, let me say this: I've found lots and lots of gold with that great little machine, and it's super easy to learn how to use making for a quick learning curve. In addition, I don't have an unkind word to say about the Fisher as it's paid for itself many, many times over, and I will continue to use it, and I'll continue to train others how to use it as well. Moreover, let me say that the Bug Pro doesn't run at nearly as high a kHz, so it's unfair to compare apples to oranges that way, but I wanted to see what I was leaving behind, that's all. So, I learned my lesson well on Saturday, and I gained a whole lot of respect for the little Gold Racer for how sensitive it is to small gold, how good it punches into the ground to find it, and how quietly it goes about its job of doing so. Furthermore, The Makro is a great little gold machine I can swing all day long, and I'm looking forward to really taking it for a long, dedicated run this summer to add more gold to the poke because it sure gets the job done in style! (How I wish some fine company would produce a light-weight gold-hungry pulse machine with excellent capabilities or that Minelab would find a way to lighten the technology package of their GPZ 7000. Wouldn't that be great?) (I'd like to thank Steve for pointing me in the direction of the Gold Racer, and I'd like to thank Dilek at Makro for her exceptional customer service.)All the best,Lanny
  6. We just went through a few years on constant releases of new prospecting detectors. And now the flood has subsided, with almost nothing on the horizon. There is the “any moment now” Makro Gold Kruzer, running at 61 kHz and waterproof to 15 feet. After that however it gets pretty thin. First Texas has new detectors in the works, but nothing rumored that is aimed specifically at prospecting this year, but maybe later. Right now a PI beach detector appears to be up next. Garrett - maybe they are working on it but personally I have given up waiting on a lighter weight ATX. Tesoro - nothing going to happen there obviously. Minelab still “owes” us GPZ owners a smaller coil but with Equinox occupying all their efforts....? Nok/Mak outside of the Gold Kruzer has been working on a PI for years, but absolutely no hints on it getting any closer to market. XP I thought might bring a version of the low cost DPR 600 to first world markets but no sign of it happening. And White’s? Who knows. Maybe we will see a repackaged GMT but the shine has worn off of repackaged detectors these days. Long story short is it often takes new detectors to stir up activity on forums. For now at least the future is looking pretty quiet. The good news is we can just focus on using what we already have to best effect without being tempted or distracted by new shiny toys!
  7. When primary aim is finding meteorites (also with low iron/ nickel content), what metal detector would be a good idea to get (within budget)? Minelab Gold Monster 1000 (no manual ground balance, does this matter?) Minelab Equinox 600 (no real all metal mode??) Makro Multi Kruzer (how sensitive to small objects?) Makro Gold Kruzer (unknown when it will ship) Other detector (why?) Or do I need to spend more, i.e. get an XP Deus? I would very much appreciate any insight or even practical experience. Thank you very much for your time!
  8. I just got back from DIV 40 and wanted to give a quick report on how the Equinox 600 performed in the hot Culpeper soil. Mind you I am not proficient with the detector yet. In addition to the Equinox I took my GPX. I used the Equinox for a total of about 8 hours in the three days I was there. I did find some good stuff with the Equinox which included an Eagle coat button, minie ball and a New York coat button. For me I found that the Equinox ran quietest using the beach mode in five tones iron bias one and everything notched out up to 5. If not in the beach modes the machine was really chattery. It can accurately ID a Target to about 5 inches but has a real hard time with low conductors in that soil. With the adjustments the 800 offers you might get better results. At one point I buried a nickel at 6 inches in one of the fields and could not get it with the equinox, the GPX easily picked it up. Overall I thought the detector performed well and was very helpful in the iron infested areas. I know there were other Equinoxes there and some good stuff was found by those using them. I know of at least 1 breast plate found with the Equinox.
  9. Except for about 15 minutes in the back yard, Saturday's 4 1/2 hour hunt is my first experience with the new detector. I've decided (unless some chance I can't pass up comes along) to do several hunts in previously searched sites. I started with probably my easiest site that has produced old coins. I've described this previously -- a small lot the city acquired early last summer and promptly raized the 1920's house, but did a great job leaving most of the yard alone and just backfilling the house's footprint. Fairly certain I'm still the only person ever to metal detect this property. My notes show I've been here 7 times, mostly with the Fisher F75. With a few exceptions (more on that below) I've searched the entire area at least twice, and in some spots 3-4 times. Previously it's produced 50+ Wheaties and 5 silver coins. For the most part it's fairly clean in terms of iron trash, with more/less the usual amount of aluminum. Park 1 default was my plan for the day, including the default ground setting, mostly in 'all-metal'. Right off the truck I was having trouble with EMI. I forgot how to auto-adjust the frequency so I just went manual, 19 channels to choose from but none was perfectly quiet. Switched to other modes with qualitatively same result. I was getting the least noise at the extreme values (never good in the [-5,5] center region). Having also forgotten how to adjust gain (won't ever again!) I decided rather than walking back to my vehicle and consulting the operations manual I'd just try and hunt with the EMI noise in the background. That started out OK but by the end of 1.5 hours it was getting worse. Before reconfiguring I covered some previously hunted ground, finding mostly ring&beavertail pulltabs (at least 2/3 of the day's catch) one copper cent, one squeeze tube, a bronze threaded bushing, and a few other 'interesting' but non-valuables. Most of the non-pulltabs were along an alley where I had not previously searched. The penny was from a lightly searched spot as well. Turning down the gain to 17, the EMI noise disappeared so on to the next 2 hours. My next dig was the silver Roosie (1954), only about 3 inches deep. Then I hunted the part of the lot which had been used to dump/hide/burn trash. Amongst a lot of noise hits I got a decent high signal and 1 inch deep uncovered a copper penny. Next I found the nickel (1949-D), only about 4 inches deep. The ID was solid 12-13 in one direction but 90 degree angle-of-attack gave less steady values, 11's and even 10's. I guessed some kind of aluminum (slaw?) and was pleased to get the nickel. The last hour I moved to another part of the park (not on the house lot) where I (and others?) have hunted many times with multiple detectors, best find having been an Indian Head penny. I shifted to cherry-pick mode and dug a crown cap (not shown) which ID'ed steady near nickel. The badly corroded zinc read 18 (was hoping for another IH!). Two more coppers were 5 inch and 6 inches deep, sounding a bit iffy but giving repeated high conductivity ID's. One photo below shows the 'trash' -- ring&beavertails plus iron -- those latter were biproducts of digs which contained higher conductors, not mid/high tones by themselves. I did dig a bit of other trash not shown, including some aluminum bits of roof flashing, a total of 3 crown caps plus of couple pieces of aluminum foil. The 'goodies' photo didn't come up so well, but four of the five copper pennies are Wheats (1925, 1945-D, 1952-D, 1954-D). The top row in that photo all read in the 23-25 ID range. I don't know what that is in the lower left (jewelry?) -- it had an ID of 11. The bronze bushing hit at 32 and the copper ring thing (some kind of electrical connector??) signaled a solid, strong 33 -- I was hoping for a large coin . Why did I miss all of these mostly shallow targets previously? Likely a few I missed because I just didn't get the coil over them. However, that doesn't explain the full story. I may be a bit premature in my conclusion but I'm thinking superior target separation with the Eqx. And note all this running Park1 with a gain of 17. The other thing I noticed is that anything above 20 very likely is non-iron and worth digging, no iron wraparound or vertical nail high tones so far. Those theories will be strongly tested as I next move to trashier sites.
  10. Well, we finally got some decent beach conditions today so I could really try my 800 out on the sand. Five hours of pure beach detecting fun! And I feel like I have to say this, even if I get raked over the coals by my fellow PI Club members. My Equinox 800 goes practically as deep on the wet and dry sand as my Garrett Infinium. There, I said it. Shocked the hell outta me too. I say practically because I gave up digging stuff 2 feet down a while ago. It's almost always a big piece of crap anyway. That Equinox was locating stuff a foot down easily, with the added benefit of target ID. I started out digging everything so I could learn, but then found that I could eliminate some can slaw and bottle caps by using all metal mode. If I got an little iron grunt on the edge of the coil along with varying ID numbers and tones, it was trash every time. Every single time I got a 19 or 20, it was a rotten zincoln, so I started weeding those out too. I think when I start to really get to know my Equinox and learn it's quirks I'll be able to weed out lots more of the trash. The pull tabs are what they are and you just gotta dig 'em. I think that whoever invented those things should be tied to a chair and forced to watch every single "Oak Island" episode 10 times in a row. I had forgotten how fun it is to hunt the beach with a VLF! I just thought it was the price I had to pay to find anything on my barren beaches. I honestly think my Equinox got every good target that my Infinium would have gotten on depth, plus way more of the smaller shallow stuff the PI would have missed. I do have to crank the disc up to 2 to get it stable in salt water, so that might be the reason. Poor Infinium. I sure hope it finds some gold in Montana that its new sibling doesn't, 'cause Ammie has a new beach machine. I got about $2 in change, the "gold" pendant is plated crap, the token and the lighthouse thingy were junk too. It's always fun digging jewelry though. The marcasite ring is 925.
  11. I went out this morning to a hunted out sports field. I had hit this field hard with my E-Trac and even last week I was hunting there again with the E-Trac based on my theory that you never completely hunt a location out. I knew rain was coming so I knew I didn't have much time. Actually being my 1st time using the Equinox more than 2 minutes I was a bit confused with the different sounds and some light chatter. I went out in Park #1 and never changed a thing. After about 5 mins I hit a good target in the 20's and not knowing the different ID's of coins I did know most numbers in the 20's were good to dig. 1st target was a clad dime. The pin pointer was spot on. Then I hit a tab posing as a nickel with a solid #13. Then I hit 3 quarters from #26 - #30. Finally I had a solid #13 and was skeptical after digging a tab but it was a nickel and the next target was a nickel. All together I found $1.43 in clad in 45 mins before the rain came. I also found a spent cartridge. All together I only dug 3 signals posing as a coin. One was a can at 8", one copper strap and one rusty piece of iron that was the size of a 1/2" nut but it wasn't a nut and couldn't determine what it was. I feel confident the Equinox will live up to the all the hype about it over the last 7 months. This attached pic is very poor because I rarely use the camera on my phone. Tomorrow I will either go back to the location I was today because I barely scratched it or a hunted out soccer field. The rest of today will be reading posts on the forum and the users manual
  12. As I have mentioned in various posts, I was on an early pre-order list for the E800… and I will remain on that list until my E800 is available. Based on several of the threads and comments by Steve H. and others, when an E600 came available, I had to act, and I am glad I did. Mostly due to the fact that I would be GOING CRAZY reading about all the early experiences from those that were lucky enough to get an E800 in the first two shipment waves. Yes, there are things that I will utilize on the E800 when I finally receive my pre-ordered machine, but I don’t feel like I am leaving any detecting power on the table with the E600. I have had the E600 in my possession for 2 weeks now, and have had it out swinging every day. Some days only 45-60 minutes as my work and family schedule would allow, and other days longer hunts. I have tried to target a few locations that I know like the back of my hand… a few older sites, and a few newer sites, but all I know what to expect from the ground… this is the best way I can measure the performance of the Equinox. Compare it against my numerous experiences on the same ground I have swung the Etrac, CTX, Explorer SE Pro, Tesoro Vaquero and even to some extent the Garrett ATX PI. I am not exaggerating when I say that the Equinox performs as good or better at all these sites than any of the machines I have mentioned above. My settings journey started the same as most new Equinox owners… Stock settings. Park 1/Noise Cancel/Ground Balance/start swinging. Then check targets with AM, or in Park 2… toy with Field 1 and 2… even take a few swings with the beach mode just to hear how it sounds on a target. The Equinox is a feedback machine. It started providing me information almost immediately. Over the past two weeks, I have gravitated to mostly using Park 1 with sensitivity between 18-22 depending on the ground, 50 tones, recovery at 3 (which is maxed for the 600 and equivalent to 6 on the 800) and iron bias at 0. Before I move on, I want to thank some of the early testers for guiding me to these settings, and being open to sharing their testing and experiences with us on the forum and in PM… Steve H., TNSS, SteveG, Cabin Fever, Tometusns to name a few… but not to slight all who share their information through the forum threads. Shout out to all of you! Along with a pile of clad... and more nickels by ratio than I have every dug... and mostly running in the Park 1 settings above, I have been successful in pulling wheats from areas that dried up to me and my other detectors a year ago. One location, I pulled 1-3 wheats from a 25 yard square at an old park in 5 successive days. Then went back and popped a 9.5” Aluminum Washington State Tax Token. It sorts through trash and iron and it goes deep. I should also say I planted a quarter at 7” last spring in this same area as a test. I was not able to hit it with the Etrac, the Explorer gave me a squeaky iffy signal on it, the Vaquero hits it in super tuned all metal only, and the Equinox bangs on it in stock settings. My first extended hunt (2 hours) also gave me my first Equinox silver. At another old location around an old ballfield, I got a solid 14 ID, that I nearly passed on, thinking it was probably a pull tab… but the signal sounded round and smooth… so I turned around, pinpointed, and dug a 6” plug to find a silver war nickel. Last night, I found myself at a school near my house which was built in the 80’s but is a good testing ground for my detectors… with clad down to about 4 or 5”… but last night, I wanted to test out the 2 tone setting. I went into the advanced tones settings and move the tone break up to 19. 18 and below – low tone / 19 and above high tone. I then set out for the trashiest part of the field, just outside the front doors of the school in the playground next to the basketball court pad. All kinds of aluminum targets littered throughout. I usually avoid that area because of the machine gun chatter or nulling from my other machines. Last night, my first target was a clear as can be high tone surrounded by low tones, but easily identifiable. 24-27 on the id. 6” down amongst the trash… 1959 Rosie. Why a silver coin was in a modern school that was orchards before, I can only guess, but the Equinox found it. So, my first “my Equinox experience” post is two fold. 1) The Equinox is for real. I’m not the first to say that, and I won’t be the last. But I share that opinion with all the rest that have said it, and 2) The E600 is a sleeper machine with 90% of the features but 100% of the detecting power of the E800. There have been many great posts outlining the differences between the two machines which are must reads. More important to me than “is the E800 worth the extra $250”… (and honestly, I feel it is worth the additional money for the E800… at least for me), but is it worth waiting for the E800 to become available when you could probably be hunting with the E600 by this weekend… each of us will have a different answer to that… and not everyone is able or willing to buy both like I have committed to doing. But if I had made the choice for only one machine, and opted for the E600 and have it now, rather than waiting for the E800… I would have absolutely no regrets, knowing what I know now having used the E600 for the past 2 weeks. Tim.
  13. An interesting interview on all metal modes podcast march 12 show...wow Listen to "George "TEX" Kinsey pt. 2" on Spreaker.
  14. I have been looking for a website like this for sometime now. I am quite new to prospecting and have so many questions for you guys. I have 4 questions today a- Are there metal detectors that are made specifically to prospect gold only? b- which is the best if they exist? c- Can they locate gold at a very deep depth? d- Can they be used on land and in water? Look forward to receiving your replies. Thanks
  15. After some button mashing in the back yard and a quick ball field hunt that netted me an earring and some change, I felt like today I could hit a local beach park primarily with the intent to try the beach modes and learn more about the Equinox 800. This local park is hunted extensively and in the off season the pickings are slim so I did not have any expectations that I would find much of anything. In fact I was willing to dig trash because that would just help me continue to learn the tones and get used to the routine of initializing the machine (mode select, noise cancel, GB if necessary, etc.) and get used to the routines associated with target ID, interrogation, and recovery. The beach is nice because target retrieval is easy, just dip the scoop in the sand, shake, grab the target and move on. Little did I know what I was in for. With my multiple test garden runs and short park run, I felt comfortable navigating the menus and doing the routine things needed to run the machine. Ergonomics: I set out for an hour or two hunt, but it ended up being almost 4 hours. I really had no trouble at all swinging the Equinox for four hours straight. I have made no modifications but being short the Equinox is shortened for me and does not have a great lever arm that torques me so I am comfortable with it. I have not even counterbalanced it AND I keep forgetting to install the arm strap. Despite that, the Equinox was really a dream to swing AND that is coming from a Deus guy. I guess I can go all day with the Deus if necessary, but I feel with the Equinox I can do pretty good all day, if I have a nice lunch break. Performance (Beach Mode): I put it in Beach 1, noise canceled and did nothing else to modify the program and started swinging away. I intended to stay high mostly on the dry sand to see if I could pick up old drops near the beach entrances. First target was a pencil (hit the eraser holder). I next hit foil juice pull lid. Third target sounded solid and was jumping a little but oscillated around 10. Dug it and boom. Gold in the sand. It was a small, gold Christ figurine from a crucifix that looks like it became separated from the cross. I could not find the cross. But yeah, Equinox scores gold on the third beach target and I thought well this was worth the trip and I don't mind digging trash the rest of the way. I did not hit much more trash or keepers other than a dime and some fishing tackle and then a few pennies on the high sand. I encountered several random noise bursts throughout my walk and wondered if it was nearby traffic (the park is adjacent to the main thoroughfare across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge). It was weird and I could not figure out the source. I u-turned and started heading back at the tide line but was not going to get myself or the Equinox wet at 45F and a steady 15 knot wind. The tide line is usually a sparky mess for the Deus but I can still hear strong coin targets above the din. Equinox, not a peep except for those noise bursts. I finally figured it out. I had my phone in my right hoody pocket which put it in close proximity to the control head. Moving the phone to my left pocket got rid of the random EMI. I never thought it hindered performance, it was more just weird and a little annoying. Anyway problem solved. As my made my way up the tide line I got a jumpy low 30's signal. Though jumpy, the tone was repeatable and said dig me. I honestly did not think I was going to find anything much on the tide line, just wanted to test the Equinox stability. All I had was my dry sand scoop so digging targets in the wet sand tide line ment I would just have to take several two handed scoopfuls of wet sand out and periodically check to see if I got the target out of the hole. This sucker was deep. A good foot plus and it was still sounding off. I figured I was chasing a phantom until the damn thing finally ended up in the pile. Boom, clad quarter. This scenario repeated itself several times up the tide line for quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. Each time I pretty much knew I was digging a coin and they were all 7 to 15 inches down. Got fooled once with a sinker. The nickels hit just as hard as the high conductors and tells me this thing will hit some deep gold at the beach. I never worked so hard for a dollar plus worth of clad and never enjoyed it so much. I even dug a wheatie. I know these coins have been sitting there for awhile on this pounded beach and have been missed by a lot of folks because of their depth and proximity to the salt water line. The water hunters don't bother with this area and the sand people's vlf detectors don't work so well at that interface point and now I know what the Equinox can do. Also, lesson learned: always bring my water scoop for the wet stuff, there WILL be deep keepers found with Equinox. Lol. The other thing that was exciting were the very tiny targets that the Equinox had no trouble hitting (but I had a lot of trouble recovering, lol). An earring fastener, a small gear, small small pieces of mid-conductive metal, probably aluminum. These are the types of targets the Deus only hits when using the HF coils at 28khz or above. Very cool. [Note it is even more impressive to think that these tiny targets were mostly mid-conductors hit by the second least sparky program on the Equinox, i.e., lower frequency biased Beach 1. The magic of MultiIQ at work]. Trash was not really a problem, pic of some of it. Expected to dig the pull tab stuff but it was either 12 or 14/15 not 13. Ha! And the "All Metal" iron grunt trick does work on the crown caps. Color me impressed. Up next (hopefully) some colonial era relics in central Virginia. Thanks for reading. Chase
  16. On Sunday 25th February 2018. My first session out with the Equinox using Field 1 & 2 and the finds were quite mixed I found a slither of gold but I don't have a clue what it is off maybe off a watch strap I also had a nice Hammered Silver farthing of Henry 7th, a Victoria silver sixpence, 4 Roman bronzies 3 of which are Minums and a coin slightly smaller than a copper farthing I can't make out what it is. This last week I have been doing quite a bit of setting the Equinox up on my test bed and I thought I had it how I wanted it but when I got on the field I soon found out that I had jumped the gun as I started to get ground chatter and a slow reactivity so I had then to start from scratch and the machine was then coping well with the new settings and I started to pull out a lot of non-ferrous crap the good finds were giving repeatable signals but I will have to change all of the default "Tone Pitch's" and Volumes as they are not suitable for my lugs, I was using my GOG Headphones on the WM08 wireless module. I don't do a lot of screen watching but this being the first real session with the Equinox I kept looking at all of the signals to try and get an identity check of the signals in the grey matter, the slither of gold was hitting 8 but repeatable and was around 6" deep the small hammered silver was hitting 16 - 17 and again about the 6" mark, the Victoria sixpence came through on a solid 25 and was around 9" deep, the Roman minums and the larger copper coin were again giving repeatable signals between 16 - 20. I would almost certainly say that the CTX, the Etrac and the Deus would have got these coins, but with the Equinox it is early days and I feel sure that there is a lot more to be got from this machine. The biggest shock I got was when I got a good solid repeatable signal of 16 and I had to dig a deep hole and at 12" deep I kept thinking it has to be something non-ferrous and it was when I was poking about with the probe in the bottom of the 12" deep hole that I found a 1" ferrous steel screw and I thought that I must have something else down there in the hole but no nothing else, I will have to get better acquainted with the "Iron Bias" settings. There has to be a big learning curve with this machine because the signal responses and settings are nothing like the CTX or the Etrac or the Deus and most of the signals are of the same volume strength in my ears very soft and could be louder and before my next session I will setup the tones differently to get a better pitch and individual volumes as well.
  17. Ok, I've taken my 800 to several heavily hunted places where I had finally stopped pulling anything worthwhile the last couple of visits. I have pounded these places into submission with the Etrac and several large and small coils. Then last January I went back with the CTX and took out a few more keepers using the stock and 6" coil. The trash is light to moderate here, I normally run an open screen with combined tones on the CTX, 2TTF on the Etrac with no disc as well. I had visions of taking the EQ to these sights and finding a few more coins and things I thought I may have missed with the FBS and FBS2 machines. Well, you know what happens when expectations meet reality, disappointment. I spent 3 days and 15-20 hours hunting behind the CTX and I scored a big fat zero, nothing old, deep or worth keeping. I was kinda bummed out to say the least!! I tried using Park 1 and 2 with a low recovery speed, 3-4 and iron bias at 2-3 and as high a sensitivity as possible. I was reading a post by someone on one of the forums about him hitting a iffy target with a recovery speed of 4, he then upped the speed to 7 and he got a nice clean repeatable signal in some heavy trash. Light bulb moment!!! I came to the conclusion that I was trying to force the Nox to perform the same as the CTX and not for the purpose I had bought it(extreme trashy sites) I had sold a Racer 2 and some some coils to buy the Nox for the same purpose I had acquired the R2, fast recovery in heavy trash. So, I set my 800 up in Park 2, 5 tones, full volume on all segments, tone break for high conductors at 21, recovery at 7 and iron bias at 3 with no disc. Yesterday I headed to an an old abandoned baseball field that must have been used as a dumping ground at one point, it is the trashiest place I've hunted in town. I fired up the Nox and did my noise cancel and GB, set my sens at 20 and began swinging. It didn't take long to see where this machine is going to shine for me, the speed and crispness of the tones even in a heavily polluted sight was amazing. I used a moderate swing speed, faster then I would swing my CTX, but, not whipping it. There was no doubt when I hit a target in my high tone zone I ended up taking out 2 Mercs yesterday a 1940 and 44 and one today, 1924, along with a wheat. I zeroed in one the nastiest places on purpose since I had spent hours with the CTX on the cleaner spots and didn't want to waste my time, maybe another day!! I found more memorials today than I had in the last 3-4 trips combined, all intermingled with trash and iron of every kind. The high tones pop compared to the lower tones and left no doubt I had run my coil over a high conductive target. The copper pennies read 25-26 with steady numbers, deep flattened alum screw tops read 29-35, very bouncy. The merc I found today locked on at 28, 4" down and almost straight up and down with a sweet high tone. So, what I now realize is, the 800 will not take the place of my CTX in light to moderate trashy sites, it provides way too much target info on the deeper high conductors. But, anywhere I need target separation and a faster sweep speed, the Nox will take over from there. I just need that 6" coil to really see what this machine can do, I'm sure I'll have another big surprise in store.
  18. Ok video but unfortunately for most of it we have no idea what the settings are...
  19. I was one of the lucky first recipients of the Equinox 800 and now after a couple weeks of use here in Boise, I figure I'll go ahead and give my rundown of my impressions of the machine. I agree with several other users that the TID is jumpy on deep silver (or other deep coins) certainly compared to the CTX. I never had an etrac but I did have (and liked) a CTX, and the CTX did better on deep coins, there's no doubt. Minelab said as much in their releases regarding the Equinox and Multi-IQ, specifically that FBS is still going to be superior on deep high conductors, and my experience with the Equinox is that they were right. The Equinox is a very good, but not great, detector for deep coins. For deep isolated coins, the CTX still reigns supreme. However, the current thinking is that the vast majority of yet-to-be-found silver coins are still there not because they are deep, but because they are masked. The Equinox unmasks far better than the CTX does. So you may actually have a better chance of coming home with silver with the Equinox because it unmasks so much better than the CTX (or, I'm assuming, the various other FBS machines which I haven't used). Park 1 with iron bias set to 0 and Recovery Speed set to 3 or less, seems to do best on deep coins. Despite the talk of Beach 2 being best on deep coins, I haven't found that to be the case, but everybody's soil and local conditions are different, or maybe simply because Beach 2 operates at a reduced transmit power level. Set up right, my V3i and MXT with the 10x12 SEF and Ultimate 13 coils, get just as deep and with just as stable TID on the deep coins in my test garden as the Equinox, the MXT maybe even a bit better. The MXT separates as well too, but that's probably because I have many, many, hours on the MXT and know just the right coil control techniques to use with the MXT, and I'm still learning the Equinox. And on mid to low conductors, like most gold jewelry, the Equinox does far better than the CTX. What really are the main types of targets that most of us would like find? I would suggest that gold jewelry has become the main target for most of us, whether it be on the beach, sports fields, or wherever, and for these targets, the Equinox does a fantastically good job. A couple more thoughts after using the Equinox for a couple weeks. The depth gauge does not work very well, for whatever reason. Not useless, but not very accurate, and it's slow and reports targets deeper than they really are. It seems to be calibrated for quarter or larger sized targets which is different than almost every other detector out there, so it takes some getting used to. The inaccurate depth gauge is compounded by the lack of much audio modulation. From the audio, it's easy to tell a 2" deep target from a 8" deep target, but not much else in between. The pinpoint VCO audio is much better for determining the depth of a target, but that means you have to go into to pinpoint each time to get a good read on target depth. Also, I wish the depth gauge and TID worked in pinpoint mode, and this shortcoming seems to be a step backward in technology after having used most other modern detectors with that capability. I expect some tweaking in a subsequent firmware update. The audio is great. Smooth, stable, very pleasant to the ear. Unlike most detectors with a lot of tones, the Equinox actually sounds really nice in full 50 tone mode (my V3i is almost unbearably horrible when used with many tones, in comparison). Maybe it's the stable TID or lack of a lot of TID segments, but the tones are very stable and communicative, and it's a great detector for hunting by ear rather than visual TID. One of the first adjustments I made was adding a threshold tone, which is very useful for determining when targets are disc'd out, as the threshold goes silent for an instant. This is kind of a good middle ground between totally silent search and all-metal "horseshoe" mode, so you get some info but without the chaos of too much noise. The threshold is a great feature. As I mentioned above, the modulation isn't great, but at least it errs on the side of letting you hear the deep targets. The audio does get very busy in trashy environments with a lot of shallow targets. The DD coil design causes very strong signals on the edges of the coil, so you actually get three strong "beeps" as you sweep the coil over a shallow target. The strength of the three beeps is almost the same intensity, so it sometimes gets very hard to locate a target in a target rich environment where targets are less than a coil width apart. Out in the open, it's easy to tell you are sweeping over one shallow target, with a distinct rhythm of three beeps that you soon learn to recognize, but with lots of closely-spaced targets, it gets confusing fast. I know this is inherent in the nature of DD coils, but on the Equinox, for whatever reason, the edge targets are very strong and frequently difficult to distinguish from the main center target response. I found this to be still confusing even after several hunts. Going into pinpoint and examining the individual targets clears this up, but it makes hunting in disc mode where there are lots of targets to be sometimes quite tedious as you have to stop, go into pinpoint, and slowly separate out each closely spaced target. Other detectors with DD coils have the same issue, but it just seems a lot worse with the Equinox. I expect more time with the Equinox will help me learn to better separate out the false edge signals from the true center signal. The Bluetooth feature is great. One you go wireless, you don't go back, and Minelab was good enough to use the widely available aptx-LL codec, so that users can pair any number of aftermarket headphones with the detector, as I have already done with the Audition Pro's I bought on sale on Amazon. Build quality seems good. It's just so light and small, it just feels light duty, kind of along the lines of my old Gold Bug Pro. For the price, however, it is excellent and is very well designed, using a tough feeling plastic and nice connectors. Cost of production must be very low, as there are so few components. Picking up my V3i, it feels like a multi-thousand dollar beast in comparison, the screen, the heft, the buttons, everything about the V3i is heavy duty and high-dollar feeling compared to the Equinox. The CTX, too, feels decidedly high-end in comparison, with heft, thick housings, heavy-duty connectors, and the color screen. The Equinox screen is functional, but very simple, not a lot of info, just the basics. The Equinox is a mid-level detector after all, so I'm not faulting it, just making an observation that it has a definite mid-level feel compared to the top machines. And balance: it's so light that it is nose-heavy. Not bad in practice because it's overall so light, you're basically just feeling the weight of the coil itself, but it definitely does not balance well. I'm thinking of adding an external USB battery under the arm cuff mainly just to try to balance it out better. But again, it's so light, that it's not really a problem, just an observation. I have a 6" coil coming, and I'll bet it will be a lot better with the smaller coil. The Equinox does everything very well, including finding deep coins, in one detector. Minelab markets it as an all-purpose detector, and for this, it is the best ever built. But for detectorists who are focused on one type of hunting only, they would still probably be better off with a detector specialized for just that one purpose. I'm not bashing the Equinox. I love mine. But don't expect a silver bullet that will do everything better than every other detector out there. I actually think that Minelab has very nicely filled a hole in their lineup, so that the so-called "well-equipped" dectectorist would have a CTX for deep coins, an Equinox for heavy trash and beach and jewelry hunting, a Gold Monster for VLF nuggetshooting, and a GPZ of some flavor for the die-hard semi-professional prospectors. (If Minelab released a good closed 5x10 coil for the Equinox, it could probably substitute for the Gold Monster). Being fully waterproof opens it up to a lot of different uses for a lot of people. So it fits nicely withing their product line, and if someone wanted just one detector, they would do very well with the Equinox. Overall, I really like the Equinox, but it's not a miracle machine. I will happily keep this detector for its waterproofness, its separation ability, simplicity, cost-benefit ratio, and overall fun factor. It's amazing that Minelab was able to pack so much capability into such a small and inexpensive detector. Bang-for-the-buck factor is the best of any detector.
  20. Well I got the chance to hit my favorite park this afternoon for the first time with my new nox. I ran it in 5 tones, park 2. To be completely transparent, I ran it in this way because this was somehow how it was when I turned it on today and pushed some buttons. I was able to pair the bluetooth headphones completely on accident as I thought I was following the instructions and it wouldn't paired and then I went to turn them off and when I did it paired. Seriously I had no idea how I did it. When i finally hit the ground all I could think of is man this thing is fast! The park I'm hunting is one of those "hunted out" parks. Over the past 45 years it has had MD club hunts, and a bunch of detectorists like me who have brought every machine known to man to hunt it. I personally have used a silver umax, Whites MXT, V3i, AT pro, Etrac, CTX, XP Deus on it over the years. I was out for 2 hours and it was a great hunt! 2 silver, some clad and of course the junk. Some observations 1. If you're a new detector and you just got a Nox, I'd use 5 tones and for the first 10-15 hours or so I'd just hunt for coins. Set your tone for coins to 25 so it rings loud and start to see how your coins sound in your soil. Learn your VDI's, the merc dime was a 26-27 and the 1940 quarter was 6-7 inches down and gave a VDI 31-35. 2. If you're coming from a Deus the Nox will seem heavy believe it or not. I got so spoiled using my deus in terms of lightness and the nox was heavier. Obviously if you are coming from a CTX or Etrac it will be like swinging a toothpick. 3. The 11" coil is easy to sweep and scrub the grass with. It really feels like you can cover a bunch of ground. 4. Beaver tails come in at 12-13. So does nickels, so does gold. 5. Pinpointing is a breeze but truthfully you can wiggle it just as easy and not use the pinpointer and end up over the center of the coil. The tone is easy to "see" under the coil if you know what i mean. 6. Study Steve's VDI diagram. It's spot on. I knew with an 80% accuracy rate everything I chose to dig. I dug one zinc just to test the VDI and then avoided them the rest. Now when I go jewelry hunting I'll change my approach but for today I could notch it out just by hearing and seeing. 7. The Equinox is a confidence machine. The hype definitely gives a placebo effect. You feel like you're going to find good stuff. 8. I didn't think I'd sell my XP and Excal but after today I likely will and replace them with a second 800 and once the coils come out I'll just keep the 6" coil on one and the 11" on the other for beach and park hunting. 9. Don't let the haters change your view of the Equinox. Multi-frequency is going to be better in 90% of the the situations you'll likely find yourself hunting in. The arguments surrounding FBS and BBS is irrelevant to the average hunter who is simply looking to find coins and jewelry. That's not a criticism of the CTX or Etrac but rather how good the nox is going to be. Who cares if it costs a 3rd of a CTX. Unless you're buying a CTX it's price shouldn't matter. There's probably a ton more I could say if I was a technical type person. I'm not, I'm strictly a treasure hunter and what I don't have in eye sight I have in hearing and the equinox is a really, really good machine. Tomorrow it's to the ranch and the iron patch. I can't wait, life is good. Best to all of you.
  21. I got out to my old rancho permission with the nox this afternoon and I went to a spot that I had felt reasonably sure I had cleaned it out with my deus in the last month. The Old rancho had approximately 70 small homes spread out over 50-60 acres. It's now a nursery and my spots to hunt are predicated on when the owner moves his trees. Sometimes I literally hunt in between the rows in a 2-3 foot wide by 100 feet lane between trees. I've used Historic aerials to help out but the way I find a house that's been wiped from the face of the earth is to find the big iron left behind in the ground and then start to hunt in between it. The spot I hunted today was cleared about 2 months ago and it's about 60 feet wide by 100 feet deep. I was pretty secure in the fact that I had cleaned the area pretty well as I had taken out clad from the 60's and 70's, 4 mercs and about 20 or so wheaties. In addition I've found some pretty cool relics. I had hunted some of the same ground in the past 3-4 years with the CTX and ATpro just not all of it like I did with the deus. Unlike yesterday when I felt like I had an 80% guess rate in the park, the iron knocked me down to between 50-60% as evidenced by all the junk I dug that fooled me. The fooling came in the beginning though and here's what I learned. - all that junk sounded good, clear and strong however the VDI would move + or - 4 numbers. I'd get a great high tone, and then check the VDI and it would show 23, I'd move around it and then it was 27 or 24 or 25. In order to learn if this was true most of the time I dug all that junk and the tone with the jumpy VDI was the same every time so remember, good tone, jumpy VDI is probably junk. - the nox sounds way different in the iron homesteads than in a park. That may sound stupid or "duh" but my Deus sounded the same no matter if i was at the beach, park or the old rancho. To me, the fact that my deus responds the same isn't good. It means it's not AS ADAPTABLE as the Nox. I don't know if this is the reason but one is a single frequency and one is multi-frequency. I'm not trying to knock the deus but it has more limits than the Equinox and I suspect this is going to be the same for most other detectors. - when you hear the chirp you have to investigate further, don't walk on. One of the wheats only sounded off on one side in one direction only. Every time I got a chirp today it was mixed in with another signal. You could hear the iron and the barber each give a repeatable tone. I didn't have a single target that was by itself, everything was mixed together but the amazing thing was the equinox gave me the info I needed to dig. So back to the hunt in the hunted out iron patch. 6 coppers 1 zinc 3 wheats (46, 37 and one too hard to read) 1 1912 Barber Dime 1 palmolive token that's rotting and the Good Roads bell. All this from a place I'd "cleaned" out over the course of the last month. The barber was in between an iron nail and aluminum. The token had iron in the hole which is why I think it's rotting because the iron seemed to rest on the token. It's probably cliche now but the Equinox is a game changer and today proved it for me as did yesterday in the park. 2 hunted out locations, 3 silvers, 3 wheats and a bunch of clad. Keep in mind that I really don't even understand the Equinox yet. Every park, old home or place is now back open for business no matter who has come before to it. I can't wait for all of you to get yours. You're going to have a lot of fun. Best to all you, Skate
  22. I know these are what many of us don't consider relics this is more of my first impressions of the Equinox as many of you are waiting on one or considering one my hunting buddy and I gave the nox 800s a run in two tough homesites that were heavy iron. I mean carpet of iron with iron audio on ( horse shoe button) sounded like a machine gun When we get our video clips together I will post a video of the hunt. We pulled lots of coins and some modern relics from thick iron. I ran field 1 and 2 5 tone iron audio on as well. The find that truly impressed me was the small cuff size flat button it was a soild tone a 10 vdi both ways it was 9- 10" inches with nails and iron in and around the hole. I stuck the pinpointer in the hole to measure it the black cap was just below soil line. Now it's important to note the scale as most of you know is from -9 to 0 iron and 0 to 40 non ferrous. This button IDs 10 or 11 out of the ground Here in our soil finding relics and coins over 6 to 8" is not common unless it's milder soil or large targets with vlfs or even FBS . We have moderate mineralized soil and often hunt heavy iron homesites both combined present challanges to the ctx and the at pro even with iron audio on. My hope was the nox would perform well in our soil. If so it would work better in Culpeper, VA (where I go a few times a year for civil war relics) then the ctx or at pro where soil can be nasty as many of you know. However, my go-to machine there is the gpx 4800 but in heavy iron or trashy fields the gpx just doesn't work well being PI. I am very impressed with nox so far and I know we have barely scratched the surface of how to unlock it's full potential. In our soil here the nox performed in the type of site the ctx would struggle in. What I found different about the nox was its power, recovery, separation and accurate id in tough conditions. That's a big deal in mineralized soil folks must non pluse I'd anything over a few inches as iron. Now the only thing I changed was tones to 5 instead of 50 in field 2, sensitivity and recovery in fact everything else was stock. I already feel this machine is different and has excellent relic potential especially in mineralized ground. For me when I don't need a gpx or in areas it can't do what I need the nox will be my first out.
  23. OK all, I finally did a bit of testing of the Equinox 800, and the CTX 3030, in my test garden. There is a lot I could say, but I will try to keep this relatively short. Background -- My test garden was "planted" about 6 years ago. I have pennies, nickels, and both clad and silver dimes and quarters buried, generally at depths from 6" to 12", every two inches. I also have a few "challenged" targets -- a 6" deep penny with nail on top, a 6" deep penny with a nail roughly 3" to the side, and then the same nail configurations with two 6" deep dimes, and then two 8" deep quarters. The soil in my test garden is rather harsh/mineralized; today, ground balance on the Equinox was ranging from the high 40s to high 50s, depending upon mode. There is also some EMI; I could not run the Equinox any higher than 20 sensitivity, if I wanted to minimize the chatter -- and that includes repeated noise cancels. I have tested numerous machines in this test garden. Many single-frequency machines will fail to ID coins beyond about 6" deep -- with all IDs trending solidly toward iron after the 6" depth mark. Exceptions to this have been Explorers/E-Tracs, the Fisher Gold Bug Pro, and Fisher F-19. I will also note that Minelab FBS machines get a bit more depth in other locations locally, as compared to what I get in my test garden. I wanted to accomplish a few things, today, in my limited amount of time. 1. I wanted to get a general sense of how the CTX 3030 was seeing each coin, and then do the same with the Equinox -- just to get a general sense of what the "limits" of each machine were, and which would detect/ID "tough" targets better (both fringe-depth targets, and the "challenged" nail/coin targets) 2. Check several different modes/configurations of the Equinox, to see how changes affect the unit's capabilities. 3. Check the Equinox on a few deep coins, to see whether it could match CTX depth in this dirt, on these coins. Before I give any analysis/summary, I would point out that back when my primary machines were the Minelab Explorer SE Pro and the Fisher Gold Bug Pro, I ran a lot of "head-to-head" tests between the two. At that time, the Gold Bug Pro would consistently give equal, if not better, reporting on most -- if not all -- coins in my test garden. Particularly on low conductors (nickels), but even on clad and silver coins. HOWEVER, "real world" use proved the Explorer a much better choice for deep-coin hunting, for various reasons -- including better depth at most locations than could be achieved in my test garden, better identification of trash targets (allowing me to move more efficiently through trashy parks and not dig as much junk), etc. Having said that, I will say that in short, the Equinox performed better overall, on all targets, than the CTX did. VERY similar to how the Gold Bug Pro "bested" the Explorer. Points: 1. The Equinox gave more consistent "dig" information on the coin/nail combination targets, from a larger range of sectors in 360 rotation around the targets. In other words, smaller sectors of "pure iron" tones and ID were given as compared to the CTX; in other words, the high-tone, higher VDI responses from the Equinox formed a more complete portion of the 360 circle-of-rotation around the targets than the CTX was able to. My conclusion, the Equinox will be a superior "unmasker." Not surprising. 2. The Equinox could give chirps on deep high-conductive coins that the CTX could not. My conclusion, the Equinox does not "lack depth." 3. The Equinox could give enough clues to make a "dig" decision on some deep coins that the CTX could only manage inconsistent "chirps" on -- and I attempted to capture an example on video (a 10" deep clad quarter), which I will link later in the post. My conclusion, interesting, but not totally surprising, given my experience with my test garden, and other units I've run through it. 4. Lowering reactivity/recovery settings does increase depth/give a better signal on deep targets, BUT -- sweep speed must be slowed down substantially for the lowest reactivity settings, and increased substantially for the highest settings, to accommodate the speeds, and achieve maximum results. 5. Park 1 mode was tested the most; different modes (and settings) did afford different advantages on different targets, but I am not prepared to comment more thoroughly yet. I did note that Gold 2 mode is indeed a HOT mode, and could hit targets as well if not better than any other mode. 6. Ground balance matters (duh) on this unit, and it should be balanced each time you switch modes, as each mode settles at a different ground balance number depending upon mode (when using the auto-balance process). 7. Noise cancel should ALSO be performed when switching to a different mode, as different channels were selected by the machine as the "quietest" channel, depending upon mode. 8. Higher reactivity settings seemed to experience higher EMI/noise. 9. The Equinox is NOT weak on deep high conductors, compared to FBS. 10. With that said, the Equinox was able to give more stable ID, to deeper depth, on nickels, versus high-conductive coins -- i.e. better ID "lock" on nickels, versus bouncier ID and audio on high conductors (though overall depth of detection -- in terms of a "dig-me" response, was similar between nickels and higher-conductive coins, if allowing for the jumpier VDI numbers on the high conductors). 11. Beach mode -- despite lower frequency weighting -- did not offer improved detection of high conductors, as I thought it might. One reason, I believe, may be that because ground balance is "locked" to zero in beach mode (which I did not know until today), and with my test-garden dirt balancing in the high 40s to high 50s, this was too much of an "offset" from the fixed "0" balance for beach mode to "shine" in this case (my guess). 12. The Equinox should not be thought of as "one detector, with multiple adjustments," but -- in my opinion -- more of a "multiple different detectors in one package," with each mode representing a "different" machine. I have much more testing to do, but wanted to put my preliminary thoughts out there, for those interested. Here is a link to the CTX vs. Equinox video, shown over the 10" clad quarter. Forgive the quality -- I've never shot/edited a detecting video before, and only had an iPhone to record with. Still, I think this video illustrates the results I was getting in general, CTX vs. Equinox. I chose this target, as it was "on the fringe" of what was still "diggable" with the Equinox (Park 1, reactivity/recovery 2, iron bias 3, ground balance 48, sensitivity 20, noise cancel channel 1) but "sub-diggable" with the CTX (maxed out manual 30 sensitivity, open screen above the 20 FE line, fast off, deep off, 50-tone conductive, Ferrous-Coin separation). https://youtu.be/JZpCD1NTmE4 Steve
  24. People may be wondering, with machines shipping, will I be shooting any of the super popular “this versus that” videos. I think my doing that sort of stuff with me involved in Equinox as closely as I have been would be in poor taste. I am not trying to show anyone up or prove anything, so I will leave all that to people who are. Anything I do would be blown off as biased anyway so really just not worth my time. They will be shot and posted by others however. I don’t really care if somebody posts videos showing anything one way or the other about any detectors. All I ask is they get posted where appropriate. As a general rule, if a video is this versus that, with the express goal of showing one machine as better than another, then the Metal Detector Advice & Comparisons Forum is really the most appropriate location. Expect such videos to be moved there if posted anywhere else. The videos most welcome here will be the ones helping people get the best performance out of the Equinox or fun live dig videos, etc. It certainly need not be all sunshine and roses. If somebody finds a glitch in Equinox and can document it with a video, great. The main thing is to stay focused on facts and leave the tirades that seem to accompany such things aside. Good critical feedback done well results in better product going forward. Thanks!
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