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Exactly! If it was going to crap out it would have done it shortly after it was submerged. I’ve heard the nokta legends are better in water than the original equinox. Is this true?

What are most of y’all using these days? Which one is deeper? Better on small gold?

IYO----Which one is the most effective gold (nugget) hunter----the Manticore with 5X8" coil or the Equinox 900 with 6" coil?

I tested 50 gold pieces, rings, pendants and anything gold, with the Equinox 800 and the Deus 2. The Dues 2 numbers were jumpy just by two or three, but it did sound good on most. The Equinox hit strong on everything with a solid number. On odd shaped and small objects of gold even a small gold chain the Equinox sounded much better. Both were in Park. Why?????

Some may find this interesting.

I'd rather they put the 800 into the 900 body and keep it alive.

Both of these machines have been out for awhile now.---Would like some opinions.---Which one is the best/most effective (for relic/coin hunting-- working in mineralized/iron/square nail proliferated sites)?-------Thanks--------Del

I wonder if Minelab could make an update for the Equinox that would make the Vanquish coils compatible with the Equinox. If it could be done, it would be a masterstroke that would surely bring them more benefits. I myself would buy a vanquish just for the coils

During the last month I’ve been taking my new 18’’ Nox coil along to compare it to both the 15’’ and 15x12’’ coils on wild targets.. To keep the swapping around to a minimum, the 18’’ coil is always kept on a Nox 600 and the others are swapped around on a Nox 800 on alternate days.. I realise this doesn’t make it a fair comparison as from one day to the next I’m comparing the 18’’ coil to either the 15’’ or 15x12’’ coil, never all three at once on the same wild target.. In my defence I can only say that I’ve found that both the smaller coils are pretty similar in performance.. Some days one might sniff out a target that the other one’s missed, on other days it’s the reverse.. In terms of depth and sensitivity to targets there’s no real noticeable difference between the two.. What I’m after here is a comparison between a very big coil (for a VLF detector) and its more modestly sized cousins.. Is bigger really better? As far as added hassles go, it’s been worth the effort of walking back to where I left the other detector as for me wild target comparisons are the best way to get very intimate with the latest addition to my coil harem.. So far there’ve been no ‘Wow that’s deep!’ moments but I wouldn’t be surprised if the knockout blow is yet to come.. I’ve still got a gut feeling that given time the 18’’ coil will sniff out deeper targets than the other coils, just not sure if that’s gonna be by as much as 30% as Coiltek claims.. Having said that, the 18’’ is surprisingly sensitive for such a big coil.. It didn’t pick up a small gold ring that the 15x12’’ coil sniffed out, but to my big surprise it did hit on two silver 6-pences, a copper 1 cent piece and bits of junk that the other coils couldn’t find - despite cranking up the sensitivity.. Not even a faint iffy signal or a quick flash on the target ID, whilst with the 18’’ coil all these small deep targets screamed ‘Dig Me!’.. While I can see the large coil missing a low-conductive target, I didn’t expect to see the smaller coils missing high-conductive targets.. What voodoo is at work here? On wet/dry salty sand I’ve been running the 18’’ coil on the same settings and sensitivities as the smaller coils (between 21-23).. In bays with layers of black sand beneath coral sand or in moving salty water I’m using lower sensitivities (between 18-21).. In trying to make the coil run ‘better’, I haven’t noticed any real depth loss or gain by mucking around with the sensitivity settings only between the Beach 1 and 2 programs.. Which is the same as the other coils.. I’m finding the same amount of targets at the same depths running within the same sensitivity range I’d normally use in that situation.. The only real variables for me are black sand and moving salty water but these just make the coil a bit noisier compared to the others and don’t seem to effect its overall performance.. In bays with high EMI it sometimes squawks its head off.. Coverage wise this thing is a monster but it’s not much heavier to swing than the other coils.. It’s been great for making sure I’ve covered long stretches of beach as best I could without missing anything too glaringly obvious.. I haven’t used the under-the-armpit-around-the-neck-along-the-arm harness yet but that’s mainly because I’ve been swapping around with lighter coils.. After a long day swinging this coil you’d definitely be a bit sore by sunset.. While I’m waiting for it to stun me with its touted knockout depth, I’ve got no regrets so far about buying the 18’’ Nox coil.. Whatever voodoo it used to sniff out those small coins when the others couldn’t makes it worthy of its place in the toolbox..

This afternoon I got in a quick hunt and saw some really nice local waves. It was a great day for them and I remembered my surfing days from Florida and Hawaii. I pretty much gave it up when I moved to California's cold waters. While watching out of the corner of my eye I was looking for a patch. My normal spots were not giving up anything so I moved along until I found a few quarters in between all the pennies. When the new 'hits' ran out I returned to work everything a the spot. It was the best chance I had. There was no time to go to another beach. As luck would have it I got just enough to keep me going without saying 'enough is enough' and out of a scratchy sound came this ring. It is 6.6g. That is for certain. It feels like gold but I really can't tell because the mark (which includes an 'N') has been written over with an inscription. It says "B + C Always 1-20-93" which makes me wonder the materials most in use in 1993. The stone reminds me of glass more than precious but who knows. The break at the resizing area made it sound real scratchy. It didn't have the full tone of a normal ring. It reads 8-9 on my 800/15. There is a green corrosion at the break area/resize area. Could this have been a ring someone inherited and then they resized if for a wedding? That would make the manufacture date and materials somewhat different. It was a good little hunt none the less and I think I go back tomorrow. This was a little 'target' I found before the ring. It really slowed me down a bit as pinpointing it and scooping it up became a problem. Just as I was about to move on I spotted it and felt it with my fingers. It sounds good in the lower teens but to my surprise it has a stone in it or ?? It weighs .25g.

At times of the year, I really struggle with Black Sand in my location. This year was no different. I have done more comprehensive testing on updated machines. On many days I hunted half days on each machine so I could tell differences in same conditions. [thanks to my wife delivering machines] I want to outline a few general recommendations: 1. Slow Down, 2. Use Tracking GB, 3. Sensitivity set so you hear just slight Black Sand interference. 4. Look at your fringe targets with a couple more points of sensitivity. 5. Don't trust your machine is working well with moving water, wave wash. [do checks]. D2> So much to unpack here. First, the D2 is a tale of two machines. One [the devil] in Black Sand, the other, [the angel] in non-Black Sand. The positives> Light to hunt. Fair separation of iron from non-ferrous. Good separation of targets. Good at noise canceling. The negatives. Noisy. The Menu. Clipped target sounds at depth for non-ferrous. Moving water takes D2 out at any depth. Must look at many targets from Mutiple directions[time consuming] . Equinox 800> Not much to unpack. The Positives> Better Black Sand handling. The Menu. Good separation but under the D2. GOOD sounding targets [not clipped]. MUCH better target sounds at depth. Better and faster deciding iron from non-ferrous. Works with moving water unless target is deep. The Negatives> Lousy noise cancel. Heavier to hunt with. Waterproof issues. Sometimes loss of targets in the hole. Hunting summary> For about a week I hunted the D2 exclusively, I really wanted to get a gold chain hunting in Beach Sensitive [which I think is better than Equinox Beach 2.] [no gold chain] Then had the Equinox out a few times. Then updated the D2, and started hunting both machines daily. Every day I started with the D2 and switched to the Equinox. There was not ONE DAY that I wanted the D2 to remain with me. I find the D2 ear exhausting, both in how it handles Black Sand and in deciphering targets. The clipped and bite-y sounding nonferrous targets at depth are a real PIA. The range of pull-tab numbers are ridiculous. Tough to make headway with the interrogation needed on some targets. Not much difference in hunting with a max frequency of 24 or 40. Maybe 1-point sensitivity lower with 40. ANY moving water would completely wipeout the detection field of the D2 in both Beach and Beach sensitive. At best I could only pull a 91-sensitivity setting, but most detecting was done at 87-89. The Equinox> So MUCH better on handling Black Sand. Most hunting was done at 21 even with water contact. Detection field works in moving water but not on targets of depth. With the Horseshoe mode on telling the difference between Ferrous and nonferrous is MUCH easier and quicker. The unmistakable double ring of iron is clear and smooth. Target investigation time is cut down. I don't think there is a winner in the small bit category. Both machines seem to find small bits well. While I did not do any head-to-head burying of targets. Both machines seem to have their moments of man that was shallower than I thought and also the holy crap, that was deep moment. NOT trying to make this a one is better than another, your conditions may provide different results. If you have compared other machines to the ones I have PLEASE post! I will answer all questions of settings or conditions or ??? In the picture: ALL of the larger jewelry was found with the Equinox yesterday. Only a few small bits with the D2. This has been a bit of a trend. I give the nod to the Equinox's ability to tell ferrous from non-ferrous at depth. Most of this jewelry was deep with negative numbers but had clean one beep hits. My D2 will be in the closet until the black sand subsides.

I have not been able to determine the usefulness of the EQX 900 iron bias setting. It appears to only suppress the overall target signal. In the attached video the Nokta Legend has an iron filter, bottle cap reject plus an iron stability setting. It appears the Legend “iron stability” setting isolates and actually addresses false positive signals. What do you think?

Just read in the Manticore section that a possible second update may be coming. Meanwhile those of us with 900s are wondering if there will ever be an update . Back before the first Manticore update someone had posted from the e-mail response they got from Minelab about an update for the 900 and their reply was it would be released when ready. Implying that there was an update coming. Well since the first Manticore update which came with mixed results, it seemed to work well for some and then not so much for others in different parts of the country. So I have to think Minelab may be reworking the updates. SO MINELAB if You're READING, along with addressing the seriously way too jumpy numbers, better target Id's and other issues could you please include in the update, 1 the long noise cancel feature that the Manticore uses. 2 a mineralization meter and 3 please, please, PLEASE a third party headphone option. Thanks in advance. One other issue with the 900 that seems to be constant for me is deeper targets. After 60 + hunts with the 900 I have yet to hit deep coin sized targets, deeper than 4 inches. I thought it might be the ground I hunt but just recently I took the Xterra Pro to one of the same fields I hunt and it started hitting 7 & 8 inch pulltabs right away. As A matter of fact too many if you ask me. In the past I've hunted the same areas with the 800 and had no problems hittting coins at 8+ inches. Has anyone else encountered depth issues with the 900 ? Also a note of interest, in my area, I would say 90 % of the time the 800, 900 and Xterra Pro severely up average the Id numbers. Particularly pennies whether they are Ihps, wheats or memorials doesn't matter. And with the 900 and Xterra, they seem to lowball the numbers for dimes. Minelab help us out, we're waiting.

I attended our detecting club meeting on Friday night and this was my display. I found a lot of foreign coins this month, quite a few very worn wheats, a silver dime and silver quarter. You may have seen some of these items on another thread. It was a fun month but I didn't get out to the gold fields. Maybe this month I will.

I always thought that GB settings were independent of the Recovery Speed. Is that true for the MF detectors, like the Equinox: i.e. if the recovery speed is adjusted, does the GB stay the same, or also needs to be changed as a result, everything else being equal?

As explained elsewhere my metal detecting is winding down from my glory days. I will never quit detecting, but it is a more casual close to home thing going forward. With that in mind I just don't need the dozen detectors I usually have had banging around the house for most of the last couple decades. I had already weeded things down pretty well but job one was to stop getting new detectors. The last new detector I added to my mix was the XP Deus 2 a couple years ago. After disposing of other models, like the Tarsacci for instance, I was left with the following: Minelab Equinox Garrett Axiom XP Deus 2 White's DFX For what I do I'm pretty satisfied with the Axiom as a general purpose PI so that's settled. The DFX sports a Bigfoot coil, and I own the machine as much to run the coil as the other way around, so it is not going anywhere. In fact it might become my most used VLF soon. So what to do with the Equinox 800 and Deus 2? The Manticore was really looking like a replacement for both. I can't really get enthused about the XP way of things. People rave about the light weight being a real factor for them, but I don't consider weight to be an issue for me with any detector weighing under three pounds. At the end of the day coils are a big deal for me, and I don't like proprietary limited coil options. Wireless coils leave me cold. People can argue with me all they want but they are wasting their time. I like wired coils, and I lean to detectors with third party coil options. So it is the coils that decided it for me. Minelab took too long with Manticore coils and now I just don't care any more. I'm also peeved XP has withheld the 5x10 coil from Deus 2 owners. My Equinox 800 I have a 6" round coil, the Coiltek 5x10, the stock 11" coil, and the Minelab 12x15 coil. XP has nothing similar to offer in way of coils. Nor does the Manticore. Plus I have custom rods for my Equinox perfect for both compact backpacking and for beach use. I even have an S rod that I have yet to use. The icing on the cake is a set of custom Tony Eisenhower underwater headphones I really like. Would I get rid of all that and keep the Deus 2? No. Would I trade all that for the Manticore as it exists right now? No. So I think I have after ages finally weeded it down to three detectors. The Deus 2 will find a new home. And I am left with... Garrett Axiom - my most used detector for gold prospecting and beach detecting Minelab Equinox 800 with full accessory set - do it all coin, relic, jewelry, gold nuggets, you name it White's DFX with Bigfoot - Park jewelry use almost exclusively Maybe, just maybe the Manticore will tempt me again in a year or so, once the software bugs and coil drought get straightened out. But after 50 years I feel like I have got off the new detector merry go round. There really is something to be said for using a machine you know inside and out, and fact is my Equinox talks to me. The Deus 2 still speaks French and frankly I just don't care to make the effort to learn French. Too old to learn new tricks? Maybe. The main thing for me is I won't waste any more time thinking about this machine or that machine and instead just focus purely on using what I have to best effect. Compared to what I started with 50 years ago I'm drenched in fabulous technology I once only dreamed of, so now matter how I look at it I'm thrilled with the detectors I have now. Minelab Equinox 800 with 6" coil and telescoping rod White's DFX with Bigfoot coil Garrett Axiom with 7x11 coil Equinox 800 with 12x15 coil and steveg counterweighted rod The perfect pair? Axiom 7x11 and Equinox telescoping 5x10

Jeff, given your very fine review of the Nox vs Legend for general detecting, I was wondering if you have any updated thoughts on Nox vs Legend specifically for gold prospecting? Equinox Gold Mode versus Legend Gold Mode - which do you prefer and why? Put another way, given that a Nox 800 costs 50% more than the Legend, is there any reason for a new buyer to consider the Nox over the Legend for gold nuggets? Thanks in advance for any answer.

I, like many others have a huge amount of appreciation and trust in the detecting abilities of the Equinox 600/800. My only issues with the original Noxes are its shaft system, well documented water ingress and its too compressed target ID range especially around target IDs 10 to 20. Other than that, the Equinox 600/800 really revived my VLF detecting life. I personally know other detectorists that have had the same experience. I will own at least one of those detectors for as long as they last. Nokta released the Legend back in early 2022. Lots of opinions have been expressed by people that either haven't used one or have used one very sparingly. There have been opinions about the roll-out, marketing hype, Nox cloning, the number of software upgrades (why wasn't it a finished product at release???) and the well known speaker and software update issues many people had including me. The fact is from my dig hole and my soil conditions: The Nokta Legend has at least equaled and in some aspects excelled beyond the Equinox 600/800 from my experience. That is saying a lot if you have reaped the benefits of all that the Equinox 600/800 have to offer. I am not going to talk about the Equinox 700/900 since I don't own one anymore and have moved on. As a USA coin hunter, I can't tell you how many US nickels I have recovered (stopped counting at 100 several months ago) and six gold rings that had the same target IDs as US nickels, from parks that I had pounded with the Equinox 600 and 800. The Noxes didn't miss those targets. They just reported them as having target IDs and sounding too much like a modern oval pull tab which I was tired of digging. With the Legend's expanded mid range target IDs, US nickels (and any gold rings with the same IDs) do not share target ID space with nearly as much regularly occurring aluminum trash. The Legend also does just fine on deep clad, deep silver coins and jewelry, iron trashed sites, and in the same hot ground that I often hunt on that the Nox 600/800 handle well. It has also done very well at the fresh and saltwater beaches where I have used it. If you are in the market for a waterproof SMF detector that detects at least as well with very similar audio characteristics and target ID stabilty as the Equinox 800 but doesn't leak and has a slightly more expanded target ID system in all the right places, has a good shaft system, good coil selection, good wireless capabilities that are compatible with the Equinox 800 Bluetooth gear, and also does just fine in the gold fields, from my experience after almost 1000 hours of use, the Legend is a viable and very inexpensive alternative for an out of warranty Equinox 800 that you don't want to completely wear out or dunk anymore. Just my experiences.

I thought it's time we kicked off a poll to see how happy people are with their purchase if they've purchased one of the new models. The forum limits the number of questions you can ask so it's a pretty simple poll to get an idea of how many people bought one of these new models and how many are finding it as good or better than their old model. Feel free to comment below with other things you're found with the new models, hopefully Minelab reads it and takes not of anything people bring up of importance.

I've got both machines so going to post comparisons as I get to try them out. At this point I've only done air tests I wont do real testing until tomorrow but here are my initial thoughts... Build - Machines look exactly the same. Shaft is much better on the 700. Definitely much improved. It is a few ounces lighter but nothing I can notice when I hold each machine. Interface - Switching through menus feels nearly the same as well. I was able to easily navigate the menus as I was used to the 600. Cost - I actually paid more for my 600 when I bought it five years ago as no dealers were offering discounts when it first came out ($650 vs $620) Now the interesting part...power, depth, tones... I've only done air tests I will test at the beach tomorrow but there is a difference. I live at the beach so my soil is a sand/dirt mix. Very little EMI unless I am near a powerline or something. I did this test in my backyard where there are no lines or anything else in the ground. Closest house or anything is about 1/2 acre away. Settings for the air test - 20 Sensitivity, 0 Iron bias, 2 Recovery speed (this is 4 on the 800). These are the settings I hunt with. The only thing I ever change is my sensitivity which hovers from 19-23. Comparison: Nox 600 in 5 tones: Quarter: 10" 10k Ring: 12.5" Nox 700 in 5 tones and All tones: Quarter: 11.5" 10k Ring: 13" Nox 700 in dP tone: Quarter: 13" 10k Ring: 15" As you can see from my air test, there is definitely more power in the new gen equinox. In the same tone and settings its slightly deeper. Not sure that will translate to much in real world settings. In the dP tone, its significantly deeper and more sensitive. This is how I used to hunt with my Excal and CZ21. Its very exciting for the beach. I also did test a penny, wheat penny, silver ring, silver nickel, and nickel with similar results in the depth improvement. How will that translate in the ground? Well I haven't tested it yet but I assume its going to translate to significantly more depth when using the dP setting. I think if you are a hunter that prefers the 'beep' tones you aren't going to notice much of an upgrade. If you are like me and looking for depth and prefer the dP type tone, I think this machine might add 1+ inches and really help find whispers when finding deeper targets.

Friends..I discussed one topic and was advised by people here and professionals and experienced people. But I will still make a choice between these 2 detectors and I want your help. Which one should I buy, which one do you recommend and which one will be useful for me? I am going to search in the mountains by the rivers on the rocks by the river banks in the forests in the fields and so on. I want.to search for gold.more shares.I want to search for gold..but at the same time I want to search for coins,relics,jewellery and jewelry. Which detector do you guys recommend or which of these 2 detectors will be useful for me for all this? Thank you in advance.

I want to search for gold in the mountains, in the rocks, in the rivers, in the forest, and on the ground. But I want to search for more share of gold. Which detector is better, which of these 2 detectors would you recommend? Or which detector would you recommend?

This is a semi in the ground test on a 0.1 gram gold nugget for anyone that would like to use one of the "do it all" simultaneous multi frequency VLFs for gold prospecting. For the "fairness" police, please don't complain about coil sizes. The smallest coil available for Deus 2 is the 9" coil. So blame XP not me. XP include a simultaneous multi frequency "Gold Prospecting" mode on Deus 2. I would like to use it. This video shows why currently I will not use it. Video starts with checking the test area ground for targets, ground balancing, showing the target and how it is placed in the ground and then the test begins. Deus 2 uses customized FMF Goldfield and customized single frequency Mono program both with sensitivity on 95. I wanted to use the Hi Square audio, Pitch tones and the absolute zero discrimination for both programs along with a slight threshold. That is why I did not use stock default programs. All settings are as identical as I can make them except for the new Audio Filter feature which is on setting 1 for FMF Goldfield custom program 16 and it is on 0 for 40 kHz Mono custom program 15 which was an oversight failure on my part. I did retry it after making the video with FMF Goldfield custom program having Audio filter on 0. It made zero difference. Legend starts at 3:25 of the video. It uses its 6" coil with sensitivity on 23 in Gold Multi and Gold 40 kHz. Equinox 900 starts at 6:00 of the video. It uses its 6" coil with sensitivity on 23 in Gold 1 Multi and Gold 1 40 kHz. All settings are clearly shown in the video for each program being used on each detector. The ruler sticking up out of the ground behind the target is 5 cm high and the target itself is 2" deep or roughly another 5 cm deep. Legend and Equinox in the Gold Multi modes can hit this target 5 cm above the ground. They can hit it at 4 cm above the ground using single frequency 40 kHz. Deus 2 using its 40 kHz Mono program also hit this target at 4 cm above the ground. We could debate about whether Deus 2 in FMF Goldfield is actually hitting the target even with the coil bumping into the target holder. Deus 2's mineralization meter is between half and 3/4th full so moderate to high mineralization which all three detectors struggle with when ground balancing in selectable single frequency 40 kHz. This video is being sent to XP. I sent XP an email and they replied within 24 hours which I really appreciate. Thank You XP!!!!! This is the email exchange between me and XP: HI Jeff Thanks for this feedback. Yes you have right the 40khz of the DEUS II would perform very well if available also in the gold Field Program, as the mono frequencies from the DEUS II are more powerfull than DEUS 1. We will think to make this availabe in the next version. Regards XP TEAM Message : XP, thank you very much for the Deus ll software update version 1.0 and for making it Mac compatible. I am a gold prospector. I use VLF and Pulse Induction detectors. I use a VLF detector for detecting the smallest bits of gold in the 0.5 gram and much smaller size range. I have used Deus 1 and ORX for this. They work very well in their Gold modes. I would like to use Deus 2 for gold prospecting. However, even after updating to version 1.0, Deus 2 FMF Goldfield sensitivity to very small gold nuggets 0.5 gram and smaller down to 0.01 grams is extremely poor. Deus 2 Mono or Fast 40 outperform Deus 2 FMF Goldfield on these types of targets by up to 5cm. One of my test nuggets is 0.08 grams. It can only be detected using FMF Goldfield at 3cm. Fast 40 and Deus 2 Mono will easily detect this same small nugget at 8cm. Being able to use FMF technology in highly mineralized gold prospecting areas would be really beneficial. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, FMF Goldfield's insensitivity on small to very small bits of easily detectable gold using Deus 2 Mono is still very disappointing.

Some may find something useful in this video, what I got out of it is seeing just how badly VLF's work in those hot Aussie soils, as soon as he turned on all metal mode on the Nox it was going crazy so he had to keep disc on, when he ground balances it never does balance. Such a contrast to here in the gold areas where I don't even need to ground balance as I don't get any feedback from the soil in defaults. I can see why Aussies think VLF's are pretty pointless, they actually work pretty well in my ground though so I do quite like VLF's for gold prospecting in milder soils, in Australia especially where this guy is testing these detectors I wouldn't even bother using one at all.