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"The Consequence of Equinox". A term to be used to describe how something new devalues and virtually obsoletes anything that does not have the latest technology and performance. What I am seeing is an ALMOST complete halt to metal detector sales in the 650.00 on up range. Used machines even high end detectors have dropped in value and sit on forums and for sale sights with hardly any interest. The testers that have had their hands on the Equinox and dumped their machines were lucky, they had the "insider trading" advantage. Minelab makes fantastic machines and whomever does their marketing is an absolute genius. Not only have they come up with a new and supposedly show stopper machine, they have dealt a crushing blow to other manufactures that have machines with less features in that price range and above. How about a Deus for 1500.00 with less features? A V3i heavy and not waterproof? A CTX heavy and more than twice the cost. An MX Sport single frequency at the same price. AT Pro, nah single frequency. I know that I would have loved to have sold off a a couple machines and not took a beating. But hey the old machines are like junk in the closet now to be taken out for nostalgic reasons. Hey remember the radio shack machine you found that 1/4-20 washer with? I can't sell that! LOL. Well folks hopefully we are into a new era of latest and greatest. I really don't know how many detectorists are out there that will spend the money to support companies that can afford to have the brain trust to develop cutting edge technology. Well that's my rant and my personal opinion on this. Now to check on my E800 order. I still have a fondness for my deus though and will keep the batteries charged. Dig we must!

I am new to this sport, and waiting for my Equinox 800 to arrive. Anyone in SoCal care to show a newbie the in’s and out’? Looking forward to meeting new friends, and learning about the equipment. Located in Ventura CA

New member, West Tenn, I have been following Steve's great sharing of information about the Equinox since Oct 1st. Ordered mine soon after. Thanks Steve for the great website. Can some of Steve's post on the features be grouped together or do we need to bump them to the top. Looking forward to swinging this Minelab. HH Fred

Now that the Prospecting Mode supports multi mode, wondering how it will work for relic hunting in heavy iron? Can't wait to test one of these and do some head to head testing between the EQ800 and the Makro Multi Kruzer at my iron infested relic sites

I have been using an Equinox for some time now, and a few of my early posts on the subject were received with skepticism because of my over the top enthusiasm. More time has passed, and with Equinox now getting ready to find its way into the hands of the general public I decided it’s time to reflect and recap. Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes the perfect detector. As someone who has been detecting for over 45 years now I certainly know what I want in a perfect detector. I like to partake in any type of detecting that exists, and so I want one detector that truly is as versatile as possible, with the least compromise possible. This is a complex and difficult task, because historically certain detecting tasks have been at odds with each other. In particular there has been a gap between detectors that are good at handling saltwater, yet which can also find tiny gold. In the past that meant I needed one detector to work in saltwater, and a different one for hunting micro jewelry on the dry beach or tiny gold nuggets in the goldfields. The Minelab Equinox is, for me, the best all around metal detector I have ever used. It is not any one thing in particular, though if I had to name one thing it would be Multi-IQ. It is the real magic of Equinox, and is the reason that when I use an Equinox I know I am holding onto one of the most powerful VLF detectors ever made. I think Minelab has created something that has surprised even them as to how good it is. In my case, despite what may seem over the top enthusiasm, the truth is I have been holding back. The Minelab Equinox is an extremely powerful VLF type detector, and I can’t think of anything I can’t do well with it. I would happily use a Equinox versus any other VLF machine and user anywhere in the world doing any type of detecting, and not worry I am being outgunned. Just the opposite in fact. That’s not to say the Equinox is perfect - nothing is. Yet for this jaded detectorist it is as close as I have ever seen for my purposes, and why I have pretty much abandoned using anything else at this point. Because for me, the Minelab Equinox is the best all around do everything detector I have ever used. I am honored to have been chosen to take part in this project and I want to thank Minelab both for that and for finally putting the detector in my hands that has only existed in my mind the last twenty years. 2018 really is poised to be the Year of the Equinox. Steve Herschbach DetectorProspector.com

https://www.minelab.com/usa/customer-care/product-notices?article=326353 Our new EQUINOX Series of detectors is now shipping to our distribution network and on to customers who have pre-ordered detectors.* *Initial availability will be limited in all regions due to the very high pre-release demand. Dealers will soon be notified regarding local allocations and shipments. Please contact your local dealer for specific availability information. We will be doing our best to get detectors to all customers across February to fulfil pre-orders as quickly as possible.

Hi, I decided to test the Equinox battery and stated run time. The test was simple. Full charge, then let sit in a corner with the threshold turned up to make a continuous but not overly loud tone. The machine was down to a flashing battery indicator at 12 hours and sometime before it hit 12.5 hours the unit went dead. That jives with Minelabs stated battery life of up to 12 hours. However, running the coil over the ground makes the circuit work harder, as can numerous options, like using the external speaker at high volumes, ground tracking, wireless, backlight, etc. that can all contribute to a shorter run time. I will try and load it all up sometime to get the short run time. For now I was extremely pleased to see Equinox match the stated spec of up to 12 hours on a charge.

The manual is not crystal clear, to me at least......you have 8 factory programs and you can save a custom program for each one, and leave the factory programs untouched by your changes. That gives you 16 intact programs, right?

Steve------Does the Equinox have a glare on the screen (in sunlight) like Explorers, Etrac & even the CTX?---Is it easier to view the Equinox screen in these conditions?----That's been a problem "forever" that Minelab hasn't addressed with these detectors (IMO).---The Xterras didn't seem to have this "problem".----------Del

Well, as a XP Deus user for 5 years, and loving using this machine, I've came to the conclusion ( solely on reading this forum),,,, I'm definitely purchasing a Equinox 800! Having read the user manual listed here for the Equinox, several times,,, before even purchasing the 800, I've made a note of my initial settings!..... ( UK land searching, mainly Roman & medieval sites).... Here goes! Field 2 Multi frequency 2 tone Recovery speed 6 Ground Balance = auto Noise Cancel = auto Sensitivity = 20/22 Discrimination = 0. ( back from factory preset of 2) Iron Bias = 0 Rest of settings,,,,, factory presets , till used for at least 30 hours! PS , I've been detecting for 30 years,,,,,, honestly I can say I've never been so excited about purchasing a new detector, as this one! Good luck, and happy hunting to all users of the Equinox! Regards. Dave

Hi All, I Have a query as to why auto tracking is only on by default for the gold modes. Is there a reason not to use auto tracking when detecting parks and beaches? I would have thought on beaches where the ground balance can change between different levels of wet sand, wouldn't auto tracking be beneficial? Cheers Scott

According to the Manual the iron bias affects TID readings, but it doesn't mention whether or not it has any effect on the audio characteristics of the TID observed. My first thought was that the effects on TID readings using iron bias were divorced from the audio characteristics. Then I read this: Sounds to me like a multi stage filtering similar to the Fisher 1236 X2 iron silencer, If so setting it to zero will be the only option for dissecting iron. Comments? Tom

My wife has asked me countless times if I bought a new detector and I keep saying no. I thought I would tell her when I know they released the Equinox. Well I informed her on Jan 31st that I bought a new Equinox but I forgot to tell her I also bought a CTX 3030. My marriage of 52 years may survive the Equinox but when she finds out I bit the bullet and bought a CTX 3030 Judge Judy here we come. I may have to start a Go Fund Me account to cover the divorce proceedings. I did tell her I was going to sell my V3i and that kind of made it ok buying the Equinox but trying to convince her I really need the CTX 3030 is going to be like her telling me she needs another pair of shoes to go with the 150 pair of shoes she already has. Buying different detectors for me is the challenge of learning new detectors with the latest technology. . If I disappear from this site it's probably because of death by Minelab syndrome. I texted my $35 per week online therapist and she told me I did the right thing buying the Equinox. She said there is no better therapy than metal detecting with an Equinox for a man facing certain divorce court.

Remember we don't get one with our packages. Will sure make learning, adjusting faster. Can't be glued to a cell phone or be back at the house on iPad or computer to view info. Equinox 600 / 800 Full Instruction Manual (English pdf 5.59 MB) Equinox 600 / 800 Getting Started Guide (English pdf 847.71 KB) Equinox Battery Charging Recommendations And Warnings Minelab Equinox Parts & Accessories Page

Reading thru the instruction manual and seeing what this machines offers.. I would say Minelab must of had ALOT of input from guys like Steve who actually use a detector and know what is desired. Steve thank you so so much and thanks to all the others out there who Minelab listened to!! Simply amazing!! P.S. Now I know why Steve started selling off other machines!!!

Can you change the pitch of nickels or just the whole segment?

From the Minelab Equinox Full Instruction Manual, page 56-57 (click to enlarge)... Welcome to 21st century metal detecting!

I poured over the manual and the only mention I saw of using the software was to update the detector. Is there any word on being able to use this to make programs to put directly into the machine? I had more success designing and installing them onto the 3030 this way. Thank you for ya'lls time!

Neil just put this on Facebook for one of those Naysayer Nellies. I hope the link comes through and it's ok to post here. Steve can delete it if it's not, but this was amazing to me. Ok, I'm easily impressed. I can't wait to see what my 800 will do in that Montana metallic dirt. https://www.facebook.com/groups/157635448164052/permalink/192106651383598/?comment_id=192122848048645&notif_id=1517586557918590&notif_t=group_comment_reply&ref=notif

Wonder how many Equinox 600 testers were out there? The reason I ask is that I found the unnecessarily crippled 600 non-ferrous tone option setting instructions confusing. While reduced adjustability on recovery and iron bias settings makes sense because they affect detector capability, I just think the tone setting restrictions seem like an arbitrary “penalty” for 600 users, promote user interface confusion, and are just going to frustrate the 600 users.

From the Minelab Equinox Full Instruction Manual, page 48 (click to enlarge)...

My dealer just sent me the notice from Minelab. I’m at school so I can’t post the letter but the wait is just about over.

Well, tomorrow is the last day of January, the countdown begins in earnest, and things will probably change dramatically here soon. My goal in this early period was to do what I could to present information on Equinox for those with interest. It has been a bit of a blowout thing for me because in the future if I work with any detector companies on true product development I will probably do it on a purely confidential basis. It was fun the last twenty years but the nature of the internet has changed and it is time for me to shift gears also. I will continue to keep the ball rolling for the short period of time that remains before the first people start receiving their Equinox detectors. At that point I will fade into the background as the overall forum moderator. I won't let questions go unanswered but there will now be a pause before I respond going forward as I am hoping other people will be taking the lead. Let's see if the internet can still support a forum where people simply help each other without all the other nonsense intruding. Anyway, with only a few stumbles it is all off to a pretty good start. I appreciate everyone's (well most everyone's) patience and for those who participate on the forums in the spirit for which they were intended, I thank you very much.

Randy Dee suggested this topic and I need practice creating a poll so here it is. One choice only.

The ability of a detector to give you enough information to make a reliable determination of trash vs. treasure is about so much more than visual target Id's generated for various trash and treasure sample targets in a controlled single-mode air test. That information is useful to have, to be sure but to extrapolate from that information and make conclusions about detector capabilities is like making conclusions and car buying decisions based solely on published government mpg data. You need to understand the audio signature, what happens when the coil crosses the edge of the target, mode settings, ground conditions, site conditions and context, and a host of other factors. You can't make solid conclusions based soley on partial information be it, pictures, text, diagrams, or from watching videos. These are all pieces of the puzzle but you really need to be swinging the machine under real world conditions to make a credible assessment of detector capability. So when this information is graciously provided upon request, IMO it should be taken at face value and restraint should applied to making extrapolated conclusions (positive or negative) or criticisms until you have the machine in your hands and can confirm or refute your expectations on your own terms. Just my $0.02.