Help Choosing Another Detector

[billdean]

I mostly hunt for gold in the winter in Arizona and could probably use another detector for that. In the summer months I have been wanting to hunt for treasures around my old farm house back in Michigan. I have tried in the past but, man there is a lot of trash! My monster 1000 loves Arizona but not Michigan or not a least around my house. I swear it was a trash dump at one time. Same with my SDC 2300. I am looking for a machine that might do both well, gold and treasures, if there is a detector like that. I have consider the Equinox and also the XP ORX but I might be missing something here. Maybe there are better/more to consider than just those two. Am I on track here or should I steer myself in another direction. 

[Steve Herschbach]

On 1/2/2020 at 12:38 PM, billdean said:

I have consider the Equinox and also the XP ORX but I might be missing something here.

Not really missing anything, both are great choices I would choose from myself. For me waterproof mattered so my decision was easy. If that does not matter it really just boils down to comparing the features carefully to see if some particular feature grabs you. Tones adjustments for instance. If you spent 100% of your time in dense ferrous many people still lean XP there and the main strength of the XP detectors is separating ferrous from non-ferrous. Target id maybe not so much. For groomed park detecting I think the Equinox holds better target id at depth. But seriously you can't go wrong with either detector.

[DigsAlot]

I can't tell you much on the XP. I can say I have had the monster, I still have my Equinox and love it. I find everything with it. Gold so small that it frankly is a waste of detecting time. I love parks as I can cherry pick what coins I am willing to dig. Also there are several aftermarket products that make the Nox so nice to use. Like Steve said, ether will work fine. The Nox is Minelabs grand slam.

[GoldEn]

Hi Billdean

Equinox 800 for me does the job.Waterproof , light and easy to use.

Stay safe and dig everything

 

GoldEN

[Steve Herschbach]

On 1/3/2020 at 3:15 PM, billdean said:

OK Steve, what is your favorite detector?

I am a multi use detectorist and picky about having the right tool for the job. I like precious metals so I am first a nugget hunter, second a jewelry hunter, third place goes to coins, and last to relics. Historically that has meant I always had near a dozen detectors with a half dozen in use at any time, others coming and going as they sorted out.

The Equinox 800 is the first machine I have had, that while probably not perfect at anything, is so good at everything that I enjoy using it for whatever I do. I can nugget hunt one day and jump in saltwater the next. Not many nugget machines can pull that trick off. It's light and wireless and... quite affordable for what it does.

I really like the Deus and honestly have almost bought an ORX a couple times. They are really sweet machines, and better ergonomics than the Equinox. As I explained for my purposes I find the Equinox better for me but if I was a relic hunter might very well have a DEUS instead. But that's last on my list and frankly when gold calls I rarely get around to anything else.

But in the end I would just have to call the Equinox "a favorite" not "the favorite". I have a Goldmaster 24K that I like because it has closed coils that work better than the Equinox in stubble and the coils are more knock resistant when the machine is maxed out so better for "scrubbing" for tiny nuggets. It also has a concentric coil option I like that the Equinox lacks.

And I have a White's V3i with Bigfoot coil, not so much for the V3i but to run the Bigfoot coil. Still my choice for park and field jewelry detecting over anything else. The fact is a DFX/Bigfoot suits me about as well but I decided I might shoot some video and that the V3i would be good for teaching detector concepts due to its color screen and infinite tuning options. Don't hold your breath for the videos though.... seems like forever on the to-do list but never quite get there.

And finally I have "the hole". I have always had some sort of high power PI detector but sold both my GPZ and ATX some time ago. It's late enough in the game I am waiting for something new now, and looks like a Fisher Impulse AQ will fill that hole soon.

If somebody made closed knock resistant coils and a Bigfoot coil for the Equinox it would remove the need for two extra detectors. So it shows how coils can often determine detector choices.  That's one area I have to ding XP due to the design. Limited coil options and they are very expensive. The Equinox is limited also but at least the coils are cheap.

So my favorite detector at the moment is an Equinox V3i 800 24K! 

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

Equinox 800 could do double duty for you.  Use in Michigan and use in Az hunting for gold nuggets, etc.

Deus- for it to do double duty like above imo you would have to go the X35 coil route.  If you went the Hf coil route, not a good choice for trash as you are more frequency limited..  Deus ID at depth on targets not near as trustworthy as Equinox.

Equinox imo an easier learning curve vs Deus if that matters to you.

I have both Deus and Equinox.  Ergo advantage goes to Deus.  Deus not waterproof though.

Cheers.

[kac]

Machines I would consider but not in any particular order. Nox 800, Nokta Amphibio Multi, Makro Multi Kruzer, Garrett AT Pro.

The Nokta/Makro machines have a wide range of coil sizes to choose from at descent prices. I thew in the mix the AT Pro because IMO it still has a nice audio when used properly that doesn't sound like a dying cat. I think the Nokta/Makro machines seem to be quicker performers (fast recovery similar to the XP's) and the Nox I think is the best over all performer for all terrain machines at the moment in the less than 1k mark.

I don't consider 3rd party coils as an option as I ran into an issue with one of the major brands where there seems to be 0 customer support.

[Rick N. MI]

The XP Orx w/ a hf coil would not be a bad choice. Will be great for jewelry hunting and the waterproof kit works great. I put it inside of my wader and use the wireless headphone. 

[billdean]

I believe now I am leaning towards the Nox 800. There this not a lot of info about the ORX though I believe it to be a good machine.