Monte Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 17 minutes ago, phrunt said: There is something very special about that jewellery mode on the Vanquish, from the first day of using it I've wanted to replicate that mode on my Equinox so I can see what Monte is talking about there. I even went as far as emailing Minelab to ask what settings on the Nox would closely emulate the Jewellery mode, they never replied. It was probably forwarded to the right department and then forgotten about. If you're in the right conditions that Jewellery mode really shines. I use it for finding coins funny enough, not the coin mode ? I received my first Vanquish 540 on a Monday, and went to work evaluating the three factory default programs while confirming the inbred glitches. I took it out hunting a bit before dark, and hunted with it the next day and settled on what factory modes I liked, how they behaved, and got comfortable with the Vanquish 540's 5-Tone audio ID. I mainly preferred the Jewelry mode (our normal USA spelling) for most site work where it was 'busier', and the Relic mode for open-area searches. Having 2 of the Vanquish 540's I keep a 9X12 DD mounted on one unit, and that 'Custom' program was saved by setting my Disc. Accept segments in the Relic mode so it retains the designed behavior of that mode. The other, and most-used, V-540 keeps the excellent 5X8 DD coil attached, and that 'Custom' program was based on the Jewelry mode and Accepting all notch segments except the first two. I use the 'Custom'-saved Jewelry mode for the bulk of my hunting with that 5X8 DD coil. And I tinkered with the EQ-800 in 5-Ton like the V-540 and spent more than enough time trying to duplicate the V-540's behavior. I couldn't match it, and I don't care for a lot of tinkering around with settings. The Vanquish 540 was working well, and after messing with the Equinox 800 enough, I feel the V-540 was still working as well or better. Heavy on the "or better" feeling where I hunt.. Monte 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB_Amateur Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 Did I misunderstand, or did this thread that started out asking about used ML Equinox availability subsequently get hijacked into a discussion about the comparison of the Eqx with its less expensive sister, the ML Vanquish? ? OK, I'm as guilty as anyone on this site for shifting gears of a thread. But here I'm going to go back to the original topic. This is really about economics and its spinoffs (such as marketing, retail and wholesale sales) which I haven't studied since high school. But when in doubt, revert to the law of supply and demand! Certainly there are multiple markets for used metal detectors: Craigslist, local club forums/newsletters, internet forums such as this one, Ebay (the true elephant in the room) and even garage/yard/tag/rummage sales in our local neighborhoods. Although these share some common characteristics they are not necessarily in sync. The one I'm best familiar with is Ebay so I'll just concentrate on discussing that, with full understanding that the other markets can be quite different. Once or twice a week I review both the metal detector and metal dectector accessory categories on Ebay. I've been doing this for about four years. I haven't done an exhaustive study (and it appears none of you has either ?) so I'm giving you my general impressions/opinions. IMO the dominant price impact for used metal detectors (the only thing I watch and thus the subject of this post) is seasonal variations. There are some commonalities between the N & S hemispheres but also one obvious difference as I point out. Since I'm from the Northern Hemisphere (temperate climate zone specifically) I'm going to concentrate on that. From my observations the best time to buy ("buyer's market") is late summer and much of the autumn. Similar to other warm weather activities (e.g. boating, cycling, golfing), that is when psychology drives people to think "the season is over" and consider liquidating their seasonal items. Christmastime (so now we see the hemisphere difference) pushes things somewhat in the other direction. People are looking for gifts and metal detectors certainly fall into the sights of some. So the trend reverses, although not necessarily completely to a seller's market, but closer to neutral in my simple view. After the holidays things don't necessarily go completely back to a buyer's market since cabin fever drives people to pine for the spring and chances to get out. Then the trend slowly climbs in favor of the sellers, which peaks in the springtime and early summer. And then the cycle starts to reverse and we're back to where we started. We are obviously currently faced with a once-in-a-lifetime experience -- pandemic triggering deep recession. That has to be superimposed upon the seasonal variation. As others opine, this doesn't necessarily drive a buyer's market across the board. Gold detetorists may be more inclined to attempt to supplement their income, and with more people off work (leisure time?) there is incentive to head to the beaches, parks, etc. But the economic downturn also provides incentive to liquidate property so the supply curve is impacted. Which one wins? The answer may well be "it depends upon when you decide to jump into the market". This is a pretty simple view of a complicated situation. For example, are the people who are currently suffering in a major way (e.g. short on food $) actually people who own detectors? Are the people in the market for detectors incentivized to buy immediately, or wait until the supply pressure increases further (driving the prices down), in the meantime satisfied with their already owned detectors? A complicated superposition of forces indeed. As far as the Equinox specifically, it does seem that the 600 model has a sweetspot in the $450-$500 range. The 800? I really don't recall as many of those for sale on Ebay as the 600's and/or when I do see them they go for closer to their new price of $900 (i.e. around $800). Could it be that those who bought the 800 have hit a satisfaction point that we don't typically see when new detectors saturate the market? ('New' now going past 2 years for the Eqx 800, admittedly.) Certainly time will provide more data. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewcon4414 Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 GB... i think we are kind of looking at a different animal with the Nox...... unique from the beginning for price, performance, warranty, military discount, multi use, service (1000% turn around) and just the way it stopped the sales of other detectors initially.....both new and used. You are right about the hunting season as well. But you know...... warranty seems to have people hanging onto this one. We should be seeing more come out of warranty soon..... will there be more on the market then....i think so because no one knows what repairs/replacements costs are yet. there isnt much wiggle room between repairs and NEW..... not like say an Xcal you can buy used do a repair and still be well under the cost of a new one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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