Need A VLF ? Deus 2 Orx Legend Equinox Nugget Air Tests

[Jeff McClendon]

Being laid up after surgery for another 4 weeks I got bored and thought I would do some comparison air tests between the current big three SMF VLFs and the excellent XP ORX.

So Deus 2, ORX, Legend and Equinox 800 were air tested outdoors in a low EMI environment using settings that I have used in moderate to high mineralization. These are not settings that will give the absolute best depth on these targets during an air test. So please don't suggest a reactivity of 0 or 1 for instance since that would be unrealistic in the areas I hunt. So would maxing out the Audio Response on Deus 2. I also can't do anything about the 6" vs 9" coil size discrepancy....... These are settings that actually work in the real world in tough gold prospecting areas where many of these smaller targets will actually give target IDs that are in the iron range or even at the very bottom of the iron range depending on depth. So think of them as conservative settings that can be pushed a little bit to gain an extra quarter of an inch.

The simultaneous multi frequency setting on the Legend and Equinox will absolutely out perform the selectable single frequency settings on those two detectors as far as being able to ground balance better, handle hot rocks and magnetite better, and run more on the edge. It is just the opposite on Deus 2..........The ORX is a solid performer and does really well even though it is just selectable single frequency.

Just for reference, I remember finding some of these nuggets with the ORX and with the Equinox 800. The depths those targets were found at were within .5" of these air test results. 

So think of these results as the best possible depths in mild soil using the selectable single frequency settings and subtract a bit for higher mineralization. As for the SMF results, they are very realistic even in high mineralization.

XP Deus 2 Settings

         Goldfield: Square Wave VCO, disc IAR=0, Sensitivity =95, Iron Vol. =3, Reactivity =2 or 2.5, Audio Response =4, Threshold=6

        Mono with Pitch Tone Square Wave: disc. =-6.4, Sensitivity =95, Frequency =45.4 kHz, Iron Vol.=3, Reactivity =2 or 2.5, Audio Response =4, Threshold=6

XP ORX Settings  Fine Gold: PWM VCO, disc IAR=0, Sensitivity =95, Frequency = 54 kHz, Iron Vol. =On, Reactivity =2 or 2.5, Threshold =4

Nokta Legend Settings

       Goldfield: VCO, disc. =A for All targets accepted, Sensitivity =25, Frequency =Multi, Recovery Speed= 4 or 5, Iron Bias =1, Threshold =6

       Goldfield: VCO, disc. =A for All targets accepted, Sensitivity = 25, Frequency = 40 kHz, Recovery Speed= 4 or 5, Iron Bias =1, Threshold= 6

Equinox 800 Settings

      Gold 2: VCO, disc.=All targets accepted, Sensitivity =20, Frequency=Multi, Recovery Speed =4 or 5, Iron Bias = F2 set at 0, Threshold =4

      Gold 2: VCO, disc.= All targets accepted, Sensitivity =20, Frequency =40 kHz, Recovery Speed =4 or 5, Iron Bias= F2 set at 0, Threshold =4

I did test Equinox 800 in Park 2 with 2 tones set on Multi with the same settings for those that happen to have an Equinox 600. The results were very similar to Gold 2 Multi above minus .25 to .5" so as has been said by me and others, Park 2 and Field 2 are perfectly acceptable gold prospecting modes.

US Mercury dime is for size reference.

 

 

[Hardtimehermit]

Thanks Jeff, time well spent, and may you have a speedy recovery. 🙂 ht

[Jeff McClendon]

Okay, people have had plenty of time to look carefully (or not) at that chart.

What are some obvious things that one notices if you believe that I did this testing correctly and fairly enough settings wise and considering coil size differences. Also note that Deus 2 and the ORX are running at sensitivity 95 of 99 while the Legend is running at 25 of 30 and the Equinox is at 20 of 25.....Do the math !!!!

Deus 2 FMF Goldfield does okay if the gold target is bigger than .25 grams. It is woefully bad at or below .25 grams.....take note micro jewelry hunters and none of the other higher weighted FMF programs do any better including Beach Sensitive.....

Deus 2 Mono setup wide open (-6.4 disc) and using Pitch Tones with the FMF 9" coil at 45.4 kHz slightly out performs the ORX with 9" round HF coil at 54 kHz using its VCO Gold Modes.

The Legend and Equinox whether in the simultaneous multi frequency or single frequency setting are neck and neck and are really hot on the small stuff while being really hot on the bigger stuff too. They appear to be slightly better in 40 kHz than in Multi. That is an illusion if you hunt for small gold or micro jewelry in any sort of mineralization. Their SMF tech will make up the difference in the real world and their 40 kHz single frequency will lose stability, depth and ID accuracy fast as targets get smaller/deeper in mineralization.

That said, this is why the woeful performance of Deus 2 FMF Goldfield is such a disappointment. If XP had done their due diligence they would have caught this easily. It was obvious to me immediately and I am just a nobody. Their FMF tech should offer gold prospectors a real advantage in higher mineralization over single frequency use. I mean......Minelab and Nokta made that happen with ease......?????

So, for now, I will mostly use Deus 2 Mono with Pitch tones (when I can walk someday) and hope that XP will fix FMF somehow for small nugget gold prospecting.

Also, I wouldn't hesitate to use a Legend or Equinox anywhere for small gold nugget cleanup or for micro jewelry hunting. When Nokta release the 10x5" coil.........whoopie!

[strick]

I don't have an Orx or a legend so I kinda skimmed over the chart when you put it up and my take was that I have the right detector (Nox 800) for hunting small nuggets. So thanks for doing that testing as its very informative even though its air tests... Im with you on the Deus 2 for the price it should have a better gold program. I bought it for relic hunting and thats all I've used it for so far. I have a feeling that XP is taking so long to release the next version because they have seen your posts and are working on the gold program 🙂

strick

[GB_Amateur]

Just ran across this thread this morning.  Looks like a lot of work, Jeff -- thanks for all that.  The Deus 2 with 9" coil at 45.4 kHz does rather well for the larger gold pieces (is that a tiny gold coin from Africa?) relative the the Equinox and Legend, but not so much for smaller pieces.  Are we seeing the effect of coil size (small coil better for tiny pieces; larger coil better for intermediate mass pieces)?  Not wanting to pile on more work for you but the 5"x10" NOX coil on the Equinox would likely answer my question.  Also, is the ORX coil circular or elliptical?

[Jeff McClendon]

Burundi gold coin. I tested 9” Deus 2 FMF coil versus 9” HF round coil on the ORX. The HF elliptical coil runs at 14, 31 and 81 kHz so it is not a good comparison with the Deus 2 FMF 9” and I don’t have one anyway.

When Nokta release their 10x5”, I will do another chart versus the Equinox with the Coiltek 10X5”.

[Cal_Cobra]

Nice testing Jeff 👍

Interesting that for the most part, the Legend and the EQX800 reigned supreme in your testing. 

 

 

[phrunt]

I think anyone with a Nox knows just how well it does on tiny gold, the only detector that will hit smaller is the GB2 that I've seen, although in the real world outside of air testing the Nox just works so much better than the GB2 for depth as the nuggets grow in size.  It's hard to beat that little GB2 coil though, best gold coil on any VLF I've owned.

I have a Deus with 9.5x5" HF coil on it's way to me, so I can't wait to give that a burl with 81kHz and see how it compares for me on tiny gold vs the Nox, 24k and GB2.  I don't bother with the GM anymore, the others are better, the GM is just too bump sensitive to be enjoyable in rocky areas.  It will also be interesting when my Manticore arrives with it's 50% more coil power, I just hope they release the 8x5.5" coil at the same time as the detector.

[GotAU?]

Hey Jeff- Hope you’re doing well, but if you’re laid up and have more time to kill,  I have a suggestion - How about putting the data in the chart on something like Excel or Google sheets? It would be pretty cool to see a graph of that data!  
 

…If you can’t do it I have some students who are just learning about how to graph information that may be able to help out!

[GB_Amateur]

10 hours ago, GotAU? said:

Hey Jeff- Hope you’re doing well, but if you’re laid up and have more time to kill,  I have a suggestion - How about putting the data in the chart on something like Excel or Google sheets? It would be pretty cool to see a graph of that data!  
 

…If you can’t do it I have some students who are just learning about how to graph information that may be able to help out!

I'd say "Go for it, AU!"  I could do it but why not have someone learn something in the process?