Equinox 900 Or Manticore?

[Steve Herschbach]

There was a thread on Equinox vs Manticore for Gold Nuggets but when I just took a look I have seen about every comparison made but this one. One or the other, for just general all around metal detecting, parks, beach, fields, relics, coins, jewelry - what's the pick? Any thought yet on which is just the better rounded do everything for most people detector? And just to keep it clean, let's just assume stock coils only. This model with stock coil or that model with stock coil, which one is it going to be? And no other options please, just Equinox 900 or Manticore?

[abenson]

Jury is still out for me. I haven't been able to get the Manticore on a relic site yet. Beach hunting there's no question, Manticore! Park hunting it's a toss up., I don't find the 2D screen all that useful on deep targets in my dirt. I'll be able to give a better assessment in a few weeks.

[strick]

Stock coils meaning just the 11” or total what’s available now? 900 has 4 total that you have to work with so one could make better use of the 900 then the M-Core in that regards. Give me the choice of only using the 11 “ on either then it’s easy M-Core all the way. Disclaimer I don’t have a 900 so I’m just going off what I’m seeing on videos when it comes to the 900. 

Strick

[phrunt]

All I know so far is the Equinox 800 with 11" coil is more sensitive to small targets such as a #9 lead pellet than the Manticore with 11" coil in every configuration and sensitivity setting I've tried.  This translates over to tiny gold too from what I've seen but it's easier for people to replicate with the #9 lead pellet.  This is rather disappointing as the marketing for the Manticore may lead someone to believe otherwise.

If the 900 is at least as good as the 800 on small gold which I expect it will be, it even has an option for higher sensitivity which I personally would appreciate as I almost always ran 25 on my Nox looking for tiny gold so I maybe able to push a 900 that bit further.  I'd buy the 900 for sure if prospecting was the primary purpose, especially with accessory coils available already and by the aftermarket.

With the Equinox having a 6" coil available and the Manticore only getting a 8x5.5" coil the likelihood is the Equinox is going to be the most sensitive overall too. 

I've yet to find a reason I'd choose the Manticore over an Equinox for prospecting, in saying that it's very early days and opinions change with time, experience and further knowledge on usage.

At this stage it looks like I'll keep my 800 until it dies then buy a 900 for prospecting, and at the moment I'll be using the 800 over the Manticore on the odd occasion I need a VLF for looking for gold.  If my 800 takes too long to die and I get impatient I may take it swimming more often than I do to hurry the process up 😛

For all other detecting, with my only experience being the 800, not the 900 at this stage it is Manticore all of the way, keep that sensitivity under control and don't try push it too high and it leaves the Nox in the rear view mirror.  I doubt I'll use my Nox again for coins, and the beach from my limited experience so far the Manticore is the better choice.  I really do love the 2D target trace, not quite the CTX target trace but does the job good enough for my usage.   Apposite to Abenson the 2D target trace is brilliant in my soil, to very good depth.

If I never looked for gold nuggets I'd take the Manticore all day over the Nox 900.

[Steve Herschbach]

12 hours ago, strick said:

Stock coils meaning just the 11” or total what’s available now? 900 has 4 total that you have to work with so one could make better use of the 900 then the M-Core in that regards. Give me the choice of only using the 11 “ on either then it’s easy M-Core all the way. Disclaimer I don’t have a 900 so I’m just going off what I’m seeing on videos when it comes to the 900. 

Strick

Stock means the coil that comes as normal stock on the detector in the box, not accessory coils. The 11" coil in the picture at top would be the stock coil for both detectors. Retailer geek speak for the normal coil you will see on the detector under most circumstances. 

And not as a gold prospecting detector. 99% of the people out there are not buying these as prospecting detectors.

11" coils only - pretend nothing else exists.
No gold prospecting. Get a real detector for that! 

What little being mentioned seems like Manticore all the way, with other stuff just being minor excuses for the Equinox about coils or very small low conductors. I know this forum skews to gold prospectors, but most people are hunting parks fields or beaches for coins, jewelry, and relics. Most detectorists never buy a single accessory coil. Go to any very well attended hunt and most people are swinging the coil that came on the detector. So setting aside the caveats about accessory coils and tiny gold sounds like a Manticore is the way to go.

[cudamark]

The 900 comes with both the 11" and 6" coil standard.

[phrunt]

Yes, I would certainly take the Manticore over an improved build quality and slightly modified Equinox

And the good news today is Minelab are looking into the small gold sensitivity, they were not aware it was any less sensitive than the Equinox and obviously didn't expect it to be, so perhaps if it turns out I'm right that it is less sensitive there might be a fix coming? That would be fantastic.

[GB_Amateur]

12 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

What little being mentioned seems like Manticore all the way,...

Except..., so far how many responses are from people who have actually swung both?  Andrew's and...? 

Disclamer:  I don't mean to offend you others.  But it seems like apples (I've used detector A) vs. oranges (I've read/watched detector B).

Probably not many have used both, though, so maybe if that's a requirement there won't hardly be any answers.  🤔

[phrunt]

You're right GB, but that's the decision people have to make, so many of us have to base the decision on previous experience and that was with the Nox 800, Minelab have said the changelog of the 900, we know what to expect, and users have said what they find different about it, mostly the more unstable target ID's perhaps due to the bigger range but I think there is more to that.

What we can do is estimate how the 900 is though as build quality we can base it on the Manticore as they share similar traits.

I was thinking I might have to get a 900 too due to the small gold limitations of the Manticore but now they're looking into that and were not aware the issue existed I have high hopes I won't need a 900 now as other than the small gold side of things I'd never pick up my 800 again, and I would say the same would go for a 900.

[Steve Herschbach]

2 hours ago, cudamark said:

The 900 comes with both the 11" and 6" coil standard.

OK I'll spell it out apples to apples 11" vs 11" which is the one to have for general purpose metal detecting? I know this was an early question but also did not know posing it would be so difficult.  I have no pony in the race but if I can never really gel with my Deus 2 it is unlikely I'd go Equinox 900 myself. I have gold detectors and don't really care about that aspect, and I'm also sure more coils will follow for Manticore so not concerned about that either really. Seems to me that for wandering over to my nearby park or up to Tahoe for some beach detecting Manticore would be the better option for me. But I promised myself to give the Deus 2 a good go for all of 2023 so don't need to worry about it until next winter. By then maybe I will be content to stick with the D2. Or not. Time will tell.

Anyway, that gets the ball rolling and no doubt it will be a few more months for the answers to the question to settle out, especially with updates in the works as Simon has mentioned.