A Quick Legend Rundown

[JCR]

 There is always room for improvements. I'm glad Nokta is a company that listens to it's Field users and has the passion to improve.  Once they introduce their upcoming PIs, I hope to see their next level of VLF.  I think Nokta still has some surprises for us.

[Badger-NH]

I used an 800 for three years before switching to the Legend a year ago. I can't put my finger on it, but for some reason, I am connecting with the Legend in a deeper way than I ever did with the 800. The detectors are similar in appearance, but there seem to be subtle differences in how they connect with the user. I'm very happy with the Legend and am not missing the 800 at all.

[JCR]

It's interesting how detectors can be very personal extensions of the particular user. I know what you mean @Badger-NH

[Jeff McClendon]

I love my $1399US Manticore but I own 2 Legends that I paid a total of $800US for.

I had huge success with the Nox 800 for 4 years. After owning these two Legends for less than the price of one Nox 800, I haven’t missed the 800 at all.

The Legend especially with its last software version, V1.17, is way better than any current “starter” SMF or old school SMF from my experience and it is faster than the Nox 600/800.

Personally I prefer the Legend over the Nox 700/900 too.

My main dislike on the Legend is the cramped user interface and the less than stellar depth of the 12X9 LG30 coil. The original 11” LG28 coil is noticeably deeper where I hunt using M1 Park and Field modes.

I am not buying the notion that the Legend is using much lower frequency weighting in its M1 and M2 Park and Field modes than the Equinox series or Manticore using similar search modes. I don’t have enough experience with the Legend’s saltwater beach modes to have a frequency weighting opinion.

I also don’t hunt with high iron bias, high bottle cap reject settings or use the F discrimination pattern so I can’t speak about how using too much iron rejection affects processing or depth.

[peterinaust]

Ordered the Legend today. 🙂

[Bill (S. CA)]

On 3/27/2025 at 9:19 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

I love my $1399US Manticore but I own 2 Legends that I paid a total of $800US for.

I had huge success with the Nox 800 for 4 years. After owning these two Legends for less than the price of one Nox 800, I haven’t missed the 800 at all.

The Legend especially with its last software version, V1.17, is way better than any current “starter” SMF or old school SMF from my experience and it is faster than the Nox 600/800.

Personally I prefer the Legend over the Nox 700/900 too.

My main dislike on the Legend is the cramped user interface and the less than stellar depth of the 12X9 LG30 coil. The original 11” LG28 coil is noticeably deeper where I hunt using M1 Park and Field modes.

I am not buying the notion that the Legend is using much lower frequency weighting in its M1 and M2 Park and Field modes than the Equinox series or Manticore using similar search modes. I don’t have enough experience with the Legend’s saltwater beach modes to have a frequency weighting opinion.

I also don’t hunt with high iron bias, high bottle cap reject settings or use the F discrimination pattern so I can’t speak about how using too much iron rejection affects processing or depth.

I'm always glad when Jeff chimes in because he is a straight shooter and knows/uses a variety of machines.  He is right about the poor depth of the 12 X 9 LG30 coil.  I was getting lousy depth in my trashy parks with it and when I switched back to the stock coil the good depth returned.

For me, like Jeff, the only thing I don't like about the Legend is its user interface.  It sucks due to the over-updating.  But if you can get past that the Legend is a pretty good detector.  Remember, it was designed to compete with the Equinox, not the Manticore or Deus II.  I think it has done that successfully.  In my parks with the stock coil it will hang with my Deus II and Manticore.

Last point, on saltwater beaches I have found that the Legend doesn't match the Equinox, Manticore or Deus II for depth in the wet sand.  That's just me, but I've run it enough that I don't use it at the beach anymore.

Bill

[cjc]

On 3/25/2025 at 2:25 AM, IBMe said:

Exactly my impressions. I don’t know if it’s the CPU or the programming language they are using, but it seems like sometimes it can’t quit keep up with everything. It’s still a good detector and it’s been good for me. However, my back can’t handle it anymore. I’m not suggesting this is true, but it acts like they use Python instead of a lower-level programming language.

It’s amazing that the Manticore does all it does and remains fluid. I did come across a scenario where it wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do. I think this was something the software just couldn’t handle. Can’t cover every possibility.

Somewhere in there, there’s a big difference. The Manticore is doing live graphics updates along with everything else. The Legend seems like it struggles a little sometimes, but there sure is a whole lot of people using it with great success.

All well said--maybe  its running Linux?  Overall it doeswell but when you try and get it to process  at a high level--its losing depth.  Black sand and fast salt are  the two  main  foes.  In iron its great.  Get the CF middle stem and LG24--big help for the back. Look forwards to seeing  the pulse offering.  

cjc

[cjc]

On 3/27/2025 at 2:57 PM, Badger-NH said:

I used an 800 for three years before switching to the Legend a year ago. I can't put my finger on it, but for some reason, I am connecting with the Legend in a deeper way than I ever did with the 800. The detectors are similar in appearance, but there seem to be subtle differences in how they connect with the user. I'm very happy with the Legend and am not missing the 800 at all.

I found a ton of stuff with my 800 but don't miss that wonkey "inside out" (inverse) audio.  It speaks of a machine that is struggling to process  what's under the coil as reflected in the "ramp  up / ramp  down" of the signal  tone.  Manti and Legend both have great audio but when you go into multi tone--the Manti shows just what you get for twice the $$--a lot. 

cjc

[Zaj56]

On 3/28/2025 at 12:19 AM, Jeff McClendon said:

I love my $1399US Manticore but I own 2 Legends that I paid a total of $800US for.

I had huge success with the Nox 800 for 4 years. After owning these two Legends for less than the price of one Nox 800, I haven’t missed the 800 at all.

The Legend especially with its last software version, V1.17, is way better than any current “starter” SMF or old school SMF from my experience and it is faster than the Nox 600/800.

Personally I prefer the Legend over the Nox 700/900 too.

My main dislike on the Legend is the cramped user interface and the less than stellar depth of the 12X9 LG30 coil. The original 11” LG28 coil is noticeably deeper where I hunt using M1 Park and Field modes.

I am not buying the notion that the Legend is using much lower frequency weighting in its M1 and M2 Park and Field modes than the Equinox series or Manticore using similar search modes. I don’t have enough experience with the Legend’s saltwater beach modes to have a frequency weighting opinion.

I also don’t hunt with high iron bias, high bottle cap reject settings or use the F discrimination pattern so I can’t speak about how using too much iron rejection affects processing or depth.

I usually don't use the bottle cap reject  but today I found a bottle that still had the cap on it so for the heck of it I cranked up the bottle reject setting the whole way to 8 and it made no difference at all. It didn't matter what I had it set at ..it didnt reject the cap even a little. I was a little puzzled but I dont use it anyway.