The Equinox.

I wonder who will be first to purchase an Equinox here.
What's the bet it will be Ivanll?

I see the Yanks are using them already and seem to be happy.

Sorry to disapoint you old chap, "Beeepppnnn" on the South Island have one and made a few videos which I very much like as they clearly indicate/show that the detectors I already have, have in no way been made "Obsolete".  

What I did take a look at is the Whites Spectra V3i, it to have selectable multi frequency either individually or simultaneously but sadly it was to far ahead in time and didn't get hyped up to the same level as is done today.
Many users indicated it had a very steep learning curve and so never bothered to learn its full potential, more likely the V3i was far to sophisticated for their thinking, looks like the simplified VX3 came out to help those that didn't quite get the hang of the V3i.
V3/V3i came out in 2009, VX3 came out in 2011 ... XP Deuz came out in 2010, Minelab Equinox is out now in 2018.

I'm not on the list to get an Equinox, but I will be looking at the Makro Multi Kruzed whenever it become available on eBay.


ivanll

I agree with your comments Ivanll.
The Equinox is not the huge leap forward that I was hoping for; It is definitely a nice metal detector but still suffers the same ole probs of all discriminators. They cannot separate small gold from bits of iron.

The tecta appears to have good sensitivity to small gold chain but so does my SST,Gold Bug Pro, and even the Vallon VMH3CS. Also the XLT can be set up to respond well to small chain.
Am not sure why the V3i slipped under the radar.
I am currently trying to locate a lost engagement ring. It is 18K gold and heavy at better than 13g. I have been using the Gb Pro set to ignore everything bellow large 18K gold rings. Disc at around 71 and yet still some ferrous junk breaks through. At that setting I must recover everything that gives a positive tone as well as those items that come through as a low tone grunt. I have recovered many targets but still no ring.

The Explorer SE ran frequencies from 1.5khz to 100khz but it was not too flash on small gold chain.
Whereas my Whites SST operates at 14khz and is very good on small gold chain but the Sov XS at 1.5khz to 17khz is no good at all for light weight gold chain but  the Gold Bug Pro DP at 19khz.is very good and can Ground balance wet salt sand. So I guess it is not so much the frequency as it is how you process the signals.

On the other hand the BBS & FBS detectors are very stable over wet salt beach sand and the Equinox would appear to be no exception with a frequency range of 5khz to 40khz divided into 5 single frequencies or all processed at once (I think ?) plus being water proof to 10 feet.

I think at approx 1200 dollars Aust the Equinox is going to attract the beach detectorist who wants discrimination and good sensitivity to very small gold items in and out of the water.

Something for the beach detectorist to note when purchasing the Equinox is that the 600 has 3 x frequencies from 5khz,10khz and 15khz.
The 800 has 5 frequencies from 5khz,10khz, 15khz, 20khz and 40 khz.
Choose wisely if you are chasing fine gold chains.

adrian ss wrote:Something for the beach detectorist to note when purchasing the Equinox is that the 600 has 3 x frequencies from 5khz,10khz and 15khz.
The 800 has 5 frequencies from 5khz,10khz, 15khz, 20khz  and 40 khz.
Choose wisely if you are chasing fine gold chains.

Hey Adrian,
Which frequency picks up thin chains?
Or is the combination of the frequencies do the job.?

I can not answer that question anymore.
In the beginning when God created metal detectors I would have said and believed that the higher frequency machine would respond best to lightweight gold chain
But now after having used several multi frequency and high frequency metal detectors It appears that signal processing is more important.
My 19khz Gold bug Pro responds very well to tiny light weight gold chain. My Old Vsat at 50 khz is not better than the Bug. My 14 khz Whites SST is at least as good as the Bug. My Sov at 1.5khz to 17 khz is tragic on gold chain. as was my Explorer FBS at 1.5khz to 100 khz. My safari which is FBS is hopeless on small chain.
Where PIs are concerned , my 2300 and Vallon VMH3CS have good small chain response but are not even close to the Gold Bug Pro.

The Equinox 800 appears to be the better machine for small light weight chain (Judging by You tube vids)
Combining the frequencies and processing them all at the same time seems to achieve better ground minerals handling ability.....Although my FBS Safari is hopeless in even mild iron mineralisation. and my Sov XS is pretty good in up to mild iron ground. Whites and Fisher have had dual frequency beach machines for quite a while now and they perform very well over salt beaches. I think that the Whites run 5 & 15 khz. I can not recall the Fisher frequencies.

I guess If i was going to grab an Equinox for the golf fields (Which I am Not) I would choose the triple frequency 600 and get the 800 for the salt beaches.
The 800 at up to 40khz may be a bit chatty in our gold field mineralisation but OK in the States.....That is just a bit of a guess but.

Sounds like the Equinox 800 should be good for the wet sand tasks and fine gold and silver chains.

I just saw a YouTube video of Stinky Pete test the QED on a wet sandy beach and he was happy with its performance.
But will it be any good for fine chains.

Do you have a link to that Vid Bob?

adrian ss wrote:Do you have a link to that Vid Bob?

https://youtu.be/2wFuO0Or_SM

Im leaning toward getting the equinox 800 for the specific purpose of beach metal detecting.
Currently i have a Goldmonster 1000 that i use for  general detecting plus trips to the beach from time to time.
However the Goldmonster plays up a bit on the beach and although ive tried various sensitivity settings on it,nothing seems to quieten it much in wet sand,it improves as you move to dry sand.
Anyone on this forum have an idea of the depth range i can expect from the equinox in both land and beach settings?
Cant afford a gpx 5000,saw one operating on the beach today,very impressive machine.....mark

Am not sure if the GMonster  was designed to be great over wet salt beach sand.
Try Auto ground bal and All Metal and turn  Sens/Power down until the machine is quiet.....Or maybe trade up to a Gold Bug Pro DP.

Equinox beach test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n96NtWxHlhk

Seems impressive Ivanll......I might have to reconsider my options, although I would like to hear/see  how it performs on lighter gold chain. my Gold Bug pro and the SST And VMH3CS  are very responsive to chain much lighter than the chain in that video.

The equinox 800 on the other hand is priced to sell/perform well to/for the beach detectorist and that plus the machines high tech functionality and very stable operation over wet salt sand is going to make it a winner.....I think Minelab have done a good thing.

UNCLE BOB wrote:

adrian ss wrote:Do you have a link to that Vid Bob?

https://youtu.be/2wFuO0Or_SM

Seem to be quite usable for beach detrecting

This vid is interesting. Even a bit of a chuckle.

I would like to think that the Equinox could have ID those iron targets a bit better, especilally the steel bottle caps that all gave solid good target readings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Bbcd_NMeU

Maybe they should have learnt how to use the Nox before making the vid.

I kind of like the videos by gravediggermax, not the usual loud mouthed outings often seen from over there.

Did find a Kruzer Multy on eBay, it's on the way to our tropical North by plane from Sydney.

ivanll

Page 28  of the user manual could be helpful in deciding which (600 or 800) to use at the beach.

Both will work but the 800 will likely be better for gold chains and bits of broken earrings etc.
Even large hollow gold bracelets that have opened at the clasp are difficult to get a signal on at times or will TID as ferrous.

https://www.minelab.com/__files/f/326548/4901-0249-1%20Inst.%20Manual,%20EQUINOX%20600%20800%20EN.pdf

I have used 800 at the beach for 4 three-hour sessions. It is stable in wet sand and dry, it is great fun to use and it can go quite deep.
It has a tonal language all it's own, I feel the multi-frequency setting is a very strong advancement.
My usual detecting is for gold in the deserts and mountains but as a park detector (I have had amazing luck in a local park), and as a beach machine, this is a very fine all-round detector.
Other than a GPZ, I do not own any other detectors so I am not an expert in this kind of machine, but I do know it is finding plenty of material in areas that are supposedly worked out.

After reading the last post by flakmagnet,i think ill take the plunge and get the 800 for beach detecting as it seems to perform well in that area.
Will keep my Goldmonster as im very pleased with its performance overall,its light weight and the simple turn on and go function it has.
Have researched different brands but think ill stick with minelab................regards    Mark

Has anybody noticed a problem with the Pinpoint Mode of the Equinox??

When switching to Pinpoint. Does the sig volume seem to be a bit low at first and then after a few sweeps it comes up a bit???

I tend to agree with what you have said. I have also noticed this with my safari in that after selecting Pinpoint the target signal would often disappear and it would take a few sweeps before it reappeared in pinpoint mode.

I asked the question because I noticed that a few American Equinox owners are talking about this same symptom

Hi Adrian,
I rarely use the pinpointer function. There are other ways to get close to spot-on that I prefer. There certainly are times the pinpointer function seems muted - at first. It usually kicks in after a few passes. I am not particularly bothered by it as I am pleased enough with the way my 800 works that this little bump does not matter to me. I am having fun learning the particularities of the machine's tonal language and I continue to be impressed with how it works. Can't wait to see how it works in the goldfields.

Interesting that The Equinox has very similar pinpoint mode characteristics to the safari.
I hope the Equinox is better in the gold fields than the safari because mine is hopeless in just light iron mineralisation. My Sov XS is vastly superior to the Saf in that respect.

I suppose I could replace my Safari, XLT, Sov and gold bug with an Equinox......But I need to know a lot more about that tecta before I part with my favs.

I tried the minelab sovereign on the Victorian Goldfields and it struggled and gave too many false signals.

Yeah the Sov did false a bit when I used it at Wedderburn on one occasion but I did find a two oz with it that gave an iron tone in the disc mode. I walked away from that signal but decided to go back for a second look. The All metal mode was useable tho. The safari is near on useless in that type of ground in any mode.
For me the safari is primarily a salt beach metal detector, where it excels.

adrian ss wrote:Yeah the Sov  did false a bit when I used it at Wedderburn on one occasion but I did find a two oz with it that gave an iron tone in the disc mode. I walked away from that signal but decided to go back for a second look. The All metal mode was useable tho. The safari is near on useless in that type of ground in any mode.
   For me the safari is primarily a salt beach metal detector, where it excels.

It was good at the beaches but its heavy and the threshold noise is too much.