Minelab Equinox 800 tips and questions

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Deepseeker said:
That's the spirit mate. "Every no's a maybe, and every maybe is a Yes"

I just bought my Gpx 5000 then told her about it afterwards. Don't know as I'd pull that stunt again though, they were dangerous times :awful:

Thats Gold :p
 
condor22 said:
I Found the nugget in my Avatar with my 5000, got a bail and loop put on it, bought a chain and gave it to my wife for our anniversary.

Result = approval to go get my 2300 :)

As they say, "Happy wife = Happy life"

A very strategic move Condor - I like it!
 
Hey guys so i bit the bullet and ordered the equinox 800 .I was wondering how are you guys doing with the machine .I recently watched a video where it was picking Up a tiny gold necklace on the beach .There was also some people saying that it was picking up things the ctx couldn't see .but i know that sometimes people hype Things up so not entirely sure if this is true or not .

From what i have seen it seems the equinox is just as good as the deus in recovery speed .
 
Depends on user.

One well known member here did great after using a 3030 over some trashy ground using the Nox 800, from that alone Im inclined to believe it can fill recovery gaps the 3030 couldnt. Its recovery speed is manually adjustable so it plays right to its strength. If some older model vlfs had selectable recovery speed and dedicated freq options the gap in performance and results might narrow.

Not sure how it compares to a dues, but from what ive seen on the ground and read from dedicated users they are at least somewhat similar. Im sure Id be happy with either.

Its features overall are really well suited to a multi purpose machine, and even things like switching from all metal to notching and saving notched settings, custom tones etc I think is setup in such a way to be super user friendly and outdoes its competiters and previous models in this regard. It was certainly a step up from my single freq go to and just tweaking it to do exactly what you want is pretty mind blowing. I think its features are underated.

Apart from the dues its the only one that ticks the big boxes a user would want. Light, customisable, no battery cost, good warranty, attractive price, extra options, intuitive interface, many different uses and hunt types, easy gb, easy All metal, easy pinpoint, low emi interference, selectable and multi freq, waterproof. Thats alot for not much, if you went in productive areas every fortnight for a cpl hours youd pay it off before the warranty ran out imo.

Both machines will get all the goodies out of the ground in the right hands. Id like to bet both sets of dedicated users still find little tweaks here and there to squeeze a bit more out.

And for balance heres what i dont like. The tones are not great, I still have trouble with aly bottle tops, the goldie segmentation is still a little off (I prefer my F75 that runs 60 for $1 & 62 for $2) and rusted caps can still give it a little grief, the battery life is not super long meaning you will have a decent wait to charge if you go out all day at some point, the noise cancel can be a little iffy and sometimes needs repeating a couple times, LIion batteries are not fans of temps over 32C, aftermarket bluetooth hphones can sometimes be a pain to sync, and the original boxed ones have some issues like run time, the shaft will fill with water and sand (still yet to go carbon fibre), options MUST be followed by the tick button which if in a hurry i can forget to acknowledge new selection, you only get one English screen protector, the plastic arm grip gets hot asf on days over 30 when Im usually wearing a tshirt only.

Things ive heard happen to Nox: input cable at coil can break and cause faulty signal (target ID reading lower) sand trapped in skidplate, water ingress on screen, heaphone input cutting one side of headphones sound out, bump sensitive, difficult to determine hotrocks. Most of these are either poor treatment or would be covered by warranty though.

Theres still a ways to go but I overlook its shortcomings because its a bloody good machine. If you have enough patience its bound to reward you.
 
When you say "picking up things the ctx couldnt see" you need to be more specific.

Do you mean in trashy areas? Or objects being correct ID? Or deeper objects? Or simply things the ctx could not register for example fine gold jewellery or something?
 
OldGT said:
When you say "picking up things the ctx couldnt see" you need to be more specific.

Do you mean in trashy areas? Or objects being correct ID? Or deeper objects? Or simply things the ctx could not register for example fine gold jewellery or something?

Hi OldGT thanks so much for your input .Yeh i have heard from alot of people thats its one of the best machines they have used .Like versatility wise .I heard the F2 iron bias helps alot with bottle tops but i have no idea as i have never used the machine before .
Im really excited to use this thing because i used to have a ctx and it was so heavy and i do think it was missing targets in real heavy trash but i guess thats expected being FBS .

its funny i was actually thinking of getting a F75 because i got the equinox but i dont really know enough about the machine and minelab have always been good to me when things break down or need repair .I did see a video online where a guy was picking up a really fine gold necklace with the nox .Thats crazy .Im excited for that hey .Do you think you could use the 40khz in the park or would it be picking up too much trash being so sensitive and all ?.Thanks again for the input . :Y:
 
I hunt in multi mostly, but you can hunt in single freq. I use 5khz for small deep silvers. Usng 40khz is going to be a challenge though depending on the trssh and what you are looking for.

Ive used the Nox for gold hunting. It will find very small shallow gold but its hard work. A lot has to be in your favour and you have to set it up just right, which is not pushing gold mode button haha.

However hunting in parks with a higher freq might be counter intuitive, on the beach I can see a clear place for 40khz but not so much for parks. Unless you absolutely knew there was fine gold there, like looking for a lost item for owner.

Instead I would go this way. General hunt (park or feild) all metal, get a feel for junk, and if anyone else has been there. If its trashy then set recovery higher, touch gain up a little, stay in multi, notch out everything but your range, go slow.

If not trashy, set recovery lower, all metal, iron bias low and cover first in multi, then in dedicated freq .

In both cases set your tones for numbers to really jump forward.

The trouble with gold and fine gold is knowing the number you need. If you get a bunch of rings together, bracelets, chains of various size and thickness and karat youll see what i mean, the scale from lowest to highest is a big range

Beach hunters are much better suited, due to the beach effect in where things settle, and people swimming where they may take off or lose, not like parks.

The time ive found the few I have is sheer luck or digging up everything in parks. I still dig targets out from first ever park, picked up 1.80 the other day.
 
Also if your coming from ctx youll cover more ground I think, that machine is for wood cutters, thats why i still grab my F75, well one of the reasons, the balance ane weight are slightly better, noticeably after an hour or two. Very small differences can add up over time. It still hits $1 and $2 better and deeper, but without the cap interference. Aly caps still catch me out on both, havent tried fe2 , havent put update in.
 
The CTX will miss fine chains, I've tested quite a few chains with mine and most had to be very close to the coil to get a response. The CTX punches deeper on coins on the beach but not by a great amount. The Nox is a great detector and punches way above its price range for sure. The CTX is more elegant in the way the discrimination works but the Nox is great at discrimination as well once you understand what it's telling you.

You won't be disappointed with your purchase.
 
Heatho said:
The CTX will miss fine chains, I've tested quite a few chains with mine and most had to be very close to the coil to get a response. The CTX punches deeper on coins on the beach but not by a great amount. The Nox is a great detector and punches way above its price range for sure. The CTX is more elegant in the way the discrimination works but the Nox is great at discrimination as well once you understand what it's telling you.

You won't be disappointed with your purchase.

Wanna bet??? ;)

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=342225#p342225
 
grubstake said:
Heatho said:
The CTX will miss fine chains, I've tested quite a few chains with mine and most had to be very close to the coil to get a response. The CTX punches deeper on coins on the beach but not by a great amount. The Nox is a great detector and punches way above its price range for sure. The CTX is more elegant in the way the discrimination works but the Nox is great at discrimination as well once you understand what it's telling you.

You won't be disappointed with your purchase.

Wanna bet??? ;)

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=342225#p342225

:awful: :Y:
 
Heatho said:
The CTX will miss fine chains, I've tested quite a few chains with mine and most had to be very close to the coil to get a response. The CTX punches deeper on coins on the beach but not by a great amount. The Nox is a great detector and punches way above its price range for sure. The CTX is more elegant in the way the discrimination works but the Nox is great at discrimination as well once you understand what it's telling you.

You won't be disappointed with your purchase.

Hey Heatho thanks for the input.I used to own a CTX way back but found after swinging it for a hr or so the thing would just get too heavy .So looking forward to having something lighter to be honest .Alot of people have been saying that to me actually that the Nox is more like a $2000 machine than a $1300 one.
 
Understand this........

Doesn't matter which detector you buy or how much it costs.

It's the operator at the end of the detector that has to spend many hours using it to learn its language.

If your not very resilient or open to learning, you will always blame the detector.

I ve learnt this lesson. The more time you spend with your detector the more it will teach you.

Go forth Son and find that elusive Gold Sovereign!!

Cheers

RS
 
Retirement Stone said:
Understand this........

Doesn't matter which detector you buy or how much it costs.

It's the operator at the end of the detector that has to spend many hours using it to learn its language.

If your not very resilient or open to learning, you will always blame the detector.

I ve learnt this lesson. The more time you spend with your detector the more it will teach you.

Go forth Son and find that elusive Gold Sovereign!!

Cheers

RS
no truer statement could be made ............. :cool:
 

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