Overall observations of the Equinox

I was one of the lucky first receipients of the Equinox 800 and now after a couple weeks of use here in Boise, I figure I'll go ahead and give my rundown of my impressions of the machine. I agree the TID is jumpy on deep silver (or other deep coins) certainly compared to the CTX. I never had an etrac but I did have (and liked) a CTX, and the CTX did better on deep coins, there's no doubt. Minelab said as much in their releases regarding the Equinox and Multi-IQ, that FBS is still going to be superior on deep high conductors, and my experience with the Equinox is that they were right.

The Equinox is a very good, but not great, detector for deep coins. For deep isolated coins, the CTX still reigns supreme. However, the current thinking is that the vast majority of yet-to-be-found silver coins are still there not because they are deep, but because they are masked. The Equinox unmasks far better than the CTX does. So you actually have a better chance of coming home with silver with the Equinox because it unmasks so much better than the CTX (or, I'm assuming, the various other FBS machines which I haven't used). Park 1 with iron bias set to 0 and Recovery Speed set to 3 or less, seems to do best on deep coins. Despote the talk of Beach 2 being best on deep coins, I haven't found that to be the case, but everybody's soil and local conditions are different. Set up right, my V3i and MXT with the 10x12 SEF and Ultimate 13 coils, get just as deep and with just as stable TID on the deep coins in my test garden as the Equinox, the MXT maybe even a bit better. The MXT separates as well too, but that's probably because I have many, many, hours on the MXT and know just the right coil control techniques and I'm still learning the Equinox.

And on mid to low conductors, like most gold jewelry, the Equinox does far better than the CTX. What really are the main types of targets that most of us would like find? I would suggest that gold jewelry has become the main target for most of us, whether it be on the beach, sports fields, or wherever, and for these targets, the Equinox does a fantastically good job.

A couple more thoughts after using the Equinox for a couple weeks. The depth gauge does not work very well for whatever reason. Not useless, but not very accurate, and it's slow and reports targets deeper than they really are. It seems to be calibrated for quarter or larger sized targets which is different than almost every other detector out there, so it takes some getting used to. I also wish the depth gauge and TID worked in pinpoint mode, and this shortcoming seems to be a step backward in technology after having used most other modern detectors with that capability. I expect some tweaking in a subsequent firmware update.

The audio is great. Smooth, stable, very pleasant to the ear. Unlike most detectors with a lot of tones, the Equinox actually sounds really nice in full 50 tone mode (my V3i is almost unbearably horrible with many tones, for comparison). Maybe it's the stable TID or lack of a lot of segments, but the tones are very stable and communicative, and it's a great detector for hunting by ear rather than visual TID. One of the first adjustments I made was adding a threshold tone, which is very useful for determining when targets are disc'd out, as the threshold goes silent for an instant. This is kind of a good middle ground between totally silent search and all-metal "horseshoe" mode where you get some info but without the chaos of too much noise. The threshold is a great feature.

The audio does get very busy in trashy environments with a lot of shallow targets. The DD coil design causes very strong targets on the edges of the coil, so you actually get three strong "beeps" as you sweep the coil over a shallow target. The strength of the three beeps is almost the same intensity, so it sometimes gets very hard to locate a target in a target rich environment where targets are less than a coil width apart. Out in the open, it's easy to tell you are sweeping over one shallow target, but with lots of targets, it gets confusing fast. I know this is inherent in the nature of DD coils, but on the Equinox, for whatever reason, the edge targets are very strong and frequently difficult to distinguish from the main center target response. I found this to be still confusing even after several hunts. Going into pinpoint and examining the individual targets clears this up, but it makes hunting in disc mode where there are lots of targets to be sometimes quite tedious as you have to stop, go into pinpoint, and slowly separate out each closely spaced target. Other detectors with DD coils have the same issue, but it just seems a lot worse with the Equinox. The Bluetooth feature is great. One you go wireless, you don't go back, and Minelab was good enough to use the widely available aptx-LL codec, so that users can pair any number of aftermarket headphones with the detector, as I have already done with the Audition Pro's I bought on sale on Amazon.

Build quality seems good. It's just so light and small, it just feels light duty, kind of along the lines of my old Gold Bug Pro. For the price, however, it is excellent and is very well designed, using a tough feeling plastic and nice connectors. Cost of production must be very low, there are so few components. Picking up my V3i, it feels like a multi-thousand dollar beast in comparison, the screen, the heft, the buttons, everything about the V3i is heavy duty and high-dollar feeling compared to the Equinox. The CTX, too, feels decidedly high-end in comparison, with heft, thick housings, heavy-duty connectors, and the color screen. The Equinox screen is functional, but very simple, not a lot of info, just the basics. The Equinox is a mid-level detector after all, so I'm not faulting it, just making an observation that it has a definite mid-level feel compared to the top machines. And it's so light that it is nose-heavy. Not bad in practice because it's overall so light, you're basically just feeling the weight of the coil itself, but it definitely does not balance well. I'm thinking of adding an external USB battery under the arm cuff mainly just to try to balance it out better. But again, it's so light, that it's not really a problem, just an observation. I have a 6" coil coming, and I'll bet it will be a lot better with the smaller coil.

The Equinox does everything very well, including finding deep coins, in one detector. Minelab markets it as an all-purpose detector, and for this, it is the best ever built. But for detectorists who are focused on one type of hunting only, would still probably be better off with a detector specialized for just that one purpose. I'm not bashing the Equinox. I love mine. But don't expect a silver bullet that will do everything better than every other detector out there. I actually think that Minelab has filled a hole in their lineup, so that the so-called "well-equipped" dectectorist would have a CTX for deep coins, an Equinox for heavy trash and beach and jewelry hunting, a Gold Monster for VLF nuggetshooting, and a GPZ of some flavor for the die-hard semi-professional prospectors. (If Minelab released a good closed 5x10 coil for the Equinox, it could probably substitute for the Gold Monster). Being fully waterproof opens it up to a lot of different uses for a lot of people. So it fits nicely withing their product line, and if someone wanted just one detector, they would do very well with the Equinox.

Overall, I really like mine, but it's not a miracle machine. I will happily keep this detector for its waterproofness, its separation ability, simplicity, cost-benefit ratio, and overall fun factor. It's amazing that Minelab was able to pack so much capability into such a small and inexpensive detector. Bang-for-the-buck factor is the best of any detector.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2018 10:20PM by wayfarer.

Excellent write up wayfarer. Giving the pros and cons of a unit is what most people look for. I agree, for the money it seems to be a heck of a unit and it's unmasking abilities should out pace the FBS units. Wireless is always a plus too in many occasions and light weight is never something to frown on !

Glad to see you mentioned the MXT and Ultimate 13 coil. I have found that set up to be incredible in finding deep silver. I have found deep merc dimes in trashy iron/aluminum sites with that set up. Amazing the separation abilities of that coil.

The V3i in the Deep Silver program with that coil is also darn good. Just have to swing really slow.

One of the things with the CTX quite a few people never go into HIGH TRASH setting which is basically upping the Recovery speed I just wish we knew what speed and also the reason targets get jumpy on the CTX when in HIGH TRASH mode just like the NOX does. There is always going to be a give or take when playing with settings.
I think running high trash would help bring it closer to the NOX.
As far as gold I haven't received my NOX 800 yet but quite a few people are saying it is good on gold so maybe it wins the CTX in that department.
But for the price of the 600 it beats anything in that price range hands down.
And if Whites could just shrink the V3I down and water proof it it would be a great machine where you could play with all the settings and make it run the way you would like for many areas. I actually would buy one of those if they ever made it.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2018 10:16PM by GreenMeanie.

Nice review.
Smacks of realistic credibility , which so many don't.
The nose heavy nature is something it will have in common with the Deus and 11" coil.
You might consider mounting your pinpointer under the elbow versus a power pack.

Excellent descriptive write up wayfarer.---Thanks for posting it.

Great Review
Lot of nit picky info that's very useful to hear.
Thanks Darren.

PS: what's soil like in your area?
What kind of Auto Sens did you get from your CTX

Des D

Thank you for a well written review.

Des D Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great Review
> Lot of nit picky info that's very useful to hear.
> Thanks Darren.
>
> PS: what's soil like in your area?
> What kind of Auto Sens did you get from your CTX
>
> Des D

My soil is mostly mild, at least here in town (Boise). High iron ground phase # but overall it's weak...thankfully. My CTX would typically Auto Sens at around 22-23. My Equinox GB's at anywhere from 4-12 in Park 1 mode in the various parks and other turf I've hunted so far.

Good idea with that trick of mounting my pinpointer under the arm. I'm thinking that once I get the 6" coil, it'll stay on most of the time, so maybe I won't have to do anything at all.

The MXT and U13 combo is killer, a real sleeper setup. Can't tell you how many old V and Buffalo nickels I've found in pounded parks around here with that setup, and the occasional silver too.

The V3i was 90% of the way to being the perfect detector. Put in a faster processor, optimize the programming code, improve the ground balance and TID performance, and shrink it and waterproof it, and it would be 100% perfect. These are all things that are perfectly doable with today's technology ...c'mon White's!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2018 11:22PM by wayfarer.

Thanks for the report, the many videos I've seen on the nox , the depth gage reminds me of the f - 75 depth gage, which was never any where near accurate.

Great write up with the type info needed.Thanks for the effort.

Thus far,this in my mind is the best unbiased review of this new machine,this is gives a true picture on what this new offering from Minelab is all about.....thank you for that



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2018 11:25PM by Junk and Disorderly.

excellent realistic review, all of us over here in Europe are usually seeking low to medium conductivity finds so the Equinox should be a big hit over here.

Thanks you. One of the best, unbiased, reviews that I can remember reading over the last 46 years. Puts the EQ in perspective...

Nice write up !!!

Sems to cut to the real meat and potatoes..

Kudos to you for the effort!!

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

This was the best, no nonsense informative post on the equinox yet.

Thank you for review will need to read it a few times....I likely will buy if not what I expect will try another, lot of fish in the sea.

Nice write up/review Wayfarer.

Seems to be the most honest/straightforward review posted anywhere that I've seen too.

Just like I said a week ago = looks like it's good for the weekend warrior who wants a decent all around type unit for a variety of sites (old and modern) and/or for the saltwater/wet sand beach hunters to play with that's good/better for chains/smaller gold in that environment.

Bill long Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This was the best, no nonsense informative post o
> n the equinox yet.

agreed and in my 4 days with one I 100% agree.

Minelab finally has an AT relic machine.

This Multi-IQ or whatever is certainly new as I saw it detect targets today other detectors would even register. I look forward to the more feature rich high en multi-IQ unit in the future.

Yes but does it have Modulated Audio and if so is it adjustable? Have not heard a single person answer this question? In other words are deeper targets softer for those who do not know what Modulation means.

I thought the future of unmasking was target trace on the CTX? I really have to wonder why Minelab dumbed down the response to high conductors....was it just to keep the CTX important and price justified? Come on....They could have made it sensitive to silver too! Maybe the Equinox 1000.

Harold,ILL. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes but does it have Modulated Audio and if so is
> it adjustable? Have not heard a single person answ
> er this question? In other words are deeper target
> s softer for those who do not know what Modulation
> means.

yes its modulated. Not adjustible.

They left a lot of features off that etrac has.

GREAT write up Wayfarer. The way I see it...if a machine does what YOU want it to,it belongs in your collection. End of story. Really really well written personal assessment of what you’ve seen so far!

Thanks for the good words on the writeup. There are a lot of more technical folks who have put a lot of time in on controlled testing and reporting their findings, doing a much better job than I could. I just wanted to give a general rundown of what I've seen with the Equinox in less technical terms that laymen like me can understand and maybe use to help them better understand the machine and what to expect.

It does have non-adjustable modulation, but I think it could have been implemented a little better. Signals are very loud for shallow targets and very faint for really deep targets, but there doesn't seem to be much graduation for everything in between. They all kind of sound about the same at normal depths. On many machines, you can easily tell the difference between a 3" deep target and, say, a 6" deep target, but no so with the Equinox. This might be another area that may get a little attention on the next firmware update since it should be easy to fix.

As for the high-conductor performance, it's no so much as "dumbed down," as they just chose not to implement a deep silver mode to keep it simple and yet still provide decent performance on coins as well as jewelry in one general purpose mode for park use. The Equinox is a general purpose detector that seems to be geared towards a general purpose crowd where simplicity is more important than squeezing out the last bit of performance. One thing about Multi-IQ, is that being mostly DSP-based, it is almost surely very easily re-programmable to focus on any conductivity they want it to. I bet they just chose to keep it simple in this first iteration with the 600/800. ...and they may well be leaving room in the lineup for an Equinox 1000, or a CTX 4040 for us hard-core enthusiasts who are willing to spend the extra bucks on the additional capability.

GreenMeanie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the things with the CTX quite a few people
> never go into HIGH TRASH setting which is basicall
> y upping the Recovery speed I just wish we knew wh
> at speed and also the reason targets get jumpy on
> the CTX when in HIGH TRASH mode just like the NOX
> does. There is always going to be a give or take w
> hen playing with settings.
> I think running high trash would help bring it clo
> ser to the NOX.
> As far as gold I haven't received my NOX 800 yet b
> ut quite a few people are saying it is good on gol
> d so maybe it wins the CTX in that department.
> But for the price of the 600 it beats anything in
> that price range hands down.
> And if Whites could just shrink the V3I down and w
> ater proof it it would be a great machine where yo
> u could play with all the settings and make it run
> the way you would like for many areas. I actually
> would buy one of those if they ever made it.

GM...I use High Trash separation EXCLUSIVELY on the CTX. WHY? Because it works. How does it relate to the Equinox or your post? I dunno...

Nice write-up Wayfarer.

I don't think it's that easy unless Minelab purposely held TX power down from where they could have put.

Why do I think this.
The more weighting put on lower side of multi frequency would mean IMO performance in iron degrades. And detector would be less able to handle the iron. More near like CTX and Etrac.

Could Minelab play around with freq span say start at 3khz and go to say 35 kHz or 30 kHz? And indeed have an overall deeper higher conductor detector? I say yes, but the performance on smaller gold would suffer.

There was a chart shown in Az at the dealers conference. Seemed to me based on the chart I saw, it was clear the target competition detector models were Garrett AT series and Deus.

Where folks got the idea of trying to do compare fbs/fbs 2 to Equinox, I don't know. Minelab told us early on before actual release.

As far as the Nox goes, in my next of the woods, Nox a far better choice hunting around old houses and where old homes used to sit vs fbs/fbs2. I hunted with fbs/fbs2 detectors around here for 5 years. You know how many 9.5"-10" coins I dug? Four total. Two Spanish bits, one IH and one 64 Rosie. Most places around here in the lower terrain, a gravel layered exist at about 8" down. Probably the reason for no real deep coins.

Will watch to see what else you have to say Wayfarer as time passes.
Thanks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2018 03:50AM by tnsharpshooter.

tnsharpshooter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I don't think it's that easy unless Minelab purpos
> ely held TX power down from where they could have
> put.
>
> Why do I think this.
> The more weighting put on lower side of multi freq
> uency would mean IMO performance in iron degrades.
> And detector would be less able to handle the iron
> . More near like CTX and Etrac.

tnsharpshooter: I was thinking mostly about you when I mentioned people more knowledgeable than I am who have put in a lot of hours doing controlled testing. So thanks for your time and effort figuring this machine out.

Another consideration as to why Minelab may not have put in a full-power very low frequency weighted mode is power consumption. Lower frequencies use a lot more power for the roughly the same performance than higher frequencies do. Already, the Equinox is kind of light in the battery capacity department, and a full-power deep silver/very low frequency mode would be a battery hog. That might also be another reason why Beach 2 is a low-power only mode (besides being less noisy in a salt environment). But I still think that the main reason is not because they wanted to "protect" the CTX's market position, but simply because the other modes are more than "good enough" for deep high conductors and they wanted to keep things simple for most users.

I think Multi-IQ DSP programming would allow the easy addition of a "deep silver" mode if they wanted to include it. Frequency weighting is simply a matter of DSP programming, if I understand correctly how Multi-IQ works. So we should be watching for more complex Multi-IQ-based detector models in the future that include a very low frequency capability in addition to the excellent mid-to-higher frequency modes that we already see in the Equinox.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2018 04:35AM by wayfarer.

wayfarer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tnsharpshooter Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > I don't think it's that easy unless Minelab purp
> os
> > ely held TX power down from where they could hav
> e
> > put.
> >
> > Why do I think this.
> > The more weighting put on lower side of multi fr
> eq
> > uency would mean IMO performance in iron degrade
> s.
> > And detector would be less able to handle the ir
> on
> > . More near like CTX and Etrac.
>
> tnsharpshooter: I was thinking mostly about you w
> hen I mentioned people more knowledgeable than I a
> m who have put in a lot of hours doing controlled
> testing. So thanks for your time and effort figur
> ing this machine out.
>
> Another consideration as to why Minelab may not ha
> ve put in a full-power very low frequency weighted
> mode is power consumption. Lower frequenci
> es use a lot more power for the roughly the same p
> erformance than higher frequencies do. Already, t
> he Equinox is kind of light in the battery capacit
> y department, and a deep silver/very low frequency
> mode would be a battery hog. That might also be a
> nother reason why Beach 2 is a low-power only mode
> (besides being less noisy in a salt environment).
> But I still think that the main reason is not beca
> use they wanted to "protect" the CTX's market posi
> tion, but because the other modes are more than "g
> ood enough" for deep high conductors and they want
> ed to keep things simple for most users.

I have got one part of the detector figured out for my soil it seems - depth.
But now I need to go back and test using nails and see what the field detect modes offer.
Could a slight separation unmasking advantage be had by doing. But may apply more so to mid and lower conductors.
I may have fell into a trap using higher conductive coin when testing moreso earlier. I did use a nickel a few times.
Also it is now time to charge the headphone module and use regular headphones to see if any advantage is gotten getting away from the blue tooth headphones.

So I am only part of the way there it seems.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2018 04:32AM by tnsharpshooter.

That sounds like a fair breakdown to me.

There is one other non mentioned area that I believe people are going to be happy with from what I've read. If you are in an area where the FBS and BBS machines do not do so well, the Equinox is having a depth advantage on coins and definitely low conductors. Like my area, the FBS units only want to run single digit numbers, and can only accurately ID a coin down to approx 4.5 to 5 inches deep. Now, I've been all over the eastern United States and found all kind of different soils. Down on the gulf coast, I can run a CTX wide open and accurately ID coins over a foot deep. So someone use to that soil type, is probably not going to like the Nox for coin hunting. However back home, that shrinks to 5 inches. So...a machine that can get over 5 inches on a coin in disc mode is going to be a big hit for us. Thus far, only one of us in this area has gotten a Nox and the rest of us are on the dreaded waiting lists. He is reporting accurate ID on dimes down to 8 inches in our soil. If that is true, then IN OUR SOIL, that is huge and would make the Nox be several inches deeper on coins for us than anything we've used thus far besides pulse induction. When looked at from that perspective, it shows it in a different light.

Daniel, you are totally correct, excellent point worth reiterating. Especially when it comes to any discussion of depth, there should be a huge disclaimer that reads: "IN MY SOIL - your results may vary." So true. Thanks for making it clear that soil conditions can change almost everything. Just to provide a very rough basis of comparison, my soil is fairly mild, not Florida sugar sand mild, but maybe a 3 on a scale of intensity from 1 to 10.

Daniel -- I agree with you; testing in my test garden today lines up with your points very well

Wayfarer, very good write up. After three short hunts and one longer one with the Equinox, and after some testing today in my test garden, alongside the CTX 3030, I found myself in agreement with almost all of your points. As I read your post, I was saying to myself "yep....yep....agreed.....yep........yep."

Very good job.

Harold -- your question was answered, but to reiterate -- YES, modulated audio, NO, not adjustable.

Steve