I've got a Equinox 800 as well and it is a great machine no question. When I purchased it, money was an issue for me and I was having a hard time deciding between Two sub four hundred dollar used CZ's or the Equinox. Decided to put my tax return into the equinox. I'm happy with my purchase but my decision has some drawbacks. One being that I don't have a back up machine and the other is that I don't have a machine to let my friends or my friends kids use. Eventually I'll remedy this situation. To me it's important to recruit other people into the hobbies I enjoy, especially young people. The more people into a hobby like metal detecting, the more people to stand up for it when laws or ordinances are trying to be enacted against it. If you read my post above, all I was pointing out is that old machine can still make great finds if thats what you enjoy using or thats all you can afford. I also pointed out that the latest tech can give you an advantage. I never said you can't do both, but if I had to choose, I'd rather have a virgin site than a new machine any day.

ChrisMd and Shakeydigger---you guys are sure making a lot o sense--be sure to check your rear view mirror. LOL. Continued good luck to you guys.

Virgin sites are the bomb for sure. Now you have the most current tech to swing any virgin site that you find. It doesn't get any better. AND you can be confident that you did the best that you could have at that site... with virgin sites becoming harder and harder to find that's important. You want to make the best out of a rare opportunity. Virgin sites do not compensate for a machine's short comings.

The fact is most of us swing hammered sites anymore. So you have to have a leg up to be successful.


Dean

I have to agree with you that's a very good price for a detector that performs at that level. What were they some years back? 1200.00 ? the old f75 that is..ChrisMD Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> calabash digger Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Why not just do both? Lets take a mediocre machi
> ne
> > and run around and get all these great permissio
> ns
> > . Why not just take a great machine and do the s
> am
> > e thing? Metal detecting is a game of odds why w
> ou
> > ldn't you want to increase those odds if your fi
> na
> > nces permit it?
>
> The answer is simple and you nailed one of them.
> Not everyone can afford one; half the people in my
> club are on fixed incomes and can barely justify b
> uying a used AT Pro or other mid-range detector.
> And there will be some that can afford it but just
> won’t jive with it. The Deus is the perfect exampl
> e of that. It has class leading performance but ne
> ver reached any level of market saturation because
> a large portion of people that swung it wanted to
> wrap it around a tree.
>
> Since I’ve gotten my Equinox 800, ive been marking
> all my hits with survey flags and then going over
> them with an F75+ and have yet to hit something wi
> th the Equinox the F75+ didn’t nail. On the flip s
> ide the F75+ has edged out the Equinox twice in de
> pth running boost. I still think the Equinox is a
> bette4 machine for several reasons, but for $425 f
> or a new F75+ with a 7 year warranty the price to
> performance can’t be beat. And I’m definitely not
> a brand loyalist, I’d swing anything if the price
> was right to performance.