I wont be retiring the Deus for rhe Equinox anytime soon

[vferrari]

The Equinox would have been perfect with a 8 or 9 inch stock search coil.

tabman

10 or 8.5 × 5 Elliptical, possibly solid coil would have been nice too.

 

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[DeepDigs]

Hmm, so you're sending two detectors priced at $4K total up against the $900 Equinox? Lol. Are you sure you're not a ML marketing rep in disguise?

It is deeper than the CTX on gold and separates better than Deus in Salt water, is that good enough?

It's not best at anything but darn close to what is best and keeps you from having to use the CTX for this and the Deus for that.

However, it is definitely not going to beat either of those detectors at their own game so it makes less sense to jump from Deus to Equinox but perhaps a tad more sense from the slow, heavy. but deep on silver and VDI accurate CTX.

I consider the Equinox to be a great compliment to my Deus.

I cannot speak of the CTX because I only borrowed it, but having owned a Deus and Excal II did not find it compelling for me at its price point, slower recovery speed, and heft. That is just my opinion, obviously, it is a great detector in its own right. The Excal is going bye, bye however, as I am not a diver.

Equinox will allow me to have to pack only one detector on beach vacations, now.

2 things:

First, I own the machines I listed. They are paid for. My point was I’m not selling each for half of what I’ve paid for them just to own a machine that doesn’t give me an advantage over what I already own.

Second, I’m not a relic hunter like yourself (from your postings I’ve read of yours in the Deus forums, those are your main targets) nor a beach hunter. I hunt inland, at old sites that are still in use today, with my main target older US coins. I also watch a lot of YouTube videos in the off months (like most) and from what I’ve seen on YouTube (Dirt Fishing, for example) the Equinox doesn’t get the depth of the CTX on copper/silver targets, which are what I’m after.

I never said it’s not a good machine - for $900 it definitely is, and offers the best value for the dollar hands down. But for the type of hunting I do, it’s not a game changer nor does it appear to obsolete the gear I already use/own. Perhaps in time and thru more research I may change my mind. I’m not there yet. Sorry if my opinion offends you or the other Equinox loyalists. And no, I’m not a Minelab rep in disguise

Also, with the tone bins set correctly on the CTX, running an open screen, this machine can pick out good targets from among the trash and iron pretty darn well. But yeah, she’s a hefty beast after 4+ hours of detecting.

 

[vferrari]

2 things:

First, I own the machines I listed. They are paid for. My point was I’m not selling each for half of what I’ve paid for them just to own a machine that doesn’t give me an advantage over what I already own.

Second, I’m not a relic hunter like yourself (from your postings I’ve read of yours in the Deus forums) nor a beach hunter. I hunt inland, at old sites that are still in use today. I also watch a lot of YouTube videos in the off months (like most) and from what I’ve seen on YouTube (Dirt Fishing, for example) the Equinox doesn’t get the depth of the CTX on copper/silver targets, which are what I’m after.

I never said it’s not a good machine - for $900 it definitely is. But for the type of hunting I do, it’s not a game changer nor does it appear to obsolete the gear I already use/own. Perhaps in time and thru more research I may change my mind. I’m not there yet. Sorry if my opinion offends you or the other Equinox loyalists.

Digs,

Not offended in the least. My happiness is in no way tied to whether everyone likes the machines I use, it is tied to the finds I capture with those machines.

I think I have said repeatedly, that it does not necessarily make sense for folks with decent machines to jump to the Equinox. I have a Deus, not so great in salt water as you know and the CTX was not my cup of tea after researching and trying it out, so the Equinox seemed like a a great fit for me because it addressed the shortcomings I perceived with both the Deus and CTX machines for wet and dry beach hunting and was not a one-trick-pony like the Excal. It just so happens, that it does a lot of things well. And despite that, the Deus is not going anywhere.

I am not here to convince you to and I know I will never be able to convince you to move from two very capable machines that you have invested a lot of capital and time into to jump to this upstart kid on the block. No machine will live up to your stated jump ship criteria, so you will never switch, I am sure because you have set an impossible bar for a mid-range detector to clear.

I just couldn't let your statement above go without a comment because the irony of the how you phrased it just painted a humorous picture in my mind of a digger swinging two top end machines, one on each arm and saying that unless the Equinox can outdo the best attribute of each of the machines I am swinging (that each cost ~2x to 3x the machine in question), then I am not interested. That would be marketing gold to a Minelab ad agent. I know full well that is not what you were trying to portray, but that is how I humorously pictured it when I read your post.

For some reason, I have observed many CTX owners making comments similar to yours, namely, that the Equinox is not worth its salt unless it can be proven to be deeper than the CTX. Even a lot of Deus owners don't hold the Equinox to a similar super performance standard and seem to be interested in the Equinox for what it can bring to the table to fill gaps in Deus capability, especially with water hunting where the Deus is awkward at best and falls flat at worst (salt surf). The funny thing is I don't see AT Pro, AT Max, F75, Whites MXT, or even Whites V3i users holding the Equinox up to the same lofty standard. It is always being compared against these top end, 1.5 to 2.5K$ flagships. To me that is pretty telling that ML has struck some nerve in the detecting community, especially since hundreds of folks are still willing to wait multiple weeks for this beast and others only willing to consider it if it can slay the top dogs even if it costs hundreds less.

I see no reason why you should consider switching. You have the bases covered with two capable top end machines. I understand and respect your point of view and it makes all the sense in the world.

But hey, I'm a little crazy and am willing to have have a little fun playing with a machine that is fresh, new, perhaps unnecessary, and is also kicking some butt for me out on the beach, at the park, in the thicket, and on the farm, and that was not what I expected when I initially signed up on the waiting list. So I am singing its praises.

Definitely, no hard feeling Digs.

Signed,

A Deus Loyalist, nope that's not right. A GPX loyalist, nope, not right either. An F75 Loyalist, no that ain't it. An Equinox Loyalist, no not quite right either.

I know - "A right tool for the job, loyalist." Yep, that's it.

Happy Hunting.

 

[smokeythecat]

Heck with the thread, detecting a CW battlefield tomorrow. Technology makes my head hurt. My BEST digs were with a Tesoro Bandito several millennium ago. I dug over 50 marked Revolutionary War American marked buttons in just over a year. A century ago. (1980's) No one had ever used a Tesoro at the site and the slightly higher frequency made all the difference. No lie. I still have a few of the best ones.

 

[vferrari]

Heck with the thread, detecting a CW battlefield tomorrow. Technology makes my head hurt. My BEST digs were with a Tesoro Bandito several millennium ago. I dug over 50 marked Revolutionary War American marked buttons in just over a year. A century ago. (1980's) No one had ever used a Tesoro at the site and the slightly higher frequency made all the difference. No lie. I still have a few of the best ones.

Go get 'em Smokey - can't wait to see the awesome finds that get posted tomorrow across the board. I have a feeling it will be a banner day.

I've got some great treasures (i.e., memories to be made) awaiting me as well as I invest in some family outdoor picnic adventures.

Happy Hunting to all who get the chance to play in the dirt and sand tomorrow!

 

[DeepDigs]

Heck with the thread, detecting a CW battlefield tomorrow. Technology makes my head hurt. My BEST digs were with a Tesoro Bandito several millennium ago. I dug over 50 marked Revolutionary War American marked buttons in just over a year. A century ago. (1980's) No one had ever used a Tesoro at the site and the slightly higher frequency made all the difference. No lie. I still have a few of the best ones.

There’s much to be said for Tesoro technology - I let go of my Vaquero late last year as I swore to only keep 3 machines in my arsenal, and keep finding myself looking for a good used one on EBay, lol.

 

[pepperj]

The Equinox would have been perfect with a 8 or 9 inch stock search coil.

tabman

If they have had done that then it would just cut the market out for after sales market for smaller coils. They all do it as we all crave the smaller/larger size as it seems we're never 100% happy.

 

[smokeythecat]

Pepperj, a lot of truth to that. If they didn't have something to sell you later that would make the machine work better, like, why bother? It's all about the Benjamins.

Vferrari, no banners today, but did ok. I went to a CW battlefield and a CW camp about 50 miles apart.

Before the Tesoro I had a White's of some kind, 4000 or something like that. Anyway, I was detecting with two guys on Folly Island, SC, back in I guess 1990? Maybe earlier. All the years look the same now. Anyway, they had these "Tesoro" machines, which I had actually had never heard of at that time, and were just sucking up CW bullets off the beach. I was finding diddly squat with the Whites.

So I kind of gave up and just trailed them and one guy was walking to my left, and in front of me, the other to my right and in front of me. There was about 6-7' or so between the end of their swings, so I'm behind them about 10' not feeling good about the experience and I hear a KABOOM on the headphones. Down 4" in the wet sand was the prettiest Union cartridge box plate I had ever dug. They were amazed they missed it. BTW its the ONLY cartridge box plate I have ever dug. I still have it.

 

[smokeythecat]

Dirtlooter, you nailed it. There is no all around perfect machine, and each site and type of digging has its own needs.