Equinox 800 Starter guide

[Iron Buzz]

If the EQ can ID bottle caps half as well as the Etrac does I may consider trading in the Deus for an 800. Using all of the tricks, I can almost always ID a bottle cap with the Deus, but that "almost always" is what I consider a borderline good signal so I end up digging anyway. Would still be swinging Etrac or CTX if weight wasn't an issue. Love me some FE numbers. EQ will be interesting...

I don't want to sabotage this thread, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, let's take this to the Deus forum, but... have you tried dropping down to 4K for a bottlecap check? Works extremely well for me.

Back to Minelab chatter now...

 

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[sgoss66]

Seems like all the testers are claiming it's a deep machine. To be honest, light and deep with accurate target ID is what I really want. If it is as fast as they claim that will just be icing on the cake along with the waterproof capabilities. I like hunting the early farm fields for the old deep coins.

Yep, these are the characteristics I'm hearing, as well.

I see you are from PA -- and you said you like hunting "early farm fields." Eastern third of the state, then, I assume? Reason I ask, I grew up in western PA and travel back fairly often, and ALWAYS get in some hunting time while I'm there. I just got back from a Thanksgiving trip back home, and made a few decent finds while there; I'll be getting an Equinox as well and thought if you weren't TOO far away, we could maybe hook up and compare notes on the Equinox next time I'm back home...

Steve

 

[sgoss66]

So far, all the testers are... well, I'm not gonna say "Minelab shills" but let's just say that they are biased because Minelab gave them an Equinox to play with. So, I'm taking any claims with a large grain of salt until we have "real" users doing the testing. Still, I hope you're right!

I'm not sure that's a totally fair statement. It COULD be the case, but then again, I see it a bit differently. It does not appear to me that Minelab gave this machine to some people and said "now get out there and promote this thing for us; after all, we DID give you a free unit..."

Instead, I see guys with prototypes who have largely not said much at all (bound basically to "secrecy" by their contract with Minelab, and the NDO's they had to sign). And in a case like that, where you are basically asked to "keep quiet," these testers really have no reason to say anything at all UNLESS they felt compelled to do so by the machine itself. In other words, if you asked me to test a new product, but told me I couldn't say much publicly, you've given me the PERFECT cover to NOT say anything, in the event that after testing it, my honest opinion was that the product is a piece of junk. It would be the perfect opportunity for me to do my job and test it for you, give you my feedback, and then KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT, publicly. No one would know I ever tested it, and I SURE wouldn't feel the need to go out there and "promote" it, if indeed I felt it was a piece of junk. ON THE OTHER HAND, same situation, you give me the product to test, and tell me I can't say much publicly, but I am SO "wowed" by your product that I feel compelled to go public and say "hey, I'm testing this new product, and while I am under a gag order and can't say much, I CAN say that this thing is SPECIAL..." In that case, I think that's different than someone being a "shill." And this is what I personally see playing out with the Equinox. Minelab isn't "bribing" anyone to say "good things" about the unit by manipulating them with a free detector. Quite the opposite, it seems to me...Minelab is telling their field testers that they can't really say much of anything, but these guys are so excited they can't help but say a few things about how much they are enjoying the unit...

Just a few thoughts. Yes, there is still some "take it with a grain of salt" that could be wise, but I don't think we have to totally ignore the thoughts of the Brandon Neice's and Steve Herschbach's, for instance.

One other point...I think it will be wise to also take "with a grain of salt" much of what we hear within a few weeks or even months of the release of this unit; it obviously takes quite awhile to learn a new machine well, and even longer to really, truly understand the nuance of the language. There's not really a short-cut there; it takes digging a lot of targets to begin to REALLY understand a new machine. We will probably hear everything from "this is the greatest machine ever" to "this thing is garbage and I'm putting it up for sale immediately," in those first few weeks. And for me, I'm pretty sure that Mr. Neice's and Mr. Herschbach's words we've heard thus far will be more "valuable" than most of what we'll hear within the first month or so of the Equinox release...

Steve

 

[Xraywolf]

Minelab itself set the bravado bar sky high with its statement that it will "obsolete all single freq detectors" overnight, so its tough to see their hand picked testers having anything other than glowing praise so as not to be a buzzkill to the party line [and not get selected to test their next product].
Not saying any of them are dishonest, and we don't know if they are forthcoming and impartial or not. Put yourself in their positions, cannot be an easy spot to be genuinely fair and balanced, let the chips fall where they may. If they found a fault or something that glaringly didn't live up to the hype, I would think the procedure would be to consult Minelab about it to see if the fault can be remedied, and not to post about it on facebook, blogs or forums.
Maybe it is that praise worthy, maybe it has no faults or wants worth mentioning. I for one am not going to assume that.

 

[sgoss66]

Minelab itself set the bravado bar sky high with its statement that it will "obsolete all single freq detectors" overnight, so its tough to see their hand picked testers having anything other than glowing praise so as not to be a buzzkill to the party line [and not get selected to test their next product].
Not saying any of them are dishonest, and we don't know if they are forthcoming and impartial or not. Put yourself in their positions, cannot be an easy spot to be genuinely fair and balanced, let the chips fall where they may. If they found a fault or something that glaringly didn't live up to the hype, I would think the procedure would be to consult Minelab about it to see if the fault can be remedied, and not to post about it on facebook, blogs or forums.
Maybe it is that praise worthy, maybe it has no faults or wants worth mentioning. I for one am not going to assume that.

Here's what I'm saying...

Those "hand-picked testers" don't NEED to risk being "buzz-kills." All they had to do, if they didn't think the machine was a good one, was KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT, publicly -- which, in fact, is what Minelab asked them to do in the first place. See what I mean?

I was asked to test an electronic product once. It was given to me, and I was then put in touch with the engineer who designed it, and offered him a "consumer's perspective" on what worked well, and what didn't. He had an idea that he designed that would -- from his perspective -- meet customer needs, but he and the company then needed ACTUAL CUSTOMERS to verify whether it did, or did not, meet customer need, as they had intended it to.

In that particular case, it WAS a good product. A very good one, in fact. There were a few glitches, though; a few little things that didn't work quite as intended -- and I gave that feedback to the engineer; he then made some tweaks, and had me try it again. At that point, the glitches I noticed were ironed out, and I then felt that it was working as intended, and doing a very good job at it.

At that point, my job was done -- BUT, I did, of my own volition, let other folks know what I thought of the product, because I was impressed by it and felt that it met a need that wasn't being met by any other product, and wanted to let others know that.

BUT -- had I felt that it was kind of a "dud," i.e. it worked "properly," but really wasn't of much use or whatever, then after I did my job, and helped them work out the glitches, I simply would have kept my mouth shut, publicly. No one knew I had tested the product at that point, and no one NEEDED to know. I did my duty to the company, and I could then have just "kept quiet," and never said anything positive, publicly. And as far as I know, any of those guys testing the Equinox could have done just that -- helped the engineers to iron out the kinks, and then simply kept quiet, said nothing publicly, and went back to using the detectors they were using prior to the field testing. Right?

From that perspective, the fact that they feel compelled to give positive reports says something, in my opinion. And further, when I see the prior detectors owned by these field testers now up for sale in various venues, that to me is even further confirmation...

Anyway, again, just my two cents.

Steve

 

[Nuke em]

I think that if testers say its good or great and if it turns out crap then its those testers and the company that will look bad . Minelab has already come unstuck on 1 or 2 machines for one thing or another . I dont think they can afford to get this one wrong .
I think at the least it will be a good coin shooter . Its where it will be a good coin shooter that is the bit i want to know about .
I reckon a match for the Deus on speed and hopefully good on the wet salt beach unlike the Garrett AT which is good on the fresh water wet.

 

[Xraywolf]

From that perspective, the fact that they feel compelled to give positive reports says something, in my opinion. And further, when I see the prior detectors owned by these field testers now up for sale in various venues, that to me is even further confirmation...

Anyway, again, just my two cents.

Steve

Of course it says something - And one of their testers declared himself a ML fanboy right on their site in the midst of a mini review, that says something to.
It tells me, we'll know what its about a couple months after release and not sooner - In my mind, the testers objectivity is in doubt. You may not agree, that may or may not be true, I'm speaking for myself and no one else.
As you said or implied, their purpose is not to offer full fledged public reviews anyhow.

I'll get one next summer if it comes close to the hype, as I am in need of a backup water machine anyhow. If it doesn't, well then I won't. There is nothing to base an opinion on right now outside of company hype and selected tidbits from hand picked testers - But I am hoping it does live up to the hype, though their pre marketing tactics rub me the wrong way.

[I read what you had to say BTW and thanks for that, just snipped for brevity]

 

[GreenMeanie]

I have to agree I don't ever remember seeing a video where a company gives a detector for someone to test and them actually telling us it sucks lol.

So far, all the testers are... well, I'm not gonna say "Minelab shills" but let's just say that they are biased because Minelab gave them an Equinox to play with. So, I'm taking any claims with a large grain of salt until we have "real" users doing the testing. Still, I hope you're right!

 

[smokeythecat]

Forget the test folks. I feel they are being honest, BUT YOU have to pick the right machine for YOUR OWN USE. Our ability, our sites and the soil conditions will decide which machine is best for you. I am not brand loyal, HOWEVER, I just bought another Tesoro for a specialized use and it will go well with my Deus. The Deus sucks stuff out of the ground, especially small, mid tone targets. The discrimination is incredible. The Tesoro Vaquero is a deep digging work horse, it won't discriminate like the Deus, but I have a specialized use for it and it is lightweight. If people pick machines due to the manufacturers' labels on them, well there will be a lot of used machines on the market 3-6 months later. EVERYONE should try to see if they can test drive ANY MACHINE before they buy one. BTW I had a Vaquero before. It likes Civil War belt plates and eats up bullets in red dirt down to 10".

 

[Iron Buzz]

Here's what I'm saying...

Those "hand-picked testers" don't NEED to risk being "buzz-kills." All they had to do, if they didn't think the machine was a good one, was KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT, publicly -- which, in fact, is what Minelab asked them to do in the first place. See what I mean?

I was asked to test an electronic product once. It was given to me, and I was then put in touch with the engineer who designed it, and offered him a "consumer's perspective" on what worked well, and what didn't. He had an idea that he designed that would -- from his perspective -- meet customer needs, but he and the company then needed ACTUAL CUSTOMERS to verify whether it did, or did not, meet customer need, as they had intended it to.

In that particular case, it WAS a good product. A very good one, in fact. There were a few glitches, though; a few little things that didn't work quite as intended -- and I gave that feedback to the engineer; he then made some tweaks, and had me try it again. At that point, the glitches I noticed were ironed out, and I then felt that it was working as intended, and doing a very good job at it.

At that point, my job was done -- BUT, I did, of my own volition, let other folks know what I thought of the product, because I was impressed by it and felt that it met a need that wasn't being met by any other product, and wanted to let others know that.

BUT -- had I felt that it was kind of a "dud," i.e. it worked "properly," but really wasn't of much use or whatever, then after I did my job, and helped them work out the glitches, I simply would have kept my mouth shut, publicly. No one knew I had tested the product at that point, and no one NEEDED to know. I did my duty to the company, and I could then have just "kept quiet," and never said anything positive, publicly. And as far as I know, any of those guys testing the Equinox could have done just that -- helped the engineers to iron out the kinks, and then simply kept quiet, said nothing publicly, and went back to using the detectors they were using prior to the field testing. Right?

From that perspective, the fact that they feel compelled to give positive reports says something, in my opinion. And further, when I see the prior detectors owned by these field testers now up for sale in various venues, that to me is even further confirmation...

Anyway, again, just my two cents.

Steve

I'm not talking about beta testers, by the way. The beta testers I'm sure have been asked to keep quiet. I'm talking about YouTube celebs and Minelab dealers that have been given machines for marketing & publicity purposes. I'm not saying that they are dishonest, in fact... I strongly suspect they have the utmost integrity, but they do know how to keep a good relationship with their dealer. Anything they say is carefully couched in diplomacy, unlike the things that you or I might say about a machine when we get our hands (and our hard-earned dollars) on it.

 

[sgoss66]

Of course it says something - And one of their testers declared himself a ML fanboy right on their site in the midst of a mini review, that says something to.
​

It tells me, we'll know what its about a couple months after release and not sooner - In my mind, the testers objectivity is in doubt. You may not agree, that may or may not be true, I'm speaking for myself and no one else.
As you said or implied, their purpose is not to offer full fledged public reviews anyhow.

I'll get one next summer if it comes close to the hype, as I am in need of a backup water machine anyhow. If it doesn't, well then I won't. There is nothing to base an opinion on right now outside of company hype and selected tidbits from hand picked testers - But I am hoping it does live up to the hype, though their pre marketing tactics rub me the wrong way.

[I read what you had to say BTW and thanks for that, just snipped for brevity]

Fair enough, and I do understand where you are coming from. And I can understand why the pre-marketing tactics might rub some the wrong way.

You are ultimately correct, in that none of us will really know what we are dealing with in the Equinox until they are released, and in the hands of hundreds of detectorists, running them in various environments, and in various hunting applications.

The only other thing I'll say is, I believe that when Steve H. said "he's a fanboy now," what he was saying was "now that my job as a tester -- helping with the development of the machine -- is essentially concluded, I will now say that I am so impressed with the machine personally that I have become a huge fan, and intend to make the Equinox my primary coin machine." I guess that could be read two ways -- one, being "well, this guy is biased because he's a 'fanboy,'" or two -- "wow, this guy started out neutral, and was so impressed by the machine during the process of testing it, that it 'won him over' to the point that he's super-excited about it."

I personally -- knowing Steve's long-time, respected presence online -- interpret his words in the second way...in other words, that the machine impressed him to the point of true, passionate excitement. And for me, that passion coming from someone I trust and respect, stokes MY excitement! To each his own, though.

For my part, I'll try to provide some useful information, once I start using the machine, that hopefully might be helpful for someone else in some way, so as to assist in their own personal decision-making process.

Steve​

 

[sgoss66]

I have to agree I don't ever remember seeing a video where a company gives a detector for someone to test and them actually telling us it sucks lol.

True, but I would bet there have been times where a company gives a detector to someone to test, and through that testing they FOUND OUT that it "sucked," and thus just kept quiet -- never producing a video at all because they deemed the machine "not worthy of their personal promotion..."

Steve

 

[sgoss66]

I'm not talking about beta testers, by the way. The beta testers I'm sure have been asked to keep quiet. I'm talking about YouTube celebs and Minelab dealers that have been given machines for marketing & publicity purposes. I'm not saying that they are dishonest, in fact... I strongly suspect they have the utmost integrity, but they do know how to keep a good relationship with their dealer. Anything they say is carefully couched in diplomacy, unlike the things that you or I might say about a machine when we get our hands (and our hard-earned dollars) on it.

Gotcha. Makes sense. While I was of the impression that there are only like a dozen prototypes out there right now, in the hands of beta testers, others of course have borrowed/used these prototype machines for short periods of time, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of those folks might be making statements/videos purely for marketing and publicity purposes...

Steve

 

[McKinney_5900]

It takes me 15 maybe 20 seconds to change a coil on my E-trac. If you can change your Deus coil faster than that, I guess you've got a BIG head start on me!

No ill intent here but....there's only one way I could ever swap coils on my Etrac in 15-20 seconds, AND all of my auxiliary coils for my Etrac are all with upper and lower rods in place ;-)

The only way I'd get coil changes near this fast would require a high possibility of damaging gear. The E-series minelab machines has to have about the most clumsy system made in this modern world of detecting hardware. Very shoddy design.

 

[HighVDI]

Yep, these are the characteristics I'm hearing, as well.

I see you are from PA -- and you said you like hunting "early farm fields." Eastern third of the state, then, I assume? Reason I ask, I grew up in western PA and travel back fairly often, and ALWAYS get in some hunting time while I'm there. I just got back from a Thanksgiving trip back home, and made a few decent finds while there; I'll be getting an Equinox as well and thought if you weren't TOO far away, we could maybe hook up and compare notes on the Equinox next time I'm back home...

Steve

Absolutely.

Always fun to hunt with someone else. I am in SW PA. I guess I mean the earliest fields in my area. Will be a whole new experience for me since my hunting has been done strictly by Fisher and Tesoro units. Always wanted to dabble in the minelab stuff. Shoot me a PM when you come back home and we will definitely have to share ideas on the EQ.

 

[cudamark]

No ill intent here but....there's only one way I could ever swap coils on my Etrac in 15-20 seconds, AND all of my auxiliary coils for my Etrac are all with upper and lower rods in place ;-)

The only way I'd get coil changes near this fast would require a high possibility of damaging gear. The E-series minelab machines has to have about the most clumsy system made in this modern world of detecting hardware. Very shoddy design.

Mine all have upper and lower shafts also. Without them, it would take a bit longer.......sometimes a lot longer in the case of some of the aftermarket coils where the cable doesn't fit down the shaft very well. In those cases where you have to install a bare coil, a shoelace is a big help. The connector only goes together one way, so, I don't know how you would damage it regardless of your speed and/or dexterity. I've probably swapped coils on my E-trac over 500 times without an incident. I find it a fairly good design. My only gripe is that once the shaft gets some wear on it, it can work it's way loose if you swing a heavy coil. You sometimes need to refinish or deform the shaft to tighten it up, or, get a new upper shaft. I find my old Explorer upper shaft fits a little tighter, so, I use it with my 15" NEL Attack coil and the Coiltek WOT.