EQUINOX REPORT CARD THREAD - The Good OR Bad - Rate your experiences and finds.

[vferrari]

I give it an F for fabulous. These threads are great for stirring the pot and for a few laughs so thanks for the entertainment.

Only I can decide via hands on experience whether I will like a machine not other people's grades.

Risk? Practically none because they can't keep them on the shelves, so you can recoup your investment and then some if it doesn't work out. Ask some of my buds who have already bought and sold multiple Equinoxes.

Cheaply made. You betcha. Because it's cheap. Doh.

Can it find stuff, uh huh.

Enjoy sitting on fences? Not me.

Get one or don't, doesn't matter.

But for gosh sakes, get out there and detect.

Happy Hunting folks!!!

 

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[smokeythecat]

Cheaply made. You betcha. Because it's cheap. Doh.

Can it find stuff, uh huh.

Enjoy sitting on fences? Not me.

Get one or don't, doesn't matter.

But for gosh sakes, get out there and detect.

Happy Hunting folks.

1) $900 is not cheap, 2) right with getting out and detecting.

 

[vferrari]

$650 + discounts = cheap (for what it does) Which is also known as value.

Best bang for your buck right now.

And that's certainly cheap compared to the machines that folks want to compare it to (CTX, Deus, eTrac, etc.)

 

[smokeythecat]

Sorry, $650 is not cheap. Unless you make more money than an Archangel. And if you have that much money just go have someone design a detector for you.

 

[vferrari]

I didn't address ergonomics. Not everyone's cup of tea. YMMV. In other words we all come in different shapes and sizes so it ain't for everyone. Ain't hard to mount that self-contained control pod on any type of shaft you want to home brew. That's pretty cool.

 

[detectorben]

Sorry, $650 is not cheap. Unless you make more money than an Archangel. And if you have that much money just go have someone design a detector for you.

$650 is cheap compared to Etrac and deus around $1500 and ctx at $2500. That is the point. Those are some of the detectors this unit is being compared to.

 

[vferrari]

And that are lurking in many of the multi-detector pofiles of most of the thread participants...

 

[smokeythecat]

And that are lurking in many of the multi-detector pofiles of most of the thread participants...

Say what huh? Monsters lurking under the bed?

 

[detectorben]

I would give the equinox an A- after about 2 months and over 100 hrs of use.

I have found some silver and wheats in trashy park areas I have pounded for 3 years with etrac and at pro wearing 3 different coils each. That is impressive to me.

I have not had any issues with my 800 to complain about. Target ID is not quite as good as my ctx but the nox is alerting me to targets the ctx can't even see to begin with so I will take that trade off. Also if the nox had the target id and target trace capabilities of the ctx it would cost $3k plus so I am just fine with the nox as is.

I love the built in wireless and I hate using the wireless module needed for my ctx.

The weight and balance of nox with stock coil feels great to me. I can swing it all day with no issues unlike my ctx.

The speed and target separation of the nox is better than any detector I have ever used.

Overall I love the nox and I have sold my at pro and etrac along with all their coils since using the nox800. I will be keeping my ctx as it still has some advantages over the nox in certain scenarios. Again A- would be my grade on nox800.

 

[vferrari]

Eek there's a wobbly shafted, buggy, big-nosed, underperforming Equinox under my bed!!!

Equinox Con: Accessories are either non-existent, ridiculously overpriced, or both. Fumblerooski on ML's part there.

A WP advertised detector should have WP phones readily available.

Need that 6" coil before my EQX shaft starts to wobble, too.

ML please get it together in this regard ASAP.

Also, from an ergonomics standpoint I disagree that the built-in battery should last more than 12hrs. Don't need my arm falling off from 12 hour detecting sessions. Also, ML is exacerbating the situation by enabling you to charge the EQX from a power bank WHILE YOU DETECT!

I can see detectorists suing ML because of damages suffered from 24+ hour continuous detecting sessions. What the heck were they thinking!?

 

[smokeythecat]

You keep it under your bed and don't sleep with it! OMG - the humanity! Well, I'm going digging in the thunderstorms tomorrow and going to play a masterful game of "show and tell" with recently found relics. Beats cleaning the cat box.

 

[vferrari]

Thanks AARC for giving us the opportunity to put it all out there regarding the Equinox. The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly.

 

[Phishfindr]

I love my 600 at the beach. It fills a big gap I had with my ATP. I've used the 600 in fields and it definitely finds a lot. But at the beach it is awesome. Dry/wet/surf no problems. Many finds on a pounded beach that is hit by many with frequency. And I'm talking pre-beach season. Not much beach going traffic, but still goods to be found from last year.

My one big gripe is that it is on its way to Minelab to fix that lower shaft wobble. (It was really annoying on mine).

It would be biased of me to grade it right now because of the repair issue. I can't separate ground breaking technology in detecting @ $650 with poor design/quality control issues apparently affecting some of us. Thus I agree with some other posters at this point in giving it a I for incomplete. I look forward to continuing my journey with it post wobble repair. I'm certain it will be rewarding.

 

[vferrari]

Honestly, the shaft wobble issue is keeping me from jumping on a dedicated 600 saltwater/backup machine at the moment. Noticing a slight change in return policy procedure (EQX owner with shaft issue was not required to return the whole machine, only the middle shaft) so we'll see what Minelab is up to regarding this. Perhaps they now know and can reliably address the issue.

 

[smokeythecat]

Hugh, you have too many machines already. And getting up in the morning with all of them in the bed with you has got to be a killer.

 

[vferrari]

Taking some pretty pics for posting to classifieds, so stay tuned for some thinning of the herd. Lol.

 

[Happa54]

Thus far, I have approx 50 hours on my 600. Haven't experienced anything more than what my Safari is capable of doing. At first, I was blown away by its speed and I had a hard time taming it down. Now I'm getting comfortable with it but it does make you dig a lot...a lot more than with my Safari....it seems. At this point in time I'll hold off giving a grade. I will post my finds at my 50 hour point and see if others can do the same with whatever time they have on it.

 

[Normsel]

Pretty simple for me. I give it a A. I do so because of the price point to begin with.

Easy to use out of the box

Easy to learn

Fast. Easy to make on the fly changes.

Good target separation

Deep. I have found targets at 12"

You dig no more trash with the Equinox than you do with any other detector. Actually a lot less.. It's much easier for you to distinguish trash from a good target with the Equinox than with other detectors in it's price range. I don't care who you are it's to tempting not to dig trash when in doubt. It takes experience with any detector.


If you don't have 100 hours on your detector you cannot give a fair assessment of the abilities of the Equinox.

Wireless headphones

Water safe

Customer service A+

In my estimation it will run along side the V3i and the Etrac, outshines the AT Pro and it should.

I have found in excess of $200 in clad, one silver and 3 silver rings.

Is it a miracle detector no it isn't. For those that think the Equinox will obsolete all other detectors maybe in the software but not in practical use. You have to like the detector. I fell in love it just like I did my At Pro and mostly because I learned the sounds well and settings that worked best for me. The coil is very hot around the edges and that makes for a perfect wiggle machine to find targets.

I have had a cpl issues with mine but I am not unhappy with it or Minelab. Since Minelab has manufactures the detectors elsewhere and there manufacturing facility uses 3rd party vendors I can understand there could be some issues.

With all the hype since last September about the Equinox and people pre ordering them worldwide I think minelab was under extreme pressure to produce and was caught off guard with the order backlog. If we still have people waiting to get 800's here think about the rest of world.

I have read 100's of posts about it and there are few guys that really understand the Equinox and it's abilities. What the experts say and I am talking about metal detecting enthusiasts is the Equinox is a good detector but they won't throw away their Deus or CTX. The Equinox is not a CTX or a Deus but is one heck of a compliment to both.

For those that don't have the Equinox or have less than 50 hours on it they can't objectively grade it.

As with any product people are brand loyal and can pick apart a competing product. Chevy vs Ford or Dodge.. Marketing is the key to any product success and Minelab hit a home run with the Equinox.

If you go detecting to place that has been what all of us detectorists call hunted out and you don't find anything. Guess what it probably is hunted out or close to it. I have used mine in a park that I hit probably 30 times in the past 4 years with my AT Pro, V3i and my Etrac. I the last few hunts with the other detectors all I found was surface coins that were recent pocket drops. Yesterday in 2 hours I found one nickel.

For me the two best features of the Equinox is target separation and depth.

I know there will be many who purchase the Equinox and will be disappointed because it don't find much more than the detector they use or maybe even less. Every detector on the market has it's niche in the market. For me it comes down to me learning it quickly and not trying to outsmart the detector

 

[MattPa]

I like the nox, I also use a v3i. I really like both of them, I wish the nox had better target ID and iron vdi numbers. Its to compressed, it definatley doesn't replace the v3i. I'm a bit annoyed that its almost June and I still don't wp headphones. I'm happy with the weight but wish I could change the angle of the grip. I give it a B+, if they make detectors any better and easier to use the hobby will lose its fun.

 

[SittingElf]

Some dealers in the USA are receiving the Waterproof headphones now. Made by Koss and manufactured in the USA. Already seen a post and review on another "prospecting" forum.