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

[fuceye]

over all I fail the equinox. -D......


I woke up after a nap in the field and asked it to get me a sandwich and beer....it fail completely at preforming this simple request.that alone would render +b rating....but to just sit there and have that dizzy, glassy far away look on its control panel like it could not even hear me....complete fail...

 

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[Roger Mn.]

I have noticed the play in the shaft and tightened it a few times.
If i'm not swing like a mad man then i don't notice it and the arm cuff i think has something to do with it.
The Equinox arm cuff was made for big arms . Mussel builders. The arm cuff is 5 inches wide and the detector flops around from side to side.
On the Etrac it is 4 inches wide and i don't need to use the strap to hold my arm in place.
As far as weight i still have to shift arms as i did with the Etrac. It must have something to do with the length of the shaft and the coil.
The tones on the Equinox are not like the Etrac. I love the tones on the Etrac.
I dislike the battery set up as i would have liked the same as the Etrac and even the shaft could have been an Etrac shaft with etrac battery packs.
Put a smaller screen on the Etrac and make it waterproof to 20 feet or more.

The hand grips are a little different on both and is still hard to get used to it.
I have taken the Equinox to 4 or 5 places were i have found deep coins with the Etrac hoping that the Equinox would pull me up something good and all i find is the junk .
The Etrac is a lot better at identifying junk targets so less digging .
I have not found any silver coins or any old coins yet this year with the Equinox.
I think the Equinox to do better at Beach detecting and plowed fields and woods and not to good at detecting city parks .
Let me mount my Equinox on to my Etrac shaft.

 

[vferrari]

I have noticed the play in the shaft and tightened it a few times.
If i'm not swing like a mad man then i don't notice it and the arm cuff i think has something to do with it.
The Equinox arm cuff was made for big arms . Mussel builders. The arm cuff is 5 inches wide and the detector flops around from side to side.
On the Etrac it is 4 inches wide and i don't need to use the strap to hold my arm in place.
As far as weight i still have to shift arms as i did with the Etrac. It must have something to do with the length of the shaft and the coil.
The tones on the Equinox are not like the Etrac. I love the tones on the Etrac.
I dislike the battery set up as i would have liked the same as the Etrac and even the shaft could have been an Etrac shaft with etrac battery packs.
Put a smaller screen on the Etrac and make it waterproof to 20 feet or more. View attachment 1592148 View attachment 1592149 View attachment 1592150 View attachment 1592151

The hand grips are a little different on both and is still hard to get used to it.
I have taken the Equinox to 4 or 5 places were i have found deep coins with the Etrac hoping that the Equinox would pull me up something good and all i find is the junk .
The Etrac is a lot better at identifying junk targets so less digging .
I have not found any silver coins or any old coins yet this year with the Equinox.
I think the Equinox to do better at Beach detecting and plowed fields and woods and not to good at detecting city parks .
Let me mount my Equinox on to my Etrac shaft.

Why would you want to mount the Equinox on the Etrac shaft? Sounds like the Etrac is better. I don't own an Etrac so I wouldn't know but it sure doesn't sound like Equinox is outplaying it for your type of hunting. I know what you are saying though, if the Equinox performance were up to snuff, then the ergonomics of the Etrac setup would fill the bill.

Are the Etrac battery packs sealed and water tight?

Agree with you on the armrest cup contributing to the wobble effect. I added "Cuffer" padding to my armrest cup for comfort and a snug fit so I can go with and without the arm strap. The hand grip is a tad thick, but not sure you can do anything about it with the battery in there and maintain structural strength.

The experiences of the user versus their reference machine is very important as the machine you are most comfortable with will typically get the nod until you come up to speed on the new machine. One thing I have found though, is that the various Equinox modes behave so differently from one another, it may be hard to zero in on the right mode for the situation at hand. Especially, given that each mode's different behavior almost is like having to learn a new machine for each mode which ups the learning curve, and the ML is so protective of the Equinox secret sauce that the mode descriptions, especially in regards to frequency weighting and target preference, are so vague it makes proper mode selection hard without the benefit of several hours of user experience to guide you. So it makes sense that folks comparing it to the same base machine may have wildly different comparative experiences. For every, I still like my [machine X] better, I can find just as many Equinox leaves my [machine X] in the dust. It is really amazing.

Furthermore, since the machine is so versatile from "type of detecting" perspective, I am not surprised at all at the spectrum of experiences from good to bad that the users are having.

Fair criticisms as no machine is the universal perfect tool. No matter what anyone else says about a machine, that is not what determines whether you will or should like it.

 

[Bodkin]

It looks as if when all the re-engineering, upgrades, fixes and time spent is done, everyone will have the Dues or CTX they were looking for. What a bargain!!!

 

[detectorben]

It looks as if when all the re-engineering, upgrades, fixes and time spent is done, everyone will have the Dues or CTX they were looking for. What a bargain!!!

Exactly! Everyone is holding the nox to an impossibly high standard. If this detector was perfect and contained all the latest greatest options and tech minelab had to offer it would be $3k plus. Everyone is describing their perfect detector as they describe the nox short comings. Most have forgotten the fact that the 600 is leaps ahead of detectors in its price range and even competes with big dogs like deus, etrac, and ctx which is impressive.

 

[TomNWMI]

Needs a 9" coil for fresh water iron hunting!

 

[dirtlooter]

for me, with very little time on the 600, it is heavier than my Deus and I feel it but I knew that it was and that I would. I have hunted in an area that I have hunted hard with the Deus and didn't find anything of value. The one complaint that I do have has to be with the shaft design (for me), especially the angle of the grip. I found the bottom of the control head was constantly digging into my hand. could just be me and how I am holding/swinging. for me it is a bit nose heavy but I use a Deus because I was trying to swing a much lighter machine and the Deus is just that. other than that, it is an awesome machine, that part is easy to see. perfect? for some, yes for what they do but every machine has its good or better points as well as those that are lacking in some areas. For the cost, it is a pretty darn good deal compared to what I have paid for other machines in the past that couldn't do what it can. it won't make everyone happy but it sure will make a lot of people very happy or happier than they have been.

 

[digger460]

I was looking to upgrade at the time the Equinox started to fill the air wave's. I really wanted my next machine to be deeper, and then I heard about the EQ. I went to other forums, and reviews that were coming, so I decided on the 600. Really liked what I was hearing about deep silver. I was ready to go 4 figure's, but I couldn't resist the price of the 600.

Flash forward 2 weeks. On that Sunday, I went to a park, that I was 99.9% sure I had gotten everything with my ATP, and was not going to come back to. Good place to test the 600.

Picture one is from an area where people parked and gathered. I would have bet the ranch there was nothing left.


Second picture is second half of the day, at a place where the original ball field was in 1939. I had found a couple of silver's and around 10 wheats, but then it dried up. Or so I thought.


Can't remember how many of the total coins were from 6 to 12 inches, but I would say safely 95% were in the range of 6 to 12, with four silver's at 10-12, and all the wheats at 10-12. I would say most of the clad was in the 6-8.

So if I have to rate it so far (around 60 hrs.), it would have to be an A.(Nobody get's an A+)

Pro's:
As advertised, it found target's that were out of the reach of the AT, and that's exactly was I was looking for.

Extremely easy to use. If you did your homework while waiting for your EQ, like I did, navigating is a breeze.

I must be a lucky one. I have absolutely no fatigue after swinging 4 to 6 hrs.. I think the balance is perfect and maybe the straight shaft is better for me the "S" on the ATP. I'd start feeling it after 4 hrs. with the AT with the 5x8.

No Wobble.

Pinpointer. Pretty amazing tool. I've used it all the time, and now I use it for depth, and am getting pretty good at distinguishing target size ,and whether it's most likely a bottle top, or coin. About everytime I'd get a signal, where the volume was low, and the reading was in the silver range, you know's it's deep, and most likely silver. Don't forget to use the pinpointer

All the other feature's are just icing on the cake.

Cons.

I would like the additional features that the 800 has please

What were they thinking with the cord for the headphones? Silly


The EQ has gotten me more silver already, then my first 2 years, and most of those hunts I have been to many times. GRADE "A".

 

[ARC]

Well... My curiosity has been somewhat quenched thus far in a few areas...

One being that fact the detector is picking up "leftovers"...
which is what I call something I did not find the first time.

As far as the shaft wobble and nose heavy dealio's ... both I feel can be adjusted to my liking.

Now... as far as the whole charger / headphones / accessory deal... that leaves me a little "unfulfilled" feeling of "incompleteness" to the detector REGARDLESS of the money.
Personally I could have cared less about a sway in some money just as long as the machine is complete with everything I would immediately want in a detector.
Bu hey...
I am picky... but so be it... I know what I want and like... simple as that.

With all this said... it sounds like a great new addition to any detectorists arsenal and hope that ML works out the bugs and fills in the blanks in the near future.

I am still very curious about future additions to this thread and would love to hear any and all updates / new info / stories / experiences one may want to add.

So far so good... good thread and I have learned from each and every post.

Thanks

ARC

 

[GoDeep]

Can't remember how many of the total coins were from 6 to 12 inches, but I would say safely 95% were in the range of 6 to 12, with four silver's at 10-12, and all the wheats at 10-12. I would say most of the clad was in the 6-8.

Wow, nice finds!! I was at a couple of pounded parks yesterday but no silver found. What were your deep silvers sounding like? What were he vdi's on them? And lastly, what were you running for settings?

 

[ARC]

Bump.

 

[Hal2k]

I gave Minlab an F on customer service in my ordinal grade assessment after sending the middle shaft for my 800 in for repair/replacement I have to increase that grade to an A+. As for as shaft design I have to leave that grade at an F, they could have done a much better job on shaft cam lock design. Overall grade I feel is still at incomplete, but I will say that grade is coming up.

 

[digger460]

Wow, nice finds!! I was at a couple of pounded parks yesterday but no silver found. What were your deep silvers sounding like? What were he vdi's on them? And lastly, what were you running for settings?

Thanks. The silver dimes were roughly 23/24, and they were high pitch, can't ignore kind of hit. I usually pinpoint and can tell by the size it's probably a coin. Course sometimes that don't alway's work out.

I was just running Park1 preset basically. I just bump the Threshold up to 1, and run 0 iron bias. Tried Field 1 too, (both on 5 tone), and it to found deep silver, but my personal opinion is Park1 was a more solid sound. Still learning!

 

[RelicsRings]

I've used many detectors over the last 35 years and currently own in addition to the Equinox, XP Deus, GPX 4000, Whites TDI, Garrett Infinium, and Makro Racer.

IMO for the price it's the best all around detector you can buy right now for someone that wants to do it all. I bought the 600 and have had it almost since the time they were available. I have well over 150 hours on it.

That being said I'm a relic and beach hunter so it doesn't do everything for me. I did take it to a local park for the first 20 hours to learn it. The park has been detected by myself and others for decades. I did managed to find 2 silver dimes, 1 silver quarter, a silver ring with a gold nugget mounted in it, a few wheat pennies and lots of clad coins, including nickles. It's a great park machine and the ID is pretty accurate, which is important when you're digging holes in a park.

As far as ergonomics go, the handle is a bit big and after 4 hours of continuous detecting my hand gets tired. I haven't had any issues with the wobble everyone is talking about, I guess I'm lucky. The weight and balance is no problem for me, but I'm used to swinging some pretty heavy PI machines.

At the beach it does good and I have found a few gold rings with it. Before the Equinox I used a Minelab Explorer 2 when I wasn't swinging one of my PI's. In junkie areas it's great compared to the Explorer, much faster recovery. Depth is about the same so a PI is still my preference when depth is needed. I wish the waterproof headphones were available so I could use it in the deeper water, but until they are, I'll be using the Garrett Infinium in the water.

IMO relic hunting is where the Equinox falls short especially since there isn't a 6 inch coil available. The 11 inch coil is just too big for the iron infested areas I hunt. The Deus with 9 inch HF coil easily out performs the Equinox 11 inch, which is to be expected. When the trash gets real bad I use the Racer with the 5" DD to get between it all.

Some other things I don't like are; no audio modulation and iron falsing. Because of the poor audio modulation, flat tin sounds really good on the Equinox and I've dug a lot because of that issue. Turning on all metal and upping the iron bias does nothing to solve the problem.

Iron falsing is also an issue for me because the Equinox falses into the mid conductor area 12-19. When relic hunting I dig those numbers so they can't be ignored and it takes too much time to turn 90 degrees on ever signal when you get 3 in every sweep of the coil. High conductors are no problem they pop out and are easily heard, in fact my oldest coin to date 1786 1 real was found with the Equinox in a trashy site.

It will be interesting to see if my opinion changes about relic hunting when the 6 inch coil comes out. It could be a game changer, I'll have to wait and see.

But overall, if you want a detector that is capable in most situations, it's the one to own IMO.

 

[ARC]

...

 

[Tedyoh]

B+.

 

[Normsel]

AARC since your picky and want everyones opinion according to your last post it would appear the Equinox could never live up to your expectations. If I were you I would spend $99 on bounty hunter then your expectations wouldn't be so high.

The Equinox is a metal detector and like all metal detectors it performs as well as you learn how to use it. Since it is manufactured it can have internal and external flaws on occasion. It's a new product that seemed to be rushed to the market to meet pre order demand. Makes no difference what anyone says about the Equinox you have to go with your gut if you're comparing it to another brand.

I don't care how picky you are for the money you can't buy a better detector whether the members on here give it an A or an F..

 

[ARC]

Heh... picky perhaps yes... but more so curious.

And why would I buy a bounty hunter ?

When i have slew of the best detectors made to detect with now ?

"When one is winning at a game of cards, don't switch games" comes to mind.

 

[digger1965]

what settings are you using?

 

[ARC]

Bump