Equinox competitor?

[MackDog]

Well with all the hype that turned out to be bogus, It did not obsolete anything and it has a few issues and some folks have already sold them on, All that hype and yet some machines from 20 years ago wiped it's clock. Using bigger coils will be another issue when they are released and dedicated battery systems are never a good idea when you are 500 miles off the beaten track and have to cut your holiday short to head back to town looking for a replacement,



I was seriously thinking about one but I think I will give it a year or so and see how it pans out.

Be like me wait a couple of years then by a hardly used closet queen from EBAY for about half price

 

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[jmaryt]

Recently got my hands on a 600 and have not spend much time out with it but White's, etc. needs to have something in the works. This thing works nice and is lighter than my MX Sport. Can't wait to get some real time to test it but I can't believe that the others don't have something and just working the kinks out. Take the Sport, make it multi-freq, salt water usable and lighter, good start. Time will tell.

whitey's gotta be careful! cannot circumvent minelab's patents
gotta find a way around them,whatever they do! i'm just sayin'

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[jmaryt]

I have seen an xlt on facebook marketplace go for $175, if you are unwilling to pay big bucks for an equinox, there are cheaper, just as deep alternatives out there. Remember that it is mainly the detectorist and not the detector.

this is sooo true! how about a "tesoro mojave!" for $251.00
get to know it's audio, and save your money!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[HighVDI]

this is sooo true! how about a "tesoro mojave!" for $251.00
get to know it's audio, and save your money!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

Yeah right. Max 7" silver dime. Great machine for the money, true but whole different level of performance with the Eq. Why do you think Terry just sold off his Mohave and kept the 600?

 

[Gold Itch]

White's do not have to circumvent anything of minelabs, So lets clear that up right away, White's already Own the most successful Gold getting VLF ever made and along with the fact that the EQ does have some issues responding to various metals and conditions so lets not go making it out to be something it is not, And all the Hype ML mouthed off about turned out to nothing but fantasy and Hype, No machine has been made obsolete and they all kept working fine and the only thing that has happened is people ended up disappointed and sold on their EQ 600/800s and went back to what they knew worked and those 600/800s were fast tracked to Ebay double time.

People need to realize that for any new machine to break new ground then It needs to have a depth improvement that can be measured in Feet not inches and that is never going to happen with the EQ600/800. due to the balance/layout of the machine where as My VLF's can use coils up to 21x18" So that tells me all I need to know and the fact that my detectors software is Spot On and was perfect upon release and did not need to be updated only months after it's release due to too many faults/Issues which seems to be how all companies do it nower days, Send out Junk and get the public to field test it for them. Despicable, Which is why I will not buy any Detector until it has a proven track record.

And from the prospecting point of view just to rub salt in the wound White's New Goldmaster 24K is kicking A$$ and taking Names,

 

[smokeythecat]

Price shouldn't be the only consideration. There is also a old saying about getting what you paid for. A lot of it still depends on the operator and if there are targets in the ground or not. Some of my best finds were easy targets, some at depth, it depends on a lot of factors.

 

[HighVDI]

White's do not have to circumvent anything of minelabs, So lets clear that up right away, White's already Own the most successful Gold getting VLF ever made and along with the fact that the EQ does have some issues responding to various metals and conditions so lets not go making it out to be something it is not, And all the Hype ML mouthed off about turned out to nothing but fantasy and Hype, No machine has been made obsolete and they all kept working fine and the only thing that has happened is people ended up disappointed and sold on their EQ 600/800s and went back to what they knew worked and those 600/800s were fast tracked to Ebay double time.

People need to realize that for any new machine to break new ground then It needs to have a depth improvement that can be measured in Feet not inches and that is never going to happen with the EQ600/800. due to the balance/layout of the machine where as My VLF's can use coils up to 21x18" So that tells me all I need to know and the fact that my detectors software is Spot On and was perfect upon release and did not need to be updated only months after it's release due to too many faults/Issues which seems to be how all companies do it nower days, Send out Junk and get the public to field test it for them. Despicable, Which is why I will not buy any Detector until it has a proven track record.

And from the prospecting point of view just to rub salt in the wound White's New Goldmaster 24K is kicking A$$ and taking Names,

Kinda like all those people who got suckered into the V3I only to sell them off because they can't figure it out?

 

[Gold Itch]

Kinda like all those people who got suckered into the V3I only to sell them off because they can't figure it out?

As much as I like Whites I kind of agree with you, The V3i is more of a Teacher in electronics crossed with physics because without knowing one you can't learn the other, Brilliant machine but too much going on when you are trying to spend the day detecting and not fathom out whether you have it set right, The V3i if more for those who like to tinker with setting and not wanting to make finds every 10 or 15 seconds, As I said I like White's but to me the V3i is not about Detecting, It's about programming and fine tuning. Sort of Thanks but No Thanks, if ya get what I mean, lol.

 

[☠ Cipher]

I'm using the V3i and the Equinox at this point, and I feel like having the two is about as good a setup as anyone could hope for. Yes, with the V3i you have to be dedicated to get the most out of it, and it seems many, if not most who try it are either not dedicated or not cerebral enough to do that. The Equinox is not a replacement for the V3i, but it is a compliment. The V3i offers disc, versatility and analysis tools you just cannot get anywhere else. It thrives in mild to moderate inland soil conditions. The Equinox thrives in harsh conditions, high trash environments, and can take a dip. Price is not and should not be much of an object if you're successful in this hobby. If your success is very modest or meek $1,500 would seem pretty silly to spend just to gain some advantages in some environments or on some targets. At that point it's probably more about the lack of effort to find good permissions or historically significant properties. I would not purchase a V3i to do tot lots and town parks. The Equinox makes more sense in those places. So does the Tracker IV for that matter. On the other hand, I would think nothing of spending $1,500 or even $2,500 for that matter to hunt revolutionary war artifacts, colonial artifacts and currency, high end jewelry, etc etc. I do agree that the Equinox packs at least twice it's value in its setup, maybe more, and that's why I have it as well. I'd think nothing of paying substantially more for it too.

 

[Gold Itch]

Neither one of those two machines are game changers, the V3i even to a skilled user is going to have their work cut out trying to master it which is why they bought out 2 manuals for it and as such it is not a detectorists detector it is made for the type who don't care about making finds that are just as happy at playing with programs, compare other whites models and they are no messing and more about detecting, The Equinox is an Ok detector but it is not the wonderful machine the premarket Hype Promise, It's just average and most early users of the EQ have already sold them on. It will get better when more updates are released but not until.

 

[☠ Cipher]

Just to add something very important about the V3i and metal detection technology in general. Yes, it requires effort and some tedium, but you only have to learn it once. Many are left with the impression that with the V3i you must always play around with a seemingly endless variety of settings. Over time you intuitively know what adjustments need to be made. Over time you develop programs for varying conditions, or you adopt and adapt other proven programs. Over time what at first appeared to be information overload becomes just an informative glance and you're digging. In general, everyone who has the ability would be better served studying as much of the underlying technology as you can comprehend. Once you understand that you're no longer confined to always learning by trial and error. You won't spent years learning each machines quirks. Generally, you'll be able to predict them. You'll be able to anticipate what it will do and how it will react, and adjust accordingly.

 

[Gold Itch]

Just to add something very important about the V3i and metal detection technology in general. Yes, it requires effort and some tedium, but you only have to learn it once. Many are left with the impression that with the V3i you must always play around with a seemingly endless variety of settings. Over time you intuitively know what adjustments need to be made. Over time you develop programs for varying conditions, or you adopt and adapt other proven programs. Over time what at first appeared to be information overload becomes just an informative glance and you're digging. In general, everyone who has the ability would be better served studying as much of the underlying technology as you can comprehend. Once you understand that you're no longer confined to always learning by trial and error. You won't spent years learning each machines quirks. Generally, you'll be able to predict them. You'll be able to anticipate what it will do and how it will react, and adjust accordingly.

That only applies if you are searching the same old ground, Once conditions and the environment change so does the settings required in order to maximize what the V3i has on board, And for what little gain is involved other Whites models will perform just as well and in some cases due to ground conditions will perform even better as the V3i only has an above average tracking system and in hotter soils appears to be left wanting.

 

[wingmaster]

I have a friend who can adjust for different ground conditions easily enough as it only affects some settings, you are right on the tracking he usually locks that as it's no MXT in the ground tracking department. Of course the MXT might be the best ground tracking out there now and has the ability to be locked as well. HH

That only applies if you are searching the same old ground, Once conditions and the environment change so does the settings required in order to maximize what the V3i has on board, And for what little gain is involved other Whites models will perform just as well and in some cases due to ground conditions will perform even better as the V3i only has an above average tracking system and in hotter soils appears to be left wanting.

 

[Gold Itch]

I have a friend who can adjust for different ground conditions easily enough as it only affects some settings, you are right on the tracking he usually locks that as it's no MXT in the ground tracking department. Of course the MXT might be the best ground tracking out there now and has the ability to be locked as well. HH

Yep, I would not take the V3i to unknown ground conditions, The MXT on the other hand is about getting the Job Done and no messing regardless of conditions. And as old as the design is still nothing better has come along, The MXT is good at all things not just one or two. And because of it's well proven History it needs no excuses unlike many of the modern machines that keep needing updates and when the updates stop working they bring out a new model, That what happens when they don't get it right first time.

 

[☠ Cipher]

There's a such thing as the right tool for the job, no doubt, and that is something I pointed out about the V3i early on when I said it thrives in mild to moderate inland soil conditions. Due to frequency crosstalk in its demod channels it does have a weak spot, which is keeping up with rapidly changing ground and harsh mediums. In those mediums the solution is to locktrac with offsets. That's not always an ideal solution, so you either live with it or buy another machine to pick up where it leaves off. For some that machine is an MXT. Lately that machine is an Equinox. Mild to moderate ground still remains the V3is playground, and I've not seen a single machine out there do better at finding the good stuff and leaving trash behind in those circumstances if the V3i is in capable hands. Not the MXT, not the Equinox or even the mighty CTX if you plan to pick more than silver. The problem is that so few people are willing to learn what it can do, and they expect it to behave like other multifrequency machines, and it won't. It is an entirely different approach from any other multi designs.

I disagree that each is not a game changer in its own ways. The V3i changed the game for sure, but not for the number of people Whites had hoped. The V3i placed more control and information in the users hands than any machine before it or since, on the idea that users can do better than factory presets if they are willing to learn more about the features. Factory presets are no more the best solution for all environments than locktrac is for harsh environments. Unfortunately what Whites also found out that users can also do worse than factory presets, and in fact tend to err towards doing worse with too much control. They overestimated the number of people willing to learn in the short term for their own long term gain, or to just use the V3is own factory defaults and presets, which is like putting someone in a Sport car and telling them not to speed unless they want to learn to become a better driver first. They are going to speed with the same exact skill set they had before. What people want is a machine that will compensate for lack of skill and adjust itself.

The Equinox is also a game changer insofar as offering as much as it does in one package. It addressed the weakness of FBS, which was small low conductors. It offers yet another approach to multifrequency. If the same settings and presets are not always best for a variety of circumstances, neither are the same couple of frequencies, and that is all FBS really was at bare bones, was the same two frequencies in the same repetition in every mode (despite marketing rhetoric around 28 frequencies and 1.5-100khz etc.). FBS machines were well behaved, silver cherry pickers. Any machine can cherry pick silver though. Spectra did not have this weakness. It was just as hot on Gold and so many preferred the V3i to FBS because of this alone. But the V3i, FBS, and other multi platforms were slower than machines like the F75, Deus, and could not pick out of iron. Minelab combined the best of FBS with a smarter mode defined frequency algorithm, with the balance and selection options of Spectra, in a super fast recovery, giving us the fastest multi platform on the market. It's an evolution of multifrequency. At its base ability, it's not confined to the mid range. In fact, one of the ways it's a game changer is it offers high end performance at a mid range price and feature set. If it had a more robust build quality and more features like target trace and 2D disc there'd be no doubt about where it ranks. To anyone who is only getting mid range performance out of it, particularly in harsher environs, rest assured, it's capable of more, and there's more that can be done to dial it in. It's not the simple turn on and go machine people think it is. It too requires above average knowledge, which is one reason Minelab launched its education campaign about Multi-IQ and Equinox functions.

 

[Gold Itch]

All of these machines are above the Average in terms of ability So in the hands of a skilled user there is zero to be had between them, except for the prospecting mode on the MXT and the SAT speed that other companies have since stolen and renamed it ISAT and a few other names and yet they call them new when the fact is they are stealing White's Tech from over 20 years ago and lying to everyone telling them it's something new when it's Not. The detecting world is at a stand still and Detectors have not done anything impressive since 2002-2005 ish.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Does anyone still own a BlackBerry? Im old school and like simplicity and the feel of push buttons which BlackBerry has not gone away with. I like the knobs and buttons and alot of the competitors that still put out these units still offer some of there flagship machines this way....but seeing more that are resorting to press pads. Please all competitors keep this in mind as moving forward.

 

[smokeythecat]

I tend to agree with Gold Itch. I see as much if not more found with under $500 machines than with pricier models. What you find is dependent on numerous factors, the main depends on this: Is it there to begin with? If the targets are not there, you are not going to find it. A lot of my gold "sounds" like nickels. I dig them all. Even my Cibola kicks it. That thing won't eat iron and loves small brass, gold and lead items. $329.00.

Manufacturers keep hyping and adding bells and whistles and I have tried most of the most popular machines and done head to head competitions with accomplished detectorists, using most of the major brands. At the end of the day, most finds are equal (gasp)! You have to get the loop over the target and (gasp!) dig the iffy ones. I have seriously whooped the competition when they took forever to try to decide to dig or not to dig depending on the VDI or the skipped the "iffy" targets. Five of my iffy iron targets this past year were cannon balls!

 

[Gold Itch]

When a Tesoro is power tuned properly they will match any machine out there and in a Junk filled site Tesoro/Laser would one of the best machines to have, They were doing many years ago what many brands have only just learned.

 

[wingmaster]

I wouldn't trade my MXT for any other detector out there now, its just a great detector and great in trash if you can slow down enough. HH