FISHER F 75 COMPARED TO THE MINELAB EQUINOX 800

[vferrari]

It was because it's another new machine that competes with the Nox and some say it's as good as the Nox. I was talking about a real world test with 2 that know how to run their machines checking signals each other got.
If he had sown me that he could get signals I couldn't, I probably would have one by now. It was the other way around. The F75 in the video was an old one and nothing like the one I have. I live in Town and I get no chatter like that. If I ever get hold of an Equinox, I won't say a word until I know everything about it. I already have a CZ5, Explorer XS, T2+, Minelab Sov, Fisher Coinstrike, and the F75LTD. It will take something great to make me think I need to upgrade. lol

Funny, though, that you are willing to say something now when you DON'T have one, though. That makes sense. Lol.

Anyway, I agree you shouldn't just rely on videos or whatever to decide. The best proof is to get your hands on one and see for yourself or hunt with someone else who has one. Calabash made is own comparison and shared his results. It's fine and expected that folks would disagree with his results but you can't deny that he did at least swing both detectors, while you have not.

You are making some sort of proclamation on the Equinox vs. F75 based on a video you saw, not first hand use of the Equinox, so while you are entitled to your opinion, and should be, you are not really sharing any relevant information because you don't have your own firsthand A to B experience as you stated above.. If you choose not to go find out for yourself, that's great. But statements like "I will say in a real world hunt, the Equinox would be killed by the F75ltd" are are just words if you don't have the real world side-by-side experience to back it up.

BTW - HighVDI and myself - long time F75 LTD users. I still own it because the ergonomics are great and I want to hang onto a detector that has a great choice of accessory coils, including concentrics, for certain specific situations. But from Beach to gold field, farm field to cellar hole, I have not seen a detector as versatile as Equinox. So it is in the truck on every hunt, unlike the F75 anymore. I own more than one detector too, and I must say there is no one detector that does it ALL, but Equinox is the closest and my F75, T2 (since sold), and Whites MXT come in a distant third (all very similar performing and excellent machines, especially on relics) behind the Deus and then the Equinox on deep targets and in thick iron.

Your proclamations would hold more credibility if you swung one and then commented, is all I am saying.

 

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[kjernigan]

He did not test the new F75ltd with DST. The one he had was not running right.

 

[IowaRelic]

Wonder how many people have bought a NOX because of his vids? I bet a lot have. I’m indifferent to his testing but I enjoy watching. The only test that interests me a lot is the colonial gold on a different plane than 2 nails. That test holds some weight imo. Hey calabash, have you run any Deeptech Vista tests on that gold?

 

[devldog]

I have high mineralized soil and the F75 sucked in my soil chattering constantly. The 800 is quieter then a church mouse pissing on cotton.

Now that there is pretty quiet. Lol

 

[Calabash Digger]

First off I paid for my Equinox have never received ant thing free from minelab. I think the assumption is if someone promotes a detector they must be a paid fan boy and that's just not the case here. As you have seen above its not just my word but other experienced F75 users basically saying the same thing about its performance compared to the Equinox.

Are we all confused? Are we all liars? Are we all fanboys?


OR could it be that there might be something to what we are saying and showing?

 

[Calabash Digger]

Wonder how many people have bought a NOX because of his vids? I bet a lot have. I’m indifferent to his testing but I enjoy watching. The only test that interests me a lot is the colonial gold on a different plane than 2 nails. That test holds some weight imo. Hey calabash, have you run any Deeptech Vista tests on that gold?

I have but it would not hit it...those deeptechs are WAY overpriced for what they are. Imo

 

[HighVDI]

He did not test the new F75ltd with DST. The one he had was not running right.

Could you explain what you think he should have done differently?

 

[kjernigan]

Could you explain what you think he should have done differently?

Not much could be done with that machine there that I could see. The new ones would be much better.

 

[vferrari]

Not much could be done with that machine there that I could see. The new ones would be much better.

Valid point. If he gets his hands on an LTD then perhaps he can run the test again. Otherwise, it is what it is. I am sure there are lot of detectors and variants that folks would like to see tested, but that does not necessarily invalidate the test that was actually run. All I will say is that I don't need to see any testing to know what detector I will reach for most of the time and that is because I have swung both detectors that are in question in several "real world" hunt situations. But that may not necessarily end up being your experience if you do finally try out both detectors, which is fine.

If someone has actually swung both and has formed an opinion then great. I am not invested in whether someone likes the AT Pro over the Deus over the Equinox over the F75 over the MXT. I know what I like and I know that everyone is not going to like what I like. I just try to clear up misconceptions and unsupported claims from those who have an opinion on a detector they have never operated which just cause confusion and angst. Otherwise, it is no skin off my nose. The F75 in an excellent detector, and the only one who should care what you think about it is you.

Personally, I don't understand why it matters to folks so much what other people's opinions are of a their favorite detector. I look for specs, data, and personal experience and come to my own conclusions. I will offer what I think the ranking of the detectors I have tried are, but don't intentionally try to force feed it to folks if they are not receptive. I am sure, I have failed to follow my own advice on occasion as I am passionate about the hobby as are many of us. But I have found the best thing to do is just lay out the facts, let folks come to their own conclusions, and avoid the lightning rod that is proclaiming A is better than B.

 

[Calabash Digger]

Which F75 do I need to buy and test? How do you want it set up in my mild ground for the test?

 

[HighVDI]

Which F75 do I need to buy and test? How do you want it set up in my mild ground for the test?

Go the cheap route and get the f75+ bundle and test out the fpulse too.

 

[Truth]

I also love never having to buy batteries anymore. After detecting plug in my 800 and headphones in the truck and ready for the next day. 800 and Deus rule over everything.

 

[Rick K]

Get some quality rechargeables and you don’t need to buy batteries again - plus your can just swap a set of fresh ones - no worrying if you will have enough power to finish your hunt. Eneloop AA’s cost about $2 each.

 

[vferrari]

Get some quality rechargeables and you don’t need to buy batteries again - plus your can just swap a set of fresh ones - no worrying if you will have enough power to finish your hunt. Eneloop AA’s cost about $2 each.

To me its not a matter of cost but convenience. I agree that if your detector has removable batteries, go with rechargeables to save cost. But if you take cost out of the equation you are still futzing with batteries on a regular basis because you have to remove them to charge them since they can't be charged in the detector. With the battery able to be recharged in the machine, no muss no fuss. It's minor, but the extra step of removing and reinstalling the batteries for charging is still an annoyance nevertheless when the detector is not designed around use of a rechargeable battery. It seems some manufacturers don't bother reinforcing the plastic battery compartments and it seems they are not up to the task of the more frequent removal and replacement cycles for rechargeables vs. Alkalines. Even with Eneloops I don't trust them not to self discharge so I ended up charging them before every outing just be sure. That was A LOT more cycles on the battery compartment than alkalines and I have had a few cracked doors and plastic latches.

 

[Truth]

Get some quality rechargeables and you don’t need to buy batteries again - plus your can just swap a set of fresh ones - no worrying if you will have enough power to finish your hunt. Eneloop AA’s cost about $2 each.

I don’t need rechargeable batteries I have the 800

 

[kjernigan]

Built in battery is a bad thing in my opinion. Batteries last so long in my F75 and T2 it's crazy. New cell phones with built in batteries suck after a year or 2.

 

[Truth]

Built in battery is a bad thing in my opinion. Batteries last so long in my F75 and T2 it's crazy. New cell phones with built in batteries suck after a year or 2.

Batteries didn’t last on my F75 LTD at all but I detect a lot. Feels great to me battery free.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Built in battery is a bad thing in my opinion. Batteries last so long in my F75 and T2 it's crazy. New cell phones with built in batteries suck after a year or 2.

Kjernigan, I am also a happy F75 user. I am content with it's capabilities and just don't feel the need to jump to the next new offering (better or not). I do believe there are a few newer machines that best the F75 series. I had an XP Deus for a year and decided to sell it.

Pros: super machine, ultra light, free software updates and many more settings than the F75. In a controlled depth test I did see the Deus hit on items deeper then the F75 could, by maybe 1/2 inch.

Cons: I dug more iron ringing in as a hightone and high VDI, I like the fact that if my F75 batteries die, I just swap them out in lieu of having to recharge the detector or coil, and additional coils are expensive and almost cost inhibitive to a frugal soul like myself.

I heard many good things about the Equinox series and yet some used ones are up for sale. I am not a fan of their smaller target ID range and flute tones (personal preference). I believe a few other tried them but are like me and prefer the standard tones and a 1-99 target ID range.

I've been swinging the F75LTD for 5 years, it feels right when I am swinging, and I know what it's telling me. what else do you need to enjoy a day out dirt fishing, losing yourself in the beeps and scenery of the site.

As for the phones, didn't apple get caught messing with older models (slowing them down) so you'd be more apt to buy a newer one? I had my last phone for 6 years and never noticed a degrade in performance.

No sense in getting in a pissing contest with others, they have their preferences just like you and I.

GL & HH

 

[kjernigan]

Batteries didn’t last on my F75 LTD at all but I detect a lot. Feels great to me battery free.

They last 30 to 40hrs if you buy good ones. The F75ltd has some tricks or secrets too. How does JE mode hit real small targets that you can't hardly find over DE mode with both modes maxed out on sens. What changes in PF mode and BC mode? Something does. Is the frequency changing? Nobody will say. DST is a trick many new detectors need. EMI killed with it. Static all metal mode IDs too. That is crazy deep, by drives me nuts. It say Fisher messed up not naming the F75LTD a F80 or something different. The got everybody confused.

 

[vferrari]

Built in battery is a bad thing in my opinion. Batteries last so long in my F75 and T2 it's crazy. New cell phones with built in batteries suck after a year or 2.

Understand where you are coming and would agree with you if this was several years ago when lithium battery tech was not as refined. But when it comes to the Equinox battery implementation and lithium battery technology of today, there are a few relevant facts that should be considered:

Lithium ion cell technology continues to evolve and has become more reliable, power dense, have a longer service life (number of charge cycles), and can recharge quicker than even a year ago.

Part of the reason why cell phone batteries degrade so quickly is because they are undersized from a capacity standpoint (which is primarily determined by their physical volume) so that they can be squeezed into such thin phone chassis, so they discharge quickly and folks are having to charge them every single day which causes them to lose capacity and quickly exhaust service life as all lithium batteries have a limited number of charge cycles available.

Detectors are not used like cell phones. The lithium batteries in detectors have a longer service life because they undergo fewer charge-discharge cycles per month.

I have built-in batteries on my Deus still going strong since 2015. Also, unlike most cell phones nowadays, the batteries are actually replaceable and available for purchase for DIY replacement or repair center replacement for a reasonable fee (<$50). They normally carry a 5-year warranty.

The battery capacity of the Equinox is sufficient for several multi hour hunts or single long duration hunt > 10 to 12 hours of continuous use. Unless you are planning to hunt 24 hours straight, it fully recharges in about 3 hours (without having to remove the battery) and will be ready to go the next morning.

If you forget to charge it, it can be charged on the fly in an emergency using a cell phone charge bank attached to the shaft (while you continue to use the machine). Because of cell phones, these charge banks can be found just about everywhere you can find normal AA batteries (including 7-11) and cost about the same as an eight pack of AA alkaline batteries.

The lithium cell technology is not subject to self discharge so it can be stored with sufficient charge for weeks and taken out for a hunt and you should be good to go without having to charge it first.

The Equinox uses a standard, commercially available Lithium cell (cost <$30) and is user replaceable unlike the cell phones you reference that either use proprietary cells or cannot be replaced by the user.

I frankly think that rechargeable vs. non-rechargeable standard battery argument is somewhat a minor or even non-issue when considering detector features. There are upsides and downsides to each technology. I don't think the battery tech used in a detector is the determining factor in whether you should get a detector, but more of a personal preference. I personally prefer having the rechargeable lithium battery but it is not the reason I got an Equinox or a Deus. If the Equinox used AA batteries like my F75, I would still probably get the Equinox based on performance and features alone. And if something better performing comes along in 2019 or 2020 that didn't use Li Ion battery tech, I might consider it also. On the flip side, those who shy away from modern rechargeable battery technology because they are thinking cell phones or because they can't just pop in new AA cells during the hunt are really looking at it the wrong way, IMO.