Each to their own. Normally when people make large purchases, such as cars, they like to read tests on them. I had purchase a Tesoro Mojave, new, on the advice of Terry for only $251.10. I had to wait about two months, but since it was in the winter, I did not care about the wait. When interesting in a second detector, I have asked for advice from many members including Terry before I make up my mind. $600.00 & $800.00 is a lot of money to put on a waiting list. There are many members who are willing to purchase these two detectors before test results. Good luck to all of you. Keep in touch, and I waiting for test results from many members. The second detector that I may be interesting in buying have been on the market for many years.
Honest Samuel,
I completely understand were you are coming from. I went from using a Bounty Hunter IV to a F22 to a Tesoro Vaq to the Eq 600. I bought the F22 and wish I had passed. Here are my 1st impressions of using the Nox 600 for two 4 hour sessions at various park locations a couple trashy spots. None of these things are any big deal but just observations I have. Does it make the detector work $400 dollars more than a Mojave .. I don't know yet and that is to each person to decide.
1. The nox takes a 1/8 inch headphone jack which I personally like because there have been times I accidentally left my 1/4 inch adapter at home. Then couldn't use my headphones.
2. The nox vdi show a zinc penny at 20/21 and a copper at 25/26 (Also shows a dime at this as well) - Nice if you want to skip zinc pennies & kinda hard to do with a Tesoro without missing nickels.
3. The pinpoint feature is very good. ( you feel like you are right on top of the target) - The Tesoro audio response is so good that you pretty much know where to dig so its a virtual tie in my opinion.
4. The volume control - I hunted for almost 10 hours at 3 different locations and never used headphones because with the volume set between 10-15 it is loud enough to hear but not loud enough that people 20ft away would notice. Also makes it nice for playing in the house. (I personally love this so much I don't know if I could go back. I won't be wearing headphones unless I am somewhere I absolutely don't want to be heard or disturb people)
5. The Ergonomics are great. It is not a feather like the mojave but its not unreasonable either. It may be a bit heavy in the front but I hunted for hours without issue. (Tesoro gets the edge very light weight)
The arm cuff is larger but a non-issue for me personally and they throw in the strap If you like.
6. The battery life - I can't give a full review on this matter without using it for much longer, but so far I have only exhausted 1 bar in about 10 hours and minimal backlight use. The backlight is handy as the sun goes down but too bright after that. ( I carry a small light in my pocket for hunting at night with the Tesoro anyway so no big deal) I know the Mojave only takes 1 9v batttery but it's kind of nice not even having to worry about it.
7. Trash Separation & VDI - There is no denying that the tesoro is great at unmasking targets and the I'd like to think I would have found all of the same targets with my Tesoro as I found with the Nox. However there was a few really cool things that happened that had me shaking my head. For example I got this jumpy vdi where it would bounce between 25 and 31 and when I dug the hole there was a dime and a quarter right next to each other. I had this happen again with a 21 to 30 and there were two pennies and a quarter all stuck together. This repeated itself with nails as well where I would find a dime, penny or quarter in the hole. The first time this happened I made the beginner mistake of almost walking away. You can pull this off with alot of cheaper machines than $650 but you would probably need a smaller coil.
Personally I have yet to find enough clad or silver to pay for any machine. From a economics point I have spent far more than I have found. Not to mention gas and time.. Just ask my wife.
Also I got skunked no gold or silver yet.
If the Nox isn't for you maybe consider buying my Vaquero
Happy hunting
