First of all there are things the CTX can do well that the Equinox can not and vice versa. Really more of an apples to oranges thing. That is a fact. But overall, I think the Equinox is a more versatile detector than the CTX Here are some advantages/disadvantages off the top of my head. I do not own a CTX but have swung it and know how to use it. Do I know all its secrets and nuances that come from hundreds of hours of swing time. No. So I am going to keep the comparison mostly at the technology level vs. what can be done at a high expertise level with each detector.
Price/Performance - Obvious. Even accounting for what the CTX does better, the Equinox is much better VALUE.
Weight/Balance/Rod & Stem system - Equinox wins the weight battle, obviously. Even the large accessory coil is amazingly light. Is it better balanced than the CTX? I don't know. The Equinox is considered nose heavy. The CTX probably has a higher quality stem and shaft system that is not subject to shaft wobble and twist lock issues that have plagued some Equinoxes due to rod diameter tolerance variations. This is probably where some corners were cut in the interest of cost savings vs. CTX.
Water Detecting - Equinox and CTX both do well and have similar water detecting capability from the standpoint of the being able to be used in the water environment. Equinox battery is removable but does not have to be removed to be charged which is an advantage vs. CTX because you are not constantly disturbing the seals to recharge the battery.
Target Type Optimizations/Search Profile Customizations - Mid-conductor performance is better with Equinox than CTX in general. This is primarily an advantage of the Multi IQ multifrequency signal processing algorithms vs. FBS. Multifreq Tech has evolved and improved with MultiIQ vs. FBS, that is just a fact. There are mutiple Multi IQ profiles available in the Equinox (not just differences in user settings but actual differences in the way the signals are transmitted and processed) which favor or optimized for certain types of targets (coins (Park 1), jewelry (Park 2), deep high conductive targets (field 1), deep mid-conductors (Field 2), beach modes for wet sand (Beach 1) AND surf (Beach 2) and of course the Gold Prospecting modes on the Equinox 800 which I also use for relic hunting (also mid conductors) in hot soil. There is basically only one FBS profile with a multitude of user setting customizations which results in limitation. With the right setup, the Equinox can be set up to sniff out gold chains pretty well vs. CTX. Both machines run extremely stable in wet salt environments. I think Multi IQ will be at the heart of the next iteration of ML's high end VLF multi frequency successor to the the CTX.
Recovery Speed - No contest - The Equinox is faster than the CTX at the defaults which makes it a killer machine in trashy situations because it will separate much better, especially in iron. But, better yet, recovery speed is adjustable vs. fixed on the CTX so you have some flexibility in trading off recovery speed vs. depth. The 800 has more recovery speed adjustability (range and resolution) than the 600.
Ground Balance - I am sure that both machines can ground balance just fine, but he Equinox is also designed to work well in in highly mineralized conditions for prospecting purposes so it has a pretty good ground tracking algorithm. I think MultiIQ is also more forgiving than FBS to a less than optimal ground balance condition. Basically I would call this a tie with a slight advantage to Equinox.
Tones - great variety in tonal selection 2, 5, 50, and VCO pitch audio (Gold mode only). The tonal customizations including tone bins, volume, and tone pitch are fully customizable to you liking in the 800 (600 can only vary ferrous tone parameters). Not sure if CTX is more or less flexible in this regard, but I really could ask for more from Equinox here other than the ability use Tone ID in gold mode and VCO pitch in non-gold modes. Gold mode also uses true threshold for faint target determination. The threshold signal in the non-gold modes simply blanks on those targets that are discriminated out.
Visual ID - Perhaps no contest with the CTX Ferrous and Conductivity numbers- you can tell a bottle cap from keeper pretty easily from the VID number alone. This is not possible on the Equinox. You can infer things from the VID. Stability of VID can clue you into something. The 50 ID range promotes VID stability on the Equinox but some types of targets may have overlapping VIDs at depth. This is not really an issue if you take advantage of the superior Tone ID capability of the Equinox, especially 50 tones because a lot about the nature of the target under your coil can be deduced from the tonal nuances such as rise time, sustain, and distortion of the target tone. The tone pitch simply corresponds to the VID, but just like there is more visual target information on the CTX display in the numbers there is perhaps more audible target information in the Equinox tones. I think the CTX visual ID, recovery speed, and FBS combine to make the CTX deeper on silver targets than the Equinox under ideal (i.e., non -trashy) conditions and that is probably the major advantage of the CTX vs. the Equinox. But i am not sure how much deeper and this seems to be a niche advantage relatively speaking compared to what the Equinox can do overall vs. the CTX cost.
Depth Meter - not very accurate except for a narrow set of situations. I don't use it at all. The problem is that the tonal modulation/overload for shallow or large targets is practically non-existent. See the pinpointer discussion below for a workaround.
User Interface - Equinox is clean an simple with only a single layer deep menu of user settings. Each search mode is treated as a separate detector with its own ground balance and noise cancel settings. This is a blessing and a curse. Mostly a blessing because things are simple and self contained within each search profile but a pain to have to cycle through the modes to interrogate a target with a different profile. This is mitigated by a user profile save slot on the 800 which allows you to instantly shift between two different modes without cycling through them. I don't think the complex menus and programming of the CTX bring much more to the table vs. the Equinox UI other than confusion. Lol. Other pluses for Equinox include:
One touch all metal mode - a single press allows you to instantly remove all discrimination and notches you may have set up. A single press again they are all engaged again.
One touch to single frequency mode - allows you to shift from Multi and cycle through all the available single frequencies with repeated button pushes.
Pinpointer - quirky but adequate because is "ratchets in" on the target which can be problematic with multiple targets under the coil. However, since it is a sensitive non-motion mode it can be used to outline a target and has good depth modulation so you can use it to work around the shortcomings of the lack of Equinox modulation and depth meter performance.
Wireless audio flexibility - unlike the CTX you are not just locked into Minelabs proprietary wireless solution, you can use the proprietary wireless module provided with the 800 or you can also use the supplied or third party low latency bluetooth headphones with either the 600 or 800. The 600 requires a separate purchase of BT headphones or the ridiculously expensive ML proprietary wireless module that is included with the 800.
Accessory coils - CTX wins this one because it has been around awhike and 3rd party coil manufacturers have come through with a a variety of coils. That being said, the stock 11" round, the 6" round, abd the 15x12" elliptucal cover most of the bases for Equininox. Would like to see a 10x6 or 12x8 elliptical, solid coil. Lets see if the 3rd party coil manufactirers get in on the action.
As far as the other CTX bells and whistles are concerned (e.g., GPS tracking, etc.). Well...they are what they are. I use my phone for that stuff.
I am sure I missed stuff but that should get the conversation started.
