I have a CTX. Thoughts about the advantages of an Equinox??

[PowerDubs]

Scrap- I have numerous detectors, including a ctx and nox 800.

The only main advantage the nox has for most people is the fast recovery so able to find stuff in a trashy zone.

After that- it has light weight, built in wireless headphone, easy quick recharging.

The CTX stomps it in information. Want any idea what you are about to dig? No comparison. So much that I pretty much just consider the nox to be a dig it all machine. Lots more trash. Lots of wtf.

A smart searcher who understands what the ctx is showing and sounding to them will bring home more good stuff with much much less garbage.

Still- the nox might eek out the small target hiding in a garbage zone like the side of a road or under a bleacher if you go slow and are patient. In such a case the ctx will probably just blank out.

I have not yet tried the larger coil on the nox, but extensive use of the large coil on the ctx.

 

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[vferrari]

There is a lot of information in the audio of the Equinox but that requires the experience of a trained ear vs. having the information laid out in detail on the screen on the CTX that anyone can read but it is debatable which format (the audio of the Equinox vs. the visual of the CTX) contains more target intel. The CTX also contains nuanced target information in the audio, as well, so the edge perhaps goes to CTX but not sure.

However, the fundamental nature of Multi IQ vs. FBS means that the detectability edge for mid conductors like gold goes to Equinox, while CTX has the edge on high conductors like silver provided the site has a low trash density. Not sure it makes sense to get rid of the CTX in favor of the Equinox, but the Equinox can certainly compliment the CTX shortcomings and vice versa. Conversely, I see no reason to spend the premium bucks needed to get a CTX simply to compliment the Equinox as long as I understand its limitations vs. CTX, as well as its versatility.

In other words, with the possible exception of the deepest of silver targets in a clean field, it is unlikely I will not hear the same targets as CTX (though I will likely not have as positive an ID as CTX on several). On the other hand, especially in thick trash or high mineralization, there will be a number of targets (especially mid conductors) that will not register on CTX but that will ring up on Equinox again, perhaps as iffy signals but at least you will hear them). So it makes sense to perhaps get Equinox with a CTX to fill that larger non-detectable gap but not the other way around, especially if you factor in CTX cost.

 

[cudamark]

With the 12 X 15" coil now available for the Equinox, I'm not sure the CTX still has an advantage on deep silver. Time and feedback will tell on that.

 

[PowerDubs]

Well then just throw the 17 on the CTX

 

[cudamark]

I never saw any added depth with the 17" CTX coil over the stock 11".......just more coverage.

 

[PowerDubs]

That is physically impossible. Sorry.

 

[smokeythecat]

Personally, I would add a different brand of machine to my stable. Keep your current machine and experiment with something else. Remember, it's all about getting the coil over the target and deciding to dig it. Last weekend I whooped my buddy who was using an AT Pro and he REALLY knows the machine. This week, he whooped me and the Deus real good.

 

[vferrari]

Personally, I would add a different brand of machine to my stable. Keep your current machine and experiment with something else. Remember, it's all about getting the coil over the target and deciding to dig it. Last weekend I whooped my buddy who was using an AT Pro and he REALLY knows the machine. This week, he whooped me and the Deus real good.

Exactly, it's not necessarily the induvidual machine but having just enough detector diversity to cover different target situations, even at the same site. Most of the popular machines are great in their own right. If you are able to hit a site multiple times it often pays to go over it with different machines if you can or at least with your machine setup differently for different runs across the site or if you are gridding it. That gives you a better chance to see targets of different depths, orientations, or composition that you may have missed even though you may have actually previously gotten your coil over them in with another machine or with a different configuration that was blind to that target for some reason.

That is why I say the Equinox compliments the Deus or CTX or AT Pro or whatever combo you like as long as the machines have different, but complimentary performance features and that usually happens when you use machines built by different manufacturers rather than from the same company (e.g., a Whites and a Tesoro). You can't swing two machines at once but changing up the machine or simply the settings on a machine and re-scanning a site can be productive.

As far as Equinox is concerned, the underlying signal processing (not just the frequency weighting or user settings, such as recovery speed) is different on each of the modes and Gold mode (which I sometines use for relic hunting, not prospecting) is completely different in tone and response than the other tone ID modes (Park, Field, Beach) and will see stuff the others may miss. So Equinox, unlike many other machines, is like having 4 or 5 different detectors available to you at the touch of a button, and that's one of it's strengths so you can get away with having significant detecting diversity and versatility without needing two or more machines and it is sufficiently different from even other ML machines, it provides diversity within the brand.

Does it replace/obsolete CTX? That's up to CTX user to decide. Personally, I would say probably not, but it might be worth adding to allow you to do things CTX is not so good at. Equinox has enabled me to get rid of a few "specialty" detectors that underperform or were at least redundant to Equinox or that were overly specialized one-trick-pony detectors.

 

[smokeythecat]

V can swing two machines at the same time.

 

[vferrari]

Four at the same time if I take my shoes off.

 

[cudamark]

That is physically impossible. Sorry.

That's what my buddies and I found while doing our side by side testing. We never found an instance where the 11" wouldn't find the signal the 17" found......for whatever reason. Both beach hunting and park hunting. Same rang true with comparing the 17" CTX with a 15" NEL or WOT equiped Etrac.

 

[vferrari]

That's what my buddies and I found while doing our side by side testing. We never found an instance where the 11" wouldn't find the signal the 17" found......for whatever reason. Both beach hunting and park hunting. Same rang true with comparing the 17" CTX with a 15" NEL or WOT equiped Etrac.