Minelab Equinox 600 vs 800 - which to buy?

[saanich2018]

Like I mentioned, it will depend on where you hunt and how trashy it is.

Sorry, I did not see your reply. We must have crossed messages.

Thanks

 

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[McKinney_5900]

Cuda answered that one. It is more of a specialty coil for areas with thick trash so you can betterdiscern individual targets and for searching in restricted swing areas like around playground equipment, fence lines, and in overgrown areas or thickets. The drawback is that it covers far less ground per swing so you can only search at a slow speed and it is not as deep seeking as the 11". The 11" stock coil will suit you just fine for 95% of the situations you will encounter as a relatively new detectorist. Learn with that coil and then once you understand what your typical sites are like you can then determine if the smaller or larger coil are worth the investment.

I swing my 6" coil just about as fast as the 11 inch, and do excellent. Maybe small gold nuggets, but for coins, the six works fast. I do use the 600, not the 800, and no faster recover than setting 2(that'd be 4 on the 800.) Setting 3 for me is just too fast,,,gives way too short of a tone. I am educated in recovery delay with the Whites V3i, a reciprocal function of recovery speed.

Too quick if a delay can easily be distracting, especially with a smaller coil. Setting 2 seems ideal for both the 11 and 6 inch, to me. The Nox's inherent fast speed covers it nicely.

Lay out a string of coins on the ground, nudge them closer and closer and swing quick until you miss detecting one or two. I wager that 2 on the 600 and 4 on the 800 is about perfect, without a need for going s-l-o-w.

I can easily see having to swing slow, physically, if running 6-8 recovery on the 800. You're just causing yourself to swing slow with faster recovery speed selections.

 

[RustyGold]

I’m glad the kind folks on the forum answered the HP question for you Saanich. Best of luck!
Rusty

 

[vferrari]

I swing my 6" coil just about as fast as the 11 inch, and do excellent. Maybe small gold nuggets, but for coins, the six works fast. I do use the 600, not the 800, and no faster recover than setting 2(that'd be 4 on the 800.) Setting 3 for me is just too fast,,,gives way too short of a tone. I am educated in recovery delay with the Whites V3i, a reciprocal function of recovery speed.

Too quick if a delay can easily be distracting, especially with a smaller coil. Setting 2 seems ideal for both the 11 and 6 inch, to me. The Nox's inherent fast speed covers it nicely.

Lay out a string of coins on the ground, nudge them closer and closer and swing quick until you miss detecting one or two. I wager that 2 on the 600 and 4 on the 800 is about perfect, without a need for going s-l-o-w.

I can easily see having to swing slow, physically, if running 6-8 recovery on the 800. You're just causing yourself to swing slow with faster recovery speed selections.

You can swing the coil as fast but I mean you cover the site slower with the 6-inch because the profile of the coil only allows you to cover a 6-inch swath of ground on every sweep so it is like you are tiptoeing around the field if you want to make sure you are covering every inch with overlapping swing coverage because you can only move forward ~6 inches at a time vs. 11" with the stock or 15" with the new elliptical so it takes twice as many swings or more to get the same overlapping ground coverage. In a plowed field or wide beach that would DRIVE ME NUTS! Lol.

 

[Minelab Matt]

For me, just the backlight adjustments alone on the 800 make it worth the extra cost, as i like to do some beach hunts at night.

On the 600 you get 2 settings:

1: "hell no, i can't see a damn thing"

And

2: "Argjhh, I'm blind, I'm blind!"

LoL.

Matt

 

[sprailroad]

Good replies all fella's.

 

[cudamark]

I swing my 6" coil just about as fast as the 11 inch, and do excellent. Maybe small gold nuggets, but for coins, the six works fast. I do use the 600, not the 800, and no faster recover than setting 2(that'd be 4 on the 800.) Setting 3 for me is just too fast,,,gives way too short of a tone. I am educated in recovery delay with the Whites V3i, a reciprocal function of recovery speed.

Too quick if a delay can easily be distracting, especially with a smaller coil. Setting 2 seems ideal for both the 11 and 6 inch, to me. The Nox's inherent fast speed covers it nicely.

Lay out a string of coins on the ground, nudge them closer and closer and swing quick until you miss detecting one or two. I wager that 2 on the 600 and 4 on the 800 is about perfect, without a need for going s-l-o-w.

I can easily see having to swing slow, physically, if running 6-8 recovery on the 800. You're just causing yourself to swing slow with faster recovery speed selections.

The recovery response from swinging fast over a series of surface coins is truly amazing, but, in real life hunting, you can still swing too fast for conditions....especially deep targets. The extra recovery speeds just allows more flexibility depending on the concentration of trash, overlapping of targets at different depths, and mineralization. In other words, just because you CAN swing fast over surface targets, doesn't mean you SHOULD over deep targets using the same settings and swing speed.

 

[McKinney_5900]

The recovery response from swinging fast over a series of surface coins is truly amazing, but, in real life hunting, you can still swing too fast for conditions....especially deep targets. The extra recovery speeds just allows more flexibility depending on the concentration of trash, overlapping of targets at different depths, and mineralization. In other words, just because you CAN swing fast over surface targets, doesn't mean you SHOULD over deep targets using the same settings and swing speed.

It all relates. Purely giving faster recovery speed options is not a fix all, and in fact, can confuse. So far, I find deeper coins in moderate trash, very, very well with stock speed. I have never used 3 on the 600. Just my personal experience.

Surface coins are one benchmark everyone posts vids about. They are meaningful.

 

[saanich2018]

I really appreciate everyones honesty and quick responses.
I believe the with all the votes tallied, I will probably go ahead with the 800 and stay with 11" coil for now.
As I said, I plan to use it mainly on the beach and I do like going out in the evening as it is getting dark. Less people
Thanks!

 

[cudamark]

It all relates. Purely giving faster recovery speed options is not a fix all, and in fact, can confuse. So far, I find deeper coins in moderate trash, very, very well with stock speed. I have never used 3 on the 600. Just my personal experience.

Surface coins are one benchmark everyone posts vids about. They are meaningful.

Sorry, but, I don't give air tests much weight. If I did, I never would have bought a Minelab FBS machine. They don't air test well at all, but, in real life use, they're a great detector.

 

[secondstar]

I got an amazing deal on a lightly used 600 that I purchased with the intent of using it in conjunction with my XP Deus. In short, the 600 is a great machine. Having said that, were I purchasing an Equinox as my primary machine then I would have gone with the 800. It comes with wireless headphones, offers additional degrees of target separation (reactivity), and includes the gold frequencies. It is also my understanding that the 800 has additional settings to help with EMI related issues and additionally allows for program customization beyond what can be done on the 600.

 

[saanich2018]

OK, another question.

Being reasonable new to all of this, having only used a cheap detector I borrowed from a friend a few times, what is the best way to learn to use the 800?

I know there are some books, and of course go out and actually use it, but what about learning all the settings.

I have also read where people create their own settings or programs. What is all this about and do you need to do this?

I guess it like learning to drive a car. You can drive it from point A to point B, or you can learn how to really drive it and get the full benefit of the car.

I want to know how/what is the best way to really learn how to use this detector.

Thanks

 

[Normsel]

Go for the 800. I know it's a bit more but I have both the 800 and 600. I prefer the 800 and there is no gold in Mississippi. I had it out west last month and did find a bit of gold and it was fun.

The 800 and 600 are the same to learn and they work well out of the box. After a few hunts you may want to tailor your discrimination to suit you

You have the advice from some pretty smart guys on here so go for the 800 you won't be sorry ever

 

[digger27]

OK, another question.

Being reasonable new to all of this, having only used a cheap detector I borrowed from a friend a few times, what is the best way to learn to use the 800?

I know there are some books, and of course go out and actually use it, but what about learning all the settings.

I have also read where people create their own settings or programs. What is all this about and do you need to do this?

I guess it like learning to drive a car. You can drive it from point A to point B, or you can learn how to really drive it and get the full benefit of the car.

I want to know how/what is the best way to really learn how to use this detector.

Thanks

Download the factory manual, you must do this because it is not included with the package, just a start-up guide.
Read it and then read it again, as many times as you need to for as long as you need to...nobody is judging you.
I am still working on learning a whole bunch more about mine and how to set it the way I want it and I have years of experience, tweaking some pretty feature rich detectors.
This one can be as complicated or as easy as you want it to be.
There are tons of videos out there about how to set different features, dirtfisher has a good one about adjusting the different regions and tones for coin hunting, gigmaster has some about beach hunting and there are tons more.
This forum and a others have plenty of setting advice out there, also.
You don't need to change anything at first, factory settings are perfectly fine to start with.

When you get it you might want to charge it up for awhile, some come charged a little but mine needed to be charged up for a few hours.
When done do a factory reset...when it is off hit the power button on the top left side of the screen and keep that button pressed down until FP shows up on the screen.
Then basically go out and hunt for awhile to get used to it.
On land you don't need to worry about the Gold modes or the Beach modes, that leaves just a few to get used to.
There are differences between them but don't worry about tweaking the features at first, plenty of time to do that as you learn.
Like most good detectors right out of the box it is ready to hunt and should deal with most normal situations just fine, all the extra tweaking will come in handy at the more challenging sites.

When you start the plus and minus buttons will move the sensitivity up and down and that you should know about first thing.
If it is too noisy or chattery turn it down, this thing is powerful so even at a much lower than the top 25 setting you will still get deep.
The horseshoe button turns the iron tones on and off, kind of an all metal version.
You don't need to listen to iron at first so I would leave it off.

There are a lot if adjustments possible and it can be daunting but it will find things for you as soon as you unleash it...learn at your own pace, it is very forgiving.

 

[JackalopeZL1]

If you look at it from a financial viewpoint you are better off buying the 800 every time. You can sell the headphones and wireless module for around $200 and still have all the features and performance of the 800 at the overall cost of the 600. To me it is a no brainer.

 

[holepuncher]

Does anyone know if the bluetooth wireless module can connect to a iPhone ?
My hearing aids work with the iPhone so I am hoping to use them instead of the headphones.
Also if there are any past or present military you can save 15% at one dealer I know. Pm me for the company (don't want to break any rules posting name)

 

[vferrari]

Does anyone know if the bluetooth wireless module can connect to a iPhone ?
My hearing aids work with the iPhone so I am hoping to use them instead of the headphones.
Also if there are any past or present military you can save 15% at one dealer I know. Pm me for the company (don't want to break any rules posting name)

I believe you can only directly connect the detector to headphones via BT not through a phone. You might be able to connect your hearing aids directly to the detector if they are bluetooth hearing aids.

All authorized US ML dealers should honor the ML 15% US military discount (with documented proof, DD 214 etc.) for detector sales. This is not a dealer specific discount, it is a Minelab sponsored discount. If your dealer is selling ML gear and not granting the discount, find another dealer.