Minelab equinox 800 vs xp deus

[49er12]

You no I’m not trying to start controversy here, but I’d like to get to the bottom of this honest, non biased opinion on these 2 machines. You say why they talk about these machines the most like they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Please when you pay almost a 1000.00 dollars for a machine and it still can’t separate trash from good stuff need I say more. Look the fact is you can tinker with the settings all you want, many videos show users false readings, in this case numbers do lie. I don’t want to rain on your parade users, it’s nice to have expensive machine but let’s be honest your trash out weighs the good stuff on a monumental basis like the others do. So in ending all of you that own these machines I say good for you, top models at this time probably, just can’t justify the performance in totality for the price. Cheaper machines , more expensive can’t determine pull tabs, aluminum until then no need to prop up these machines until they perform to expectations, Ctx 3030 is over hyped as well, let’s tell the truth folks they are fine but the proof is there to debunk the facts, thankyou

 

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[smokeythecat]

Hype happens. That's a fact. Having owned Minelabs, White's and Garretts, I finally got an XP Deus. A little over a year later I got an Equinox. I no longer own the Equinox, any other Minelab, White's or Garrett's.

Here's what I have found. First, you can NEVER totally eliminate all trash. No machine will do that. Period.

NOW...maybe it's me, but the Deus is the BEST relic and coin machine I have ever owned. Period.

Here' is a case in point from the last few days of digging. I am digging a colonial and civil war spot in southern Pennsylvania, where the Yanks chased the Confederates a bit. The place has stuff from colonial days to this last year on it.

I set my Deus (HF coil) with tracking ground balance and running 74.4 khz which is hotter than the Equinox can hit and it pays off.

Here's how it behaves: There is a fair amount of aluminum foil on the site. I ALWAYS know what it is due to the VDI. Always. I even have dug some as there have been gold coins found on this farm, yes, more than one! (I even got one myself.) That thin aluminum has a distinctive sound, and I dig some deliberately occasionally to make sure I'm not missing anything. So I have no foil problems.

Pull tabs: there aren't many there but they always sound the same, they have a funny double "hit" to them, and again, I test dig a few to make sure I'm not missing anything, and the machine has not lied.

Coal clinkers: Never an issue, they come in as mid range targets. Always. And higher than iron and lower than the smallest gold.

Aluminum cans: The "newbies" who go with me to the farm, and a few other folks, looking for the Confederate and Union buckles that can be with them, well, they dig them. I occasionally dig them to get them out of the way, as more CW stuff "comes out" when we get rid of the cans and big iron deliberately, unmasking good stuff.
I can tell an aluminum can from other good, big items by a "hollow" sound I get with the Deus when I get over an aluminum can. Always a funny "hollow" sound to it. A belt plate, while in a similar VDI range has a "harder" sound to it.

Iron: I dig some deliberately. We have found a few really nice iron items on the site. I have found some great rose head nails there and recently a spike from the CW railroad.

Minie balls, silver and gold coins blow your ears off with the Deus, and this site has very mineralized ground. I'm in the process of crushing a "hot rock" as there is gold in it.

If your hearing is bad, you have a problem. I've too much arthritis to dig useless stuff. So I don't.

So...What trash?

 

[49er12]

That’s another annoying piece of conversation, low tones, medium tones, high tones, gee is it a time x or a Rolex I hear ticking. Point is numbers help, tones help, but to much garbage in the ground to make anyone think they are some tone expert. My god I see people swing there machines like maniacs, like there are weed whacking. They miss so much, why they have no grid pattern,or even how to cover an area. All I’m saying is I don’t care how many tones you think you no I betcha you just went over and missed something nice. We just seem to have in my option to many so called experts, loyalis. I especially hate when folks are given machines and promote them because of a company marketing schemes. No way in hell the fake experts gonna swing like this in old foundations in the woods and realistically cover an area besides an open field. I’d rather go slower cover less area than offer false claims of separations knowing the massive amount of tones going fast as hell, no way. Each to there own but to many bull @#$& on the subject that’s why it’s hard to trust n general. Going fast never accomplished anything but missed targets and so on. Thankyou

 

[eman1000]

Everyone's opinion is just that - but if this helps I have had the NOX, XP ORX, and now the Simplex..

First on the Nox it didn't sit well with me and I will try to leave it at that. If there were vdi consistency or audible consistency I couldn't hone in on them and that may be entirely on me. Just as an example Nickels are 12/13 depending on what mode you are running which I also found confusing park1/2 field1/2 etc.. again this is just my experience but I found lots of aluminum that gave same vdi and audio. Same with bottle caps although the switching freq would usually do the trick but who wants to do that all the time?

Second on the Simplex - which you didn't mention but I see you own one. I will say it is a really fun machine! If I could just remember to turn the headphones off after I use it. For $300 dollars it's really good. In fairness though I have not used it for enough hunts to really give an honest opinion but my initial thoughts are I would rather use my XP ORX for almost any situation (except underwater) Yesterday was really windy like 30+ mph wind and I used the simplex because the headphones covered my ears completely, so there is that. Also I really like the pinpoint function on this machine it works very well and is placed perfectly.

3rd - The XP ORX - for $650 with the MI6 pinpointer awful good deal - I turn it on and pretty much go to program 3 (which is deus fast more or less) and make no changes - I will ground balance. I will echo some of what smokey was saying on pull taps you might think I'm pulling your leg but its almost like you can tell there is a hole in a pull tab it is that fast. Now I tend to dig some of them at parks because I have found gold rings in this range. broken ones are impossible for any machine.

The iron audio grunts as I will call it are excellent for my heariing range (an this may be a nuance factor for each individual) I can back off a target and if I hear even the slightest grunt I can call trash - I do now just for fun to show a bottle cap from a quarter with enough accuracy I feel safe skipping them at a park. However on that same note in an open field or old site I can pull a good target with this same audio signature out of iron. The only other machine I have used that could do this unmasking was my Vaquero but you didn't have vdi or iron audio. You can go fast or slow with the ORX doesn't really matter..., however the pinpoint function isn't so great the button is not easy for me to use but I rarely ever pinpoint with this machine.. somehow I just can fell with the wiggle method were to dig

I think of all three machines the thing that really sticks out to me is easy of use and weight and the ORX wins this and for me that makes it worth it. Also I didn't touch on it but hearing your pinpointer through your headphones with the ORX makes it hard to go back you just get use to these little bonus features.

I still dig trash buckets and buckets full that just part off it. - I've got a bucket in the garage full of all kinds of bent iron from old home sites, a rusty axe head, massive wrench, and my personal favorite several plow blades just this year. I'd like to think I new they were all iron or trash when I dug them but something told me to dig..maybe one day I will be wrong in a good way! and it won't just be the lid to a mason jar but the jar full of silver.

 

[smokeythecat]

49er12 - if you don't believe anyone's testimony about their machine, I would suggest take up stamp collecting. You'll never be happy with any machine.


This is just my personal experience. I do not work for Deus, never have and I never have nor do I represent any dealer or manufacturer. And I do not do youtube metal detecting adventures. So I have nothing to gain from what I posted. Period.

 

[smallfoot]

I think our biggest major problem is the world being a bountiful place. In all directions, we have too many choices! There are simply too many choices for those who are willing to constantly upgrade. Not trying to be mean to anybody and am not trying to start any arguments, but we are all human. As humans we tend to want the best, the fastest, the easy. In the world of technology changes come all the time. Upgrades are constantly coming and we just can't resist. But consider this, and it's been said by many on here that are considered the top of the pile as far as detectorists....slow down, dig it all. Why do they say that? Because any detector can fool you into thinking that you know what it is before you dig it....
I think people upgrade mainly to give themselves what they think is an upper hand on finding what they seek and to some extent they do. Those that are coin shooters probably gain some digging time by discriminating. Relic hunters, well, we probably dig more but that's ok, we're looking for more than coins.
I discriminate iron on my machine but only enough to make the tones sound a certain way where I can generally tell what I'm hitting. I still dig it. I could cherry pick but I choose not to. I could be less tired in a day but I'm not. I think where we go wrong is not learning the machine we use. It takes time to drive it like ya stole it. You can get good with any machine but you have to spend the time with it. The high dollar machines are great. The middle road machines are great too and some of the cheapest machines around can find it too. One thing that will help on any of them is that you spend several hundred hours listening to what it says! Don't be afraid to dig a signal. That's what we showed up for.

 

[49er12]

Smokey, this site is based on opinions and some facts not going to deprive the information given because I’m sure it’s helpful. I’m voicing my option on not the options available but the non biased brnd loyalty. Fact is if we all had the same machine would it be fair to say we would all find different stuff depending on your location and further more me, you and everyone else sound learn the basics of operation because certain adjustments can make a better outcome. I’m not paid or sponsored by anyone, fact is I’m no expert, second I found more than some and less than others I’m not shamed to say so. The point of this site is to educate which it does and not so much say I have a corvettes, Benz, because speaking detecting machines can do a little better in eliminating aluminum etc. thanks for your opinion and stamps are not my thing

 

[smokeythecat]

It would be unwise to collect stamps. Prices have tanked.

 

[ARC]

I decided LONG ago that there is no use in trying to "cherry pick"... you get what you are dealt on that spot and that's that.

Try and get around the work VS dig it all ... so all of this is meaningless to me.

WHAT I... came to the realization was... I would rather dig it all and not miss a thing... than set a detector to try and dig it for me... all the while possibly screwing myself up by sacrificing depth...

For me... Depth is everything... And digging is a pain... but you know what... you get good at it and it aint so bad.

Trash exists everywhere and your not gonna "shortcut" it... everything has a price and you will pay one way or another to gain.

I have had all types of detectors "trying new"... even bought old ones at yard sales, estate sales, auctions, on and on... bought several new ones because I liked one thing or another about them... or read some "claim to fame"... but I have never given up my 8x... and since the Excal came out I have been hooked on them... and now the X2's.

Proof is in the pudding.

PS... I CAN hear tones and their differences.

 

[ARC]

Oh and PSS...

I guess you people who use these "mini shovels" and Leshe or whatever they are called.. do get burnt on digging... sheesh you are always "up and down" on your kness bending over... on and on.

I mean damn ... just go to the gym. heh

I rarely bend and rarely get on a knee...MAybe once or twice in an entire day.

I have a custom stainless scoop is my secret.

I can plug your plug and place it back in your hole for ya.

IF it there I nail it almost 65%+ of the time first scoop.

Dirt... Rock... Field... yard... m,akes no difference to me.

And don't give me that "our dirt is this orthat.

I have scooped the best and worst of em.

I will blast through asphalt... and have. heh

 

[xr7ator]

Actually numbers lie.
Some folks are tone deaf and they are not going to do as well at metal detecting as those of us with great ears.

AARC. I'd love to see a pic of that stainless scoop cutting through the asphalt! I use a lesche and don't need to go to the gym after 300 plus lunges an outing.

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Well i`v only been doing it for 51 years.....and i`ll tell you all a couple of very important things ... ...what was i sayin ?

 

[ARC]

Actually numbers lie.
Some folks are tone deaf and they are not going to do as well at metal detecting as those of us with great ears.

AARC. I'd love to see a pic of that stainless scoop cutting through the asphalt! I use a lesche and don't need to go to the gym after 300 plus lunges an outing.

Bend and stoop... bend and stoop.

Just think... you can work your way up one day from bending over picking strawberries to standing tall and picking banana's.

(inspired from Cheech and Chong - up in smoke movie)

 

[smokeythecat]

I would not have found half of what I have if two things didn't happen. First, I can still hear very, very well and can hear the subtle differences in tones.

Second I go slow and dig iffy signals. I think only a few iffy signals I decided to dig in the last year were something keepable, and none of those iffy signals were GOOD items. The tones compared to the VDI makes the difference for me.

I consider a machine with the same tone with different VDI's a TOY.

 

[signal_line]

The Deus X-Y screen is also helpful. For some reason I can hear the can slaw and other trash in the gold range more accurately when I see it on the X-Y graph. Too many rock concerts and accidents that caused hearing damage.

Tones: you can change the tone frequency for your best hearing range. There are many free hearing tests on the internet. Many people have gaps in their hearing on a certain frequency range. So if you have any hearing loss it's easy to listen to a tone generator and find the areas you can't hear as well. Then set the Deus to avoid these areas. The Deus can be set anywhere between 120Hz to 993Hz. I've read people claiming other earphones work better for their hearing loss. It's not the earphones--it's what tone you set it to. Put on your headphones and slide the cursor along the scale and see if you have any hearing gaps or tones you find irritating:

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

Also don't forget the youtube videos have a lot of misinformation, like people swinging too fast. Gary Blackwell has warned people about this.

 

[smokeythecat]

I put no faith in youtube videos.

 

[signal_line]

I saw one youtube video a guy was swinging so fast and a foot gap between sweeps. I commented that he was missing at least half the targets. He remarked that I didn't know what I was talking about. Like the prison warden said in the movie "Cool Hand Luke", "There's some men you just can't reach."

 

[smokeythecat]

Even the better detectorists miss a lot of ground between swings, if you look closely.

 

[signal_line]

That saves some targets for me.

 

[49er12]

All the world turns folks, you no why people go so fast, it might be called Quick instant gratification. Let’s be first, go fast. Myself rather go slower cover less ground, hear that faint deeper tone maybe, so many beeping you go nuts, I bet at the end of the day no matter what we have more trash accumulated than keepers. Thank for your thoughts it matters