Some people will disagree with me which is okay. The Equinox is a high gain detector. Even on Minelab's website it is listed on their upcoming model list as an "enthusiast" detector right next to the Etrac and the CTX. All three of those detectors would be a handful or worse for most beginners. I have grown up kids that detect with me when they can. I would still rank them as newbies even though they have detected before. They were totally overwhelmed by the Equinox even when setup in default Park 1 with just 2 tones, and low sensitivity. I help seasoned detector users who recently bought an Equinox learn this detector for the club I am a member of. It takes a while even for folks that have detected for years.
So, if you are sold on the Equinox already which is fine for an adult or fairly strong teenager, great. Be prepared to be patient, study a lot, stay within the default Park 1 mode for awhile and keep it simple. The Equinox will definitely detect metal from millimeter sized at 1 to 2 inches depth up to a quarter sized down to a depth of 1 foot in most soil accurately and easily once you learn how to use it. It will go deeper on larger metal objects.
For your 11 year old, the new Minelab Vanquish 340, 440 or 540 would be great since it has some of the same technology, target ID range and tones of the Equinox and is much less expensive. My grown kids had no trouble learning how to use the Vanquish. Not only did they find good targets quickly, they really enjoyed swinging it. I have helped a couple of kids from my club with lighter weight Garrett and Fisher/Teknetics detectors along with the Vanquish. They preferred the tones and easy adjustability of the Vanquish. These kids were 12 years old. They also tried the Nokta Makro Simplex and really like it too even though they both felt like it was too heavy with the stock coil. Hopefully Nokta Makro will release other smaller coil options soon. Being waterproof, it would be a great option for a lot more people if it was lighter.
