On the Fence

[Hal2k]

I’m on the fence about the Equinox, I purchased the AT-Max in December this past year I considered buying the Equinox at that that time if it had been available but just did not want to wait a long time. At time thinking it could be as late as March or April before its release. I like my Max but it has it’s draw backs just same as all detectors have, it has taken me some time to really warm up to the Max. One of the drawbacks is the single tones in all metal mode and the tones in the other modes just are not appealing to me at all but I’m getting use to them. I have considered the Deus but it too has it’s draw backs, one of the draw backs is water detecting, everything I’ve read the Deus is a shallow water detector at best and that’s a maybe. I have the funds to buy either the Deus, Equinox, Marko Multi Kruzer Racer or the Noka Impact. Almost pulled the trigger on the Deus but have backed off due to all the good things I’m hearing about the Equinox, waterproof, finds objects deep, great for beach hunting etc. The Impact probably is out due to non-waterproof. I know that none of these detectors are a magical wand that if you swing over the ground silver coins and other cool relics are going to suddenly show up. It’s just I would very much like to have additional detector as a back-up unit that are as good or better than the machines I now have. Anyway, any of you other guys have the same or similar thoughts of being on the fence.

 

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[Wiganer]

Hi Hal, I'm not on the fence the wife has just put her Garrett sea hunter 2 up for sale and I'm going to sell my whites dual field for a couple of noxes, the problem we have here in nova Scotia is that it cold until may/ June and the Atlantic is still cold until August, and beaches can be frozen January to march, so you don't get many finds in the water or wet sand, seems like people go to the lakes for a swim instead, and because were not out there every weekend due to work patterns, I can't see the sence in having a bunch of detectors when a nox will cover all bases.

 

[vferrari]

How I would rank them with some notes:

Equinox - Multi-IQ is fast simultaneous multi frequency which is a game changer as far as separation AND depth are concerned. Now you can trade off depth with adjustable recovery speed and mostly stable TIDs at good depth, have stability in salt water; better than CTX and some others at mid-conductor detection (gold, gold jewelry, and brass relics) under a variety of soil conditions and a waterproof detector in an affordable, waterproof package. Not as deep as stable in TID as CTX, perhaps lacking in some fringe performance with the XP Deus with the HF coils that operate above the maximum frequency of the HF coils, but definitely a jack of all trades and Master of some if not most. Machine and Accessory availability are issues (no accessory coil/headphone availability and pricing have been announced).

Makro Multi-Kruzer/Gold Kruzer - Performance of the Impact at an affordable price (probably forced by the Equinox price point) and waterproof to boot. Probably the best bang for your buck for a VLF single frequency machine that has a choice of at least 3 frequencies. Blows the Max out of the water on paper. Gold Kruzer is interesting also because it is a waterproof gold machine at a "real" gold operating frequency of 60+ khz. Makro, also a good salt water machine legacy with the Racers, so Kruzer is expected to bring that to the table also and has been demonstrated in preliminary test videos. Can't fully match the Equinox though because of lack of MultiIQ.

XP Deus - Expensive but lightweight, flexible, low profile, low weight and awesome wide-band performance (i.e., 13 - 56/80 khz operation) with either of the two HF coil choices. (I wouldn't even bother with the LF coils at this point, frankly. Haven't put my LF coil back on my Deus since the day I bought the HF coil last summer). Drawbacks besides price include the claptrap needed to use in water, and lack of simultaneous multifrequency like the Equinox. Even though I have an Equinox on order, I still plan to keep the Deus because of its high frequency capability and other physical advantages.

As you already mentioned, no need to look at Impact because Multi-Kruzer kills it based on features and price alone.

Equinox and Mult-Kruzer easily eclipse the AT Max on features (at least on paper) at a very similar price point. Deus is in a different league because of its pricing.

That's my take.

 

[WaterScoop]

stability in salt water, better than CTX ...

I agree with a majority of your wisdom however not sold on the above statement yet.

I think it’s too early to tell. I have not seen enough field data from actual Equinox hunters to agree with this statement yet. Plenty of CTX data to csupport that it does pretty amazing in saltwater especially with the 17” coil vs a majority of other machines.

I always appreciate your input vferrari

 

[vferrari]

I agree with a majority of your wisdom however not sold on the above statement yet.

I think it’s too early to tell. I have not seen enough field data from actual Equinox hunters to agree with this statement yet. Plenty of CTX data to csupport that it does pretty amazing in saltwater especially with the 17” coil vs a majority of other machines.

I always appreciate your input vferrari

'Scoop,

Understand the feedback.

Regarding my statement - read it again closely, all I claimed above is the Equinox is stable in salt water (check, it is a multifrequency machine) and hits better on mid-conductors than CTX (check, Equinox is a gold machine, CTX is primarily a high conductor magnet) - two separate statements. Never said the Equinox is better than CTX in salt water. Probably should have put a semicolon in there to better separate the statements. In fact I will edit it to do it now. Do you still disagree? As always, I also appreciate your feedback (and pic clips - LOL).

 

[JrMack]

I'm in the same boat with ya! Bought my 705 gold almost a year ago so I now have all three x-terra detectors and I still like them a lot!! Still a little learning curve with the 705 so going to keep it a couple years and then lets see if the Equanox will be worth the purchase. I have noticed that there has been a price drop on detectors in the 705's price range and wondered about if the sale of the Equinox has something to do with it..

 

[Wrecka]

Im roughly in the same boat as yourself. I bought a AT Pro last June , i like the ATP for Park , Dry sand and Field searching but it was sold to me as a machine that could also be viable on wet saltwater sand , it's not and if i could do it all over again i'd wait for the Nox.
Unfortunately i broke my factory coil so bought 2 Nel coils and also got a Mars MD shaft , all these items combined make for a nice useable machine , unfortunately still not that great in Salt water. So i find myself wanting a 800 Nox , i have my ATP on ebay now and will be lucky if i can recover 1/2 of what it's cost me...............