Equinox 600 or 800

adamBomb said:

Ask yourself:

Do I need gold mode?
Do I need the advanced features?
Do I need the wireless module? (you can use bluetooth with any headphones on the 600 or 800)

When I went down the list my answer was no, no, no. So I went with the 600. I have over 30 hours with the machine on the beach. I have never taken it out of beach 1+2. The only settings I have touched are the volume and sensitivity. The 800 would of been a waste for my hunting.

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^^^this

The 600 is great. The headphones that come with it are worse than mediocre. BUT a good set of bluetooth phones makes it great!

Texaspast said:

The 600 is great. The headphones that come with it are worse than mediocre. BUT a good set of bluetooth phones makes it great!

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I built a set of wired headphones for mine. The info on how I did it is here if someone wants to try it:http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?p=2966985#post2966985

halfstep said:

To me, it a no brainer. The 800 has wireless headphones that sound pretty good. That alone makes it worth it. You won't be tethered to the detector like on the 600. Plus it has the wireless module that allows the use of other headphones. From what I read of others who use the 600 , the headphones are not well liked. So if you upgrade to a better set, you negated the price difference.

As for the settings of the 600 compared to the 800, the 800 gives more adjustability and depending on your hunting preferences, the 600 might not do as well in certain situations. As for simplicity, most of the settings on the 800 are the same as the 600 but the 600 has fewer adjustments. So if one can use the 600, the 800 will not be that much more complicated. The biggest difference is that the 800 has more tone adjustments like tone break, tone volume and tone pitch. These adjustments are better for setting up to get the sound effects you like. This is nice in the trash as to make the coin tones stand out.

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Not true:

I bought a 600 for $649 plus a pair of Trond BT headphones that I love for $67, total cost $716 vs the $899 for the 800. No regrets at all. If you don't need the prospecting mode, 600 is worth it.

You are correct though....the stock headphones they send with the 600 are complete trash.

Detector said:

The only other suggestion I can make is to look at the resale if that is of any concern. If you have no intentions of ever selling the Equinox then resale won't matter.

Myself I went for the 800 for the 40 kHz, for my tot lot hunting, and the wireless headphones.

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How did you come up with the idea that the 600 will be worth less resale? In 6 months from now when the shelves are full of 800s used ones wont be in demand like now. The 600 is 250 bucks less, so yes i would expect to sell for less but both in equal condition would take a comparable loss. My advice being a 600 owner is do not buy either if you plan on reselling. The batteries are built in and have a limited life and will need to be shipped to minelab to replace. So like buying a used cell phone or a marine battey off craigslist buyers may avoid the Nox down the road and purchase a detector that they can change the batteries themselves. As for the headphones the minelab wireless are the Miccus SR71 with the minelab logo on the side, but any low latency headphones will do the job. I bought my SR 71s from walmart for 50 bucks. If your not prospecting gold the 600 is great for everything else from beach to playground. My buddy has the 800 and there isnt anything his can find that my 600 cant. The nox is a great detector no matter which one you choose you will be happy.

Both have multi mode and that's all I use and probably all 99% of us will ever use. Recovery of of 3 is perfect depth to speed ratio. I hunt big open areas so I really don't even need headphones except when windy. I like the wired XP Deus headphones if I wanna use headphones. I also usually dig everything so don't need tone adjustments. The adjustable backlight would be nice but not worth $250. The Equinox 600 is the best price to performance detector out there right now IMO

Toasted said:

Both have multi mode and that's all I use and probably all 99% of us will ever use. Recovery of of 3 is perfect depth to speed ratio. I hunt big open areas so I really don't even need headphones except when windy. I like the wired XP Deus headphones if I wanna use headphones. I also usually dig everything so don't need tone adjustments. The adjustable backlight would be nice but not worth $250. The Equinox 600 is the best price to performance detector out there right now IMO

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I believe the battery lats longer using headphones.

5 mile said:

I believe the battery lats longer using headphones.

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On a full charge you will have no problem running the speaker for as long as I would want to detect in a day. I get many hunts out of one charge and I rarely use headphones. Headphones should increase battery life though. Should on all detectors.