thinking about selling my Equinox 800

maxxkatt said:

Another part of my problem is I have a slight hearing lost of the higher frequencies. I don't like the 800 wireless headphones. sounds too dull. I have telex headphone which sound very good, but are not comfortable and are wired.

I bought Miccus SR-71 headphones and found they will not pair with the 800. Earlier shipments (last year) do work. Now new ones don't. So I use the SR-71's with the WM-08 module. kind of strange, but it works. In my opinion they have better fidelity than the ones that come with the 800 and do not sound muffled.

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I wanted to say I bought one of those minelab headphones adapter for the nox, plugged into the wm-08 wireless transmitter and my gray ghost sounded great! Everything was crisp and clear..you might wanna look into that, it was easy to pair the wm08 up to the equinoxox, took 5 seconds..might just make all the difference in the world for you

Mtc8966 said:

Hi trashfinder. Thanks for this excellent post. Can you go into more detail or maybe share a link that can help a Nox nube like myself?
I just picked up a EQ600 and am trying to learn the machine.

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I’ll share what I know.
You’ll see folks sweep detectors lots of times and they are looking for a target. They sweep and step while walking. You can indeed find things this way. But you can miss things this way too.
A lot has been made of EQX speed. While this is true. It is not exactly what one thinks as far as target acquisition (for more challenged targets). An operator still has to give EQX its chance to alert. By slower sweeps, wiggle sweeps.
A lot of times a user will use slower sweeps, wiggle sweeps based on where they have been successful in the past with more worthy finds like coins. So they pick an area like this and hunt hard with EQX.
Target ID may not be textbook, or even steady. Tone will be more glints or very succinct in their behavior. Coil position, speed of movement are extremely critical. There will be some form of consistency for target acquisition. This is where practice helps. Go to site that has been hit and some good find were made. Get in there and start detecting. It can be a slow go. Numbers of finds might not be earth shattering, yet still worthy.
EQX speed setting and or FE settings are key. Not too fast.
Park 1 and beach 1 (not a typo) work well for say copper and silver mixed with iron. Whereas park 2 and field 2 work better for say nickels, gold rings mixed in iron.
Park 1 and beach 1 also work well in modern lower conductice trash looking for copper and silver.
Hard to find a better nickel seeker than a EQX.

That big ole 11” dd coil will sure fool a person on just how good it is for its size in more polluted sites.

The smaller 6” coil works. It is my opinion its strength is more in modern trash instead of heavier iron.

Cheers.

Spend time with your EQX. To reach super duper proficiency status takes more than 50 hours, a few hunts, or even 100 hours. More like 200 plus in field hours. Then lightbulb will turn on.

Oh forget to say.
It is also my opinion use of Bluetooth with EQX is inferior vs using the wi stream module (supplied with 800 model) or wired headphones plugged directly in to unit. Learning curve using Bluetooth could be longer vs using other means mentioned above.

Folks detecting in areas with higher mineralization levels may have to run faster speed settings, use original iron bias vs F2 setting, and use the park 2, field2, and or prospecting modes in search of both higher and lower conductive targets.

If you see low readings doing auto ground balance less than 25. Good chance your soil rated as milder not higher in mineralization.

tnsharpshooter said:

I’ll share what I know.
You’ll see folks sweep detectors lots of times and they are looking for a target. They sweep and step while walking. You can indeed find things this way. But you can miss things this way too.
A lot has been made of EQX speed. While this is true. It is not exactly what one thinks as far as target acquisition (for more challenged targets). An operator still has to give EQX its chance to alert. By slower sweeps, wiggle sweeps.
A lot of times a user will use slower sweeps, wiggle sweeps based on where they have been successful in the past with more worthy finds like coins. So they pick an area like this and hunt hard with EQX.
Target ID may not be textbook, or even steady. Tone will be more glints or very succinct in their behavior. Coil position, speed of movement are extremely critical. There will be some form of consistency for target acquisition. This is where practice helps. Go to site that has been hit and some good find were made. Get in there and start detecting. It can be a slow go. Numbers of finds might not be earth shattering, yet still worthy.
EQX speed setting and or FE settings are key. Not too fast.
Park 1 and beach 1 (not a typo) work well for say copper and silver mixed with iron. Whereas park 2 and field 2 work better for say nickels, gold rings mixed in iron.
Park 1 and beach 1 also work well in modern lower conductice trash looking for copper and silver.
Hard to find a better nickel seeker than a EQX.

That big ole 11” dd coil will sure fool a person on just how good it is for its size in more polluted sites.

The smaller 6” coil works. It is my opinion its strength is more in modern trash instead of heavier iron.

Cheers.

Spend time with your EQX. To reach super duper proficiency status takes more than 50 hours, a few hunts, or even 100 hours. More like 200 plus in field hours. Then lightbulb will turn on.

Oh forget to say.
It is also my opinion use of Bluetooth with EQX is inferior vs using the wi stream module (supplied with 800 model) or wired headphones plugged directly in to unit. Learning curve using Bluetooth could be longer vs using other means mentioned above.

Folks detecting in areas with higher mineralization levels may have to run faster speed settings, use original iron bias vs F2 setting, and use the park 2, field2, and or prospecting modes in search of both higher and lower conductive targets.

If you see low readings doing auto ground balance less than 25. Good chance your soil rated as milder not higher in mineralization.

Click to expand...

Thanks for reply!! Don't mean to hijack the thread. Any reason why you left out Field 1? I do mostly cellar hole relic hunting and this is what I've been using for no other reason than it sounded right from reading the manual.

I think I'm familiar with the hunting style you speak of. I used a similar style with my Tek Gamma w/ 11" DD in heavy iron on extremely hunted out cellar holes. I would set it for 2 tone no Disc. and closely listen for very quiet VCO sqeaks in the iron grunts. I looked at numbers but focused more on very quiet repeatable VCO audio with some # consistency. I found TONS of cool non ferrous relics this way including 6 large cents and 2 half cents. My best find ever being an 1803 Draped Bust Approx 8" deep. - WOW!! I can not stress enough that these sites were public roadside land and pounded to death over the years. Tons of holes and iron junk piled up against every tree.

Now that my Tek Gamma is gone I find myself hunting with the EQX600 in the exact same style and setttings. Setting it for 2 tone. No Disc. and looking for soft repeatable tones in between heavy iron. Just working very slowly through it. Just focusing on repeatable soft audio. What makes this more difficult is that the Eq600 falses terribly on nails.

Also it's worth mentioning that I have a 5-6" dime completely flat in my test garden that my EQ600 can just barely hit with very unstable ID and limited repeatability. - A text book "iffy signal". I'm not sure where folks are getting the 10" - 12" #'s. - Maybe I have a dud?

That said, I think I may be one of the unfortunate souls in the "don't get it" category. I probably have a laughable 8-10 hours in on the machine so far. I'm not going to quit on it!

Thanks again!

-Mark

jmaclen said:

Great answers so far. You know I really like the Nox, the ORX and the Deus and I use them all. Nox is an excellent all round hunter for just about any situation. Relic hunting, I prefer the Deus or ORX. If I am prospecting, Nox for the first 8 ", TDI SL for the deep stuff an ORX for final check of anything shallow and tiny i might have missed. Beach hunting, Nox and TDI SL. Coin and jewelry, I like the ORX and Deus for the shallow stuff (down to about 5" where everything coin sized starts registering as 99 on the VDI and just high tones no matter what it is) and the Nox for the deep stuff. I still get good tones and VDI at 10"+ with the Nox.

I am with woodbutcher on the Vaquero and my favorite the Cibola. Fantastic, easy to use, simplify your detecting life detectors. Maybe there will be a Nokta Makro Simplex in your future speaking of simplified!!!!!

Jeff

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Yeah, I am leaning towards keeping my 800 and 15" and 6" coil. Just buy the Simplex since it is not expensive. I didn't realize the XP Deus was as complex as the 800. Seems like selling the 800 and buying the XP Deus would land me in a similar situation I am in now.

maxxkatt said:

Yeah, I am leaning towards keeping my 800 and 15" and 6" coil. Just buy the Simplex since it is not expensive. I didn't realize the XP Deus was as complex as the 800. Seems like selling the 800 and buying the XP Deus would land me in a similar situation I am in now.

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What helps me is turning on the threshold. I set mine at 7. Loud enough so I can hear faint, smaller blips that are deeper , that you won't hear with the threshold off. Some don't like a constant buzzing sound. But my ears are permanently damaged from my ex-wife's nagging.

KOB said:

What helps me is turning on the threshold. I set mine at 7. Loud enough so I can hear faint, smaller blips that are deeper , that you won't hear with the threshold off. Some don't like a constant buzzing sound. But my ears are permanently damaged from my ex-wife's nagging.

Click to expand...

Well I have tinnitus so the buzzing might just fit right in. I will give it a try. I have heard of other people using the threshold on low to help detect faint signals.

Read and watch this short video.

I custom set up my tones on the 800 to make nickel range and 18 up sound high tone sweet sound. I run my iron bias at 0 sometimes 1 but never higher. Park 1. I ground gb then put on auto. Usually run recovery on 5 or 6. I am not a video maker type guy but i did make a short one to demonstrate finding a good target in trash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2lImonx8nY&t=2s

Threshold on the Nox in Park, Field and Beach is just for audibly indicating discriminated targets like iron. The threshold tone will null or go silent as the coil passes over discriminated iron. In Gold modes the threshold will also get pretty noisy when using manual ground balance as the coil passes over different levels of mineralization.

I do not think the threshold tone will help find deep targets unless they have been discriminated. It is my understanding that the threshold tone itself is totally separate from the target ID tone in all four modes. I believe the actual pitch of the threshold tone can be adjusted too along with the volume. Another function that is very different on the Nox compared to other detectors.

Jeff

Great info in these responses.

It has already been said by a few, but I'll add my experience as a Deus user and n00b detectorist in general. It is not a simple turn on and go machine for the first year I'd say. It is now (for me), but I put serious effort and time into learning and studying every bit of info I could find, read the manual about thirty times, Sabisch's book, lots of study and time in field. I feel comfortable with it now, but this is three years later or so. I still am certainly no master with it.

I have wanted a waterproof machine (which you (OP) stated you don't care about) for some time and it is between the Nox and Excal for me currently.

If you don't need to sell one, I would just keep the Nox and the Simplex+ which I believe is what you (OP) said you are thinking of doing in your SImplex+ thread.

I would give that Nox a chance still. I know I had a hard time with the Deus for quite a while, but I am super happy with it now especially when I need to make adjustments (I am often in very different soils and conditions) and I imagine the Nox would be just as useful.

If the Simplex+ ends up being all the machine you could want, then at that point sell the Nox

All that said, I do love the Deus most of the time. It is my only machine and it does most things well. I would love to have a fully waterproof machine as I said, but as an all a-rounder, its pretty awesome, just not simple to use at first. If you need to compensate for varying soils/conditions it is great. If you don't want to dig trash for the first six months of use in parks, study, research and lots of field time. I don't have much of a problem with bottle caps any more, but I dug hundreds of them in the beginning.

I love that the Deus is 0-99, super light and compact for packing, and the completely wireless is awesome if you don't need to get in the water. The shaft is shaped similar to the Simplex+ and had cam locks as well. There are something like six or eight save slots for custom programs which I like on top of the ten stock programs. I run the HF elliptical and a LF 9" coil, but nowadays, you would get either a HF or an X35 which I would love to have.

The XP ORX on the other hand, sounds like it is the XP machine you would want judging by you request for simplicity of use, should you go XP. It sounds, from everything I have researched, to be the Deus, with less adjustability. The Nox 600 to the 800 if you will, but still with the HF if you want it.

I'm no expert, but if any of this is useful to anyone, great.

All the best and HH!

A reply to maxxkatt:

Just a reminder that ALL detectors will have some sort of "learning curve" so even those that appear to be a simpler design than what we have are still going to require a wee bit of time to learn and understand both their strengths and weaknesses. I have owned, used, and parted with hundreds of detector models in my over half-century of enjoying this sport for many reasons.

One reason is because I am always curious about some newer product on the market and want to learn all I can about how they work, what they can do, and why they might, or might-not, be of interest to me and provide the performance I want and need for various detecting applications I enjoy. A second reason is to determine if they fit the three categories I look for in detector design, or if they fall into a category that to me might be considered too complex, too confusing, or have too many counter-adjustment features.

I started out in march of '65 just wanting to learn about my first detector, mainly searching for coins but also locating all sorts of interesting stuff. As the years progressed I became more interested in performance for sites that were known to be 'high-production' places for Coin Hunting and soon appreciated the silver & gold jewelry I was also finding so Coin & Jewelry Hunting is what I manly did. I worked my first ghost town in May of '69 and using better detectors in the following years, even though they were not the better choices for such sites with rough-textured terrain, my interest was growing to take on Relic Hunting those more challenging sites that also had more ferrous debris to deal with.

Detectors improved and in July of '83 we had our first really decent model get released that gave us silent-search, Quick-Response and Fast-Recovery, and also handled nails and other iron junk quite well. That's all it took and ever since that time, 36 years ago, I devote the bulk of my search time to Relic Hunting those challenging rural/remote places, or seeking comparable urban sites like demolition sites, old vacant lots, renovation work, etc.

Some detectors can do a very good job sat tackling BOTH urban Coin & Jewelry Hunting as well as Relic Hunting ... however ... many devices fall short in one application more than the other. Also, as we have progressed these past decades we have many, many more features on detectors and adjustments that can, quite easily, have a negative impact of performance afield if they are over-adjusted or used in an ineffective way.

So I go back to the Three Categories I look for in any make or model I evaluate to determine if it might be a good 'fit' in my Detector Outfit. I post about these things often, but if you haven't read them elsewhere, here you are:

I want a detector to be 'SIMPLE' enough to use. That means provide the features that are useful to me and not a lot of excess 'fluff,' and to also not be a complex unit to get into action with an excess of adjustments.

I want a detector to be 'FUNCTIONAL' too, and that means it needs to have some control that will, benefit me for hunting various types of site challenges, but without an excess of things to tweak here and there. I don't like it when there are adjustments to tinker with that can counter-effect some other function and require counter-adjustments elsewhere just to make it work right. To be 'FUNCTIONAL' I want to have control that are useful, and have them easily accessed for adjustment, but I also like a detector to have some 'memory' feature to retain my preferred settings so I can get back into action quickly without having to re-adjust things unless necessary.

And the 3rd category is very simple to understand, and that is I want 'PERFORMANCE' from a unit based upon the search coil I opt for to better handle the site environment and challenges, and in a package that is lighter-weight, well-balanced, and comfortable for me to use.

By the way, long, long ago in those earlier days when detectors were far more crude compared with the wonders we have available today, I realized the differences in performance between different units and/or search coils and by late '71 and early '72 I knew that to get the most out of this great sport I needed to have more than just 1 detector. For a number of years that followed I maintained 2 to 4 or 5 detectors on-hand for use in the many different sites I like to hunt which allowed me to pick-and-choose the best combination for the challenges at hand.

I have good friends who own several detectors as well, and some enjoy a White's V3i, a Minelab CTX 3030 or Equinox 800, or perhaps an XP Deus. Others make regular use of a Nokta / Makro Anfibio Multi or Multi-Kruzer, and while all these models are very good if properly adjusted for many uses, they are all more complex for many of us who want 'Simplicity'. They like them, they use them and they find stuff. I like what I use, and I find stuff.

In my Regular-Use Detector Outfit I have a Nokta FORS CoRe, two FORS Relic, plan on a Simplex + arrival soon, a Makro Racer 2, a Tesoro Bandido II microMAX and Silver Sabre microMAX, and two XP ORX devices. In the Specialty-Use Team I have a White's XLT and a modified IDX Pro.

I considered an Equinox 800, but I don't care for the cramped VDI range, or complexity, and I have devices that outperform it in an iron nail test scenario, so it doesn't provide me anything I need. Same goes for any Garrett AT series models and upper-end stuff from White's.

Don't be in a hurry to get something new. Try out a few units that interest you and don't buy something that doesn't serve a purpose well or seems complex.

Monte