Well, I'm still in the preorder queue, and intend to stay there. Its cold and the ground is frozen at some of my spots around here anyway, so I'm not doing much.
For me, I still use an E-Trac, and it has been an incredible workhorse machine for 10+ years, and I wish I could use it forever.
But for me, the advantages to upgrading are that the E-Trac is just getting too heavy as I get older. I used to be able to swing 10 hours a day, now I am down to about 4. I like what I see as the light weight, but not flimsyness, of the Deus II. The buttons on the E-Trac are starting to go. The software/chips on the Deus II seems faster, and of course they are, and probably faster than on the Nox as well. That is just a function of age in that business. Everything gets faster each year.
I think I will be able to swing it faster than the E-Trac and the Nox. This is a big deal to me, as I'm all about efficiency, so I see being able to cover more ground in the same unit time as a big deal.
I like the way the Deus II packs up and how easy it is to swap coils. I ride my mountain bike to many sites, and the E-Trac always packed up a bit awkwardly and took some time to assemble. The Nox seems so flimsy that I would not even try packing it up in a pack and riding my bike to a site.
And, it is nice to use different technology on the same site to see what happens. While the E-Trac and Nox use different frequency technology, I'm betting under the hood that some of the signal processing and algorithms are the same. I was in that business for a very long time, and know how those things work somewhat.
I wanted a Deus anyway just for a different algorithm to try, so I see the Deus II coming along at this time as a possible bonus in this regard.
I cannot use my E-Trac in the rain. The screen gets weird. I don't trust the Nox in the rain, as I have read too many horror stories about "is it really waterproof". I'm hoping the Deus II gives me the confidence to enjoy hunting in the rain, so I see that as an advantage.
The big negative I see with the Deus II is the prop batteries. And if you read the fine print in the warranty, they are only good for 2 years. I'm hoping someone comes out with aftermarket batteries like the E-Trac, but that is a risk if I can't get OEM batteries when the stock ones fail. (The batteries are the only thing that has failed completely on the E-Trac in 10 years).
It is very difficult to get the aftermarket coils I want for the E-Trac now, and they do fail. Another reason to have a more modern machine and hope for the best with the OEM coils or whatever comes along. I don't feel good about putting more money into the Nox for different coils.
As for the Nox, maybe it finds as much as the Deus II. But I never got along with it, and went back to the E-Trac. I find more with it, but I'm pretty good with it. The flimsyness of the Nox is just such a turnoff for me, and the horror stories I read about further investments in parts I will need to detect 10 hours a day make it seem more expensive than it is listed at. Also, it is worse on iron (less efficient) than the E-Trac in my judgment for the sites I hunt and my style of hunting.
Its just not a fun machine for me to use, and this is a hobby, and its about fun. I'm hoping the Deus II is fun.
As for the cost, I don't have alot of money, but my finds to date will easily pay for a Deus II. Forget the silvers, I've found enough clad to pay for it + another coil, and I don't hunt clad. And if it sucks, I can always sell it, so I don't look at the headline cost but cost of ownership. Another reason I am not happy with the Nox as I don't want to throw alot of money into upgrading the shaft, coil ears, and so forth.
I bought my Nox used, E-Trac used, V3 used (then sold), and before that, a DFX used. The only machine I have ever bought new is an Ace 250. The way I figure it, it is time to treat myself to a brand new machine for a change, and see what it can do in the variable dirt around here.
Another advantage I see is the ground balancing options. All the E-Trac gives you is auto GB, which works well enough, but I'd like manual and would like an actual numeric read on the dirt, which the Deus II seems to offer. I was never comfortable with the Nox GB.
As for other points raised in the thread, of course you can compare a $500 machine to a $1500 machine. All that matters is which one works better for you at your location. When I got the V3, for example, back in the day, much cheaper machines worked better, at least for me. IMHO, that machine was a lemon, especially for the price. There is risk that the Deus II will also be a lemon. We'll see.
Of course you don't have to have several machines and aftermarket coils to be a "serious detectorist". I plod along with my E-Trac, one aftermarket coil, and one stock coil, and still consider myself serious. I do tons of research, and am amazed sometimes at the sites I find. It is what makes you happy, not how many machines you have (unless of course, that makes you happy). Of course, if you want to be serious on both dirt and the beach, or coinshooting and relics, then you may want multiple machines for the different jobs. But not having them does not make you any less serious. I have no interest in relic hunting, but do have an interest in the beach, so I am hoping the Deus II offers and advantage over the Minelab machines I have at the beach.
As for the videos and reviews out there, I take it all with a grain of salt. I don't know if it will provide an advantage or not, and I don't know how staged those videos are. We'll see when lots of people are using the machine; that is the risk that these reviewers run, if they are found out as emperors with no clothes or not. For me, I've pulled silvers out of holes with 5 iron nails, and while I think the Deus II will have an advantage at such sites due to faster software, I don't think it will be as strong as an advantage as some reviewers suggest. And besides , there is fun in discovering the machine for yourself.
We'll see, and good luck with any decision. Just my long winded 2c on some of the points raised in this thread, and why I am upgrading. If it is a lemon, you will be able to buy mine used on the cheap.