Four books on the Equinox metal detectors

maxxkatt

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You have basically four books on the Equinox metal detector to choose from.

1) The Minelab Equinox 600 800 Metal Detector Hand book by Andy Sabisch $23.95 - 176 pages
2) Minelab The Equinox Series from Beginner to Advanced by Clive Clynik $19.95 - 111 pages
3) The Minelab Equinox: “an Advanced Guide by Clive Clynik $22.95 - 101 pages
4) Skill Building with The Minelab Equinox by Clive Clynik $21.95 - 119 pages

There may be more, but these are the ones I actually purchased. I have no relationship with either author other than some email questions. I also run two very technical book review web sites on college level books and above.

Andy’s book is well edited, with slick photographs and a large easy to read format with some general information on the Equinox detector. However, in my opinion it is padded with photos and testimonials that really don’t add much to the Equinox knowledge.

Clive’s books are more expensive if you buy all three of them. Smaller format and yes, there are some spelling mistakes Clive did not catch. But, for the amount of pure Equinox knowledge (especially for the 800), these books are packed from cover to cover with very useful Equinox information. I find myself highlighting quite a bit in each of Clive’s books.

I have many years of metal detecting experience with various metal detectors under my belt. Nothing prepared me for the 800. My previous detector was the very good Garrett AT Pro. Prior to the Equinox, I feel the AT Pro was the best mid-range metal detector available.

That all changed in the Spring of 2018 when detectorists started buying the 800. Most people at that time could not or refused to believe the 800 was as good as Minelab and a few others were saying.

Big caveat here, this was not your father’s detector. It is a very powerful and complex mid-ranged metal detector. Until you tame it, you will be frustrated unless you learn to just use it as the Minelab engineers designed it and that is to use the standard modes until you have at least 50 hours on the 800 or 600.
And that brings me to Clive’s three books. They will show you how to get the most out of your equinox. If you are content with hunting in the standard modes maybe buying just Clive’s first book.

Bottom line, I kept all three of Clive’s books and sold Andy’s book. But the safe choice would be to purchase all four books.
 
My response to this will probably anger some folks, but i dont see why I woulld buy another $100 in books to learn how to use my detector. Im going to d/l and read the FREE user manual, and then go metal detecting with it and learn what its telling me, in my environment. The fact youre advocating that folks buy a bunch of books is silly. Sorry.

The authors experience with a detector may not equate to your experience. I get that there are probably tips, tricks, and shortcuts in those books, but the Nox really isnt that complicated.
 
My response to this will probably anger some folks, but i dont see why I woulld buy another $100 in books to learn how to use my detector. Im going to d/l and read the FREE user manual, and then go metal detecting with it and learn what its telling me, in my environment. The fact youre advocating that folks buy a bunch of books is silly. Sorry.

The authors experience with a detector may not equate to your experience. I get that there are probably tips, tricks, and shortcuts in those books, but the Nox really isnt that complicated.
I USED to think the same way. But your last paragraph says it all on why to purchase a book or two. The tips , tricks and shortcuts that will save you TIME. One $17 book helped put me on a fast track. Each location and conditions you hunt are of course different. But having my eyes opened just a little , I was able to make a few tweaks in the advanced settings. Took a bit of experimentation , but without the book I may have never discovered what would work best for me. Sure , I studied the manual. But that won't tell you everything in detail. One book saved me TIME , and time equates to $ , and for a beachhunter....that's everything.
 
My response to this will probably anger some folks, but i dont see why I woulld buy another $100 in books to learn how to use my detector. Im going to d/l and read the FREE user manual, and then go metal detecting with it and learn what its telling me, in my environment. The fact youre advocating that folks buy a bunch of books is silly. Sorry.

The authors experience with a detector may not equate to your experience. I get that there are probably tips, tricks, and shortcuts in those books, but the Nox really isnt that complicated.

all people are different. I went from the AT Pro to the 800 and was not prepared for the differences having never used any minelab products or any detector more sophisticated than the AT Pro.

The 800 is so sensitive to small targets of all kinds and I really mean small that it was very, very chatty. I thought the darn thing was defective. I did not have enough sense to just put it into one of the standard modes and crank down the sensitivity.

Yes I read the manual, but I really like books with more of a technical explanation on the "Why" you should do different things like settings with the detector. You may already have figured out the "whys" from your previous detecting experiences.

Not arguing with you, just saying some newbies and people not used to more advanced detectors may need a little book learning. Now the 800 is not complicated to me, know it like I used to know the AT Pro. But for the first few months it was a steep learning curve for me.

But one think we can agree on, in Andy's book he had quite a few of what other famous youtube detectorists used for their settings. I am totally against copying other people's settings since they are for their hunting areas and conditions may be totally different that yours. You have to figure out your settings on your own. the 800 is very easy to de-tune by using other people's settings.

HH
 
I appreciate the review of the books. I have Andy Sabisch's book on the Simplex+.
I find it useful in tandem with the factory manual.

I have been told that Minelab does not include a manual in an effort to be "green".

Please tell me if that is not true. If it is true i think the effort is not to be green but to be cheap.

I had a Vanquish 540 and there is nothing "green" about downloading and printing the
manual at home, given the price of ink cartridges.
 
I much prefer the computer version of the manual. The computer version is easily updated. You can't search a paper version unless you have the time to thumb through the whole thing.

The manuals that come with a product are usually printed in a tiny font that requires a magnifying glass to read so they can print it in a dozen languages in a couple dozen pages. No thanks. I'll take a computer version.
 
I appreciate the review of the books. I have Andy Sabisch's book on the Simplex+.
I find it useful in tandem with the factory manual.

I have been told that Minelab does not include a manual in an effort to be "green".

Please tell me if that is not true. If it is true i think the effort is not to be green but to be cheap.

I had a Vanquish 540 and there is nothing "green" about downloading and printing the
manual at home, given the price of ink cartridges.

actually I have learned to like the 800 .pdf manual better. Why? minelab updates it with changes when they occur, like a new software update. Plus it is searchable for key words to quickly find something. Plus the index has links to pages which is fast. I never take the manual to the field so not having a printed manual does not seem to be a draw back to me.
 
I'll say this. Thanks Max for helping to promote my books. I don't consider them to be definitive but they do reflect a lot of time swinging with all types for machines. One thing my top pro buddy said to me years ago that I believe to be true is that!!"You pay to learn" one way or the other--no exceptions. I also see a lot of hunters who say that they "dig everything". For the new hunter--this is the way to pay the most--with your time. While there are a lot of good specific tweaks and tips on the groups and YouTube, having some general theory under your belt lets you begin to learn on your own and at the actual places you hunt. Simple basic skills will also boost your accuracy and reduce frustration. These are all based upon the simple rules of detector physics. Nowhere in any of these posts and videos do I see any of these "old skills" mentioned but they are the bread and butter of learning to find treasure instead of junk. These simple skills like using the cross sweep, pinpoint, telling iron from not and learning to look for "sets" of target characteristics are much more important than any numbers on a screen. Just for the record, all of my books sell for $16.95. cjc
 
My response would be this. No, the NOX isnt that complicated, but some basic, simple target testing skills do make it easier to learn to get good with. Also it's how the various features interact with different conditions that can be involved. I simply promote learning the whole detector. Respectfully,
cjc
My response to this will probably anger some folks, but i dont see why I woulld buy another $100 in books to learn how to use my detector. Im going to d/l and read the FREE user manual, and then go metal detecting with it and learn what its telling me, in my environment. The fact youre advocating that folks buy a bunch of books is silly. Sorry.

The authors experience with a detector may not equate to your experience. I get that there are probably tips, tricks, and shortcuts in those books, but the Nox really isnt that complicated.
 
While I agree that the Nox isn't that complicated to use and learn, the books take it a step further! Like any other hobby, one can simply "jump in" and go have fun without reading much at all, however, I personally get obsessed with learning everything I possibly can which makes me even better with the Nox. To truly understand the Nox's FE2 iron bias settings, when and why different recovery speed settings can help, how using the threshold can help, etc. is invaluable IMO. Having more knowledge is never a bad thing and certainly not "silly". I constantly yearn for more info (and experience of course) and that is why I scour these forums daily, own all of the books and will buy the next ones that come out lol.
 
While I agree that the Nox isn't that complicated to use and learn, the books take it a step further! Like any other hobby, one can simply "jump in" and go have fun without reading much at all, however, I personally get obsessed with learning everything I possibly can which makes me even better with the Nox. To truly understand the Nox's FE2 iron bias settings, when and why different recovery speed settings can help, how using the threshold can help, etc. is invaluable IMO. Having more knowledge is never a bad thing and certainly not "silly". I constantly yearn for more info (and experience of course) and that is why I scour these forums daily, own all of the books and will buy the next ones that come out lol.

I agree. But if you don't understand why you are using or not using a setting you will be frustrated. Use the threshold to tell you what recovery speeds and iron bias and swing speed you are using. Nothing breaking the threshold or very little, you can go deeper by reducing the recovery speed and FE2 increasing the sensitivity and slowing your coil swing. Hear tons of chatter from breaking your threshold you are in lots of trash and/or targets so increase your recovery speed and FE2 and lower sensitivity to help find those targets masked by junk. Not real complex, but if you don't know, you don't know.
 
I have never been "a book guy" in hardly anything. I understand there are tidbits to be gleaned from a book, yet with the factory manual and the on-line discussion sites plus Google, and the time in the field, I keep more interest than by using a book. I can't count the number of books I own for my various hobbies, which hasn't had the spine even broken.They are like virgin books, some nearly 20 years old.

But that is just me. I like self discovery and the fun from discussions like this one here. I respect everybody for their methodology of learning, and it actually helps me that others learn tidbits a book has which I've not discovered. Books just don't do do it for me. I bore easily reading much of the same core information in a semi thick text, just to get to the "goodies" I may need.

Just not a book kinda guy.
 
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