Hello everyone! I appreciate any help you can offer as my wife and I are in the market for a new detector. We formerly used the Garrett Ace 250. We got it around the time it came out, and we think it was a pretty good entry level machine as it was our first - but we've outgrown it and are looking for better performance.
To better assist, allow me to provide you an idea of what kind of hunting we do.
We treasure hunt the following places:
85% Beach (Florida West Coast)
10% Parks
5% Other
Regarding the beach...it has been 100% dry sand because the ACE could not handle wet sand, let alone any water. With the tides and whatnot, a sizeable area was off limits due to wet sand.
We think that with a better beach machine, we would probably be 40% dry sand, 40% wet sand, and 20% in the water probably up to the knee or so.
As far as parks, these are usually kiddie parks mostly that sort of thing. Fairly high trash areas.
Did a lot of research online, and we are strongly leaning toward the Minelab Equinox 800. My question revolves around whether or not it might be overkill.
I like the idea of faster recovery time, more customization and such. However, I don't know of what value that along with it's other enhancements over the 600 would translate to a practical advantage or benefit on the beach?
To further that - we already have low-latency Bluetooth headphones - so no real need for the WM08 or ML80 audio options included with the 800. I'd probably sell them if we go with the 800.
Would I be well served by the 600 for primarily beach hunting with an occasional trashy park hunt? Selling off the audio accessories of the 800 makes it almost a wash, but if in performance terms there's no difference then I'd rather save the hassle.
Lastly, is there any other detectors in the $650 - $900max range that I should be considering?
Sorry for the long post, but in my experience in forums it's usually best to fully explain what we need/want to get the best advice.
Thanks everyone!
To better assist, allow me to provide you an idea of what kind of hunting we do.
We treasure hunt the following places:
85% Beach (Florida West Coast)
10% Parks
5% Other
Regarding the beach...it has been 100% dry sand because the ACE could not handle wet sand, let alone any water. With the tides and whatnot, a sizeable area was off limits due to wet sand.
We think that with a better beach machine, we would probably be 40% dry sand, 40% wet sand, and 20% in the water probably up to the knee or so.
As far as parks, these are usually kiddie parks mostly that sort of thing. Fairly high trash areas.
Did a lot of research online, and we are strongly leaning toward the Minelab Equinox 800. My question revolves around whether or not it might be overkill.
I like the idea of faster recovery time, more customization and such. However, I don't know of what value that along with it's other enhancements over the 600 would translate to a practical advantage or benefit on the beach?
To further that - we already have low-latency Bluetooth headphones - so no real need for the WM08 or ML80 audio options included with the 800. I'd probably sell them if we go with the 800.
Would I be well served by the 600 for primarily beach hunting with an occasional trashy park hunt? Selling off the audio accessories of the 800 makes it almost a wash, but if in performance terms there's no difference then I'd rather save the hassle.
Lastly, is there any other detectors in the $650 - $900max range that I should be considering?
Sorry for the long post, but in my experience in forums it's usually best to fully explain what we need/want to get the best advice.
Thanks everyone!