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Minelab Equinox 900 or Nokta Legend?

O

OkinawaHunter

Member
It has been a long time since I posted on this forum. Life got in the way and I had not detected in a long time until recently. My Headhunter PI unit still works but on tis last leg. I have a Nokta Simplex but I am having a hard time getting it tuned correctly. My Minelab 540 works good in parks but I don't use it on the beach. I am thinking of upgrading to either the Equinox 900 or the Nokta Legend or Legend 2 when it comes out. Which one would be best for the beach primarily? Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
 
OkinawaHunter said:
It has been a long time since I posted on this forum. Life got in the way and I had not detected in a long time until recently. My Headhunter PI unit still works but on tis last leg. I have a Nokta Simplex but I am having a hard time getting it tuned correctly. My Minelab 540 works good in parks but I don't use it on the beach. I am thinking of upgrading to either the Equinox 900 or the Nokta Legend or Legend 2 when it comes out. Which one would be best for the beach primarily? Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Id go Legend 1, I own a 700 also. You could get L1, lg24 coil and extra carbon fiber rod for less than a 900 . I believe the Legend does better in iron and that smaller coil is a killer. You're not tied down to proprietary headphones as you'd be with 900. I don't have any insight on beach use though, sorry.
 
I agree, although not a beach hunter but having used both in the dirt I would say the Legend is a better choice than the 900. I'm a Minelab guy, loved my Etrac, 2 800s and now I use the Manticore and am quite happy with it. The 900, not so much. I sold it. Good luck.
 
Odanscoils said:
The 800 is better than the 900.
I really like the Legend.
Especially coins on edge.

Though if you have the Coins I'd go for the Manticore.
Beast of a machine.
Once you learn it's language.
You'll never go Back.
Click to expand...
How do you find the 800 better than the 900? I find that the 900 has a tad bit more horsepower on depth and better separation.
 
JimmyCT said:
How do you find the 800 better than the 900? I find that the 900 has a tad bit more horsepower on depth and better separation.
Click to expand...
Jimmy for me, hunting the same 2 old parks and in most instances the exact same areas, same settings the 800 performed better and found me more keepers than the 900 or the Legend. Well you might say duh thats because the 800 found them first. And before 2025 those were my thoughts, but with the Manticore in 25 I found well over another 100 keepers including over 40 silver, again from those same areas. When I hunted those areas with the 900 and the Legend I found very little. I will say in the one park the Legend did much better than the 900. And in at least one yard permission the Legend w/ LG24 hit much deeper than the 900. I even put the stock coil back on the 900 and went back over that yard again. Are my results definitive ? No, just what I see in my dirt with my style of hunting. For me the 900 was unstable, VDI was terrible, and yes even with the sensitivity lowered to 18. And as with all my machines recovery speed is 4. Until the Manticore anyway. I had days where it just would not lock on a target and when it came to depth I rarely found anything deeper than 6 in. The 800 w/6 in coil had no problem hitting 8-9 in., some masked, and in a few instances deeper coins. So for me the 900 didn't get it and I was happy to see it go when it sold. And again you're results may vary, I've read several posts that the user's loved theirs. Good luck.
 
That's interesting Mark! Thanks for the insight! I have a 900 and I love it! I also have a 600. Here's the kicker! I have went over private property that I hunted with my 600 with the 900. That 600 didn't leave much behind for the 900 to find! At my age I don't think I could justify the price of a Manticore. Its' not worth the risk of not finding anything that both the 600 and the 900 found. Hope that makes sense....HH Ted
 
dd214 said:
In iron maybe? Less jumpy vdis because of scale? I don't have first hand experience so I can't claim anything, just from watching videos.
Click to expand...
JimmyCT said:
How do you find the 800 better than the 900? I find that the 900 has a tad bit more horsepower on depth and better separation.
Click to expand...
Same here only what I've watched and read.
On this forum too.
I have numerous Minelabs.
Even the Manticore.
I've never pursued the 600,800 or 900.
Because of people's videos and posts.
 
dd214 said:
In iron maybe? Less jumpy vdis because of scale? I don't have first hand experience so I can't claim anything, just from watching videos.
Click to expand...
My 900 TID is spot on. You have to remember, there will be “less jumpy ID’s” on the 800 because the scale is much more compressed. What people are experiencing with the 900 is “variability” due to the expanded ID.
 
Odanscoils said:
Same here only what I've watched and read.
On this forum too.
I have numerous Minelabs.
Even the Manticore.
I've never pursued the 600,800 or 900.
Because of people's videos and posts.
Click to expand...
Too bad. You have missed out on great performing detectors. I found enormous amounts of old coins with my 800. I moved up to the 900 as I enjoy the expanded TID. Otherwise both are very similar in performance with a slight edge going to the 900.
 
JimmyCT said:
Too bad. You have missed out on great performing detectors. I found enormous amounts of old coins with my 800. I moved up to the 900 as I enjoy the expanded TID. Otherwise both are very similar in performance with a slight edge going to the 900.
Click to expand...
I haven't missed much.
And if I ever escape this home confinement.
I believe I'll be quite happy with my Manticore, Legend and slew of Tesoros.
 
OkinawaHunter said:
It has been a long time since I posted on this forum. Life got in the way and I had not detected in a long time until recently. My Headhunter PI unit still works but on tis last leg. I have a Nokta Simplex but I am having a hard time getting it tuned correctly. My Minelab 540 works good in parks but I don't use it on the beach. I am thinking of upgrading to either the Equinox 900 or the Nokta Legend or Legend 2 when it comes out. Which one would be best for the beach primarily? Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
West Coast USA, East Coast USA or some other country for beach hunting? It matters.

I have used the Equinox 900 at So-Cal beaches and I thought that was one of the strong points of the 900 along with gold prospecting with it in Arizona. Both places had moderate magnetite mineralization which the 900 handled well. So I would highly recommend the 900 for mild to moderate black sand beach hunting.

It did not do well at all at sites with higher magnetite mineralization where its target IDs were very unstable on 5" or shallower targets and it falsed on manmade iron and the natural magnetite in the soil relentlessly. It was basically unusable here where I live in Colorado. I contacted Minelab and they sent me a new 900 after mine was shipped to Australia for testing. Same problem. Minelab did nothing to fix this issue, so I sold it. Got a Manticore afterwards and I have had zero issues with target ID instability and very little falsing on iron whether natural or man-made.

I have also used the Nokta Legend at So-Cal and East coast USA beaches with no issues. I used the original 11" round coil and the 9.5X5" LG24 coil. The newer 12X9" LG30 coil did not have anywhere near the depth of the original 11" coil at these beaches in testing. Legend 1 was also great in the higher magnetite mineralized dirt in my area in Colorado.

I have been field testing Legend 2 for the last month or so. It had issues with the high magnetite mineralization here but unlike Minelab, Nokta has gone out of their way to find solutions for the target ID instability and ground noise that I was experiencing due to the high mineralization. Like the 900, Legend 2 has been great on mild to moderate mineralization.

The last software update of Legend 2 fixed most of the issues I was having so now Legend 2 is superior to the Nox 900 at least where I detect. I have not had the opportunity to test Legend 2 at a saltwater beach yet.
 
jmaclen said:
West Coast USA, East Coast USA or some other country for beach hunting? It matters.

I have used the Equinox 900 at So-Cal beaches and I thought that was one of the strong points of the 900 along with gold prospecting with it in Arizona. Both places had moderate magnetite mineralization which the 900 handled well. So I would highly recommend the 900 for mild to moderate black sand beach hunting.

It did not do well at all at sites with higher magnetite mineralization where its target IDs were very unstable on 5" or shallower targets and it falsed on manmade iron and the natural magnetite in the soil relentlessly. It was basically unusable here where I live in Colorado. I contacted Minelab and they sent me a new 900 after mine was shipped to Australia for testing. Same problem. Minelab did nothing to fix this issue, so I sold it. Got a Manticore afterwards and I have had zero issues with target ID instability and very little falsing on iron whether natural or man-made.

I have also used the Nokta Legend at So-Cal and East coast USA beaches with no issues. I used the original 11" round coil and the 9.5X5" LG24 coil. The newer 12X9" LG30 coil did not have anywhere near the depth of the original 11" coil at these beaches in testing. Legend 1 was also great in the higher magnetite mineralized dirt in my area in Colorado.

I have been field testing Legend 2 for the last month or so. It had issues with the high magnetite mineralization here but unlike Minelab, Nokta has gone out of their way to find solutions for the target ID instability and ground noise that I was experiencing due to the high mineralization. Like the 900, Legend 2 has been great on mild to moderate mineralization.

The last software update of Legend 2 fixed most of the issues I was having so now Legend 2 is superior to the Nox 900 at least where I detect. I have not had the opportunity to test Legend 2 at a saltwater beach yet.
Click to expand...
Did you find any gold nuggets with it ?
 
Odanscoils said:
Small or factory coils ?
What weights did you find ?
Settings ?
Click to expand...
Nox 900 using the 6” round coil. Legend using its 6” round coil and the LG24 small elliptical coil. All of the nuggets were sub gram pickers which is what these detectors are really good at along with specimen gold
 
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