So, if all the three detectors are equal, why not get the cheaper of the three?
Loren mentioned three differences that the Legend, Manticore and Deus 2 have which most people can relate to. He also mentioned the Nokta Triple Score and I would add the Equinox 900 and X-Terra Elite to the list. I am going to add a fourth difference too. The biggest difference is coil architecture. Next would be EMI mitigation, then ground mineralization handling and the last is personal preference for these detector's iron identification tools, audio, user interface and ergonomics.
If a person wants to hunt at a fairly high level in thick trash whether modern or old for shallower targets or for targets no deeper than 8 to 10" then Tony N's statement is very valid. All six of the detectors I mentioned are going to get the job done for 8" deep coin sized targets fairly equally using their 9" or larger coils. At least where I detect I can get really accurate target information on 8" or less coin sized non-ferrous targets using the Legend, Manticore, Deus 2 and Equinox 900....haven't used a Triple Score or X-Terra Elite.
10" or deeper is where a difference starts to show up and it is mostly a coil architecture difference from my experience. The original Legend came with a stock 11" round coil. Manticore and Equinox 900 do too. You can choose the coil size for Deus 2 and the Triple Score and X-Terra Elite come stock with an elliptical 11 to 12" X 9" coil similar to the gen. 2 Legend's 12X9" coil. At least on the Legend gen 2, its 12X9" coil acts more like a 9" coil as far as depth where I detect and it will simply miss or give extremely iffy target responses on 9" or deeper targets. All I have to do is put the original stock 11" round coil on the same Legend with the same settings and that 9" coin sized target is very easy to detect. The same happens between the Manticore 9" and 11" coils along with Deus 2 9" and 11" coils.
Loren made it very clear in his video that head to head with the same sized coil, he was unable to see any difference between the three detectors he used: Legend, Manticore and Deus 2 as far as depth and as far as unmasking of in the ground targets as long as settings were very similar between the three detectors.
I detect in high iron mineralization. I do see a usable depth difference with those three detectors using the same sized coil with very similar settings. Manticore is simply deeper by an inch or so versus Deus 2 and the Legend. If I use the Deus 2 13X11" coil, I will get similar results to the Manticore with 11" coil. If I put the 15X12" coil on the Manticore it wins in overall depth over the 13X11" coil on Deus 2.
I see the same thing that Loren sees as far as EMI mitigation. Manticore is best and Deus 2 is second with the Legend a very close 3rd.
Loren didn't mention higher iron ground mineralization handling like I have to deal with. Manticore again is best, Legend is next in line with Deus 2 a distant 3rd. XP made some improvements for this in their latest V3.1 software but the results are still not clear. This ground handling advantage of the Manticore may explain the head to head depth difference using the same sized coils that goes to the Manticore along with its better EMI handling.
Personal preference stuff is totally subjective and may change even for me from week to week so you guys can decide what you like best for ease of use, user interface, audio preferences, iron identification tools and ergonomics.
It's been a while since I last detected due to a miniscus tear in my left knee from getting down on the ground etc. Now I'm all healed up.
