Old Longhair said:
Neither the Nox nor the Vanquish have a dedicated "Prospector Mode", or the overall user configured flexibility of the 705. And until they come out with a new machine that does, I don't see the Xterra going away.
Hi Old Longhair,
I really respect your opinions and knowledge concerning the X-Terra Series. I have owned the 705, 505 and still own one of my first detectors with a screen, the XT50 which I will never sell. I like it that much! I have used the XT 705 for gold prospecting in the desert southwest USA and in Colorado with very limited success.. To be honest, the only mode on the XT 705 that I really like is the prospecting mode. The discrimination modes on the 705 to my ears and experience are not significantly better than on the XT50.
So, you are correct that the Equinox 800 gold modes are not like the prospecting mode on the XT 705 which is fairly close to a threshold based all metal mode which is why I liked it. The Nox Gold modes are definitely hybrid modes with some aspects of classic threshold based all metal mode and even more features of the Multi IQ discrimination modes. That is where the XT 705 falls way short when compared to the Nox Gold modes in the gold fields.
The Nox is capable of giving me threshold based all metal mode depth while also providing much more valid information about prospecting targets than the XT 705. I have been very successful with the Nox 800. It is an outstanding gold prospecting detector even for very small gold nuggets and flakes that the XT 705 could not possibly detect.
I was a little miffed when I realized that the Nox 800 did not have a true threshold based all metal mode and saw that as a potential shortcoming. Now, after using it in the Colorado and Arizona gold fields I don't miss it at all. The Nox 800 is my first choice VLF gold prospecting detector and believe me I have used most of the gold prospecting specific VLFs.
As for the 705 having better "Overall user configured flexibility" than the Nox 800 OR 600 I could not disagree with you more.........in my opinion, after several years with the 705 and a year and a half with the Nox 800 and 600, there is no contest. The Nox has far better user configureable flexibility.
Jeff