Question??

[Coin_Hunter]

Has anyone publish on here a comparison between the EQ 800 and 900 on the Penny, nickel, dime etc readings? It is hard for me to understand the wide difference in what I have read for the same coin. Why would Minelab make such a change? I had to learn my Etrac readings, then a different set for my CTX, another set for my 800, and if I take the plunge on a 900 I will have to do it all over again. This is just too many numbers for my 73 year old brain to memorize.

 

[Dan(NM)]

Stick with the 800, it'll find anything the 900 can.

 

[markinswpa]

Has anyone publish on here a comparison between the EQ 800 and 900 on the Penny, nickel, dime etc readings? It is hard for me to understand the wide difference in what I have read for the same coin. Why would Minelab make such a change? I had to learn my Etrac readings, then a different set for my CTX, another set for my 800, and if I take the plunge on a 900 I will have to do it all over again. This is just too many numbers for my 73 year old brain to memorize.

One of the complaints when the 800 hit the U.S. in Feb. of 18 was its narrow Id range. The ability to distinguish between a penny and a dime was also lacking and hasn't gotten any better with the newest round of SMF detectors. The coin Id on the 900 you would learn quickly with a few air tests. If you're wondering, Ihps come in around 54-55 Zincs same and up to 62.Wheats are high 60s to low 70s. Memorials mid 70s to 79 or so. Dimes hit anywhere in the 80s and quarters are usually 89-90-91. Nickels 25-26-27. After using an 800 for almost 5 years I got a 900 as soon as they came out. The build quality was superb, they addressed all the issues that plagued the 800. However I was less than impressed with its performance and after a year or so I moved on to a Legend. Used that for about a year. My personal opinion it the Legend is better machine than the 900 but it is not as good as the 800. I've since sold the 900 and have the Legend listed for sale. I currently use a Manticore and it has really brought some old sites back to life. If you like Minelab and are intent in upgrading that is what I would recommend. One more thing, with the 9in. coil its the lightest rig I've swung. Good luck to you.

 

[mntnflyr4fun]

personally I sold my 800 due to the limits of the vid scale, bought the 900 and sold it for the manticore....much happier

 

[jmaclen]

Has anyone publish on here a comparison between the EQ 800 and 900 on the Penny, nickel, dime etc readings? It is hard for me to understand the wide difference in what I have read for the same coin. Why would Minelab make such a change? I had to learn my Etrac readings, then a different set for my CTX, another set for my 800, and if I take the plunge on a 900 I will have to do it all over again. This is just too many numbers for my 73 year old brain to memorize.

Minelab had a plan based on the Manticore target IDs and they incorporated those IDs into the Equinox 700, 900, X Terra Pro and X Terra Elite to make them all uniform. I had a long phone conversation with one of the Equinox engineers in Australia. He said they just wanted to go in a different direction with their new VLF target IDs.

Like others have said, Minelab had to do a lot of re-engineering to correct the build quality flaws of the Equinox 600/800s and they fixed those problems really well.

I didn’t care for the target IDs on the 900 or for how it performed in the high iron mineralization here in Park and Field modes. Target IDs were very unstable here and so was the way it chirped on the hot ground here. No way to settle it down besides putting it in one of the Beach modes. It did just fine for gold prospecting.

Like others, I sold my 900 and got a Manticore which is much less twitchy and unstable.

If you don’t have really hot soil, the 900 should do well. Just learn the target IDs. It has much faster target recovery, better iron target handling and that wider target ID scale especially in the nickel range really is a good thing once you learn it.

 

[Mark kus]

personally I sold my 800 due to the limits of the vid scale, bought the 900 and sold it for the manticore....much happier

Same here the manticore is great coil design you have no worries about the ears breaking like the 800 900 is better
but still the coil design is not great. And I use the 9" coil super lite 2.8lbs same as the D2 with the 9"
Mark

 

[mntnflyr4fun]

I love my M9, light and effective. I switch to the M8 in heavy trash and think it will be great when I get around to nugget hunting, not looking back any longer.

 

[fwcrawford]

After using my 800 exclusively for the past
5 plus years, I can tell the difference between a penny and dime most of the time.
Cant tell the difference between a dollar coin and a quarter though.
As far as nickels, I can usually tell when I am over a nickel, but I do get fooled some too…
Mostly by pencil erasers and the tabs from the old beaver tail type tabs which also fooled me with the Sovereign.
I had a loaner 900 that I used for a short time, but not enough to draw any conclusions.
I bought an XTerra Pro about two years ago and used that mostly last year.. this detector has the expanded scale, and I have found lots of coins with it and have gotten used to the scale, but to me it seems more jumpy on nickels… with the small 5x8 coil, it seems to do better on them in my opinion.
I really have no issues with the scale on the 800 myself.