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Which conditions favor a ctx vs an equinox?

E

eriks

New member
I use an blue excal for beach hunting and was looking at the ctx for beach with iron and park use. With the equinox coming to market, I am holding off to see how users respond to the Nox. With that, I was wondering what conditions at the beach and park would favor bringing/buying the CTX over the Nox. I'm guessing the conditions where the ctx would be favorable, are locations where better target identification is necessary. What real world locations would have those conditions for success? Would that be a park location with old silver covered by decades of soil and modern non-ferrous trash? Could you disc/notch out that top layer of trash at 1-3" and just hear the deeper target tones? I think you lose out on gold in that top layer with that disc/notch, but I was just wondering.

Also, assuming the ctx has a bit more depth, especially with the larger coil, at the beach where targets might be sanded in a bit, you would prefer a ctx?

Apologies if this should have been posted in the ctx forum.

Thanks
 
I've owned a CTX before, have an Equinox on route hopefully have it soon.

For park or beach conditions, I'd image both are pretty close based from the videos I've viewed with slight sensitivity to the equinox with low conductive.

You didn't mention relic hunting or prospecting, although haven't tied an Equinox have used the 3030 at relic sites and a few times up in gold country. Based from equinoxs new technology, it will fare so much better than FBS both relic or prospecting.

FBS is great for ocean or park hunting, equinox adds a little more for users needing separation or more sensitivity.

Take care,

HH,
Paul
 
Mild soil and low iron contamination would possibly favor the ctx over the nox. I think the nox can hang with the ctx find for find honestly but the ctx will tell you if it’s silver vs clad, you can tell Indians from wheats and memorials and such and plot your finds via gps and it’ll tell you what time it is. But the nox will make those finds just won’t give you as much info doing it. It will also find things in heavy iron or mineralized soil that the slow processing of the ctx just can’t.
 
I wanted to grab a CTX but after seeing some videos on silver at depth and small gold, the Equinox seemed more than capable in those conditions. I found an in-stock 800 and went ahead with the purchase. I have a feeling there will be some growing pains coming from the SovGT and an Excal but I think I'll try to program the unit for the best tones since the numbers seem to fluctuate on the videos showing deeper targets.
 
Trashy places favor the Equinox. I am an Etrac user and mostly interested in coins. Etrac is better in ID'ing targets and in telling you the depth--both important for knowing if there might be a silver down below. I like the Equinox, though. It is light and bright (great screen) and because of its faster electronics and better separation, may be finding things the Etrac missed. We'll see.
 
Never used FBS technology, just BBS, so being able to cherry pick at depth is what brought me to the etrac and then ctx, I'm guessing the Equinox will not replace the etrac/ctx but rather the new multi-frequency processor in the unit will see those FBS units revamped eventually. Exciting.
 
I think that, in spite of ML's gobbledegoop, Miuti-IQ is functionally just streamlined FBS with chosen discrete frequencies, running on faster hardware. The successor to the Etrac/CTX is probably a few years away (unless the Equinox starts pushing them aside because of cost, in which case it may come sooner), and will probably be much the same but with FE/CO and better depth and ID'ing. It's all about marketing and what ML needs to compete against market segments--here against machines like the Deus, Impact. and MX Sport. It will be interesting to watch.
 
Old California said:
I've owned a CTX before, have an Equinox on route hopefully have it soon.

For park or beach conditions, I'd image both are pretty close based from the videos I've viewed with slight sensitivity to the equinox with low conductive.

You didn't mention relic hunting or prospecting, although haven't tied an Equinox have used the 3030 at relic sites and a few times up in gold country. Based from equinoxs new technology, it will fare so much better than FBS both relic or prospecting.

FBS is great for ocean or park hunting, equinox adds a little more for users needing separation or more sensitivity.

Take care,

HH,
Paul
Click to expand...

Look forward to your thoughts on the Equinox Paul.
 
Always Curious......... good points. They both have some things youd like to combine already....... but if you are say park hunting you need the CTX TID. Its really hard to beat. But the EQ will separate targets better finding the targets between targets the CTX missed. On the beach ...... i believe the EQ has some advantages for smaller gold, but like i said most of us cant tell on a deep target which machine was better no more than we can on the Xcal out there. BUT price......... well now we have a clear winner there dont we?
 
If you don’t have the time to hunt.The CTX is the way to go.l like the Nox for relics.Civil War you dig all .
The ctx will be for coin hunting.Both machines do will . Make your decision on were your going to hunt.And what your looking for.
 
In my case, it's when you HAVE a CTX, but the Eq has NOT arrived yet. :shrug:
 
I have an E-TRAC and an Equinox. My observations, thus far, are like what has already been said. The E-TRAC will be relegated to low/mod trashy park type environs because of its superior ID abilities. The Equinox will do everything else. The E-TRAC, even with a small coil, doesn't hold a candle to the Equinox in the separation/unmasking department even with the Equinox wearing the larger 11" coil. I think we all knew this was going to be the case from the beginning, though, as FBS is not very fast. Now I have a couple of small coils for the E-TRAC that may never get used again.

Dean
 
Hello David,

Yes, I'll share how the Equinox operates in my ground. Fresh water with black sand, in land relic and park hunting.

Looking forward to using all modes, especially prospecting for relic hunting.

Package may be delayed, Snow may recreate an issue with FedEx. Have two ordered, two different dealers. One is on route, the other is waiting for his shipment from Minelab.

Probably sell one later, thinking of making my own waterproof headset. Will need it for water, can't wait.

Always been a mine lab user, ever since the Sovereign came out. Boy what a terrific machine that was, now we have the 3030 and Equinox.

Thanks David, good to see you have an Equinox as well.

HH, Paul
 
Got my 800 today. No shaft wobble - solid

Loves rusty steel crown caps at about 25-30, but TNSS tip of going to 5kHz does indeed make the VDI jump up to the 30’s - coins don’t do that.

I live in emi hell - all underground electrical utilities with ground mounted transformers. The EQ hates it and in factory reset settings goes nuts. A quick look in the manual and an auto imi cancel - bliss!

Not as deep as my former F75 - I have a T2+ coming on Friday - cage match.

I am off with wife and cat in a lovely new Lance 1575 travel trailer for 5 months up the whole east coast. Lots of play on the beaches. EQ and my ancient CZ6.
 
Personally, I'd love to see far more target ID segments on the Equinox.

For us Cherry Pickers give me 1500 over 50 any day, LOL.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my Equinox target ID.
 
Package en route and should be here Friday, barring any major storm impact on the delivery-another Nor'easter is hitting upper east coat.

Good info on the frequency change to check conductive trash. I had a feeling there would need to be some cross referencing on another program to check targets as is similar with the dues, but no CY coordinates.
 
Rick,
Steel bottle caps coming in that high for you? Weird. That is really high compared to what I've been seeing...usually 10-12 in Park 2 or Field 2. Have a fun and safe trip!

I had a weird thing happen today in an old park in Prescott. I was hunting in Park 2, 50 tones and hit a beautiful, stop you in your tracks, high tone that came in 29-30 solid. I KNEW that it was going to be a silver coin. Nice tight signal. It turned out to be a copper memorial at about 4". I was shocked! They usually come in around 25. I rechecked the hole...nada. All I can figure is that there was some iron in there with it that was influencing the signal. A copper penny was the last thing I would have guessed from the tone and #s.

Dean
 
Have owned an etrac and CTX with several thousand hours on them and got an Equinox 800 last week. People have mentioned some of these but here are my thoughts:

The ETrac/CTX will give you more target info with the CO and FE numbers so cherry picking is much easier. I feel it also has a much more stable and accurate target ID, especially when targets are very deep. If you have loose soil where coins go very deep there and you want to be able to cherry pick in low-medium trash sites I'd say go with E-Trac/CTX but only if this is your #1 Goal.

EQ 800 recovery speed is SOOO much faster than etrac/ctx so in trashy places it blows etrac/ctx away. That is just my experience with the stock coil I can't even imagine the possibilities with a sniper coil at high recovery speed.

EQ 800 is far superior for beach hunting than the etrac/ctx if you're looking for gold targets. It will get better depth and also find smaller targets like gold chains, earrings, and toe rings that the etrac/ctx will miss. I did some initial air testing and got a repeatable signal at TWENTY ONE INCHES on a medium sized gold nugget ring :surprised: I'm not kidding here. I tested the etrac at 27 sensitivity in all metal mode and got... wait for it... 15 inches.

Did I mention EQ 800 has gold mode for prospecting? Doesn't exist on etrac/ctx. While air testing I got the maximum depths for coins and gold in gold mode because of the true threshold, and high sensitivity. I haven't meddled with it yet but gold mode may be able to get some extreme depths on coins and I'm suspecting that advanced users will eventually figure out how to make that happen.

The EQ 800 is way lighter than the other two machines.

The EQ 800 Costs less than the other two machines.

To answer your question:

I'm guessing the conditions where the ctx would be favorable, are locations where better target identification is necessary.
--- Yes, but we're talking about cherry picking silver dimes from clad dimes here. For general detecting you will be able to dig the coins signals most of the time on the eq 800. For beach detecting you will be digging a very wide variety of targets and the target ID doesn't matter much, especially if you're seeking gold only.


What real world locations would have those conditions for success?
--- Loose soil, deep coins or when you have enough hours on the machine to be able to determine clad from silver if you want to do that.

Would that be a park location with old silver covered by decades of soil and modern non-ferrous trash?
--- No. Both CTX and etrac have slow recovery speed so high trash areas are not their strong point. EQ 800 will run circles around them in high trash areas.

Could you disc/notch out that top layer of trash at 1-3" and just hear the deeper target tones?
--- Not really. It's pretty much impossible to get deep targets at a place that has a top layer littered with trash. Your best bet is to have a high recovery speed and get in between the bad signals to sniff out the good ones and find good targets close to bad ones.

Also, assuming the ctx has a bit more depth, especially with the larger coil, at the beach where targets might be sanded in a bit, you would prefer a ctx?
--- Nope. Assuming you're going to the beach for gold then EQ 800 will be far superior, even at depth.

Not trying to be an advocate of the EQ 800 already but from what you're describing the EQ 800 might actually be better for what you're trying to do so lightweight and cheaper are just a bonus. If you came to me and said Cutaplug I want to find super deep coins in low trash areas and not dig very much trash then I'd say CTX. GL with your decision =)
 
Thanks for taking the time to hit those questions, I would say I had some notions about the Ctx's disc applications, rather than evidence.

Equinox should work out great as I need to modify/repair my excal and sov gt.

Now I can hit parks and older settlement areas without missing so much information.
 
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