Gold Mode May Not Necessarily Be the Most Important Thing Missing from the 600

[vferrari]

Thanks. I deleted my response to your now deleted post (lol) since we are indeed in agreement. It is only natural, I suppose, to have the post come across as 800>600 since I focus on the features "missing" from the 600, but was not the intent and tried to make that clear. They are both great detectors and folks should get whichever one has the features they need and tried to go into a little more detail than a comparison chart so folks could be better informed.

 

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[Professor of Engineering]

Nicely done, thank you for sharing!

 

[happycamper08]

Kumbaya. lol

 

[chub]

Excellent thread. Thanks!

Chub

 

[GoDeep]

I have posted variations on this theme but they are buried in other threads.



4. Do you like having the ability to adjust recovery speed over the entire range or iron bias, for that matter? Most people are aware that the 600 only offers 3 steps of recovery speed adjustment and only 4 steps of iron bias adjustment vs. 8 and 10, respectively on the 800. But more importantly than the resolution (number of steps) of the adjustment, is that the extreme slow and fast recovery speed adjustments on the 800 go beyond the range of adjustment on the 600. Some folks are actually using those upper two recovery speed adjustments in really thick iron which is not something I ever used on the Deus (I never have used the Deus in the field at the highest recovery speed setting, it is looking like that may not be the case with the Equinox 800). So that is something to consider. I am still trying to figure out iron bias and whether it matters that the 600 cannot achieve the highest 3 iron bias settings of the 800.



HTH HH
VF

Good information. I just wanted to add that the manual on Recovery speed says comparing the two are as follows: 1 on the 600 is equivalent to 2 on the 800, 2 on the 600 is equivalent to 4 on the 800 and 3 on the 600 is equivalent to 6 on the 800. So 3 on the 600 is still pretty darn fast.

 

[HighVDI]

The tone break and recovery options also swayed me towards the 800. The wireless setup was last....but probably worth the extra cost all by itself.

Definitely a very thorough and fact filled thread!

 

[vferrari]

Good information. I just wanted to add that the manual on Recovery speed says comparing the two are as follows: 1 on the 600 is equivalent to 2 on the 800, 2 on the 600 is equivalent to 4 on the 800 and 3 on the 600 is equivalent to 6 on the 800. So 3 on the 600 is still pretty darn fast.
View attachment 1563331

Agree, but the fact is the 600 is missing those two highest settings (7 & 8) and in one mode (Field 2) 7 is the default setting on the 800 while its 3 (equivalent to 6) on the 600. So the 600 is not as fast as the 800.

 

[curious2]

Agree, but the fact is the 600 is missing those two highest settings (7 & 8) and in one mode (Field 2) 7 is the default setting on the 800 while its 3 (equivalent to 6) on the 600. So the 600 is not as fast as the 800.

Something in the ML literature, can't find it now, made me think 3 on the 600 might be more like 6.5 on the 800. But doesn't really matter, the 800 sweep does adjust a bit faster. Remains to be seen how the two models compare in head to head tests. I have the 600, and it separates very well compared to my Etrac. Does not match the Etrac in TID or depth number accuracy, however, at least not the soil I've hunted.

 

[GoDeep]

Agree, but the fact is the 600 is missing those two highest settings (7 & 8) and in one mode (Field 2) 7 is the default setting on the 800 while its 3 (equivalent to 6) on the 600. So the 600 is not as fast as the 800.

Very true, luckily it'll be a mute point once they offer the downloadable upgrade software package for the 600, allowing one(for a fee), to upgrade ones 600 to 800 specs ;-)

 

[vferrari]

I hear you but likely not going to happen. There are slight control head HW differences that make this not possible. First, there is the absence of the User Profile button on the 600. Minor, I know and you can probably live without that 800 feature without crying your eyes out, but more importantly the LCD display “artwork” is customized for each detector model so a firmware upgrade (or even a hack) alone is unlikely to support most of the functional differences between the two detectors. I think a paid SW only 600>800 upgrade path would have been a cool and innovative approach, but ML didn’t design the hardware to fully support it, unfortunately.

 

[flgliderpilot]

I have both and only have 2 trips with the 600 and my first trip with the 800 is tomorrow. Where I detect I have noticed a lot of EMI which I could not get the 600 to noise cancel out I hope the manual noise cancel on the 800 is better but wont know till Sat. I believe the EMI is coming from a couple of large hotels and definitely coming from a pier. Ooops I meant to post this on a different thread

Reduce the sensitivity. I had the same problem with my 800.

 

[flgliderpilot]

After about 8 hours on the 800, I haven't used any features that are not also available on the 600. Not saying I won't, just that I haven't felt a need yet.

 

[toddbbq]

Reduce the sensitivity. I had the same problem with my 800.

I found out it was my mobile phone in my pocket I moved it to a waterproof case in my back pack and no more EMI lol.

 

[vferrari]

After about 8 hours on the 800, I haven't used any features that are not also available on the 600. Not saying I won't, just that I haven't felt a need yet.

Yep, I can see that. Most users should and probably will opt for the 600 after the early adopter rush lets up. In my case, I have used the User Profile feature (to store my modified Park 1 mode settings), manual noise cancel (power lines), some non-ferrous tone adjustments (more suited to my hearing), the highest recovery speed settings (thick trash), Gold mode (for small mid conductor searches on dry sand), and the WM08 module (to plug in a set of weatherproof headphones during wet weather conditions).

 

[Rick K]

Just bought a new but second-hand 600 for $525. Sold my 800 for more than I paid for it. Will be almost exclusively beach hunting.

Result - bliss.

 

[Owassokie]

vferrari, I could have guessed you were a "whole enchilada" kind of guy based on your user name. My nature is definitely to look for the "value play" in all my purchases. This doesn't usually result in a lot of 'bells and whistles' but I decided to splurge a bit this time. Right now I basically have no usable detectors so I figure if I can get a detector that will handle basically any and all types of terrain and all types of hunting...why not?!? I won't be nugget shooting anywhere near Oklahoma but I'd love to go out west some time and try my luck. I already test drove an ATP and I just didn't like it. Maybe if I would have gave it more time things would have been different. $950 for the 800 which seems to be significantly better than the ATP and significantly cheaper than many of the other good machines still feels like I'm making a value purchase.
OO

 

[vferrari]

vferrari, I could have guessed you were a "whole enchilada" kind of guy based on your user name. My nature is definitely to look for the "value play" in all my purchases. This doesn't usually result in a lot of 'bells and whistles' but I decided to splurge a bit this time. Right now I basically have no usable detectors so I figure if I can get a detector that will handle basically any and all types of terrain and all types of hunting...why not?!? I won't be nugget shooting anywhere near Oklahoma but I'd love to go out west some time and try my luck. I already test drove an ATP and I just didn't like it. Maybe if I would have gave it more time things would have been different. $950 for the 800 which seems to be significantly better than the ATP and significantly cheaper than many of the other good machines still feels like I'm making a value purchase.
OO

Good luck with it. I do not think you will be disappointed since it is such a versatile machine.

 

[angelito1]

Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then ............................

 

[Permit]

Now that is the kind of information i love, even an old fart like me can understand it..........thanks so much!