New member, looking to upgrade detector

[Capnstern]

Hi all. Been a long time lurker, finally decided to join up. Short story, I've had detectors on and off most of my life. When i was a kid, I saved up for a detector from radio shack, went to the store, bought it and brought it home, put the batteries in, and carried,it,to the local creek. Put the "waterproof" coil in the water, detector made a weird sound and never worked again. Needless to say, I would only look at something that is totally waterproof! Fast forward about 35 years and I went and bought myself a nokta Makro simplex. I really like this machine but, as I type this ,I've Been at Panama city beach this week and in wet sand I get quite a lot of chatter. Found some change and some trash. Thats ok as I need more practice. Now, for the kicker. The Mrs told me I should treat myself to a " Better" detector. Not wanting to squander a chance to upgrade( how often does your wife give you carte blanc to spend money), I was wondering everyone's thoughts on maybe an Equinox 600, or maybe a Makro kruzer. I wouldn't buy anything not totally waterproof, and am really thinking might benefit from the 600's multi frequencies, but am open to opinions from people that know much more than me! Thanks in advance!

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Welcome aboard, glad to have you with us.

 

[Rookster]

Welcome

 

[vpnavy]

1st - Welcome Aboard Capnstern! You didn't list your state (or country) in your profile. So, you might consider jumping over to Sub-Forum: Select Your Area.... for information (i.e., clubs, hunts, finds, legends, maps, etc.) directly related to your state (or country).
2nd - Whatever you finally decide on - please consider buying one from one of

's Supporting Vendors.

 

[against the wind]

Welcome to the forum from Port Allegheny, Pennsylvania

 

[against the wind]

Totally waterproof to 200 feet of water. Excellent machine for Salt environments.
Excalibur by Minelab

 

[islamoradamark]

Welcome from florida I like minelab detectors

 

[troutbum]

Right now the Nox seems the way to go.I have a Nox 600, and I love it. But I only use it at the beach, dry sand, wet sand, and low surf. I still don't want to take the chance of getting the box wet. For deep waist or deeper surf I use a Tesoro Sand Shark.

 

[woozlepops]

Admin here, No way are you allowed that user name "troutBum"

Insisting you change your username to some thing more appropriate like
"user2512"

[emoji847][emoji2957][emoji2960][emoji28]

 

[TreasureCatto]

Welcome from Texas

 

[teleprospector]

Welcome!
Jon from s/e Michigan

 

[angelito1]

Welcome to Tnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

[Xraywolf]

Be advised, many reports of Nox failure after being dunked, and many [including myself] think "waterproof" is false advertising ,, Water resistant though it may be.
They do have a 3 year warranty and do seem to have above average customer service, but I don't think it can be considered a reliable water machine due to the volume of failure reports [a couple guys I know, including a cousin that I got into detecting, fried theirs]


Minelab Excalibur 2 have proven itself a reliable [and expensive] water machine. I have been dunking my At Pro for over 5 years without any problems, but have no idea how it does in salt conditions.

 

[Capnstern]

Good stuff to know. I doubt I'd purposely dunk it, but if your in the water trying to handle a sand scoop plus a detector, feet halfway sinking in sand and a wave hits you, you and your gear might take a tumble.....ask me how I know! Simplex survived it!��

 

[Capnstern]

Yep. Good point. I went into the profile and doctored up a little bit.

 

[Capnstern]

Good stuff to know. I doubt I'd purposely dunk it, but if your in the water trying to handle a sand scoop plus a detector, feet halfway sinking in sand and a wave hits you, you and your gear might take a tumble.....ask me how I know! Simplex survived it!��

 

[Xraywolf]

I have an undunked Simplex as well, no need for me as I do great with the AT.
Nox I bought with water backup in mind, but that went south with the failures and was never confident enough to try ,, But if you don't plan on actually submerging the brain/box of the unit, should be find for accidental splashes and/or drops.
I waded for years with an Ace 250 with water right up to the housing and never had an incident, though often I'd have my daughter or one of her friends hold on to it while I scooped up the find.

I feel for you salt guys, lots of issues that us fresh water hunters will never be faced with.

 

[RustyGold]

Welcome to TreasureNet.
First I had an 800. Submerged it with zero issues. I now have the 600 and do not anticipate any issues with it either. Warranty is good for 3 years. At the end of 3 years you can sell the first one and get another if you like it. There are remedies for the possible leak issues on YouTube.
Please note, I never took it out in pounding surf, just calm waters.
The Equinox 600 is a great beach detector and for some reason I like it over the 800.
Good luck!

 

[Capnstern]

Well, after much perusal of the internet and this forum reading every review and opinion i can get, I have made my decision which machine to buy as of now. I am not a die hard detectorist but as I stated in my intro, I got the green light from the Mrs to buy a nice detector so it would be a shame not to take her up on it. I keep hoping that Nokta will come out with a SMF detector and if they do before I pull the trigger, I'll give it a hard look. Even though I will never intentionally dunk the control head and I may not use all the features it has, I'm going for the Equinox 600 as it appears it has an edge in salt water beach use, which will be more important down the road as I am planning on retiring to southern Florida in a few years. My simplex is great and I love the ergonomics, but short of trying a different coil, it has way too much chatter the moment the coil goes over wet sand, no matter how I set it up.

 

[Wildcat1750]

Welcome to TNet!
Nick