Minelab Equinox – a new metal detector from Australians (new 2017, photo and info+)

Updated — the new product is known!

Well, on Saturday, September 16, MineLab lifted the veil of secrecy. Many people saw it, fortunately they announced the new product at one of the world’s largest gatherings — Detectival. You weren’t there? And rightly so, this is more of a local British gathering, and in the UK there are a lot of diggers, fortunately the hobby is developed both in legislative terms, and society has a positive attitude towards diggers. They also have «black» diggers who dig at night, but where they are not? So, to the new product:

I don’t know why, but Minelab decided to introduce a new series of metal detectors — Equinox. Released two models — 600 and 800. The difference between the new products is small — Both models are waterproof, have the latest Multi-IQ technology, a choice of frequencies (both work on one frequency and on all frequencies at the same time), and several modes for digging. In general, the machines turned out to be friendly to beginners and interesting for professional diggers. I just had a question — why not call the new product an update of the old X-Terra? series? It’s almost like a brand and is no less famous than Minelab itself. There seem to be several reasons:

1. X-Terra has always been more popular in Russia and Eastern Europe, but not in the USA or Western and Central Europe. For this we must thank some people who invested their time and money in promoting the series.
2. Some local distributors would have been left in 2018 with a huge number of unsold X-Terra in stock and would have been stuck for a long time with frozen money, which would have taken a long time to withdraw and through large losses — the price would have to be reduced (dropped, in jargon).

Business dictates its terms and that’s why the Equinox series was released.

Prices for models: Equinox 600 — $649, Equinox 800 — $899. As you understand, in many countries you will have to add tax to the amount and the price will depend on the greed of the local distributor and the correct pricing policy, but today all prices for devices are more or less the same everywhere, differing only by a few percent.

But what is especially interesting in terms of prices — Minelab has finally released something worthwhile in a good price class. This is not a crazy $10,000 per unit, or $2300 for one CTX 3030. But the price is up to $1000! It is clear that they want to grab their part of the market, which is now occupied by XP Detectors with XP Deus, Nokta with their devices and the new Nokta Impact, Garrett with the new Garrett AT MAX. I’m waiting for the prices of metal detectors from Minelab’s competitors to decrease; the market dictates its own rules!

I managed to contact the guys from Minelab and this is what we learned:< /p>

Coils

In the basic configuration, all metal detectors will be equipped with a standard 11″ inch coil. But 6″ will be available as additional coils to choose from. inch model (the so-called «sniper»), and 15×12″, for knocking out fields.

Probably, after some time, coils from third-party manufacturers will appear, for example — NEL. There are no photos of the reels yet, but information will be added and published little by little. 🙂

Similar to Quest Q series

Doesn’t remind me of anything? The design solutions are similar, the question is «why is this so?». I asked Minelab directly about this and received the following answer: «Why is Quest so close to Minelab? (my joke)». As you would expect, translation: «Why Quest is so similar to Minelab? (my joke)». Why could this happen?

Let me suggest a small spy version: it’s cheaper to make molds and body parts in China. And MineLab could have gone exactly the same way and turned to Chinese manufacturers with a request for prices/development of appropriate molds. The founder of Deteknix/Quest is Chinese and, quite by word of mouth, could have learned about the request from Minelab and in time stolen to borrow Minelab’s design solutions, just as he had previously stolen and borrowed the Teknetics T2 circuit and software. Perhaps? Why not!

Performance of metal detectors Equinox series

I asked Minelab directly about the hardware and performance of the new product. How will she compete with Deus, for example? And I received this answer:

Multi-IQ is the new technology and it is much faster than BBS/FBS

Also much faster than XP Deus

Translation: Multi-IQ technology is new and it is much faster than BBS/FBS. Also much faster than XP Deus.

How the device cuts:

I wonder what will happen to the depth if the metal detector has become faster than XP Deus? Speed ​​is good — knocking out trash cans is now relevant, but what is the situation with correct discrimination, especially at depth, correct identification of targets at depth and where is the limit to the depth of target identification ? So far there is no answer to this, fortunately we are dealing with a prototype, and a production model is usually differs for the better from the experimental one.

In any case, what I know now from people who were at Detectival and tested the new product — The metal detector is really killer and powerful! Minelab has set a new class for new products, a new height threshold that other competitors must now cross. Will it work out? Let’s see, time will tell.

Updated. Video on in-depth tests of the new product:

Of course, the way MD Region does tests — raises many questions. With this approach, any metal detector will show remarkable results. Try to put the targets closer, otherwise there is a distance of 5 or more centimeters! And if you cover the targets with a brick? And if you put the nails perpendicular to the current position?

A similar topic, a lot of tests, but in general, everything is over the air and no difficulties have been created for the device:

Test in soil and supplemented:

What do you think based on the tests and results? They spun it up on purpose to show a super result or does this super result still exist?

No worries, friends!

We publish all news and new items about metal detectors and equipment coming out in 2017 here. No fluff on the cop!