Owning both an Etrac and the equinox 600, I can offer a few things. The nox can get fooled by iron more often then the Etrac, checking in 10khz will help you avoid a large portion of that. however the Etrac can't hold a candle to the nox in iron. Comparing signals I have pulled a bunch of things the Etrac couldn't see due to iron masking. Depth wise it's a toss up. But I think the nox is just a tad deeper. As for I.D numbers, yes the numbers on the nox jump around a little, but the Etrac is so slow to display the I.D that you can hear the tone many times before a number even displays. At its price point I don't think any machine can stack up to the nox. I promise that you can't go wrong with either machine. They both have strengths and weaknesses. Pick the one you can afford and don't look back... swing what you own, swing it often, dig lots of holes. Thats The true secret to success.... Happy Hunting..
Pretty awesome for 12 year old tech. I have to say I still prefer my E-Trac because it hits as hard or harder on the targets, the FE-CO TID is way better for providing more info on the target and more accurate on the deep targets and the depth meter is always dead on with the E-Trac. I am surprised how off the depth meter is on the Nox. All that said, the Nox is very impressive for an 800.00 machine and it is a killer at the beach. Nice test and video as always Bill. HH Greg
Thank you for this comparison video. Just before the new year I went back and forth between which of these 2 machines to buy. I chose the Etrac. Still in the back of my mind I wondered about the 800. I have no doubt it is a fantastic machine but I'm very happy with the performance of the Etrac so far.
It has more features than the Etrac but I actually like the Etrac better. I think for whatever reason it ID's coins a bit better, or should I say more accurate.
If you placed a dime at 9.5" in a hole and compacted the dirt every 3" with a wacker or sheepsfoot with zero moisture in the soil the results of the tests would be much diminished if any result at all. Those are the conditions in arid/semi arid regions of the U.S.,Aus.,etc..Add mineralization to the equation and a dime at 2" would be front page news.Metal detecting is like golf, you gotta have different clubs for different situations because of the variable impedance caused by penetrating ground. Your videos are most helpful. Whatever motivates you I hope you continue and find adequate reward. Thanks for all your hard work. One thing, reviewers use 10k au. rings in tests. Jewelers don't hang rock on 10k. 14k,18k, 24k - jewelers hang rock.Those are the numbers that will help put you in the hall of fame.
I have a great rapport with my local Minelab stockist. Without shouting too loud, they weren't very impressed with all the hype regarding the latest detector, the Equinox 800. People are making all sorts of claims regarding this new machine, however, the guys from Minelab state that it will not go as deep as either the E-Trac or its big brother the CTX 3030. So all you guys with Etracs and 3030's, just hang on to them till the hype quiets down. What happens when the warranty runs out on the Equinox battery? EDIT REQUIRED! I believe that the Minelab agents in my hometown were misinformed regarding the Equinox 800 when comparing it to the CTX 3030. Time and time again the Equinox hits deeper on certain targets. No offence was meant by my previous remarks.Cheers
VOCE POPOLI. You didn't see one of my latest S comments where I proved the Nox 800 did actually go deeper, plus it was far better on fine chains etc. I corrected what I was told from the Minelab guys in my hometown. All the best.
VOCE POPOLI. I do apologise, I was trying (in my awkward way) to say that you were correct in your assessment of the detectors. I am sorry if I confused you, that wasn't my intent. Many thanks for your patience. Regards Chris.
Nothing wrong with the ET screen , just recovery speed and weight issues . What would you say is so good about the Nox over the ET screen ? I cannot view this video as many others because of some fault on my laptop somewhere . Lets me watch some but no all.
What is so good about the Nox screen? You can see it without spinning around trying to find a good angle to view it while hunting. I don't find the weight of the E-Trac to be a problem but I started hunting swinging a Garrett ADS back in the 80's. Now, that was a heavy and unbalanced machine compared to today's machines. :)
What you mean with speed? The e trac is much better in iron discrimination.. if set right I think the etrac will even perform better than equinox with fast recovery on...
For me I own two detectors, a Minelab 600 and a Teknetic T-2, They both serve me well, The T-2 for relics and land, and the ML 600 for water , an affordable water machine. I am happy and pleased with bouth. Great video Dirtfishing,keep them coming.!!
Great job !!!! I am really liking the Nox 800 !!! Yesterday when recovering a silver dime from the hole ( my first for the year & with the Nox) I discovered a pull tab in the side wall of the plug about 1" away from the dime!!! This was at a public park , and in the most obvious spot that everyone missed over the years!!!! The wireless headphones are awesome!!!! Thanks for doing all of the Nox videos!!!!!!!!!!
When you were saying they were acceptable on the Nox , I was thinking it destroyed all the targets, just like your e-Trac. The E-Trac definitely has a more dependable VDI , it could be more stable if you knocked your sensitivity down a few more than you did , ( it helped me ) I run at 18 , but me starting from a detector that had 0 VDI , I just went by sound , and if you hear the Nox , even though the VDI was jumping a little, the tones were unmistakably great.
I've had the Nox 800 for about 4 years and enjoy it, but a few stores are selling super cheap Etracs here in Australia on run out sales. I'm really thinking of getting one.
Equinox faired better than I thought. Hard to beat Etrac on I.D. at Depth. My Etrac will hit my 10" Merc. With even Sunray X- 8 Coil. With Tone and I.D. So will My CZ-3D. I think a lot of People don't know what a 10"+ coin sounds like. I run top open and 28 up on bottom. With Tone I.D. don't need a lot of Disc.
DirtFishing When you get a high ferrous signal on the Etrac, like a 35-45, what does the Equinox do on the same target? Does it discriminate it out or does it come up being a good target?
Bury them 6 inch deeper, run the etrac with a full open screen on 2 tone ferrous then you will see what its capable of, the more discrimination you run the more you restrict it.
I run my etrac on the full open screen, zero discrimination. 2 tone ferrous with deep off, fast on and it is unbelievable. I'm confident that it can perform just as good as the others.
The Equinox 800 did well, they are sold out everywhere so I bought the Nokta Impact which I was looking at anyhow. If it can get the depth of my Blisstool and separate better than my AT Pro, I will be very happy. 🖖
Dig the sound, ignore the numbers. VDI reliant hunters I call lazy hunters, they never take the time to truely know their machine. Listen to what your detector is telling you, numbers will fool you and you WILL overlook good targets.
I grew up learning the earth is flat...and that's all I've ever known so it must be true. Actually I know it is because all you have to do is look around: if it were round we'd roll off! People who believe any differently than I do are stupid. I've used Two Tone Ferrous on the Etrac for 6 years,I use the #'s and the two tones...my previous machines had no VDI, it was all by tone: I can do both. I've gone over so many areas in multi tone where I've used TTF and didn't "overlook" targets.
In the U.K.,we dig all clean signals,sometimes the crappie ones too ,but that’s because we have a longer history,in the USA your less likely to get hammered coins ,so they can be more picky
Thanks for this video, as a Etrac user and a new Equinox owner, I’ve been waiting to see some new 800 patterns. Can you go through the exact settings on your Park 1. What’s exactly notched out etc. I’ve been trying to set my tones, patch & breaks to run more like the Etrac. Thanks
I just discovered your videos today. The first one I saw was from 2013 using your CTX-3030. Do you still use that detector or are you liking the Etrac and/or Equinox better and why? I've been using the Garrett AT Pro and AT Max, but have been giving some thought to taking the BIG plunge to the CTX-3030..
There is no sweeter tone than an Etrac hitting at 12-47. Match it with a Sunray Pinpointer and it blows the Equinox away hands down. The ability to hear silver while pinpointing your plug is amazing.
@@SapperMan724 i know this reply is a 3yr old late. having Deus 2 and Nox 900 nothing wrong with them infact i love them but nothing beats the Etrac with its tone, its not about separation with this machine i get that. its the sweeping low and slow then you get that deeper targets.
I think the Nox performed better than you thought it would and where it jumps around in numbers there will be iron in the ground that your etrac didn’t even see. The tones of the Nox alone would sway me lol the etrac tones are horrible, well to my ears anyway.
The Nox did good on depth. Maybe it's your setup but there didn't seem to be much tone variability between some of the coins. And a lot of trash can have similar conductive properties as coins but without FE/CO numbers I"m not sure how you can tell the difference?
Hey DirtFishing, caus you own both machines I want to ask your opinion. Does the Equinox is really that much better in trash due to its speed than the slower E-trac that can see around iron? I got my nox in but I'm still searching for a backup detector and I was thinking about the E-trac.
Depth isn't everything. Compare both in a cellar hole. That E-trac will fall flat on it's face. Love the E-trac but both machines have their own strengths.
I still have the Etrac. Dont know why I got rid of the NOX. Probably wanted to try another detector. Wish I would have kept it but I can always get another one if I want one again....;o)
Equinox 600 is half the price and half as heavy as the Etrac and the Equinox 600 can go about the same depth, but the Equinox will out shine the Etrac in high trash areas.
Hmm. Exact opposite for me. I took the Equinox exactly right back to the same spots I had hammered with the Etrac in every setup I could think of for 2 years. Had dug over 1000 coins at one place with the Etrac. My find rate at that place had become something near 1 coin per hour... everything old, deep, obscured by some other metallic object. Carried the Equinox onto that same field days after switching and my find rate doubled for the next ten or so trips there. It has tapered off now and I'll probably need a different machine and a different season to get back out there and find more, but I was satisfied with the results. The Equinox (and my interpretation of its signals) could find coins the Etrac (and my interpretation of its signals) had left. Ground hadn't changed. I didn't suddenly get better. I've since carried on with regular hunting and, hey, what do you know... my silver finds rate for the year I've been using the Equinox on silver coins has gone up, too! I find more good stuff more often now! Maybe I'm just getting smarter or hunting better places or it's all coincidental... but I'll take it and continue to use the machine that weighs a LOT less until I find the ground that warrants a swing with the Etrac after I tried the nox.
DavidB so you’re saying you went back to the places you had hammered before with the Etrac, and took the equinox and found more that the Etrac couldn’t find?
I go out with 2 people running the 600 and 800. We go over all targets together and I guarantee you the etrac gets a far better outcome in 2 tone open screen than the other 2 machines.
I like my new etrac both my detectors found silver yesterday my friend was using my v3i it was the first silver coin fine for both we dug alot of Wheaties but we didn't find any quarters thats odd are those coins deeper cause everything we dug was about 5 inches any suggestions
Don't have the nox, but my etrac is quite ok on very thin gold rings or ear-pieces with standard coil. Don't know with small gold flakes, though. Have an extra small coil, but never used it up to this day, river gold is to far away from my location, nuggets aren't there anyhow, just tiny flakes - and the northern sea or baltic sea beaches only offer lost jewelry, which etrac picks up fine. Ohne thing is terrible, though. Gold comes in just the same as aluminum trash, especially pulltab-tongues, which the beaches are infested with. A ton of trash to one piece of gold.
@@werner.x yes my etrac does great on small gold rings also....but try a thin bracelet.....i have tried both machines....and the nox does better on gold.....but the etrac kicks ass on ignoring bottle caps
@@werner.x buy yourself a little xterra 705 as a back up. It picks up some very small gold just fine. If you are lucky you can fine the 70 cheaper which is the early 705. The only difference is the 705 has a backlight and 70 not.
Only thing I am having a problem with is the depth meter I can't figure out what I might be doing wrong on some items it's pretty accurate and on others it's off
I know your comment is old. Most detectors are set to accurately tell the depth on dime size targets. If your digging a can it will show it shallower if your digging a brass bb it will show it deeper. Nickels, cents and quarters will throw off the depth by as much as an inch in either direction. Hope this helps.
yea etrac is hard to beat...only advantage im guessing for equinox is the light weight...thanks for letting me know...value your opinion....have since 2013 ..that's when I found metal detecting and your channel ...your vids helped me decide on the detectors I have bought and learn...thank you for making videos ..your still my fav metal detecting channel ....don't ever stop...lol
How about taking a chance and giving us your personal opinion on metal detectors like if you could only own one ? or stay away from this one if you can only afford one , or buy this one not that one for this ..LOL I know Opinions are like A$$HO!S we all have one .but your is educated and knowledgeable in this area so I would respect it.
Well I'm split but I got rid of my CTX because twice I had the display screen go bad and before that I was a solid x-cal guy for years with no screen digging everything but I sure like the target I.D. numbers being displayed .. looks like the screen is better on the equinox then the Etrac along with a lower price $$ also I'll be on the beach and in the water for a good 60% of the time.So now it's just a wait game for them to hit the U.S market Thanks keep up the good videos.
So was it dead when you charged it or just down some ? Just wondering about the battery and why they didn’t make it replaceable by the user looks like all the ones they have sold everyone at the same time will be sending in for a new battery thus another wait! Haha I hope not still waiting on mine thanks for the replie and check out our fall hunt in sept www.etrac-h.com
I don't have time to monitor them and reply or remove the bad ones. There are always the negative ones that ruin it for everyone. Seems like no matter what videos people put up there are always the miserable people who have nothing but negative stuff to say. Sorry.
@@MrBoratWOW Why would I delete yours. You just stated your opinion. I don't mind people doing that but when they start insulting and cursing I'm not going to take that. Sorry.
@DirtFishing disabling all comments because of a few jerks is like cutting off your balls because you don’t feel like washing them. Anyways, what I really want to know is, have you tested your nox with the latest update against the etrac?
Fyrfighter tesoro cibola i would say.. second hand one .. used alot but the only ones i still have are tesoros. a pleasure to use , so simple , effective and no weight . enough depth to get the goodies altough it is not a extreme deep detector.. they hit solid on deeper small stuff and for me personally they are lots of fun
