Just one more
Senior Member
jmaclen, thanks for the discussion. I'm not wanting to argue, I'm more interested in clarifying. It's interesting how 2 people can read the same thing and draw different conclusions. For example,
1. "The Equinox was intended to directly compete with the Garrett AT Series and the XP Deus. That was Minelab's intention. Their R&D department came up with a brand new technology from scratch. It was so good that it had unintended consequences especially when Minelab marketing flatly stated "Equinox obsoletes all single frequency VLF detectors" That statement included several of Minelab's own currently produced single frequency detectors in 2018, which they were still marketing as viable detectors and which cost around the same price as the Equinox."
I read that as,
Minelab already had BBS, FBS and FBS2 so their goal was to "obsolete" single freq. at a much lower price point than FBS, not necessarily better. As Minelab states, "Multi-IQ copes with saltwater and beach conditions almost as well as BBS/FBS, however BBS/FBS still have an advantage for finding high conductive silver coins in all conditions."
2. "When Minelab started developing our EQUINOX detector, we looked very closely at all of the current market offerings (including our own) to reassess what detectorists were really after in a new coin & treasure detector. A clear short list of desirable features quickly emerged – and no real surprises here – waterproof, lightweight, low-cost, wireless audio, and of course, improved performance from new technology. This came from not only our own observations, but also customers, field testers, dealers and the metal detecting forums that many detectorists contribute to."
What stands out to me is,
waterproof, lightweight, low cost (that really catches my eye), wireless audio and "improved performance". The latter could mean just about anything you wanted it to mean, and they don't specify. I suppose they are referring to what I just quoted and the faster processor, which do have "performance" advantages, but what it DOESN"T say is that it out performs FBS in raw depth, target ID and other filtering. If it did I would think they should would say that.....
Instead what we get from Minelabs website is,
"By developing a new technology, as well as a new detector ‘from scratch’, we will be providing both multi-frequency and selectable single frequencies in a lightweight platform, at a low cost, with a significantly faster recovery speed that is comparable to or better than competing products."
Also from Minelab,
" Another option would have been to create a lower cost waterproof FBS detector, but that also had its challenges with FBS being ‘power hungry’, needing heavier batteries, heavier coils, etc., and relatively high cost compared to the more recent advances..."
When my mind combines the above quote with this one.....
"Multi-IQ copes with saltwater and beach conditions almost as well as BBS/FBS, however BBS/FBS still have an advantage for finding high conductive silver coins in all conditions."
....the conclusion I reach is Minelab's design goal for Multi-IQ was to meet certain "marketing" desires such as, multi freq., lightweight, faster processor(better separation etc.), wireless audio at a LOWER PRICE POINT(they emphasize that a lot) than FBS. And again by adding the two quotes above, it appears to me that Multi-IQ doesn't have the raw depth/filtering and target ID of FBS. And that has also been my observation in the field.
I guess you buy what suits your needs.
1. "The Equinox was intended to directly compete with the Garrett AT Series and the XP Deus. That was Minelab's intention. Their R&D department came up with a brand new technology from scratch. It was so good that it had unintended consequences especially when Minelab marketing flatly stated "Equinox obsoletes all single frequency VLF detectors" That statement included several of Minelab's own currently produced single frequency detectors in 2018, which they were still marketing as viable detectors and which cost around the same price as the Equinox."
I read that as,
Minelab already had BBS, FBS and FBS2 so their goal was to "obsolete" single freq. at a much lower price point than FBS, not necessarily better. As Minelab states, "Multi-IQ copes with saltwater and beach conditions almost as well as BBS/FBS, however BBS/FBS still have an advantage for finding high conductive silver coins in all conditions."
2. "When Minelab started developing our EQUINOX detector, we looked very closely at all of the current market offerings (including our own) to reassess what detectorists were really after in a new coin & treasure detector. A clear short list of desirable features quickly emerged – and no real surprises here – waterproof, lightweight, low-cost, wireless audio, and of course, improved performance from new technology. This came from not only our own observations, but also customers, field testers, dealers and the metal detecting forums that many detectorists contribute to."
What stands out to me is,
waterproof, lightweight, low cost (that really catches my eye), wireless audio and "improved performance". The latter could mean just about anything you wanted it to mean, and they don't specify. I suppose they are referring to what I just quoted and the faster processor, which do have "performance" advantages, but what it DOESN"T say is that it out performs FBS in raw depth, target ID and other filtering. If it did I would think they should would say that.....
Instead what we get from Minelabs website is,
"By developing a new technology, as well as a new detector ‘from scratch’, we will be providing both multi-frequency and selectable single frequencies in a lightweight platform, at a low cost, with a significantly faster recovery speed that is comparable to or better than competing products."
Also from Minelab,
" Another option would have been to create a lower cost waterproof FBS detector, but that also had its challenges with FBS being ‘power hungry’, needing heavier batteries, heavier coils, etc., and relatively high cost compared to the more recent advances..."
When my mind combines the above quote with this one.....
"Multi-IQ copes with saltwater and beach conditions almost as well as BBS/FBS, however BBS/FBS still have an advantage for finding high conductive silver coins in all conditions."
....the conclusion I reach is Minelab's design goal for Multi-IQ was to meet certain "marketing" desires such as, multi freq., lightweight, faster processor(better separation etc.), wireless audio at a LOWER PRICE POINT(they emphasize that a lot) than FBS. And again by adding the two quotes above, it appears to me that Multi-IQ doesn't have the raw depth/filtering and target ID of FBS. And that has also been my observation in the field.
I guess you buy what suits your needs.