Naturally, a lot will depend on the types of sites an individual generally hunts and the amount of, and type of, debris encountered. For me, it's generally a lot of Iron Nails and other ferrous challenges so I put an emphasis on handling that kind of closely-associated trash. Great examples are some of the old RR or mining-era ghost towns we hunt in Eastern Oregon, Nevada, Utah and elsewhere.

I've owned and used the Equinox 800 and like it with the 6" coil for low-to-modest trash, as well as the Vanquish 540 w/5X8 DD. However, when I get into a lot of closely-spaced Iron Nails in old town sites, or other places with decayed / demolished stuctures, they fell short on performance.Side-by-side comparisons revealed how well my 'combo' or 'trio' selection can out-perform the Multi-IQ models in several tests.

The pick would be from one of my two favorite Tesoro's w/6" Concentric coil; either my Nokta FORS Relic w/5" DD or Nokta / Makro Simplex + w/5X9½ DD; and a Garrett Apex w/5X8 DD 'Ripper' coil mounted or other coils that are working well for me. From these I can, and do, tote along a great 'combo' or 'trio'. I'd also pick an XP ORX w/5X9½ HF coil for hunting iron-challenged ghost towns over either of the Minelab Multi-IQ offerings.

Just my views on what works best for me and my needs and places I like to go.

Monte

"Your EYES ... the only 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"
Stinkwater Wells Trading Post
Metal Detector Evaluations and Product ReviewsI'm now 'back home' in Farr West Utah monte@ahrps.org ... or ... monte@stinkwaterwells.com 503-481-8147Detector Outfit: A selection of my chosen makes and models, with the best coils mounted for the tasks I'll take on.F-19 * F-5 * Racer * Racer 2 * V-540 * Relic * Silver Sabre µMAX * Bandido II µMAX * XLTPinpointers: Garrett AT Pro-Pointers .. Headphones: 'Hornet' .. MS-3 Z-Lynk .. ML-80 *** All working well today to make memories for tomorrow. ***