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Wet Sand Beach Performance


staffydog33

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I have a Makro Racer 2 and it performs well and silent on the beach....how much better, if at all would the Equinox 800 be on the beach?

Coz it almost seems that anything even remotely related to the Equinox and wet sand performance is avoided by the testers or anyone working for minelab.

I'm very very keen on the Equinox...but 95% of my hunting is done on the beach.

Dry and wet.

Anyone have any idea at all if it would be a definite upgrade in beach performance compared to Racer 2?

Seems to be absolutely zero videos or write-ups with regard to anything to do with beach performance?

Cheers

Matt.

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minelab-equinox-beach-mode.jpg
Minelab Equinox Beach Mode - Excels in dry sand, wet sand, and underwater. Beach mode operates in Multi only, and is designed for typical use in beach conditions.

It seems that way to you because beach detecting is what you are concerned about. The people who are interested in the Gold Mode feel the same way. The fact is it is too early. You assume testers are the video guys, when what testers do is test. Videos, marketing, sales - different gig. That stuff has barely kicked into gear yet.

The only videos were a number done at and around Detectival using the dozen machines prepped for the event. They were left with European dealers, and so some more videos have popped up from that side of the pond. Those machines were only half functional, with a neutered Beach Mode and no Gold Mode at all.

So while it may seem like a conspiracy the truth is far more boring - you are too early in the asking. The only solution is going to be to wait until such videos are available. Even then the first ones out will be from Minelab or people associated with Minelab, and those will generally be blown off as biased or rigged. So then you have to wait for regular purchasers to get the machine and have time to both use it and shoot/post video. That's even further down the line.

The simple fact, as you can confirm with any longtime beach hunters, is that a single frequency detector cannot seriously compete with multifrequency when it comes to saltwater detecting. The Fisher CZ and Minelab BBS/FBS (Sovereign, Excalibur, CTX, etc) multifrequency units are widely acknowledged as the best non-PI detectors for saltwater detecting. Again, any amount of time on the beach forums can confirm this.

A single frequency detector can only ground balance to salt, or to iron mineralization, but not both at the same time. If the detector is ground balanced to a mineralized beach, it will pick up and false on salt water. If it is balanced to the salt range via an expanded ground balance range, there will be problems with false signals from the mineralization. A last resort measure are various "salt modes" which do nothing more than discriminate out the salt range , which is in roughly the same zone as aluminum foil readings. The methodologies used to make single frequency machines perform decently well in salt water have a negative effect on their sensitivity, especially to gold items.

Multifrequency detectors can compare the responses at different frequencies and use the information to achieve a more efficient ground balance to BOTH saltwater and ground mineralization, resulting in enhanced performance.

None of this is to say your Racer can't do the trick for you around saltwater, as the Nokta/Makro models have modes specific to that use that do as good a job as can be done with single frequency detectors. Best bet is to use it and be happy until the information you are looking for finally appears. Trust me - there is nothing you can do that will make things happen any faster!

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Here is an excellent presentation by engineer Mark Rowan (was with White's when this video was shot) explaining how frequencies affect targets, ground, and salt signals, and how multiple frequencies can be used to alleviate the ill effects of ground and salt signals together. His part of the video starts at the 4:00 minute mark.

 

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 Great video!  Minelab IMO was wise to go with lower frequencies of 5 and 10 kHz on the Equinox vs the 3 and 7.5 kHz of the X-Terra.  I never saw the need or advantage of 3 kHz for general coin hunting and why wisely, most manufacturers stay in the 6 to 7 kHz region for their single freq machines.  3 kHz may have an advantage in some circumstances but feel that would rare and for very specific applications as pointed out in the video.

 

Tom

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Hi to all,

First of all my thanks to Steve for the detailed, very informative post which has enlightened me considerably. Like most hunters on this forum we are awaiting any news regarding the Equinox. In the meantime, I am using the Deus for inland detecting and the CS4PI for wet sand/bottom of tide searching. Never felt really confident using the Deus on the wet sand----always seemed to have lack of depth and missing potential targets so I opted for the PI for wet sand use.  This machine has found thin  fishing hooks at 14 inches , missing nothing which  means some rather heavy scoop work ! 

           Just hoping therefore, the Equinox lives up to the mark and turns out to be the machine to suit all types and conditions of detecting. A big order indeed. In  meantime, until full reports from experienced searchers start filtering through, my two present machines will not end up on Ebay !  Good hunting everyone ! mossy99.

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4 hours ago, mossy99 said:

until full reports from experienced searchers start filtering through, my two present machines will not end up on Ebay

Yeah, I can appreciate people being all excited and stuff, but there is no need for all the pre-selling of machines, etc. as if only 100 Equinox will be made. There is no reason people can’t go on using what they have and wait to see what develops.

Equinox is going to do just fine at the beach.

Welcome to the forum!

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