Beach Modes Question

[Steve Herschbach]

2 hours ago, TedinVT said:

Steve,

Will these great tips and nuggets from you and other valued contributors find their way into your "Minelab Equinox Advanced User's Guide" (a work in progress)?  There's so much valuable info scattered throughout this forum over the last months and it would be great for those of us learning to use the new machine (if it ever arrives) to have it all in one place.

That was the intent when I started the Minelab Equinox Advanced User's Guide but I stalled out on it from being too busy plus things being in a state of flux have made it a moving target. But yes, I still intend on plugging away on it.

[BeachHunter]

For some reason the lower weighted Beach modes bug me and I’m concerned the Equinox will have a problem finding small gold at the beach. I.E. small findings on gold chains or small open earrings.

Can one just use a different mode in the dry sand, other than the beach modes?

[Steve Herschbach]

2 hours ago, BeachHunter said:

Can one just use a different mode in the dry sand, other than the beach modes?

Yes, as discussed earlier on this same thread

All detectors, no matter the frequency, etc. cannot be more sensitive than what it takes to detect salt water if you want to detect on a salt water beach. If you make the machine more sensitive, it will pick up the salt water.

There are numerous small items that read identical to salt water, in particular small or thin gold and platinum jewelry. If the detector is made to find this stuff, it WILL detect salt water. If you make the detector ignore salt water, it WILL miss these items also.

There is no fix for that, VLF, PI, multifrequency, it does not matter. The salt range and the small non-ferrous range overlap.

Beach Mode is as hot as it can be made on gold without detecting salt water. That is the unavoidable speed limit. The simple way to get around it is to use a hotter mode, but then you WILL detect wet salt sand and salt water.

You have to decide up front - do you want to detect items that read exactly like salt water? Then go hot, but you will have to avoid salt water and wet salt sand. Or, do you want the detector to not signal on wet salt sand? Great, use Beach Mode, but know that it will miss items that read exactly the same as salt water.

Everyone seems to think they can have their cake and eat it too in this matter. You can’t. Not using current technology.

[BeachHunter]

My apologies, I missed that in the first posts. Thank you Steve for the detailed reply.

[vfp7]

Steve, you reminded me of one trick when working with VLF detectors in the surf zone, when the maximum speed of automatic ground balance is set, and the detector begins to adjust to the incoming sea waves.

The question is - how is the Nox doing with automatic adjustment of the ground balance?
How big is his range of automatic GB adjustment speed, for the ability to work with incoming sea waves?

 

[dewcon4414]

When dealing with beaches...... that list will change based on IN the water,  wet sand or dry for us.  Its not a matter of HOT...... its a matter of ability to function best to the conditions.   Gold 1 and 2....... arent they more AM and just 2 tone?   The other options might be better for dry sand like Cliff said.

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, vfp7 said:

Steve, you reminded me of one trick when working with VLF detectors in the surf zone, when the maximum speed of automatic ground balance is set, and the detector begins to adjust to the incoming sea waves.

The question is - how is the Nox doing with automatic adjustment of the ground balance?
How big is his range of automatic GB adjustment speed, for the ability to work with incoming sea waves?

 

That is an excellent question.  In another thread I was just explaining how on the Deus you have to manually switch between "normal" GB Tracking mode to wet salt beach GB mode and there is no tracking option when in Wet salt beach GB mode.

[Steve Herschbach]

6 hours ago, vfp7 said:

The question is - how is the Nox doing with automatic adjustment of the ground balance?
How big is his range of automatic GB adjustment speed, for the ability to work with incoming sea waves?

The Equinox can employ automatic ground tracking. I don’t know what methodology is used. There is no control for ground balance adjustment speed. Tracking is either on or off.

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The Equinox can employ automatic ground tracking. I don’t know what methodology is used. There is no control for ground balance adjustment speed. Tracking is either on or off.

Is the expectation that accurate GB tracking on wet salt sand is independent of whether you are in Beach mode 1 or 2 and Equinox can accurately GB track in wet salt sand in any mode (I am only talking wet salt sand GB tracking not target ID in wet salt sand which is obviously optimized when in beach mode based on the Multi IQ  algorithm independent of ground tracking accuracy)?  Or are they interrelated in that optimal Target ID in wet salt sand is dependent on the combination of superior wet salt sand GB tracking which only occurs in Beach mode combined with the Beach mode Multi IQ targeting algorithm?

[Steve Herschbach]

42 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Is the expectation that accurate GB tracking on wet salt sand is independent of whether you are in Beach mode 1 or 2 and Equinox can accurately GB track in wet salt sand in any mode (I am only talking wet salt sand GB tracking not target ID in wet salt sand which is obviously optimized when in beach mode based on the Multi IQ  algorithm independent of ground tracking accuracy)?  Or are they interrelated in that optimal Target ID in wet salt sand is dependent on the combination of superior wet salt sand GB tracking which only occurs in Beach mode combined with the Beach mode Multi IQ targeting algorithm?

I have never used Equinox ground tracking on a saltwater beach. In general I do not trust ground tacking in a saltwater or salt flat / alkali environment and I use manual ground balance under those circumstances. That is not anything to do with Equinox - that's just me. Accurate target id is always a function of proper ground balance.

Every mode on Equinox stores it's own ground balance setting separately and so ground balance is mode specific. The ground balance number reflected in Beach Mode will be a different number than that displayed in another mode for instance, even when on the same ground. On any detector it is recommended that your update the ground balance if you do something as simple as change the sensitivity/gain level. The same applies in each mode where the underlying frequency "mix" varies and therefore whenever a mode change is invoked it is a good idea to update the ground balance setting if you have moved around at all.