My First Session With The Equinox Hitting Gold, Silver & Bronze

[Randy Dee]

On Sunday 25th February 2018.
My first session out with the Equinox using Field 1 & 2 and the finds were quite mixed I found a slither of gold but I don't have a clue what it is off maybe off a watch strap I also had a nice Hammered Silver farthing of Henry 7th, a Victoria silver sixpence, 4 Roman bronzies 3 of which are Minums and a coin slightly smaller than a copper farthing I can't make out what it is.
This last week I have been doing quite a bit of setting the Equinox up on my test bed and I thought I had it how I wanted it but when I got on the field I soon found out that I had jumped the gun as I started to get ground chatter and a slow reactivity so I had then to start from scratch and the machine was then coping well with the new settings and I started to pull out a lot of non-ferrous crap the good finds were giving repeatable signals but I will have to change all of the default "Tone Pitch's" and Volumes as they are not suitable for my lugs, I was using my GOG Headphones on the WM08 wireless module.

I don't do a lot of screen watching but this being the first real session with the Equinox I kept looking at all of the signals to try and get an identity check of the signals in the grey matter, the slither of gold was hitting 8 but repeatable and was around 6" deep the small hammered silver was hitting 16 - 17 and again about the 6" mark, the Victoria sixpence came through on a solid 25 and was around 9" deep, the Roman minums and the larger copper coin were again giving repeatable signals between 16 - 20.
I would almost certainly say that the CTX, the Etrac and the Deus would have got these coins, but with the Equinox it is early days and I feel sure that there is a lot more to be got from this machine. The biggest shock I got was when I got a good solid repeatable signal of 16 and I had to dig a deep hole and at 12" deep I kept thinking it has to be something non-ferrous and it was when I was poking about with the probe in the bottom of the 12" deep hole that I found a 1" ferrous steel screw and I thought that I must have something else down there in the hole but no nothing else, I will have to get better acquainted with the "Iron Bias" settings.
There has to be a big learning curve with this machine because the signal responses and settings are nothing like the CTX or the Etrac or the Deus and most of the signals are of the same volume strength in my ears very soft and could be louder and before my next session I will setup the tones differently to get a better pitch and individual volumes as well.

 

[NSC]

Well done Randy and thanks for the write up.

There is a lot to learn with this machine in tweaking the settings and ADV settings I think

Iron Bias default is set at 0 in Field so there is plenty of scope to increase that.

Love the old hammered.

Happy hunting

[Mark Gillespie]

Awesome recoveries.  The Equinox will be finding a lot more for you as time goes on.

 

[Jackpine]

Very nice,  Good to hear the depth on the 6 pence.

[mn90403]

Randy,

You have done a better job of writing what I experienced with the Equinox.  What is very true is that all signals seem to be of the same intensity which is quite unlike the 3030 and SE Pro which I will compare this to.  I have found some beach gold and was impressed with its depth on that coil.  Your depths in Field 1 and 2 are similar but you do have to 'listen hard' in order to just go for a dig.

My learning curve is great also because of the total dissimilarity to the 3030.  Everything from the button combinations to the sounds and ground balance procedure requires thought and some reading.  I'm still so new to it that it is like a new language.  I try to imagine if I would be finding more or less with the other detectors.

Mitchel

[Randy Dee]

9 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Randy,

You have done a better job of writing what I experienced with the Equinox.  What is very true is that all signals seem to be of the same intensity which is quite unlike the 3030 and SE Pro which I will compare this to.  I have found some beach gold and was impressed with its depth on that coil.  Your depths in Field 1 and 2 are similar but you do have to 'listen hard' in order to just go for a dig.

My learning curve is great also because of the total dissimilarity to the 3030.  Everything from the button combinations to the sounds and ground balance procedure requires thought and some reading.  I'm still so new to it that it is like a new language.  I try to imagine if I would be finding more or less with the other detectors.

Mitchel

 

Hello Mitchel

You have hit the nail on the head saying the Equinox "Speaks A New Language".

As I am almost totally deaf I need to wear my hearing aids under my headphone cups so as to make sense of the signal tones and volume so yesterday Monday 26th Feb I spent a few hours trial and testing the various Tone, Pitch & Volume settings and now I think I have achieved the audio response more suitable for my hearing situation, quite remarkably I got my Searcher metal detecting magazine through the post yesterday and in it was an article by our leading UK tester Gordon Heritage and in it he described how to set the Equinox Tones to be almost identical to the Minelab CTX 3030 I am sure Gordon will eventually get around to putting these settings on his ( MLO ) Minelab Owners Forum, he already has put up another of his User Profile search modes and called it his "Killer Program".   All information from the likes of Gordon and Steve on here helps us to form a better understanding much quicker and to make some early in roads to getting the desired results from the Equinox without too much trial and error experimenting when we are out there finding the goodies sooner rather than later.  All in the learning curve.

Good Hunting  -  Randy Dee.

[Steve Herschbach]

Suffice it to say I am always in awe of the finds that can be made in Europe. Thanks for sharing Randy!

[mn90403]

Randy,

I echo Steve's remarks about the finds and thank you for what you have shared about the 3030 'sounds' that have been mimicked for the Equinox.  (I wonder if it is possible to mimic smooth and long but they seem to have done it with gold mode on Equinox!)  I had previously subscribed to Mal's Beach programs for a couple of years but didn't make my English trip so I've since dropped its new content.  I'll be looking for the settings you mentioned.

My hearing is failing but most of it I can handle with volume or now I use a booster with a 7000 out in the gold fields to hear the subtle signals.

I look forward to more of your Equinox posts.

Mitchel

[mn90403]

14 hours ago, Randy Dee said:

 

Hello Mitchel

You have hit the nail on the head saying the Equinox "Speaks A New Language".

As I am almost totally deaf I need to wear my hearing aids under my headphone cups so as to make sense of the signal tones and volume so yesterday Monday 26th Feb I spent a few hours trial and testing the various Tone, Pitch & Volume settings and now I think I have achieved the audio response more suitable for my hearing situation, quite remarkably I got my Searcher metal detecting magazine through the post yesterday and in it was an article by our leading UK tester Gordon Heritage and in it he described how to set the Equinox Tones to be almost identical to the Minelab CTX 3030 I am sure Gordon will eventually get around to putting these settings on his ( MLO ) Minelab Owners Forum, he already has put up another of his User Profile search modes and called it his "Killer Program".   All information from the likes of Gordon and Steve on here helps us to form a better understanding much quicker and to make some early in roads to getting the desired results from the Equinox without too much trial and error experimenting when we are out there finding the goodies sooner rather than later.  All in the learning curve.

Good Hunting  -  Randy Dee.

Randy,

I looked to find anything from Gordon available now but could not.  Maybe one of these days but I did find a partial solution to my problem.  I said that I like the way the Equinox sounds in Gold Mode.  That as it turns out is a single tone response.  Why not try it on Beach Mode?  I did and I'll say that dumbing down the sound makes it easier for me to recognize a target.  Once heard then I can look at the numbers.

Today I found two rings.  The gold looking ring is not.  It is mostly copper and when I was digging it I thought it was going to be another penny.  As you can see it is not.  The second ring sounded like a ring (low positives) but turned out to be stainless steel and a bit odd at that.

Still learning.

Mitchel

[mn90403]

On 2/27/2018 at 3:00 AM, Randy Dee said:

 

Hello Mitchel

You have hit the nail on the head saying the Equinox "Speaks A New Language".

As I am almost totally deaf I need to wear my hearing aids under my headphone cups so as to make sense of the signal tones and volume so yesterday Monday 26th Feb I spent a few hours trial and testing the various Tone, Pitch & Volume settings and now I think I have achieved the audio response more suitable for my hearing situation, quite remarkably I got my Searcher metal detecting magazine through the post yesterday and in it was an article by our leading UK tester Gordon Heritage and in it he described how to set the Equinox Tones to be almost identical to the Minelab CTX 3030 I am sure Gordon will eventually get around to putting these settings on his ( MLO ) Minelab Owners Forum, he already has put up another of his User Profile search modes and called it his "Killer Program".   All information from the likes of Gordon and Steve on here helps us to form a better understanding much quicker and to make some early in roads to getting the desired results from the Equinox without too much trial and error experimenting when we are out there finding the goodies sooner rather than later.  All in the learning curve.

Good Hunting  -  Randy Dee.

Here is a link to the digital edition:

https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/searcher/back-issues/details/searcher-mar-2018/

Thanks for telling us it was in this issue.

Mitchel