Sometimes It Isn't What You Found But What You're Finding

[Chase Goldman]

What the heck does that mean???

Well, what I mean by that is even though you may be finding mundane targets like nickels and the tiniest of aluminum pieces or even a deep penny.  Be aware of what these recoveries are telling you.

Once again I hit the deserted, pounded, hunted out, beach park.  Not much in the way of replenishment with 40F temps, snow flurries and sleet, and 15 knot winds again.

I wanted to give the area where I found my gold Jesus a thorough search just to make sure I did not miss any other pieces of the pendant, necklace, or whatever it was attached to.  No luck on that, but I did learn or confirm a lot about the Equinox as the day went on.

I then hit the shoreline/tide line again but the tide was coming in and high so the wet sand margin was small and high on the beach.  Nevertheless I did find two, deep slimy nickels.  This is telling me that I will eventually hit deep gold in the wet sand as the EQX is hitting the deep nickel mid conductors HARD with a clearly dig me signal.  If I keep hitting that area, there will be deep gold jewelry that has not yet been recovered, I am sure of it, and the EQX will let me know the second I pass my coil over it.  It also tells me that I basically have a new beach to hit since I can now hit the tide line at low tide with confidence that I will be able to pull some deep keeper targets.

I kept finding the tiniest pieces of lead, aluminum, and steel.  The would just bang out of the headphones.  Small gold cannot be far behind.  Keep swinging.

Finally, I hit a strong ferrous tone with just a hint of a high tone.  But the high tone was not ferrous wraparound (too low on the VDI and not quite in sync with the ferrous tone).  I decided to dig it.  I pulled out a steel wire about 4 inches long...and a penny from a bout 10" down.  Yeah it was just a penny, but the EQX said dig me even with the super strong ferrous grunt.  In other words, it was not a bottlecap or other junk target with a ferrous and non-ferrous signal component.  I know that one of these days the EQX will be fast enough to unmask a military button or a silver for me in the thick iron.

Pay attention to what your mundane targets are telling you about your detector's capabilities.  That is why you should be digging just about every repeatable target indication you come across during the first several hours that you are learning the machine.

HTH.

[Tiftaaft]

Awesome post Chase.  I was just out in the rain earlier today and for a brief moment I asked myself... why am I standing out here in the rain digging clad.  For starters... because I can :).  But more importantly, because every penny or dime or nickel I dig, I have one more data point to add to the analysis which will make me a better Equinox user.  Every target tells me something that I either didn't know before, or confirms what I have already learned.  Win/Win.  So your post is timely to a conversation I was just having with myself a few hours ago.  :)  Thanks for sharing Chase.

Tim

[steveg]

Chase, good post!

Tim, could not agree more...

Steve

[scoopjohnb]

It’s just a feeling but Beach 1 feels an awfull lot like my CZ-6. I’m pulling the same kind of targets. Hitting the mid conductor range at the beach with a vengeance.

And Hey,... it’s an awfull lot of fun to drive as well :-)

Can’t wait for my next hunt,... but alas weather and car troubles are keeping me from my hunting.

[Chase Goldman]

The only reason I was interested in Equinox, originally, was to get a light weight, wet and dry sand machine (Deus is great in the dry sand and usable but too sparky in the wet sand).. Then I started to realize the possibilities for relic hunting once I started seeing all the unexpected success we were having with the Deus HF coils.  Knowing that Equinox was going to be as sensitive to mid-conductors as the HF coils (except for the very high end frequency capability) and potentially as fast as the Deus, I started to say hmm.  Also, since Steve and other prospectors were showing how well it did on nuggets which primarily naturally found at hot soil sites in multiple modes, not just Gold mode,  I started realizing the possibilities in hot central Virginia dirt (it's hot because a gold/pyrite belt runs right through the area).  Started having visions of buttons dancing in my head...lol.  Seems to be pretty much playing out as I expected, so far, and perhaps we are in for a few new pleasant surprises as we all learn this thing together.

[Chase Goldman]

Finally got pics of my finds.  And that penny with the wire turned out to be a 1927 Wheatie, so that was cool.

[strick]

On March 17, 2018 at 5:10 PM, Chase Goldman said:

That is why you should be digging just about every repeatable target indication you come across during the first several hours that you are learning the machine.

Nice finds...I still dig for the most part almost every repeatable target I come across with every machine I have..but maybe I'm being an extremist?

strick 

[Chase Goldman]

I'm not digging a number pure iron signals at the beach so I am not taking my own advice...lol.  But I am digging probable trash, including aluminum cans.

[Norm S]

I have found a days worth of production of soda cans and beer cans. I did learn from it and learned to tell that's what it was. When I went back to factory settings in Park 1 I never dug another can and the detector was silent until I hit a signal worth digging. I had an ATPro, Whites V3i, and I have an E-Trac and CTX. The Equinox has the best factory settings out of the box of any of them.

I am coming close to being convinced the Equinox is the best clad hog on the market. I have learned a lot from the 4-1/2 hours I have used it.  My ears are becoming alert to signals I should dig. What I am learning most of all is how to separate good signals amongst trash. I am finding if there is a good digable signal the tones are very clear when I sweep it. I have dug many iffy signals and my gut was right there was nothing there but I kept digging them to prove it to myself, 

Four hours is very long to learn much but already knowing the different tones to be listening for helps. I feel confident that by the end of April I will be pretty darn proficient. I surely am not trying to tweak the settings before I am confident that's what I like. I tried that on V3i and didn't find a thing more than I would have in presets. The most I am likely to do is adjust the threshold some and tones some. 

[strick]

11 hours ago, Norm S said:

I have found a days worth of production of soda cans and beer cans. I did learn from it and learned to tell that's what it was. When I went back to factory settings in Park 1 I never dug another can and the detector was silent until I hit a signal worth digging. I had an ATPro, Whites V3i, and I have an E-Trac and CTX. The Equinox has the best factory settings out of the box of any of them.

 

Nice to know....Looking forward to getting one in my hands....I might try it out at a relic spot first...will stay in factory presets 

strick