First Hunt With Nox 600, Silver, First Impressions, And Iron Falsing Question

[foreverteachable]

Today I had my first opportunity to detect a site with the Equinox 600. It is a town green and has a section where and old house may have burned down or fill was dumped so one section has lots of steel and iron nails and other debris. I live in Upstate NY near Albany and places in the area have been pounded by very capable detectorists. I used Park one and began detecting. Even at a sensitivity setting of 23 it was really stable and I started off impressed. Unfortunately after several really nice tones that read 24-36 and turned out to be steel or cut Iron nails I was pretty disappointed. I had heard the nox was really good in iron but it wasn't proving to be. I turned up and down the iron bias and tried hunting in Park 2 but same results. I have never used Minelab detectors  before but I have used several other detectors in the past, including Whites Classics and DFX, Shadow X5, Fisher F22, most recently an A T Pro for the first time and I didn't receive this level of falsing on nail with a higher disc that I did with the equinox. I am normally pretty optimistic and can figure settings on other detectors out pretty quick (I know I am new at using it )but I just wasn't clicking with this detector. Also even when I swung the coil at a 90 degree angle several good signals with vdi #'s 24-36, still sounded good. (Are there other setting to help with this than iron bias?) I like to give things a chance and try to learn them but the thought crossed my mind that I could sell this thing before I scratched it and I could just use the AT Pro that a buddy recently gave me ? Also the ergonomics seemed awkwards, it was rubbing on my forearm and seemed front-heavy. I detected my way over to the main green where there have been recent flea markets and where I have unfortunately found newer targets down pretty deep due to the soil but I figured, "let's see how this does on some deeper coins in an area with less old iron." I didn't expect to find anything old. I found a dime down 6 in, a bottle cap down 7 in, another bottle cap down 7". The depth was decent but not overly impressive. I detected the area in the past with my DFX and never found any silver there and had to work hard gor only a couple wheaties at about 6-7".  I figured I would detect my way back to the car quick and I got a really nice signal that read 24 to 26 but it had a really full tone to it that sounded different. It sounded really sweet, unlike any other detector that I have used. I just knew it was a coin.  I dug down about 6 to 7 in and at the bottom of the plug I noticed another dime. I thought, "Cool another dime but this thing isn't impressing me as much as all the hype ;-). I then looked at it again and it looked a little different. The pattern was odd, it had been discolored from the soil and it turned out to be a 44 Mercury. That made me smile really wide since I never found silver there in the half a dozen times that I detected there with 2 other detectors. I found silver on the first hunt and have decided that perhaps my initial reactions were premature and I need to keep this thing LOL ANY SUGGESTIONS ON IRON FALSING ARE MUCH APPRECIATED AS WELL.

[Chase Goldman]

Here is a post I wrote for another new user who was having issues the first time out.  I think a lot of the information is relevant to your situation as well.

 

Here is another similar post with pointers:

 

 

Specifically with regards to iron falsing:  There are a couple of built-in tools you can use.  Iron bias can help a little, but as it is just a filter, it can only do so much and frankly it can also cause masking of non-ferrous targets in really thick nail beds.  The easiest I have found is to use the All Metal horseshoe button to see if you are getting a ferrous grunt along with your high false signal.  That is usually a dead giveaway if you have a single target under the coil, of course if there are multiple mixed targets, then all bets are off.  You can also switch to single frequency to see if the TID changes significantly, which is also a good indicator of a probable ferrous target.

You need to give the thing more than a single run at a challenging site to get used to the machine.  You made the right move to go to a less trashy site, and it paid off with the merc.  Don't get overly disappointed after one outing.

The strength of the machine comes with its audio and trying to get the thing to run as quiet as possible.  You need to maximized the signal to noise ratio, not just the signal (e.g., sensitivity/gain).  That means, after you have properly noise cancelled and ground balanced as necessary, sometimes you get better results if you turn down the sensitivity, especially in thick iron.  You won't lose significant depth at all by reducing the gain to between 15 and 20 and may actually cut down on the noise floor..  If you can eventually get used to 50 tone audio, that is where the machine will really shine as far as giving you target information - a TID number will only tell you so much.

If you are just looking for primarily high conductive targets, just stick with Park 1 for awhile.  You will still find gold jewelry and nickels with it, but you will maximize depth on high conductive targets.

Also, don't get overly focused on depth.  The Equinox is a plenty deep machine, but its strength lies in its recovery speed and ability to separate amongst thick trash.

Finally, there is a ton of valuable information in this sticky post and I suggest you click through some of the links:

http://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/5979-minelab-equinox-essential-information/?do=findComment&comment=62639

 

HTH

[Jackpine]

As max depth is not the priority in iron sites, I usually start with sensitivity set at 18 and adjust from there.  Good coil control is also a must, smooth steady sweeps at a controlled height will go far in eliminating false signals on iron.

AND as Chase said, use the all metal horseshoe button to hear the iron grunts.

[Sinclair]

Good tips here already. In can only second on the sensitivity. On the beaches I usually run it at 18, 15-16 if it‘s getting trashy. On the bank/dike? I recently ran at 10 for fresh lost stuff, which worked out great.

[Happa54]

Thanx for that explanation Chase. Everytime you speak, I learn something new.

[abenson]

The more you use the Equinox the more you'll get used to the way it identifies a good target. I hunt iron infested relic sites and have had the same issues you are talking about with the iron falsing. Chase has some good info in his posts, take the time to read them and others on the subject.

I still primarily use my Deus with the HF coil because I recognize falsing on it better. However, one thing I have done to get a better understanding of the Equinox is take both my Deus and Equinox to a site and compare signals. It's a lot of work and takes away from your detecting time but I would encourage you to do the same thing with a detector you know well. You will learn a lot and find that in some cases the Equinox will find targets your other detectors can't.

One thing I've noticed with the Equinox is that when you get over a good target the numbers stay tightly grouped even when next to iron. For example, if you had a dime next to a nail and you circled the target, for the most part you would get 25-27 TID with an occasional null/iron grunt or TID jumping into the 30's. If you're over iron or junk the numbers are all over the place and change as you circle the target. This is where 50 tones is helpful because if you're in 2 tones or 5 tones the signal can sound great but the numbers could be anywhere in the tone break range. With 50 tones if it's junk the signal sounds crappy, if it's good the tone as well as the TID stays tightly grouped with an occasional odd tone.

Also, to reinforce what Chase already said, ground balance when needed and this being a high gain machine, reduce the sensitivity when you get in thick iron to cut down on the noise.

[GB_Amateur]

Nice Merc!

You've gotten some excellent advice on the iron falsing question -- much better than I could have done.  (Still learning, as are all of us.)

Regarding the ergonomics, I noticed similar discomfort the first time out.  Coming from the Fisher F75, it's a difficult bar to reach.  In particular after many 10's of hours I was still bothered by the loose forearm cuff of the Equinox.  I know many detectorists use straps (most detectors have these in either the base package or as an extra cost option) but since I wear a watch on my swinging (left) hand it always gets caught on the strap when I put my arm back in.  The F75's adjustable forearm cuff is brilliant (at least compared to the competition I'm aware of) and certainly that has spoiled me.  My solution for both the Fisher Gold Bug Pro and the new Equinox is to add weather stripping foam strips -- available at any hardware store, lumber yard, and even Walmart, which come with adhesive on one side.  Add enough layers to take out the slop and problem solved.  This solution is also reversible -- something I try to always achieve in case things don't work the way I expect (and likely when cold weather arrives this winter and I'll be wearing sweatshirts and coats I'll be doing some reconfiguring).

Regarding the toe weight, at first this bothered me but after a couple times out I realized I no longer noticed it.  For operating without a forearm strap it actually keeps the detector tight against my arm better than a perfectly balanced detector.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to ergonomics, so the fact that I've gotten used to the toe heaviness should give you hope.

[foreverteachable]

Thanks everyone for such an amazing information. I really like this form if a member has a question a comment or a concern there's a lot of feedback and it's very helpful and a lot of effort is put into it into helping each other out. Thanks again everyone and I look forward to going out again today after we grade exams