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I am eagerly awaiting the collection or delivery of my pre-ordered Equinox and I will be putting to use here in the UK on one of my permissions which is an estate owned by a sitting member of the "House Of Lords" it is a massive estate covering 17,500 acres and myself and two deceased detecting mates gained sole detecting permission some twenty years ago from His Lordship and on this land there crosses two Roman roads, two Roman Villas, a Roman Settlement, a Bronze Age Enclosures & Tumuli , an Anglo Saxon burial site, a site of Saxon habitation and the site of a DMV (Deserted Medieval Village). Over the years I have used many different makes of metal detectors on this permission and have come about thousands of both relic and coin finds from the Celtic, Roman, Saxon & Medieval periods and many of these finds have been treasure trove and displayed in the British Museum in London and it is this permission where I am looking forward to putting the Equinox to good use. Good Hunting Randy Dee UK

This is the good stuff I was able to pull out of the ground yesterday and today. I have really been focusing on digging "gold" type targets which is why I have all the nickels. I managed one ring but I think it's junk(no hallmark) 4 silver dimes, two harmonica reeds, marbles, some tokens, lipstick case(I think) and the 611 brass tag. What isn't here is the 67 pop tops and beaver tails that I dug in my quest for gold. I'm trying to keep track of all my trash gold sounding targets this year so I can develop some sort of ratio of how many pop tops I dig to gold. I also dug some mystery coins, bigger than a penny, smaller than a quarter and thin. No idea what they are. This was really made possible due to the rain we finally got on Monday and Tuesday. Instead of dirt cement I had wet dirt which allowed me to dig quickly.

Here is another, the "Golden Cocoon", and then when hatched..

I don’t know either Tom… but when it comes to Bigfoot sightings and other preternatural occurrences, well I’m not from Missouri… but you’re still going to have to show me before I’ll believe it. While it may be pleasant around the campfire to hypothesize that Bigfoot is roaming the nearby bush, I’m inclined (in retrospect that is) to consider the culprit in Discombobulated Prospecting to either be a bear or more probably a cougar as noted earlier. “I was in process of hiking over to the tree as I was looking for treasure at the time and figgered I was being called over to the shaking tree”. I take it that you are still dowsing for minerals, hence you feel that the guiding force that causes your map-dowsing pendulum to perform was also perhaps causing the tree to sway such that it called your attention to it. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that view, but neither can I dispute it because there is no factual basis to do so. But I will say that a swaying tree in our northern woods is a good indication of a large blackbear. We both pursue this hobby alone and rather defenseless in remote areas. Should a confrontational situation suddenly occur, I doubt there would be sufficient time to retrieve my bearspray from my knapsack. Best probable solution might be to acquire a faithful dog or two. Dogs are pretty good with the metaphysical stuff, their extra-sensory perception allows them to see what we cannot see and that might serve us well. Handguns are illegal here, and a rifle is cumbersome extra gear that is too inconvenient to tote around the bush. In closing Tom, maybe I could relate a brief story to you about finding some silver on our most recent trip to the North Country. I was searching a new area that I had earlier researched and the day previously had recovered several small pieces that encouraged me to persist there. Late the next afternoon, an elongated signal, correctly identified by my MXT’s iron probability readout, proved to be a sizable iron bar that was removed from several inches below the surface. Rechecking the hole produced another signal that was slightly offset to one side and perhaps a foot deeper. It consistently read at 20% iron probability, and resulted in the silver sample depicted in the first and second photos below. It was quite a surprise to find large silver so close to the surface, and to realize that the encouraging audio signal and target ID had been produced by silver rather than the usual large iron at depth. In addition to a few smaller pieces, after two days of trenching that site the dendritic silver in the third photo surfaced as well. Both samples below were HCl acid treated to remove excessive carbonate rock and cleaned with a rotary tool silicon carbide bit, followed by a soapy wash and rinse. While not exactly a handsome specimen because it is embedded in a dark blue-grey carbonate matrix, the ten lb piece is a fine example of massively structured dendritic native silver that accounts for much of the rock’s total weight. That’s it for now, take care. Jim.

95% of my personal hunting is on the east coast Florida beaches. The other 5% is done in support of a local museum focused on the Seminole Indian wars. The CTX 3030 is my "go to" machine in both cases with my Excalibur II and XP Deus getting very limited use. With the fielding of the Equinox, it may become my "go to" multi freq travel machine depending on how it performs and meets my particular needs....that is still TBD.

I'm going to brag a little, as my staff at Gerry's Detectors Rocks in the DIAMONDS again. Ryan Jamison is not only my Video Editing Guru but an experienced Professional Dive Recovery Expert. His Find, Recovery and Return won the Best of Month and Best of Show. Not sure how to pull it direct from Minelabs site, but hope this shows the video, as it is cool. https://www.minelab.com/go-minelabbing/success-stories/-50-000-diamond-ring-recovered-from-the-bottom-of-the-lake-

This morning i woke up at the usual time of 5am and got my gear together , this time i used my Explorer 11 and the Pro coil . I got to the beach at around 7am and it was still dark . I looked at the usual beaches and saw that the beaches had started to build up , i was working for the last few days and i have heard that it wasn't bad during that time because of bad weather . But now it was looking poor . So i walked to a few beaches further along and found that the beaches were looking good . Normally i wouldn't search here due to my normal beaches being very productive . So i got started and i started to find coinage in small pockets or scuffed out areas next to groins . I was thinking it would be really nice to find a ring along here as i have only found 1 Gold ring this far along and that was in 2014 for a person who had lost it and asked me to look for it . I found that with my Terra 705 in less that 5 minutes after it had been lost for most of the day and gone through a hide tide. I found that as i was going along that coinage was being found in a long line and then i came up against a target that read on my Explorer 11 ??? (on the ET it reads 12 21) and i dug it thinking 20p piece . By the time i had scooped out 6 inches of sand and shingle from the hole i saw a ring . I had my magnifying glass with me so checked it out and i saw 916 which i know to be 22k . That got me all fired up but i couldn't find any more rings . I did find more coinage and by the end at around 12 midday i had £30.80p and a decimal old Half Penny and the what i now know to be 6.2 g 22 k Gold ring .In amongst the coinage is a lot of the older Pound coins which are not legal tender but can be taken to the bank and paid into an account. I will be out again but not sure when , tides are short and i might have a lack of time till next week.

The last time I went detecting I got a skunk. During that time of listening to my 7000/14 I noticed that my signals were 'breaking' in a way that made me not understand the ground I was swinging on. I found myself tuning and re-tuning my detector seeking a steady threshold. I was going over my wireless connections as well as my conservative sensitivity settings in an effort to hear the signals better. The breaking can come from several sources. The detector, the headphones/wireless and my ears. I'm in the process of checking my headphones and hearing by using this website. http://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php I've found several of my old headphones have problems. I'm surprised I hear the range of sounds on the tests. I get all the mid-range stuff I need, I think. I have a pair of Gray Ghosts that are built like a tank but don't work properly. Does anyone know if they have a lifetime warranty? Some of my Koss UR-30s have stopped working. I know I can get an exchange on those with some cash. Mitchel

Are headphones like this in our future? The technology relies on a smartphone app that captures a picture of each of your ears, so that it can essentially contour map your outer ear. Once you’ve digitized your ears, you take a photo of your face so the app can map the bone structure of your head for the same reason. Creative Creative's app contour-maps your ears and face to analyze how your ears hear sound. The software maps hundreds of anthropological features with high precision. An AI engine then synthesizes your features with both the dynamics of the headphones you indicate you’re using https://www.techhive.com/article/3246194/ces/creative-super-x-fi-headphone-audio-holography.html Mitchel

As long as you don't lumber me with a tribe of kids, I will give it a bit thought. Ha Ha

Rod K., I have never sold or used the Nokta so it would be wise to not comment on what I don't know. As for the X-Terra 705 and how it performs and or compares to the GMT. If you are going for smaller nuggets of .5 gram and less, I prefer the GMT mainly because of its higher kHz operating frequency. If you are going for larger nuggets, I'll take the X-705 as it is Deeper on big gold and also can be used for a variety of hunts. Plus it is $300 less money than the GMT. But in reality, the X-705 is what I classify as a True Multi Purpose Detector and the GMT is a dedicated Gold Detector. Attached photos of X-Terra gold finds and then I'll reply showing a GMT video I did while training customers.

Gary....... im thinking a lot like you... minus the wife lol. I currently have to choose the best time to use the CTX. On those big swell days you sure dont want to try and push the CTX..... its not worth the effort because you just dont have the coil control needed. Lucky im on the Gulf side. Its nice for those 4am hunts with the lite screen........ unlike the Xcal. Ill likely put the machine on my own CF straight shaft.... the longer swing covers more sand/water as well. I hunt in PP with the Xcal..... so there really isnt a lot of recovery speed like in disc.... and for the most part recovery isnt a problem for me....... BUT THEN, you dont know do you until you start finding targets? It may come into play a LOT more in the dry sand with those higher freq....... all that tiny stuff. You can bet ill be testing it on small chains......i might actually have to buy a PPer. I have no expectations of it being deeper either ........ but maybe better if its more efficient out there by covering more sand faster, getting smaller targets, or those near iron missed by the other two. We may look at how this machine out performs BBS/FBS differently than ML. How will we judge this machines water real potential? Im thinking an end of year count. Ill be running mine full time...... thats a lot of hours in a year and should have a good handle on where its strengths lie. I often hit a beach 2 or 3 days in a roll with different machines. Im sure ill get a hunt with another guy i know to do some target comparisons as well who knows his CTX. Im hoping it noise cancels as well as the CTX. You cant even get in the same neighbor hood with two Xcals lol. But the CTX does a nice job allowing you to hunt near someone.

Thanks guys for your kind replies they are much appreciated. Sorry I can't divulge his Lordships name or the estate location because here in the UK we suffer from scoundrels "Night Hawking" and it is rife they scour about the forums for snippets of detecting site information and then before you know it your permission is like a battle field with holes and scrap all over the place, these "Night Hawkers" are what we call SCUM the lowest of the low. Good Hunting Randy Dee

Not at all, after all Steve thought it best to move the thread which aligns with your concern, so in his words, no harm, no foul, no worries.

Equinox should unlock some great history for you, Randy. Your permission sounds like the detectorist's version of heaven.

I'm not expecting the EQ-800 to do better and or deeper than my Xcal or 3030 on a salt beach for depth. Lets be real folks. I'm not expecting it to do (as good) on depth as those above mentioned detectors. BUT.... I have a sneaky suspicion and in fact am pretty sure it will win over my CTX and Xcal on Salt Water Beach in 4 different ways & will get me MORE GOLD. 1st and most intriguing is the Multi IQ's SENSITIVITY and ability to find smaller gold jewelry, earrings, chains and bracelets or even a broken gold ring. The FBS and BBS are known to perform poorly on those targets. 2nd way to find more gold with the new EQ-800 over my Xcal and 3030. RECOVERY SPEED. I like to hunt around docks, old piers and they seem to be loaded with iron. My CTX and a 6" coil do ok, but when testing , I see the need for Faster Recovery Speed. The delay of target response after going over an iron target is not that good on BBS and FBS. The EQ will find me more gold. 3rd is based on the previous 2 above. Since I'll be finding more gold and the detector is quite a bit less money, it will allow me to go more often with the wife (who is the gold bank). So I will eventually get more gold. 4th is compact detector is easier to get into luggage, so the wife will let me sneak it in her bag (big scoops are in mine). It also will cut the water easier with less drag and so I can hunt longer and more hours on each trip. I know for a fact the 3030 can get pretty tiring after 8 hour days in the water around the 4th and 5th day. The faster the machine cuts the water, the more swings I get per hour and the longer I can hunt with less fatigue, getting me more gold. So in the end, the EQ-800 may not be the deepest, may not be the smoothest...but to my ears, my style and knowing what my Xcal and 3030 miss? I'm pretty sure the Equinox will be stuffed in her luggage (she might not even know it).

I'm glad to report that this storm has changed the beaches in Los Angeles County. It is not great but more fun than before the storm. I don't know what this thin little piece is. Maybe something off a bracelet? The watch is 2 hours off our time so probably from a surfer from Arizona! Mitchel

I was unsure as to which forum this would be appropriate to post under? Regardless, it's a good read if you have five minutes or so. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/bay-area-settler-forgot-where-he-buried-gold-1850s-12488116.php#item-85307-tbla-20

Unusual piece from Marble Bar WA, looks a bit like a burger that has been pressed a bit.

From the time i entered the hobby in 2003 to 2006 i just went to any farm or dig i could . In 2006 i started to join Metal Detecting clubs and went to quite a lot of digs but i could not keep up the expense and other issues stopped me doing digs .I left 1 club and kept the other for when i could get out which is rare right now. In 2005 i started a little beach detecting and in 2006 started to find Gold rings , i did digs and beach detecting on and off till 2010 then went all out beach detecting from there . Over the years i have spent a lot on the hobby and beach detecting has helped pay for the hobby . Over 60 Gold rings and Gold chain and hundreds of Silver rings and chains along with 5 figures of coinage has eased the costs . As soon as i can i will get out to digs again but i do have to admit the beach has me hooked . I dont find as much on land though i have had 1 Celtic Gold / Silver and Bronze coins , some Silver and Bronze Roman and around 30 Hammered coins amongst other things . Beaches do attract my attention more these days because of being close by .

Not normally something to post about but since you all started it up - my first nuggets of 2018, a whole 0.7 grams of gold. Just 30.4 grams to go for my first ounce! Actually a little surprising to me how many people have already been out and found gold in the first week of the year.

You guys are driving me nuts with all those 2018 finds. Each of you I envy in so many ways. Here is what I have found since going out.

This one reminds me of a Ram.

Apologies,,,,,,,, I meant to say "Brasso wadding cleaner" not "brillo" ........ it's been a long day !

Now if you really want to see the variety of uses with the X-705 and why I sell more of them in the Western States of the US (because one detector for under $500 can do many things), watch this video. It is is not me (with 40+ years of detecting experience), but one of my customers who was pretty new at it at the time and in fact he purchased the X-Terra from me based of our discussion and the different things he wanted to accomplish with 1 detector. Even today, I feel the X-705 is one of the best all around detectors for the price and I am sure many other people will agree. So you need to figure out (or you already know) do you want a dedicated gold detector or a multi purpose detector. Hope this info I am sharing helps. It is not a Tricks/Tips video but more of a: what can be found with the X-705. I have other videos for Tips/Tricks on my site.

Will you adopt me? I can bring my own detectors.

Going to go back on Sunday morning and work the tide out. Looks like my usual beaches are to built up to be bothered with. I will check on the day but won't waste time. I know what I need to see and that hasn't happened for over 2 years now.

I love my new setup.

Funny you should mention, Randy. I just talked to a guy tonight on another forum who had received permission to a great site, where he was doing really, really well A couple of guys caught wind of it, and "nighthawked" the site to death...unfilled holes everywhere, whatever trash pieces were dug were left there on the ground... Of COURSE the end result was, the guy lost his permission, due to the owner being angry about the damage done by the nighthawkers. That is just low, low, low... Sad that there are such "bad apples" out there, in it for nothing but themselves... Steve

I agree with Steve. I’ve done a lot of east coast Florida beach testing for Kellyco on quite a few detectors and single frequency machines are really hampered/limited in salt water and on wet salt sand compared to multi freq and PI detectors. Granted, you can quiet some of them down to a degree but you must adjust the ground balance and sensitivity to such a point that you lose significant depth performance. Without question, the best choice for salty environments are the multi freq and PI machines. Just the view from my salty foxhole...

Carry a 3-4 pint soda bottle with water, wet it down, mark it, do 3-4 other locates & return to the first. You'll work out how much water to apply. Success will depend on drainage/absorption of soil types.

My best guess would be limonite (rusty red color) on quartz.

Yeah, what with the learning of the equipment, the interference, digging up the false alarms & the Aussie sun beating down on my half bald noggin I'm sure the experts in the asylum will be equally confused trying to detect the short circuit.

Hi Chase, Thanks for the advice & info. Totally understand a newbie can be unaware/unrealistic, over purchase & lose interest quickly. Also aware it's for fun & rarely pays for the beer money let alone equipment, fuel, effort etc. After looking at the prices of a 7000, 5000, 2300 the Equinox is light relief. I've done quite a bit of research, been detecting with a newbie friend who purchased the 2300 first up. Talk about the blind leading the blind (now experts at cleaning up ferro trash). The joke being we could have opened up as scrap metal franchise. I may consider it as an allrounder & entry level gold detector & if I get serious I could up grade to a specialist gold detector as required. As you say it will probably hold it's value for resale, though from reading about other people's equipment it would most likely complement rather than a replacement in one's arsenal.

That is truly amazing here in the states we can't even comprehend that history. Can't beat to see your field reports with the equinox .

Wow Randy, that’s just amazing from my perspective - good for you!

It was one year ago to the day on Christmas eve morning when I found one of my favorite gold rings at a local park/soccer/baseball field. Being somewhat superstitious I could not let the day go past without trying agin so this past Christmas eve I once again hit the park early in the morning. I've hunted this park many times and have cleaned most of the good targets so I'm down to digging almost everything that is not iron. This find is a good example of why you really should dig everything...I had the CTX in wide open screen and could barely hear this target in the 12.03 range. Target trace was weak and I almost passed it up because 99.9% of the time, a target in this range, that acts that way with target trace on is either "can slaw" or a thin piece of foil... But this time it was a nice 14K gold grill...my second that I've found. It's right at 8 grams. After I got it out of the ground I started passing it over the coil to see how it hit and depending on which way you were holding it would change the signal strength. It has a complex shape to it which also complicates the signal strength. I think it must have been upright when I found it about 4-5 inches deep in the turf. Anyway thanks for looking fellas and here are a couple pics of the ring along with the grill as well as some other jewerly finds from this past Fall/Winter. strick

Indian motorcycle parts are very valuable. Great save.

Gee, I sure like it when a question is asked and I see answers already provided! Thanks!! Yes, Equinox has a Noise Cancel function that can be invoked at any time, that scans and chooses between 19 “channels” running from -9 to 0 to +9. You may also choose any of those offsets manually if you have an Equinox 800 - the 600 has automatic cancel only. Easy fix number one - reduce sensitivity. Also, choosing specific single frequencies, again with the available channel offsets, is a fallback for the worst situations. In my opinion Equinox handles electrical interference quite well. I work in some areas that have issues, especially in the lower frequency range with some detectors, and have yet to find a place where I can’t get decent operation due to EMI.

Ill jump on board. Happy New Year's everyone! Thanks again for a great forum. I was busy for the past month out of town and lasted one day back before I was out detecting at the old spot. So here it is, year to date with the faithful lobo. P.s I ordered an Equinax 800...powerful vlf, waterproof...you know...good luck out there!

Hey Strick, The porcelain tube in the first picture was used for retrofitting 19th century homes for electrical wiring in the early 1900s. The tube was used as conduit where the wiring passed through wood beams. This wiring technique was called knob-and-tube in reference to the tubes like the one you found and the porcelain knobs used to tie off the wiring. BSG

I find that at 55 there is no need to bend over and go to the ground to pull silver coins out when I can stand and pull gold off the beach. I have had a sovereign since the XS. Is there any machine really better than the GT in wet salt. NO. I am not getting NOX yet, mainly because I am already on my 4 month detecting sabbatical. Will be listening closely and I think there is one member here that knows the BBS tech. well and between him and his group I will know soon enough. Dave

I detect more on salt water beaches in California than anywhere. This is done with the 3030 and the SE Pro. Next comes nugget shooting with the 7000 and the 5000 before it. At the present time we are sanded in because of lack of storms. I have to go deep in order to find my normal targets. Even those are hard to find right now. I'll have to punch deep and go back to the dry sands with the 800. I hope it can handle the EMI I have in some areas better than the CTX. You guys have given me some good things to think about when looking in other areas. Mitchel

The new Equinox has so many bases covered, it will be hard not to want to swing it at all. Tailing/Placer piles for gold nuggets. Inland freshwater swimming holes for old silver coins and gold jewelry. Easy, compact travel on the plane to Saltwater beaches on the coastal regions. Urban hunting parks/schools Old coin/artifact recover in areas with more trash than the majority of people used to want to detect. Minelab camps, Railroad sites, military posts. Ancient Artifacts in the fields of UK. Just too dang many options really and the fact that 1 detector could be the best for the majority of my hunts...is astonishing. During the vast majority of my personal field testing dreams, it was the true winner each time. Oh boy, I can't wait to go to bed for another.

I normally hunt the deserts of Nevada and the northern Sierra Mountain region looking for gold nuggets. My main machine for Nevada is the GPZ 7000. California, there are many old mining sites that were occupied by large numbers of people in the late 1800 to early 1900s and later. There may or may not be much wood left, but nails and old steel can fragments are littered about in huge volumes. And often quite deep in fully material. It stands to reason some of the best remaining large nuggets are in that deep stuff, but the odds are vastly higher it will be a large square or can. A GPZ can punch 2-3 feet on a can. Easy. There are the forested areas; I swear every one has been logged in the last 150 years. Slivers off old drag cables and even cable style bulldozers, etc. left tiny ferrous bits all over the Sierras. No matter how isolated the location, if miners or loggers were there before me, trash abounds. For blue sky work up there I need to be able to cover ground efficiently, and I can’t do that if I have to stop and retrieve some small ferrous thing from the bottom of a foot of duff, and have to do it every ten feet. So a main focus for me is the idea of using the Equinox 12” x 15” coil on a properly balanced shaft for use as a way to not only cover ground, but get some serious depth in cobble piles. I hate spending an hour in a cobble pile to recover a can from 2 feet in a cobble pile. The hole caves in six times before you get to your target. Cobble pile work can be unsteady and dangerous, and so an easy handling lighter weight detector is preferable. Plus I know I can snipe small gold with the Equinox if I am in the mood. Better yet, I can hunt silver with it when I get home at local parks. And hunt up at a Lake Tahoe. And Hawaii or wherever I get to next - maybe just the coast a few hours drive from here. I am honestly tempted to put all my other detectors on hiatus for a year, even my beloved GPZ 7000, and spend 2018 doing nothing but use Equinox. No particular reason except that it just sounds fun, and would force me to get out of my comfort zone and focus on something else. True story is the reason I have never found a gold coin yet is a little bit bad luck, but mostly because I simply am not looking for them. I generally can find what I set out to find, but that almost always means “gold nugget”. I’m feeling like maybe it’s time to knock that bucket list item at a time when I am all fired up and raring to go with Equinox. I would be lying though if I said I really think I could go through the year not using my GPZ 7000 - that’s just crazy talk!

The Equinox is a waterproof general purpose detector that is quite obviously gunning for the Garrett AT series and XP Deus. I would therefore say that park and field coin and relic detecting is very high on the list, along with all manner of in water use which generally means jewelry. Coins, relics, jewelry - toss in a few gold nuggets. I think I can say at this point that in the realm of "do-it-all" metal detectors, Equinox is better at doing it all and doing it well than any other detector I have ever used.

I open this thread each morning expecting to find it gone astray, and instead find good discussion. I want just want to say thank you all for that!

Going deeper is not the same thing as whether newer detectors can find gold previous detectors missed. Gold that is in theory within range of the earlier models got missed even at shallower depths. Later models exploit weaknesses in earlier models to clean up what was missed. There may exist a sort of “wall” as regards maximum depth but there are many reasons why some large nuggets were missed that are within the max range of various detectors. The GP series and GPX after it not only get better at detecting smaller gold, but offer various “timings” that allow for better operation in ground that was difficult for earlier models to handle. New coils are better than old coils, etc. The GPZ exploits a PI weakness to go after porous, specimen, and ragged, prickly gold that was missed. There are many reasons a newer detector might reveal large nuggets missed in the past that have nothing to do with the theoretical max detection depth limit. If a detector finds a nugget another one misses, even at shallow depth, is it not in effect “going deeper”. There is also the geologic fact that many patches peter out as they get deeper, and the deep nuggets people assume are there really are not. Many patches did consist of relatively large and shallow gold. The nuggets were easy for early detectors to find, and there is not anything down there deeper to find. Finally, people walk around and past items for decades. Any small park will generally still give up old coins if detected hard enough, and nugget patches are the same way. There are targets that only reveal if you are exactly over them and swinging from just the right direction. Add it up and it’s just too much thinking for me. Personally I don’t care how many people have hunted a location before me or what they used. I just always assume they missed something, and that I am going to find it. I love being told about any completely hunted out and dead patch. GPS coordinates cheerfully accepted

I've probably stated this before, but the prototype PI seemed to have the most 'boogy' of any detector I've used.

Egads MP! This forum has some of the best detectorists on this planet and a fella that somehow keeps it on track and organized so a perusal of the well organized archives would answer all of those questions. Be warned- you will find strong opinions all over the map on any one topic but the ones that are the most important are mine.