Leaderboard

This is a find (not a crime) of opportunity! Today I got a late start at the beach because of a number of chores but I wanted to make an appearance to see what the wind driven waves had done. I got there on an incoming tide about 2 hours after low tide. It has been a while since we have had conditions like these so better late than never. My previous hunt I had used a new pair of headphones but I felt more confident with the supplied phones so off I went. The last time out I had cleared my settings with the factory specs so now I was setting up Beach 1. That was very little change. Noise cancel, ground balance and check the sensitivity. Part of the beach had a cut and I was in the middle of that area. Many people were out even tho cool and in some wind. I headed for the waterline and pebbles and could tell the waves had not scoured out as much as I liked. I was getting a lot of nothing again but I could hear pretty good in all metal. My first hit was a corroded penny but you gotta dig. I think the next hit was the same 20-21 that a penny gets you. Now I had to make a choice. This is a beach I know well so I headed in a direction to the north where I have found rings in the past. After about 50 yards I decided to head south. (I was reminded by that feeling of a change when I had been hunting for sharks teeth in Venice, Florida in 1978. One morning I went to the right, felt I needed to go back to the left and in less than 100 feet I found a nearly perfect tooth about 4 inches long. It was my best find.) So, this time I went past where I had found the pennies and just behind a little girl standing in the shallow waves and I heard a 13/14. I know what 15s are in this area, nickels. There was no bottle cap chatter. I didn't have time to pump up and down on the target because waves were coming. I gave a scoop and missed the target so I went after it again. I could feel something on the edge of the scoop so I softened my dig in case I would 'hurt' the target. When the wave went out I flipped my scoop and I got a glimmer. I knew it was a chain but didn't know if it was stainless or what. With people around I reached down and picked up the object with some sand and stuck it in my pouch. I didn't need extra eyes at that point. There was time to check the area a bit before moving on, and on and on without many targets. On my way to another beach I rinsed off the chain and felt the weight and I was hopeful. This would be my best gold chain. My wife found a nice gold chain in 2015 so it was my time? I returned a half mile to where I found it and there were very few targets. Time to go back and get my glasses and see if it was real. When I got to the car and I got my glasses on I could see 14k ... yessss! This along with the other couple of gold rings would pay off my wife's 800! It was time to have a little fun. I put it around my son's neck and brought him in to Lu fixing dinner. She likes gold so it didn't take her very long to see it. haha We took a couple of photos with the king of the household and then I measured and weighed what I had found. It is 14k/20in/19.1g. It is my best gold chain to date. It could have been found with other detectors but maybe I wouldn't have been in that part of the surf with my 3030. Maybe another detector would be heavier and not as much fun as the 800 right now and I certainly would not walk out where I was with a wired headphone. The conditions were right. Wind waves are good for chains.

I hit a beach with the Equinox 800 to see if last week's hunt was a fluke. This is a beach that has produced a lot of silver with the GPX but no gold. So it was up to the Equinox to help me get some gold. I used the GPX for half the day and ended up with 7 silver coins and 2 silver rings and a lot of copper pennies. The Equinox produced a silver dime and quarter, but also gave me not one, but three pieces of gold! I really must admit, this machine finds that tiny gold. Unbelievable MINELAB!!! Thank You!!!

I also paid for my 800 and most of my 600 today as well! Only, I did it without a detector... Last month I bought a high-end German Neumann microphone at an estate sale for $50. (Seller had NO idea...) I sold it on eBay this morning to a guy in France for $1250! So with my Minelab military discount, the 800 cost me $764.15 and the 600 was $551.65. Total price for both detectors - $1315.80. Minus the $50 paid for the microphone, the two detectors together have now cost me a grand total of $115.80!! Now, if only my 800 would ship soon...sigh.

Hit up the same site as last week. Started with the Tejon and big coil, got the Reale. Switched back to the Deus and ellptical cool, to work the heavy iron. Video coming soon.

Hi Yall! We're still parked in New Smyrna Beach. So far I have hunted the area of Flagler Boardwalk, and Daytona Beach. Still nothing but clad and trash and, oh yeah, a flatware spoon. I probably went to the wrong area yesterday at Daytona Beach. I tried my luck at the small section where the local hunters have been finding old silver coins. I won't give away their secret, but it's easy enough to figure out where, if you look at a few you tube videos. There was another hunter there with a CTX and he said the locals had cleaned it out. After I wasted about 2 hours, I figured out that he was probably right, since even the pull tabs were few and far between. Daytona Beach as a whole might have some great possibilities, but it also seems to be well-hunted with some seasoned pros all wielding CTXes. Hubby counted about half a dozen hunters in the one small section that he drove the truck on while I was looking for/not finding the old silver. I would imagine that anything that gets dropped would be scooped up pretty quickly. Flagler Boardwalk Beach seemed to have less hunting pressure, but also far less bling-loving tourists to drop things. I only hunted the dry and wet sand and didn't find much. I really wanted to hunt the water, but it was kinda rough and the first time that icy water sloshed over the top of one of my dive boots I changed my mind. The high temp on Wednesday was only about 65 degrees with a frigid 20 mile an hour Arctic breeze blowing right out of the North and I couldn't believe all the people with nothing on but skimpy little swimsuits swimming in that cold water! I had on sweatpants, a t-shirt, pullover hoodie, waterproof socks, cotton socks, and 5 mm dive boots and I never did get hot. I guess I'm just a wimp-ette! Anyway, going back to Flagler today, my salt water hunting is about to be over and done until this fall. Hope ya'll are having a good week and happy hunting! Ammie Flagler Boardwalk Beach, Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Thought I would show the Wheat Penny a little respect today and post my finds.. The lowly Wheat Penny is usually only givin credit to be an indicator of possible silver in the area, so we are happy to dig them.. Today was a no silver kind of day but a couple of Wheat Pennies helped save my otherwise lackluster hunt.. I had a moment of excitement when I saw a 1914 on one of my Wheats with a little mint mark on it..I was hoping I had finally found the rare 1914 D.. After I pulled out my magnifying glass I realized it was a San Francisco Mint version which is still a respectable semi key date coin at just over 4 million mintage.. I also found semi key date 13 S Wheat at just over 6 million mintage.. Other Wheats found today were 1911, 1925 S, 1928 S and three Wheats from the mid 40s.. The two Semi key date Wheats are probably worth far more then any silver I might have found today so I thought I would show them off.. The Equinox did a great job finding these today.. A couple of them were real close to iron or had iron in the hole with them.. This area has been hit multiple times with my CTX, E-Trac and friends V3i.. Only thing left is the tough signals.. Bryan

Ok. I guess that settles the chain argument. Must have been really bunched to ring up that high. Awesome find, Mitchel! Equinox just generally gives me the feeling of not "if" but "when".

That's outstanding!!! One dig, machine paid off. WOW. IMPRESSIVE! Steve

I stay primarily in Park 1 as well, with many forays into Field 1 and 2 just for learning how the signals differ. Today I tried Steve's quick coin hit strategy of notching out everything below 17 (except I left 13 notched just for fun). It's a fun way to hunt especially in this park I go to where it's as though people have taken handfuls of zinc pennies and tossed them everywhere.

I am not sure how you are posting Luki but the text is GIANT SIZED. I fixed your posts but please try and make sure the text size is halfway normal in the future. Thanks! Oh, and by the way, I sold my CTX when I got my Equinox. Don’t be so sure about detectors you have never tried. I would not take an E-Trac (yes, I have used one) in a straight trade for my Equinox. Just because old electronics cost more does not mean they are better. If you think that’s true I have some great old computers for you!

You're right Chase after going out and looking at it closely it is a new control pod. I cleaned it up good before I sent it in but I can tell the control pod is brand new so I guess that's good news. Either the other control pod couldn't be fixed or they kept it to do an autopsy on it. The battery was fully charged when I sent it in and this battery has about 1/2 charge..

Just a note. Avoid taking the battery down to the level where the machine shuts down. Draining LiIon and LiPos down to nothing on even an infrequent basis reduces overall lifetime such that it will need replacement sooner. The internal Equinox battery protection circuitry may preclude actually discharging the battery to extremely low levels where lifetime degradation occurs, but I avoid going there anyway, if I can. Also store it with at least 30 to 50% charge if you are not going to use it for awhile. Do not store it discharged as it can self discharge to the point were lifetime degradation occurs. Also, avoid charging under extreme cold or warm temperatures (i.e., outside 32F to 113F (0 to 45C)). Again, the built-in charge protection circuitry should preclude this, but good to know.

Well, gold or nickels. Chase nickels and you are going to bring home some square tabs! There are many very good top performing detectors out there. The only constant is me - the detectors come and go. I think detecting success is comprised of three main components. 1. The operator skill level. 2. The location. 3. The detector used. Pretty much in that order. If I am a proficient operator and have put myself on good ground there are many detectors that can be used that will all do the job reasonably well. At the end of the day then the detector choice is about finding the one of many that most suits each of us. Basics like weight and price are big factors, but there are a host of smaller factors like audio options, screen layout, menu design and ease of adjustment, etc. that all come together to create a detector that we want to grab and use each day. For me I have never found any number of reviews or videos etc. to help me much. It seems I have to get the machines in question, and give them a go. It forces the issue because I can only use one detector at a time. Which one will I use today, and which one stays home? Eventually one machine is getting used and others are sitting idle. Then I know I have a keeper, and the others can find new homes. The key with Equinox is I am convinced beyond a doubt that it is doing something under the hood that no other detector does exactly, and that gives me that little extra confidence factor I need when going into areas hunted by decades with other detectors. I could use the same old same old I have been using for years, or something that actually really is different. That “difference factor” is the main tipping point for me as to why I am going to grab the Equinox and let the others rest. That, and it is just a fun detector to use!

“A Perth family has found the world's oldest known message in a bottle, almost 132 years after it was thrown into the sea, Australian experts say. Tonya Illman picked up the bottle while going for a walk around sand dunes on a remote beach in West Australia. Her husband Kym Illman told the BBC they found some paper in the bottle but had "no idea" what it was until they took it home and dried it in the oven. Experts have confirmed it is an authentic message from a German ship. The note in the bottle, which was dated 12 June 1886, was jettisoned from the German ship Paula, as part of an experiment into ocean and shipping routes by the German Naval Observatory. Previously, the Guinness world record for the oldest message in a bottle was 108 years, between it being sent and found.” Full story http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43299283

If you raised 5 kids, you're the one who deserves a prize. 193

Get a larger coil from Miner John, his coils are the best match for the TDI machines, even better than oe coils.

Easy to make and easy to use. Click your power bank under the armrest. Armrest is reverseble. The power bank automatic starts when you connect the connector to the Equinox. The power bank =5000 Mah of Anker. The detector is in two parts is 60 cm long x35 cm x12cm. Carbon tube of Ali 50 cm long, 1x 22 mm x20 mm and 1x 20 mm x17 mm and 3x tube clip AT pro. Nakky

If I were forced to choose between my E-Trac and my Nox...I would keep the Nox! It wouldn't be a tough choice actually. The E-Trac is a back-up unit now. I wouldn't sell my E-Trac for less than $750. Dean

Tiftaaft Maybe this will make you feel better. Come May 15 I will be 77. The only thing older than that is dirt. Go back and make a wag. What have you got to loose? Chuck

I have 5 kids too, but mine are from 10 - 16. Total age of 60. Which is about how old I feel most days. ;) Tim

I hit enter by accident but I took the 800 out for about an hour 1st and everything is perfect. I did notice the quarters were coming up at 29-30 and before it was repaired they were 28-29. The pinpoint issue of fading is all about where you start to pinpoint. It faded one time but that was where I started to pinpoint. Then I took out the 600 and the results were great. I cannot tell any difference in the performance of the 600. I found 9 quarters with the 600 and 7 quarters with the 800 but 1 dime with 600 and 7 dimes with 800. Whatever setting I used on the 600 is near perfect. No chatter and very quiet. I need to tweak the 800 to match the 600 because the 800 had some slight chatter. My advice to anyone unless you will hunt gold in your future the 600 is just as good in park 1 and park 2. I haven't been to the beach yet with either but will next week. I myself debated about the 600 or 800 and went with the 800 1st because I go to AZ and NV almost every year and want to try gold hunting. I also like a spare detector for my grandson when he visits and I am selling my E-Trac.

I just recently paid $600 for an great condition Etrac with 2 weeks of warranty left on it (basically three years old) and I thought I got a STEAL of a deal at that price. Felt like a bandit and still do. I find the Etrac to be an excellent metal detector. Already found 1 diamond engagement ring with it, which I'll post about later after I get the picture taken. Most are selling around $750 to $850. HH Mike

Congrats! I think part of the success lies in digging targets, which we probably wouldn‘t have with our old machine. At least for me some targets IDs are very close together on the NOX, so I dig it just to be sure..

Nice job, makes me want to detect the beaches up in NorCal!

wtg, Mitchel!!! Yes, that is a cute Little Prince you and Lui got!!! fred

I have learned when that happens, to move the coil away from the target and double-click the pinpoint button. (off then on), it almost always comes back strong!

Thanks Chase, it's 5:40 am right now and having coffee waiting for the sun to come up. A nice 68 degrees so if the sun rises before i finish my coffee I am outta here. Both detectors are fully charged and I am going to see if the wireless headphones work with the 600 and if so I will be happy. One thing that never dawned on me is how simple it is to assemble and disassemble the Equinox. Yesterday when I received them I had them both assembled in less than 10 minutes. One more thing as to why I know it's a new control pod . The most telling sign is the serial number on the control pod because I went back and checked what the other one was and this one is different also the arm cuff was off and there would have been no reason for Minelab to remove it.

Brian I agree. With my Koss QZ-99's plugged directly into my friends 800 I was good to go. Had read on another forum that they fit into the jack which they did. Tom

Awesome score. Congratulations! Very cute baby.

Ha!Ha! You row in it's 1900 you gotta row out!!

Neat story! Thanks!

It might seem absurd but I plan on selling my E-Trac also now that I have my Equinox.. I haven’t used my E-Trac since I got my Equinox, and have no desire to.. The speed of the Equinox is just too addicting.. The only reason I haven’t sold my E-Trac yet is because I would not have a back up coin detector if something happened to my Nox.. There are features I like more on the E-Trac and CTX over the Equinox but they don’t override the performance of the Equinox for my style of hunting.. E-Trac and CTX is a more refined smooth ride but I’m convinced the Equinox has the edge on finding the goods.. Especially in tough, hunted out conditions.. Bryan

Those wheats are in great shape Bryan. It is rare I find one is as good condition as any of those in my area. I found two wheats yesterday that I could only decipher the 'x94x" on one and the "1x5x " on the other. I'm with you though. Yes, wheats are a good indicator for other possible finds, but they are great coins in their own right :). Good post!! :) Tim

such fun...! thanks fred

The time I tried it on gold chains it did not hit on them. Silver it hits on just not gold. Maybe I didn't have the correct timing chosen or maybe because I was testing it indoors with lots of EMI. There is a bit of black sand and other purple looking sand here. Also not sure on how high the salt content is. I can hit small targets like tiny stud earrings but not those chains. I will have to try it again. Thanks Judy

Great hunt Ray! strick

Nice finds. I get excited everytime I find a wheat penny. I sold a 1909 V.D.B. penny for $35 a cpl of years ago. There is something about a wheat penny that reminds me of my childhood when pennies could buy candy

I have had a V3i and believe me there is nothing wrong with a V3i they are great detectors. I just could never seem to get to like it. I had an AT Pro before the V3i and I knew the AT Pro so well the V3i never shined for me. I then bought and E-Trac and that was a better coin hunter than the V3l but again it just never shined for me. Then I bought the E-800 and it is a game changer for me. I love it and that dog can hunt so well I bought the companion E-600 as a backup. I liked the 800 from the 1st day out. I haven't found any gold rings but I am at 3 silver rings so far.

Oh I have always enjoyed coin detecting, and it's even more fun when there is a chance at older coins. Still, I was already thinking that next week I should shift to jewelry detecting soon, which is what I normally do when not nugget hunting. For now though weather is mild and a little rain now and then, and I want to take advantage of that. Once the summer heat starts I do not like plugging the turf around here as the ground gets so hard and dry. So I think I will keep honing the Equinox coin hunting skills as long as conditions favor digging plugs, then shift to jewelry detecting and of course nugget detecting later on. I do go to Park 2 and Field 1 & 2 from time to time when I get a good deeper "iffy" target but so far have not been convinced to move off Park 1. The targets will sound different and target ids present differently but not in any way yet that seems clearly better or worse - just different. Park 2 and Field 2 are hotter on small objects, but that does not help me much for hunting silver. It just lights up the smallest foil and can slaw bits.

Ordered mine from "Kellyco" on Nov 27th. Just received shipping confirmation today.

Good news, Norm. And welcome to the dual equinox owners club. I've been alternating between the 600 and 800 but as I branch out I'll likely favor the 800 when doing woods, fields and more challenging spots that the advanced settings would be useful with, and the 600 for parks and unplanned detecting spots. Later I'll keep the 600 with the 6" coil on

A couple notes. Even at Recovery Speed 7 Equinox gets the depth in bad ground. I also think fast Recovery Speeds plus 50 tones does accentuate the tonal difference between nickels and square tabs. And I have no proof of this, just a gut feeling, but Equinox seems to not lose any appreciable depth from aggressive notching. These last settings were super quiet and would make a good "silver program" for places unlikely to have the oldest coins. Like 1930 and newer. I sure like this detector! My ear just keeps getting better with it. Anyone giving up on Equinox with less than 100 hours is not really giving it enough of a chance. There is nuance and power here aplenty that reveals the more you use the machine.

congratulations, Steve!!! and thanks for doing all that fun research...you da man! fred

Well, I've read this thread and my Equinox shaft is still solid. I must be immune to the power of suggestion. Strange, I just noticed one of the legs of the chair I'm sitting on is wobbly.

Im betting that $150 is for both the upper and lower..... IF they are that high. Just the upper will be cheaper and you use the ML lower...... which isnt as long. they may not be worth it to dirt hunters... but they certainly are to anyone hunting IN the water. There is a lot of torque on a shaft and cuff in the water.... especially swift water. I have an Anderson travel shaft ..... which says.... its not intended for daily use.... and they are correct. In MLs case to many moving parts plus they are aluminum which blisters inside and there is nothing you can really do about it. Forget one time to clean um and that baby will lock up tight. Shorter shafts ..... if you have a slight wiggle and one end ...... you have a longer wiggle at the coil. there are a lot of things dirt digger dont need us water hunters do........ and salt water...... man you best plan for repairs. I have a whole locker full of parts and replacement parts that most dirt hunters would never need.

Avantree Audition Pro (the "Pro" is the LL version, important). $69. Headset and Earcups are large and comfortable, at least for me.

Ash I've deliberately avoided this thread because of it being contentious and yet my name got dragged into the discussion anyway. Not really sure where your angling with your comments but I will now give my opinion so there can be no confusion on where I stand on the subject of mods. The SD 2000 benefited from two mods, one was an increase in battery voltage which helped increase somewhat the coil field strength and the other was a crystal change which improved the sensitivity to small targets. The crystal mod was not so useful on the SD2100, but both the SD2100 and SD2200D did get some benefit from running a higher voltage. The higher voltages on the SD units did improve target response however they also increased ground noise so then forced operators to use DD coils in variable ground which then had a corresponding reduction in depth compared to a Monoloop. Battery voltage increases on GP and GPX machines is no advantage due to the dual voltage technology, in essence the voltages of DVT are adjusted internally regardless of the input voltage however there is some evidence the audio is "brightened" by running a higher voltage on the GP series (highly speculative, and only really noticeable if the Minelab battery is low on charge). I am unfamiliar with the current mods other than experience with customers in our shop and Minelab's stance on modded units when it comes to repair work etc. If a detector comes into Minelab with mods the repair center just closes up the unit and returns it to the sender. Last year I had a customer who I've known for many years come into our shop to say Hi and talk gold, in the discussion he very enthusiastically told me about his modded GPX 4500 and how he felt it could beat a GPZ 7000 on all target sizes which was supposedly demonstrated to him on a test bed in Victoria, we had an interesting discussion where I put forward my case on mods and the differences in the different technologies etc (I had to do this very tactfully because he is a friend and a customer so I did not want to offend). This was not a heated debate, he is also not broke so could in this case afford to take the risk if the unit failed etc. Two days later he came back into the shop and bought a brand new GPX 4500, his modded unit although brilliant in his opinion on the test bed where he had seen it perform on known targets was next to useless in the real world where you don't know if a target is actually present or not. This is the sum total of my experiences with modified Minelab metal detectors, I have expressed my opinion in the past to try and put balance to discussions to help inform people like my friend above, especially those who cannot afford to have a detector become unusable, in almost all cases the discussions became personal to the extreme with suggestions about my Minelab bias etc. These days I just can't be bothered getting into all the debates. I won't be responding further on this discussion. JP