Gold Mode On Wet Sand

[Gerry Freeman-Smith]

 

Has anyone managed to use gold mode on wet sand. 

I love VCO audio but now only do my local beaches here in the UK. 

Whenever I’ve tried the Nox 800 just howls like a banshee whatever I try ground balance or sensitivity wise. 

My beaches are very benign and in beach 1 GB can be left on zero. 

Or is it that the wet sand is just too conductive for this mode?

[Chase Goldman]

Yes, Gold will not run stable on wet salt sand at a reasonable sensitivity setting.  Gold mode's hot tuning, ideal for gold, is exactly the opposite of what you need to cancel salt even though the mineralization is typically low.  Really need the beach modes which are tuned to reject salt using their own Multi IQ signal processing algorithms yet they can also deal with black sand (without multifrequency it is very hard to balance for salt,  let alone salt and ground mineralization, simultaneously).  Salt has a different ground phase response than that of mineralized soil which is what the ground balance algorithm is looking for and multifrequency allows Equinox (or any detector) to identify and compensate for this different ground phase delay response vs. dry sand and soil.  It is for that reason, ML has even gone the extent of disabling single frequency mode with the beach search profiles (didn't want the complaints from users that single frequency beach modes don't work on wet sand, I guess, lol).  Most of the Equinox modes will work find on dry salt sand, though.  I too wish ML had provided the VCO audio as a tone option for the other (non-gold) modes.

[scoopjohnb]

Nope,... I had a howler also ?

Can’t for the life of me understand why they don’t implement an All Metal with Sat on the Nox 800.

Autumn I’m going to try a Nox again on the beach. Summer beach detecting isn’t for me. Too much people around!

[Chase Goldman]

46 minutes ago, scoopjohnb said:

Nope,... I had a howler also ?

Can’t for the life of me understand why they don’t implement an All Metal with Sat on the Nox 800.

Autumn I’m going to try a Nox again on the beach. Summer beach detecting isn’t for me. Too much people around!

You mean besides in Gold Mode?  Gold mode's VCO audio and true threshold vs. the other modes is self adjusting from what I can tell and can be run with no disc applied.  It would be a great option if it could be run in the other modes, as I said above.

[scoopjohnb]

Indeed Gold mode screamed at me when I tried it in the wet sand.

I’m always coming back to that great All-Metal pinpoint mode on the Excalibur.

It allows you to feel the ground in the audio, keep your coil control in check and hit faint targets.

I’ve been able to emulate it somewhat on my CTX.

[Chase Goldman]

There is a good explanation here by Steve regarding Equinox ground balancing and why a gold optimized mode like that which exists on the Equinox is all wrong for salt based on where salt shows up on the target phase diagram vs. gold and how Multi IQ can be set up to remedy the situation (i.e., the Beach mode Multi IQ setups).  

It is also linked in the EQUINOX Essentials thread at the top of the forum.

[scoopjohnb]

The reason why it doesn’t work,... is actually of no concern to me. Although it is great to have the understanding why!

What really concerns me is that Minelab hasn’t figured out what most beach hunters really need. They have in the excal, but forget it in every model on up??

SAT allows us to keep our coil control in check. Coil control equates to more targets found on the same stretch of beach,... because it’s pretty obvious where the good targets are.

Deep and signalled left and wright with a big red buoy determining the swimming area ?

There are only a few rules in beach hunting.

1) Check out the most expensive parking lots.

2) Get the deepest detector for your intended target.

3) DIG

[Chase Goldman]

57 minutes ago, scoopjohnb said:

The reason why it doesn’t work,... is actually of no concern to me. Although it is great to have the understanding why!

I was actually directing it primarily at the OP as a follow up to my first response.  But I understand your sentiments re beach hunting.

[Nuke em]

I find Beach 2 in my settings the best way for the beach . I wouldn't touch Gold mode on the beach . 

Beach detecting is different to land , the one thing i concern myself with is "time" . The tide waits for no Man and you have to get in while you can. Or get wet . 

[dewcon4414]

The salt setting is really needed.   You may like the way the Xcal sounds and handles the wet sand..... but the Nox is a clear winner depth and sensitivity wise.   In beach 1..... using RS 3 gives you that sound you may get from other detectors when swinging slightly up hill on patches of accumulate black sand where there is water movement in the sand nearer the water.   Reducing the RS to 4 helps and allows you to run good sensitivity.   Beach 2 works best....... but you have to remember .... its using reduced power and a salt setting.   BUT i hear you about wanting a machine that can run like the Xcal in PP modes....... love it.   Because in the water ...... the Xcal is very good even over the Nox except on the really small gold.