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What Am I Doing Wrong?


2Valen

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I have taken my Equinox 800 out several times and no matter what the tones and the VID shows all I come up with is junk. A few times I have found some pennies but mostly trash.

Today I started searching an old church (1852) when I came across a tone that didn't sound like anything that I had heard before. This item was showing a solid 2 in all directions, but it said it was deep. I started digging and then about 22 inches deep I found what appeared to be a piece of glass, but it had a rusted ring around it and a disk that shows gold on it. I have no idea how much gold it is or if it is just gold leaf. Where the gold is at it is not magnetic at all.

That was the only thing that I was able to find good enough to bring home except an odd looking spike. The spike is only about 6 inches long, 1/2 inch thick, with a head of about 1 inch.

Have no idea what it was used for, but I thought it was cool looking.

This church that I was at gave me so many tones in every part of the ground ranging form 1 to 28, and I just didn't have time to dig more than 5 holes before I had to go.

So if someone would be able to help learn this new toy I would be grateful for all the  help.

I just want to know what I am doing wrong or is there a problem with my unit.

found item 2.jpg

found items.jpg

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phrunt,

Yes I have tried the air test method, and all my gold items show up as a different VID. My yard has no clean place to make a test patch due to all the old buildings that used to be on this location. All the items that i have found in my back yard has shown different VIDS but they all come up as trash.

When I get a good tone I start digging no matter what the VID shows anymore.

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phrunt,

In the morning I am going to test the unit on several items before I go out again, and hopefully I will see a difference.

I can see the ID'S of coins comes up the same all the time, but when I dig down and get to the target it is always a pull tab, foil, or a can.

Now you see why I said I dig everything that makes a tone.

 

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Hi,

The Equinox is a very powerful detector. First, what are your goals? To learn the machine or to dig deep, old targets immediately.........

If you want to learn the Equinox, start in Park 1, set your volume level around 20, tones 5 (go easy on yourself in the beginning), leave everything else alone except learn how to auto noise cancel and set your sensitivity at around 17 (again, if you want to learn the machine great. If you just want to detect everything down to 2 ft, max out your sensitivity and you won't learn much except frustration). You should have -9 to +1 discriminated on the speedometer. Go to a bark, gravel or sand playground or a place with not too much trash to begin with, take some coins, pull tabs, crown caps and jewelry and do some tone, VDI and pinpointing testing......... Go hunt.

These numbers are for targets on the surface to about 6" deep (three depth arrows or less) at 16 to 18 sensitivity in Park 1, depending on your soils mineralization and moisture content. -9 to +1 iron. + 2 to 7 is you high iron to small foil range. 8 to 11 are larger foil and small can slaw. 11 and 12 are the older squared off pull tabs. 12 and 13 are nickels and modern pull tabs (with 14). 14 to 19 are all manner of coins sized aluminum trash including larger can slaw, beaver tail ring pull tabs, bent modern pull tabs etc. 19 to 21 usually are zinc pennies. They can jump up even higher depending on depth and corrosion. 22 and 23 are generally aluminum screw caps for beer, wine and the cheap stuff (they sound sooooooo good).  24 to 28 are pre 1982 pennies, clad dimes and silver dimes. 28 to 31 are clad quarters.

Gold jewelry depending on lots of factors can be from 4 to 22 so digging anything in that range with a good two way tone and solid (not really jumpy numbers) is always a good idea if you have the energy. Silver jewelry and coins again depending on lots of factors can be from around 18 to 38.

Jumpy numbers, numbers that jump 5 to 15 or so digits or more are usually a sign of iron, jagged can slaw, and bottle caps OR the wondrous coin spill. Toggle the horseshoe button and check for negative numbers and low tone iron audio for any iron targets and some of the caps. Iron can show up ANYWHERE on the numerical target ID scale thanks to the Multi IQ simultaneous frequency technology. Jagged can slaw and balls of aluminum foil can sound like a musical scale. Coronas and the caps covered with foil are really tough.

Learn how to use the pinpoint function. It can really help you zero in on the target and size it. If you are looking for coins and jewelry in the surface to 6" range your pinpointed target size should be a 2 to 3" diameter circle or less and a really quick almost clipped sound unless they are right on the surface and then you will get a continuous super high pitched sound that is kind of spread out. Raise the coil a bit. If your numbers are in the 17 to 24 range with one depth arrow and you pinpoint an area around half the size of your coil or bigger you have a large aluminum, tin or iron target that could be really deep=keep walking. Same can happen with the same numbers and 3 or more depth arrows. If you think you are detecting a larger target than a coin raise your coil and keep swinging over the target. For example a 24 (copper penny, clad dime, silver dime) target audio that reads 3 depth arrows will disappear quickly as you raise the coil. A can or large aluminum/iron will keep on signaling up to 6" or more above the ground.

Jeff

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Jeff,

 

Thanks for the input and your explanation of the targets.

I am hoping to learn this unit so that I can find old relics, coins, and take a trip to find some gold.

I have had the sensitivity in the 11 to 15 range  and the unit in Park 2 mode for the most part. Here in Illinois we have some horrible soil as it is like our politicians unpredictable. I was at a beach area last weekend and the unit was all over the place with all the black sand on the beach.

When I use the pinpoint and I dig where it shows I always have to go a few inches off center of where it shows. Is that common?

Should I have the sense up to 20 the target is about 20 to 24 inches deep and that is why I keep it turned down.

I always do the noise cancel and ground balance is in auto mode.

I am going to print off the information you sent just to have a reminder in the car should I need it.

Tim

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Hi Tim,

you might want to download the Equinox manual if you haven't already. Lots of great information. Park 1 might work better for now. It will not hit so hard on tiny targets like bits of foil, etc. It is really more sensitive and "hotter" than Park 1 which is more for normal coin and jewelry hunting.

The pinpoint function takes some patience and some getting used to. Just press and release the pinpoint button, don't hold it down. Sometimes it is a bit wonky and I have to press it again to leave pinpoint mode and start over. Also, try to not press the pinpoint button accidentally over another target. Raise the coil off the ground a bit and make sure it is not over a target as you press the button and release and swing slow and shorten your swing and lower the coil until the pitch is the highest and the speedo fills up. For the first month or so all of my targets were about 1 to 2 " above and to the right of the coil knuckle area. Drove me nuts. There is a small indentation just above the coil bolt on the coil. I try to look there as I finish pinpointing and I press the coil down a little in dirt, sand or grass to leave a bit of an indentation.

Where I live I set sensitivity around 15. I have very mineralized soil with lots of tiny iron and volcanic clay. If your Nox is chattering use the tracking ground balance, noise cancel and lower the sensitivity like you have been doing. Seriously, find a playground, bark or mulch area under a tree with few to no targets or a sand or gravel area that is roughly target free and bury your test targets. Get out of your back yard if you can. Also, air testing with multi frequency detectors like the Nox is relatively useless except to learn basic tones and IDs for perfect detecting conditions which don't exist where I detect and they aren't where you detect either.....

good luck

Jeff

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Jeff,

I do have the manual and am trying to understand some of the terms, so I keep reading it.

I did not realize that I should not hold down on the pinpoint while doing that so I will do as you stated.

The soil I have here is the type that you can actually run it through a sluice to recover flour gold, it is everywhere you look.

We have even found a few diamonds less than 5 miles from our house, and we also go sluicing in several creeks near us. There may not be a ton of gold but we always come up about a 1/2 ounce each time we go for a few hours. I have to take the wife or I get in trouble when I get home.

I also go ginseng hunting and I really want to learn this unit as she won't want to go just to sit and watch me walk around.

Did you look at the 2 pictures above? There is some rust that stuck to the piece with the gold on it and I will get it cleaned up. The metal piece that was around the gold and the glass crumbled when I picked it up and there was something that was solid black and gooey that was on it as well. I still don't know what it was.

Thanks Tim

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All great information above, I would have very little to add except for this. Watch videos of other peoples hunts on youtube. It could be as simple as searching for " Equinox 800 old church" or "Equinox 800 old farm" or something similar to what and where you want to hunt. Seeing and hearing someone else is like taking a lesson for free. I watch beach hunts specifically those using the 15" coil in wet sand because it helps confirm what I hear when I'm hearing it. If you were to spend an hour a night for the next couple of weeks watching people's hunts I'd bet your understanding would grow by leaps and bounds.

Can you imagine if Steve or Chase or TNSS filmed a bunch of their hunts and you via youtube got to look over their shoulder and learn from them?

Good luck, HH and don't give up. Frustration is temporary in this business until you decide to fiddle with your settings. ?

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18 hours ago, 2Valen said:

I have taken my Equinox 800 out several times and no matter what the tones and the VID shows all I come up with is junk. A few times I have found some pennies but mostly trash.

Today I started searching an old church (1852) when I came across a tone that didn't sound like anything that I had heard before. This item was showing a solid 2 in all directions, but it said it was deep. I started digging and then about 22 inches deep I found what appeared to be a piece of glass, but it had a rusted ring around it and a disk that shows gold on it. I have no idea how much gold it is or if it is just gold leaf. Where the gold is at it is not magnetic at all.

That was the only thing that I was able to find good enough to bring home except an odd looking spike. The spike is only about 6 inches long, 1/2 inch thick, with a head of about 1 inch.

Have no idea what it was used for, but I thought it was cool looking.

This church that I was at gave me so many tones in every part of the ground ranging form 1 to 28, and I just didn't have time to dig more than 5 holes before I had to go.

So if someone would be able to help learn this new toy I would be grateful for all the  help.

I just want to know what I am doing wrong or is there a problem with my unit.

found item 2.jpg

found items.jpg

First of all, location, location, location.  Look for the obvious areas where people congregate and lose stuff - Parks, schools, playgrounds, fair grounds, sports fields, beaches, campgrounds.  Hit these places and build up your detecting skills on modern coins and jewelry, learn what modern trash sounds like, get some "wins" to boost your skills and confidence before you attempt the hit or miss world of relic hunting at old churches and the like.  Just because it is old doesn't necessarily mean it will produce at all much less, produce old treasure.  These places tend to be well known by detectorists and have been pounded hard, so what is left is probably deep and/or masked.  In other words, you need to be on your "A" game to find stuff and just because you didn't isn't necessarily the fault of the machine.  Yes the finds may not be historically significant or interesting or valuable in the sites I previously mentioned, but you will learn a lot about detecting by hitting them  You also really need to get some detecting basics down and do it at a simple site like a park,  playground, or beach that is benign enough for you to really learn the detector without a bunch of conflicting signals driving you bonkers as Jeff suggested above.  Forget about your yard, it seems to be a detecting nightmare so build up your basic skills elsewhere and that includes pinpointing and target recovery in an efficientbmanner that doesn't wreak havoc on the site's ground cover and aesthetics.

I think I've suggested this to you before, but your best bet is to hook up with a local detectorist or local detecting club.  The other advantage of getting another detectorist involved is that he or she can also determine if your machine settings are out of whack or your machine is potentially faulty so you can either get it reset properly, replaced or you can put the notion thst your machine is at fault to bed.

Barring getting first person assistance, keeping some detailed notes as to target ID and what you actually recovered and sharing those with us could help too.  Video recording snippets of your hunt could help too.  Otherwise, stating "This church that I was at gave me so many tones in every part of the ground ranging form 1 to 28, and I just didn't have time to dig more than 5 holes before I had to go..." doesn't give us much to go on.  Fill in some details like: How many repeatable targets you encountered and what were the ID's? What was the "28" target - a coin?  How long did it take you to recover the 5 targets and what made you dig them?  This is the kind of information that can help us help you.

 

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