First Finds, And A Couple Of Nox Questions

[Bash]

Well, I have about fifteen hours in with the Equinox 800.  This is the entirety of my metal detecting experience. All my detecting so far has been in the yard, alley, and parking strip of an 1890 Queen Anne style house in an older neighborhood near the downtown core of Helena, MT.  I’m having a blast learning to detect, while trying to unravel the idiosyncrasies of the Nox. I’ve found some cool stuff, the pinnacle of which, so far, is a 1917 D Merc dime, in reasonable condition. (Pics are included) Needless to say I am hopelessly hooked.

 

But…

 

I have questions.  Lord do I have questions. 🤣

 

So I’ve been perusing the forums to try to learn as much as I can from  previous questions here, and I also picked up Andy Sabisch’s book, which has helped clarify several points.  Following much of the advice given here and elsewhere, I’ve been sticking to the stock settings in PARK 1, and FIELD 1, though I have also played with one of the programs for coin shooting in Andy’s book. (That’s the settings I found the Merc with)

 

So my first two questions:

 

1. What is the detector telling me when the target signal is erratic? ie. The signal bounces from 21 to 29 to 18 to 39 etc. with the depth indicator also jumping.  So far when I’ve dug targets exhibiting this behavior, they’ve usually turned out to be some heavily rusted piece of metal - nail, chunk of iron, etc. What am I missing?

 

2. What is the detector telling me when I get a strong, high VDI number when swinging one direction, but nothing coming back the other direction, or when swinging 90 degrees to the original swing, the target disappears, but reappears when swinging the original direction.

 

Thanks for any insight you can provide.  I know the Nox is pretty sophisticated, and I am inexperienced. I understand I need way more time on it to begin to not only figure out the machine, but also the mechanics of detecting in general!

 

Here’s some of the stuff I’ve found so far:

 

[GB_Amateur]

That's quite a haul for your first 15 hours!  You have some good hunting grounds.  If that's a 1933-D Lincoln, it's a pretty scarce find and particularly for one of your first ever coin finds.  (I can't read the leftmost Lincoln.  Mind relaying the date and mintmark?)

There are a lot of things that cause the Equinox TID to jump around.  (Coil control is just one, but something you'll eliminate with experience.)  You are doing the right thing to dig them all.  The best way to figure out what it means is to keep doing that and cataloging the results in your brain.  Eventually you'll get an idea of which are likely trash and which are likely good.  Just remember 'likely' is the best you or anyone can ever do.  There are an uncountable number of target sizes, shapes, chemical configurations, and that's just for a single object.  When multiple objects are under the coil you can get another spectrum of responses.  Metal detecting is a tradeoff of how much junk you're willing to dig vs. how many good targets you're willing to pass over.

 

 

[Bash]

Thanks GB!

The one to the left of the 33 D is a 1919, as is the one to the right.  The left one is so worn the second "1" is completely gone, but you can barely make out the "9" under heavy magnification.

[maxxkatt]

I have to admit you have a tiger by the tail. New to the Equinox and new to metal detecting. Where do I start.

First of all stay in one of the standard modes. Way to early to be messing around with settings other than sensitivity.

Why did you pick the 800 as your first detector as a total newbie?

They have a long and steep learning curves for a newbie. The Vanquish 540 would have been a better choice.

One of the main problems is the 800 is a hot, hot detector. Meaning it sees every little spec of metal in the ground and has a tendency of making small pieces sound big and big pieces of junk like a squashed tin can sound like a coin.

What you are seeing with jumpy TID's is the Nox reporting a lot of stuff under each coil swing. The ground in most places if full of junk. Just turn on the horeshoe start sweeping. In a lot of places you here constant hits.

Buy Clive Clylnick's three books on the Equinox and study there carefully and practice what he writes about. Probably the best written guides for the Equinox by any author.

Literally you have way too much to learn to put in a post. I got my nox 800 in April 2018 and took me more than a year to learn and I have been metal detecting since 1987.

 

 

[Jeff McClendon]

You picked a great detector that should work well in the mineralized dirt around Helena.

The jumpy numbers can be created by several common metallic targets like, corroded zinc pennies, rusted misshapen coin sized or larger iron targets of all kinds especially bent nails, broken nails, screws, bolts, barbed wire, or other manmade iron fragments, aluminum trash with many different surfaces like a crushed can, broken pull tabs, crown bottle caps, a multi denominational coin spill, and the list can go on and on. Like maxxkatt said, using the horseshoe button will help eliminate the presence or absence of iron. Iron and steel, especially when it is rusty, and when it is a coin sized mass or bigger can be conductive at several different points on the conductivity scale. It will always give negative number and low tone signals however, so press the horseshoe button to accept the iron conductivity range when you  need to check jumpy number targets. If you don't hear iron responses, press the horseshoe button again to go back to your original discrimination pattern and shorten your swing and see if there might be more than one target or a bigger aluminum target. Use the pinpoint function to size your target. It takes some practice but after a while you will be able to easily tell a coin sized target from a larger target by the size of the pinpoint sound radius and by the pitch. Most coins (if they are not on the surface) will give short quick responses. Large targets especially aluminum or iron can give huge responses. Higher and louder pitch means closer to the coil or larger. Lower softer pitch means farther away from the coil or smaller. You can also lift your coil while swinging over the target. A 2 to 8" deep coin sized target's signal will quickly dissipate as you raise your coil while swinging over it. A large piece of iron or aluminum that is even 6" deep may keep responding with your coil 6" or more above the ground.

When you get a high target ID in the upper thirties in one direction on a medium to deep target and nothing at 90 degrees you are usually hearing an iron target. Press the horseshoe button and check. You will probably hear the low tone iron response in the swing direction that was silent before. You could also be hearing a really deep 11+" high conductive target like a thick chunk of aluminum, brass, copper or a larger clad coin or silver object. If the numbers are 38, 39 or 40 check very carefully for iron. If they are lower and you don't get an iron response you might need to dig!!!!

You didn't ask but it is good to know that the depth gauge actually works well if you keep in mind that it is calibrated for a US nickel or quarter sized target. So a bigger piece of aluminum or tin can at 6+" deep might just read as a shallow 1 depth wedge or 2" deep while a small earring or small piece of wire might read 3 depth wedges or 6+" deep even though it is just below the surface. Hope that makes sense.

You are doing great.  Enjoy.

Jeff

[Bash]

Thanks for the responses, guys.  Much appreciated. I was out at an old ranch today, and while I didn’t find anything of note, some of the comments here have certainly clarified and supported what I saw in the field.

 

23 hours ago, maxxkatt said:

Why did you pick the 800 as your first detector as a total newbie?

They have a long and steep learning curves for a newbie. The Vanquish 540 would have been a better choice.

 

I decided on the Nox for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, I wanted a “crossover” machine with a proven capability for gold prospecting as that is of primary interest to me, but I didn’t want just a nugget shooting machine - I wanted something for coins, jewelry, and relics too.  The Nox filled that bill. I knew it was a more advanced machine and not necessarily for a beginner. Which brings me to my second reason for deciding on the Nox. I’m extremely technically savvy, with a degree in Computer Science, and twenty plus years of application development experience, so the use of technology is second nature to me. I wanted a machine that would challenge me, as well as a machine I could grow into.  Plus, I didn’t want to buy an entry level machine, and then want a different one in a year. “Buy good tools, and you only cry once”, is a motto that has served me well over my 63 years.

 

23 hours ago, maxxkatt said:

Buy Clive Clylnick's three books on the Equinox and study there carefully and practice what he writes about. Probably the best written guides for the Equinox by any author.

 

I do have Clive’s “From Beginner to Advanced” book along with Andy’s

 

21 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Like maxxkatt said, using the horseshoe button will help eliminate the presence or absence of iron. Iron and steel, especially when it is rusty, and when it is a coin sized mass or bigger can be conductive at several different points on the conductivity scale. It will always give negative number and low tone signals however, so press the horseshoe button to accept the iron conductivity range when you  need to check jumpy number targets. If you don't hear iron responses, press the horseshoe button again to go back to your original discrimination pattern and shorten your swing and see if there might be more than one target or a bigger aluminum target. Use the pinpoint function to size your target. It takes some practice but after a while you will be able to easily tell a coin sized target from a larger target by the size of the pinpoint sound radius and by the pitch. Most coins (if they are not on the surface) will give short quick responses. Large targets especially aluminum or iron can give huge responses.

 

This is a great explanation. I’ll be testing and practicing this when I go out this afternoon! This should put me on the right track to a better understanding of what I am seeing.

 

Thanks again to GB, maxxkatt, and Jeff for the responses!

 

-Mark

 

[GB_Amateur]

30 minutes ago, Bashin said:

I knew (the Equinox) was a more advanced machine and not necessarily for a beginner.

If you just choose one of the modes (preferably Park 1 or Field 1) and leave the detector in its default settings, you effectively have a beginner's detector.

32 minutes ago, Bashin said:

I’m extremely technically savvy....

Certainly the intentions of the user and his 'natural' tendencies when it comes to technology should go into the choice.  Personally I find the term 'beginner detector' somewhat condescending, although typically it's not meant that way.  There are many sophisticated and experienced detectorists who use these beginner detectors, some even exclusively.

Now if you really want bells, whistles, and (virtual) knobs, get a White's V3i!

[Bash]

The next door neighbor walked by today while i was out in the parking strip detecting, and suggested I try their front yard and parking strip area. I got my first permission and didn't even have to ask! 🙏   So I just did a quick session out in their parking strip, and applied some of the suggestions from the replies to my original post. 

Eureka! 

I dug way less trash, and in 1/2 an hour got four copper pennies and a clad dime. No silver or wheaties, but I'm pretty happy with the new knowledge.  There were some signals in the high thirties that showed to be deep, that I haven't dug yet, but I will look at those tomorrow.  I hope to get out to a park area tomorrow that was originally established in 1880.  It's morphed quite a bit but a good portion of it is still a park.  We shall see...

[maxxkatt]

On 4/21/2020 at 7:18 PM, Bashin said:

The next door neighbor walked by today while i was out in the parking strip detecting, and suggested I try their front yard and parking strip area. I got my first permission and didn't even have to ask! 🙏   So I just did a quick session out in their parking strip, and applied some of the suggestions from the replies to my original post. 

Eureka! 

I dug way less trash, and in 1/2 an hour got four copper pennies and a clad dime. No silver or wheaties, but I'm pretty happy with the new knowledge.  There were some signals in the high thirties that showed to be deep, that I haven't dug yet, but I will look at those tomorrow.  I hope to get out to a park area tomorrow that was originally established in 1880.  It's morphed quite a bit but a good portion of it is still a park.  We shall see...

My theory if you can recover clad you can get silver. Just have to get your detector over some.

[BeachHunter]

As a beach hunter, when I get jumpy numbers it seems it’s always a pulltab. The one tone one way maybe a coin on edge at a slight angle. Good luck!