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Why My Nox Doesn't Identify The Target In The Plug?


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I am needing an explanation why it is that my Nox doesn't hit on the target after I have popped the plug while all of my previous and less sophisticated detectors can and do without fault. Before asking the answer is yes. I have done all of the necessary start up procedures AND ran this through ALL levels of sensitivity and subsequent adjustments and parameters. I look forward to any viable answer that can be got or being directed to wherever this lies in a previous forum. Thx

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It's good that you've done "...all of the necessary start up procedures AND ran this through ALL levels of sensitivity and subsequent adjustments and parameters."  You seem to be very thorough.  However, that doesn't jibe with your description as you don't even tell us where the target is -- still in the ground or in the plug itself?  Exactly where is it?  How deep?  What exactly is the target?  What digital TID does it show (or did it show when you were still getting a signal)?  After you've recovered the target, does it give a signal in an air-test, and if so, what is that signal?

A video would help, but if you're like me you don't have the capability to do that.  "A picture's worth a thousand words" but short of that at least provide a better description.  Put yourself in our shoes and imagine what kind of information you would need to be able to figure out what is going on.

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So, if your target happens to be a ferrous target AND you have the iron range target IDs rejected, your Equinox will not be able to give you the correct target ID. It will probably give you a "false" ID in the teens, twenties or high 30s along with broken, intermittent medium and higher tones.

 

Jeff

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So you are saying every target in every plug you dig cannot be detected properly after removing it from the ground? Or is this just an oddball item here and there?

The explanation is simple. You have changed the target orientation to the coil from what it was when it was originally in the ground. I’ve seen it with many detectors over the years. Personally, once I have the target out of the hole, I use a pinpointer to recover it and drop it in my pouch.

It is what it is. If what you are experiencing is unacceptable to you, you can always go back to using some other model of detector, if this is important to you, and you think other machines will do the job better for you.

http://www.fisherlab.com/hobby/davejohnson/SearchcoilfieldshapeApril2012.pdf

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If you're getting the silent treatment on what was initially a good signal, but, now with the plug removed you get nothing (target still in the hole), that's something that I've experienced with just about every detector I've used. It seems especially pronounced with the Minelab machines I've had over the last few years. With BBS and FBS machines (and now the multi IQ Equinox) if find they don't air test well. You pull the plug so that the soil or sand is no longer over the target, and it's more like an air test now. These machines just seem to like the targets to be in contact with the ground to get a good signal. Remove the ground and halo, the signal gets weak or disappears. I'm used to it at this point and know just to dig a bit deeper to get the target out of the ground. Once out, it comes back to life again.

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Have you tried your pinpointer to see if it “sees” the target in the plug as well as scanning the hole?  Seems like an obvious question, but you didn't mention this.

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  • 2 months later...

Sorry for my delayed response. My NOX dropping target signals after popping out the plug isn't necessarily an every time occurrence but has occurred enough times to make me take notice and question my machine, especially when this happens two plugs in a row and at great distance from one another which then exacerbates my concern × 2. The target organization theory was my first thought but its weak. My plugs come out and get plop upside down few inches from the hole, therefore a flat coin remains flat, a tilted coin remains tilted and an edged remains on edge (+ or -a skoash) thus hardly enough difference in orientation to cause a target to drop its signal and the length of my lesche spade is what 6"-7", not enough deviation in depth to drop its signal there either and this wasn't an issue with my Big Bud Pro 2, XLT or the Bounty Hunter prior to my Big Bud that can't recall its model. What else? I have retuned via the pinpoint method without much luck as well. I mean I'll get a solid hit, dig, pop the plug, swing over it, pick it up and swing over it , toss it over itself with one hand while swinging over it, put it back in its hole like a key, swing over it and get the signal again then ill grab the plug like I'm pulling a kid out of the pool by his hair and start over. I rarely bust my plugs apart but on these occasions they get spread out so thin there's nothing left to fill the hole by the time I've located that 1963 Lincoln cent that was dropped in the mid 90's. I call for a 5 minute recess your honor. Granted 

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Sounds like you may be either overthinking this or making it harder than it has to be.  First of all, I rarely use pinpoint mode on the nox to actually pinpoint a target before digging a plug because it is so quirky.  I usually use the wiggle off the toe method once I have the target locked in with a wiggle.  Regardless, whether or not I have used pinpoint mode, once I cut the plug and plop it out, I sweep the plug and hole in DETECT mode not pinpoint mode to see if the target is in or out of the hole.  Nox pinpoint mode is quirky enough under static conditions that I find it unreliable to be used to check for the target after I have disturbed the target and ground by digging a hole/plug.  I would only use pinpoint mode again after re-acquiring a target in detect mode first, if I have disturbed the target by digging.  After I have determined whether the target is in or out of the hole using detect mode, I usually go after it with a handheld pinpointer.  (I am usually only digging plugs in plowed fields or backwoods btw, otherwise I use a more surgical slit or flap on turf and go ar it with a handheld pinpointer right away).

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4 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

First of all, I rarely use pinpoint mode on the nox to actually pinpoint a target before digging a plug because it is so quirky.

FWIW, I use the Eqx pinpoint mode a lot.  When it 'quirks' I just toggle it off and on again.  Now, sometime the pinpoint function pulls me off the intended target due to a nearby strong target.  I also use other pinpoint methods in both cases (i.e. with accurate pinpoint mode result and without.)  That way I'm suspicious when different pinpoint methods don't agree, and I investigate further.

It's quite rare I don't find the target -- approximately 1 in several hundred.  Find a target different than I thought it should be (ID-wise)? -- often.  Find a target located away from where I thought it should be? -- occasionally (a few times per hunt), particularly if I'm sloppy with my pinpoint, but even sometimes when I'm careful.

Finding the target away from where I pinpointed seems to be particularly true when iron objects (such as nails, or bolts) are involved.  Another issue occurs when the target is picked up by the edge of the coil (rather than the center).  If that happens it usually means the target is very close to the surface.  This is especially evil when two targets are a coils width apart and are picked up simultaneously, making it seem as though there is a single target halfway between.  (90% angle of attack investigation usually reveals this, but in heavy iron you can't always do that.)

BTW, I never use discriminate, except when searching for native gold and having to deal with lots of hotrocks.  Same thing with handhelds -- always use them except only occasionally when searching for native gold.  And one more thing -- the more I use the Equinox the better my pinpointing becomes.

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1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

FWIW, I use the Eqx pinpoint mode a lot.  When it 'quirks' I just toggle it off and on again. 

I actually use Nox pinpoint frequently for reasons other than pinpointing (e.g., tracing the target footprint to determine target size if I am getting an iffy signal that could be a very can or quarter).  For pinpointing in big fields it is probably less than 50% usage because it is natural and faster for me to just wiggle off the target without having to punch a button (sometimes annoyingly multiple times as you described due to the wonkiness of it) when I have the luxury of digging a big plug, so I don't bother and waste time with it. 

For more surgical removal, I will use pinpoint but then I am digging a slit or small turf flap for removal and am quickly shifting to handheld pinpoint.

At the beach, if I've spread the scoop contents on the top of the sand, I will use pinpoint to zero in on the target.

But like I said, I usually use detect mode and not pinpoint to scan and figure out if the target is still in or out of the hole in the field.  To the OP's point, it appeared that he was using pinpoint on the plug and that could be problematic in some cases (I could be misinterpreting what he was saying though because it was a little hard to follow what he was actually doing).  Using detect mode also gives you the advantage of determining the nature of multiple targets in a hole.  And like you, Chuck, I am using no disc so that I can discern between ferrous and non-ferrous especially during target interrogation and recovery, that's a good point.

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