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Fe Or F2 For Trashy Areas


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I wanted to start a discussion on F2 again FE in high trashy areas.

I have done a lot of research on the F2 update (I recently picked up metal detecting with my Nox 600 again at the beginning of summer and realized the new update at that time) and understand it has its ups and downs. One of the major things about it, is its supposed to help ignore bottle caps!! that is almost a holy grail in my eyes however in older trashy areas, other objects seem to be the problem most of the time, rather than bottle caps, (for me atleast)

I have recently had the pleasure of hitting a property built in the late 1800s for a whole day and unfortunatley dug up trash the whole day. It was the toughest trashiest place ive ever detected. I have tried changing settings constantly to see if I could pull up the good stuff rather than nails, scrap metals and bottle caps but to no avail. 

I even created a small 3" hole and dropped a dime in there. the Nox 600 could not hit that target, even after playing with settings and trying different things. I understand the machine fairly well but just couldnt quite wrap my head around how to deal with this place that was so trashy that I couldnt even pick up the dime I dropped in a 3" deep hole, with the detector. I assume the 6" coil would fix this issue completely but is it then pointless for me to hit extremely trashy areas like this with the 11" coil? should I just wait till I get the 6" coil and hit less trashy areas?  Maybe I was doing something incorrect.

I have seen a lot of videos in regards to the F2 update for the Nox and it seems to me that the F2 on level 3 will ignore iron more, such as bottle caps but, you will also mask the good targets as well. 

So in a very trashy area, what is the best thing to do. Use park 1. lower sensitivity, and FE at level 0?   I cant see why you would turn up iron bias if it will mask the good items and if there is iron everywhere, then every good object will get masked, am I right?

 

I am hoping this hasnt been discussed already but I dont have much time to look around unfortunately so I thought I would start my own discussion.

Thanks for reading.  All tips and knowledge is welcome, and appreciated 🙂

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2 hours ago, Edwardakis said:

I am hoping this hasnt been discussed already but I dont have much time to look around unfortunately so I thought I would start my own discussion.

Well, if that's the case I've missed it, too.  For me, iron bias is the most confusing thing about the Equinox.  I assume people who have had previous detectors (certain Minelab models, but also some White's models and possibly other manufacturers' models?) with this feature are comfortable with it.  I'm not.  Not even close.  Every time out I experiment a bit and am compiling more knowledge but I feel like I still have a long way to go.

I'm looking forward to more reports/discussions here, and I want to be a listener/reader as opposed to a speaker/writer.  I will say one thing about your thoughtful post though, and it's based upon both my limited experience but also upon what people hear have said previously:  Iron Bias isn't a magic, do all setting.  It makes some things a bit better and some things a bit worse.  If we didn't have it at all (say IB was locked at a certain value, because AFAIK it's always going to be there at some level), I don't think it would make a huge difference.  The F2 settings have a wider range (and FE is in the middle of that range) and I've been playing around with F2=0 and F2=9 (Eqx 800 terminology) and seen anywhere from no effect to moderate effect.

Ok, enough of my ramblings.  Time for others to chime in.

Afterthought:  The subject of Iron Bias has come up quite a bit since the Equinox was introduced.  Here are three threads (not exhaustive) on the subject.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/5104-iron-bias-what-is-it/

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/6048-iron-bias/#comments

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/13285-equinox-vanquish-iron-bias-bug/

 

 

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For now, I don't want to say too much about this. I am still working with situations like the one described above. I am assuming that by "trash" you mean iron based trash.

So, this quote from the manual has really helped me. I normally use F2=0 or F2=1 unless I am in an area that has very little iron trash but the iron trash that is present are shallow bottle caps in which case I may turn it up some.

"The Iron Bias F2 Setting provides tone and Target ID response adjustment for a wider range of ferrous targets, including some types of crown cap bottle tops that Iron Bias FE is less effective for. Iron Bias F2 is best used in All Metal Mode, with iron tones audible."

I only use iron bias as a strategy for shallower, smaller iron targets. On deeper and or bigger (bigger than coins/bottle caps) iron, I have no field proof that it will help or not.

Jeff

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17 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Well, if that's the case I've missed it, too.  For me, iron bias is the most confusing thing about the Equinox.  I assume people who have had previous detectors (certain Minelab models, but also some White's models and possibly other manufacturers' models?) with this feature are comfortable with it.  I'm not.  Not even close.  Every time out I experiment a bit and am compiling more knowledge but I feel like I still have a long way to go.

I'm looking forward to more reports/discussions here, and I want to be a listener/reader as opposed to a speaker/writer.  I will say one thing about your thoughtful post though, and it's based upon both my limited experience but also upon what people hear have said previously:  Iron Bias isn't a magic, do all setting.  It makes some things a bit better and some things a bit worse.  If we didn't have it at all (say IB was locked at a certain value, because AFAIK it's always going to be there at some level), I don't think it would make a huge difference.  The F2 settings have a wider range (and FE is in the middle of that range) and I've been playing around with F2=0 and F2=9 (Eqx 800 terminology) and seen anywhere from no effect to moderate effect.

Ok, enough of my ramblings.  Time for others to chime in.

Afterthought:  The subject of Iron Bias has come up quite a bit since the Equinox was introduced.  Here are three threads (not exhaustive) on the subject.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/5104-iron-bias-what-is-it/

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/6048-iron-bias/#comments

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/13285-equinox-vanquish-iron-bias-bug/

 

 

Thank you for chiming in.

 

I appreciate the links to other posts. this post seems to be dead probably because it was discussed already, and in great detail!

I dont expect this post to go anywher anymore seeing as it is heavily discussed elsewhere.

 

Again though. thanks for posting those links for me!

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17 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

For now, I don't want to say too much about this. I am still working with situations like the one described above. I am assuming that by "trash" you mean iron based trash.

So, this quote from the manual has really helped me. I normally use F2=0 or F2=1 unless I am in an area that has very little iron trash but the iron trash that is present are shallow bottle caps in which case I may turn it up some.

"The Iron Bias F2 Setting provides tone and Target ID response adjustment for a wider range of ferrous targets, including some types of crown cap bottle tops that Iron Bias FE is less effective for. Iron Bias F2 is best used in All Metal Mode, with iron tones audible."

I only use iron bias as a strategy for shallower, smaller iron targets. On deeper and or bigger (bigger than coins/bottle caps) iron, I have no field proof that it will help or not.

Jeff

 

Thank you for the information! I will keep this in mind when I go back out to my trashy practice area 😄 

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31 minutes ago, Edwardakis said:

I appreciate the links to other posts. this post seems to be dead probably because it was discussed already, and in great detail!

I dont expect this post to go anywher anymore seeing as it is heavily discussed elsewhere.

Maybe not right now.  I will have more to say later, and I think others will, too.  I hope that includes you.

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