New And Need Equipment Advice

[Jeff McClendon]

I totally agree that the XP Deus and XP Orx tell the user a lot about a targets possible identity through their audio, much more so than their numerical target ID. I do not agree that the Minelab Equinox and Vanquish cannot give very accurate information through their audio about accurate target identification. The sounds they make over different targets in the same conductivity range are not the same even on the very basic Vanquish models.

The Equinox and Vanquish do not use blended audio like the XPs, however I can tell the difference between thin metallic objects and thicker ones, rounded objects and jagged ones, objects with multiple varied surfaces and smooth objects or large and smaller objects. I can usually tell if an object is aluminum or not just by the quality and length of the tones produced. Is it as diagnostic as the XP audio, NO. Is it still easy enough for a guy like me to learn in combination with very accurate target IDs, YES.

I have used both brands extensively in many detecting situations, so I am not just making this up or playing favorites. I like both brands of detectors very much.

[Mike Hillis]

The F75 has a 5 year warranty, multiple algorithms and tone options and is an excellent performer.  I encourage you to read the operating manual.  

Another one I like is the Minelab Etrac and the Nokta Impact.   If you don't mind buying another Whites i can also recommend the V3/V3i.   

HH
Mike

 

 

[palzynski]

6 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

...

. I can usually tell if an object is aluminum or not just by the quality and length of the tones produced. Is it as diagnostic as the XP audio, NO...

...

How do you exactly recognize aluminium signals ? Even with the Deus I have never been able to distinguish aluminium from other metal targets and I have been using Xps since 2007 starting with the Goldmaxx ...  I am very interested by this because I know an area where celtic artefacts are mixed with modern aluminium trash . It would help a lot if I could recognize aluminium either with my Vanquish or Deus ... thanks

[Jeff McClendon]

There was a very good video from XP America about recognizing aluminum trash with the Deus. Slowly pulling back the coil will create some residual responses from most aluminum, similar to an iron buzz when pulling the coil back from steel bottle caps and shallower iron targets. Some aluminum will almost give an overload sound if shallow enough too

With the Equinox and Vanquish I listen for the length of the tone, how abruptly it stops and starts or not, and especially with the Equinox in pinpoint mode I listen for a very high pitched hollow whining sound that is longer and more shrill than say a US Jefferson nickel (12,13 Vdi number.) Our nickels can sound like "pop, pop" in detect mode and our lead/brass/gold objects will usually have a much mellower but still shorter length response than most aluminum coin sized targets like pull tabs and small can slaw. I practice a lot by the way, with targets that have overlapping VDIs.

Jeff

[Chase Goldman]

11 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

There was a very good video from XP America about recognizing aluminum trash with the Deus. Slowly pulling back the coil will create some residual responses from most aluminum, similar to an iron buzz when pulling the coil back from steel bottle caps and shallower iron targets. Some aluminum will almost give an overload sound if shallow enough too

With the Equinox and Vanquish I listen for the length of the tone, how abruptly it stops and starts or not, and especially with the Equinox in pinpoint mode I listen for a very high pitched hollow whining sound that is longer and more shrill than say a US Jefferson nickel (12,13 Vdi number.) Our nickels can sound like "pop, pop" in detect mode and our lead/brass/gold objects will usually have a much mellower but still shorter length response than most aluminum coin sized targets like pull tabs and small can slaw. I practice a lot by the way, with targets that have overlapping VDIs.

Jeff

Yep, that technique works best with the Deus in Full Tones.  Aluminum has a subtle, hollower sound with the Equinox.  I agree with Jeff that both machines have expressive, subtle audio cues for certain targets that go beyond tone ID.

[Dances With Doves]

3 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

There was a very good video from XP America about recognizing aluminum trash with the Deus. Slowly pulling back the coil will create some residual responses from most aluminum, similar to an iron buzz when pulling the coil back from steel bottle caps and shallower iron targets. Some aluminum will almost give an overload sound if shallow enough too

With the Equinox and Vanquish I listen for the length of the tone, how abruptly it stops and starts or not, and especially with the Equinox in pinpoint mode I listen for a very high pitched hollow whining sound that is longer and more shrill than say a US Jefferson nickel (12,13 Vdi number.) Our nickels can sound like "pop, pop" in detect mode and our lead/brass/gold objects will usually have a much mellower but still shorter length response than most aluminum coin sized targets like pull tabs and small can slaw. I practice a lot by the way, with targets that have overlapping VDIs.

Jeff

If you can improve your  turf gold methods that give you better odds  then that is  a big deal.     If you can go from lets say 1 gold target  for every 300  junk targets and improve it to say 150 junk to gold  then that is good  and  the    more so with the price of gold  at around $2000.A good method of hunting plus a good location will improve your odds for gold.Turf gold is tough and you need all the help you can get and you must focus on it to get good results.I have not focused on it and I have not got it  since  Oct. 2018.I focused on  the turf one year and got  almost 20 and got more in the turf then in the water. It happened only that 1 year.

[GB_Amateur]

On 8/20/2020 at 8:10 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

With the Equinox and Vanquish I listen for the length of the tone, how abruptly it stops and starts or not,...

For the Eqx, what recovery speed are you using for this 'trick', and/or do you vary the recovery speed for more throrough investigation?

[Jeff McClendon]

2 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

For the Eqx, what recovery speed are you using for this 'trick', and/or do you vary the recovery speed for more throrough investigation?

I don’t do anything special. Just standard default recovery speed settings for the Park and Field modes. For me it took hundreds of hours of practicing/experience  in 5 and 50 tones to really get a good grasp of the subtle differences. Does this mean I am 100% confident that I am skipping over an aluminum target just by the sound and numerical target ID? NO. 75% YES, easily. Sometimes I accept those odds in a shallow sea of aluminum trash. In a sparse target environment with some gold range targets present that sound good and the numbers are good...........I’m probably digging everything anyway. 

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, Jeff McClendon said:

I don’t do anything special. Just standard default recovery speed settings for the Park and Field modes. For me it took hundreds of hours of practicing/experience  in 5 and 50 tones to really get a good grasp of the subtle differences. Does this mean I am 100% confident that I am skipping over an aluminum target just by the sound and numerical target ID? NO. 75% YES, easily. Sometimes I accept those odds in a shallow sea of aluminum trash. In a sparse target environment with some gold range targets present that sound good and the numbers are good...........I’m probably digging everything anyway. 

As a a corollary to what Jeff says above.  You can never be 100% with these methods.  What is more important for your confidence and sanity is that you are setting the proper expectations when you do decide to recover the target.  One of my favorite sites that has really produced a lot of bucket listers for me, is starting to play out.  Seasonal plowing seems to bring it back to life every year, but the results are definitely tailing off.  This is forcing us to go into the more trashy areas of the site where there is a lot of modern trash such as aluminum cans.  If I am in that situation, the Nox tells me I have a probable can based on the audio and the pinpoint mode allows me to trace the target footprint for the shallower trash targets.  A less experienced detectorist would likely mistake that target for a quarter based on tone and target ID alone.  I, however, know it is a likely can.  But I dig it anyway.  Why?  Because those cans can ID the same as CW belt or cartridge box plate which I have found at this site.  However, it my mind set is, "Gotta get this can out of here" then when I DO dig that plate instead of a can, that makes for a very pleasant surprise vs. the other way around. 

I periodically dust off and post the pic below.  In the center is a CW cartridge box shoulder strap Eagle Breast Plate.  Surrounding the plate are various chunks of molten aluminum and a crushed can that were dug in the same vicinity of the breast plate (apparently there was some sort of tractor fire that resulted in molten aluminum chunks getting  buried in the field).  The aluminum chunks and can sound very similar to, but slightly different than the lead-backed brass plate.  I dug all of those chunks before the plate.  If I gave up, and stopped digging those chunks then I would probably have skipped over the plate too, but it did sound slightly more solid.  Point is, expect trash when you recover, that way you get a nice surprise when you are wrong about your guess.

 

 

[Jeff McClendon]

All of those lovely aluminum cans, melted aluminum foil blobs and other screaming coin sized and bigger target pieces of aluminum will also mask other non-ferrous targets nearby. That is the nature of the beast when it comes to the Nox being very hot on the low to mid conductor range non-ferrous targets. I will often pass over shallow tiny (1/4") aluminum foil and aluminum can slaw fragments and the occasional triple beeping pull tab in a park, tot lot, or relic field unless I am looking for jewelry/micro jewelry. I try to dig it all gold prospecting....... No matter what, I always try to remove those big pieces of aluminum if they aren't too deep.