Minelab Equinox 800. Field 2 At The Beach

[GhostLands]

Hi everyone! Hope y'all doing great!

Has anyone tried Field 2 at the Beach (Wet)? 

I know that Field 2 can run ok on Dry, but at Wet it will false alot... "Ghost" signals at 1 and 2 ID's. (I have my Ferrous from -9 to 0, something like the Vanquish 540 Jewelry Mode). 

When I hit the Beach, my goal is to find gold and not coins, so i use a specific config on wet... 

Beach 1 or Beach 2, i set a disc from -9 to -3, open from -2 to 16, disc again from 17 to 40, recovery speed at 7, 0 FE and F2, 2 Tones and max sens.

Why? The probabilities of finding gold at low ID's is very high. I know that some gold rings can give 17 or much higher ID's...  if I get a bouncing signal mixed with Ferrous and some non ferrous (very low numbers), i dig, it could be some deep gold or a gold ring on edge...

Well, one of my friends recently posted that long post in one of those Equinox Groups on Facebook... 

To me, it doesn't make sense... How can Field 2 be more stable/perfect than Beach modes on wet!? At max sens?!  Btw, he didn't explain well at the very beginning of his post.  He has been hunting  with his Equinox 800 for 1 and half year, most of his hunts were on Land, and he has around 30 Beach hunts on his record. (The way he wrote on Facebook makes one think that he has hunted at the Beach for 1 and half year and using Beach 1 and 2).

Another thing, in the past, he has experienced alot of  EMI while holding and shaking his coil in the air, while on Beach 1 and Beach 2...  after a FP, he managed to fix that "issue", after some hunts he started to have that "issue" again, but this time no need to shake the coil, it just gets alot of EMI just from holding his coil in the air. A FP doesn't fix.

It kind of reminds me the days back when I had the White's Spectra V3i. One day while hunting with the stock coil and using Multi, I had a Overload message on my screen... after dropping the sens, the machine would work fine... but then when I switched to the lowest frequency, I had that Overload error again... the mid frequency was ok at max sens, the highest frequency was also ok at max sens. While trying the Butterfly Sef and the Detech 13 Ultimate coils I had no issues and everything was working just fine! So I guessed that my stock coil was defective...

I'm starting to think that my mate might have a similar situation! I don't know... 

Let me know your thoughts!

Oh btw, that gold ring, he found it minutes ago while using Field 2! Haha 

 

I'm so sorry for my bad English. 

Best regards 

[Sinclair]

Well, it certainly hightly depends on the beach (amount of black sand, salt, trash..). Speaking for my beaches, you'd go mad in field2 even with sens down to 10

6 hours ago, GhostLands said:

Beach 1 or Beach 2, i set a disc from -9 to -3, open from -2 to 16, disc again from 17 to 40

I'd not recommend to disc out everything above 16 - you will miss the big gold for sure.. I've found a 13g, 14k wedding band which rang at 22-25 ...  I'd go for maybe ~33-40, if you want to keep out big iron.

He doesn't tell if he runs field2 in multi or single frequency, nor which software version or coil he uses..

[JackyPT]

Lastest software, field 2 in multi and im using the stock 11 inch coil.😉

[Badger-NH]

He must be joking.  No way will Field mode work better than Beach mode in wet saltwater sand. Even brackish conditions will kill the performance of Field mode.

[ColonelDan]

Just a few words from my experience:  Even in the low mineralized sand of central Florida beaches, Field 2  cannot compete with either of the Beach modes in wet salt sand or surf.  I’ve tested the modes on my beach hunting areas just out of curiosity.  Park 1 in 4kHz on dry sand does OK but again, I’ll stay with the beach modes in damp, wet and surf.
just the view from my salty foxhole....

[JackyPT]

In beach mode i only can run stable at 20... Field 2 i run it at 25. Dont know why, but i use this setting for 6 or 7 hours and the finds increased big Time. Maybe something wrong with the coil, i dont know, but this is what im getting

[Chase Goldman]

13 hours ago, JackyPT said:

In beach mode i only can run stable at 20... Field 2 i run it at 25. Dont know why, but i use this setting for 6 or 7 hours and the finds increased big Time. Maybe something wrong with the coil, i dont know, but this is what im getting

You seem to be addressing EMI issues not salt sand stability.  Just to clarify, are you running Field 2 on wet saturated salt sand or surf or just on damp/dry sand where any mode can be made to run stable?

[midalake]

13 hours ago, JackyPT said:

In beach mode i only can run stable at 20... Field 2 i run it at 25. Dont know why, but i use this setting for 6 or 7 hours and the finds increased big Time. Maybe something wrong with the coil, i dont know, but this is what im getting

Guess I'll weigh in. There is no way field 2 would be workable where  I hunt.  Can not even use beach 1 with water contact.  Much less running 25 sensitivity! 

Is it possible you have a saved user program and are actually on that program? 

To confirm this is open ocean Salt Water?  Do you know anyone else working this mode where you are? 

Thanks Dave

 

[Joe D.]

I would do a full reset first! Than make sure you have the latest updates! Than a full reset again! Test away from salt areas in other modes, to see if there are any other issues! Try and determine if the coil, or cable has any issues away from salt area!

   Even on my mild S. Florida beaches, i can't run full sensitivity normally! Nor would i really want to! Depending on conditions, i run between 20-23 in the beach modes!

Also, remember that your cellphone, or others, and towers, may cause some issues! You can put yours in airplane mode in an opposing pocket from your detector! And no metal in your shoes! I dont know your experience level with the Nox, so i just wanted to cover as many problem issues as i could think of!

  If all else fails, talk to Minelab, and see if they can help you! I've had to replace a pod a few months ago, due to falsing issues not related to coil, or water intrusion! 

Good Luck!👍👍

 

 

[TedinVT]

My curiosity about 4 kHz got the best of me a couple of days ago so I set some coins out in my back yard for a quick, informal test.  I used 4 kHz in all the modes except the beach & gold modes.  I had the coil about 2” or 3” above the coins.  Quarters and dimes hit in 4 kHz about as good as with multifrequency.  Didn't bother with pennies.  4 kHz did not pick up the nickel in any mode tested.  So, the first question is will 4 kHz hit a gold ring which might ring up in the mid to low teens on a beach or anywhere else in any park or field detect mode?  How about gold chains?  More testing to do someday.
Beach 1 has always worked well for me in the wet & dry on saltwater beaches in New England & FL & Beach 2 has always worked great in the saltwater.  Park1 in multi does it for me on fresh water beaches and in the water.  For now I'll stick with multi if there's any possibility of finding gold jewelry.  If it works, don't fix it.