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Connecticut - Hike > Rockhound > Detect


Stretchy

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Folks,

I just joined your fine forum and am enjoying a good winter, full of snow, ice and cold, which affords time to finally see through the trees, and to ponder and plan another season, chock full of New England hiking and rockhounding adventures (gem & mineral).

Now I want add metal detecting, to spice things up.  I’m currently in the early stages of research for this hobby (addiction?), before emptying my wallet, and I’m considering a Minelab Equinox 800.  

No beach combing or town greens for me.  I’m a mountains, woods, stream, and fields guy and I prefer to bushwhack and explore off-trail.  Hoping to reveal some of the past that surrounds me and perhaps find a trinket, coin, teeny nugget, or some interesting mineral. 
 

- Stretchy

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SG, Hello to you, too. I donned my snowshoes as well.  What kind of detector do you have and what kind of things do you find?  I probably won’t get the EQX800 until Spring, but starting to absorb as much as I can for now. BTW, I’m from Litchfield.

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With beach hunting out of the picture your options for detectors is much much wider. Where you seem do do a lot of hiking you may want to check out the ultra light machines from XP.

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  • The title was changed to Connecticut - Hike > Rockhound > Detect

Welcome Stretch, Glad your getting into the detecting hobby. If your set on the nox 800, pick up the 6'' coil for it. Using the 11'' in the woods can be a real pain in the butt. Not saying it won't work but it's easier to swing the smaller coil within the trees and brush. I hunt a lot of woods and their are days its like dragging a boat anchor with you. Good luck with the purchase and we await some of your first finds.

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Hello Stretchy,

   Glad you found your way here! Winter is a good time to research a detector, here on the forum! But whatever one you choose, keep your eyes sharp! As I'm sure you know, many item's and clues can't be picked up with a detector, but may lead you to good places to use it!

Good Luck!!👍👍

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Welcome to the forum Stretchy, The 800 is a solid unit and is worth the money for it's all around use.

I like the fact that it is waterproof (most of the time) and you can get different coils for it. I have been using mine in factory settings and have found some very nice items, and I can't wait to get to go hunting gold with it.

Good luck and happy hunting.

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Welcome, The 800 with the 6" coil was a good recommendation. Since you are hiking, it is lightweight and can somewhat fit into a backpack after being broken down. I've gone biking with mine.

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21 hours ago, dogodog said:

Welcome Stretch, Glad your getting into the detecting hobby. If your set on the nox 800, pick up the 6'' coil for it. Using the 11'' in the woods can be a real pain in the butt. Not saying it won't work but it's easier to swing the smaller coil within the trees and brush.

I'm glad Coiltek came out with a small/medium eliptical for the Minelab Equinox.  I'm disappointed that it's open rather than closed.  This seems to be the direction metal detecting has been going for years (decades?) -- open coils.  Ironically Coiltek is one of the few exclusively aftermarket coil makers who has actually made closed coils!  (Nugget Finder has, too.  I guess it's because these two companies cater to desert gold detectorists.)  Except for the small(est) coils the Eastern European manufacturers seem to stay with open coils.

What we've been left to do is make our own closed coil covers.  I like thin (1/32") polycarbonate baseplate (idea from Steve H. who made one for his Equinox 11").  That's 80% of it.  It can be attached directly to the coil or (in my case) to the available open cover.  You can either go with permanence (epoxy) or removable (with lots of elbow grease -- 100% silicone caulk).  But this solution still leaves the top open to collect refuse although that is more of a problem in the desert.  I've experimented with duct tape over the top -- klugey for sure, but it's reversible!

Hunting in wild vegetation like we have in much of the Eastern part of the USA is a real hassle and open coils hang up too easily in that stuff.

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