Relic Settings

[Valley Ranger]

I searched first, but could not find what I'm looking for on this topic. I apologize if I've missed it. The Equinox has been very good to me on some "trashier" colonial and homesites here in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. But it's struggled on a Civil War battlefield site that I have access to. It seems to miss a lot of lead (Minie' balls) and just not performing well. The soil is slightly mineralized due to fertilzing, but not anything major and most other machines handle it very well. There is VERY little trash on this site. Over the last 10 years I've used many different machines and dug a ton of Minie' balls, shell fragments and some iron musket parts - but the brass has eluded me. There was intense hand to hand on this site and thousands of troops, so I KNOW the brass is there. What programs/settings might some of you recommend for this type of environment? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know I'm not getting the potential out of the Nox and want to really give the unit a good shot at this site. Thanks!

[F350Platinum]

Welcome Ranger. I see you haven't posted in meet and greet yet, this may get moved there. I am in Virginia as well. You have quite a bit more time swinging a detector than I do but I'll give it a shot, as I want to help here.

What Equinox do you have? An 800 has a bit more to think about (or not, preferably) than a 600. There is certainly no need to write it off just yet. One thing I have never had a problem finding is lead, from  Gardiners to fishing sinkers to musket balls to the smallest piece of buckshot. Lead is highly inconsistent ID-wise, ranging from 7 to about 26. And brass? In 5 months I've found well over 100 buttons and countless shells. This is all in a farm right outside my door. I've been told it's an "easy" place. Brass will register as low as 12, I've had Tombacs come in at 3. Are you sure the place hasn't been hit hard?

While there are no magic settings for the Equinox as I am sure you know from other detectors, depending on where you hunt (woods, field, or beach), the modes as default are perfectly suited to finding anything. Others here will help you tweak it later.

In my area I use Field 2 for the 50 tones and run in all metal - all the time. That is it. No fancy additions other than moving iron balance to F2=0, but even that isn't particularly necessary. The dealer told me not to "overthink" the Equinox. That was sage advice.

First suggestion when in the field you want to hunt is to do a factory reset (Hold power until FP appears from off), re-pair your headphones if using BT Aptx-ll, set your mode, then noise cancel, auto ground balance, and off you go. Quite frankly I have no idea how bad I jacked up the detector the last time I used it so a fresh start helps sometimes. I use my detector almost every day. There are a lot of reasons why certain things would elude you but from a reset that shouldn't happen.

So glad you have access to a place like that! Be careful not to reveal too much about it. If I wasn't pretty far away I'd beg ya to invite me. 😀

Looking forward to your finds and experiences.

[Valley Ranger]

6 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Welcome Ranger. I see you haven't posted in meet and greet yet, this may get moved there. I am in Virginia as well. You have quite a bit more time swinging a detector than I do but I'll give it a shot, as I want to help here.

What Equinox do you have? An 800 has a bit more to think about (or not, preferably) than a 600. There is certainly no need to write it off just yet. One thing I have never had a problem finding is lead, from  Gardiners to fishing sinkers to musket balls to the smallest piece of buckshot. Lead is highly inconsistent ID-wise, ranging from 7 to about 26. And brass? In 5 months I've found well over 100 buttons and countless shells. This is all in a farm right outside my door. I've been told it's an "easy" place. Brass will register as low as 12, I've had Tombacs come in at 3. Are you sure the place hasn't been hit hard?

While there are no magic settings for the Equinox as I am sure you know from other detectors, depending on where you hunt (woods, field, or beach), the modes as default are perfectly suited to finding anything. Others here will help you tweak it later.

In my area I use Field 2 for the 50 tones and run in all metal - all the time. That is it. No fancy additions other than moving iron balance to F2=0, but even that isn't particularly necessary. The dealer told me not to "overthink" the Equinox. That was sage advice.

First suggestion when in the field you want to hunt is to do a factory reset (Hold power until FP appears from off), re-pair your headphones if using BT Aptx-ll, set your mode, then noise cancel, auto ground balance, and off you go. Quite frankly I have no idea how bad I jacked up the detector the last time I used it so a fresh start helps sometimes. I use my detector almost every day. There are a lot of reasons why certain things would elude you but from a reset that shouldn't happen.

So glad you have access to a place like that! Be careful not to reveal too much about it. If I wasn't pretty far away I'd beg ya to invite me. 😀

Looking forward to your finds and experiences.

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm sure you're in similar soil so I'll try your suggestions next time out and let you know. I have the 800. No, it's not been "hit hard" - at least not the area I'm in. I dig minie's with other machines every 3-4 feet at 6", so I know that where I'm hunting still has quite a few relics.

[F350Platinum]

55 minutes ago, Valley Ranger said:

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm sure you're in similar soil so I'll try your suggestions next time out and let you know. I have the 800. No, it's not been "hit hard" - at least not the area I'm in. I dig minie's with other machines every 3-4 feet at 6", so I know that where I'm hunting still has quite a few relics.

Well, we're more 4" topsoil, 1 foot clay, and the rest sand like a beach. The farms are Blue Marle, a rather nasty concrete like substance in the summer. Best to hunt in fall winter and spring here. 🤪 I'm near the Potomac and the bay.