800 Choppy And Chatty In Water? Please Help

[Gary985112]

Equinox 800 default setup out of the box, beach 2 settings, 20 sensitivity, auto ground settings.

So, I'm waist deep in water, and when I swing the equinox underwater from left to right, sometimes it will make a ding noise, of a faint ding. Sometimes also when I tilt the equinox from side to side in my hand, it will ding like it hits a target. 

I am using the out of the box (not waterproof) bluetooth headset, but its not wet. And screen isn't underwater.

It sounds very chatty but it also sounds like bluetooth headset is cutting in and out, while its being chatty. Is my sensitivity too high? What could be causing this? I was seeing if my machine was broken but others say it is working as intended and I just need a wired in headset. 

I get faint chirp sounds like I found a target, but I get all types of falsing when just swinging the machine underwater. Faint noises, sound cutting out momentarily, it just doesn't seem right.

Brand new machine 2 weeks old, and I'm new at detecting 🙂 thanks for your help. 

[Chase Goldman]

26 minutes ago, Gary985112 said:

Equinox 800 default setup out of the box, beach 2 settings, 20 sensitivity, auto ground settings.

So, I'm waist deep in water, and when I swing the equinox underwater from left to right, sometimes it will make a ding noise, of a faint ding. Sometimes also when I tilt the equinox from side to side in my hand, it will ding like it hits a target. 

I am using the out of the box (not waterproof) bluetooth headset, but its not wet. And screen isn't underwater.

It sounds very chatty but it also sounds like bluetooth headset is cutting in and out, while its being chatty. Is my sensitivity too high? What could be causing this? I was seeing if my machine was broken but others say it is working as intended and I just need a wired in headset. 

I get faint chirp sounds like I found a target, but I get all types of falsing when just swinging the machine underwater. Faint noises, sound cutting out momentarily, it just doesn't seem right.

Brand new machine 2 weeks old, and I'm new at detecting 🙂 thanks for your help. 

First of all, what you are experiencing is common in salt surf because of the constantly varying salinity due to the surf.  You selected the appropriate mode, Beach 2.  

After making sure you have done a noise cancel, then you should do is an auto (pumping)  GB to establish the starting GB point and then put the detector into GB tracking mode (single press of the +/- button while in the GB settings menu, you should see a sine wave symbol in the upper display). Tracking will help keep GB near the appropriate salt balance point based on salinity variation.  

If you are still experiencing excessive noise, then yes, you should incrementally lower sensitivity.  

Note that you likely won’t get the machine to remain totally quiet under these dynamic conditions and any movement of the coil from being parallel with the bottom during your swing will also generate ground noise, and there may also be noise associated with mechanical agitation of the coil in the surf.  

Regarding your wireless phones, there should be no cutouts as long as the detector control panel remains above the surface of the water.  However, since the stock wireless headphones are not waterproof, the salt spray (over time) and an accidental dunking can ruin them, so I highly suggest using either weatherproof wireless BT phones (Quest makes these) or wired phones with the appropriate protected Nox headphone connector plug.  HTH  GL

[Gary985112]

6 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

First of all, what you are experiencing is common in salt surf because of the constantly varying salinity due to the surf.  You selected the appropriate mode, Beach 2.  

After making sure you have done a noise cancel, then you should do is an auto (pumping)  GB to establish the starting GB point and then put the detector into GB tracking mode (single press of the +/- button while in the GB settings menu, you should see a sine wave symbol in the upper display). Tracking will help keep GB near the appropriate salt balance point based on salinity variation.  

If you are still experiencing excessive noise, then yes, you should incrementally lower sensitivity.  

Note that you likely won’t get the machine to remain totally quiet under these dynamic conditions and any movement of the coil from being parallel with the bottom during your swing will also generate ground noise, and there may also be noise associated with mechanical agitation of the coil in the surf.  

Regarding your wireless phones, there should be no cutouts as long as the detector control panel remains above the surface of the water.  However, since the stock wireless headphones are not waterproof, the salt spray (over time) and an accidental dunking can ruin them, so I highly suggest using either weatherproof wireless BT phones (Quest makes these) or wired phones with the appropriate protected Nox headphone connector plug.  HTH  GL

Thanks very much for the detailed response 🙂 I appreciate the help. I have 2 questions if you dont mind. 

- To clarify, do I do the auto ground balance while coil is underwater for underwater detecting? Then set it to tracking ground balance underwater as well?

- Also, When I lower sensitivity, how much depth do I actually lose? Like is going from 20 to 18 sensitivity going to make me miss a target? Is it like an inch difference or is it a huge difference?

[strick]

You can auto ground balance any time you wish...this is also referred to a ground grab. You can do a ground grad while in tracking as well. How to tell if your detector is out of ground balance...just raise and lower the coil without pushing any of the ground balance buttons...if the machine is making weird sounds like a low/high or the opposite a high/low it’s out of balance. You should check your ground balance frequently..some places will be more frustrating then others as you try to keep the machine in balance.

 You can actually Hear more targets  by lowering your sensitivity if your machine is making too much noise at higher settings.  The goal is to have the machine running in a way that is comfortable to your hearing.  Some people like to run their machine a little more chattery then others. The equinox is a noise machine to begin with but you should have it figured out soon enough.  Test your machine at home by burring some targets to get more familiar with it. 

Strick

[LawrencetheMDer]

Good advice, but should note that w auto ground tracking repeated sweeping over a target will cause the target signal to disappear.  Personally, I never use it.

One strategy I use, 8-12hrs/wk in Gulf surf w 800 and 15" coil, is to identify the segments causing excessive noise (usually 1-3) and to null those segments.  And, although it has been shown that some very small and low weight gold rings are found at those segments, it is very rare.  With the appropriate noisy segments nulled I can often run 23-24 sensitivity w a 15" coil.  Of course, noise cancel and ground balance should always be done first to minimize environmental effects.  And I don't use wireless headphones.

[TedinVT]

All spot on advice in the replies. In my Gulf experience you won't miss much by dropping sensitivity from say 20 to 18.

You may also get chirps if your coil briefly contacts the sand ripples on the bottom. I would suggest getting a pair of wired waterproof headphones because you will probably end up ruining your bluetooth headphones. It only takes an unexpected wave or a splashing swimmer to toast the wireless phones.

[midalake]

5 hours ago, LawrencetheMDer said:

Good advice, but should note that w auto ground tracking repeated sweeping over a target will cause the target signal to disappear.  Personally, I never use it.

This statement is 100% false in ANY beach mode! 

[Jeff McClendon]

17 hours ago, midalake said:

This statement is 100% false in ANY beach mode! 

That has not been my experience using the Equinox Beach Modes.

Very small targets and targets that are exhibiting very small profiles like targets on edge, can become much weaker with repeated swings over them. They will be seen almost like part of the beach after several swings especially if their target IDs are already near the salt ground balance point and I accidentally do a slight up and down motion over them. So items like small earring backs, small studs, small rings that are broken/damaged, very small chains could (not saying they 100% will or won't) be missed. They are hard enough to detect with the Equinox Beach modes anyway. Specifically looking for those with tracking engaged.......I probably wouldn't do it unless the target I was after was submerged.

So, for normal sized .5 gram and up coin sized targets that are showing a good profile, I don't see tracking ground balance being an issue. Smaller than that............100% tracking won't have a detrimental effect..........I don't agree with that statement.

[midalake]

4 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Very small targets and targets that are exhibiting very small profiles like targets on edge, can become much weaker with repeated swings over them. They will be seen almost like part of the beach after several swings especially if their target IDs are already near the salt ground balance point and I accidentally do a slight up and down motion over them.

This has not been my experience. EVER! 
If I heard it the first time, I could do 5 360's around it and not have one issue to recover. ALL I do is hunt in tracking! 

I have also hunted with three different pod and coil combos. Also, the 15" coil which I have NEVER experienced a "lost" target do to tracking GB.

Sometimes I swear the 15" coil is better on small targets than the 11". The 15" coil always amazes me! 
Feel free to show me one Utube Vid that proves me wrong!!!! 

[Jeff McClendon]

1 hour ago, midalake said:

This has not been my experience. EVER! 
If I heard it the first time, I could do 5 360's around it and not have one issue to recover. ALL I do is hunt in tracking! 

I have also hunted with three different pod and coil combos. Also, the 15" coil which I have NEVER experienced a "lost" target do to tracking GB.

Sometimes I swear the 15" coil is better on small targets than the 11". The 15" coil always amazes me! 
Feel free to show me one Utube Vid that proves me wrong!!!! 

I don't play the "show me a Youtube video" game. 

I just report what I experience just like you Dave.

I simply don't have the ground to detect that lets me have any "always and nevers" when it comes to absolute settings.

And, every time I have saltwater beach hunted with a Nox, I have had to adjust settings to match the beach which includes changing from tracking to ground grab depending on black sand and salt content.