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Equinox Depth Gauge Update?


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I really like the Equinox 800. Since getting it I rarely ever use my Etrac and Deus. 

Using the etrac I could call the target and depth in some cases about 70% of the time.

Equinox? No way. The depth gauge is pretty bad. Shallow 1 (tick or inverted triangle) deep? Who knows.  I’m hoping minelab comes out with a patch or something as it’s fairly useless.

Anyone else having this issue or is it just me?

9/5/18 - Minelab Equinox Software Update Released

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It has a depth gage?  Seriously, though, yeah it's a feature that's been pretty much panned by those who actually use a depth gage (coming from a Deus, myself, I never missed the feature since I never really paid much attention to it on that machine, either). I find I get a lot more information about the target when I go into pinpoint mode.  Detect mode on the Equinox has very little audio modulation that you can correlate to target signal strength.  Pinpoint mode is a non-motion pitch mode with depth based (actually target signal strength based) audio modulation and it can be used to get a ballpark idea on target size and depth.  Try it out on some test targets.  It is a little wonky (sometimes locks up so you have to toggle in and out) but works well once you get used to its quirks and is a decent workaround for the EQX depth gage. HTH.

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Yeah, I like the Nox, but not its TID or depth accuracy.  Usually the Nox depth #s can be taken as some indication--i.e., first couple inches, deep, or somewhere in between--but for me that's about it, and even then I am often surprised ? Like you I am comparing it to the Etrac, and more specifically to how they do on coins.  The Etrac, which generates separate FE/CO numbers, probably simply makes better guesses as to what it is looking at which, for coins, anyway, translates into more accurate depth information.

 

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Depth gauge don't work In TN ... just kidding. If you pinpoint or use wiggle method I ck the target area with my handheld pinpointer after I pinpointed with my E-800 and if I get no beep with the handheld that tells me the target is probably over 4" deep and I dig a plug about 6" deep go from there. 

I glance at the depth gauge but unless the target is 2" deep or less I don't go by it.  Now if the depth gauge shows max depth and my detector is screaming in my ears and showing a 30 I  know it's probably a can. 

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Depth gauges are calibrated to coin size objects so this really only applies to coin detecting. For me at least no matter the detector is use, coins are either shallow or deep. I can call deep coins with my Equinox no problem. In my soil any coin over 5” is deep due to mineralization. They are edge of detection range results that sound weaker and I can tell I am at the limits of detection range just by the sound of the initial signal. Going to pinpoint confirms it’s a deep “small” target as opposed to the shallow stuff, which squeals.

There is not any nuance as far as intermediate depth targets, but I don’t worry about that because for me intermediate still means shallow. But deep versus “not deep” has been an easy call for me with Equinox based on audio alone. I consider depth gauges to be secondary to audio and so don’t pay much attention to them myself. Most of my nugget detectors have had no such thing so maybe that is why I tend to ignore them.

That’s not to say the depth gauge could not be better. My CTX was far superior to Equinox in that regard.

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