Another Look At Nox On Micro Placer Gold

[Condor]

Temps here in Sunny Yuma are still unbearable, but I got out for a few hrs early this AM to play with the Equinox 800 and 6" coil.  I went back to the same spot as last week, an area of relatively flat drywash tailings.  I poked around for half Hr in the Gold II setting but the hot rocks were becoming quite tedious.  Even if you apply some discrimination, they blow through the filter with a choppy broken tone.  I remembered that our skilled Moderator has said, many months ago, that he was quite confident in finding small gold in the Park II mode.  I thought I'd give it a try figuring the hot rocks would come in the low tone and gold would pop through in the higher tones.  I picked a spot of choppy hot ground and put down my 1/4 gram test nugget.  It zipped through with a nice high tone and the choppy hot ground more or less disappeared.  I ran the Sens up to 23, no discrimination, everything else factory preset in Park II.  It was truly amazing, the hot rock tones were gone.  Park II also runs with no threshold so the machine was nearly dead silent.  I went back over the ground I had just covered and started popping these tiny bits of gold.  Half of them came out of boot scrapes I had left last week.  I did not rely on the VID numbers, just the tone.  If the machine grunted a low tone but fluttered a high tone I dug.  I pulled up some tiny pieces of rusted steel and wire, but enough of those targets turned into gold to keep me digging.  I watched the VID numbers on a couple targets.  They started out negative VID -7, -8, but when uncovered popped 0 or +1, all the while with a high tone. 

As we discussed on the last thread, VID numbers for gold vary, but now it's clear that relying on VID is going to miss gold.  The tones were certainly more reliable than VID in this situation.  And clearly, Park II is plenty sensitive to small gold.  These 10 pieces combined would not register on my scale.  I used a sewing needle for scale, they are that tiny. 

I suspect that the hot rocks were screened out by the "iron bias" filter, perhaps Steve can shed more light on that aspect.  This machine is really starting to impress me.

 

[LuckyLundy]

Steve,

l’ve been interested in the Nox 800 for relic and the little coil for gold vs the Monster!  I’m well versed with the Monster and it’s capabilty in hot soil vs my GB2.  But haven’t made my mind up Monster vs Nox.  Those are some tiny nuggets, but the hot ground factor, I’ll have to see it in action if your up this way this season let me know.

Rick

[Steve Herschbach]

Equinox versus Gold Monster is pretty simple. Both machines are extremely capable at finding gold. Lots of prospectors want a nugget machine and nothing more. The Gold Monster is single minded and that's a good thing. The Equinox is for those who want a multipurpose machine with excellent nugget capability. Currently Equinox runs with the best beach hunting detectors AND the best VLF nugget machines - a feat unheard of before now.

The Gold Monster is far easier to master. The Equinox on the other hand has some magic settings that I think will allow it to run in some ground where the Monster will struggle simply because it lacks the controls entirely. And while the machines are neck and neck in all metal mode I far prefer the Equinox if I have to use any discrimination.

I think Park 2 and Field 2 are equally good at getting the gold, but I am now recommending Park 2 as a starting point simply because the defaults are closer to where you need to be. Field 2 has a modified disc scheme that both notches out target id numbers 1 and 2 but which also has them set up to read as low tone ferrous. If using Field 2 as a base setting it is critical this is reversed before nugget detecting. With Park 2 you have less chance of getting caught accidently rejecting gold. Also, the Recovery Speed setting is already at 6, my favorite, where Field 2 starts out at 7.

As all nugget hunters know, any discrimination can pay a price in missed good targets. If you get into a trash pit however you have to just do the best you can do.

My Tips On Nugget Detecting With The Minelab Equinox

The areas in red below are my concerns as regards Field 2 (click for larger version):

Equinox Park 2 vs Field 2

[Condor]

I "horseshoed" out for no discrimination, yet the machine silenced the hot rocks.  My assumption is the Iron Bias accounted for that, but that's a guess.

[Steve Herschbach]

I have to admit I don't know why it works. It just does. Iron Bias is preset at 0 in Park 2 and so is actually set higher in the Gold Modes at 6. More likely just the difference in how the mode processes things. That's what makes the Equinox fun - nobody can really claim to be an expert on all this. Lots of room for experimentation, unlike the Monster.

[Condor]

Now I have to go back out tomorrow and re-check my settings.  I'll take along the rake and pull down some of the piles for good measure.

[Condor]

I got back out for a couple hrs this morning and verified my NOX 800 settings.  I was definitely running with no discrimination in Park 2, with Sens at 23, running in the 5 tone mode.  I toggled back and forth on a couple targets with the Gold 2 setting.  Park 2 was way better at, for lack of a better term, separation.  The Gold 2 audio was really overloaded with the background of "hot rocks/ground noise".  The VID in Gold 2 stayed at -8, -9, clear hot rock reading and the target response was very broad.  I tried to add some discrimination in Gold 2 to see if I could tame it down.  No go.  Whereas the Park 2 gave a crisp zip type signal over the target.  The VID on undug targets in Park 2 varied from 0 to -5.  Once the targets were in the scoop they ranged from 0 to +2.  Park 2 eliminated well over 90% of the "hot rock" tones that were killing me in Gold 2.

Again, the key was the positive high tone even if it was combined with the low tone growl.  Many of these undug targets only gave a high tone in one direction.  Once they were uncovered they were generally positive high tone in all directions.  Forget about the VID for these tiny pieces of gold. 

I doubt many prospectors expect to pursue a steady diet of these tiny mico gold nuggets, but it's good to know the NOX can certainly do it.  I figure the larger gold with take care of itself, I just need to get the coil over some.  We've absolutely hammered this little spot with the Z7000, so most of the bigger gold is already in the poke somewhere.

The NOX 6" coil absolutely rocks on tiny gold!

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Thanks for the follow up report Steve. I saw enough this year to change my "in use machine" list on my profile to just GPZ 7000 and Equinox. Between those two detectors I can do 98% of what I want to do with a detector.

I am holding on the my White's V3i to run my Bigfoot coil, but the fact is I have not fired it up once this year. It's strictly a large field jewelry sweeping device for me, nothing more, and I have not done any of that this year. So far. I have a Gold Monster, Gold Racer, Gold Kruzer, and Goldmaster 24K also, but all of them essentially tiny gold machines. And for that right now I am going to grab the Equinox with 6" coil first, just because of the tricks like you are playing now. I absolutely know what the other machines will/can do, but Equinox and Multi-IQ simply has surprises, good ones, and that's fun for me at least. It's fun figuring something out that is genuinely new.

And let's face it - this VLF stuff is secondary anyway. Better in most cases to grab the GPZ and go for larger gold.

Seems to me you were not thrilled by the Deus Gold Field mode either, preferring to use a modified disc mode instead. All metal can get oppressive in really noisy locations.

The bottom limit for "tiny" on the Equinox must be darn near microscopic.

[Condor]

13 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Thanks, now I want to take my 6" out for a spin and try out your tactics, I've probably passed up on a fair bit of small gold..

You will not be disappointed with this tactic if you have small surface gold.  The machine runs dead quiet till you get over a target.  The deepest target I dug was the biggest of these tiny nuggets, down maybe 2 inches.  The key is a high tone chirp.   I will try and get the Z 7000 over a decent undug target and check it with the NOX.  

[Condor]

19 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Thanks for the follow up report Steve. I saw enough this year to change my "in use machine" list on my profile to just GPZ 7000 and Equinox. Between those two detectors I can do 98% of what I want to do with a detector.

I am holding on the my White's V3i to run my Bigfoot coil, but the fact is I have not fired it up once this year. It's strictly a large field jewelry sweeping device for me, nothing more, and I have not done any of that this year. So far. I have a Gold Monster, Gold Racer, Gold Kruzer, and Goldmaster 24K also, but all of them essentially tiny gold machines. And for that right now I am going to grab the Equinox with 6" coil first, just because of the tricks like you are playing now. I absolutely know what the other machines will/can do, but Equinox and Multi-IQ simply has surprises, good ones, and that's fun for me at least. It's fun figuring something out that is genuinely new.

Seem to me you were not thrilled by the Deus Gold Field mode either, preferring to use a modified disc mode instead. All metal can get oppressive in really noisy locations.

The bottom limit for "tiny" on the Equinox must be darn near microscopic.

I'm still baffled on how this Park 2 filters the hot rocks and hot ground so much better than Gold 2.   I believe this machine could be set up for a rank amateur, wife, girlfriend, kid who want to try detector prospecting but will burn out quick if they spend too much time chasing hot rocks and hot ground.  Set this thing in Park 2, Sens 20 and dig anything that gives a high tone and a VID under +12.   All my bigger test nuggets come in at +8 to +10.