Does Anyone Observe That Unmasking Is Easier With The New Eqx Software Build?

[Tiftaaft]

7 hours ago, Alluminati said:

Some days my coffee tastes better then others.

One of the most intuitive things I have ever heard Alluminati.  Nicely stated.  ~Tim.

[Tiftaaft]

6 hours ago, EL NINO77 said:

One of the possibilities of comparing the current and the new firmware is to locate 10-20 suspected signals in the terrain, and then verify them on another firmware ... at the same time...

This is very true El Nino.   I have done this test once (although it was with the 800 and 600 on different firmware versions... but all other settings equal according to the manual).  I had intended on doing a more comprehensive test like this sooner... and still do intend to do that.  Unfortunately, I usually have short windows of time to hunt (so I am reluctant to spend it testing rather than getting my knees dirty and digging up as many desirable targets as I can in the short window of time I have to hunt), and then the 6" came - so I have that comparison to get my hands around... and now the 15" is shipping to arrive early next week.. .haha.  I need to take some vacation time from work! 

What I did find in my short test between firmware versions using the 11" coil on the two machines, is that the 10 targets I found with the 800 on new firmware, hit equal, or slightly better than the old firmware.  2 targets specifically sounded better on the new... one happened to be a silver rosie, and the other a 6" wheat on edge.  That isn't to say I wouldn't have dug them both on the old firmware machine... hard to tell when you have a spot mark and are cross checking... what would actually happen in a one machine real hunt... but under the conditions, with the targets I had, and minimizing but not eliminating all the variables (maybe my swing path was at a slightly different angle even thought I was walking the same path... etc), that was what my findings were. 

Hopefully a more comprehensive test sample and report to follow.

Tim.

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

I haven’t done a lot of comparing to initial released version to newer.

I may do some in coming days and see what I can see.

And report on here.

[Chase Goldman]

On 10/31/2018 at 4:17 PM, steveg said:

Hi all!

I have a site where -- for some reason -- I dig a TON of moderate-depth wheat cents, but very little silver.  It's a small strip of grass, next to where a pool used to be located, on a former country club site.

ANYWAY, I went through there many times with my old Explorer, and pretty well "cleaned it out," as far as the Explorer's capability goes.  The coins are intermingled with quite a bit of iron/nails, and so many are masked by the iron.   But given that caveat, there was not much else there, once I "finished," that the Explorer was able to "clue me in on," in terms of there being any coins left.

Well, when I got the Equinox, I thought it would be a great "test site."  I went through that small strip of grass with the 11" coil, as a "test," to see how well the Equinox's improved ability to work in iron (compared to my Explorer) would actually show itself "in the field."  Well, it did not disappoint.  I believe I turned up about a dozen wheats and a Rosie, all from a this small grassy area that I'd hit MULTIPLE times with the Explorer and various coils, and all of the coins under, or very near, iron.  I had nails in just about every hole -- which explains why the Explorer missed these coins.

Having said that, I did have to "work" each one of those targets with the Equinox pretty carefully, listening very closely to hear the chirps of high-tone mixed in with the iron tones, and then to try and figure out which of those high tones were just "falses," and which ones were hints of a coin.  Still, though, like I said, the Equinox enabled me to pull roughly a dozen coins out of a small area that -- after many trips with the Explorer -- would have suggested a conclusion that the site was about "played out."  NOT SO, though, for the Equinox!  This was a great testimonial to the ability of the EQX, from my perspective. 

I had not hunted the site again, since.

So, fast forward to few nights ago.  I headed back to this same spot, still with the 11" coil, but this time with the updated software version.  In a very short hunt, over this same, small grassy area, I recovered three more wheats, and several '60s Memorial pennies, all of which were "missed" when I hunted it with the Equinox before.  While it's not surprising that I "missed" several coins the last time, as it was only one hunt with the EQX, what WAS surprising is that several of the ones I dug this time were OBVIOUS -- yes, they were still within iron, but I was able to get the machine to really "lock on" to the high tone, from several angles, that left almost NO DOUBT that there was a coin down there, in the nails.  The targets were so "easy" to pick out from the iron, that I'm surprised I missed them last time.  Now -- I'm not sure if the fact that it was "easier" to hear these particular coins in the nails (coins that literally stood out to my ears like a "sore thumb" amongst the iron tones), was simply due to several more months of experience on the machine since the last time I hunted this site, OR whether that new software build is allowing the machine to "unmask" in iron even better than it did before.

Any thoughts from anyone?  Has anyone else perhaps noticed the new software build offering better ability to "unmask?"  (Or, was what I experienced more likely to be simply additional experience on the machine?)  It was a pretty stark, obvious observation, and the several months that have elapsed between these two hunts (with two different versions of software) offer a unique scenario to "analyze..."  Was it "more experience," or was it assistance offered by the new software?

Steve 

Steve - here is my thought - why aren't you hitting that spot with the 6 inch coil.  Lol.

It is on my to do list to do some side by side comparisons of pre and post update firmware.  I donated my 600 and have 2 800's now and can do some true side by side.  Some non-exhaustuve side-by-side testing indicates differences between the two firmware versions both good and bad.  Want to do coil comparisons too.

In addition to the swing angle of attack as pointed out by Sinclair and the detect ability variations that come from using different detectors, other factors that keep sites from being hunted out include the different moisture content of the soil on different days, target corrosion rates, and the fact that targets in the ground ARE CONSTANTLY ON THE MOVE due to frost heave, tilling, plowing, fertilizing, aerating, rain, and root action as well as other reasons.  Not only does this change the depth of the targets or their relative locations, it changes their orientation in the ground (edge up to flat up) or their proximity to masking junk.  So even if a site us not being refreshed, if it has absorbed a lot of targets, it will be difficult to fully clean it out.  A "proclaimed" hunted out site is usually a fallacy.

[steveg]

Chase,

LOL!  Your thought is spot-on, and clearly the most logical idea for this particular patch of grass (employment of the 6" coil)!  The answer as to why I did not run the 6"?  I literally made the decision as to which spot I was going to detect while in the car driving -- and had the 11" coil installed on my machine at the time (my bad!)  I usually run the 11", and so it was what I had, by default.  I originally intended to visit another spot that evening, but quickly made a "change of plans," en route.  However, I agree that I did not utilize the optimal coil for the job.  Still, it did allow that interesting opportunity to compare software versions...

And I fully agree with the remainder of your post.  Extremely accurate and valid thoughts, IMO -- in terms of how sites are never "hunted out" entirely...

I'll look forward to your side-by-side reports of the two different firmware versions, as you are optimally set up to answer some of my subjective/qualitative questions, in a much more objective/quantitative manner, with that set-up.

Steve