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Opinions On Equinox Detect Modes?


Flowdog

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Edit Steve H - moved from this thread

It's been about 3 weeks since starting this new hobby (and asking my first newbie question.) I feel as if I have survived a 3-week full body and mind mugging. Nevertheless, I gotta say this about asking questions on this board: expect answers that put the ball in your court and that will require a complete and diligent research effort. BTW,  my Lake Tahoe 50th anniversary was lovely, but hunting was awkward. Private beach, snowing hard, limited time (that's why I am still married), but I managed to find one target - a 2011 zinc at the water's edge in Beach Mode 1 thanks to Gerry in Idaho's suggestion. First lesson: get permission. I was the only person on the beach due to the weather I guess. I felt that I was in a reverse fishbowl because all the cottages' windows were open and I felt the many eyes watching this fool attempting to look as if he knew what the hell he was doing "out there." I should have asked if the rules disallowed detecting on the beach. Never again. Just too uncomfortable. However, my first dig = coin. That equation would disintegrate over the next 3 weeks. No more coins in the next 50 digs. Sorry if this is too garrulous but I am truly infatuated and am getting to a question regarding the various Detect Modes and under what conditions to use them as hinted earlier in this post by Chase Goldman. Meanwhile, closer to home, I decided to detect in an iron graveyard. I dug an entire railroad rail. I had to squirm off the end because my pocket full of rare earth magnets had me pinned to the rail. Many spikes - vertical and horizontal. I actually lost more things than I found. Then going back to find the things I lost became a priority for a couple of days. That and trying to arrange my implements in a comfortable and easy-to-access way. I found my lost items and am fast approaching a carry system that works ok for me. I do not dig as many full-length rails, or spikes, or wire. I even found a small (silver) button in Gold 2 modified, a brass showerhead, spent bullet, and a copper clasp among the iron infestation. Meanwhile, I have read the above-suggested materials. This, of course, leads to more reading material. Mind expanding and numbing at once. Age-related dichotomy no doubt. So, getting to it, Chase (or anybody else) ... do I dare ask ... for YOUR overview of the 800's preset Detect Modes that may be an enhancement to the Manual description. Most importantly, I think what I really want to hear about is when detecting a new area (they are all new to me)  are there unobvious methods you use to pick a certain Mode over another? How do you analyze a location using Equinox as your guide? Some of Steve H's postings suggest how to tune/detune for gold hunting or even using Park 2 modified for hunting gold. His suggestions give me some feeling and insight into the flexibility of the various modes in crossing over from their labeled purposes as configured preset. Yes! It is time for me to STOP! And tune my hearing aid.

Image 3-28-19 at 12.01 PM.jpg

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I almost always use Field 2 with 5 tones. No objective reason other than it suits my preferences for what I like to hear from the ground. More signals than Park 1, but I like that. A lot of them are trash or small items, but that's OK. I've learned what an old nickel sounds like (consistent 11/12 as I circle the target, and a small "hot spot" in pinpoint mode). I've done well with finding silver, even silver dimes on edge. I've learned to use tone, depth gauge, and pinpoint mode to gather data about a target. Field 2 just suits the way I like to hunt.

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Beach mode is not really for freshwater beaches.  It trades power (depth) for stability in wet salt beach conditions.  Though beach mode will work, it is not optimal at freshwater beaches and you should use the mode suited to your main target of interest, just as if you were land hunting.  This is how I stack up the modes for various situations and targets:

Park 1 or Field 1 for high conductive coins/targets (e.g., silver jewelry).

Park 2 or Field 2 for gold jewelry, nickels, brass and small targets and for hunting relicscwhich tend to be mid-conductors (brass and lead).

I use gold mode when detecting in highly mineralized ground because it tends to penetrate mineralized ground better but is linited in depth overall becsuse it is high frequency weighted and high frequency signals penetrate into the ground less than low frequency weighted dignals due to attenuation 

For salt beach hunting I use Beach 1 on dry wet sand and beach 2 in the surf.

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4 hours ago, SnohomishDigger said:

Field 2 just suits the way I like to hunt.

Interesting. Do your hunts generally take place encountering essentially the same overall conditions targeting coins on most hunts? Or do you modify Field 2 settings to whatever extent away from FPs to tune your machine to your tone preferences in a given location no matter the environmental matrix you are working? If so, it would seem that sometimes Park 2 may barely need a change from preset while other times in very different conditions, you may end up very distant from preset to achieve what you want. Almost a different animal than Park 2 - yet still be Park 2? That would seem to blur some of the lines among Mode choices useable with 5 tones. I like simple but know that in no remote way do I have the skills to make one Detect Mode "rule them all." However, I may just give your method an honest effort. Thanks.

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Hi Chase. My first moved topic, so I apologize for trying to tie one of your previous quotes to this new topic for some continuity that I think is on point. My apologies to Steve as well if I am doing something I shouldn't. 

 

Prior topic quote: "One of the mantras I use to optimize Equinox setup is to stay as close to the defaults as I possibly can and to maximize the signal to noise ratio.  Avoid doing things that raise the noise floor along with signal sensitivity (like cranking sensitivity too high or lowering recovery speed too low as mentioned previously).

Let me know if you want to go into the different properties of the various modes (Park 1/2, Field 1/2,. Beach 1/2, etc.) and what conditions and targets they are optimized for."

3 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

"This is how I stack up the modes for various situations and targets:

Park 1 or Field 1 for high conductive coins/targets (e.g., silver jewelry).

Park 2 or Field 2 for gold jewelry, nickels, brass and small targets and for hunting relicscwhich tend to be mid-conductors (brass and lead).

I use gold mode when detecting in 'highly mineralized ground because it tends to penetrate mineralized ground better but is linited in depth overall becsuse it is high frequency weighted and high frequency signals penetrate into the ground less than low frequency weighted dignals due to attenuation ..."

8

Thanks for the guidelines. They are solid and consistent with the previous "CHEW ON THIS" voluminous reading suggestions you made for me a few weeks ago. ? That reading lead me, in part, to Steve's 2018 UK hunt blog and learned that his Mode and settings choices were a series of considered tradeoffs that very narrowly scored him a beautiful Celtic gold relic - a perfect example of his thought process while considering that the "no free lunch" realities may either come home to roost or fly the coop. Steve also "categorized" the Detect Modes almost in the same way you did - Multi-Q frequency weighting, then single frequency operation as an alternative. Based more on characteristics from Gold being hottest, Park and Field 2 - hot, P&F 1 tamer to Beach Modes - lowest frequency weightings. I may be off track yet again but it seems that the main difference in both of your site assessment approaches regarding Mode Selection and settings seems to be one of focus. Your method of Mode choice seems to be primarily target-dependent with subsequent setting adjustments for the environment; Steve's seems to emphasize choosing a Mode that first offsets to an extent possible quieting ferrous, ground, and other problem signal generators. Kind of a "tune it and the targets will come" method. Either way is logical, assumes good coil control practices, but leaves me wondering how to analyze a new area to hunt while still keeping settings as close to FP as possible as your mantra suggests? I may just be talking about two sides of the same coin!? If so just lay it on me!  Is there a substantive difference in your approaches? Soon I want to try to nugget shoot. So the GOLD Modes are clearly going to be a challenge to run as Steve suggests - counter mineralized conditions with essentially barely audible AM with no discrimination rejects as a perfect goal - if possible. If not, the no free lunch tab will be paid in losses but in keeping with your mantra of staying close to ideal as possible as my guide. But, staying clear of the goldfields for a few weeks, I want to learn closer to home. I'd like to continue relic and coin hunting in some very specific previously occupied sites. Those are my target priorities. The site conditions are unknown to me.  I just want to find a method that I can use to determine with the Equinox what information a site presents to inform which is the closest FP Mode and subsequent setting decisions in keeping with not straying unreasonably far from preset - if possible. Should I first swing the coil in All Metal to listen, then choose a Mode, then noise cancel and finally GB? Or pick Mode by target? In an orderly approach to site assessment, is there a "preferred order" to achieve max performance when tuning the gain, recovery, IB, threshold properties, etc.? The Iron infested site I have tackled really is bewildering in the sheer scope of possibilities (infinite?) to this rookie. It felt wonderful to locate and cross-confirm a solid 25 TID in that muddy mess and dig a small nonferrous button. However,  I like to harbor the hope that a machine-based methodology can be applied to a site assessment instead of unlimited random trials and errors over a protracted period while I slowly graduate from the school of hard knocks. If I was 50 years younger I suppose the tenor of my question would be very very different. Tick tock. I wish I could make a simple point and must apologize to anyone reading this for any agony caused by my lack of brevity. It is too new for me to be concise. HH to all.

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Regarding depth in general - Park 1 without iron  bias should be deepest on high conductors - that is just physics (frequency vs. depth) but the small actual raw depth differences between modes and the variability of all parameters not uner the detectorists control (mineralization, moisture, corrosion, target profile)  makes it possible to show practically any mode to be deepest under the right condition.  It is pointless to esyablish which mode is deepest, frankly.  In fact, for raw depth on high conductors in ideal conditions, any mode using 5 khz single frequency should be able to perform best.

Interested to see your test results.  In the mean time actual finds don't lie.  The .69 rammed minie and Parrot shell fragment in the pic below were recovered at 8 to 11 inches using gold mode at mineralized site in Virginia. 

20190327_053655.jpg

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12 hours ago, Flowdog said:

Hi Chase. My first moved topic, so I apologize for trying to tie one of your previous quotes to this new topic for some continuity that I think is on point. My apologies to Steve as well if I am doing something I shouldn't. 

No, I just try to break threads into discrete topics as opposed to threads that go on forever and morph over time. The reason is to keep things organized for future reference/topic searches. A thread title is it’s best reference, and when the subject changes from the original title topic time for a new thread. I always leave a reference link to the original thread when a split is made.

In this case I may have split something best left together but it seemed to me the question of modes is a distinct subject. The following are not "facts" but the way I look at / employ the modes. The names have nothing to do with where I might use the modes.

 

Park 1 and Field 1 - basically the same except for presets. I use when I want a well behaved machine not excessively sensitive to tiny stuff. Coins and rings.

Park 2 and Field 2 - basically the same except for presets. For when I want enhanced sensitivity to small signals/low conductive targets.

Beach 1 and Beach 2 - saltwater beaches, extreme mineral ground/alkali flats. Beach 1 is more sensitive, Beach 2 compensates for “in water” saltwater effects or mineralized magnetic sand conditions.

Gold Mode 1 and Gold Mode 2 - basically the same except for presets. For pushing the limits, maximum depth or low conductor sensitivity.

 

Most sensitive to small signals, hot rocks, signals from salt/alkali conditions

1. Gold Modes

2. Park & Field Mode 2

3. Park & Field  Mode 1

4. Beach Mode 1

5. Beach Mode 2

Least sensitive to small signals, hot rocks, signals from salt/alkali conditions

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11 hours ago, Flowdog said:

Interesting. Do your hunts generally take place encountering essentially the same overall conditions targeting coins on most hunts? Or do you modify Field 2 settings to whatever extent away from FPs to tune your machine to your tone preferences in a given location no matter the environmental matrix you are working?

I primarily shoot coins in local parks, yards, fields woodlots and other soil in the northern Puget Sound region of Washington state. I haven't modified Field 2 much - the only thing I've changed is to go from 50 tones down to 5. I manually ground balance at each location. Occasionally I'll increase iron bias from 0 to 1 or 2 (I'm using the Equinox 600) - but that's about all I adjust. I just started water hunting (freshwater lakes) late last summer, my field 2 setup worked well for me in my local water - I pulled several silver dimes, wheats, and clad - along with miscellaneous relics and jewelry.

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Park 2 and Field 2 are very hot modes, so for me the idea that they might detect high conductors better is not even questionable. Why would it not be possible?

"Lower frequencies are better on high conductors" is just a generality, not an immutable fact. I have never considered low frequencies to be better on high conductors so much as I consider low frequencies to be less reactive to ground and super tiny stuff. I have preferred Park 1 or Field 1 for coin hunting because they are quieter. Better noise to signal ratio for me. I don't think Park 1 or Field 1 are inherently "better" on coins. They are merely the modes I prefer. Others may be better served with Park 2 or Field 2... whatever.

 

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