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Opinions On Equinox Detect Modes?


Flowdog

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Hello everyone. I hope you are all having the best kind of day. I want to thank you for the time and effort to give my question some attention. At this point, I am fine soaking in your ideas, experiences, and the years-long experienced pearls of wisdom to the best of my ability. It is the very least I can do. As I read and re-read responses I realize that I need to take into the field much of what you have offered, or will hopefully continue to offer, and create my own context of which Mode and Search Profile works best for not only the location and possible targets that day but also best suited to my hearing, and other personal attributes unique to myself. There is no precise answer really until I take it to the dirt. I do not believe in shortcuts. Too much of value is passed en route to a quick end. I do believe in efficiency. I am not trying to shortcut my work but I am trying to understand how to efficiently approach a new site and use my detector to help me analyze it. 

After reading Steve's post above, and after rereading for the 3rd or 4th time Steve's post in Minelab Treasure Talk blog about preparing for his latest UK hunt, is where the question on the table first penetrated my skull ... (AM I ALLOWED TO POST THE LINK?) I finally understand Multi-IQ technology as a spectrum of frequency weightings rather than the more nebulous F!,F2,P1,P2,B1,B2,G1,G2 stock profiles. For myself, that helps to simplify some things - not everything. If I may quote from the Treasure Talk post I referenced:

"How does a person determine what settings to use on a detector when going to a totally new location, one where both the soil conditions and trash/treasure mix are unfamiliar? It appears that most people seek settings on the internet that serve as a starting point at least. This is certainly one approach and one that can work well lacking any other way to go.

I personally rely on my detector telling me what settings it wants to use. Rather than tell it what to do, I listen to what the detector is telling me and go from there. I do this by seeking to balance two different aspects of the detector that matter most to me.

First, there is the amount of noise or chatter I want the detector to generate in response to the ground. The number one choice I need to make up front is in determining what Field Mode I wish to use, i.e. Park Mode, Field Mode, Beach Mode, or Gold Mode. In general, I would rate the modes going from “hottest” to “most well behaved” as follows:

  1. Gold Mode
  2. Park & Field Mode 2
  3. Park & Field  Mode 1
  4. Beach Mode 1
  5. Beach Mode 2"

It is Steve's reference to conversing with his Equinox that hit me hard. So, I conversed with my Nox. It isn't properly repeatable what it said to me! So I switched weightings (languages?) to Gold 2 and slowly hunted in a straight line - liking the Nox's inflections more. I scored a 25 signal in almost liquid mud around 5 inches in ground that jumped to the magnet and loaded with railroad iron trash. The little silver button. Yes! But really, to be honest, no real methodology. Lost in an infinity of possible choices, which raised the initial inquiry I posted. Perhaps I should have asked, "in what language do Steve - or any of you gentleman and gentleladies - converse with your detectors when first arriving on a new hunt site?" After rereading EVERYTHING, I have an inkling of the broad personal, technical, detector-taming, and target-oriented nature of the answers I seek. It ain't English for sure. We speak of iron grunts, clippery tones, dragging, chatting, tweaking settings, no free lunches, target sounds small or deep, stable extended tones, coil control matters a lot, etc. 

I do not have much to add, but will be awaiting test vids, or anyone else who can shed some light on how they achieve tuning (and what their personal goal is of choosing a Mode and the overall tuning process) as they approach a new site to hunt.

You all are awesome and although I am at the beginning of the learning curve you treat my questions with respect. That will help myself and hopefully others get over the hump. Thank you for that.

Curtis

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Declaring one mode the best over another for any specific situation and target type is a study in futility because the best mode (or detector, for that matter) is the one that gets the job done when and where you need it to.  For example, no single key mode attribute (e.g., depth, power, separation, optimal transmission frequency, iron rejection)  dominates over the others.  Depth may matter under some circumstances but may be irrelevant in others where separation may be king. 

The other thing to realize is that while there are significant differences between the modes in terms of their performance attributes and intended optimal uses, there is also quite a bit of overlap as well, especially between the Park/Field "standard" modes.  This may be less true of the specialized beach and prospecting modes.  I think one could take any one of the following modes: Park 1, Field 1, Park 2, or Field 2 commit to using just one of those modes full time and by simply adjusting the user preset settings as needed, could be successful in 90% or more of non-beach/prospecting detecting situations.  I base this on my experience pulling deep silver with Field 2 and deep jewelry and relics using Park 1 and the fact that if you go to single frequency operation, there is little to distinguish Park 1 from Park 2 from Field 1 or from Field 2 other than the different user preset settings between them.   

The best one can do is take the information all the contributors here put out there based on collective tests and real world experiences and let users synthesize that information for their needs and circumstances which may mean a little experimentation and improvisation on the user's end to settle on the right mode and settings for the detecting situation at hand.  So think of all the advice and test results here as general guidelines and a good starting point, but not absolute, incontrovertible fact.  Detecting is all about balancing tradeoffs, there are no absolutes other than you will not find it if you cannot see it or have not put your coil over it, and a great permission is better than great equipment.

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What a fantastic exercise in discovery this thread has been for myself and hopefully others as well. It is like breaking loose from limitations of inexperience and the coming together of my own thought process. I am very fortunate to have taken up a new hobby at this time. I realize both my fortune and challenge to have a tool like the Equinox as my first detector; finding and interacting with a group such as you all are; having the benefit of so many collective experiences and the resultant wisdom this board provides with grace, unselfishness, and kindness. Metal detecting is probably my last new hobby and it fills me with excitement to be exactly where I stand this very day! Final kudos to Steve for creating and maintaining this board. Obviously a labor of love.

Chase, I read you loud and clear. Your final summary confirms and connects so many aspects that I questioned and is fully accepted with as much goodwill with which it was no doubt offered. I am confident that I can approach a site and reasonably work through many of the problems it may present. I will be stumped along the way. I will dig more trashy signals at the beginning, but with some successes to buoy my spirit and energy farther along the curve, I hope to become an efficient operator of my detector. Please do not hesitate to suggest or assign me any homework you may ascertain as beneficial to my education. I will follow through no matter where it may lead. 

13 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Detecting is all about balancing tradeoffs, there are no absolutes other than you will not find it if you cannot see it or have not put your coil over it, and a great permission is better than great equipment.

Lastly, your prioritizing great permission before great technology hits the bullseye. How can I concentrate on hunting with maximum focus while knowingly being somewhere illegally or without permission? I am fortunate to know many folks who may open some of their lands to me because of previous interactions. Now it is on to the most important aspect of all ... researching and possibly gaining great permissions. In the meantime, I plan on being a nugget hunting ghost.

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32 minutes ago, Flowdog said:

How can I concentrate on hunting with maximum focus while knowingly being somewhere illegally or without permission? I am fortunate to know many folks who may open some of their lands to me because of previous interactions. Now it is on to the most important aspect of all ... researching and possibly gaining great permissions.

 

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Thx for the link Steve. I had already looked it over and made my last "ghost" remark with it in mind. I will be absolutely clear to tie this up - legal access in the middle of nowhere is equally important to my enjoyment while detecting as if I were down the street on a vacant corner lot. A valid claim is private property - no matter how remote the location. Period. Even if I had permission, I would still fly under the radar to the extent possible. I do not like advertising my whereabouts by nature I suppose. I am also aware of a larger responsibility to my fellow detectorists everywhere.

As a long time fly fisher, I am not averse to presenting myself at the owner's door seeking permission to fish. I am not in waders when I do this. ? In 49 years I have been told "no" exactly once. I just thanked the rancher for his consideration and left. No difference here. I'll leave it at that so I don't stray across topics. Any further questions I have along the topic you linked, I will continue there.

 

 

 

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I switch between field 2 and park 2. For home sites, parks, and fields. Recently I did well in a cow pasture next to a 1700's cellar hole by switching to park 2. I had been getting a lot of iron falsing in field 2 and when I switched over to park 2 I got a nice high pitched tone with the nox 600 and it turned out to be the 2 reale I posted earlier. I had hit that area the previous year and perhaps even that day. I checked it with field 2 and it sounded off great but for moderately-fast sweeping a field park 2 is worth trying out. I also tried a frequency of 5 around a home with lots of interference and around other detectors and it can be much more stable but I haven't found it to be that deep compared to multi-iq.

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