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Cabin fever forced me out to south facing park hill today. Could not believe how chattery the 600 Nox was. After finding lots of aluminum fence parts and rusted crown caps, came upon a smooth 4ish surface target. It popped right out of the ground with the tip of my digger.

...finally happened to me!! I got my Equinox 800 on Saturday that I ordered from Gerry and took it out in my back yard. I've gone over this part of the yard plenty of times and pulled out most high conductors but somehow managed to pull a '41 wheat...from the surface! Not sure how I missed that but I'm thinking I dug it the other day with my Mojave and it fell further away from the plug and I just skipped over it. But that's not the luck I'm talking about. I charged it over night and took it to work with me the next day because I wanted to hit the beach down the street from where I work. It was cold and windy so I just decided to go to a baseball field that I've been detecting near my house. I was listening to the tones, trying out 5 tone and 50 tone on park 1 and 2 and settled on 50 tone park one. I noise canceled and ground balanced and didn't change anything else. I was picking out some coins and digging some foil looking for small gold. I dug a couple nickels at 12 and some at 13. I got a 12 and was expecting another nickel and out popped a 6.1 gram 14K gold band. Sweet, finally some of that beginners luck! Here's a couple pics from the field

A buddy of mine was at the Riverside hunt last weekend, and killed it with his EQ800 at the hunt (his CTX is going up for sale). There happened to be, for the first time, a Minelab booth at the hunt. He was talking to the ML rep and asked them when the heck was the 6" coil going to be available. The rep said I'm not sure, but give me your info (phone#) and I'll find out. 15 minutes later, she tracked him down at the hunt, and said that she could have him the coil in 3 weeks, and it would be $179! Don't take this as gospel, but it was straight from a ML rep over the weekend. $179 will be the most I've ever paid for a coil that size, but it's better then some of the numbers I've seen being thrown around comparing prices to the CTX coils.

Noxy got a couple more silver rosey's at the park. Got her first half dollars, two from the same yard but not silver. Another barber dime and other treasures. I'm still using pk1, usually run the iron bias at 3, I'll piddle with the segment volume some depending on where I'm hunting. I did set up a user profile with everything rejected but 13 and 22up.

One tip I can help with. Target id numbers vary slightly between Search Profiles. Two items that read the same in Field 2 may read slightly differently in Park 1 for instance. This is due to different frequency weighting and the imperfection of target id normalization. Also, Iron Bias is not just for iron. It has varying effects on different target types and so is worth experimenting with. Faster recovery speeds can also accentuate the differences between round targets and irregular shaped targets. Round items retain signal strength better at faster recovery speeds while irregular targets get weaker and jumpier. Look at it this way Ringmoney - if you ditch the Deus for the Equinox the worst that can happen is you trade a machine you hate for another one you hate!

Book Excerpt: "Iron Bias" (Settings X 6 + long press, “+” or “-“ to adjust, “Detect” to exit).The need for an Iron Bias setting on the Equinox derives from the operating characteristic of a high gain detector. While the Equinox’s sophisticated electronics act to inhibit inconsistent responses like iron, at the same time because there is so much Sensitivity going down into the ground there is still the possibility of iron falseing taking place. This involves iron objects that have very unusual properties such as a spike nail upended, or something large enough to mimic a non-ferrous response by overwhelming the machine’s circuits and coming in at the top of the discriminate range (termed “wraparound”) While these are usually recognisable by target testing (cross sweep for one), at the same time there is a need for a control that regulates the level of consistency in a target which is assigned the audio (rougher or broken tone) of iron. This feature is also useful to relic hunters or anyone wanting to hunt for coins in dense iron. You have the choice of trying to knock the iron out by way of the Equinox’s software, or opening up the machine to get cleaner, fuller responses on iron in order to hear what’s mixed in with it. In effect, “Iron Bias” is a filter. Whereas the ground’s signal represents a large, unstable, response, a good target can be seen as a small, narrow and consistent response. “Iron Bias acts to mediate the “line” where this distinction is made. This doesn’t just include iron—but any object which contains multiple metals. So “Iron Bias” can be used to change responses from bottlecaps, corroded coins—anything that’s not “clean” metal such as silver, copper aluminum or gold. It’s worth noting though that with some targets that are comprised of both iron and non-ferrous metal, “Iron Bias” may act to “clean up” the signal—making it sound better. This is similar to the way that many rusted targets will sound better after several passes of a BBS detector (Sovereign / Excalibur) coil. The machine’s built-in bias is removing the inconsistent parts of the signal. Conversely, a lower setting can emphasise the alloying of an unwanted target--effectively “breaking it up.” It’s worth noting though that because all metal in the ground “mixes” with it’s signal (corroded or not), using high levels of “Iron Bias” acts to reduce detection of all targets. Understanding how “Iron Bias” works is an important lesson in how detectors work. In effect, they don’t just “punch down” though the ground to detect a metal target. Instead, what a detector does is to assess both the ground and any metal that’s in it and then separate the two—based upon this consistent / inconsistent scale. This is the scale that an “Iron Bias” control operates on. “Iron Bias” can also be used a tool to moderate the effects of “black sand” by changing the machine’s response to the large, scattered inconsistent response it produces and promoting any “clean” metal targets that are mixed in with it. It also has the potential to stabilize the detector in “black sand” by reducing the Sensitivity to this erratic signal. This may require a higher or lower setting depending on the conditions.When many hunters want to get the maximum depth with the Equinox, they take the “Iron Bias” right down to “1” or “2.” With this setting it’s generally agreed that frequent “Ground Balancing” of the machine helps to reduce the response to iron. The “trade-off” here though is that you will still be “fooled” by more iron false signals. From: "The Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced" by Clive James Clynick Thanks for a great forum Steve! cjc

Yeah, well, here it's mostly the processing on the receiving end that matters. You would need to understand the hardware then yank the code from the firmware and run a dissembler, and then figure out what it all means. But even if you do all that, you're still not going to know any more about how to use the machine effectively. The devil in implementation is always in the details, and there's a big divide between theory and practice. What is going to help someone use the Nox effectively is simply using the machine (a lot of hours) and experimenting with different targets and conditions. The best guide to that is what's been posted by actual users, on this forum and others.

I found £1 = 22 and £2 = 23 nice higher numbers so I know it should be a good find, however I understand about the old ring tabs coming in at 14 which is 9ct gold as well but its a learning curve ill have to get used to I guess.

Iron Bias uses the mulifrequency aspect of MultiIQ to get multiple ferrous/non-ferrous component readings on a target to determine the probability that the target is solely ferrous and route that signal through the iron bias masking filter to prevent the iron falsing tone from reaching your ears. In single frequency there are insufficient data points to make that determination. Only guessing as to how much of the heavy lifting is done by the multi frequency transmission/return vs. the MultiIQ signal processing. In other words I can only guess whether Multi IQ does its signal processing magic only in Multi Frequency or if it does do a subset of its processing magic in single frequency and the output is limited solely by the fact that it is only being fed single frequency data. But it is clear that as far as iron bias is concerned, it gets a single frequency mode status input and locks down iron bias (either bypassing it altogether (most likely) or by using a non-user adjustable default setting when the mode iron bias default setting is other than 0 such as in Park 1).

The ID system on the Equinox is the way it is because it was specifically designed that way to address the targeted market segment for the detector. The ID system is not the way it is because of an oversight, poor planning, or lack of familiarity with end user wishes. Minelab is very methodical in attacking market segments. They developed advanced PI technology and dominate the high end PI market. They went after the low slow turf market with BBS/FBS and they dominate that market. They developed the Xterra 70/705 to go specifically after the Whites MXT. They developed the Go Finds to go after the Ace’s. All of the aforementioned devices had very specific design criteria to attack a market segment. The Equinox primarily was designed as an iron trash high speed detector to go after the XP and AT. That is why it is so fast and has an iron bias setting which is an integral part of the Multi-IQ discrimination system. With that thought in mind what happens to a detector’s ID of a non-ferrous target co-mingled with a pile of nails? The answer is that it skews, and the more ID segments, the more it is going to skew. To which there will be the complaint that the detector can’t “lock on”. In this iron trash detecting application if they had made the ID 200 points wide the meter would be whiplash-ing wildly. So having the ID be fairly stable in a difficult target environment has it’s advantages to address this market segment. There is also a belly button factor at work. Included with the detector there is a wide assortment of overlays in different languages. So despite a U.S. user thinking the ID system should be U.S. specific and a U.K. user thinking it should be U.K. specific that is simply not realistic. This is a world wide product. In a nutshell here is Minelabs thinking. If you go to a park that has cleaner ground, and then areas with trashier ground, they want you to break out an FBS for the cleaner areas. And then after your arm gets tired, go back to your vehicle and get the Equinox and then attack the trashier area. If you are a relic or saltwater beach hunter the Equinox is all you will likely need unless scuba diving. If you are a casual prospector the Equinox will at least make you competitive. The uptake is that if you are a serious hobbyist they want you to buy two models of their’s to cover most of your detecting needs. Here’s a disclaimer, I don’t own an Equinox nor have any immediate plans to purchase one. However I am enjoying the release of this product to no end because I am extremely frustrated with the complacency of U.S. manufacturers. Boys the chickens have come home to roost! And I will make a prediction, and that is that Makro will be the first to respond and in doing so may offer a wider ID span which will be good for the hobby and push Minelab.

I have (and have done) all of the above. When I coin hunt I actually have four diggers on my belt. Lesche, 1 in wide aluminum garden spade ("made in England"), plastic (pointed) garden spade similar to what MD-is-fun is showing, and a plastic gold scoop like Phrunt shows. In my parks (which aren't restricted like some) I start with the Lesche. If I'm in roots (don't want to damage any root of size greater than 1/8 in = 3 mm diameter) I use the 1" in wide. Otherwise I clear the hole with one of the plastic units. A lot depends on the soil and conditions. How wet/dry, how much clay vs. loam, etc. I know many (most?) coin hunters like to scoop out the loose soil and even feel in the hole with their hands. The smart ones use gloves. I don't like wearing gloves except in cold conditions (mid 40's F = mid single digits C) and then I use heavy gloves just for weather protection. I dig quite a bit of broken glass and occasionally sharp metal. Using a tool/scoop has kept me from ever drawing blood. As with most things MD'ing, it's what you prefer/like/get used to. There is no "one size fits all".

I picked these up this past week for my Equinox from E-bay for $5.99 for a pack of 3. The size is perfect for the Nox, simply cut to fit and a great way to add extra protection to the entire face of the 800 or 600. I've been using the Invisible-Shields for the last 3 years, they work like a champ, almost completely scratch proof. These are a very inexpensive way to save your screen and touchpad from getting jacked up. I thought I'd pass this along.

With the purchase of my new Minelab Equinox 600 (waiting for my 800 on backorder) I set out to find some needed but harder to find accessories. I made this YouTube video of the Deanos cover, which as far as I can tell is the Only United States based manufacturer and seller of protective covers for the Minelab Equinox 600 / 800 control box. I love this cover, very nicely constructed, heavy duty, and fits very tightly on the control box to it is highly unlikely you will get dirt, sand, or any other debris up under the cover and risk scratching your nice new screen/faceplate. I am in NO way Affiliated with the Seller of this product, I simply like to pass information along when I find products that will help others in this great hobby. Take Care and HH.

With the purchase of my new Minelab Equinox 600 (waiting for my 800 on backorder) I set out to find some needed but harder to find accessories...Headphones for the Water was my priority this time! In this YouTube video I cover a gentleman (Tony) who is the Only United States based modifier and seller of Waterproof headphone connectors for the Minelab Equinox 600 / 800 control box and show you what he modified for me. With little to no options out there for Waterproof headphones for the Minelab Equinox series metal detectors I was extremely excited to find Tony on a Forum. Long story short I sent him a pair of Grey Ghost headphones and he modified them with his custom Waterproof connection, so now I am ready to take my Equinox wading/submerge once the weather here in Michigan warms up just a bit The connector looks like it was professionally manufactured, just like Minelab themselves made these headphones. If you are searching for waterproof headphone options for your new Equinox then watch this video. I am in NO way Affiliated with the Seller of this product, I simply like to pass information along when I find products that will help others in this great hobby. Take Care and HH.

Wanted to thank everyone on the forum as I've learned quite a bit here over the last couple of months. I was recently able to "skip the line" almost everywhere in the world and had a friend buy me a Nox 800 in another country and bring to me in a Latin American country. I went to 3 different sites this past week, all with substantial colonial Spanish history as well as history into the late 1800s. Although I watched a lot of videos and perused this forum, I felt a bit overwhelmed with all of the options and settings that first day. I wasn't convinced that any of the generic Park 1/2 or Field 1/2 settings would suffice for the environment I was working in (I.e., high rusty iron concentration, sometimes mineralized soil, deep cobs and relics, etc.). To make it more challenging is that the thick jungle foliage doesn't work well with larger coils like the 11" Nox standard and all 3 of my spots have been pounded over the years by dozens of other detectorists (including myself a few times). All that said, I learned a lot over the 3 days of detecting and I had some success. I frequently experimented with all of the Park and Field settings to try to determine which would work best the first 2 days. By the 3rd day, however, I pretty much settled on Field 2 with the following modifications: I ground balanced manually often, sensitivity to 22, recovery speed down to 5, and iron bias up to 6. That seemed to work the best for me. Anyway, my best finds were a couple of Spanish real cobs, a 1/2 real and another cut cob that had probably been a 2 real before the cut. The 1/2 real rang up as a solid 12 while the cut cob rang up as an 15. My other find was this Nueva Granada army brass button that rang up a solid 18. Photos below.

Noxday was cut very short with the ground still frozen and sleet coming down. Managed to use my X-terra armcup with my bicycle drink bottle. A bit of weight in the bottle balances everything out nicely. Straight out of the box settings, Park1, conservative sens, GB-ed, Multi-freq and out pops a 0,5gr target next to iron. That's a nice surprise for an 11in coil!! Nox is charging, time to read the manual in earnest.

Thanks for the response Tom, Just today I found a similar odd id target. I was sweeping a park that has been refreshed since I got the Equinox 600. I was focusing on digging mid-tones since I had already been over this area with the Equinox... so basically my intent was to clean the ground a little and see if anything interesting popped up. About 10 steps into the park, I get this 14-15-16 tone but every once in a while it peeps a 27-28... I even got a few 37-38's in my multiple sweeps, but it was repeating in the mid teens. I got some modulation with the pinpointer, so I knew it was probably 4+"... and fully expected to pull a bent rust nail. Low and behold, off center in the hole, at about 6"... a '52 Rosie. So I agree, it is very interesting what the ground/other target conditions can play on the ID's. I did resweeps the hole, and it was silent, but then, there could have been iron nearby that I was then disc'ing out after breaking up the halo by digging. But, it gave me a solid enough tone to investigate... and that is what I am enjoying with the Equinox. Thanks for your info above, more relevant data for the 'ol computer between my ears. ;) Tim.

Hey Steve, Thanks for correcting my spelling as well. I saw it after I posted, but as always, my computer skills are limited.

Been on the trash infested beach again today. Some modern pulltabs do ring up at 16. I've made a super-short video: Today I've found 4 different types of square pulltabs within 2h: They do suck bigtime! ps: Found no 2€ coin today, but 4x 1€ - NOXi seems to love 'em

Well, no experimentation needed to confirm. I happen to know for a fact that the ground balance setting on any detector that is riding the ragged edge will have an impact on coil knock/bump sensitivity.

Another first for the Nox 800. A baby's gold bracelet from the wet beach. Still on Beach-1 mode. Can't read the hallmarks, but the engraved date 01/08/96 is a clue to the gold content and purity :-) 22 years on the wet beach in the older coins strata. 1,8 gram and the nox had me chasing a few smaller targets that fell through the scoop. I'm really starting to like this machine an awfull lot!

Any runner ups or 2nd place winners lol. I missed it by 5! Great game. Congrats MontAmmie!

Smart coils have chips that communicate with the control box to properly match the coil size with the operating parameters of the detectors. This started with Minelab in the X-Terra series but is also done by other companies. The Nokta/Makro coils are sensed by the detector, for instance. The conspiracy theory is this is for no reason other to control coil sales. That may be a side benefit for the manufacturers but the main intent is for the detector to know what coil is attached so that the machine can tune itself for the coil. For instance, depth gauge readings are calibrated to stock coils on detectors. If you run "dumb coil" then going to a larger or smaller coil causes the depth gauge to be inaccurate. On my White's V3i I can manually enter the coil type to compensate. Smart coils go to the next step and do it automatically. Here is how Minelab explains it for the X-Terra. They are single frequency only but you can bet Minelab has taken what they have learned since and applied it to Equinox. World’s First All-Digital Metal Detectors VFLEX transforms conventional single frequency metal detection technology by including two microcontrollers (miniature computers), one inside the control box and one inside the coil. Every time the detector starts up, the microcontrollers establish communication via a digital data link. The coil microcontroller communicates the coil’s configuration, size and exact frequency, so the control box can generate a perfectly matched transmit signal. This significantly reduces distortion and increases Target ID accuracy. Perfect Sine Wave Transmission VFLEX technology generates and transmits a perfect high quality sine wave, using the same technology that is found in high quality digital audio players, and is produced without distortion. The removal of distortion maximises power transmitted from the coil, therefore increasing detection depth and sensitivity. This also results in enhanced Target ID accuracy and greater immunity to both ground and environmental noise. In-Coil Signal Booster Weak target signals are amplified inside the coil, before the receive signal is sent up the coil cable where interference and signal loss can occur. This technique improves immunity to electrical noise by reducing false signals and increasing target signal strength, therefore improving detection depth and sensitivity. Source: https://www.minelab.com/knowledge-base/key-technologies#259047

Thanks. The copper was my first keeper find of the day and that plus the minies and J-hook alone would have made it a worthwhile hunt. I did not forget about her... I can’t pull a date, but she is definitely a Draped Bust Large Cent (another first for me) that puts her somewhere between 1800 and 1809 by obverse design. “RICA” can just barely be made out on the reverse.

I received a list of Equinox accessories that I could order from my dealer several days ago.. The 6” Coil list price was $179.00 plus $10.00 for the skid Plate.. 11” Coil is $229.00 +$18 for the skid.. Waterproof Headphone 3.5mm Conn. $149.00 Many other accessories available for order too. Headphones, adapters, chargers etc.

I think the term has been used that the coils for the Equinox is what is called a smart coil. That being the case I’d have to say that is not a bad price for it. I’ve paid about the same for a not so smart one . I’ve been told it’s only money and none of us is going to take it with us. Enjoy life while we can. I wanted a concentric coil but anything is better than nothing. Chuck

Beauties! Well deserved. With that lottery winner it seems the lonely copper coin is getting lost in the confetti. Any chance on identifying that one? Thanks to your reports and those of a few others, I'm finally getting it into my thick skull that there is a richness in the sound that gives a lot of extra clues, more than just looking at the digital readout after getting a 'promising' tone. I got back into MD'ing only recently (less than 3 years ago) when it was already well into the digital age. Just seemed to me everything I needed to know/look at was right there on the display. Wrongo....

I am pretty sure that won't work for round pulltabs. Some square ones come in at 13/14, but the older ones do at 15/16/17. No chance with tone break there.. imho I do not want to hear bottletops at all - that would be perfekt - my fisher does better in this regard by at least factor 100. Pulltab = ring has always been - no complaint there.. but pulltab = 2€ => pita Keep us updated - I'll try to fiddle a bit with the modes, too.

Yeah, I was referring to the "4 easy steps to get started." I've never seen even a turn on and go machine that offers GB options not even make a mention of it. To me, it's so fundamental. That said, I did exactly what the "4 east steps" are and my first signal and first recovery with the Equinox was half of a British Rev War cartridge box plate! But here's the kicker - I lost it! I hope to go back tomorrow to find it AGAIN. I think I just dropped it very close to where I dug it. Hoping I can find the other half as well.

Allez dans la pause de ton. T2=13 t3 =14 t4 = 23 with that , all your euros coins have the same sound . Include the 2 euros. the pulltab have different sound . you can adjust with tone pitch and tone volume. For example a bassy tone on the t2. The pulltab sound generallywith the bassy sound and 2 others différents sound. The 2 euros sound High like the 1 e and 50 ct. You cant go wrong with this settings. For the caps beer, it's easy To ear. There are 3 know method. This settings work Well in beach, i dont try in other mode. Test it. The problem in beach, a gold ring can be in the pulltab id. So ....

Gold tabs are gold colored tabs from beer cans. I went to a hunted out park the other day that I had hunted really hard and it is finally hunted out until next soccer season. I will hunt this park until I know there is pretty good chance I am wasting my time. If I am at a park for over an hour and find nothing I leave and won't come back until they have another event there. I honestly think this park has another $50 or so in clad. I don't swing as tight as I should so I know I probably miss a 6" path every 2nd pass. That's why I am hunting it in a horizontal direction this time. I have an old soccer park I am trying next. Hasn't been used in 10 yrs so unless someone has hit it pretty hard I think it could be great for some silver. Tomorrow or late this afternoon I am hitting the beach

I have a pair of Tonys new phones.... great WATERPROOF.... im mean get um wet headphones. But ive found its a pretty simple mod and ive done a couple of mine ... one with piezo and the other with audio sears. With the parts list Tony has .... its really a pretty simple task to make that jack. Tonys said he doesnt want a job ...... so this is very temporary so hit him up while you can. Not a lot of damage you can do to the machine provided you remove the phones and check them routinely for water getting into the jack entrance...... then a little corrosion spray will help that. Mono jack, M12 4 prong connector..... and some marine grade epoxy..... grab a drill and soldering iron/solder cut off the longer prong to the jack....solder your wires one to each prong and ensure the jack is even with the end of the M12 epoxy in and there ya go..... ready to hunt using your fav phones. BUT lets give Tony his dues for taking the time to start this mod.

Finally the weather is getting better, so I had some time on the beach again. This time a little bit more out of town. Huge difference in trash density, makes hunting and learning a lot easier. Found lots of trash and only 3 coins in 1 3/4h, but one of them had been 14-16" down with sensitivity at 18! Couldn't take a picture because I've forgotten my phone though..

Hi! Postal delivery is about 35 dollars. Scoop price is subject to change due to USD Sorry for my English

Steve your right it has to be the nugget and a low battery. I swaped out the battery and put a nickel 15 inches deep and it screams i belive i would be able to ping it 2 feet down, but i had to end the test due to permerfrost reasons

I hunt in europe. I resolved the problem beetween the pulltab and 2 euros. It's easy with the tone break and pitch tone. More easy for you because in your festival hunt i presume the 2 euros are not corrodate. But the pulltab in the beach is horrible. I had digged more than 100 in 6 hours. A gold ring i founded in this hunt is 14vdi. Pulltab 13-14- . So i think it's not possible to resolve.

This is a find (not a crime) of opportunity! Today I got a late start at the beach because of a number of chores but I wanted to make an appearance to see what the wind driven waves had done. I got there on an incoming tide about 2 hours after low tide. It has been a while since we have had conditions like these so better late than never. My previous hunt I had used a new pair of headphones but I felt more confident with the supplied phones so off I went. The last time out I had cleared my settings with the factory specs so now I was setting up Beach 1. That was very little change. Noise cancel, ground balance and check the sensitivity. Part of the beach had a cut and I was in the middle of that area. Many people were out even tho cool and in some wind. I headed for the waterline and pebbles and could tell the waves had not scoured out as much as I liked. I was getting a lot of nothing again but I could hear pretty good in all metal. My first hit was a corroded penny but you gotta dig. I think the next hit was the same 20-21 that a penny gets you. Now I had to make a choice. This is a beach I know well so I headed in a direction to the north where I have found rings in the past. After about 50 yards I decided to head south. (I was reminded by that feeling of a change when I had been hunting for sharks teeth in Venice, Florida in 1978. One morning I went to the right, felt I needed to go back to the left and in less than 100 feet I found a nearly perfect tooth about 4 inches long. It was my best find.) So, this time I went past where I had found the pennies and just behind a little girl standing in the shallow waves and I heard a 13/14. I know what 15s are in this area, nickels. There was no bottle cap chatter. I didn't have time to pump up and down on the target because waves were coming. I gave a scoop and missed the target so I went after it again. I could feel something on the edge of the scoop so I softened my dig in case I would 'hurt' the target. When the wave went out I flipped my scoop and I got a glimmer. I knew it was a chain but didn't know if it was stainless or what. With people around I reached down and picked up the object with some sand and stuck it in my pouch. I didn't need extra eyes at that point. There was time to check the area a bit before moving on, and on and on without many targets. On my way to another beach I rinsed off the chain and felt the weight and I was hopeful. This would be my best gold chain. My wife found a nice gold chain in 2015 so it was my time? I returned a half mile to where I found it and there were very few targets. Time to go back and get my glasses and see if it was real. When I got to the car and I got my glasses on I could see 14k ... yessss! This along with the other couple of gold rings would pay off my wife's 800! It was time to have a little fun. I put it around my son's neck and brought him in to Lu fixing dinner. She likes gold so it didn't take her very long to see it. haha We took a couple of photos with the king of the household and then I measured and weighed what I had found. It is 14k/20in/19.1g. It is my best gold chain to date. It could have been found with other detectors but maybe I wouldn't have been in that part of the surf with my 3030. Maybe another detector would be heavier and not as much fun as the 800 right now and I certainly would not walk out where I was with a wired headphone. The conditions were right. Wind waves are good for chains.

You should see my post linked below regarding the military breast plate I dug up yesterday and how it rang up similar to melted aluminum trash blobs and cans I also found in the field. Solid round objects like coins and certain relics have a more pronounced tonal quality that after training your ear for awhile becomes unmistakeable amongst the trash. The high variability of in situ VDI on the target and "hollowness" of the tone really makes asymmetric trash and aluminum screw caps pretty much evident as silver and even clad coinage or historical relics stand out and hit you in the face with their pure tonality. I found the same thing with Deus and it was almost a necessity to learn because the VDI is no where near as stable,. accurate, or present at depth as the Equinox. If you are hunting purely by VDI and tone (and not really listening to "tonality") you are indeed going to continue to frustrate yourself and be held back in your ability to capture the keepers from the trash.

About three ringers. Digging (typically fired) three ringers is what I do to get my relic mojo back when I am striking out on a multi day hunt at a particular site. The multi day hunts here are usually at winter encampments where the troops were dug in with huts, had multi-month stays, had significant trash and fire pits, and firing ranges (what better way to pass the hours than shooting up the local landscape). At sites that have been frequented, these firing range areas are known and it is easter egg hunt time. At one site I even found the fired area and the "drop" area (the area where the soldier's were dropping the bullets because that is where they were being fired from) and plotted the GPS coordinates down on a hybrid topo/sat map of the area. I can almost dig those full time, almost. But it is a great way to get back in tune with your detector. Regarding probing for glass, that is one of the most exhausting things I have ever done. Poking the ground looking for soft spots and listening for either glass or rocks/bricks (indicative of a firebox hearth) and then pulling up the probe looking for changes in the dirt color. Even then, if the probe is promising, you still have to dig a test hole at least and may likely still come up dry. Easier than just digging random test holes, but still hit or miss. I literally crashed out on a field surrounded by active pits after two or three hours of probing and digging did not pan out while some other folks were grabbing some incredible glass.

As far as U.S. parks go there is no real difference between Equinox and every other machine I have used that depends on a single VDI number for target id. The target id spread from the X-Terra 705 was nearly doubled. Certainly no advantage to a Deus here in a modern park over an Equinox. My number one trash problem in the past was single frequency detectors like the Deus upscaling aluminum into the high coin range in my soil, causing just the problem you are talking about. Equinox seems to have eliminated that as an issue for me so I am digging less trash in modern U.S. parks with the Equinox, not more. I almost never dig a crown cap while coin hunting parks. However, I do recover some aluminum in the nickel range. If the Deus is working great for you I don't see a problem anyway. You can just stick with it, right?

Cal - absolutely hit that site hard, especially with the Equinox. With that many buttons and other evidence of a prolonged CW era military presence, there are bound to be plates and other goodies lurking, you are just going to have to continue to be persistent. They are there, believe me. Over here, CW period coins at encampment sites are really hard to come by. I have found a grand total of...2, an IHP 1864 fatty and the Seated. In the big digs back here, Seateds are found but rare, more often it is IHPs, Flying Eagle cents and trimes. Though the occasional cache of gold coins is found that someone forgot about or was unable to return to claim because they became a casualty of war. I'm reminded of the quote by Col. Bat Guano when being asked for 55 cents by Group Captain Mandrake so that he can call the President about General Jack Ripper's nuclear strike on the Soviets (in the movie "Dr. Strangelove...") - "Well you don't think I would go into combat with loose change in my pocket, do ya?"

MontAmmie You just won the copy of the Equinox 800 instruction manual. 193 is the answer I needed. my oldest son is 50 the next Son 43 oldest Daughter 36 next Son. 34 youngest Daughter 30 Total 193 PM your address and I’ll get it to you . Thanks to all for playing. Chuck

Fred, Thank you. When you asked about him in your email, I didn't know how I could 'work in' a picture of him on a metal detecting forum. This was an 'opportunity' I took advantage of to show him off. I hope some of the nugget guys see him because they don't normally come to the Equinox forum but maybe I need another big nugget to get him over there. Mitchel

Actually GB is mentioned right there in the note on the quick start guide on p. 12 of the users manual stating: "If excessive ground noise is heard after performing the Quick Start steps, carry out the Ground Balance procedure (page 40). If excessive noise is still being experienced try adjusting the Sensitivity to a lower level to reduce noise (page 34)." Though admittedly not mentioned on the separately provided in-box corresponding quick start guide.

Thanks for the responses guys, I am going to try another GPZ 7000 and test out the Salt Mode, Semi-Auto Ground Balance, and Locate Patch. I won't know if it works here until I try it for myself. Anyway, I plan on eventually moving down to Nevada and I know the GPZ will be an advantage there. I am tired of my small area of gold detecting here in Washington State. Also, I do miss getting some of the strange specimen pieces my GPX-5000 doesn't see. It only accounts for about 5-10% of the gold here but they were fun and interesting to find. My SDC would see some of these specimens but I sold that a while back. -Don

The default is 0 and supposedly does some magic of balancing itself but other people say when its chattery you should ground balance

The way I toss and turn all night the next morning my Dash would be ruined. with the bed swinging from the hand holders

Hit a yard this afternoon. Still pk1