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I finally got my hands on the long-awaited new 6-inch coil for my Minelab Equinox 800 (thank you Gerry); definitely a sight for sore eyes! I had a couple of hours to kill this afternoon, so I took it to an old nugget patch where I had found a few bits with the Gold Monster last year. The Nox is ultra-lightweight with this small coil, making the detector nearly effortless to swing. Set to all-metal in Gold 1 with Sensitivity at 24, the EQX was zipping pretty hard on the hot rocks, but notch-discriminating them out helped tremendously whenever they started to get thick. Straight away I got a hot rock signal reading -7,-8,-9 on the EQX display, but in the mix were some jumpy positive numbers of anywhere from 1 to 5...hmmm, definitely worth investigating. After removing the first inch of soil with the pick, the small hot rock was out. Moving the coil back over the target zone now displayed a solid 2, with an occasional jump from 1 to 5. After another 3 inches of depth, the target was in the scoop: The small, heart-shaped nugget was undoubtedly apropos, since I was already quite enamored with this little 6-inch sharpshooter.? Just 2 feet away I hit a persistent signal of 1; this time, the gold was only an inch deep...easy money. Swinging down slope only a few more feet and I had a repeatable 2 on the display; a screamer at 2 inches, this bit had some thickness compared to the first two, and was in a small clay-filled crevice in the bedrock. The fourth target was a ripper from the get-go, but as I was removing soil from the hole, I noticed a much fainter signal as I waved the scoop over the coil. A quick sifting revealed a tiny little speck of yellow: No doubt about it, the 6-inch coil is super hot. With the main target still screaming in the hole, I finally had it in the scoop after removing 3 inches of soil: a mini arrowhead-shaped golden beauty. I couldn’t be more pleased with this new coil, a solid performer on the gold fields. Well done Minelab.

For quite a few days I have been detecting around a surfaced area with the 7000 and for about 3 hours I detected in the surfaced area with the 2300, and this is what I managed to get. The bottom 6 came from the surfacing and the top 7 came from outside the surfacing. It is a long time since I have found a nice piece at depth and I don`t understand why, but any day I come home with a rattle in the jar is a good day ◕‿◕

Today’s haul..... im ok with it...I chained the whole scraped area and used the 19” coil..... Took me awhile to sort it out so it would quit that dang moaning and groaning.... i think we pretty well picked it clean last week ?

I am a History Channel buff. Tonight they were showing Pale Rider from the 80s and there were some 'authentic' scenes of monitors and wooden sluicing. It caused me to do a search and I came up with a page of 82 movies that have to do with Mining in Film. What is your favorite mining movie? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mining_in_film Mitchel

Received a message from my ole friend of 15+ years, "Gene Scullion" former metal detector dealer and also former Senior Sales Manager for 1st Texas "Their Loss". He had went water hunting and this was his finds and his statement, "One white gold, one silver and one stainless steel. I'm liking the EQ800!"

Mitchel, I remember that movie, good one. One of my favorite mining movie is the oldie but goodie Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Dave

I have several Equinox rod assemblies, and only the last one exhibited a looseness that might cause a twisting action, but in actual use it has not been twisting any more than the others. It does appear to me that it is an issue that slipped in at the part sourcing / manufacturing level and so could not be caught at the prototyping stage. I would ask Minelab to replace the rod for you since it is a known problem. I have not used the Multi Kruzer but do have a Gold Kruzer. I can't say I have a preference for either straight rods or S rods. I have used both types and been just fine. I have also had examples of both types that I did not like. The hand grip makes more difference to me, since I do not have large hands. I prefer a smaller grip, with the Fisher F75 defining what my hand thinks is perfection. I also like the grip on the Kruzer more than the Equinox for the same reason. The Equinox grip is just ever so slightly larger in diameter than my hand likes. I have gotten used to it with time however. From an operational perspective the Kruzer models have more of what I think of as a traditional threshold based all metal mode. The Gold Mode on the Equinox is not quite the same thing - more like a digital disc mode simulating an all metal mode. The difference is subtle but I am sure anyone used to running in a true threshold based all metal mode (nugget hunters in particular) would notice the difference. One thing I am learning is just how resistant many detectorists are to learning new tricks. I have quite a bit of faith in the prospecting capability of the Equinox, but have been purposefully staying relatively quiet on the subject. Why? Because of the difference in how the Equinox works and acts in Gold Mode as opposed to what most people would expect when running an "all metal" mode. The Gold Kruzer and I am sure the other Kruzer models in all metal mode feel and behave very much like a Gold Bug 2 or Gold Bug Pro (and numerous other prospecting machines) in all metal mode. The difference is mostly heard/felt as the way the threshold connects with both a target and the ground when ramping up and down. The Kruzer models have the standard smooth connection between threshold, ground, and target, with a equally distributed ramp up and down in the threshold. With the Equinox it is almost all on the ramp down side with very little ramping up in the signal. Again, the effect can be subtle, but is more easily heard at low recovery speeds. Still, having said all that, I have ditched all my other VLF nugget machines in favor of the Equinox. I do believe in leveraging new technology to my advantage as quickly as possible, and I am absolutely convinced that Multi-IQ outperforms single frequency on almost every level. Ironically my main use for single frequencies is to mellow the Equinox out and make it less reactive in bad ground. There honesty is just nothing for me to learn any more regarding typical single frequency all metal modes, and so I am finding some pleasure in discovering just what Multi-IQ can and can't do for me. Sorry for the long dissertation on all metal performance. Many people would not care about that, but it is an area where Equinox and Kruzer part ways. Anyone wanting that good old threshold based all metal mode will be at home with the Kruzer models. The Equinox Gold Mode is a mode that has no real parallel on any other detector and is more for somebody ready to try something new in the way of "all metal" modes.

I have a 100ft. roll up cloth tape that has a handle like that. GaryC/Oregon Coast

Hi Gene, I am going to hope the career move ends up as a positive for you. Welcome to the forum.... and the “dark side”. I have taken a liking to the 800 also.

The fact (or perception, sometimes) that targets we find are biased by previous searching is a factor, and possibly the most significant one. But others are both the history of the ground itself (natural and human induced) as well as the *source* of the lost treasures. I've been searching a couple schools extesnsively this summer and can't help but speculate while I'm out there (hours of time where my brain is less than 100% occupied can do that ?) who/when/what led to the things I'm finding. 'Who' is mostly the children attending the school. 'When' is the time period of the school's attendance. 'What' is actually the items they were carrying and subsequently lost. Why are children carrying coins in the first place? One obvious answer is 'lunch money'. What did lunch cost when these coins were dropped? In general a lot less as we go back in time, possibly excepting subsidized lunches. Why is it harder to find silver halves and quarters? I think one reason is that lunch only cost a dime. Why would parents send their children to school with more money than needed to buy lunch? I don't even know if schools still use cash as a medium of exchange at lunchtime. Maybe students carry credit cards; maybe parents are billed or prepay. Pennies are the weird ones thanks to the brain dead decision that has been made by the US government. (Well, I guess on the scale of bad decisions this one has to be on the low end....) When many of us were growing up a penny meant something. Now people would rather toss them on the ground than have them weighing down their pockets and purses. I remember when 1 cent would buy a piece of bubblegum. What is the smallest price you can buy *anything* for today? I don't know but I'm guessing 10 cents. Takes ten of those annoying Stinkin' Zincolns to purchase the lowest price item in a store. The reason coins are located where we find them is a complicated evolution that is site specific. Lots of fun (for some of us) to speculate on but difficult to tie down with much certainty.

phrunt.......really would like to view the movie after seeing the trailer but says unavailable in US. Will keep searching for a copy or venue where I can watch without going to NZ, which I might have to do........

Back on the OP subject of nickels, there's a good reason that most don't find what he would term "old" nickels, Shield nickels were only minted for 17 years (1866-1883), Liberty nickels were minted for 30 years (1883-1913), Buffalo nickels were minted for 25 years (1913-1938), on the other hand Jefferson nickels have been minted for 80 years and still counting (1938-present), more than the other 3 mintings combined, and of course it's easier to find a more or less recently lost nickel than any of the others that were most likely losted up to 80 or more years ago.

I have seen gold read anywhere from in the ferrous range all the way up to where an aluminum can reads. In other words, over nearly the entire target id scale, from smallest to largest. The sweet spot for women's rings is below U.S. nickel in the foil range and definitely not a range to exclude. The sweet spot for men's rings is above U.S. nickel where most large pull tabs read. The immediate nickel range is actually a weak spot for gold rings, too high for most women's rings, and too low for most men's rings. That is not to say rings do not appear in the nickel range, just that it is not a hot range for gold rings. Target ID / VDI Numbers For Gold Nuggets And Gold Jewelry There is no way anyone will break me from associating U.S. nickels with gold. I use it as a reference point when jewelry detecting exactly because of where a nickel reading relates both to men's and women's rings. For nugget detecting a U.S. nickel provides an excellent reference point for detector performance comparisons by being a standard and easily obtainable item that falls squarely where one would expect nuggets weighing several grams to appear. Therefore just like a dime being a reference for people hunting silver, a nickel provides a standard reference for people hunting gold. The metal/alloy mix makes no difference - all that matters is the size and target id number. Detectors know nothing about metals and alloys, and anything that reads just like a nickel, whether it is a pull tab beavertail, eraser holder, lead bullet, or gold nugget is all the same as far as the detector is concerned. Gold nuggets are an alloy also, the most common metal in a nugget after silver being copper. My standard references are ferrous, nickel, and zinc penny which act to divide the target id range into three useful "zones": Ferrous Small gold nuggets, necklaces, ear rings, women's rings (and tons of small aluminum trash) U.S. nickel Men's gold rings, larger gold nuggets (pull tabs, larger aluminum trash) Zinc penny Silver and copper coins, silver jewlery For small gold items including women's rings I will concentrate on the zone between ferrous and nickel. For larger gold jewelry I focus on the range between nickel and zinc penny. For silver and copper coins it is anything above zinc penny. This is quick and dirty but with any detector tell me where ferrous, nickel, and zinc penny read, and I can figure out all the rest.

How many carrots is that ring?

Upon returning from my beach vacation and a difficult week at work (always seem to get behind when I go on vacation) I returned to the school construction site. A lot of dirt has been moved in the last two weeks and I got another one of those 1st (Francs 2). The mercury was on edge by the way the audio responded, but it's amazing how the Equinox will not vary much on the ID when it comes to coins and pull tabs. Even though the coin was on edge, the ID was a steady 23-24. I knew it was a coin of some sort.

His 1st gold with the new White's GoldMaster 24K Metal Detector. Boy the heavy thick 18K gold ring with diamonds is a beauty.

And so my research led me to LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) in the UK. Its incredible! Some sites are just reworked modern changes, but roman/medieval furrows are unmistakable, so are forts, mounds and village earthworks. Currently im scanning the landscape all around my area (within a 15 mile range at the moment). That's why i'm loving this hobby, because its not all about the cool detectors, the kit, the fun, the challenge and the exercise, but also much more about deep research, which involves a lot of thinking, and true history we can touch. Its got a lot going for it that's for sure! But i'm preaching to the converted i suppose ? The hobby has it all! and LIDAR is just one more tool in the research arsenal. For other noobs like me, give it a try, its an excellent resource. Happy detecting, Andy.

The Equinox got wet for the first time today, it survived and will be without a doubt my primary water detector. I can do 80% of the area I want to do without needing the waterproof headphones, which is kinda nice. The beaches are fairly well sanded in here right now, but I know where to look for a few spots of clay. Things are going to get real interesting this fall when the mighty winds shift. Pictured are the older coins. A 1957 Penny, 1959 silver dime and a 1952 silver quarter. Not a bad bit of change considering I only found 5 coins total. Also a brass ring and a nail that might be from a horseshoe.

Sometimes you just have to find the right beach ... the right energy. That is what I did this morning. I got out about 3 hours before low tide (4:30 AM) at a regular beach and found next to nothing. There was nothing that had been moved by the tide or the waves in one of my favorite beaches. This half of a mile beach was dead. It was time to go over a jetty and detect a beach that could get waves and energy from a different direction. That got me started. The waves overnight had been small and the tide was not really going to be very low but the beach had quite a slope to it. I found a couple of quarters. I gridded as I have done this beach before and the quarters kept coming. These were 'old' quarters as my wife sometimes says. That means they are tarnished and have been in the water for some time. Now enough energy had focused on this beach to move them up. What comes with old quarters? RINGS! The first one came at the bottom of a grid. It was the stainless steel black ring. More quarters and more dimes and then the bracelet, and then the second ring and more quarters and a little trash and I'm skipping some pennies. Then I get an 18 on the 800 and I did it and it is the 3rd ring. Another cheap one but still a ring. I'm closing in on 3 hours and I need to go move my car but I also want to complete my grid pattern. Then for about the 3rd or 4th time this hunt I get multiple signals but the 800 is fast enough to distinguish the sounds. I focus on a 'ring sound' and sure enough I get the 1.9g/14k ring. It was among 2 other quarters, a couple of nickels and a dime. These were all within a 5 ft circle digging down about 6-8 inches. It was a good day and a good lesson once again about the energy. The places I hunt need energy to move valuable objects. Some of the heavies will be at the bottom of the grid but the gold ring was near the top. Quarters will get there also with the right waves and wind. I don't need a negative tide to find some good stuff. Totals 38 Quarters 37 Dimes 14 Nickels 23 Pennies (I could have dug more but I do a little cherry picking to save my arm and time!) 4 Rings The beach is not always this good and looking for gold in the desert has its challenges also. You have to take what you can get. Mitchel

Oh Lunk.....you broke my heart with that 1st nugget photo, so cool. Fabulous report and sharing of the Hot Rocks too. Seeing the tiny pickers pulled from the same site as you used your other machines certainly attests to the NOX capabilities. Now if I can get some more coils in, I'll be able to put a few more smiles on customers faces. Keep it up my friend.

I started out with the straight shaft BFO then a Whites 6000D from long ago. And I don't have a preference in shaft design either. My hands like a small grip like a Tesoro as I have to keep the shaft short to keep weight off my shoulder. I usually just let the detector rest in my relaxed palm and I don't cover much ground with a swing. I'm not in a rush to find anything anyway. I sold all my other machines and currently have an old Silver uMax with a pinpoint button, a Bandito and a TDI sl special edition that's still in the box. Oh and the 800. I'm using the 800 now since it finds good stuff in trash more reliable. I generally hunt with small coils because they are light and separate well. The Kruser was just a thought of mine but it has no real advantage over the 800 for me anyway. It's like another knife or firearm I'll never use. I'd love to put the 800 pod and coil on a Deus shaft but it's an expense that has no reason other than it's infinitely adjustable and light. I'll be very happy with a good lower rod and a 6" coil for the foreseeable future. Thanks for the thoughts on the machines. I have learned over the years to consider others opinions over my own this way I can better my ultimate decisions.

Thanks for the comments guys. This is the Google view of one of the surfaced areas at Moliagul. A lot of Victorian and eastern state prospectors would be familiar with that little square at the northern end of the surfacing. The Welcome Stranger Monument.

A tape measure would make sense, I agree. Thanks.

I agree I have a couple of 100' and 50' tape measures that have a folding handles just like what you have found. Love the Red Cross pin!

The forum currently does not allow for videos to be uploaded directly - you have to use a video hosting site like YouTube then post the link on the forum. Does not matter - we believe you. The question is what is up? There is no difference between Gold Mode 1 and Gold Mode 2 except that Gold Mode 2 has a slower Recovery Speed. This allows for more depth in lower mineral ground but it also accentuates false signals from the coil touching items at high sensitivity levels. You need more care with coil control and will generally need to move slower in Gold Mode 2. That being the case Gold Mode 2 should detect anything you can find in Gold Mode 1. If anything Gold Mode 1 is slightly less sensitive due to the faster Recovery Speed setting. First thing I would do is a factory reset, then test again. Hit the Horseshoe button in both modes so that you have no discrimination engaged. Turn off ground tracking before testing any nuggets, as nuggets might track out. It is always best to use manual ground balance when testing, and be sure both modes have the same ground balance number. My guess here is that tracking has caused one mode to get significantly out of whack. If you want, increase Recovery Speed in Gold Mode 2 to 6, at which point the settings will be identical in both modes. Or lower the setting in Gold Mode 1 - whichever.

The 6" coil is a winner for sure. Thanks for the report Lunk! Paul, the 11" works fine. There is nothing wrong using a sensitivity setting of 12. An Equinox with the sensitivity set so that the machine is stable will outperform some other units that run stable at full sensitivity levels. Just because a sensitivity setting is at 50% of max does not mean the machine is getting half the performance of other machines running full out. It just means they have a lower gain level to start with. Personally even with the small coil I prefer stable settings. The last location where I worked the Equinox I was able to scrub the ground just like running a Gold Bug 2 while in Gold Mode and sensitivity set at 18. Once on the gold I may go higher, but don't be surprised if hot rocks pop and coil knock sensitivity increases at higher sensitivity levels.

I bought a Gardforce by Vanguard hard case. Outback series 52C. The size is 31-1/2 X 13-1/4 X 5-3/8. The weight is 7.05 lbs/3.20kg. The foam padding does not have to be cut. It is soft enough to compress around what is laid in the case keeping it protected and the detector or other items do not shift when closed. I like it because it is small and would be easy to carry on a plane or it would not take up a lot of room in a vehicle. It has it own lock and also locks can be added to the hasps. The detector has to be broke down a little more but it can be assembled back together in about two minutes with a little practice. I am not in a race to the field so I don't mind trading a smaller case and security for a couple of minutes of reassembly. The head phones along with the case fits as well. Picture that I took is attached.

With the Equinox I can usually name the target before I dig. Even watching YouTube videos if they’re using the nox I can (most of the time) ID it prior to them getting it out of the hole. The Equinox is the best detector I’ve ever used that can accomplish this.

Thanks for the kind words, Mark. I am liking the EQ800 more and more, for both water and relics. Didnt get much relic hunting this year, almost no spring in Wisconsin this year, went right into hot and humid days. Lots of rain also wrecked the beaches quite a bit, and blue algae outbreaks closed a lot so its been a slow water year as well.

So true about the enjoyment in figuring out the why of what we find! Back in the day we used to pay a nickel for milk in school now that I think about it. I guess one of the benefits of people cherry picking silver back in the early days with the onset of the ability to discriminate certain conductors, is that they did leave a lot of old nickels for us. I enjoy finding the old Buffs and V nickels. Most of the V's I find are pretty toasted. I would love to find one in good shape!

Very pretty! Nice of you to use a U.S. 50 cent piece for scale. fred

Nice gold, Lunk… do you think this was gold you missed with the Monster? just curious.... fred

Thanks Peg. Steve already posted what you’re looking for a couple of months ago here: Further on down in his post, he has an excellent bit about how to set up the EQX 600 for gold nugget detecting.

WTG locating that area and the gold .

Not really mining but about a huge gold nugget, a comedy from Australia. The Nugget. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278597/

Could that be a handle from one of those chalk snap line tools ?

Good afternoon, Paul, Although they’re still hard to come by, it sounds like you’d have a better go with the 6-inch coil, as it sees less ground than the 11-inch. Good luck out there!

Nice gold! So, what is a "surfaced" area? Here in the US that would be an area covered in asphalt, concrete or similar. Don't see any in the pictures so it must be something else.....

Link, Good job with Eke... i tried my luck with the 11” coil yesterday on an old scraped very trashy push and had to turn the sensitivity way down to 12 just to operate it here in WA. im going to have to read up on how to set one up for gold.... i don’t know if the 11 will cut the mustard for nugget hunting....unless they were at least solid half half framers. I liked the detector a lot for the beach last fall. I would love to be able to use it in these trashy areas where no one will detect. cheers

First one - 1978 I think - was a Compass. Don't remember the details. Then a Garrett Master Hunter which I had for years and years. A great beach machine.

My first Roman Silver found with the NOX, Field2. VDI 14/15, default settings 8 inches down, 4 units on the depth gauge. Lovely tone Believed to be a Silver Denarius by Septimus Severus AD209, This side Minerva, the other side the head of one of his Sons either Geta or Caracalla, commemorating the victories achieved by the Romans led by Severus and Caracalla in Scotland AD209 -10.

The humor is so dry that I thought it worked pretty well. Lot of stereotypes, some true, many exaggerated, decent stories, I don't know, it's better then "BOOM BABY BOOM!!!" ?

I think what you guys are describing is the effect of the Equinox having more then one amplification level for the pinpoint. The Etrac would smoothly "ratchet down" on a target to shrink it down to about 1 1/2" to 2" wide (About 5cm), then it would stop there. The Equinox has this too, but also seems to have 2 or 3 distinct tiers of sensitivity. I think when it's in one of the higher sensitivities it can get pulled off of a coin easier then before. It seems that finding clean ground beside your target to activate the pinpointer is more important then before. I am somewhat indifferent to the pinpoint function, I can usually just "X" out the small cluster of beeps on deep targets and use that to center my hole rather then a tighter pinpoint. Although I will admit a tight pinpoint was one of my 3-step checks for deep non-ferrous targets at relic sites with the Etrac and Safari, time will tell, we usually adapt just fine. Perhaps this will be the machine's quirk, on the other hand it is half the money of a Etrac while being faster, lighter and waterproof. Apparently the Equinox is update-able, so maybe they can change he pinpoint in firmware to be a little more traditional. The Etrac is also update-able but I'm not aware of them ever updating it.

I got the first few covers from the production run of Gold Monster Covers I designed. I got a limited amount sent to me before the bulk of them will be shipped. It will take about 30 days to get the bulk of the production run, but I am really happy with the way they have turned out. The Gold Monster cover is made of a tough Green canvas with a neoprene lining to offer protection to the detector. I also designed a cord wrap, that closes with a hook and loop strip. I designed this to protect the coil cable and allow you to secure that cable without using that plastic cable pinch that has been molded into the vertical support. First it is very hard to get the coil cable in and out of that little plastic pinch, and second I am afraid over time you may damage the coil wiring. The wrap allows you to easily change the coil and not be pinch that cable all the time. This thing was a real bear to design because of all the weird angles. I think the testimony to the difficulty of the design is that I don't think anyone else has designed a cover for this machine yet. See the pictures. Doc

Looks good Doc-Pm me if you still have one for sale l-Thanks

Thanks again for finding the time to read my book, Steve. Hope you are finding the time to hunt as well. Kind Regards, clive

You are too kind.... the lack of anything remotely resembling poor behavior is a real testament to all the forum members. I was more worried about a troll or spammer joining in my absence and going nuts, and even considered disallowing new members while I was away. I did also figure if anyone tried that you would all step up and just run them off. Part of me just wanted to see what would happen though so I just let it go since truly nothing could happen that I could not clean up on my return as if it had not happened at all. I know people want to know where I went and what I was doing. Yes, I went to some old haunts in Alaska. It would be hard to have a better time than I did in all respects - truly a fabulous trip and wonderfully relaxing. Other than that I have emails and posts to catch up on first. The tale itself will be a long story since I am going to backtrack decades and tell you all a genuine story full of context and photos. What I did the last few weeks will simply be the exciting ending you will all have to wait for. Yes, I do like building a little suspense. I think the tale will be fun and enjoyable for all so all I can say is get ready for a peek at a part of my life in Alaska over the years. It will also be a journey through models over the years and how improving technology really can make a difference. I am looking forward to telling the story as much as as some of you may be in hearing it. Note Sept 1, 2018 - The story is told here Thanks again to everyone for running a great forum. Yes, that is what you all did while I was gone - good job!!

Simple....old age. Alaska is no fun sitting through 7 months of cold and dark when you are too old to do the things you went to Alaska for. I'm in Siskiyou County on the Klamath River.

Hi everyone and appreciate the comments. I am on the way home and have some catching up to do. Thanks for keeping the house clean while I was gone! In any case I had a great time and tales to tell in the not too distant future. ?