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My summer season consists of a lot of VLF detecting at some old tertiary channels with quiet ground and exposed bedrock. I’ve been using a Gold Bug 2 with a 6” coil for years and found thousands of nugglets with it for quite a few ounces. It decided to crap out on me and I thought it was time for a change after seeing a Gold Monster squeeze out some good gold from old ground. After researching I decided to go with an Equinox 800 I picked up from Chris Gholson. I can say it exceeded expectations with the 6” coil. I only had an hour to spend at an old patch that was hammered with GPZs, Gold Bugs and Gold Monsters. FIRST SWING popped out a gold bug caliber speck. In a half hour 4 more popped out and I decided to give it a try at a cabin site where I found some great relics and bottles and an 1872 seated dime and 1911 nickel. It was a wooded cabin with foundation intact and long period of occupation so the trash density is as high as you’d expect. I’ve hit it hard with an XP Deus but thought this 6” coil might have an advantage. The ground is incredibly hot, as in hot with a GPX and GPZ, it drove the Deus nuts and definitely was a chore with the Equinox but with patience I was able to get new and impressive targets. The cabin was built on gold ground and sure enough a foot away from where the nickel was found I picked up the biggest flake in the photo. It’s a flake at only 1.8 grains. I don’t know how this thing picked it up in that ground with that much trash. I also picked up a handful of birdshot lead and small copper sheet scraps amidst everything in the heart of the site. Needless to say this thing rocks. And yes it can find gold as well as a gold dedicated machine. It’s the first dual purpose detector I’ve ever seen that can perform at the top of the spectrum with both. No coins or relics this day but I only had a half hour to look and it found unbelievable targets in the most difficult of sites. I think it could excel on half dimes and $1 or fractional gold coins if they’re around. So many of my patches have cabin or town sites around them and now I don’t have to hike in two machines or spend the full day with only one. Can’t wait to see what more time will produce with this thing.

We've been out every morning for a few hours since Sunday practicing for the summer of Aussie Gold. Today was my day on the big gold. I was detecting a desert wash bench zone, and got what the Aussies call a Zed Warble. Down here in Sunny Yuma the Zed Warble usually means an old rusty bent nail. A bit of digging down to the hard pack maybe 15 or 16 inches. I switched detector down to Sens 1 to try and pinpoint, bit it was still overloading with the warble tone. Dennis and I took turns breaking up the hardpack and scooping out the hole till this nugget rolled on out. The small stuff I found over the past 2 mornings, I think I'm going to throw them back for seed on the big ones.

Finally go the video finished of comparing equinox 800 to the gold monster 1000 on in-situ targets in the field. This is my no mean the comprehensive review as im sure the settings on the equinox could be tweaked more produce even better results. But from what i saw on my ground they were vary evenly matched. The gold monster seemed to pop a little harder on the targets, but the equinox still hit all the targets the gm1000 hit. Since i detect mainly creeks the equinox has a leg up since its water proof and i dont have to worry about it getting wet or falling in the creek. Hope you guys enjoy the video and ill take more footage as i work this little patch.

I still only have the one hour in it. Family duties called me away for a bit so no ironstone or serpentine yet. I would imagine serpentine will limit its effectiveness and I’ve found ironstone can vary so much in detectors I'm not sure my report on it would be of great value to you. I don’t post on here much but I was trying to decide between a nox and Gold Monster. I’ve used the monster but this is my first go with the nox. I thought I should give my impressions in case it helps others since the users on this forum helped me make the decision. I wouldn’t take only my opinion as a guide but thought another view would help someone get a better overall educated decision before they shell out the money. I hope you enjoy the Instagram. I do it to help others get an idea of what us gold Detectorists do out there and maybe get some younger people involved in prospecting since it seems fewer and fewer people are doing it every year and kids don’t even get outdoors anymore.

Big area to look there and mostly shallow. If you can, spend more time there. At least it isn't flogged like all the known mapped areas are. Likeliest ground is in the bush between the clearing and the lane. Just to keep you encouraged, here's one of the bits from there:

I asked and got permission to hunt an old yard in the older part of town. I was told that it had been detected several times over the years and a $20.00 gold coin was found there about twenty years ago. I said that technology had gotten better and I would like to try my chances. I was very pleasantly surprised with this coin

I was able to get back to my 1850's site early this morning for an all day hunt. First half of the day was slow, only a couple of trouser buttons, a percussion cap and some lead. The latter half of the day finally started to get a bit more exciting with 4 buttons, more percussion caps and some misc, pieces of flat brass debris and more lead. Running my Nox as follows. 11" coil 2-tones recovery 6 iron bias 0 tone break at -9 to +9 sens 23 Park 1

I agree. Thanks for posting Mike ?

Gotta love that dog. Look how he has his head just slightly on one side as he takes in what you are saying to him. He's a beauty.

I Hopped on my quad bike yesterday afternoon just to take a run up to top of the Hill to check out phone service. After that I saw some quartz That got my attention so I drove over there and Then over there, and then over there , next thing you know I looked around and went uh-oh. so I decided which way I should go to get back to camp drove that way just for a little bit and then I checked my phone with the map app I have on it and Of course I was going about 90° the wrong way. It’s easy to mess up out here. And I won’t be depending on my phone alone again.... it almost died before I got to camp .........digging out my gps today like Norvic told me , it’s the little stuff you forget that will get you killed here,,,,and getting lost is one of the most common

I use Field 1 all the time relic hunting. It's very quite even when increasing my sensitivity up to 22/23. I manually GB and run 2 tones most of the time.

Most likely it will behave very similar if all the user parameters are set up identically between Park 1 and Field 1. Regarding GB 0, don't automatically assume GB 0 is the right setting based on mode, it needs to be set according to the local site conditions (i.e., if you are getting a lot of ground feedback in all metal, then GB) similar to noise cancel. Also not sure why people don't take the 5 seconds it takes to get an optimal Auto GB, regardless, but that's just me and my OCD, I guess - lol. An interesting test would be to see if after you have set up Park 1 and Field 1 identically, that if you do a GB on each one to see if the GB readings are similar between the 2 modes (GB is mode dependent because of the different Multi IQ profiles on the Equinox and if you do GB, each mode should be balanced individually).

Hi all!I wanted to mention several things that may be of interest.First of all, as some know, I've been working on making colored shafts available regularly, as a "special order" item. I recently ordered a "test batch" of colored tubes, and all of the colored shafts produced from these tubes have been sold, except one -- it's in the "red/black" color, and I will post a picture of it a bit later.Second, I have several customers requesting colored shafts, so I'm looking to put together a new order for colored tubes from my supplier, in the next week to 10 days or so. I would like to get as many customers as are interested, to let me know, as my supplier would like as a large of an order as possible. So, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A COLORED SHAFT, please let me know. Here is a picture of the available colors...Finally, I just received parts that will allow me to re-stock inventory on the standard (black) Equinox complete shafts; I also have CTX 3030 lower rods, and Equinox lower rods, available as well. Please let me know if you are interested -- sending me an email is the best way to get in touch, at steve@stevesdetectorrods.com.THANKS!Steve

The MInelab GPX 4800 was released at the same time as the GPX 5000. The Minelab 4800 was intended as the next release after the GPX 4500, but before it was released Minelab came up with a couple new refinements different enough to warrant yet another model, the GPX 5000. The 4800 therefore became a sort of "non-model" as most dealers and users focused on the GPX 5000 as the new top-of-the line detector. Most dealers do not stock the GPX 4800 and it may as well not exist for all the attention it gets. The fact though is that a GPX 4800 is basically a GPX 5000 less a couple timings. Details can be found in the GPX 4800 / GPX 5000 Brochure (excerpt of spec sheet at end of this post) but what it boils down to is the GPX 4800 lacks the Fine Gold and Salt Gold timings. Salt Gold is an improvement of the Salt Timing found on previous models that works better on salt flats and salt water beaches. Fine Gold is a bit misunderstood. Sensitive Extra is the best setting for pulling small gold out of most ground in the US. Fine Gold is intended for extremely mineralized ground. There are a lot of people who have decided Fine Gold is the magic setting but it really should not be used in milder ground where more powerful timings will do the job better. It really all boils down to the Fine Gold timing, and most people just went ahead and ponied up for the GPX 5000 for the extra $800. Steve's Guide to Differences Between the Minelab SD, GP, & GPX Detectors

I've been selling Minelab detectors for 20+ years and most of the major brands as well. One of my biggest gripes was their Customer Service and how crappy it actually was. I do not expect miracles, but when other manufactures can have a detector fixed and returned within 2 weeks, why did Minelab need a month and sometimes 2 or even 3 months? At the last Minelab Conference I was promised things would change and the new man in charge would get things going in the right direction. Phil Beck was the name given to take over. I can honestly say that this promise has been met with all smiles. I sent a clients GPZ-7000 in for repair and was notified by my shipping supplier the day it arrived. That afternoon I received an email from the Service Center in PA. Later that afternoon I got a call from John (the service tech) who informed me of the fix and that he wanted to speak with me to double check if there were any other issues before he sent it back. I was quite shocked at their speed, desire to make it right and professionalism. The next business day my detector was headed back to me with an email showing Tracking info and a few days later I had it in my hands. Folks this was Same Day Customer Service from a REPAIR FACILITY..... Heck, if this is what I have to get accustomed to, then it is now up to the other manufactures to get even better. Actually I realize it is not possible to get much better than what they do and I am ok with 1 or 2 weeks. But for Minelab to go from shitty ass last (and they were for many years) to fighter jet FIRST FAST and even take the time to call me? I'm speechless (me... never), and very impressed and happy. Thanks Peter for selecting Phil Beck to be the one to tackle such a huge thorn. Thanks John at the Service Center in PA for being a Professional.

I have never experienced this on any version of the TDI. The “ground balance off” mode should be the pure unfiltered signal. Engaging the ground balance engages a filter which reduces the air test results in a properly functioning TDI. The only reason the TDI has the ability to turn off the ground balance is to get this extra depth back, as has been highlighted in numerous online posts and videos. The manual says air test depth increases with the ground balance shut off. What you are saying simply makes no sense from a pure electronics standpoint and how the ground balance functions. If a TDI loses depth in air tests when the ground balance is shut off then in my opinion it is not working properly.

I'm going to a Bendigo park today. There are many to choose from but Adam has suggested one. Thanks everyone who has sent PMs. Mitchel

I have a couple videos on SL air test and hope to do some other comparative videos soon.

The Minelab GPZ 7000. We have a backup GPX 5000 just in case.

Excellent find, not only large but great character - congratulations! The challenge is on now - can Oz put a larger nugget in your pocket?

There have been like a dozen threads on finding gold nuggets with the Equinox and 6” coil since last year if you do some looking. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/7468-my-tips-on-nugget-detecting-with-the-minelab-equinox/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/9606-tiny-gold-hunting-with-the-equinox-800/

Thank you Curtis! I was running recovery speed at 4 for some extra depth the last time just to test it out. We normally run it 6 because of the unreal amount of debris here. I hit a spot that was extra noisy and bumped it back up. I changed my disc because I got tired of chasing lead balls and bits of percussion caps. Some days you just have more patience to handle more hits, today wasn't one of those days ?

Definitely no gold in or on it now. Even lead should weigh more.

That is what I thought when I put it in my pocket. I'll have to confirm it but it looks 'good' with a bright light. I soak it in more water tonight.

I only used gold 1 and 2. 1 in the patch where the ground is beyond mild and 2 where it was hot as any. It’s a strange spot because even though the cabin and patch are only a couple hundred feet apart the ground is that different. The patch is solid bedrock and the cabin is about a foot of hot virgin soil on top of the bedrock. I will be playing around with the settings next time out but because this was day one with it and I only had an hour I just stuck with those settings.

I do totally agree with Rich except for that one point leaving GB at 0. It does not make much sense from my point of view. The machine gives you the option to match the ground perfectly by doing a manual GB(pumping the coil over a clean spot with no signal) so why should I NOT do this? I use every single bit of technical help to run my machine as quiet as possible.

If I go missing I'm headed for Inglewood and Kingower. That is the plan.

It only took one walk in the outback to convince me to use my GPS....most of us do not have an infallible sense of direction... fred

You should teach him my rules and apply them to yourself... You get the first, the last, the biggest and the most...he gets the rest! I love my rules but no one pays attention to them... fred

Dave was kind enough to say "we" put the video together, but that was all him!! Great job Dave. All I did was find more gold lol. Jk. Chris

That is a great outing, congrats.

That's great news! Let's hope at least one of them is a prospector.

Unbalanced? so now minelab engineers are required to make a metal detector that is balanced upside down and right side up.... lol. Blaming a metal detector because you fell and broke it....He'd be a great client to try and keep happy...I'll stop before I say something I'm not supposed to.. strick

A straight answer might be nice.....but don't hold your breath. Mushrooms spring to mind....kept in the dark and fed on excrement.

I received my new Teknetics T2 SE Thursday. I also ordered a Cors Shrew coil to go with it. Was using the Cors Shrew for everything in these pictures EXCEPT the bullet, which was found with the stock 11" coil. There will be another Cors coil in the future for me. They make an excellent product. I'm very pleased with the T2, it's an amazing detector and today it showed me what it can do with less than 4 hrs total time on this machine. It pulled nickels out like no other detector has ever done for me. Lots of power under the hood, and I didn't even run it past 65 on sens. Had really good results cranking disc up to 40, ran 2 tone and 3 tone. I've finally found what I was looking for in a detector. All the coins and junk are from roughly 3 hrs metal detecting today, bullet is from another site visited today less than an hour. Nothing but clad here, and loads of nickels that are very discolored.I've hit this area earlier this year with the Equinox 600(now gone), and XP ORX. The bullet I found at another place today, but was not even there an hour due to rain. I'm looking for some identification on that lead bullet so if any of you can help with it I'd be glad to hear it. Any idea on age of the bullet?

Hello, I just want to report back that I had a fruitful weekend in the woods ? I ended up using Park 1, Recovery 6, Iron Bias 2, Ground Balance 0. I experimented with the field 1 a bit, but the place I was hunting had some amount of modern thrash. Next time I am going to experiment more with FIeld 1, but I am going to set it to 5 tones. I've been wondering if I set Field 1 the same way as I have for Park 1 (5 tones, Recovery 6, Iron Bias 2, Ground Balance 0) is it going to behave the same way as Park 1? Regards, Igor

Nice V gold-can you say chupacabra ? Mike C...

Outstanding recovery Norm!!! As Steve notes above, it certainly possesses good sharp detail. I would love to have it in my collection!!! Thankyou for sharing with us and congratulations!!!☺️ Jim.

Just poking around on Whites website and someone hit it big with a 67.4 gram 2.166 ozt Nugget with an old XLT. https://www.whiteselectronics.com/find/monster-nugget/

You are talking perceptions which of course will vary. I personally do think that Garrett needs to do something. There has been no follow up for the ATX, and the GTI 2500 is embarrassingly old for a “flagship” detector. I think many Garrett fans were hoping the AT Max would be multifrequency so I sense some general disappointment there. At the moment I think Garrett is cruising more on marketing muscle than the merits of the current lineup. I have dollars in my wallet waiting for Garrett when they make a light weight dry land version of the ATX with a set of normal light weight coils. Those dollars have been waiting and waiting. That sums up the issue with Garrett right now.

Unlike the HF coils, the new x35 coils do not have external batteries so they must use the coil charging clip as the only option.

LOL.. I remember a video years back where guys were using blasting caps or dynamite to blast thru the ground ?

aygore, I've been using my 800 for a little over a year now and have spent most of my time hunting some hard hit OLD parks, some private yards and a few ghost towns / mining towns for good measure. For the parks and yards, I mostly hunt with the 11" coil, for the Ghost towns I use the 6" coil. I've spent most of my time experimenting with Park 1 & 2, Field 1 & 2. For the type of hunting I do in the Parks, I've settled on Park 1 using 5 tones. I don't care for the Field modes in the areas I typically hunt. I still roll from Park 1 to Park 2 , Field 1 and Field 2 and check signals and keep coming back to Park 1 & Park 2 for my hunting, with my minor adjustments. My minor adjustments for Park 1? I have my iron bias at 2 and my recovery at 6. If I go lower with the iron bias, I start digging A LOT more rusty iron nails. When set at 2, I dig rusty, deep, bent nails occasionally. I could set Iron Bias higher, and put some distance between me and the rusty nails, BUT it impacts my ability to unmask targets close to the rusty nails. My other adjustment is setting the Recovery at 6, which still gives me impressive depth AND separates close targets better than lower settings. If the trash level is LOW, I can adjust this lower. However, a lower setting also lengthens the audio response and I don't care for the target response with really LOW settings. It does buy me some extra depth but it reminds me of the LONG audio response setting on the old Explorers and Etracs. AND, one of the big selling points of the Equinox 600/800 is the ability to separate and unmask good targets from bad. When I'm hunting areas already hunted by decades of other detectorists, why would I want to essentially turn this off by turning the recovery level WAAAY down? Again, I typically start with these settings and can tweak a little this way or that IF the area I'm hunting allows. For hunting Private yards, since I will be recovering MOST conductive targets, I will typically use Park 2 with the 50 tones (factory setting). Again, I stick with the iron bias of 2 and recovery of 6. Again, I can adjust if needed. Another thing I am doing while hunting is using the 'U' horseshoe all-metal button so that I can hear the iron audio. I have the Iron volume set very low. This gives me much more information as to what I'm sweeping the coil over and helps me when deciding if I'm getting an iron false or a possible co-located good target hiding adjacent to iron. I am a fan of 'iron audio'. Also, I leave my ground balance on 0. Hope that gives you some additional information to ponder over as you're getting to know your 800. I've been detecting for a rather long time and am impressed by my 800 and its' ability to find tough targets where others have been many times before. It isn't a magic wand, but it is a very good tool. Be smart. Learn how to use it and be patient. Start experimenting with your settings when you find a possible target and see how the changes impact the audio and visual ID's and remember the audio ID trumps. Good luck - Rich (Utah)

Ok Sourdough, I didn't write down the GPS coordinates but I know I was in the Nevada desert as I remember seeing sage brush? The big one weighs 5.9 dwt and was down 11", wasn't a screamer as I was running very conservative settings but an obvious target through the smooth threshold. Brian.

Well I know when I fall on and break something it’s never my fault! Hey Rick, I have to admit it is fun watching you rationalize other companies putting out high priced product after you dumping on Minelab for years for them thinking they need to recoup their own engineering expenses and make a profit.

$180 for a complete head replacement? Seems more than fair to me.

Target Tone allows you to divide the Target ID range into separate Tone Regions. Therefore, you can hear more or less target information. The Target Tone setting has the options of 1, 2, 5 and 50. Target Tone adjustment is local; only the current Detect Mode Search Profile will be affected by changes to this setting. Gold Mode (Equinox 800 only) has a Target Tone setting of 1 only, and cannot be changed. Selecting the Number of Target Tones 1. Use the Settings button to navigate to Target Tone in the Settings Menu. 2. Use the Minus (–) and Plus (+) buttons to select the number of audio tones of 1, 2, 5 or 50.

Ta as was trying to work that out the other day too but as usual if all else fails read the manual AGAIN

Chase. a week is a long time for my memory. lol when my buddy yells over to ask what the TID was of my last dig and i have forgotten it aleady. this is why it takes me so long to learn different machines. lol short term memory or lack there of. my grand kids say I can hide my own Easter eggs. no wonder why i have cheat sheets in my pocket. but when i finally learn something i REALLY know it.

Just hit settings until you get to the target tone icon (the speaker icon with the musical notes coming out of the end) and hit minus until it displays 5 (instruction manual p. 46)