Leaderboard

Been a while since I put together a video, but over Labor Day weekend I worked a ghost town putting the Equinox 800 to the test and it didn't disappoint! HH, Cal

Fred hit the nail on the head! A novice should be looking for a club nearby to get involved or find a seasoned hunter who knows what he is doing (possibly Ring Finders). Good Luck. GaryC/Oregon Coast

Dealing with some family issues me, my wife and a group of friends finally made a trip to the central Colorado mountain’s to search for gold specimens on tailing piles that have been productive in the past. Part of the group this was their first time using a detector searching for gold specimens. After a brief overview of the history and different areas to search, we spent some time setting up the different types of detectors to achieve the best results. We then took off in different directions with some partnering up with others for additional instruction. It didn’t take long for the 10,000+ foot altitude to begin taking its toll and the steep terrain limiting the area they wish to search as everyone was cautious for their well-being while detecting. The group detected for three days and four specimens were found. Here are a few pics showing the wire and leaf gold specimens as found and then cleaned: Close up of the largest gold specimens: Couple of us detecting on the tailing piles:

Found this little guy on my second hunt with the nox. Just barely registers at .01g on the scale. It rang clear at 2 inches deep. I'm hunting in trashy hydraulic pits that have been hit hard with PI's and VLF's but I think I'm the first equinox user. I never thought I could remain sane hunting these areas but this machine changes everything. Only iron I dug was the old burro shoe.......pretty cool!! Im in gold 2, sensitivity 18-20 the rest all stock settings. Thanks

Thanks, that is a long time for a gravel parking lot. your detector if shipped would be double boxed...if you bought it local and brand new there should not be scratches at all. Go back to the dealer if local.. .if you got it on the net?.?? read the on line manual, do the factory reset. Do the noise cancel. Select park 1 . push the horse shoe button...this will detect very small stuff.".. or fiind a detecting club and ask for help good luck

Driving cross country 2000 miles to Florida panhandle. Have a job at the small Outpatient VA Clinic next to Eglin AFB. Living on the bay!!! Salt Life.... Had to sneak out of Australia... Trent was working me too hard😜

Forget the obsessing over detector models and “depth”. The real game is to have a detector appropriate for the task, know it inside and out, put yourself on good locations, and put in LOTS of hours. Don’t look for reasons not to dig, look for reasons to dig. To be successful you need to be metal digging, not metal detecting. Most of all, enjoy what you are doing, or find something else to do!

Found this one in between some tree roots, surprised it has the detail it has. The rough edge I was hoping it was a pine tree but still cool find.

I just couldn't figure it out. The old Jeep mysteriously started running much smoother and quieter and became much more stable. I would also say that it's performance somehow increased by 30% or perhaps even 40%. In fact i was so impressed i decided I would invest some time into cleaning it up a bit. As I was mucking out the interior ( forgotten rock samples, sticks and leaves, old sandwich wrappers with sandwiches, dropped nuggets and such) I found Sourdough Scott's missing ferrite ring. I took it out and put it where Scott could pick it up and now the Jeep is back to it's usual squeaky, whinny, worbally self. Mystery solved.

Hi Folks, I've been on the road detecting Fairbanks/Richards district then on to Jack Wade & 40 mile area AK. and like I have said Watch out Nevada here I come.... Doctors said I shouldn't sit & watch football & drink adult beverages all winter so here I am on my way to Northern Nevada & I would like to hook up with anyone that's detecting. Have toy hauler & 6x6 and all the right tools. I am in Oregon right now trying to slow my roll, 112 @ my friends in Nevada so gonna BLM Campground for a couple weeks in Oregon unless someone says lets go. Otherwise will be working my way south as temps come down a bit, AC works in camper but not outside... Haha !!!! So will be bck. on site reading the news & stories again & posting some good summer finds, lets detect, Gold / Relics / Coins just want to swing a detector...….

River Detecting for Gold Nuggets - See who gets the Biggest Nugget. Gold Prospector's Jeff ( Smithsgold ) and Gary ( Two Toes ) Head to the Hills in search of rare Gold Nuggets. Watch and see who gets the most Gold and the Biggest Nugget. SG 010

I think your right about the round disk with the slots on either side I found a couple at the spot we went to...nice hunt..interesting stuff strick

Found a couple more dig photos on the Jack Wade property from this summer, wasn't like I wasn't trying, up high, down low on piles, didn't do great but did find some ….. Will post find's later, moving camp to Rye Patch this morning, can't wait to give that ground a go.

The tailing piles near Leadville produced some very nice specimens. John Vivian and Glenn Godat did very well in that area with some outstanding gold and silver specimens.

TechGuy, I am also very new to this and have found very valuable information from this group. In the short amount of time with my new 800 I have been able to find a lot of things I never thought I ever would have. I give all the credit to the fine people of this forum. Several have given you some of the best tips to try to locate your missing item that you want to find and I surely would do as they suggest. Steve and GB have given you a way to locate what you are looking for and they love taking the time to help if you are willing to help yourself in learning the detector. Should that fail you could get a black light and search at night and the diamond will give off a prizim effect when the light hits it. I found that at night I could find diamonds better with the light a little easier. But remember that you must have patience with learning this detector as it will locate things that others will not find.

Make sure your skimming the ground on that one. Target is small and might just about need to touch it with the coil. Buddy of mine is new and tends to swing is coil couple inches off the ground, drives me crazy hehe.

Couple years ago I hit one of the swim holes not too far away and in a 10-15 sq ft area hit nickel after nickel......... Was thinking someone was trying to drown their kid by stuffing coins in their pocket and telling them to go for a swim.

More on bristlecones: https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-wanderer/five-famous-trees-to-visit-around-socal?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=kcet&utm_source=Membership+and+Enewsletter&utm_campaign=47aba361fe-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_05_15_10_47_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_da05ea76d1-47aba361fe-87261333#bristlecone

1. In metal detecting, there are no absolutes because there are so many variables to account for and that are not under your control. So take all advice with a grain of salt, including what is to follow. 2. Location, Location, Location. A good site, research, detective work, understanding how people lose things, and experience trump good equipment. If the targets are not there, no machine can help you. 3. Depth is not everything. 4. Getting a detector that has the ability to impart target information via nuanced audio is more advantageous than super precise target ID numbers. Learning the audio language of your detector can often tell you a lot more than a memorizing target ID numbers. 5. Coil control and coverage help give you control over the audio and ensure you get your coil over the maximum number of targets. Overlap your swing and move forward slowly to minimize missed coverage. Often coil coverage is more important than depth, so elliptical coils than can provide that coverage without the added weight of a circular coil of the same diameter as the length of a coil can be advantageous. 6. No site is ever really played out. Targets are masked by junk. No one truly gets their coil over every square inch of ground, and natural and man-made forces such as frost heave, rain drops, plant growth, plowing, and erosion all keep targets constantly moving in the ground. 7. Increasing sensitivity above default settings often just results in more noise, not more depth. 8. If you have the luxury of taking your time with a site, then do so. Visit it repeatedly. Use different detectors, different settings, different coils, and different walking patterns and you be rewarded. Also, see 5 and 6. 9. Use your head when surveying a site. Look for the iron nails you would normally throw in the scrap heap, because they are telltale signs of human presence. Look for high point where people would choose to dwell. Look for water sources. Research the geology of the site if looking for natural precious metals. Look for places where people would choose to rest or gather. On the beach focus on entry points, the standard towel line, refreshment stands, life guard stands, umbrella and chair concessions, cuts that show erosion to old sand and hard pan, know the tides, and check the weather. 10. Learn your detector inside and out. Start with some standard settings. Generally, stick with the defaults until you understand what the settings do and then incrementally adjust to experiment with them. Avoid switching detectors, settings, and modes often unless you know them well otherwise you reset your learning curve. 11. Take nothing for granted (see1) and remember that the best discriminator is your eyes, so when it doubt, dig it out. 12. Try to leave any site the way you found it, if possible. Replace your plugs and pack out both the recovered trash and keepers. 13. Take time to stop and enjoy the scenery and solitude. I detect mainly to get away from the stress of daily life, so the last thing I want to do is make detecting a source of stress by pushing myself or turning the outing into a contest with my hunting buddies, unless that is what we collectively want to do that day, for fun. 14. Be safe. Avoid detecting alone in remote places unless someone knows where you are and when you plan to be back. Carry plenty of water and other necessities for outdoor adventuring. Know your limits. Don't trespass, seek permission. Don't poach someone else's permission. Know the detecting laws wherever you hunt. 15. Join or support a local detecting club. You can learn from the members, meet some great people, and get connections to some great sites. Contribute your knowledge or participate in online forums, like this awesome site. 16.. Most important: Do have fun.

That’s a tuff target there. Do a factory reset and start over to find the best settings to recover. Many question if a new detector is working, especially if new to the game, I’m sure it is.

Yes a thread from last year, but dang, those oranges look good... Wouldn’t mind having some of that tasty gold. Up here in NY our oranges are,,, well, yuk.

Cant beat those old 1950's vintage black and white photos..lol Are you sure the Jeep is not a bit jealous of the new Honda side by side? might want to do a few more tests before you jump to a diagnosis....just saying strick

You are not not imagining things. Rubber tire mulch in playgrounds is a thing and is controversial from a health perspective. That being said, the steel wire belt material is supposed to be removed from the rubber used for playground mulch, but the process appears to be only 99.9% effective at removing the metal. This means that in tire rubber mulch playgrounds you may encounter some random bits of wire. Here is an article on the topic: https://www.playgroundprofessionals.com/surfaces/rubber/rubber-tire-mulch-hazard-or-harmless203

I was downhill from Glenn when I found this small Nugget. Haven't weighed it yet but put in on my watch to take the photo for size comparison. In the past, I've used my White's MXT and GMT but this was my first outing with the Nox 800 and standard coil. It was 2" deep and I was using Gold 1, Sensitivity 22, and the factory settings for everything else. It rang up between 2 and 4 with a very solid signal. It's tough hunting those steep tailings piles. I am now scheduled for Hernia Surgery next week!

When I get time (it might be a while) I will post some photos of a Hike/Bush-walk to an old gold mine in Papua New Guinea during the mid 1970's. Here are some teasers of the AREA.

The host rock was dissolve by hydrofluoric acid, unfortunately I didn't keep an eye on it while cleaning or I would have left a little rock to help stabilize the specimen. There was a smaller piece and a few wires that did not remain intact and may or may not held all together if I would have left some of the host rock. It can be handled but it’s somewhat delicate. Some of the wire gold specimens I found are more rigid and can be handled without a problem. Leaving some host rock in my opinion makes the wire gold specimen a little more interesting to look at. The gold specimens pictured were ones that I had found and I was using a GMT with the standard coil. The other gold specimen found was a leaf type variety and my friend was using a NOX 800. The others in the group were not as lucky in finding one. Interesting one of the guys had brought a GPX 4500 and could not detect the wire gold specimen, but all of the others who were using a VLF type detector could detect the wire gold specimen. Here is another wire gold specimen I found in the past in which I left a little of the host rock and limonite (before and after pictures):

I’ve done lots of times on my 800 on what you circled. On my first post this is what I said I like to do . Call it what you wish but it still comes down to blocking out deleting out are discriminating out a number. ID number is still a number and I still like removing it anyway I can one number at a time. Chase have a good evening. It’s 11:15 PM here and I need my beauty rest . The Best To You Chuck

The garret carrot will work great. I use the Deus model and there is also Fisher's. Best of luck to you and don't give up or mow the lawn yet.

Another problem is that things are not always lost where they are noticed missing.like Steve said...a careful visual search of the parking lot is a priority...before too many cars go over it. search the clothes and house too. how long has this been lost? fred

Can you take a picture of the remaining one (with something in the field to show scale) and post it here? From this description, the first thing I thought of was that you are discriminating out the signal from the earring. The horseshoe button on the lower left of the control module front panel toggles between discriminate and non-discriminate (wide open or "all-metal" in Minelab jargon). Where that discriminate level is set depends upon the mode you are searching in. I would use Park 2 mode. There is a large incomplete circle of small dark rectangles on the display that surrounds most of the display characters. If you are in discriminate the lowest (most counterclockwise) 10 or so will not show. When you toggle the horseshoe button those either come into view or disappear. Make sure they are in view. I'm not questioning what Steve has said. Even if what I describe actually leads to you getting a signal with the surviving earring, there will be many targets in your search field which will likely give this same signal. So I agree it's going to be a tough task.

The Equinox is an excellent detector. The problem is the target - a small white gold item has little measurable conductivity, and basically that is what a metal detector does - measure conductivity. More money does not equate to better performance on this type of target. A Fisher Gold Bug 2 with 6” coil may do a little better on this type target for a little less money. Many people would consider the Gold Bug 2 as good as is possible for this type target. Other alternatives are the Minelab Gold Monster and White’s Goldmaster 24K. But I would again caution you that the difference is small and best obtained by an expert operator, so just running out and getting a Gold Bug 2 will not be a magic solution. Frankly, a rake and a screen plus sharp eyeballs is as much a viable option for this situation.

Where are you located?? Someone from the forum may be near enough to lend a hand and a little experience.

Here's a couple photos of a couple tailing pile digs I'm working on in the Jack Wade area. Just because we have detectors doesn't mean we don't have to dig any more... Lol !!! Now your asking yourself did I find any gold, will follow up this in couple days...

Like Steve said your detector is going to struggle with something that small. However if you are patient and willing to take the time, get a propointer and sweep the ground with it like a windshield wiper does to your car and just scoot along as you grid the area. I can attest to this as I have recovered diamond studded gold earrings in just this manner. It takes time but as long as you have the time it works. I've run my 800 over these type of earrings and never got a signal/tone but my propointer will pick it up. Best of luck and I hope you find it.

Unfortunately that is a near impossible target for most metal detectors. With the Equinox I would want the 6” coil and be tuned up as if I were hunting small gold nuggets, and even then would only expect an inch or two at most detection depth. I know the Equinox with 6” coil will detect this type of target because I have tested mine on a small 10K white gold earring post. About the only machine that has a good shot at doing better is a Fisher Gold Bug 2 with 6” coil, and having run both head to head the improvement is minimal to the point where I sold my Gold Bug 2. I hate to say it but you are going to be extremely fortunate to find the earring. It would challenge an expert operator let alone a novice. If it dropped into the gravel even just a couple inches it’s basically gone. Good luck though, hope you find it!

Buddy mine found these turtles last Dec frozen in a farm field. They were smaller than a quarter. They were hibernating but the farm is active and they would have turned it over before they could make it out of there. Don't know what number they showed up as ? Will be releasing them in june.

For me it traveling through farmland and fields of corn for miles. (relic hunter) . The only gold I hunt is through my eyes and this site. So yes, would like to see pictures of your travels to the gold. Pic is of one of my permissions, hunt the field borders until harvest then the fields.

A few finds that are copper pieces, A nice point, a rolled trade bead and an unfinished copper piece that was copper nuggets that had been joined by pounding together but not yet a finished tool......I actually found the point in my front yard while testing a new MD...Copper nuggets were found in the Chititu area and were traded by the local natives to other tribes for toolmaking.. A friend found a small fishhook that was very interesting..

It cooled off recently so I took the Xterra 705 to a park I've been hunting for a couple of years . This particular park is in an old neighborhood and has been hunted heavily for many years . I've never been able to find much there in the way of old coins just a couple wheat cents. I have used several different machines there and spent quite a few hours there over the past few years. I guess I got lucky when my first target was a 1943 s mint war nickel then 10 minutes later a 1905 indian cent. Didnt find anything else in the 45 minutes I was there. I was running the 705 in all metal coin mode, 99 tones, sensitivity 28, threshold 12 in high freq on the triple freq cors strike coil. Just wanted to share and make a post so Steve doesn't delete my acct. lol

^th trench deeper wider and longer ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,jackshit 1 medieval knife blade lots of sweat for not much...... RR

in the nasty clay prevalent in so much of the ground around where I detect....copper coins don't usually come out looking too great. Sunday I got out to a new permission very near my house that I have been trying to locate the owner for almost 2 years and just made contact 2 weeks ago. The grass is crazy high (2-3 ft), so detecting was limited to areas under the trees and bushes. Still managed what is probably my best grade Indian Head. It still needs some more dirt picked out, but taking my time with this one. Going to ask permission to take my mower over there if I get time to go again. Happy Hunting!

Took the xterra out again today for a couple hrs. only intent on shallow clad. I notched everything but 40,42, and 44 on the vdi scale and set the machine at 7.5 khz in 4 tone, threshold 12 and started at sensitivity 10. I was searching sidewalk strips and gradually turned the sensitivity up to 20. I was finding memorial cents, clad dimes and quarters and not a bit of trash. I went a couple blocks then got a solid 42 no matter which way l swept the coil. I was expecting a Canadian cent because they come up a little higher than a lincoln. I was very surprised to see a 1939 mercury dime in the hole. A little further down the strip another solid 42 next to the sidewalk edge turned up a 54 Rosie. It was nice to have the machine quiet and not be bothered with trash for a change. ☺

EZ Wander works with all models with built-in wireless module including (but not limited to) Racer 2, Impact, Kruzer, Anfibio and Simplex.

Here is a nice piece of Yuma gold my brother found a couple weeks ago,found with the 7000.

That’s impressive to me, especially considering the large coil your using. Thanks for posting the photos.. Bryan

Kind of funny that for PI detectors we brag about big nuggets, and with VLF the bragging rights go to the smallest nuggets. Great stuff JP and you are officially the very first person to ever post pictures of gold nuggets found with the Equinox!

Excellent relics JP…If this detector is able to find pieces of gold that small in addition to it's other apparent capabilities, it's going to be the biggest selling detector ever and I will be standing in line as soon as my savings allow.

Looks like the image up loading is working just ok .....but the Equinox is working better. Those are some small nuggets for that big coil. Might have to treat myself to a Christmas present strick

JP - I assume you left that nugget right where it was because, well, its not a relic.