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The wife and I spent a night at a small town beach area back in mid Feb...we brought our detectors just for fun...not my first pick as it's cold and windy most of the time with not many people but my wife likes these areas north of Petaluma as she grew up in that area...Lisa was learning her new Nox 800...she found a few coins and lots of trash...I got lucky as I did not expect to find a gold ring...at first I thought it was 10K but it acid tests 14K like it's stamped....not the prettiest ring but gold is gold....the little one is silver.... some lady and her 5 year old daughter were on their hands and knees watching as I sifted it out of the sand...they were as surprised as I was.. strick

Hit the football field close to home today for a few hours. About 20 minutes in, a strong 7/8 blared out. Down about 1-2 inches was the 14K ring. Only change after that, but it was great to find gold again. 15" Equinox coil covering ground again today; love that coil.

Nothing great to report...been doing very little detecting...made it up to the foot hills a couple times searching for that gold coin but it was not to be...raining and windy here in N. Calif this morning.. The Henry Clay pendant is kinda cool learn something new every day with this hobby. Stay safe out there! strick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Clay

I’d have done a factory reset in a heartbeat. If you’ve not done that way too early to be even thinking about a return for service. Far from holding off on resets mine gets reset fairly often, just about every time I make a major location change or even just change coils. I have no real evidence to back this up, but in my opinion the longer you go without a full reset, the better the chances of a glitch occurring. Especially for people that fiddle with the settings a lot.

You are not reading it right. It’s not that Minelab does not consider North America a sales target for gold detectors. What they are doing is reporting what is selling and where they are selling, and it’s that gold detectors sell far fewer numbers in North America. How many people in the eastern U.S. nugget hunt? It’s just a small niche market here and always has been. A market that frankly has peaked and is in the decline, though gold breaking over $2000 could change that. That’s not Minelabs fault, that’s just reality.

Hello to all ,while i am confined i thought it will be good to put the extra spare time to learn a new skill.So i started to work on a Youtube channel so far i must have spend around 60/70hours as i know sh%^ about the whole thinghy. I started with a tiny budget for the gear to add to the challenge ,but with eBay it is always possible to get bargains .After watching lots of tutorial ,i uploaded my first clip . Whats the plan to record some of my beach prospecting and Thames mudlarking session.Testing gear only the one i own , i wont buy to open boxes and film,i am planning to use some vintages machines as well.You can notice that the nickname is MUDRIPPER ........or shorter Ripper thats what i am called here after founding human remaisn and spending 4 hours at the Police Station on a Easter Sunday 😁😁😁😁 I ll try to focus on quantity rather than quantity and NO PLANTING OF FINDS like those glory hunters.If you know me well,you will know that i am more interested by the gear and the search ,the chase the the nice finds, are only the rewards. Here is the link of the channel with of course limited content at the moment:) Enjoy RR aka Mudripper

It's a common misconception that the main difference between the 600 and 800 is gold mode and if prospecting is not on the horizon, then why do I need that extra mode. The fact is there are significant more subtle diffrences between the two detectors besides just gold mode including: the useful included wireless audio accessories, the non-ferrous tone customizations, the additional single frequency settings, manual noise cancelling, custom mode profile slot, and I could go on and on, not to mention that gold mode can be useful for more than gold prospecting (I use it for relic hunting). The usefulness of a lot of these additional 800 features may not be apparent when first starting out, but you may find them useful as you grow in proficiency with the machine. That being said, many proficient and very experienced (and successful) detectorists find the 600 to fully meet their detecting needs. I recommend perusing the Equinox forum here for more information and specifcally Steve H.'s excellent Equinox Essential Information compilation thread here. In that thread is an excellent pointer to an Equinox 600 vs. 800 comparison: Steve H.'s excellent Minelab 600 vs. 800 Comparison Article https://www.minelab.com/usa/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/equinox-600-vs-equinox-800 And a comparison post I wrote a few years back - my first post on the forum, actually: Hope these somewhat alleviate the confusion of which to choose. Regardless of which one you choose, either Equinox is an excellent detector and an excellent value. HTH Oh, and a couple more thoughts... mrtune, I know you are not a newbie but for the benefit of someone else reading this who is just getting into detecting... Don't buy more detector than you can afford, but it's ok to buy more detector than you think you need. In other words, if the 800 is outside your budget but the 600 is affordable, don't reach for it beyond your means - it is not worth going into debt over. On the flip side, don't buy the 600 just because it is cheaper or you don't think you will need its features right off the bat if can afford the 800. You may regret later that you don't have those features on your machine unless you are 100% sure you will never use them. Finally, just because the 600 has fewer "advanced" features than the 800 doesn't mean it is any easier to learn than the 600. Either detector will take hundreds of hours of swing time to become really proficient. But that is true of just about any mid to high end detector so don't let that scare you. Regardless, both the 600 and 800 have excellent default settings that will get you out and swinging right out of the box and you will find stuff provided the site you have chosen has targets to find (site selection is the #1 factor in success in my opinion independent of the detector you use). Good Luck Out There! And Everyone Stay Safe!

Found this what looks like pewter head with a gargoyle on top and a strange old buckle with a glass front. Think the buckle used to have a photo or painting behind the glass. Other is an obliterated IH penny but was a good find for the day as it was 10" down mixed in iron near some recent digholes someone missed. Pays to be patient when working these beat up grounds.

i'm very happy that you had a good times in italy. now with this virus is hard but we follow the rules. Soon all of this will end, i will return to my normal life, start to search for gold and share the pictures with all this fantastic community. now that i'm at home i spend my time reading this fantastic forum, thanks very much also all of you stay safe please 😊

Thought I might update my last post. Finally got out yesterday for a little hunting. Went to the elementary school I attended in the 60's. I had been hunting about 20 minutes and suddenly the detector went crazy. Constant chatter, did a noise cancel, nothing changed. Dropped the sensitivity, still no good. All well knowing some was definitely up I put the Equinox in noise cancel mode, raised the coil about 4' above the ground and rotated the coil like you would a TV antenna to see if I could locate the direction of the EMI. Sure enough, when I pointed the coil in the direction of a 3 phase electrical line it started chattering and when I rotated away from the line it went quite. Something had definitely switched on the power line to cause such a sudden increase in line current. Well, I took my own advise, moved to the other side of the school and suddenly my stable detector returned. This was the worst EMI I can ever remember experience.

Good job on finding the wheats, I always figure if I can find 4 or more wheats in front of one house hitting curb strips there is a good possibility of silver. I went back to one spot 2 times before I scored the silver, got 2 mercury dimes, just takes time and listening to what the nox is saying. Maybe we can get together when you get back to this time zone lol...

On most genuine gold and or platinum with diamond stud earrings, the Xcal and the CTX 3030 will not respond to them, but YES the Equinox does. As for the pinpointer I prefer selling to the folks who hunt micro jewelry and or small picker nuggets in bedrock, YES it is the White's TRX. SO many people just assume their detector and pointer will pick up the diamond stud. Why do they think so? Because they have found small items and sometimes even stud earrings, but I assure you those are sterling, or brass or other metals. Here is how I learned about my pointer preference and which ones did the task best: A few years ago an older wealthy gent called and asked if I was interested in making $500 to find a 1 karat diamond stud earring. Well that certainly peaked my attention and before you know it, I was on the road with 2 detectors (CTX 3030 and GM-1000) and my trustry pointer. When I arrived he took me to the back of the house into the Master Bedroom. This room was huge and all I could remember was the gorgeous view looking down onto Boise, just stunning. He explained his girlfriend lost the earring when taking off her sweater. Well ok that sounds logical, heck my wife has had earrings get caught herself. Then my feet and eyes see one problem as I walk into the room. I immediately notice there is really really really long shag carpet. In fact, the longest I had ever seen and he mentioned it was custom. Boy... is my easy money thinking starting to dwindle, but I still have my hopes up. He informs me they already vacuumed the carpet with no luck and they rented a detector with no luck. He even used a flashlight at night to find any possible glimmer from the diamond and still no luck. I was the last result before the carpet was to get pulled up and burned? Boy this earring must have some serious ties is what I was thinking? Who pulls up a custom carpet and burns it just to get a 1 karat diamond? I found out, it was a very sentimental family heirloom and needed to be recovered at any and all expense. My 1st attempted produced 1 penny, a few bobby pins, a couple small staples and hearing a few nail tacks holding down the carpet with the CTX 3030 and small coil. But no diamond. My 2nd attempted was with the more sensitive Gold Monster 1000, but it was to powerful, I kept finding every little tack and staple holding the padding under the carpet and the metal that was holding the carpet too. At least the Monster was finding what the CTX 3030 missed, but I needed to make some fine tuning. I had to use a trick I use when hunting for a recently lost ring in a park, turn the sensitivity down so I am only getting targets near the surface. After 2.5 hours and no $500 in my hand, I was starting to wonder if it was in fact not there, but maybe in the bed, her scarf, sweater or somewhere else. My $500 payday was dwindling as hopes were fading. Sometimes you need a change of scenery. An attractive young lady shows up and I assume it is his daughter. I tell her all the items my detector has found and that I gave them to her dad. She then grins/smirks a little and tells me, he is not her dad. OK...I sure messed that up. Long story short, I realize now I am speaking to the Secretary/receptionist/mistress who lost the earring. I ask if I may test her other earring with my equipment. She happily takes off the earring and lets me test. CTX 3030 would only hear it if touching and from 1 certain angle. GM-1000 had no issues and I was most certain it wouldn't, but I was too sensitive. My orange carrot was the real shocker as it would not hit the diamond stud unless touching and in the 1 exact same angle as the CTX. What is the chances of finding it now? At this point, I am lost, but I do decide to ask if I could go get some other detector tools from my place and come back? No worries, he she tells, me as it needs to be found and I was on a "Only get paid if found" mission. I arrive an hour later with my TRX pointer. I ask the lady again if I could test the earring and felt I might have a better chance this time. Sure enough, the White's pointer responded and I had new hope. What I ended up doing in the end, was grid a small 2 foot area and I ran the pointer from left to right at the same width and started working down as if painting the side of a barn. When getting a hit, I'd then use the pointer and separate the shag carpet (like looking for a needle in a hay stack). After about 45 minutes I'm starting to get an idea of signal strengths of the tacks used and how they are differ from the stud, which was a softer hit. Well another 10 minutes later and many more false hits, I finally open some shag to see $500. Yes I did in fact find that 1 karat diamond stud. What was even more rewarding than the money and the hugs I usually get, was that I learned more about the tools I use for my favorite hobby. To this day I have found 2 additional diamond stud earrings and both of them were using the NOX-800 and TRX Pointer. I'm not saying other brand of pointers won't work, but I know what the major sellers of pointers can and can not do. I have not tested them all and that is why I wanted to see results from other folks and what pointer they use. Now to be fair. My favorite pointer overall for most coin/relic hunting is the Garrett Carrot followed by Minelab ProFind-35 with the DISC mode...provided it does not break. Seems the ProFind 35's have the most issues of the major manufactures. My White's TRX is my nugget hunting pointer as well as Micro Jewelry. Just like our detectors, the pinpointers have certain tasks they shine at and some task they are not as useful. After all, that's why some of us have more than 1 detector right? So hopefully some of you learned from taking the test and or at least reading this post. Good luck everyone.

Hey guys, I haven't done a show & tell on this particular forum yet. But a few friends I know here aren't necessarily members or readers of some of the other forums. So here is my latest trophy show & tell. Got this @ last Saturday, on a hunt with Brian "Cal Cobra". An 1881 P $10 gold. This is my 16th gold coin of my career so far. Brian also got an old coin from this trip, but .... we'll let him chime in with his 🙂 This site has, so far, given up a Spanish reale, an 1829 bust dime, some 1800's foreign coins, an 1853 seated quarter, gold rush buckles, etc... And oodles and oodles of period "whatzitz" that keep us on the edge of our seats. All I can say about the location is: "In California" 🙂

We now have four coils for the White's Goldmaster 24K and GMX Sport. The two models have coils with different labels, but they are all compatible between the two models. White's GMT and MX Sport coils ARE NOT compatible with the GMT 24K or GMX Sport. There are: 8" x 14" DD 6" x 10" DD 6" (actually closer to 6.5") round concentric 4" x 6" DD This is not perfect but it gives you a pretty good look at the relative size of these coils. Click for larger version. Search coils for White's Goldmaster 24K and GMX Sport metal detectors

Yes Steve..I dont want anyone to think its a walk in the park on my account.I too struggled with it and still have learning to do.Its a unorthodox unit.Its quirky.The worse the soil a person has the better results he may have with it.But you dont turn it on and get blown away on inland sites.It takes time to see what its doing and how to tune it find it out.Study what you see is happening and notice things its doing other units are not doing or struggling to do on in soil targets.If a user starts to pay attention to this he will see its strongest point. What i mainly wanted to do is how should I say is LET CAT OUT OF THE BAG .The strongest point to the machine is mineral punch.Its in alot of ways like getting a P.I. machine to run in the soil like with timings etc on maybe a GPX type unit.keep it stabilized learn audio traits. The Tarsacci is collecting alot of soil DATA that's for sure.Its seeing everything mineral, rocks,Even seems ground temp changes from sunny sites to shady sites.Its using a filter to silence these things very sparingly.In my mind and only my mind (no inside info) its doing this to punch tricky soil.See it all then try to decipher it in processor.So what this does it create a machine that can get mineral ping at times even slight blow back at times from soil.Sort of a all metal discing feel.But its pretty intelligent in what it does.It just creates quirky hits.Not dead pan hits but some weird feedback.And the salt balance seems to be there to help Filter some of that quirky ping hits. This is where adapting your brain to a ping hit to a sonar echo type hit comes into play.My biggest problem was and still at times is chasing pings.Foot deep small and or bent nails.I'm used to a say VLF chirp/ping being a deep goody barely making it through.On the Tarsacci pings are rejected targets.The sonar echo sound is the legitimate hits.(Gotta have headphones on).The biggest problem a user will face inland is deciphering these reports.its not the bigger nails and up iron its the small inch long or bent stuff.the machine wants to not let those pass by if its not getting a solid read..It will lean more to trying to let them through than assign them as iron.This is it so seems not to miss iffy deep goodies.Ive also learned that deep goodies say penny sized and up dont really ping or sonar echo they become a fuzzier high tone . As far as hunting my favorite sites .thick iron.If I had started out in a site like that with the Tarsacci i would of gave up.Learn it in light iron areas first off the edge of habitation sites etc.The iron hunting for me is where i like to be.more chances in habitation areas to make more finds than random scattered through out say the woods fields .And the Tarsacci exhibits something unique in that scenario. I'm not going to say its a Deus in iron its not.But it does do one thing well and that's punch bad soil.And I've always had it in my mind if I could combat bad soils and iron mixed there's more and its not deep.Maybe just lurking 2 inches.As we know that big coil is not the best for iron site work but its pretty dang good for its size on recovery speed from one target to another.Yet its not a blending type unit so it relies on gated audio.Much like T2s CZs etc.So what I see in iron is those targets are or should of been got but the combination of bad dirt and iron leech halos shut some targets down.I'm sure they were not severely masked in terms of abundance of nails etc on top of the targets and a good machine should of already got them.its the machines ability to handle or see through the halo fusion of iron soil and iron oxides meshed.Now this is all in my head but I know what i seem to be seeing.And its a thought process I have had for along time wanting a unit to be built that would combat it somewhat.That's my biggest enemy bad dirt lots of iron.. I know the beach hunters want a large coil.I want a small coil!!!I want to fully see what this unit will do in bad iron bad dirt mix..It may not be what it was designed for?? but it has something going on in iron.It needs to be explored further. Once I knew the sound of a legitimate target to a false the unit has became very conveying in iron.Its actually less noisy than most machines in iron its just the compressed audio traits are the learning curve.A user who dissects iron with vlfs will find the Tarsacci is well behaved comparatively speaking but you have to figure the audio out. I see what the unit is doing now we have to apply it.Learn it.Dont think old school think new school.It can feel alien but its doing something.First few hours I ran it actually first whole battery charge I was so disconnected from the soil I was almost depressed about it.but let it sink in.I like to have a connection to the soil and the Tarsacci to me was Chinese talk with a poor translator..Now its starting to feel more English to me.Well maybe Brooklyn accent English..I need it to get to Southern accent English LOL..I'm joking but I'm excitedly waiting for it to become second nature to me ,become my friend. I will also add I was at a disadvantage for the first few days.I was using a Bad coil.Yet wasnt sure it was bad.BUT after I got the coil fixed and sorted out the noise I was enduring dropped dramatically.BUT the first coil had taught me somewhat how to figure out hits.once I got a PROPER coil the intelligence level went up.And the language took off.So I had a handicap to start with but it actually helped me..A user coming to the Tarsacci will not see what I saw.And actually it is not that hard to digest the audio when its running right.Sort of like a FBS unit we had to learn the language.Its different BUT IT WORK'S! Keith

It seems to me it is easier for him to talk on the phone rather than text messages so maybe speaking English is easier than writing. Maybe this is why he does not post on any forums as I know he does follow them. Just a thought. I hope that he is knee deep in production of a new 12” surf and turf coil for the MDT as has been discussed on other forums. I have over a year now with my Tarsacci and close to 400 hrs with 0:problems, other than tightening the battery cap a thread to much and stripping the cap so to speak. After tightening a second time and stopping when I should all is well. I know of one other who has done the same thing with the same results. My warranty will be out soon but I don’t anticipate any problems. I also have spent 75% of my time in salt water with no problems. This truly is a fantastic machine. Hope everyone stays safe from the terrible virus and good luck to all.

Looks like another new pic of the ZSearch and they say 12” for sure at first On there site. They look slick. Hopefully the virus does not delay a release date.

Thanks for your great, thorough article, Steve. Really filled in a lot of gaps in my history files. This kind of theory is important to know so that people don't expect too much from any single platform. They all do different things well. Lets hope you are right about the do all" models to come. cjc

I have not had the 15" off for a long time. It just covers so much ground and is able to pick through a remarkable amount of trash for me with the recovery set to 7.

I believe the answer to both is yes. Be sure to have a way to prove your date and time of posting such as date stamped photos or GPS points and a witness or two. Then be ware of some one predating an notice and posting elsewhere on the claim.

I have a magnetic rake I got of ebay. Works really well and disturbs the soil just enough to suck up the iron in the top inch or so. It can also be turned over with the smooth side down to just get the surface trash.

Congratulations Tom. I know many people have maybe found more gold coins, but those are the results of finding a cache. As far as I know you are tops for finding them one at a time here and there. It just goes to show that hunting the right sites and focusing on your desired targets does pay off. To find gold coins like you do you have to hunt for gold coins. For most people they tend to be an accidental find while doing general coin or relic detecting. Very impressive, and a super clean find at that! Thanks for posting.

I have had the pleasure of hunting this property recently. Here are a few of the most notable finds. I’m hoping this is the forum to post pics. A Tshirt I made that I’ll wear on my hunts so you all can recognize me when I’m out there...The house itself... as it is today. My dog Draper. Would like help identifying this one. I can not make anything of it.... These twin coins were picked from the same hole in the front of the house. They are Canadian 60 year confederation coins given to each student attending schools in Ontario in 1927.

Mining Relic's of the Mother Lode There are relic's from the California Gold Rush all over the State. The pictures in the video are from Grass Valley to Beckwourth and just about every camp or village in between. When Gold was discovered in California in 1848 it started a mass expedition to the territory in search of great wealth. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the video I just love visiting the Historic mining towns and sites .

Today I decided to break our states stay at home rule today. Now they mandated us wearing masks ever time we go outside, I call BS. I'm in the middle of a 20 acre field with no one near me for 1/4 of a mile. I just got my new 11'' coil (AF-28) for the Multi Kruzer, which is the factory coil on the anfibio. I couldn't wait to give it a run. I started out with a couple of air tests to see if my numbers were comparable to the 11x7 and the 9 inch. The 11's numbers are a little different on gold in the 50's VS 30's on the other coils. As for other coins, silver and such, they are just a few ticks higher on the scale. I've hunted this spot a lot and thought it was pretty much devoid of finds. So today I decided to take some advise that Againstmywill posted recently, and I cut my gain way back and decided to hunt the top couple of inches of ground. Boy did it pay off, Don't get me wrong I dug a lot of trash, but this was to work out my numbers and sounds with this coil. I think this might be the best coil for the Multi Kruzer. The only downside is EMI . I thought I had a pretty good day on the coins and got a bonus silver ring, I can't complain about that. I want to give a shout out to Tom Slick another forum member who recommended the 11'' coil. You were spot on Total Count 8 Quarters - 7 Dimes - 1 Nickle - 19 Penny's - old iron ring, glass fuse, at least 100 pull tabs, brass buckle, And a nice little silver ring. Sometimes it's worth breaking the law!! ( no one was hurt in making this post and Dogodog is a purely fictional character. ) Stay safe my friends!!!

I just got back home yesterday from wintering in Arizona and am now seemingly a prisoner in my own home due to the virus. I was able to go out detecting many times with only a few skunk days. The last day out, I found this specimen that is quite different from anything I had found before. Norm

Hello my name is Riccardo, i'm from italy near Milan. i have 19 years old i like metal detecting in the field and gold prospecting Hello to everyone 😀

Your Pennsylvania Minelab dealer has sold a lot of gold nugget detectors!

Looks like a pretty good outing to me!!! Any day you get out, even if you find 0 its a great day. Wish you the best strick and hope you find that gold coin!!!

Thanks Keith for the great and very detailed commentary, and glad to see you back. Your report gives people who want to take the Tarsacci off the beach a much better idea of what to expect.

I found this information informative and interesting. It shows some of the similarities and differences of Australian and U.S. laws and regulations. Have a good day, Chet

thanks, i have a white's coinmaster and a teknetics t2, also i want to start gold prospecting

Used the 15 up in the foot hills a few weeks ago and it is fast and covers some ground...as with most of my bigger coils they are the least used but I'm going to start using this one more often. Nice work! strick

I don’t know what possessed me to do it but I ordered one and will have it tomorrow. I’ll give a sort of review after I fit my Orx and must have gear into it. Be cheerful

Welcome aboard Riccardo! Italy has awesome history and art. Stay safe and Best of luck!

I checked with them and they say there in stock so I ordered with a skid plate-Thanks-Mike C...

Research is a lot better now, because when you run across an interesting piece of info you can take a picture and you have that forever... Libraries and old old history books with maps in them are goldmines..Check them out, take photos and you can research areas that you find that pertain to your interests... Case in point I found a very interesting map with a lot of potential nugget hunting and possibly some coin shooting spots, I wrote this info down thinking I could find these places on modern maps I already had.. Well I discovered that new maps have new names and the old info doesn't exist.. Fortunately for me when I went back to the USGS they happened to have that particular item for sale so I was able to do some transposing with my own copy..You can do this anywhere in the US .In the 70s I used to go in May to this annual treasure meet in Nebraska.. During the winter I used maps and library loan books with maps to locate sites of old near the town where the meet was held.. Dang I thought I was in Silver heaven. OLD MAPS....

Welcome to the forums! Stay safe.

Watching it snow this morning, sipping coffee, happy im safe here.....Stay safe everyone.....

Riccardo Glad you found the best site on the internet with people who will help you and share their knowledge with you. Please stay safe and happy hunting.

Welcome to the forum!

Hey Riccardo! Welcome to the forum! You will find a wealth of information and some very knowledgeable, and friendly folks here. Hope you are staying safe and healthy in Milan. My grandmother immigrated to America in 1902 from Cozenza in Calabria, so I have very strong Italian roots on my mother's side. Welcome aboard!

I decided to repeat this test, more/less. Here are my settings: Park 2, gain = 18, Noise Cancel = -4, Ground Balance = 0, Recovery Speed = 3, FE = 1. Big difference #1(?): I used the 11 inch coil instead of the 6 inch coil. Big difference #2(?): In my variable depth test-stand I put the targets (silver dime inside ring-only pulltab) at a depth of 6 inches in the ground. Big difference #3: rather than notch discriminating, I went full spectrum (Horseshoe button engaged to read all 50 output channels from -9 to +40). Similar to the video, I only used 5 audio tone setting but that shouldn't matter since I'm reading TID's that show on the display. I made sure to swing the coil with moderate amplitude -- basically edge to edge of the 11 inch coil (so a swing amplitude of 11 inches). Here are my TID results as a function of detector operating frequency: multi 15/14 5 kHz 23 10 kHz 20 15 kHz 18 20 kHz 18/17 40 kHz 17 multi (repeat) 15/14 Note: when I show two numeric TID's separated by a slash, the first is the predominate TID but the second occurs almost as often. As you can see, I never saw 26/27 which is what an unmasked silver dime shows. I didn't even see 25+/- which the video shows for the 5 kHz setting. Basically I confirmed the video's test qualitatively, but I added quantitative detail which is more revealing. Now, the big question is: how much does this test impact actual field conditions? When will you ever find a silver dime inside a ring-only pulltab? I prefer searching for real (undug) targets and varying the operating frequency before digging, noting differences in detector response (tone quality and TID).

Bored to tears and holed up like everyone else, but I can't bitch too much as I got a nice warm place to hole up in and enjoy looking out the dirty kitchen window at our local elk all bedded down in the yard. Pic taken today...… We worry about corona and the elk worry about CWD....

Congrats on the gold! No doubt about it the Equinox likes gold, in general it likes "pure" metals. It loves silver too. I have the 15" coil and I was amazed that it separates and is able to work iron almost as well as the 11" coil. I took it to a "worked out" stage stop that's gotten rather stingy over the years, and dug three seated silver dimes in one hunt using the 15" coil, I was amazed to say the least. Not sure it gives a lot of extra depth, but it sure helps with ground coverage and it's not heavy.

I was fortunate enough to rescue this 1 carat stud that was lost on the beach while flying a kite. The Excalibur II and CTX-3030 could not read the signal of the matching stud before the search. The Equinox 800 in Gold mode 1 worked!

Equinox and Electrical Interference (EMI) Short Bursts Of Intense Static Or Interference

Gerry, as with Andy I say : It is an honor to get an input/reply from an industry/hobby-respected voice like yourself . To answer your questions : Two $20s, three $10's, eight $5's, one $2.50, and two $1's. And no, the "larger vs smaller" (as if TID/selective -ness , ie.: cherry-picking disc have anything to do with it) are not a factor at all. Instead, the total factor is: Location location location. This one was found with a Minelab Explorer II Yes I do not count caches (or "scattered caches" ) as the same type find. For purposes of gold-coins-found. In the same way that people don't generally count gold coins in jewelry (in bezles) as "gold coins" . And count them as "jewelry" instead.

Very nice looking $10 Tom! I will have to agree that the Western US is the place to be if you want to find gold coins.