Steve Herschbach

My White's S rod was quite sloppy so you are not kidding about the shimming. S rod on White's website

Published on Jun 5, 2018 By Fisher Metal Detectors

I agree. It really does not need any more repetition. I restricted “availability threads” for a reason. The suggestion may have made a difference months ago, but with 800s now becoming available it’s all rather moot. From Forum Rules - This is a fan club. It is a place for people who see the Equinox in a positive fashion. If you hold a generally negative view of the detector or Minelab, this is not the place for you.

Depth meters on metal detectors are nothing more than a signal strength indicator calibrated to a certain size target. A lot of U.S. detectors are calibrated to a dime size target. As the dime gets deeper, the signal gets weaker, and the meter reflects this weakening signal strength. Detectors designed for gold prospecting only never have depth meters, because they are useless when hunting naturally occurring objects with infinite sizes and shapes. Items smaller or larger than that dime will not read accurately. Small targets with a weak signal will read deep but be shallow. Large items can read shallow but be deep. Even the dime will not read accurately if at an angle or on edge. With rare exceptions changing coil size or type completely invalidates the depth reading accuracy. The White’s V3i lets you enter the coil used to compensate. Other detectors use “smart coils” with an embedded chip that tells the detector which coil is hooked up, so the machine can compensate. Highly mineralized ground and adjacent targets can also skew depth reading meters. Add that all up, and frankly I don’t pay much attention to depth meters, especially since I often detect for items other than coins. In my simplistic world deep items are fainter and have softer edges to the audio response. Shallow targets have louder, sharp edged responses. Equinox maintains full signal strength on coins to several inches instead of getting weaker from the very first inch. This means the machine cannot use the signal getting weaker in that first few inches to gauge depth. The signal does not drop off for several inches. Because of this, in my mind at least I call coins as either being deep or “not deep”. I can usually call deep coins very accurately based purely on the sound, which to my ear has a nice mellow response. Coins under 4” all tend to just bang out as if they are near surface, and it’s only the coil tending to give multiple responses on the shallowest coins that adds another dimension of the “surface coin” at less than an inch. It is the Equinox pinpoint function that really tells me more about target size and depth than the depth meter. Shallow targets are initially really loud/squeaky, deeper target much fainter. Pinpointing in conjunction with lifting the coil can both size and identify large items like sprinkler heads and beer cans. A good simple handheld pinpointer is a great device also. If you can hit the coin type target from the surface with a handheld pinpointer, it’s shallow. If not, it’s deep.

On a dead run today so here are some prior threads to get you started.... Equinox Settings For Iron Infested Land Compendium Of Equinox Relic Hunting Tips In Mid To High Mineralization

Welcome to the forum Clive! The “Horseshoe Button” simply removes any discrimination pattern or notches that have been applied in any mode so that all targets respond. Nothing about the underlying performance changes. You are not going to a different “all metal mode” Field 2 is Field 2 whether items are being rejected/ignored or whether all items are set to “go beep” (all metal). If you take any mode and use the Accept/Reject button to accept all items you have done the same thing, but with a lot more button pushing. To reject the items again takes a lot more button pushing. The all metal horseshoe button is a shortcut, nothing more, that allows you to quickly remove all target blocking and then toggle back just as quickly. Most targets produce multiple target id numbers. That’s why target id numbers jump around. When you block any part of the signal, and one of those jumpy numbers, you reduce the target signal strength. You might even miss a target completely. Many irregular iron and steel targets produce both high tone, high target id response interspersed with the mostly low tone, low target id response. If you block the low tones (negative numbers) all you hear is the high tones. The ferrous target then mimics a coin type target. Hitting the all metal button reveals that instead of an intermittent weak coin target, what you really have is a ferrous target generating 90% low tones and 10% high tones. Many people always hunt with full tones only, no items rejected due to this mixed target response issue. Others find this too noisy, so suppressing the low tones by blocking them is an option, with the Horseshoe All Metal button giving temporary access to the full tone response once the target is engaged. Iron Falsing (Ferrous Wrap) I hope this helps rather than confuses! Click image for larger version....

Never had a Silver Sabre myself but it seems Monte and few other oldtimers used to speak very well of the original big box Silver Sabre for hunting in the thick ferrous. Not sure about the newer uMax though. Hard to go wrong at that price!

Thanks, I appreciate that Beav. Crashed the whole system this morning trying to install an add on, finally working again. A hair puller for sure at times! Thanks for everyone being patient while I work through this. Basically fixing an error made many years ago, and I knew it would be painful to fix, but needed to move forward.

I am in the middle of trying to move all the old handbuilt website pages into the newer forum based portion of the website. It is a huge undertaking and unfortunately old links on other websites will end up broken in some cases. I have got most of the internal links here fixed now but will be tweaking for some time. The biggest part I have been transferring over the last two weeks is my Steve's Mining Journal. I not only moved the pages but replaced the small images on older posts with new higher resolution versions where available. I also added over a dozen new entries catching me up over the last three years. The old home page that few people saw is now reformatted into a magazine style setup, with various articles highlighted. This new setup will allow me to create articles from the best forum posts. Right now it's all just coming together but will hopefully be worth all the effort when done. The new Steve's Mining Journal the new Home Page

Glad to hear it's doing well for you Mark. The Equinox from my perspective is relatively easy to get going with, but I have been reflecting on the fact that in reality there is a whole lot of detector there. For people who are newer to detecting I can see how it could actually be intimidating. Thankfully the defaults are some of the best I have ever seen in a detector so you really do not need to do much with settings to get great performance.

Does not mean it will not be there. These are not available folks - under development, and will use next generation Bluetooth 5. More on Bluetooth 5

There is also an undocumented recalibration procedure.

These look like just the ticket for an Equinox.... https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aria-waterproof-earbuds-bluetooth-5-32h-battery-iphone-headphones#/ Designed by audio's finest award-winning engineers, the xFyro ARIA waterproof wireless headphones brings next-generation technology to today's active listener. ● IP67 Certified Waterproof & Dustproof ● Bluetooth 5.0 - 2.5x more reliable & 10x data transfer for unparalleled sound detail & accuracy ● 32 hours of playtime ● Auto-pair - never worry about setup or pairing modes again ● Compatible with all iOS, Android Phones, Tablets, Watches & more ● Proprietary noise-cancelling sound seal tech

That actually came about exactly a year ago..... http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/3728-waterproof-headphones-now-standard-with-whites-mx-sport/

No, the 600 does not have the Gold Mode, which uses a different processing method entirely. It’s more than just having 20 khz and 40 kHz available. Every manufacturer makes machines that have the same circuit board, but in which the lower price versions are “feature limited”. A perfect example is the White’s V3i and VX3. They are the same detector, same board. They simply disabled certain features on the VX3. This is just standard operating procedure in metal detector land and always has been. The second detector I ever owned was a White’s blue box Goldmaster about 1974. I was “upgrading” from the Coinmaster IV. I opened them up - exact same circuit board, and in fact basically the same detector. Ken White figured a bigger box with bigger meter was “better”. How many people know that in many cases a 10HP outboard motor and a 15HP outboard motor are the same motor mechanically? A 10HP model will be tuned for what is in effect a lower gear, with more torque on the low end. Great kicker motors. The same motor will be tuned up to develop more rpm and a higher top end running speed, but now the low end is lacking. Better for small skiffs, etc. where getting the speed is more important. Yet when you go to get parts - same parts book. You pay more for the 15HP not because the production cost is more. It’s not. You are simply paying more for a “feature”, in this case the horsepower the unit develops when run full out. I could do this for hours but should not have to. Examples abound wherever you want to look. Welcome to sales and marketing. Minelab is guilty, but so is everyone else. I have been arguing that a 600 will serve most people as well as an 800 for quite some time. Yet most people want an 800 anyway. Given that it is probable that this is exactly what marketing wanted people to do, it’s hard to say they did not get it right. If you think not, it’s a bit moot now, as that ship has sailed. The differences between the two are what they are, the only thing left now is to choose. Personally, except for nugget detecting I can do just as well with the 600 as 800. I as a rule don’t use the extra adjustments. The ability to move and adjust tones in some audio modes is attractive, but reality for me is I use 50 tones usually anyway. I don’t mess with the defaults very much at all, often just a bump in the gain, and I am off detecting. So while I am the sort that would want an 800, when I examine the reality of what I am doing with the 800 the fact is I am not using the extra features. I don’t even use the WM 08. If I was being totally pragmatic a 600 with an aftermarket low latency Bluetooth headphone is all I really need except for nugget detecting, and I can actually do very well with the 600 there also. Just not as well as I could with an 800 and Gold Mode. Despite the shortages it should be obvious Minelab is cranking out more 800s than 600s by far. It’s what people want and is a true bargain - continuing wait times are a reflection of that. Lots of people were waiting for various reasons, and no matter how many 800s show up demand still exceeds supply as these people come in from the sidelines. It’s catching up, as dealers will have an 800 on the shelf for a few days, but by and large as soon as excess arrives, it gets snapped up. That could continue for another month or two.

If you take the gift card option there is no fee. I use Amazon a lot so when I cash in with Coinstar I get an Amazon gift card.

Try to pair the headphones to a phone or other device?

Did you also reset the headphones? Owners manual page 57: ML 80 Factory Reset Factory Reset will return the headphones to factory presets, and will unpair all paired wireless devices. 1. Turn the headphones off. 2. Press and hold the Multi-Function button for approximately 10 seconds, until the headphones beep twice and the Status LED flashes pink. 3. Release the button. The headphones will now be in pairing mode with the LED indicator flashing blue and red.

That’s a rare sight - thanks for posting!

A masterful essay Jim - thanks for posting!

Minelab’s price on the WM 08 is insane. You can buy the entire Z-Lynk system with both transmitter and receiver plus cables for $127 and it will work with any detector. The WM 08 is a receiver module only for $259 and only works with the Equinox detectors. You can shop used but the price differential is still there. Bottom line is I don’t think Minelab is going to sell hardly any WM 08 modules. The ones that sell will more likely be from owners who reduce the price by at least $100, and that still ends up being more than the Z-Lynk system brand new. It almost makes me suspect that Minelab really does not want to sell the WM 08 separately. The only reasonable way to get one is buy the Equinox 800. Maybe by pricing the WM 08 sky high Minelab is trying to create perceived value in buying the 800 versus the 600.

Since Z-Lynk employs its own transmitter and receiver when you get the entire system, it will work with any detector that has a headphone jack. Currently the Garrett AT Max is the only Garrett detector that has the transmitter portion built in, so you do not need the separate transmitter module.

The User Profile thing is a definite bug. Trash overlapping with good stuff - not so much. Every shift of target id numbers to fix one perceived area where there is a problem will probably mess up some other area for someone else. You can’t just program away all undesired stuff magically while retaining the good. Equinox really is not the same as other detectors. It may be things like the $2 Euro deal or bottle caps could be improved on somehow or maybe not. The point I am making is anyone holding their breath hoping for an update to fix whatever.... well, good luck with that. I do expect there will be an update one of these days, but I could be wrong. My only expectation is that a true bug like the User Profile glitch will be addressed eventually. The rest... doubtful. Again though, just an opinion based on no insider info. I don’t want to encourage people thinking anything is going to be any much different based on hopes of an update that may or may not occur. If I found Equinox to not suit me for one reason or another I would ditch it and move on, but that’s just me.

It would be interesting to get your take on what features that the Equinox 600 lacks prove to be the most valuable for you on the 800. Once you have time to get used to the new machine

I will keep you updated but I made this coil primarily for nugget detecting. I have to have something that will not catch on jagged rocks and short upright sticks, etc. Works better for mowing down grass and weeds also. Found a little nugget with it on its maiden run! That being the case it won’t see much if any moisture, unless I get caught in the rain.