Cal_Cobra

Wow, BIG CONGRATS!! That's a memory you'll never forget, awesome! Definitely seeing a trend, these things seem to LOVE gold, not a bad problem to have

Steve also consider that their quick start guide, and the Quick Start procedure on page 11 of the manual gives these four steps: 1) Turn On 2) Select a Detect Mode 3) Noise Cancel 4) Begin Detecting! Thats Minelabs words, and exactly what I did my first couple of hunts, and the Equinox performed perfectly. TID was solid, machine was quite, plenty of power as it detected deep targets. So something is going on under the hood that almost makes me wonder if it's at all necessary to GB at all (not that I mind, mind you, it's very simple and I'm used to doing it on my other detectors). Just something that struck my curiosity more than anything, especially as you noted their previous Multi frequency machines did it on the fly.

If you read between the lines on the various search modes, Minelab seems to imply that the ground balancing is done automagically, regardless of whether you do a ground grab or not. For example: Park 1 Multi-IQ processes a lower frequency weighting of the multi-frequency signal, as well as using algorithms that maximise ground balancing for soil, to achieve the best signal to noise ratio. Hence Park 1 is most suited for general detecting and coin hunting. Park 2 Multi-IQ processes a higher frequency weighted multi-frequency signal while ground balancing for soil. Field 1 Multi-IQ processes a lower frequency weighted multi-frequency signal, as well as using algorithms that maximise ground balancing for soil, to achieve the best signal to noise ratio. Hence being most suited for general detecting and coin hunting. Field 2 Multi-IQ processes a higher frequency weighted multifrequency signal while ground balancing for soil. Beach 1 Multi-IQ processes a low frequency weighted multi-frequency signal, and uses special algorithms to maximise ground balancing for salt. Beach 2 MultiIQ processes a very low weighted multi-frequency combination, using the same algorithms as Beach 1 to maximise ground balancing for salt. Not to be confused with auto tracking, but it appears that the Equinox is doing some ground balancing specific to each search mode irregardless of whether you do a ground grab (auto ground balance in EQ speak) or not. Not that I would skip doing a ground grab, but I find it interesting that Minelab seems to be implying they process the ground balancing differently for each search mode, even if you don't do it. Steve do you see this as the case?

Using someone else's setting only works for you if you're hunting the exact same type of environment as they are, like if you're relic hunting and the settings are from the tame grounds of the east coast, but you're in highly mineralized soils in the west coast, then, IMO, it's not a great idea. That was a hard lessen for me to learn, I used to follow NASA Tom's reports religiously, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with his detector reports, as they can be the most comprehensive detector capability analysis on earth BUT his inert Florida soil is nothing like what we have to deal with here on the west coast and in the Nevada deserts. So what may work great for him, can be (and has been for me in many situations) a complete bust for me. I think the key is really leaning what each setting does and when to use it, so that you can set it up for optimal performance in YOUR detecting environment. So if I'm detecting an alkali soil site that my VLF machines can't even ground balance at, and it's loaded with iron, I need to have a completely different approach to setting my EQ800 up then someone in England, the east coast, or where ever. That said, that's not to say that you can't learn a lot about the detector by understanding WHY people are setting up their detectors the with the settings their using so you can modify it to suit your environment. Just my V nickels worth

Thanks strict! I'm slowly learning this beast, I'm still in dig-it-all mode trying to learn what it's audio language is telling me, and what it's strengths and weaknesses are. I'll likely play around with the speed settings a bit this weekend.

I haven't used it, but there's a smartphone app called Tect O Trak you could check out. It's too bad they don't offer a trial version, it's $9.99. The challenge with GPS smartphone apps is they really kill your battery. If you try it, post a review here, would be great to know how it works out. PS - Tect O Trak has a Facebook page you could check out to decide if you want to part with ten bucks to try it out.

If you have the 800, the included wireless headphones work great, why use wired?

Oddly I wasn't getting the double beeps on most of the surface cans. Need to experiment more with the pinpointing, I do like the pinpointing on the Equinox although I am now experiencing the low volume bug others reported. I guess I always was and just didn't realize it. Although given Minelabs track record for releasing firmware updates, I won't be holding my breath for one, but it would be fantastic if Minelab would remedy some of the lingering issues that weren't resolved during field testing.

After what felt like weeks of rain, Sunday was a beautiful warm sunny day, and I was able to get out with some detecting friends and get a solid 8 hours of detecting. Something that's been bugging me, is those darn surface, or near surface targets. Amazingly something as large as a flattened beer can sounds pretty darn good, coming in at a solid 26, the same as a silver dime. Now most machines would overload on a beer can an inch or two under the surface, and you'd likely move on, especially after digging several As the site that was loaded with said beer cans has been known to produce some good old coins, it was hard to pass these, but I gotta tell you that after digging well over a case of them (some were 12"-18" deep, many were shallow), it was defeating. Interestingly for the most part, I did not get that double blip signal indicating a surface target, one or two perhaps, but not the majority. I did raise the coil on a few, and sure you could raise the coil 8" before loosing the signal, but what if it was a rare quarter or barber half (which understandably should register a higher TID# then 26) I should mention that on Saturday a 1907-D $10 gold eagle came out of this site, and last fall a AU condition (PCGS graded) 1913-S Barber Quarter came out of this site, for those that don't know coins, let's just say you could buy a decent used car with that one, or pay for 12 EQ800's with change for gas and a few coils : http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/5666 Don't get me wrong, I dig my fair share of trash, especially in relic sites, where you're usually rewarded (eventually) if you dig all conductors, but there has to be a better way to deal with these cans or like nuisance targets?? HH, Cal

I used the Horseshoe button quite a bit yesterday while I got in a solid 8 hours of detecting on my EQ800 (see my post and results here: For part of the hunt we were trying to locate an old homestead site, and I employed the Horseshoe listening for iron to locate the homestead, which we never found, it was about as quite as could be on that mountain top/side. I also used it to check some iffy signals, ones that would start to give you a high conductor whisper like signal (the kind that gets me exciting thinking there might be deep silver) but each time when I employed the Horseshoe check, I could tell that I was simply getting the tip of a nail or something similar that was falsing. Very handy feature IMO. Still tons to learn, I need to start experimenting with the speed and iron bias settings. To be honest, I have so much fun just getting out and detecting, that I frequently fail to start testing all of the advanced features as it just seems to work fine with the preset settings I guess that's my next step, to start learning how and when to employ iron bias and change up the speed settings. HH, Brian

Finally got a break in the rain in not so sunny Sunnyvale, and got an invite from some detecting buddies to go explore some outback sites. First site they'd already located an old homestead but were searching for two more. After a brutal (for me) hike up a mountain, we didn't find the homestead that was supposed to be up there, but the view was spectacular, so still worth the effort. Did a total of a solid 8 hours of detecting at various spots, and lots of hiking around. I had to dig all of this: To get this: We hiked back down to the site that they'd already found and after hours of finding nothing but bullets, and shotgun butts, I finally got my coil over some keepers. First was a well worn 1886 V nickle, it was so worn that I initially thought it was a token, then a shield nickle, but then in the sun I could see the V. Just a few feet away from that I got the badge looking thing, no idea what it is, looks like a Navy or Marines insignia, anyone have any ideas? Also got a Southern Pacific RR seal: And a couple of buckles: We went to a second site, it was purportedly an old picnic grove. The day before a 1907 $10 gold eagle was dug there, and numerous other coins over the years have been dug there, from reales, seateds to barbers, one guy got a V nickle, the other guy got a toasty IHP and I got the buckle above there, it's marked PAT. MAY 2,1990. The oddball looking buckle looking thingy above it is marked PAT DEC 21, 86. I've never dug so many beer cans, I stopped counting at a case I ran the EQ800 in Field2, noise cancel, GB, SENS between 21-23, everything else default. Didn't seem like I dug any more iron then any other machine, got a couple of nails, and a couple of BIG pieces of iron. If anyone has any idea what that badge looking item with the anchor on it is, I'd appreciate it. HH, Brian

Time for my CZ70 to go to fleabay...cannot ever see using it again now that I have the EQ and MK. Good for it's day, but it's day has come and gone.....hopefully it does ok on fleabay as I also have the Sunray 12.5 coil which people try to price gouge for.

Pretty cool, haven't paired up the headphones to my iPhone yet. Would be cool if they also had a mic

Beautiful dime, full Liberty! A large cent from a park is out of the question in California :( Nice job, I think the EQ has a ton of potential, I just need to keep learning it.

I've never used the Xterra, but the AM horseshoe button on the Equinox isn't a true all metal model in the traditional sense whereas it's a wide open, unfiltered all metals mode. It basically leverages whatever search mode your utilizing and removes all the pre-set notching so it's using zero discrimination. I think it's a very handy feature to be honest, great to quick check a target, or for relic hunters flip it on to quickly locate the iron zones and then go into your search mode of choice.

Nice job guys, the Etrac and Equinox just blew the CZ70 out of the water! BTW double check the mint mark on that quarter, if it's from San Francisco, it's a big dollar coin

I had a couple of deep silver dimes (a merc and a rosie) TID in the low 30's, and a third one was a rock solid 26. The two in the low 30's where softer signals (not quite whispers, but not banging like the one @ 26), so I was surprised the TID went up vs down as you normally see with VLF machines (F75 for example).

That's Steve, I was pretty sure that the Horseshoe button wasn't a true all metals mode, in the sense that traditional detectors have an all metals mode. It was simply not discriminating/notching anything from -9 to 40. I think it's great that they had the foresight to include this feature, great for checking targets, or for searching new sites and trying to hone in on the areas of main in-habitation which typically include tell tale signs of copious amounts of iron.

Steve, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that when you push the horseshoe button, you're not really going into an all metals mode, it's simply running at zero disc, which isn't the same thing. The default programs have already disc'd out iron and the lower end of conductors (like foil), but if you wanted to hunt a site that you wanted to listen to the iron (like a ghost town for example) you could simply press the horseshoe button and hunt in zero disc mode.

Great information Daniel!! Maybe I missed it, but without any mineralization reporting on the EQ, how can you tell if your ground is mineralized? I have lots of sites that I already know the mineralization is high, but how do you tell on new sites that you have no idea? Perhaps there's still a reason to keep my F75

Welcome!!! It's refreshing to come here, the old site I used to spend most of my time at has turned into a mess. I'm also considering moving to Washington or Oregon from California. How are you liking Oregon so far? My family on my mom's side actually homesteaded Oregon (came over the Oregon trail in the 1800's), but scattered around the west coast after WW2. HH, Brian

I think it will be very interesting when we do our ghost town sites. I'm already at least on par with his Exp2/Bandito combo with just the Multi Kruzer, so should be interesting to see how the EQ800 fares. Will be a while before we get to the ghost towns because of the weather, likely won't get to go until the fall. Although we do have a new relic site that looks promising, that I'm hoping we can visit this weekend (I may go solo ).

Especially when smaller coils materialize :)

To be honest, I kind of don't mind that he's selling his. I had hoped that he would embrace it, but from the beginning he tried to find reasons not to like it, and IMO really didn't give it it's proper dues. He basically talked himself out of giving it a fair shake. BUT that may actually bode well for me, as I continue to learn the EQ800, and get better with it (I'm still employing my crawl/walk/run learning technique, have not wondered into the advanced settings at all, just learning the stock programs at this point) my hope is that I will start to out hunt him as my experience level with the EQ improves and I learn it's nuances and the tricks & tips to fine tune it for each site.... completely selfish I know

I want to preface Tom's post by saying right out of the gate that Tom called me last night, and gave me his "report". If you don't care to read his lengthy write-up he posted on another forum (he doesn't know of this forum) his bottom-line was that he found it no better, no worse then his Exp2. He said he felt the audio was better on the Exp2, which I reminded him i's likely because after using it for 20 years, his muscle memory is auto-tuned to it's responses. He said he'd be selling it on fleabay. Hey gang. I've been at this since about 1975 or '76 (started @ about 8th grade). Been "up through the ranks" of everything from the 77b & Whites 66tr, through the VLF/TR era. Through the 6000 and ADS III era, to the Eagle and XLT era, etc... And now am currently using as Exp. II for most all my hunting. Occasionally grabbing a Bandido for certain ghost-townsy locations. Some of you know my finds from other forums, and you've followed Brian (Cal Cobra) and I's hunt exploits, to know that I'm no slouch in md'ing. I've pitted many machines before deciding to try something new. So I'm very aware of the "come-back" lines that can be raised for any perceived failure of a machine in a test. I've done my best to short-circuit any such shortcoming. Eg.: subconscious biases, etc.... First stop was a certain downtown/oldtown park in CA . It dates to the 1860s/70s. Soil is moderate to low minerals. Most all the easies has long-since been pulled. But a person with a deep-seeking turf machine (explorer, etc...) can still pull some silver, wheats, IH's, etc... I flagged a few suspected deepies with my Exp. II. Then pulled out the Nox 800 to try. I only used stock park 1 and park II modes. With nothing but a noise-check. No ground balance. No increasing the sens. No alterations of iron-bias or recovery speed. I also knocked out everything on the disc. from 17 downwards. So that I wouldn't be hearing the foil, nickels, round tabs, etc.... So too was I doing the same on my Exp. II , for purposes of this test. So that those factors are even between the 2 machines. My total take for this hunt at this park was a very worn '68 seated dime, a '92 P barber dime, a '28 merc., and a few teens wheats. Depth's ranged from 6 to 8" . The Nox 800 could hear all of them. More pronounced and tell-tale "fluty" in the Park-2 mode. Hence so-far so-good. HOWEVER: In each case, it seemed that the Exp. II was giving them with "more room to spare". On the Nox , it seemed I needed to know exactly where the spot was. And then "work at it". Nonetheless, it could hear them. So I wrote off the strength-difference as to being, perhaps, my lack-of-experience on the tone-nuances of a new machine. Versus the Explorer II, where I am very familiar with its language. I tried briefly to walk around with the nox to, likewise, find something to flag to test in reverse order . But when I went to try a few of those flags with the Exp, they were 4" deep zincs , or various other clad that I would not have even stopped to dig with my Exp. But , again, I wrote that off to un-familiarity with the Nox. So , at least, I have nothing conclusively bad to say about the machine so far. Since *technically* I could find the accepted signals with either machine (given some effort & persuasion). Oh: And I did try switching to 5 khz on a couple of targets. It did not improve their strength over the that of the multi-freq. And if anything, added chatter. Next day I took it to a certain center grass median strip in San Francisco. It dated to only the 00's to teens. The downtown high-rise electronic noise is awful. And the soil is funky minerals, such that deeper targets don't want to lock on. They seem to skew downwards on the TID. So that, for example, a silver quarter might read @ dime. A copper penny might read at zinc. And so forth. The strip is very littered with tabs, foil, iron, etc... On a certain block or two of this ~2 mile long strip, I have pulled many silver & wheaties in the past . And whenever I'm in the area, can be pretty certain that my Exp. II can get additional ones whenever I want. For this test, I found a clean spot of ground with my Exp. II. Tested to make sure there was no signals of any sort, so-as to provide the ground balance spot for the Nox. I balanced the Nox, and locked it (no tracking). For my explorer sens, I was at 19 for most of the time. Sometimes down to 15. For the Nox: Sens. between 18 to 21, depending on chatter. And perpetual noise-cancels at varying intervals on the Nox & Exp. Iron bias was 02 on both park 1 and park 2 mode. I did not try up to 5 & 6 as TN-sharpshooter recommends, for nasty minerals. Didn't recall that recommendation till now. But: Wouldn't that simply have put me at risk of getting fooled by large rusty nails globs ? In any case: Iron bias was 02. Recovery speed 6 on both. Multi-Freq. on both. Tones @ 50. Disc. set to reject all items from 17 and downwards. (again, this is the same for the explorer , where I've got the flimsy square tabs and downwards knocked out). I liked it when I hit the horseshoe button. It allows you to hear an all-metal sound, while simultaneously hearing your accepted targets in their correct TID tones (If I'm understanding correctly). I would definitely use that for relicky sites where I want to hear iron in the background, to perpetually let me mentally gauge the amount of human historic traffic I'm in, and the iron I'm' trying to contend with /see-around. Yes the modulation is very poor for the top 5" or so. Very difficult to gauge 1" vs 3" vs 5", etc... And I notice that the 6" or more, where there starts to be a "fluty" sound, is very narrow band. Ie.: you have to be right over your target, swinging "just right". And also: A shallower target can be made to 'be fluty' by simply happen-chance having the coil slightly higher, or being slightly off, etc.... Unlike the Explorer where I more immediately recognize the signals for what they are. But, again: Wrote all this off to my vast experience on the Exp., and experimental only on the Nox. At the San Francisco grass strip median: The first couple of targets I flagged and compared, proved extremely poor for the Nox. But then later I saw that I .... for some reason ....... had been in only 16 sens. (not sure how it got bumped lower since the day before). Once I put it up to 21, I could, like the day before, start to hear some flagged signals. Occasionally had to lower sens. to 18, since 21 was producing chatter. Likewise the Exp. II had to be lowered to 15 on those same stretches. As I flagged more signals, they again, like the day before, seemed bolder and stronger on the Exp. vs the Nox. One particular reverse order flag (found first with Nox) was one that the Nox gave a good fluty deep repeatable signal. And when I went over it with the Exp. II : I had to admit that I WOULD NOT have elected to chase this one with the Exp. Hmmm. I had to "coax it out" JUST to even see/hear what the Nox had even been beeping on. Hmmm, this was going to be interesting !! Eh ? Turned out to be a mid-conductor metal nut thing. That ... yes ... once out of the ground was indeed within my acceptance range on the Exp. disc. settings. So *technically* I should have gotten it on the flagged stage of the test (albeit with a TID I might have elected to pass). So this proved a plus point for the Nox. HOWEVER: At a certain point, I'd just dug a 1915 deep green wheatie. Which both machines had heard (albeit with some coaxing on the Nox). And once I'd covered the hole, I rechecked it. Just slightly off to the side, I got a sssuuuppeerr deep warble. Almost a null, but with a hint of something trying to warble in. This was a signal that, if it hadn't been for just having dug a deepie, and double checking for additionals, I might not have even registered. One of those "is this my imagination?" type signals. Yet ... you suspect "Oh, maybe there's another one down there @ same hole" type of moments. And it was slightly to the side, in un-disturbed ground. Now on THIS one: The Nox could not hear it. No flicker of the audio. No flicker of the #'s. Nothing , nada, zilch. Tried noice-cancel. Tried playing with the sens. Tried everything. It could not be made to get any hint whatsoever. Turned out to be a very deep 1919 wheatie. 7 to 8". Which, I know, is not "deep" for some parks. But here, as I say: Stuff in this depth range , in this soil, is funky. So IMHO this was a negative chalk mark for the Nox. on that target. I know someone will come on saying how it could have been heard doing XYZ. But realize that if you start "hopping up the settings", you then run the risk of loosing differentiation on other targets (ie.: EVERYTHING starts to "sound good" or "give identical signals", etc...). I did not have to "hop up" the Exp. II to get that signal. So IMHO, that one signal was given a fair shake. Thus to conclude for turf: IMHO : If you put 2 expert users in a deep-turf scenario: User #1 with an Etrac or Exp. II. And User #2 with a Nox 800. I do not believe the Nox user is going to out-hunt the Explorer user. At least not on THIS exact grass median I was on yesterday. This was not a test of iron-riddled ghost town sites. Was not a test of beach. It was only tests of various deep turf strategy cherry-picking for high-conductors type hunting. Oh, and for kicks & giggles, for those who might know what long center grass median strip in SF I was referring to: My total take was 2 mercs ('20 & '44), a silver roosie ('64) , 9 wheaties (1913 and onwards), and an '03 IH. The IH was in the hole with 2 twenties wheaties. And 2 of the wheaties were in a hole with the '44 merc. So if you count those pocket spill as "1 target", then the total take of oldies was 8 oldies. I also had various "woulda-couldas" that mimic old coins. Eg.: very deep copper grommets, hinge, flat brass sportsmans button the size of a quarter, and so forth. So even besides coins, there was "period targets" at-depth, that were counting towards the flagged tests, as being just as legitimate as if they'd turned out to have been coins. I had tried to do some videos of both machines. But it was a very windy day. So whenever I tried to unplug the jack to capture audio, I was getting tree-rustling, and car traffic noises too much. Nonetheless, I did end up capturing some audio tests, where a person can plainly see the Nox is needing "coaxing" to get in what the Exp was getting more boldly (again, I know this is user specific and a bias and familiarity I may have). But ... the viewer could judge. HOWEVER, as Murphy's law would have it: Each time I took great lengths to stop , video, narrate, etc... : Those turned out to be household doo-hickeys like hemweights, copper tent grommets, or whatever. Yes they are "period", yes they read in the coin range. Yes they were as deep as period coins. Thus yes they hold equal merit to a deep-turf-coin test. But it just took the wind out of my sails when they turned out to other items.