Cal_Cobra

On 3/14/2018 at 11:26 PM, ☠ Cipher said:

I live in the breadbasket and site of several battles of the revolutionary war. It seems to most, if not all of us that all the relics associated with these battles have not been recovered. This area seems to have a high sink rate as well. I have always had my eye on equipment like this for that reason and to be honest just because of how cool it is. I'll definitely be watching how this one shakes out price wise, but if it's anything like the others before it, probably out of my financial reach this year.

Makro had the DEEPHUNTER 3D  and JEOHUNTER 3D DUAL SYSTEM and the Invenio appears to be the evolution of those products.

Heck split the cost with a hunting buddy, and either split the finds or split the time on the unit, might be a great way to find the deep stuff you'll never get with a PI or whatever your using out there. 

I saw a video of a guy in Russia that had this giant detector loop, it was so large that a person wore it in a harness and walked the loop to detect.  He was looking for 5-8 foot deep cannon balls from the Napoleonic Wars in Russia.  Apparently these GIANT sized cannot balls are worth like $20K each.  He found several, and the location and recovery process was documented and posted on youtube.  Pretty amazing, and finding just one of those moved his investment into profit.

That's good info.  So Field2 should be good to go in mineralized soil for relic hunting, the recovery is set to 7.  

How about un-disc'ing the iron, and turning down the iron audio and leaving everything else in Field2 set as is so you can tell when your in iron zones?

Thanks for the report, that kind of info's helpful.  

Nice job, makes me want to hunt the beach 

It's not that difficult to make your own headphone cable, I've seen a few examples already. 

Some enterprising person could easily start cranking out some adapters before ML gets around to it.

I'm far more concerned about coils, so far we have a pretty good detector with only one coil available.  Two more are promised (with no ETA in sight) and anyone that's interested in using the EQ800 for prospecting (or relic hunting) is chomping at the bit for a closed 4" x 10" or something around that size, as the 11" round open loop coil is less then optimal for prospecting, and relic hunting in environs with brush, lots of rocks, etc.

 

On 3/12/2018 at 9:02 AM, ☠ Cipher said:

 

This is really cool!!

No idea on pricing (likely not inexpensive, but considering what you get and what it does, it'll likely be a price setter!).  As much as I'd love to get one of these, not sure I'd have a practical application for it. 

Would make for some interesting amateur archeology and treasure hunting adventures though.

On 3/11/2018 at 6:05 PM, BLOODHOUND1970 said:

I'd say the SIMPLEX is a Go-Find competitor. 

Interesting that it's co-branded Nokta/Makro at the same time!

Waterproof Impact like machine I believe. 

Nice write-up, looks like you're doing well with the EQ600.

On 3/12/2018 at 12:18 AM, Dubious said:

I found the Nox a bit nose heavy at first, but compensated by shortening the shaft another notch. Don't notice it now.

That's exactly what I did, and it seems good to go now.  

Holy cow, that's one BIG RUBY!!!  Congrats, that's an awesome ring. 

Anyone noticing a trend with the EQ800?  

I've found the pinpointing on the EQ800 to be just about the best on any machine I've used, aside from my Etrac and F75. 

Actually it works very much like the Etracs PP IIRC.  

Great explanation Steve!

Although  for a second, it seemed like one of those tricky high school mathematical  word problems....

Two boats on opposite banks of a river start moving towards each other. They first pass each other 1400 meters from one bank. They each continue to the opposite bank, immediately turn around and start back to the other bank. When they pass each other a second time, they are 600 meters from the other bank. We assume that each boat travels at a constant speed all along the journey. Find the width of the river? 

The number of pupils in school A is equal to half the number of pupils in school B. The ratio of the boys in school A and the boys in school B is 1:3 and the ratio of the girls in school A and the girls in school B is 3:5. The number of boys in school B is 200 higher than the number of boys in school A. Find the number of boys and girls in each school. 

Nice hunt and report Dan, like that good luck token, way cool!!

The EQ800 is such a fun machine to use, I kind of don't want to waste time doing a "shoot out" video against another machine, I just want to detect!  It has plenty of punch, and I haven't even cranked up the sensitivity yet. first hunt left it at the default setting, second hunt bumped it to 21, and it was punching deep. 

Waiting for next weekend to hunt again!

HH,
Brian

Great write-up and first hunt, and you found religion...err gold

Good thoughts on the AM mode, I've yet to try it, so next hunt out (hopefully later today) I'll definitely test it out, and I agree for relic sites, great way to zero in on ground zero. 

HH,
Cal

3 hours ago, Judy said:

Love to tell you that the Equinox is colour blind . I have been detecting in jet black shiny glug and it just hums as if it's not there . 

I haven't cranked up the sensitivity yet, as this machine is different from anything else I've ever used.  I'm braking it in slowly to get the hang of it, and learn it's language.   I"m really impressed by how quite it is, and it's still going deep, so I know it's quietness isn't because the gain isn't cranked up.   It'll take a while for my muscle memory to learn the 50 tones, but so far I'm digging almost any signal I can get to come in as a repeatable signal, and it's been doing just fine. 

2 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Cal-Cobra?  Is this the same person who did not want to wait for their EQ-800 like most of the other folks?  Heck buddy,  if you told me you were going to walk out there and dig up a gold ring on video, I would have flown a machine to you personally.  Hats off to you my friend, as that is 1 stunner of a beauty. 

At the 20 minute 54 second mark, it looks like the ring might have a stamp on the outer band as well?  I recovered 37 gold rings last year and one of mine did have the stamp on the outer band.  All the others were on the inside as expected.

Well done video ( a little long) but you sure had a Golden 1st hunt.  If you decide to sell the ring, let me know your price.

Looks like the wait was worth it too.

Keep it up and wishing you more success.

Yep, the same Cal that was getting impatient and cranky, patience is a virtue.... ppffft   The older I get, the more cranky I get LOL

OK, I'm not that old, yet.  You know Gerry, I louped the ring and your right, it does have hallmarks on the bottom of the band! 
There's three hallmarks, that would, IMO, make it European, maybe Russian or English?

Two of the three hallmarks are fairly worn, but one is fairly legible:

I believe the stones are rubies, sapphires and emeralds.  We thought it might be a Mother's Ring when I first dug it up, but I'm thinking Mother's Rings are a modern invention and this probably has some age to it.

Thanks for spotting that

17 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Great digs Cal. I am always curious to hear the reactions from experienced hunters like yourself to Equinox. I know just how very picky we all get about certain small things, and the tiniest differences often make or break a machine for many of us. There are lots of great detectors out there that will all make the finds in the proper hands. They either click or they don't.

I obviously have a few more hours on an Equinox than most people so I do want to share what I can, but I am very far from knowing the machine inside and out yet. My hope all along has been that all you great people would take to Equinox and in turn I also can learn from all of you. I love it when a plan comes together and so far could not be happier for all of you that are seeing why I kind of went head over heels for Equinox. Thanks!!

Thanks Steve! 

I hope with further relic hunts, I'll have something to share.  Right now, for me, the best learning venue is hands on, see what works/doesn't work, note things I don't quite understand (like what the BIG number in the middle of the screen is when I pinpoint), see if the manual addresses those topics (will look that PP# thingy up), and if not see if fellow forum members have figured them out. 

Cross sharing knowledge sure speeds up the learning process, but one of the biggest take aways I've learned since I started detecting, is that you simply have to try a detector and see if it works for you at your sites.  You could have the best magnet on a stick on the planet but if you don't click with it, you won't have fun, and for me, at the end of the day, detecting is all about having fun and saving history. 

I need to retire, detecting is fun, working is ... well.... work!!  It severely limits detecting time, and learning new machines, but a necessary evil I suppose - lol   

31 minutes ago, strick said:

Tom is a metal detecting magnet....he always finds the good stuff...still trying to get a grasp on all his gold coins...does he only use the one machine? 

strick 

95% of the time he uses his Explorer2, and for heavy iron sites he's uses a Bandito, BUT it's location, location, location.  Not to knock Tom's detecting skills, because he's very good, but the three gold coins I've seen him dig could've been found by a Bounty Hunter (no offense to BH users ).    Same goes for the one I dug in December, it wasn't deep, it was location, and putting in the time.  I wish I could say they were 12" deep, in a mass grave of iron, but at least for those four examples, it wasn't the case.  That said, some other targets are different stories (love detecting sea of nail environs!!).   I'm looking forward to when he gets his EQ800, I just hope that he puts in the time and effort to learn it, as I know he's quick to kill joy new machines saying his Exp2 or Bandito are better....so we'll see how he takes to it

First, a special thanks go out to Steve for sharing his tips and knowledge on the forums!  I followed his suggestion to use Field1 vs Field2 for relic hunting, and it did in fact seem I was digging less tiny bits and bobs, and I only got fooled by a few old nails.  The next time I have more time to hunt, I will likely detect in Field2 and cross-check targets with Field1 to see first hand the differences.  This is a site that my hunt partner and I have been wanting to try for a long time and we were able to sync up yesterday for a few hours to give it a whirl.  He used his trusty Exp2 and me the EQ800.  I used Field1, changed it to 50 tones, did a noise cancel, ground balance, bumped up the sens to 21, and I was off the the races. 

I'm amazed at how quiet this detector is.  A few times I ran it over the eyelets in my boot to make sure it was working   To be honest, one of my favorite features on this machine is the incredibly accurate pinpointing.    Not sure if the depth meter is accurate, but I'm not a depth meter watcher,  as I mostly hunt relic sites, so I'll figure out the depth when I dig the target, but the pinpointing is exceedingly accurate, and easy to use, don't have to look at the screen, just zero in on the BLAST and dig, I absolutely love it!

No time for videos yesterday, just a quick hunt to check a long awaited spot to determine if it's worthy of further research, and spending a future weekend detecting it. I'd say from just the few hours we spent there, I am eager to return!  Tom found the best find, an 1849 French 1 Franc, no doubt a gold rush era loss, and it's in beautiful shape, so likely brought here right after it was minted. 

Here's an example from online as I didn't get a photo of his coin, but this is what it looks like:

Surface eyeball finds:

Here's what I found, and right out of the gate I dug five oldies in a row, so I knew this was going to be a good site if we put the time into it. 

Bits of green copper, we find these kind of old, hand worked copper losses at Spanish/Mission era sites, but this is not one of those sites, it's something entirely different.  I like that little shield shaped thing, it had an iron pin through it at the top that rotted away, so was likely a little latch on a lid of a box, or something like that I would guess:

This was my first target:

Rimfire shells and a "Davies" four hole button:

Here's that little latch type thing again.  Does anyone have any idea what that interesting looking item next to it is? 

OK, I don't normally get excited about digging nails, but these (the first two) are incredible, hand made bronze nails!!
Does anyone have any idea what the bronze item on the far right is?  It's not a nail, the top is flat'ish, I have no clue, but it's interesting and dripping with age IMO:

I thought this gold disc was, well, gold when I first dug it, but I'm thinking it is actually modern, as it's not heavy and appears to be plated, the disc in the center may be newer too?

Nothing earth shattering, but I think this site has the potential to have something special, perhaps a gold coin or other interesting old historical relics if we put the time into it. 

Thanks for looking and HH,
Cal

Steve thanks for posting your tips and sharing your knowledge, Field1 worked fine, and so far I'm enjoying the EQ800.

Steve thanks for sharing your insight, and  tips, very helpful.

Later today I'll be meeting up with Tom to detect a relic site, it's a new site that I'm completely unfamiliar with, so it will make sense to open up the iron range and drop the iron audio volume, as for relic sites I definitely want to know where the iron is.  I'll check the manual for the differences between PARK1/2 and FIELD2, but you're correct, I've been noting people are gravitating towards FIELD2 and having success with it, so that's what I thought would be the best mode to start off with. 

I hear what your saying about modulation and surface targets.   I don't really use the depth meter, but would like better audio feedback on depth.  I could see leaving it as is for beach modes, but for park and field modes (particularly park) people tend to rely on modulation to cherry pick those deep conductors.  I know it's unlikely to happen, but perhaps ML could add some kind of adjustable modulation setting in the future, or on the next gen EQ machines.  It's definitely going to take some getting used to, as the surface targets were fairly confusing (I can only imagine how this will work in a ghost town environment where there's tons of targets, many are literally on the surface, only covered by a scattering of sand/soil).  Another item to master with experience.

So for going into a brand new ghost town/relic type site you've never detected before, and being a new EQ800 user, you would recommend I trying PARK1/2 over FIELD2 then right?

Thanks!
Brian

The EQ800 I ordered in September finally landed!!  

I met up with a friend, he brought his Minelab SE Pro and we hunted a little area he discovered a while back.  It's been a while since I ran a Minelab detector (had an Etrac about 5-6 years ago, but didn't find it to be a good machine for iron infested relic sites, so sold it). Have a ton to learn on the EQ800, but right out of the gate it makes a nice find! I have a lot to learn about the EQ800, but I recorded my thoughts on the first hunt, good and bad.

Thanks for watching!

HH,
Cal

7 hours ago, bado1 said:

Cal,

I'm right next door to you in AZ.. Just like you...mild to wild. The place I recently hunted in Field 2 is moderate. I don't remember the Equinox GB number though. I think that you will love the Nox in your iron polluted sites.

 

Dean

Cool, I didn't realize you were in AZ.  I'm looking forward to detecting the desert, have a feeling the EQ is going to be interesting at these old sites.  

HH,
Cal

1 hour ago, martygene said:

will you post the updated cheat sheet or us too? i know i'll need it as i am blessed with great forgetfullness. 

If your asking me, I certainly will, it's pretty rough right now.  My EQ800 is supposed to land today so I'm working on a double sidded cheat sheet I can fold up and carry in my pocket, or pouch for a while until I get my feet wet on the EQ.  I remember in the old days the Etrac came with a little laminated fold-up cheat sheet from the factory, that was a nice touch.

3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Drag and drop works with photos also.

Steve the forum software you selected for your site is the best out there, hands down!  Easy to use, easy to post pics, youtube, and apparently MS Office files - lol

Thanks!

4 hours ago, steveg said:

OK, let's try it, Brian...

...HUH!  Looks like it worked!

Thanks for the tip!  Here you go...

Steve

 

EquinoxVDI.xlsx

Worked perfect, thank you Steve!!