Tiftaaft

I don't intend to post a pic of every silver coin I find... especially since I have a feeling that will be a growing number throughout the year with the Equinox.  But, I thought I would substantiate the claims that the Equinox separates amazingly well, especially with the 11" stock coil.

I decided to try a very well traversed public park that was built in 1910.  I decided to run 50 tone, Park 1, sens 22, Recovery 3 (max on the 600), IB 1.  I came across a signal that was bouncing all over, from low conductor to high 20's on each sweep.  I spent a good 3 or 4 minutes shortening my swing, multiple directions, pinpointing, and back again.  I was able to identify at least 3 targets, maybe 4.  Two sounded like iron falses.  one sounded like a pull tab.  And another sounded like a copper/dime signal, but I could only hit that on odd swings between the rest of the targets.  Because it was such a mix of tones and id's, I decided to dig it. 

First I pulled out a bent rust nail at 6" off the side of the plug, and refilled my hole... stood up and swept again.  More distinct mid tone to the upper right, and a more defined but still a bit scratchy copper/dime tone to the lower left of the hole I just dug.  I went back into my hole, and a bit further off the side of the hole, I dug two more nails at 5", and after sweeping with my pinpointer, refilled the hole again.  I decided to dig the mid tone, and used the Equinox to pinpoint it.  I popped a random piece of aluminum at about 3 inches, and refilled my hole again.  As I gave the area one last sweep with my coil, a pure and solid high tone emerged... 25 - 29 id. at about 7 inches, under the area I pulled the nails... 1916-S merc.  This machine is amazing. Tim.

Go get 'em SE!! Tim.

1 minute ago, Cal_Cobra said:

I’m implementing the crawl/walk/run learning methodology, and would still consider myself in the crawl phase.

Thanks Brian,

Yes, hear you.  I feel like I'm still in the "laying on my back crying" phase.. haha.  Tim.

Congratulations SE!  I think you will be VERY happy with the 600!  Be sure to post about your hunts and findings!  Tim.

10 hours ago, Cal_Cobra said:

For this site I used Park2, and ran it hot with the gain between 22-24, even was able to run it at 25, but found it started to like deep nails at 25. 

Just curious Cal, what were your recovery and iron bias settings?  And were you in 50 tone with stock disc?  I have been doing more "in the field" testing with park 2, and I find it definitely hits on smaller targets than park 1, which is good and bad, depending on the site. I was just wondering how you weaved your way around the iron falsing running sensitivity that high.  In my ground, the sweet spot is around 20-22... but that may have more to do with my other settings than what the ground can handle with proper settings and a higher sens. 

Thanks for the awesome and inspiring report!!  Tim.

Can't say enough good things about this forum. It is what a forum should be.  Tim

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Personally, I am the sort of person who wants all the capability I can get and I am with you on the 800 being my personal choice. Yet for nearly everything I have done with my 800 so far the 600 would have served as well. There is very little an 800 will find that a 600 can’t, and that’s just a fact.

I agree with you Steve, on both accounts. The few things I am looking forward to in the 800 are the increased recovery speed (I believe I will run in 7 most of the time rather than the 6 equivalent max on the 600), and being able to adjust the id/tone segments other than segment 1.  But, other than that, I can see no difference in my hunt settings.  Tim

I am on the waiting list with my dealer for the 6", 15" and any elliptical coil released for the Equinox. 

I will most likely have the stock coil on my 800 (when it finally arrives) and use my 600 for the other coils in rotation based on location.  

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I guess that’s a warning to everyone. Be sure if you are using plug in headphones that the screw cap/plug lanyard is on the coil port with coil attached. Or, if removing coil for transport/storage, make sure the plug is screwed into the headphone port.

I would not expect Minelab to have spare WM08 modules for sale as none of the accessory items are. But really good chance contacting Minelab they can round up a plug for you.

Thanks Steve.  I did reach out to Minelab, awaiting reply.   

To clarify my predicament, the rubber lanyard is still attached securely to the coil port, but the plug slipped out of the lanyard.   

I appreciate everyone's suggestions, one  or several, or all, are bound to work:)

Welcome to the forum SittingElf and to the club of 600 owners waiting for their spot to be called for the 800.  I made the decision to swing an an Equinox 600 while waiting about a month ago, and I am so happy I did.  As I commented in one of my previous posts, the E600 is no slouch, and in the programs and settings that are shared between the two machines, they are identical.  Even when I get my E800, I will always have a soft spot for my E600... the machine I cut my Equinox teeth on :).  HEH (Happy Equinox Hunting).  Tim

1 hour ago, FlySAR said:

Might take it to a hardware store and get a nylon plug or a metal plug with o-ring. My understanding is It's more of a dust plug than watertight.

Thanks, I will check that out as well.  

1 hour ago, Chase Goldman said:

PS If you know someone with an 800, you can borrow the plug off their WM08 because I can't see that to be very useful other than as a dust cover since the WM08 cannot be submerged or wetted.

That is a good point that I didn't think of Chase... When In get my 800 I will do just that.

Thanks Steve.  

thanks Skate!

One of the things I am excited about with the Equinox is to do some swimming hole hunting as soon as the weather warms up.  Because I have been using the supplied wired headphones for the land hunting, the screw cap for the headphones jack was left dangling.  Evidently, the rubber strap holding it didn't have a good enough grip.  The cap came loose and is MIA.  I don't want to submerge the head unit with the jack port exposed... does anyone know how I could go about getting a replacement?  Unfortunately (as we all know) the accessories page on the minelab website is not currently active.  Tim.

2 hours ago, Norm S said:

Maybe someone can answer this. Often times when I pin point for say a quarter that's ringing up at 29 when I start to pin point the detector shows 13 while I am pin pointing. It don't bother me because I am listening for tone but always wonder why the detector don't show 29 when I am pin pointing a 29. 

Not sure if this is the reason Norm, but the Equinox doesn't ID in pinpoint mode.  So it basically just "freezes" the last ID that registered on the screen when you pop it into pinpoint.  I usually get an odd number like that when I am in pinpoint because I pull the coil to the side, then hit pinpoint, then sweep back across the target I want to pinpoint.  If there is another target/id off to the side, that is the ID that remains on the screen while I'm doing my pinpointing.  

Hope that helps,Tim

Great discussion... this is one of the black boxes for me and my 600... I usually run in IB-0, and hear a lot of iron falsing, but I am fearful of running IB any higher and missing targets due to the IB masking them. 

Ran across this video last night.  As with all test videos, there is some liberty taken with the testing parameters, but from a masking standpoint, it demonstrates much that is being said in this thread.  The part that I was most interested in (and not really addressed in the video) was the effect the iron had on high conductive targets when positioned close.  I saw a quarter hitting solid in the mid to high teens on a few of his swings.  This definitely has made me stop and think about what those mid conductive ID's could actually mean in the field.   

17 minutes ago, Cabin Fever said:

I’m thinking a Silver War Nickel could bounce higher, but I haven’t found one yet with the Nox and they really don’t excite me much either..

All three of mine were 13-14, or solid 14.

I have had this same argument with myself several times Steve :).

But for me, I dig nickel tones at a new site for the information they provide me.  Yes, they are also in the range of a few selections of gold rings, but I look at it on a larger scale.  If I have a site that I am pulling multiple nickels from, that tells me it hasn't been detected much for gold jewelry at all... so I start paying more attention to the TID's just below and above the nickel id.  Especially if there are few high tone coins, but several nickels.  At least that is my approach, it isn't the nickel ID itself, but what it represents for that area. 

Having said that, I have pulled three War Nickels since I got my Equinox E600, and I am pretty stoked about that too.  Not a lot of value, but cool finds :). 

And Cabin Fever's post reminded me why I dig zinc pennies too. :)

Tim.

1 hour ago, Cabin Fever said:

Thank you everyone!  

It was definitely a surreal experience, from goosebumps to an almost high..  A gold coin was the furthest thing from my mind as I dug that hole.. It’s a good thing I found it at the end of my hunt, because I couldn’t think straight after that..

Whenever I read about others finding a gold coin, I almost think of it as them hitting the lottery, and that it would never happen to me..  Still doesn’t feel right even talking about it..

I hope you all get the chance to find one... Thanks again!

Bryan

It definitely makes me more energized about hunting in the northwest!  (as if I wasn't already).  I have goosebumps just seeing the pictures (I keep coming back to the thread to look at them... )... can't even imagine how you are feeling Bryan.  I am so thrilled for you! Tim

I enjoyed your post Norm.  That is amazing that you were able to count so many plugs... and also that you are still pulling coins out of some of them.  $38 in clad?  That is some coinage!! 

I should qualify what I mean by "iffy" signals... or better stated, what I don't consider "iffy".  If I can get a repeatable tone in both directions, that seems to be hitting in same spot on the ground... that, of course, isn't iffy.  Even if the ID is jumping around.  I dug a few wheats this past weekend that were bouncing from 24 to 30 with every sweep of the coil... but the tone was repeatable, and didn't move around... including when I pinpointed. 

"Iffy" to me is a non-repeatable tone... maybe it hits only in one direction, or every 2 or 3 out of 5 passes.  It may stay in one place, or move a little with each pass, and the wiggle location is different than the pinpoint.  And also, when the ID jumps up and touches 37 or 38 on occasion... Those are in most cases iron for me.  Sometimes there is enough "high 20" ID's along with the tone for me to narrow my sweep and try to clean up the target... and I do have a tendency to try to make targets sound good (that is a common ailment for us all I think haha). 

That being said, I have been fooled a few times by solid signals.  Good ID, repeatable tone with hard edges, at 3 or 4 arrows on the depth meter... only to recover a piece of iron.  Some of that may be my running in IB 0... but when I have an "iffy" in the ground... and try to make something good out of it... I don't think I have dug anything but iron...   As I said... that won't keep me from digging them... I just know there is a treasure hidden behind one of those "iffy's"  :)

TIm.

Holy smokes Bryan!!!  That is awesome!!  What a beautiful piece of gold!  Congratulations!!  Tim

18 minutes ago, bado1 said:

Anyway, I'm rambling.

Ramble on Dean :)  

Thank you!  Great reminders..  

2 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Great report.  Especially liked the discussion of target marking and comparison between the detectors.  Wonder how those marks might have sounded in various Equinox modes.  Just really illustrates the point that you need to hit a site with different detectors or at least different modes.  Diversity of tools is key.  Also, liked how you didn't give up and followed one last hunch and it paid off.

That is a good comment Chase (as always).  I keep saying I am swinging several machines in one housing.. I should have done some intra-Equinox comparisons to prove it.  I will do that next time.  

That is some work Cal!  a few finds like that badge makes all that work worthwhile.  Nice hunt!  Tim.