Tiftaaft

I'm in.  Can I start the 6 month clock when I actually receive mine? 

I have tried to stay out of the timing and delivery threads across this and other forums... it is drama I don't need in my life. 

I just love this hobby and I'm REALLY looking forward to strapping the Equinox on my arm. 

I pre-ordered the E800 within the first few days of the announcement... and my dealer didn't want payment until he saw the whites of the detectors eyes... but I did send my payment to solidify my place in the preorder line a few weeks ago at my dealer's request.  That may push my delivery back until after those that prepaid in September receive their units.  Is that a little disappointing... sure... just like everyone, I wanted it last fall and everyday since.  Is it a shot below my waterline and ruined my life... no.  If I have to wait for my number to be called until April... so be it.  I will be just as excited to see my fedex guy then, as I would be today.  I am choosing to practice perspective.  And I am actually thrilled that OTHER members will be getting the machine next week, because that means it is just a matter of time before mine arrives.  1 day, 1 week, 1 month, a few months.... that is out of my control.  I know that Minelab will deliver to my dealer when they can, and my dealer to me will deliver when they can... It isn't a personal attack on me or the metal detecting community... it just is what it is... Sure, a little more proactive communication from Minelab would have helped smooth things over, but the end answer wouldn't change.  As MY unit is available, it will be sent to ME.  :) 

I can picture it in the production line now.. it has my name on it ;)  

On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 6:11 PM, Skate said:

This is the good stuff I was able to pull out of the ground yesterday and today. I have really been focusing on digging "gold" type targets which is why I have all the nickels. I managed one ring but I think it's junk(no hallmark) 4 silver dimes, two harmonica reeds, marbles, some tokens, lipstick case(I think) and the 611 brass tag. What isn't here is the 67 pop tops and beaver tails that I dug in my quest for gold. I'm trying to keep track of all my trash gold sounding targets this year so I can develop some sort of ratio of how many pop tops I dig to gold. I also dug some mystery coins, bigger than a penny, smaller than a quarter and thin. No idea what they are.  

 

Skate, I commend your dedication to digging the "gold" tones.  67 pop tops is very telling.  Here's hoping some gold will reward your efforts!

Tim.

There is really nothing I can add of value to this thread that hasn't already been said, and even more true... nothing that could be added past Steve's opening post.  He said it all with resonance to us all.

Having said that... I will add a few of my own comments because this is a forum afterall and usually even things not needing to be said... are said anyway ;)

This forum is called the Minelab Equinox Fan Club.  And Mr. Herschbach opened this forum early on by self proclaiming himself an Equinox Fan Boy.. even before he made it official that he was a part of the design and testing team with an Equinox in hand.   I have followed Steve's posts on many other forums in the past and it wasn't long before I knew that when I saw that icon of Steve hunting against a blue sky... I was getting an honest and experienced opinion on whichever topic he was posting about.  I am confident if I posted a question on Detector Prospector about a Radio Shack detector from the mid 70's, I would get a comment from Steve on how he would approach setting up... and even more importantly (and why I trust his comments so much)... not how I should set it up... but how he would approach it, and what he looks for in the machines response, and what that might tell him.... and then tell me to go out and dig targets to learn what the machine is telling me.  (That has actually happened a few different times.. ;)).  When Steve says the Equinox is the best all-around detector he has ever used, I trust that comment.

So, I am coming out and officially declaring myself a Steve Herschbach Fan Boy. 

This is an Equinox forum, so I will say that I can't wait to have the E800 in my hands and understand why Steve calls it the best all around detector he has ever used... and hope to make the same claim very soon.

Thank you Steve, for all you do for detecting and your loyal followers.

Tim.

I am adding the Equinox to be my all in one detector for turf, water, woods and prospecting.  Fast, Lightweight, Waterproof, Tech advanced, price point... superior performance (expected but TBD).  Tim.

32 minutes ago, Terry Greenway said:

By the way my wife just asked, how many guitars & metal detectors can a man own. I smiled & said as many as my lovely wife will let me purchase. I will try the Equinox where I have found great civil war finds & coins in iron infested sites that I have hunted with the Impact & At Max. I will post some of my finds. Hopefully starting next week. Alias Bluegrass Man.

Sounds like my two vices as well Terry... at least according to my wife.  My guitars and my detectors are labors of love to me :)

Having taken a run at this school over the past few months with my various machines... to no avail... I am hoping the Equinox will allow me to meet my goal of finding a silver coin at this location...  This will be one of the first spots I hit when my Equinox arrives... more to follow :)

Tim.

3 hours ago, dewcon4414 said:

Still need an Andy book to kind of bring it all together...... the when to and not to stuff.  

I consider Steve's posts throughout this forum the equivalent of an Andy book.  Honestly, I have never felt more prepared in learning and preparing for a new machine... and have owned the Explorer, Etrac and CTX with Andy books for each.  The wealth of information shared in this forum is staggering.  It's an online boot camp.  

It feels "real" now that I can flip through the pages of the manual.  :)

Welcome Rick, I agree, this is the best forum on the web. 

Just finished my first of many passes through the Equinox Instruction Manual... Hats Off Minelab! 

I am also happy that the Equinox has seemed to put an end to the age old argument of Auto vs. Manual Sensitivity ;). 

Anxiously awaiting the next communication from my dealer, telling me when my E800 will ship.

Tim.

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

 

Hey, I can be a backseat driver! 

NDAs don't quite work like that. They never expire, and basically anything that went on during development is off limits. But yes, I will be much more free to get into all the details now, but that comes as much from the software finally being locked down as anything. There is a lot I could get into but it is best we all just wait and see what happens in the next few days. I think you all will be pa

The thing is I am not trying to make Equinox into anything. It just is what it is, but there is much to learn about it. I have my pieces of the puzzle to offer but we need people all around the world to chime in with what they like and what they don't like. It is a metal detector, not a magic wand, and you can't please everyone. That's just fine. I just know its what I am using now and so as I learn I will post, and I hope you all do the same. I actually am tired of the detector of the week game myself, and am ready to just settle into this one machine and learn it to the fullest extent possible. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for me at least this is the best do-it-all detector I have ever used.

Great points as always Steve.  As I have said before... the best I can hope for is a machine that I connect with and speaks to me, while giving me confidence when hunting.  From everything I have read (both on and in-between the lines) the Equinox may be that detector.  Until I get some hours on it, I won't know for sure.  But regardless, I am confident Minelab and the consultants (present company included) have designed a quality cutting edge detector, and honestly, its only limitation will be its operator. 

Happy Equinox Hunting everyone.  Tim 

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 11:05 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Here is the final thought for the night. Back when Fisher did the CZ series of detectors they did lots of ring testing. They tested 255 rings for the CZ-70 and came up with some interesting percentages. I have seen these percentages reflected in the field.

2% of the rings were in the copper penny, dime, quarter range.

4% of the rings were in the zinc penny/screw cap range

49% of the rings were in the "pull tab" range above U.S. nickel

10% of the rings were in the nickel range

36% of the rings were in the foil range below nickel

0% of the rings were in the iron range

Now look at my simplified X-Terra VDI chart in the post immediately above. What we are seeing is the difference between women's rings and men's rings. Women's rings tend to be small high quality rings, and cluster in the foil range. They are the rings most likely to have stones and be of high value. Men's rings are significantly larger and heavier, and fall into the area above U.S. nickel. There is a weak spot or gap between women's and men's rings in the nickel range. This is of course a gross generality but I have found it to be true in my own detecting. You can use this to good effect when looking at an area and deciding what might be found there. Is the area more likely to hold men's rings and women's rings? The football field will more likely have men's rings. The shallow childs wading area or tot lot will lean women's rings. I do a lot of heavy surf detecting, and nearly all my finds are men's rings.

I have mentioned the Fisher CZ detectors. Rumor has it that CZ stood for "Coin Zapper". The CZ detector are unique in having a shuffled discrimination scale that puts nickels up high with the other coins. Little attention is paid to the fact they also lumped the bulk of the ring zones together. In addition to visual target identification, the CZ  has 3-tone, audio target ID. A low tone is for iron, a medium tone Is for pull tabs and foil and a high tone is for coins. A fourth tone, which sounds like a telephone, alerts you to large, shallow targets that are usually (but not always!) trash.

Basically with a CZ, low tone is iron, medium tone the ring range, and high tone the coin range. The newest model, the CZ-3D adds a fourth tone to the scheme designed to capture old coins in the zinc penny range, but for jewelry detecting the original CZ scheme is pretty simple and ingenious.

The good news is with newer detectors that have custom tone id ranges you can duplicate this setup yourself. Fisher also offers this modified tone scheme in the F75 models. The main thing is to be aware, no matter what detector you are using, or where the possible ring "hot spots" are on the VDI scale depending on where you are hunting.

From Fisher CZ-70 Pro Owners Manual, page 24 (tones added):

 

This is fascinating stuff.  Interestingly enough, I dug 6 gold rings last year.  A solitaire, 3 bands, and 2 child's rings.  The solitaire fell in the nickel range, the 3 bands were all in the zinc penny range, and the two child's rings were down in foil range (both tot lot finds).   Based on the percentages above...aside from the "dig it all" tot lot finds.... I walked over 25 gold rings.  And I believe those statistics.  

It is a lot of work to commit to the mid tones... but it is obvious that is where the yellow is.  

Tim.

Mad respect for you Steve.  'Nuff said.  Tim

8 hours ago, Mike Hillis said:

Nice silver!   One ring could lead to another.  Might be a gold one hiding out there......

HH
MIke

Thanks Mike...  I will definitely be back out there, and maybe a bit of gold will pop up :)

Thanks J.  :) 

I haven't tried the Tejon.  Maybe Steve or someone else can weigh in on that.  I have wondered how the Tejon and/or Mojave compare to the Vaquero as well.  

5 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Vaquero is a great little detector - you just proved it!

Tesoro Vaquero Thread

I agree Steve!  Like many others have said... I will always have a Tesoro in my arsenal... and right now, that is the Vaquero!

10 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

I don't think you have any reason to apologize for your finds, particularly silver!  How deep were those?  Even though it's warmed up (temporarily) here in the Midwest the ground is still too frozen and soggy for easy detecting.  I'm envious.

Thanks GB, hopefully your ground thaws soon!  

The quarter was about 5" down.  The ring was 3 or 4".   I had the Vaquero set with a thresh at about 1:00, sens at about 10, ground balance a bit negative, and the disc at 3:00.... targeting coins since I had already been across the area with the Explorer.  Both were SOLID hits. :)

At least on this day.  

While I anxiously await the release of the Equinox and probably even more painfully, my position on the pre-order list... I am continuing to enjoy my Vaq Black.  

I, and a hunting partner, decided to cover a sports field next to an early 40's elementary school a week ago.  I armed myself with my SE Pro, and he with his Deus... and we overlapped each others paths more than one time in the grass outfield of an old ballfield.  After a couple hours of hunting, a handful of clad and one wheat in my pocket, I made my way back to the car, and grabbed the Vaquero. 

I am certain I covered the same ground we had both walked over in the hours before, but I was getting solid hits in the coin area and pocketing some more clad, including 2 pocket spills that included a quarter and a nickel among the coins.... which is interesting in itself (I believe the combination of low and high conductors changed the id, and one or both of us passed on the targets...).  

I then came across a solid tone, and uncovered some beautiful silver.  :)  I know that one silver quarter is slim pickin's compared to some of the other finds posted across the forums... but for me.. it was a pretty amazing find.  Within 10 minutes, I snagged the silver ring as well.  A good day for the Vaq Black :)

Wait... are you saying that the magician didn't actually saw the lady in half?  ;)

Highest respect for you Steve.

Tim.

Welcome BH!! 

On 11/25/2017 at 7:58 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

I have modified the original post. I had noted the Equinox 600 and Equinox 800 Fifty Tone options as being identical when that is no longer the case. The Equinox 800 will have the ability to customize the 50 Tone option, something I have not seen in previous “Full Tone”, “Multitone”, or “Delta Pitch” options on past detectors. Usually when you go full tones a detector just assigns a progressively higher preset tone to each target id number. The Equinox 800 will offer the ability to modify the 50 Tone option in ways I have not seen before. More on that later.

Wow.   That is huge!! 

"The Detector that is worth the wait" ;)

Steve, you can probably disregard the pm I just sent now that I read this thread..lol.  great info!!  Thank you. 

25 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I love answering questions and explaining stuff - should have been a teacher I guess. Discussing detecting and helping people makes me happy

All my comments are well deserved.  And the above quote begs the question/suggestion....  "Steve Herschbach Detecting Bootcamp".  Just putting it out there.  and sign me up for every session. Tim.

22 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I am not sure I can claim to be unbiased anymore however.

Involved or not involved... I, for one, will never accuse you of being biased.  You have addressed all the questions I have had on various makes and models of machines with honesty, tact and professionalism.  You may point out the limitations of a machine in your experiences, but you also point out the advantages.  I appreciate that, I know others do as well.  I also know that successful detecting is your priority, no matter what machine gives you that edge, and you wouldn't be selling your other machines if you thought there was slightest advantage to you while hunting by keeping them.  I am sure you weren't looking for accolades, or an amateur detector such as myself to step up and defend your honor... but here I am anyway.  Your insights on the forum and detailed responses to even my most inane questions make my detecting experience better... everyday.  so thanks Steve.  Tim.