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Couldn't agree more Tom (not that my approval is needed. Haha..) my gold ring finds have all been on or around athletic areas... soccer fields, edge of a basketball court, one next to a walking path, and a thin child's ring in the bark chips of a tot lot. I hope 2020 brings more opportunity for beach hunting, and maybe more gold in my pocket (or returned if I can ID it). Park hunting is all about the old deep coins for me, and the Explorer has been a great machine for that, as well as the E800 in my honest opinion. If I happen upon a gold ring while digging Indian cent or nickel signals... I will be thrilled, but a bit of an accident. ~Tim

15.. In no particular order: 3 - Garretts (Ace 250, AT Pro, ATX) 6 - Minelabs (Etrac, CTX, Explorer SE, E600, E800, Vanquish 540) 5 - Tesoros (Compadre, Silver Sabre, Bandito 2 mM, Silver Sabre mM, Vaquero Black) 1 - Fisher (F-22) A few sold, bold are still owned, . ~Tim

I find that very interesting DwD.. so I assume the 6 times with the Explorer was to search turf and high conductors (silver). The SE Pro was my main machine until the Equinox came out. Honestly, I learned how to detect with the Explorer, even though I owned an Etrac and CTX before it. I outlined a pounded park I am targeting this year in another thread... and while I have my E600 and E800 lined up and ready... my Explorer is also fully charged and standing in the starting lineup for my hunts there.... batting "clean-up". 😉 ~Tim

I was always intrigued by metal detecting when I was younger, but always assumed it was too expensive to buy a machine (I was a kid) and never pursued it. Fast forward 40ish years, and my 9 year old son only wanted one thing for his birthday... a metal detector. So, knowing his attention span would most likely move past this quickly, I opted for an entry level Bounty Hunter. As expected, my son was almost immediately on to something else, but in showing him how to use it, I found coins in my yard and others in the park near our house... and I was HOOKED big time. That was 5 years ago... I'll be 52 in March. I am just sorry I missed out on all those years I could have been out detecting... especially when I had more free time and less life responsibilities. (It was my golf game that took care of that excess free time) 🙂 I should mention, my son has reminded me on many occasions that half of what I find is his, because he got me into it. Haha:) HH everyone. ~Tim

Yes, GBA, I was aiming that comment at you 🙂 . But the same can be said for many many of the members here... so shout out to all of you!.. and thanks to all of you for being so open to share and answer (most) questions without judgment :). And by the way, I would absolutely attend a Detector Prospector Convention!! ~Tim

There is a lot of truth in that statement above GBA. Sometimes career moves don't intesect with where "Home" is or will ultimately be, but overall (current "once in ever" weather related issues aside), it is manageable. I always enjoyed the conversations and knowledge share on this site, and am really glad to be back. I have also found the 15" to be surprisingly good at separating for its size... which is even more head scratching that the 6" hasn't (yet), knocked my socks off. This site has it all... old bottle caps, smashed twist tops, full flattened cans, old rusty nails and other bent iron, not to mention the pull tabs and beaver tails. All the things to make a detector sing a symphony... however cacophonous it may be. Probably short work for your skillset, but it will be a bit of a test for me. ~Tim

Thanks Tom, I would be interested to hear how you or your club fair.. If I can ever get out again around the power/water outages and sub 20's temps here in Houston, I will be documenting my progress. ~Tim

I found some info on what looks similar to the buckle with Wetzler & Taussig New York... http://www.westernbitters.com/2017/12/the-new-york-roots-w-taussig-co_6.html?m=1 Very cool finds... not to mention that Seated Quarter!

Thanks GBA! All great advice, as always!! I only recently switched out of Field 2 for a few hunts over at this location... but I have really liked what Field 2 tells me. So at least on that one point, I am aligned. And the PitA button... another point of alignment! haha. I do use the user button when I'm testing new settings, such as switching from multi to 4khz, but even that is a face button cycle click. My usual setup is Field 2, recovery 4, 50 tones... I like the idea of setting up the custom bins in 5 tone, however I love the fluid 50 tones sound as well... but for specific targeted hunts like this (especially the nickel "conductors") the tone bins might offer a distinct advantage as you suggested. I will also bump up the recovery.. that makes sense... I'll be working to separage masked targets more than trying to drill as deep as possible... especially with other targets getting in the way. Speaking of deep old nickels... I have had a couple of V's hit in the 11 range... but I wasn't sure if I was just a bit off center or picking up co-located targets that might have averaged the TID down a number or two. Sounds like you have had a similar experience. Regarding trees and roots... we are similar... I gravitate toward them because others steer clear... and always work around them... my plug may look ugly to get a decent angle around it, but the roots are unscathed for the most part. 🙂 . I seem to recall you are mostly hunting the 11" (I could probably verify by reviewing a few of your posts), but have you had much experience with the 6"? I struggle a bit with getting a groove on the 6"... the stock and 15" I'm all about... but that sniper continues to be elusive to me. I just read through a really good thread on the Dankowski forum and Tom stated that the design and functionality of the EQX really revolves around the 11"... of course that makes sense since that is the stock coil... but first hand experience has shown me the same. Oh one last question (at least for this post 😉 ) what IB are you normally running with Field 2? I am currently running F2=0.

Welcome DD!

Thanks Palz, I have the EQX 6" at my disposal for just this purpose, and will be using it for sure. I have the small coil for the Vanquish as well. Another arrow in my quiver is the concentric 6" for my Tesoro... I am sure I will be giving them all a workout in my process. And by the way, thanks for the tip on the battery compartment on the Vanquish. I installed some padding beneath the cover as you suggested, and so far no power drops while testing it out!!

ditto Dan.

My Quest - 2021. In years past I have set goals on what I want to accomplish with my detector each year. The past few years, I have been sidetracked by a re-location to a new job in a new city, and really spent the time getting settled with my family… but as I look out my window in West Houston, and see the snow falling to the ground (yes I said West Houston..!!), I felt it was time to engage my competitive nature in detecting again. I happen to live about 6 blocks away from an elementary school, and through historical topo research I discovered that this was a school grounds back to at least 1915. Of course, as with many school grounds these days… a new school was built, and then another, each one covering a bit, and a bit more of the historical playground area with either the new building(s) or parking lots. And in the case of this old school – a portion turned into a fenced off water run-off area. However some of the original grounds exist in an open field adjacent to the new school and parking area, along with some old growth trees, that appeared to be small but in existence judging from the earliest aerials I could find. I have hunted this site since moving here (I mean… it is old ground and walking distance from my house) many times… I believe a large portion of the ground is overlay/fill dirt to set up a good platform for the new school grounds… so any old finds in this area have been non-existent… However, as I have hunted nearer to a tree line on the outside edge of the old grounds, I have popped up a few older finds, one merc, and a handful of wheaties, along with some clad. I can tell this site has been cherry picked with the best of them… the one silver coin, and the higher conductive clad finds have been co-located with iron, or other trash… And this site has plenty of iron and trash. Which brings me to my long-winded Quest for this year. This hammered site (hunted many times by me in the past year, but also obviously hammered prior to my time here) is my target for 2021. I have hunted it enough times to know these will not be easy “just get the coil over the target” goals… My Quest is as follows: One Silver Coin One Indian Head Cent One Buffalo Nickel One "V" Nickel The challenge will be un-masking a silver coin - given the cherry picked nature and masked potential targets of this site. Challenging in a different way will be finding the lower conductors in the heavy trash area (for example, the few nickels I have recovered, were at a ratio of at least 1 in 25 tabs - all coming in at either solid 12 or 13 on my Equinox). I will start by trying to use the technology of my machines, and develop my ability to decipher what they are telling me especially in the areas where I have uncovered the wheat cents near the trees, and hopefully making me a better detectorist in the process. However, I am not shy from endeavoring to start “cleaning out” small sections of the site at a time, which will be lots of trash digging, but if I have learned nothing from my experience and all the posts from more experienced detectorists than me… a site is NEVER hunted out. If nothing else – posting it here will keep me motivated to strive toward the goal. I will follow up with my progress in much shorter forum posts, I promise 😊. HH in 2021 everyone. ~Tim.

My relic hunting really coincides with my old coin hunting... so I mainly use the Equinox 800... but sometimes beep and dig with one of my Tesoro units.. I have found that the Equinox is a great jack of all trades... while some other lines may be better tuned to relics... for the type of ground I normally hunt, the Equinox does well in sorting through the iron, and aluminum trash. I have hunted a few locations that were originally homesteads... would love to do more of that. I am always fascinated with the bits and bobs that come out of the ground telling the story of life from the era it was dropped. My comment about the "family cache" obviously was without the knowledge that there is a tale of a cache in your family history... my "family cache" consists of a sandwich baggie of coins I buried in my Mom's backyard when I was about 8 years old... try as I might everytime I visit here... I have yet to find my hoard...hahaha. My guess... 37 cents of clad. 😉 . If you need a hunting partner when you get permission for your gr-gr-gr-grandmother's buried savings... just sayin' 🙂 . But seriously, I hope you get the chance to recover your family's legend. BTW, I know exactly the movie and the character you are talking about... What an amazing legacy your family has. ~Tim.

RR, Lucky number 13 indeed! That is very exciting... I have always wanted to delve into the prospecting world more, but not living near "Gold Country", I haven't yet committed to plan any prospecting trips... hopefully in my future... I have been mostly a old coin and relic and some jewelry hunter (Parks, Schools, Fields, some beach hunting). Your family history and passed down knowledge is incredible... I hope you find your family cache! While living in Vancouver, I worked in Longview for 15 years before moving here (the old Weyerhaeuser Mill Site - now Nippon... on the chlorine plant, now Westlake Chemical) - it was an easy daily commute compared to Houston traffic!! I know the Longview area well, and spent countless hours detecting around that area. I do miss the NW. ~Tim

Back in my day, I surrendered my allowance to those rooms of electro-mechanical and electronic machines... one quarter at a time (2 if it was a high end one) .. haha. 🙂

I have tried multiple styles of wireless modules and bluetooth headsets - and while I realize the latency should be un-noticeable, I have always felt a slight hesitation in the target tone before it hits my ear... so my coil is well past the point by the time I hear it. Combine that with my tendency to get a little quick with my swings, and I have always reverted back to being wired direct. It isn't a huge issue, as I always 360 on targets over 4", it just takes me a second or two longer to find the spot with wireless... personal preference as much as anything. As I mentioned above, my current favorite wired set is Tony Eisenhower's waterproof headphones for my E800.. great tone and comfort for long days in the field... plus no concerns about getting them wet. I occasionally connect them to the WM-08 unit when hunting shallower targets, but when I'm trying to hear deep targets or masked squeakers... I'm wired. I also have my Tesoro setup with the Z-Lynk wireless and connected wireless pro pointer AT, but this is an Equinox thread. Not sure if any of you remember these, but my other favorite is the Detector Pro Uniprobe (which has the probe wired to the headset), though I moved away from using probe mostly... I still use the phones. Amusing story... walking back to my car after hunting an open field, I once had a bike rider stop to ask me if I was a "scientist or something" because of all the knobs and switches on the side of the headphones and the probe dangling off my head (and I happened to be taking notes on my settings in a notepad, so I was flipping through the pages of my notes as I walked back to the car). I said... "yes, I am". (Pic borrowed from internet for reference) ~Tim

Amen Jeff.

I completely understand where you are coming from CmonNow. I agree with GBA's quote: When I was bitten by the detecting fever, it hit me hard, and I had money to invest. I quickly jumped from the ATpro to the Etrac to the CTX within a span of months. I'm not proud of it... and knowing what I know now... I realize my novice approach and urge to get "something bigger and better" was not making me a better detectorist... just equipped with more expensive gear, and the same novice detector I was at day 1. I was spending a lot of initial detecting hours on the ground... but not learning the machine hours... more like covering ground hours. My finds were mostly surface clad and a few lucky finds that had nothing to do with my ability, just got the coil over a shallow target. Most of that time was on the CTX, since I skipped and jumped through the other detectors pretty quickly to the "better" model. And there is no doubt, the CTX is a phenomenal machine, but so are the ATPro and the Etrac in their own right. I spent time setting up my tone bins to target the silver, and the nickels, and expanded that for park gold (and trash), but I never really connected with the 5 tones... it always felt like the tones were bouncing all over and I couldn't get a read on it from a tonal standpoint... but the ctx target trace was tremendous, I just never spent the time to really learn what it was telling me. Frustrated with my lack of success in old coins and relics while hunting old ground (and honestly, watching the various forums and you tube videos of hunts that were yielding old coins all over the place), I decided to do more research on how to detect - back to square one (and a hard NW winter helped make me take the time). I be-friended a couple of experienced detectorists in my area, and started to really learn how they approach detecting... and that is by spending a lot of time with whatever detector you have and learn what it is telling me At that same time I found a used Explorer SE Pro so while the other machines were sitting in the corner of my office, I went back in time a bit and dedicated to the SE Pro. I found that the tone bin issue was resolved with the SE pro by the multi tone setup... and that beautiful "warble" you can't get in tone bin setups. Honestly had I spent more time with the CTX in 50 tone, I think I would have started connecting with it more, but one of my regrets is trading the CTX straight across for a pristine ATX... wanting a PI for the difficult mineralized ground in the NW, specifically in swimming holes, lakes and the occasional beach hunting. I'm not sorry I picked up the ATX, it is also a great machine (with some drawbacks due to the weight and bulkiness of the military style housing), but I do wish I wouldn't have let go of the CTX (or the Etrac for that matter). Anyway, about that time I also ran across the DetectorProspector site and the incredible knowledge that Steve and the rest of the group share on here. I have learned so much while on this site, I can't even begin to express. And there is (rarely) a flame war that breaks out... so that is so much different than all the rest of the sites. I really commend Steve for maintaining a true detectorists forum here. Then... came the release of the Equinox. Oh the HYPE!!! As soon as I could get my hands on one... It replaced my Explorer as my daily detector. And back to GBA's comment, I don't know exactly how many hours I have with it, but well over a thousand of "in the wild" hunting. And a lot of that time is testing settings and covering the same ground time and time again... learning the machine... and finding new targets every time I go based on a tweak here and a tweak there... and that has become the true joy of detecting for me... learning how to detect, opposed to trying to "buy skill". And one other thing that helped me learn the art of detecting.... I have spent a fair amount of time using beep and dig machines to remove that tendency let the machine discriminate for me. And honestly, those machines are just as powerful as the "new tech" just less bells and whistles. Some of me coolest finds have been either with a Tesoro Vaquero, or park hunting with the ATX (and I have to tell you... you learn patience hunting a park with a PI :)). Of course, I will be anxiously awaiting the next releases from Minelab, and will no doubt upgrade when they do... but in my opinion, you are leaving nothing on the table by using the Equinox. And I should add, this isn't an ad for Minelab, while I don't have experiences with some other great detector lines, the same is most definitely true for them. I am convinced it is more about the person swinging and understanding what the machine is telling him/her. None of that probably helps your search, but I thought I would share the "trap" I found myself in at the beginning as a cautionary tale 🙂 Best of luck and I am looking forward to hearing about your choice of machine, and your hunting experiences and finds. ~Tim.

Welcome to the forum RR. What part of SW WA? I am a Washington native (Vancouver, WA for 22 years before moving to Houston about 2 years ago). Looking forward to hearing about you detecting adventures! ~Tim

I did notice this lithiums... I put those on my shopping list 🙂 thanks again Alain!!

Thank you Palz! I will give that a try... glad to know I wasn't on an island, but sorry you had a similar frustration. I will post my next Vanquish finds in your honor!! Tim.

An odd question regarding the Vanquish... have either of you (or anyone) experienced intermittent power loss (meaning screen actually goes black) when setting the machine down to recover a target. I have been out with mine a few times over the past few months, and spend time customizing some of the notch settings, and setting out to hunt. On more than one occasion, I have picked up the machine after recovering the target to find it had powered down (fresh batteries btw), and of course all the settings lost. Any shared experience with this, or is it just me? Tim.

Equinox 800 and 600 - all three coil sizes Vanquish 540 Tesoro Vaquero Black w its z-lynk Garrett Carrot with z-lynk option Hope to get out with the ATX a little (or a lot) in 2021.

I hope that is gold... awesome find!. But I am most impressed with your ride! That is detecting in style!!! ~Tim