Dan(NM)

The threshold doesn't disc out anything, but it will allow you to hear when you run across a target you've disc'd out, by the sound dropping off. I run a barely audible threshold, but, I do not run any disc at all. It functions the same as the Tesoro's threshold. I do not like running the threshold volume too high as it becomes annoying. There really isn't any "consequence" to running a barely audible threshold unless it's so low you can't hear what's going on under the coil.

https://www.minelab.com/anz/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/recovery-speed-target-masking Great write up Steve, thank you for your time and all the effort spent trying to help us learn the secrets of the Nox.

I was hunting an old abandoned ball field today, Park 1, running 2 tones, recovery 7, iron bias 0, 0 disc, tone break to accept 19 and up, full volume from -9 to 40 and 1 pitch from -9 to 18. I only had a couple of hours to hunt this morning so I was cherry picking high tones only. I had recovered 9 or 10 pieces of clad from the trash, shaking my head each time I hit a coin, because I know for a fact I had covered this same dirt 3-4 times with the CTX. I started chasing some iffy semi repeatable high tones just to see what was in the ground. I got a scratchy, but a repeatable high tone if I wiggled the coil real fast in very short sweep. The first hit was coming in at the mid to high 30's and I figured it was deep iron, I scrapped away 5-6" of dirt and the signal improved but the numbers were unstable, bouncing around the upper 30's. I was down about 13-14" when I found what was sounding off, part of an old aluminum can. I've noticed aluminum likes to bounce somewhat if it's irregular in shape and size. I made another pass and got an almost identical type of hit and very close to the same VDI's only they stayed in the low 30's not bouncing into the mid to upper 30's. After scrapping 7-8" of dirt, I rescanned the hole and the signal cleaned up and was more of a mellow sounding, unlike the aluminum hit, this time staying around 32-33. At 10" I popped the target out, a shell casing from almost a foot deep :super: I know it's not a silver coin or gold ring, but, that hit gave me a surge of confidence, that this dog will hunt!!! Later in the day, I headed to a vacant lot that had surrendered some stuff over the last 3 years to the Etrac and CTX to see if the Nox could sniff out some stuff. I was running the same setup and started chasing iffy signal from the start. There used to be an old house here at one time and it's nasty with nails, brass, copper chunks and bits and pieces of aluminum everywhere. Every signal I dug was right next to trash or had iron in the hole with the target. I dug 2 wheats, the lipstick case and the good luck token in the trashiest part of the yard. Needless to say, I am more than pleased with the Nox and can say it has surpassed what I was expecting, hands down!! I've been off for the last week and picked the most polluted places that I've hunted in the past with the Etrac(small coils) and the CTX(6" coil) My goal was to take the CTX out on these hunts to cross check signals, but, after hunting with the Nox, I lost interest in bringing the CTX along. Not only that, it's a big time waster and a hassle to switch back and forth between machines. Actually, I was having way too much fun with the Nox to even care.:smile:

One of mine is coming apart as well, I'll be sending an e-mail to ML tonight, thanks for bringing it up.

I used Camo tape, because, pink, blue, green or orange would have clashed with my camo pants :)

I decided to see if I could balance out the Nox without too much time or $ involved. So far I'm at $7 and we'll see if this will even pan out. First, I moved my control box forward 11/2" moved my armrest forward as far as possible and added some ballast at the very back. I used 9 3/4" washers, with a piece of 3/4 round stock in the center as a bushing. I ran a 1/4" hole thru the bushing and mounted it in the last armrest hole. I'll see if the extra weight is worth trying to balance the machine just a little bit more tomorrow when I take it for spin.

The highest reading I got with the Etrac was 31 in the ground. The nickle was a black disc, covered in a layer of black crust. I guess I'll have to dig a few, but, there's an awful lot of crap that falls between 13 and 24 at that old field.

I posted this on another forum as well looking for some input on war nickle VDI's I've been hunting an old baseball field for the last couple of days, cherry picking though an unbelievable amount of trash targets. I scored silver 2 days in a row, using a fast recovery speed and basically 2 tones. I decided today to open up the nickle range to see if I could score some nickles, especially war nickles. Withing 45 minutes I had 5 nickles in my pouch, nothing old or deep, but a solid 13 VDI. I decided to go back tomorrow and see if I could pick out some silver nickles among the garbage. So, tonight I pulled out 15 or so war nickles to see what VDI I could expect, well...They read from 13 all the way to 24?? I did the test twice and the numbers differed from nickle to nickle, that just shot my narrow nickle range all to hell. Maybe someone else could pull out some war nickles and see what you come up with.

After what I learned in the last 2 days, I believe I will!

Ok, I've taken my 800 to several heavily hunted places where I had finally stopped pulling anything worthwhile the last couple of visits. I have pounded these places into submission with the Etrac and several large and small coils. Then last January I went back with the CTX and took out a few more keepers using the stock and 6" coil. The trash is light to moderate here, I normally run an open screen with combined tones on the CTX, 2TTF on the Etrac with no disc as well. I had visions of taking the EQ to these sights and finding a few more coins and things I thought I may have missed with the FBS and FBS2 machines. Well, you know what happens when expectations meet reality, disappointment. I spent 3 days and 15-20 hours hunting behind the CTX and I scored a big fat zero, nothing old, deep or worth keeping. I was kinda bummed out to say the least!! I tried using Park 1 and 2 with a low recovery speed, 3-4 and iron bias at 2-3 and as high a sensitivity as possible. I was reading a post by someone on one of the forums about him hitting a iffy target with a recovery speed of 4, he then upped the speed to 7 and he got a nice clean repeatable signal in some heavy trash. Light bulb moment!!! I came to the conclusion that I was trying to force the Nox to perform the same as the CTX and not for the purpose I had bought it(extreme trashy sites) I had sold a Racer 2 and some some coils to buy the Nox for the same purpose I had acquired the R2, fast recovery in heavy trash. So, I set my 800 up in Park 2, 5 tones, full volume on all segments, tone break for high conductors at 21, recovery at 7 and iron bias at 3 with no disc. Yesterday I headed to an an old abandoned baseball field that must have been used as a dumping ground at one point, it is the trashiest place I've hunted in town. I fired up the Nox and did my noise cancel and GB, set my sens at 20 and began swinging. It didn't take long to see where this machine is going to shine for me, the speed and crispness of the tones even in a heavily polluted sight was amazing. I used a moderate swing speed, faster then I would swing my CTX, but, not whipping it. There was no doubt when I hit a target in my high tone zone I ended up taking out 2 Mercs yesterday a 1940 and 44 and one today, 1924, along with a wheat. I zeroed in one the nastiest places on purpose since I had spent hours with the CTX on the cleaner spots and didn't want to waste my time, maybe another day!! I found more memorials today than I had in the last 3-4 trips combined, all intermingled with trash and iron of every kind. The high tones pop compared to the lower tones and left no doubt I had run my coil over a high conductive target. The copper pennies read 25-26 with steady numbers, deep flattened alum screw tops read 29-35, very bouncy. The merc I found today locked on at 28, 4" down and almost straight up and down with a sweet high tone. So, what I now realize is, the 800 will not take the place of my CTX in light to moderate trashy sites, it provides way too much target info on the deeper high conductors. But, anywhere I need target separation and a faster sweep speed, the Nox will take over from there. I just need that 6" coil to really see what this machine can do, I'm sure I'll have another big surprise in store.

It's called a Cuffer on e-bay, the one for a Garrett fits great.

I bought a smaller Anker(10000 mAh), I doubt I'll use it, but, better to have and not need it, than to need it and not have it :)

I gathered up all the things I needed to complete the Nox for my 10 days of hunting since off from work for annual leave. It looks like the weather is going to cooperate with temps in the upper 60's to lower 70's here in NM. I added a Zagg clear screen protector, a housing cover from the UK, and yes, I did cut the screen on the cover for a reason. I found a padded arm rest cover, it's designed for a Garrett and my Anker power supply velcro'd to the stand when needed. I wrapped the rod and handle with vet tape to keep the dirt and grime from scratching the paint all to hell. I'm headed to my heavily hunted spots to rework them and see what some new technology can produce, if any and to see if the mighty CTX may have missed some stuff in the trash and iron. The wife will be gone for a week, sooooo, no honey do's for me!! Hopefully I'll be able to get a better feel for the machine and the settings by the end of my little vacation.

Excellent post Steve and thank you for taking the time to do a test like this. My first 2 hunts convinced me that the Nox will hang with my CTX, in my dirt, for the type of hunting I do. First day out I was able to come across a 9" wheat and the Nox gave a nice high tone, repeatable signal. That boosted my confidence in the machine from day one. On my second hunt I hit a 9" rosy, that did the same thing, high tone, repeatable and VDI reading of 23-24 These were in the field, in an unbelievable trashy old high school and only after using it a few hours. I was walking tall after seeing this

I got out to the zoo in town for an hour or so today, they tore down an exhibit and dug up the concrete and I was allowed to get in, I had to hunt quickly because I had to work and they were closing soon. I was in Park 1, 2 tones, recovery at 6, iron bias at 0, sens set at 20. I had my tone break set at 18, so from -9 to 18 I set the tone as low as it would go and turned the volume to half. My goal was to cover as much ground as possible as fast as possible. I only focused on clear, loud repeatable tones today. I'll go back when I have more than enough time to go a little slower and chase after the iffy signals. The spot is polluted with metal from the demo, but, I still managed to hit the dime at 5", loud and clear and VDI 26-26. I've been able to score silver the last 2 times out, nothing great, but, silver is always good.

I have, 2 v's. 2 buffs and 2 silvers in a heavy hunted spot by FBS machines for years.

It did it with both the wireless headset and wired headphones.

I'm not sure if it's just my machine or the way the Equinox behaves, but, when I first go into pinpoint mode, my audio seems muted half the volume of 25. After a couple of passes, it goes to full audio. Anyone else have this happen?

“My involvement with EQUINOX has been purely around the Gold Mode, leaving the testing of the coin & treasure modes (Park, Field, Beach) to the experts in these areas. Typically, a general-purpose metal detector has a token gold (or prospecting) mode with much lesser performance than a dedicated VLF gold detector. Not so with the EQUINOX 800…” https://www.minelab.com/anz/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/equinox-the-gold-hunter

The double o rings appear to be the waterproof seal, the black thing is what seals the battery in place and has a screw in it to hold it in place. I have no idea what the yellow wire is for.

Hey Norm, what are zincs hitting at?

I'll work on that next chance I get ;)

I went out this morning and did a auto GB in a couple of places in my yard, one read 5, the other 6. Does anyone have bad dirt that they have GB'd in? I'd like to know what kind of numbers, really mild and some harsh soil reads come in at.

Hi Gerry, Believe it or not, but in 9 hrs of hunting, I haven't dug a zinc yet :) What do they hit at normally? Thanks.