Dan(NM)

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.
 

1 minute ago, Steve Herschbach said:

You might want to go back to those light to moderate trash spots running your current settings. The relatively high default recovery speeds exist for a reason and people lowering them “for more depth” are often shooting themselves in the foot. There is a lot more to the issue of masking than most people realize. You might get a surprise.

Glad to see you got into the silver!

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.

2 hours ago, Mtwolf2270 said:

Where you find the armrest nice set up.

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

8 hours ago, Wayfarer said:

Sweet setup Dan!  That's about what I plan to do to mine.  The power supply under the armrest should help with balance too.  

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.

22 minutes ago, Mark Gillespie said:

Yes, I've had the same type audio response happen to me.  I don't think there's anything wrong, just the machine adjusting or rather preparing to pinpoint the target.  I'm very happy with mine, 100% confident now.  Just get out and hunt all you can. 

Have you found anything good yet?

 

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

25 minutes ago, TedinVT said:

Are the 2 O-rings the only waterproof seal or is there another seal associated with the “trap door” that is held in place with the single screw which is removed to remove the battery?

What is the purpose of the black plastic piece with the 2 O-rings that appears to be attached to the battery?

Also, curious about the yellow wire.

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.

1 minute ago, Norm S said:

I was out today and hit a copper penny at 8".. Was a 1946. I knew it was copper because of the strong signal I got at that depth. Most of the clad pennies are no more than 4" deep

Hey Norm, what are zincs hitting at?

7 minutes ago, Skate said:

You're just not trying hard enough yet. 

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.

30 minutes ago, Tnsharpshooter said:

Nice finds.

I love my Equinox.

It won't be going on the classifieds!! 

My CTX might lol

Thanks for posting Steve.

2 hours ago, canslawhero said:

hey Mark, so the default of GB 0 still got you decent depth....

once my ground thaws I'll just have to experiment a bit and first off just see what kind of depth I get on 

decent coin size targets with the default settings. I'll also try 'auto tracking' in the mix to see how that works, wish I knew more about it, ie how much bandwidth is it taking up and can these noisy ground conditions drive the 'auto tracking' batty and just not allow it to function properly. time will tell.

I dug a 9" silver dime  and a 9" wheat with manual GB at 0 in my soil in NM. I think it works just fine

12 minutes ago, canslawhero said:

nice writeup Dan, very useful...when you say manual GB, you mean you did the 'pump' method to set the GB? if so, what was the GB number it settled on?

Yes, I did  the pumping method, my ground must very very mild here, hit at 0 or +1 or 2

Well, I must say today was very interesting in more ways than one. I went back to the old high school again today expecting to dig more nickles. That didn't happen, but, I was able, after digging quite a few beaver tails, to call then before digging them. They rang up in my soil at 11-12 solid hits. Yesterday the nickles read a solid 13, I did get fooled a couple times by ring tabs. I was able to dig my first silver today,  a 41 Merc at 4-5" read 24-26, it was a screamer. I was running 5 tones, recovery at 5, 0 iron bias, sens at 20, park mode1 manual GB.  After a couple of hours of digging a dozen or so small items that read from 8-19, I decided to cherry pick. I went into Park 2,  2-tones, recovery speed at 4, tone break  set to -9 -20 with the volume turned all the way down, lowest tone pitch possible, manual GB, sens 23. I was only able to hit a wheat sitting on top of the ground where a pipe had been put in and then a copper bracket about an 1" long at 9".  This is where it gets interesting. I got the hit on the bracket , very intermittent high tone, very iffy hit. I knew before digging how deep it was by using my Periscope Probe, I hit it at a solid 9"  I decided to run thru each mode to test how each one would sound,  each mode hit the target, but, not very clean. This was the eye opener, when I came back to Park 1, the signal cleaned up considerably. The tone was cleaner and more consistent, then I remembered reading in the quick start guide that Park 1 was for general hunting and coins, while Park 2 was for fine jewelry. I'm only guessing, but, Park 2 must use a different set of frequencies than Park 1. I quickly did a master reset and modified Park 1 to 2-tones, recovery speed at 5, tone break  set to -9 -20 with the volume turned all the way down, lowest  tone pitch possible, manual GB, sens 23

  I worked my way back to my car getting ready to leave. On my final pass I get a repeatable high tone and a bouncing 23 every other pass. When I pinpointed the number stayed at 23. Again, using my Periscope, I made contact with the target at 9" cut the plug, dug out the dirt down to the 9" mark. I located the target again with my probe, took my finger and pulled the dirt off the coin exposing a shiny looking coin You can see in the photo the dirt I pulled off the coin. I measured the depth and sure enough, a little over 9"  That's exactly what I was hoping to see, deep silver , proper ID on top of that.

I scanned the hole again  and got another hit off to the side about 6", repeatable, ID at 24-25 down 7". I'm thinking  double silver baby!!! Well, it turned out to be a jack :)

I left there thinking it may be time to sell my new CTX, I don't think I'll be using it any time soon, why would I???  I had a Deus, Etrac and now the CTX in the last 3 years, I may get beat up for this, but, I see no need for  having any other machine after seeing what I've witnessed in just 9 hours of hunting.  I've been hunting on and off for almost 30 years, I'm very excited about this machine and the potential once someone puts in the time necessary to master it.  I've gone from being a believer to being a knower  after what I've seen in  just 2 days!!!

BTW....In 2-tones, Iron Bias is not adjustable, the option isn't avaialble.  Also, I've decided I'll need to video a few of the deeper hits before digging so that I don't get called out for exaggerating my digs.

5 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I tend to rotate detectors as the warranty nears the end, especially if they have a transferable warranty. I like to sell them used with a month or two of remaining warranty as it gets me top price. I then get either the same machine new again, or a newer version has appeared and I get it. I have no doubt my battery will be just fine until I sell the machine in about three years.

I just did that with my CTX, 6 months warranty left and did just fine on the price. The battery on the old CTX was holding a very good charge after 2.5 years.  I'm sure you know I took the battery out of the EQ simply because I got sick and tired of the BS everywhere. If Minelab would have stepped up to the plate and addressed the concerns being voice, then some nucklehead  like me wouldn't have to do it. I will say, it shut the naysayers up, but, we all know,  some people will find something else to bitch about.

A little battery FYI.....

It seems that the battery run time has been on a few forums as to needing a power bank. I think, seeing what I saw today, the only time one might need a power bank is, if your out in the wild and can't charge your battery for a day or two. Or, you forgot to charge your batteries the night before. I think the latter situation will more of a problem that the first for most hunters, I could be wrong.
I ran my EQ today for 5 1/2 hrs straight, using the wireless head phones and used 1 bar. After seeing that, I'm holding off on getting a power bank. I never ran into the situation on my CTX where I needed to use the AA battery pack, even though I always had one on hand. I'm a little obsessive when it comes to keeping my battery charged, my habit after every hunt is to pull my battery and start charging. I don't I'll ever use a full charge in a days hunt at my age, there was a day ,but, that day is gone.

2 minutes ago, Tnsharpshooter said:

Nice start Dan.

Thanks for sharing.

Likes little stuff.

I'll second that.  But it gives ID usually letting one know.

I could see a relic hunter loving this machine, the response in iron is very impressive. There's no doubt when you hit a nonferrous target. I'm used to the slow recovery of the CTX, this thing is instantaneous!!