Cabin Fever

Minelab improved the Audio Modulation with the Equinox firmware update as well as the depth meter. Still not as good as CTX and E-Trac but the Equinox is deeper then both in my soil. There is enough modulation to put a smile on my face when I hit a deep high conductor signal. Looking at your settings maybe try dropping your Recovery Speed a notch and try out the new firmware if you haven’t already. The 15” coil improved my deep coin hunting more then I had anticipated it would. I haven’t pulled it off since I got it. Bryan

I agree with oneguy on the Lesche shovel. I have two of them but our parks flat out won’t allow them. If you can get away with using them, their the way to go. Bryan

The Equinox is no doubt a deep coin detector. Especially with the 15” coil on. Deep coins surprisingly stay pretty solid although a little more quiet up to its maximum depth for me. Their not really “squeakers”. I run fairly hot and put up with more noise then some might, and I do everything I can to stay at 20 sensitivity or higher. I like to run 22-23 if I can and have found a lot of deep, old coins between 8-10 inches. I suspect few maybe slightly deeper but I have not been able to measure one past 10” yet. For the most part I run in Park 1 using 50 Tones, Iron Bias 0, and Recovery Speed at 5. I’ll bump Recovery Speed up or down a notch depending on conditions. I have my Tones and Audio customized so Iron is very quiet but still heard and that high conductors are as high as possible.. If EMI or too much mid conductor trash kick in, I hit the horseshoe button where my discrimination is set to accept 12-13 and 17-40. I will use discrimination to quite the detector before I drop below 20. I do a lot of Noise cancels and Manual Ground balancing throughout my hunt to keep my Detector at peak performance, especially if I know there are real deep coins at the location. I slow down when hunting deep coins and always keep my coil literally on the ground. I see a lot of hunters with their coils well off the ground. Every inch above the ground is an inch lost under the ground. I’m a ground scrubber! Sorry for rambling and probably giving too much information, but deep coin hunting in particular is my passion when it comes to coin detecting. I love the hunt. Bryan

I mostly use the Raptor Model 31 by Predator tools. I also carry a Lesche but use the Raptor to cut most of my plugs. I am now testing the Hori Hori knife to possibly replace my Lesche. I need more time to figure that one out but I can’t imagine park hunting without my Model 31. I love that thing. Bryan

Great hunt! That’s a sweet ring, and Silver quarters are hard to come by in parks these days. Time to put on the 15” coil hit that park hard! Bryan

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I bought a beat up Diablo a few years ago and had Tesoro restore it for me. They still has some of the decals in stock so I bought a new housing, knobs , shaft and everything. The coil and some other internal part were bad too so by the time they were finished it was pretty much a new detector. They are a neat little detector although not the most powerful. Bryan

Thanks! I just use steel wool with a little dish soap and water, or SOS pads. I try to leave a little color on the coin if I can to help bring out the details. I use a small piece so I can control the cleaning. It’s easy to over do the rim. Bryan

We’re having a mild winter here in the Pacific NW, so I went out for a few hours today in search of some thawed ground and old coins. I did a little spot hopping to stay on diggable ground within this early 1900s park and was able to come home with an above average number of V Nickels. It’s not uncommon for me to come home with a couple Vs in one hunt but I think 5 is a new record for me. I also managed a a crusty wheat penny, a 1906 D Barber Dime and a Spokane United Railways Token. The little token was past 8” which I would have never believed possible until I dug it. They are very small and thin. It’s always nice to be able to get out in January in this neck of the woods.. Bryan

I like the simple pink eraser and use the sharp edge on them to get into the details. You can see the groves in the middle where I clean the edge of the coins.

I used my iPhone for the photos. I can’t remember on these particular photos but I either cropped them or put a magnifying glass in front of the lens for the close up. Not all coins turn out this nice of course as some coins just come out of the ground helpless and others need more then an eraser to clean up nicely.. I always start with an eraser on copper coins after I rinse the loose dirt off. Some coins will be packed with fine dirt that won’t come off with the eraser. With those I will boil a small amount of Hydrogen Peroxide in a glass jar in the microwave and drop them in for a short time. The longer you leave it in, the darker the coin will get, so I usually start off for maybe a minute. If your lucky the eraser will then easily remove the caked on dirt. If not it goes back in to the peroxide for a few minutes. Here is a coin I used peroxide on. You can see it is dark brown and if you look closely on the rim at around 1:00 position you can see I went too hard with the eraser and it started to go through the patina. It also looks like I used Peroxide on the 1897 in my previous post. The 1904 just an eraser. I only use Peroxide for copper coins. Not Silver. Bryan

I believe you. It just hasn’t happened for me yet which has my curiosity up and I will keep trying.. I’m happy with the Equinox and it’s ability to find Nickels. I would say I’m finding twice the number of Old Nickels that I did with my CTX or E-Trac. The Nox punches noticeably deeper on Nickels then FBS in my ground. I took at least 3 months off this season from detecting and still managed a decent number of them. Bryan

If your not worried about degrading value, a simple Pink Eraser is very easy on coins. Go very lightly on silver coins or it might shine them up a little more then you might want. Bryan

For the life of me I still can’t find a Nickel in the wild outside of 12-13. I don’t know if it’s the Mode I run in (Park 1-Multi) my settings or just my Detector.. I didn’t keep track of my modern Nickels but I dug around 20 Buffalo and V Nickels with the Nox in 2018. I dug 2 Shield Nickels and unlike others they did not bounce at all. Neither would come off 12. Shield Nickels are slightly smaller then the Nickels that came after them. Depth did not seem to affect the numbers. Most of these coins were between 6 and 8 inches with a few including a Shield Nickel reaching up to 10 inches. (The 15” Coil is a Beast!) I can get a small percentage of Nickels to flash outside of 12-13 when air testing if I wave them over the coil on edge so I know it’s possible, just rare for my setup. Bryan

Awesome find. Morgan in the hole would be a shocker for sure. Nice looking coin too. Bryan

Having several different single frequencies is one of the reasons it obsoletes the others. You have your Multi Frequency of course which in of itself will knock most VLFs out of the water, but if you do want or need a single frequency, it’s there at a punch of the button. The Equinox obsoleted all but one of my Detectors, the Minelab Gold Monster which is just too fun and unique to get rid of. From day one I think everyone took this obsolete claim way too literally.. Most adults are aware of the hyperbole surrounding us on any given day. I’m not sure why it offended so many people. Bryan

Great season! Especially for using a new detector.. I see your doing well with the Indians too! Seems to be a sweet spot for the Nox. Bryan

Yes I’m familiar with C’dA park! Found my first Indian Head Cent there in 1992. I still have it somewhere. It’s really been beaten to death the last few years and is one of the toughest to pull an oldie out of in our area now. I need to take the Equinox back over there to see what my E-Trac and CTX missed. The reasons I mentioned the $2.50 Gold coin is because I was fortunate enough to find a $5.00 Gold Coin earlier this year. They come in right at the Indian Head range so I have a pretty good chance at finding those compared to the smaller $2.50 that might come in down in the 14-15 range just above nickel, which I tend to ignore because of the amount of aluminum that also resides there. Bryan

I’ve heard the same rumor and I have had a hard time getting dirt depth info on this unit. Sometimes the silence speaks volumes. The Equinox is king for depth in my soil but I’m always looking for more. I’m a greedy SOB! Hopefully as more units get out we can get a better feel for what it’s capable of. Bryan

Great goals Tim. My goals are to keep working on my iron range. I pulled more coins then ever this year that were partially masked by nails but I feel there is much more room for me to improve. I plan on doing some nail hunting so I can try to learn more about the ferrous range and the falsing that goes with it. I am also going to do a little more digging just above the nickel range in certain locations to see if I can sniff out a $2.50 Gold Coin, and to also see how many Nickels I’m missing if any. I did very well with the old Nickels this year running a very tight dig range but I believe it did affect my War Nickel count which was 0. I’m going to try and spend more time experimenting with other modes this years as well as paying more attention to EMI mitigation. Lastly I’m going to continue to cut my clad count as much as possible which I have been working on the last couple years. Bryan

A lot of old coins reside in the 18-21 range. $5.00 Gold coins, as well as Indian Head and Wheat Cents. Most of my Indians come in 21 or under. My Gold coin came in 18-19. Bryan

Nope! Just put on your new coil, do your normal noise cancel, ground balance if not on tracking, set your sensitivity and hunt. Bryan

I’m very happy with the update.

Fantastic condition! Congratulations

I don’t “fear” American Quarters. The only reason for me to skip a shallow quarter or other clad would be for time efficiency.. Every minute spent trying to pry a quarter out of the grass roots is a minute less swing time that might net me an old coin. That’s how weird I am and that’s the point of my post. We all enjoy different styles of hunting. I probably took your “fool” quote too personal. Yes, gold coins make it on to my targets worthy of digging list. Bryan