Jeff McClendon

Interesting video. Looked kind of like a red MX5/Coinmaster with a Deus shaft. I noticed the Multi IQ Technology badge at the end of the video next to the Minelab emblem.................? XP lowered their prices by almost 30%!!!!.....Nokta/Makro already lowered theirs too. Wonder if Garrett, FTP and Whites will follow suit or just keep selling their old technology at 21 century prices. Jeff

That happens to me sometimes, especially the first time I noise cancel or ground balance in the user modes I'm using. That is usually the only time it happens. I don't worry about it. Jeff

HF elliptical is 11.6 ounces HF 9" round is 12.3 ounces X35 9" is 13 ounces X35 11" is 16.1 ounces X35 13 x11" is 21 ounces With the heavier Deus telescoping metal stem the heavier weight of the X35 11" is not very noticeable. With the lighter plastic stem assembly of the Orx the X35 11" felt really unbalanced and nose heavy to me. The X35 9" would probably feel the same as the HF round. Jeff

Hi, did you find that with a detector or did it come out of a hole you were digging going after a different target. Gold and silver are far too soft and malleable, especially gold, to be used for stabbing or piercing weapons. Also, gold cannot be worked or shaped like the specimen you are holding. It has an amazing ability to smooth itself out when dented or scratched. Knapping it would be totally impossible. There have been gold and silver plated ceremonial stabbing weapons. I have found pyrite, marcasite, schist, quartzite and even sandstone that has been worked by our native Americans for weapons and tools. Some schist, quartzite and sandstone can be knapped like flint since they are similar in composition having lots of silica based quartz. Like others have said, better photos would be great. Jeff

Just turn it on and press the all metal horseshoe button. If you still see the speedometer all blacked in and all segments accepted press the horseshoe button again. When the horseshoe button is pressed to enter all metal targets accepted that carries over to all of the search modes until you press the horseshoe button again to go out of all metal targets accepted then you should be back to whatever discrimination pattern applies in the search mode you are in. Jeff

Hi Chase, I really appreciate the opportunity to actually backup my field experiences with good old testing and study. Whenever you contribute to a forum thread, I always know it is time for me to check your ideas (which are usually right) against mine and do the research to find out why we might differ. I always learn something valuable!!!!! thanks, Jeff

😀yep phrunt, that button shank would equal a .50 to .75 gram nugget. It would hit pretty hard in Park 1 default at up to 4" in my mineralized dirt in any ground balance mode. It would blow my headphones off in Gold 1 or Gold 2 at the same depth. Jeff

Hi Chase, I am still learning the Nox and its' very different functioning features when compared to other detectors. In my little review of the YouTube video above I questioned the use of the 11" coil and tracking ground balance instead of using the 6" coil and auto/manual ground balancing relating to recovery speed and target separation. If the maker of the video had used a 6" coil and tracking ground balance he might have had little or no problem recovering two of the pin head sized nuggets he struggled to locate. I am certain that he would have had no trouble doing so with the 6" coil using auto/manual ground balance. Just as an aside, he continually claimed he knew how to operate the Nox. I never saw him properly ground balance the Nox he was using. He changed from multi to single frequencies repeatedly even after switching the detector off and back on and he never ground balanced before going into tracking. I do not agree with your statement: Unlike tracking, Iron Bias is a filter. Personally, I think in the case of tiny gold prospecting in a carpet of hot rocks and magnetite that tracking ground balance is also a kind of filter at least on the Nox 800 in Gold 1 and Gold 2 modes Here is a bit of what Steve H. has said about ground balancing in the Gold modes: Ground Balance. The default is ground tracking on. Tracking attempts to keep up with and smooth out the variations in the ground. In doing so it has a filtering effect and can possibly tune out the slight audio variations that come not just from the ground but from very small or very deep gold. Tracking off is therefore the most sensitive setting, with adjustments made via the Auto (pump) method or manually. So, I am still pondering this ground balance question and I appreciate your input. I am going to keep testing both at home and in the field. Just because Minelab has tracking ON as the default setting does not mean that it is ideal for me or that I should use it when I don't need to especially when I am using Gold 1 or 2 in multi frequency setting. thanks, Jeff

Really long over 1 hour video. Edited judiciously, it could have been just as informative in about 10 minutes length or less. Otherwise, it is a fairly good example of what those three detectors can do on small to medium sized gold in hot rocks and iron trash. I don't agree with using tracking ground balance on the Nox unless it is absolutely necessary. If the mineralization had been so high that the GM 1000 and the ORX were almost unusable then I might have considered tracking ground balance for the Nox. Ground mineralization was not that bad. I think using the 11" coil plus tracking ground balance made the Nox slower in recovery speed and gave it less separation capability than using auto/manual ground balance and the 6" coil. Jeff

Hi DeltaDigger I don't have an X35 coil yet. I only have the high frequency 9X5 elliptical coil. I do have moderate to high mineralized dirt to hunt in. For coins and jewelry I have been running mine on a custom program based on coin deep: discrimination 0, reactivity 2.5, sensitivity 80 to 90 depending on ground noise, 28 kHz. I have had no problem getting "Dig Me " audio responses on 6"+ deep coins, especially nickels and quarters. .58 caliber lead should be no problem. I have dug several .22 cal. and .38 cal. slugs and cartridges at 4"+. In either of the coin modes make sure to put discrimination on 0 if you can in order to make sure to get those low conductors even though their depth will definitely effect numerical target ID upwards. In fact, they may not give a numerical target ID past about 4" except for 99. They will probably high tone also. I think default discrimination is 7 which could disc out small lead and the small gold I'm after. Either default gold mode should scream on a .58 cal bullet at 4" with the HF 9X5 coil. I always ground balance!!!!! good luck, jeff

nhgoldprospector keep posting. If you have a Nox 800 it is great for prospecting small gold especially with the 6" coil. Welcome to this very friendly forum!!!!! Jeff

-9 to +40 =50 target ID segments and 50 tones. Jeff

Andy, thank you so much for addressing this super important subject. I think Minelab originally included the recommendation about not needing to ground balance in order to reassure new or inexperienced detector users about the turn on and go aspects of the Equinox for most detecting scenarios. Unfortunately, I think that has been one of the reasons for some user complaints about overly chatty operation. Auto Ground Balancing on the Equinox takes 5 to 10 seconds max and can make a huge difference in depth, target ID accuracy and general detecting enjoyment. My detecting ground balance numbers at the areas I detect are usually -5 to +5. I have to ground balance or ground noise will just overwhelm the Equinox and me! Jeff

Hi Joe76, I totally agree with you that the Makro Gold Kruzer with all of its great features is about as good as you can get for a gold specific VLF. If I was needing a high frequency VLF gold specific detector for stream prospecting in hot ground or for prospecting where steady rain was likely, it would be my first choice with the Nox 800 a close second. It is less than $700 here in the USA and comes with a decent Makro pinpointer included. My test results were what I expected for testing that is as close to targets buried in the ground as I can get. From my experience, those depth numbers would probably be up to an inch deeper in undisturbed similar hot ground. good luck Jeff

Hi, finally it looks like winter is over (snowed here in Denver last week!!!!) and I got in some testing with the Makro Gold Kruzer in my fairly nasty decomposing granite and volcanic ash dirt. I have already used it for micro jewelry and even shallow coin hunting in Micro discrimination mode. It is definitely good at micro jewelry detecting and can do fairly well as a coin detector too in the multi tone Micro mode. I tested three gold targets down to 4" (11cm): a .75 gram nugget, .15 gram nugget and a tiny .05 gram picker outdoors in my test bed which has buried coin and relic targets and a 1.5" by 6" PVC pipe with PVC/styrofoam insert buried vertically in the test bed that I can remove, insert a small target and replace for in ground nugget testing at different depths. I used Gen mode, gain on 89, threshold on 7, ISAT 2, and bumped the tone pitch up to 50 to give it a higher zippy pitch. Ground balanced at 87 with 4 of 5 bars mineralization so almost in the hot zone mineralization wise. In fact if I ran the gain any higher the Gold Kruzer would go into overload. I used the 10x5 concentric and the 7x4 DD. The results were almost the same. .75 gram nugget was loud and clear down to 3" and was easily detectable at 4" with a quiet zip. .15 gram nugget was loud and clear at 2" and was easily detectable at 3" with a quiet zip. .05 gram picker could only be detected at 1" or less. Any deeper was not possible. I did the same test with my XP ORX and used similar settings especially gain at 85. I could have run it higher with no problems. It ground balanced to similar numbers in both Gold 1 at 31kHz and Gold 2 at 74kHz and had 2/3rds to 3/4ths mineralization bar filled. The results were similar in both modes with Gold 2 being better at the tiny picker. .75 gram nugget screamed at 4" .15 gram nugget was loud and clear at 3" .05 gram picker was easily detectable at 1.5" in Gold 2 and 1" in Gold 1 The Makro Gold Kruzer was similar to the Gold Racer results wise. I wish the ORX was waterproof............... Jeff