Jeff McClendon

Hi, great question Steve which I have been wondering about. I have the Orx bundle you mentioned with the 9" X35 coil and the wired back phones. (I paid less than $600 brand new for this Orx from BBHs) I knew someone who was parting out an Orx and picked up the wireless back phones and a 9" HF coil together for less than $200. I also have a 5.21 Deus Lite WS4 module (thanks Chase Goldman for updating it for me!!!) So, I know the ORX or Deus Lite in the Gold modes can hit a .5 gram or bigger nugget within 4" of the surface no matter how badly I set them up! Instead, I did an outdoor air test with smaller gold. I used a 1 grain and a 4 grain nugget. I set up the Orx in Fine Gold with both the 9" X35 and 9" HF coils with as close to the same settings as I could do: sensitivity 90, frequency X35 27.6 kHz and HF 28 kHz, reactivity 2, disc IAR 2, iron vol. On, threshold 8. The results were the same within a 1/16" . Both detected the 1 grain nugget out to 2" with repeatable tone and detected the 4 grain out to 4". Just for fun, I set up the Deus Lite in Goldfield with the same coils, frequencies and settings except for iron volume and threshold. 1 grain= 1.5" 4 grain= 3.5" Then I used the HF 9" coil with the Orx set at 54 kHz with otherwise the same settings. 1 grain = 2.5" 4 grain = 4.5" Jeff

Sorry folks. I was using a software version 3 Deus a few years ago which did not have a Threshold setting. It did have IAR. I’m not sure when Independent Threshold was added. Jeff

Those are some great finds. I have found the ORX to be much better than the Deus for gold prospecting since it has four features in its two Gold modes that the Deus Goldfield mode lacks. They are Iron Volume, dedicated Threshold Tone with volume adjustment, the big Iron Probability Bar, and the big, awesome numerical Target ID display. These can turn the ORX into a two separate VCO tones detector: ferrous-low VCO tone/grunt and non-ferrous-med/high VCO. It also handles hot rocks and hot ground very well. With the addition of the display and iron bar plus the lightweight portability............it makes for an outstanding gold prospecting detector that has easily found gold for me too. Jeff

After owning an F44 in my opinion it was a BH Land Ranger Pro/Tek Liberator in an updated, weatherproofed housing with two newer coils (7” round and the weird elliptical concentric) that have heavy duty weatherproofed coil connections. The F22 and F11 were the same platform with less features. Jeff

Thanks Steve, The XP ORX is definitely a very viable option as a VLF prospecting detector. This is not the first detector I have taken to this location, nor is it the first gold that I have found there even though I have been skunked many times. It is the first time the ORX has been there and by far the biggest gold that I have found. I believed that this detector could absolutely handle the conditions presented there successfully, and it proved me right. I actually like the audio quality of Gold 1 and Gold 2 for gold prospecting and relic hunting. The audio for coin and jewelry in Coin Fast and Coin Deep is still unpleasant in my opinion. Jeff

40 F, windy but sunny. Much of the ground is snow covered but there are some areas that were thawed and fairly easy to dig with a pick. I may be able to get back up there a few more times before it is totally under several feet of snow which is usually by Christmas. thanks, Jeff

Took the ORX to 9,200 feet in the Colorado mountains today. It did really well in a lot of iron, tin, lead, brass, along with ironstone and gneiss/schist hot rocks. One 2.5 grain nugget/flake and a nice 1.5 gram specie. Gold 1 worked really well with frequency at 54 kHz, IAR 2, reactivity 2, iron volume on, sensitivity 90, threshold 10, 9" HF coil. The 1.5 gram specie was 6" deep with a nail and ironstone hot rock within 2 " radius. I could still hear the gold loud and clear. The 2.5 grain was 3" deep. The lead bullet and button back were both 8" deep. I was fairly certain that the iron and tin can shards were iron range targets but there is so much black sand at this location that every target has a little iron response especially in the scoop. Kept thinking I was going to break the ORX in this rugged terrain. No problem. Can't wait to get back up to this location that is NOT known for any gold over 1/2 gram. Jeff

Rob XP ORX and the Teknetics T2SE sounds like a great combination for coins, jewelry and relics. good luck, Jeff

Love the faceplate and the RED (Vanquish) cover on the bottom of the 11x7 coil. Might have a push on connector so better make an adapter. I'm on my 3rd F19/G2+. I finally got a "Hot" one. Way better sensitivity and depth (by 2") compared to my previous weaker ones and the newest version of the 10X5 coil is excellent. Nice looking Bounty Hunter.......... Jeff

CZ and Amethyst on the left. Probably CZs on the right.....hard to see but the girdles appear to be smooth and shiny. Diamonds and sapphires in the middle. Jeff

Hi Rob, I am not trying to out do you here. I feel like good finds for an "under the radar" detector should be promoted. Thanks for starting the thread. I am a giant fan of the Equinox and it will find some awesome targets. However, even with just 3 tones and audio, which most of the time I find really offensive, when the ORX hits a good target within 5" of the surface it is totally obvious that I have to dig it whether it is a coin or jewelry. These three rings were No Brainers. Two 925s and a Platinaire. They were all found in thick aluminum trash with targets overlapping. All three had great tones and rock solid ID. I mostly use the ORX for gold prospecting and relic hunting. Obviously, it is working for us as a coin and jewelry detector too. Jeff

Gold modes on the 800 can go deeper and hit smaller gold from my experience. However, the Equinox 600 or 800 in Park 2 or Field 2, multi frequency, set on 2 tones with only -9, -8, and maybe -7 (depending on ground and hot rock conditions) rejected and the low tone/ high tone break set at 0, -1 or -2 (depending on if the gold in my area is really small) works great for me. For a 14 gram nugget both should detect it easily and really deep! Both my Equinox 600 and 800 in Park 2 or Field 2 will detect a US nickel coin (4.9 grams) at 26 to 28 cm with the stock 11" coil. So a 14 gram nugget!!!!!!!! should be an interesting test. Just remember if you do the test on both detectors in Park 2 or Field 2 to set the recovery speed on the 800 at 6 and the recovery speed on the 600 at 3 so that they are the same. Jeff

How old is your test garden? If it is recent (like in the last two years) your deepest targets that are coin sized are going to be difficult to detect since they are not "established" yet with a chemical halo around them and the soil has been disturbed and re-organized between them and the surface. Like phrunt said too, soil mineralization and even silent EMI can make detecting fresh deep targets almost impossible. Try Park 2 at about 22 sensitivity if your 600 isn't too chatty. You can also try to do a manual ground balance (it is easy to do). Just go to the settings right past Noise Cancel, find some clean ground and press the accept/reject button while pumping the coil from 1" to 6" above the ground until the number stabilizes. Make sure you are not in ground tracking. There will be a squiggly line below your headphone/WiFi icons at the top right of the screen if you are in tracking. Just press accept/reject quickly to get out of ground tracking. Park 2 and Field 2 are supposed to be for smaller+deeper targets. Maybe that will work for you. Jeff

Finished my battery pack mod today and got to test it along side the Whites stock NiMH rechargeable pack. This test was done with targets in the ground. 1 foot long 2" diameter PVC pipe buried vertically with a 1 foot long 1 1/2" PVC insert. Inside the 1 1/2" insert is a removable styrofoam tube with slots at 1" increments cut into it that can hold coin sized targets. Ground around it is 4 to 5 bar Fe3O4 (F19 reading) dirt that reads -2 to +3 ground balance on my Equinox. TDI SL with ground balance on 7, gain 8, pulse delay 10, frequency 12 o'clock, conductivity low Clear 2 way tone (not just threshold waver) Nugget Finder Sadie 8X6" 11.8V stock NiMH battery 14.8V four Panasonic 18650B 3.7V Li Ion rechargeable batteries .25 gram flat lead 2" 3" .5 gram flat lead 3" 4" .75 gram flat lead 4" 5" Nickel 4.8 grams 9" 10" Miner John folded mono 12X8" with the same settings Nugget Finder Advantage 17X11" 11.8V NiMH 14.8V Li Ion 14.8V Li Ion .25 gram lead 1" 2" 2" .5 gram lead 2" 3" 3.5" .75 gram lead 3" 4" 5" Nickel 4.8 grams 9" 12" 13.5" Jeff

The poster of that topic on another forum is an experienced detector user. I don't doubt his results in his soil but I do doubt that his buried 12" dime is laying flat. However, according to his post he checked the depth (by repositioning it?) a few months ago. So he has a recently buried 12" dime that could be on edge and he claims Park 2 is reading the target differently than Park 1 and his settings on Park 1 and Park 2 are the same, BUT Park 1 and Park 2 are inherently not the same in the first place. So.........I'd call that a one off and chalk it up to who knows what or he has messed with the new F2 settings without realizing it. I have had some odd readings on high conductors on edge at depth but never had a single digit under 6 reading on a high conductor like a dime. Jeff