Jeff McClendon

Have a look at some of Calabash Diggers Youtube videos where he compares the Equinox, Anfibio and XP Deus on his very mild dirt test garden with lots of silver targets. I have owned both the Equinox, Multi Kruzer and Racer 2. On the same 8 to 11" silver target using Park 1 or Park 2 on the Equinox and one of the tone modes on the Multi Kruzer/Anfibio: If your dirt is mild, depth should be about the same with similar coils. The Equinox will give you the correct numerical target ID and tone. The Multi Kruzer/Anfibio might give you a numerical target ID and will give you the correct tone. If your dirt is moderate to highly mineralized, depth will not be the same with similar coils. The Equinox will give you the correct numerical target ID and tone. The Multi Kruzer/Anfibio may not give a numerical target ID but it might give you a faint tone. In Gen mode the Multi Kruzer/Anfibio might out perform the Equinox in Gold 1 or Gold 2.

Check with Rob at Rob's Detectors or Gerry at Gerry's Detectors

Simon, I had to actually locate a Micro USB data cable and get it seated properly in the Micro USB port. After 4 attempts it worked. Keep trying. When I first turned on my 340 the battery meter was showing 2/3s full and I was using freshly charged NiMH batteries. After the update my battery meter is reading full. Hopefully, this update really did fix whatever was drawing so much current. I was basically getting about 4 hours on freshly charged batteries and that is with a 340 not the more feature rich 540. Jeff

I saw that post by trashfinder too. He did not mention anything about his search mode or settings so.....? I have used both my updated 3.0 Nox 600 and Nox 800 in the Park and Field modes with sensitivity 20 to 22 depending on EMI. I don't see any problems or differences so far with the depth meter and I use it a lot when I'm coin and jewelry hunting. The depth meter was spot on today in a two hour hunt where I did use it often and also actually used the 4 kHz setting on a 6" to 7" deep (3 to 4 depth wedges) high conductor target which I though might be a silver Washington. Turned out to be a 1953 Canadian quarter...........nice silver coin. 4 kHz is definitely quieter than 5 kHz EMI wise but personally I would rarely if ever use 4 kHz as a search mode. The target ID up averaging in my dirt is just too severe. I would use it for momentarily double checking possible deep high conductor targets especially after today's find.

I don't know whose information Garrett is basing their Barber dime readings from. All I know is the Seateds and Barbers I've found have been super thin......... Jeff

Silent EMI, my cell phone and handheld pinpointers. Just to be sure, I turn on my Teknetics Tek Point handheld pinpointer, turn on my Equinox, pick my detecting mode or modes and do automatic noise cancels for them, ground balance them and adjust sensitivity for the EMI and ground conditions. Global settings are done. Takes less than a minute.

It's the virus and everything that goes along with it for sure....... Jeff

I am not missing your point or over analyzing your suggestion. I just respectfully disagree with the premise that pinpoint mode on the Equinox does not react to ground mineralization. That has not been my experience. Quite the opposite in fact.

Not to confuse things but I am confused. Pinpoint mode on the Equinox is definitely a non motion mode but it IS subject to reacting to ground mineralization. Once the pinpoint button is pressed to enter pinpoint mode any discrimination pattern being used is removed and all detectable targets under the coil are detected. So, the ground and its mineralization become a target and from my experience any target response is also momentarily amplified. I experience this everyday when I am detecting. If my ground balance is a little off, using the pinpoint mode creates quite a bit of ground feedback and creates even more unwanted noise while trying to pinpoint say a coin at 4" which normally is a fairly small sounding target in pinpoint mode. It becomes much larger or is just swallowed up in the ground noise if my ground balance is appreciably off while using the pinpoint mode. Jeff

While you are holding down the check/X key and pumping the coil, once the number and the ground noise stabilizes (there may end up being a very slight high tone or low tone as you pump the coil if you are in high mineralization, in milder ground you should hear no high or low tone when it stabilizes), release the check/X button, press the detect/pinpoint button and go detect. Sometimes you will hear a slight beeping when the auto ground balance/ground grab is taking place. You may hear more beeps than you see numbers changing. Each phase number has several segments which do not show up as decimals on the readout which is why I prefer to use auto ground balance/ground grab since it really fine tunes well usually.

Garrett Apex is coming soon to dealers near all of us American/Canadian folks. To keep us from defecting, Minelab gave us a bit of an unexpected present. Thanks, Minelab

I think you are asking, "when I manually ground balance using the +/- keys and I decide on a number what should I do next?" If you have found the numerical setting that does not produce a response -High or Low tone- from the ground just press the Detect/Pinpoint button and start detecting. The Nox will stay on that ground balance number until you change it.

I'm not Steve H. but we have similar soil conditions. The Equinox can have three ground balance strategies. One is to manually ground balance which is a bit like you described. Second is to do a automatic ground grab which has some very fine tuning built in. Sometimes doing a ground grab where I go into settings until I get to the ground balance symbol, and hold down the accept/reject button while pumping the coil above the ground until the Nox picks a number and stabilizes, doesn't work for me so I have to manually press the -/+ keys until I don't get a high or low response from the ground. Third is to let the Nox use its ground balance tracking function. I guess a fourth is just to leave it on 0. That has not worked for me in high mineralization and makes the already wonky pinpoint function audio wail and whine even more even on a coin sized or smaller object that isn't that deep. If I get the ground balance just right the pinpoint function actually works pretty well which is another way I double check my ground balance. Jeff

In most of the parks and public areas where I hunt, the really old coins are 8" or deeper down to around 12" So, any VLF detector that can hit coins that deep AND give me a good idea what they are = low, mid or high conductor is a detector I will use a lot. Any other detector that cannot do that will sit in the corner or get sold. I don't mind just going out and hunting for shallow coins and recent jewelry drops. It can get old however and going for deeper jewelry and older coins is really a challenge. In most places where I hunt there is next to nothing past 14" unless there was a garbage dump there or the ground has been extensively disturbed. There just hasn't been enough habitation here by humans using metal to worry about deeper targets. When I am fresh or salt water beach hunting I just want good ferrous/non ferrous discrimination and 10" of good ID. In the surf I only have time for a couple of scoops so depth is not a big deal. When I am gold prospecting with a VLF I want great hot/cold rock/ferrous/non ferrous discrimination for shallower, smaller gold targets down to about 8". With a PI I am happy with normal coil sized depth for the larger gold and the ability to ignore ground noise. So raw depth is rarely an issue for me. VLF target ID accuracy, non ferrous target unmasking, target separation and ground mineralization handling are much more important. A PI for me needs to be as lightweight and portable as possible yet also be able to take a good beating, hit small gold in bad mineralization and still go fairly deep on larger stuff. Great topic, Jeff

Our Aussie and Kiwi friends on this forum may be able to get information from Minelab insiders easier than we can in the US. That is what I was referring to. Sorry I wasn't more clear.