Jeff McClendon

Hi Surface area is critical when detecting small nuggets. My 600 with the stock coil has no trouble with .5 gram and larger nuggets and lead fragments down to about 3” in mineralized dirt. Anything much smaller and that is porous or not fairly flat might be iffy to undetectable at more than 1” with a 600. Jeff

Hi Norm, great answers so far concerning Field 2 on the Equinox 600. If you use the default Field 2 I would add in 0 to -2 in the default notching. I have had really small gold come in at -2. -1 and 0. If you choose to run in All Metal with nothing notched out and you encounter a lot of ground noise you can try running just in 15kHz instead of multi frequency Field 2 temporarily. You can also notch out -9 to -3 if the ground noise is still there to quiet down the 600. You should be able to hit .25 gram and bigger gold. In noisy ground the single frequency option sometimes gives a cleaner target sound (not necessarily deeper). Mine will hit a buried .3 gram nugget down to 2" with a faint threshold bump. Any larger gold up to .75 grams will give a great signal down to about 3". I haven't found anything larger yet with my 600 but I can only imagine what a 1gram+ signal would sound like!!!!!!!!!! Your 800 can do a lot smaller gold and go deeper. The same ground noise reduction can work by running temporarily in 40 kHz instead of Gold 1 and/or by notching out -9to-3. good luck Jeff

Hi I started with the 600 so I could learn the detector and compare it to my other detectors. I spent $39 on a set of low latency bluetooth headphones and haven't regretted my decision. The 600 is such a great detector!!!! I sold a Makro Multi Kruzer, Makro Gold Racer, Tesoro Vaquero and Whites MX7 in the meantime. I just didn't enjoy using them anymore.....Recently got the 800 with a military discount and hopefully along with my TDI sl I'm done detector shopping until First Texas brings out some truly new detectors????????? I love the flexibility of the 800 like the original poster and enjoy using the wireless module with my favorite headphones without being tethered to the 600 or 800. During all day prospecting I have backup headphones ready or earbuds when it's super hot like today by using the wireless module. I also like the freedom to setup my own personal hunting program, the more flexible audio options, and the expanded recovery speed/iron bias levels that the 800 offers. However, if I wasn't an insanely avid prospector I would have been totally satisfied with the Equinox 600. For the price and with a 6" coil it promises to be an incredible machine and bargain.

She Detector did some salt beach and underwater testing. Her You Tube videos are always fun.

Typical 2 hour hunt with the Equinox 600 today. I decided not to dig at least as many targets as I recovered. In Park 1 with no modifications except for ground balance 3, sensitivity 17. Iron signals within 6” of almost every target including the 9.2 gram 18k gold ring at 4” depth, 15 TID. That’s 4 gold and 2 sterling silver rings in just over 40 hours detecting. LOVE the Equinox 600

I can only echo everyone so far that has commented on this topic. I have had many detectors in the past 10 years that I thought would fit my needs especially the Minelab Xterra 705 and Teknetics G2+. I really liked the G2+ but it was just too "hot" for my area and I could not solve the high ground mineralization-high iron content-mid to deep target recovery equation. There was just too much noise for me to sort through. The Xterra was a fine detector that just never clicked with me. Unless I was in prospecting mode I always felt like it was too quiet and left me wondering what was under the coil. I was afraid that the Equinox would also be a bit of a mystery too. I guess my long experience with the Xterra made the transition to the Equinox easier since the 600 and 800 immediately challenged me but rewarded me too with many great finds and after about 10 hours of using them their tones started to really make sense. I have just begun to explore all of the other modes. I made myself stay in Park 1 for at least 40 hours without trying out other modes so I could gain confidence in the Equinox's and my capabilities. What a fantastic pair of detectors!!!

Hi, I don't think you can go wrong with a Deus or an Equinox. I have more experience with the Equinox and I know the 800 can work in most any detecting situation including high mineralization at depth. Just found a clad quarter this morning in a local Denver park at 9 inches. That was with a screwdriver and probe! Ground balance is a 1!!! at this park so mineralization is almost off the chart. I have stopped digging many times with the Equinox since I just can't reach the target in the local parks here. For the vast majority of situations in Colorado, you won't need a PI machine. Most of the detectable gold that us mortals have access to is way less than half of a gram and only the best PI machines will hit really small pickers and flakes in the .1 to .2 gram range at depth. A 40Khz vlf like the Equinox 800 can detect that size gold here down to about 4 inches and anything bigger at that depth or less will scream at you. Jeff

Hi, two of the gold rings I found with an Equinox 600 gave a solid 17 response so discing out that number range just above nickels could be a problem. Jeff

Hi I also live in Colorado where much of the dirt is highly mineralized and can challenge many vlf detectors both depth wise and in target separation. Most detectors can accurately detect down to about 5 inches effectively IF they can unmask a target that deep from the iron rich soil. I have used three of the detectors on your list: XP Deus, Makro Gold Kruzer/Multi Kruzer and the Equinox 600/800. I also have experience on the Teknetics G2+ (Gold Bug Pro), Makro Gold Racer, Minelab Xterra 705, Garrett ATGold and the Whites MX 7/Sport. I can honestly say that the only detector of those mentioned that has totally impressed me is the Equinox. The Multi Frequency feature of the Equinox is truly a game changer. The 800 can pretty much do it all in experienced hands. It is very good on small gold at depth as mentioned by others The Deus is also a great detector for Colorado. The rest of the detectors mentioned in this post either suffer from lack of important features or are adversely challenged by the soil conditions. Some of them: the Makros, Teknetics and Whites are too noisy and can overload easily. The Xterra 705 suffers from depth loss in all but prospecting mode and has the weirdest pinpointer I’ve ever used. Just my opinions from at least 20 hours on each detector.

I've worked the Little San Domingo many times and often get skunked like Bill did this time. His advice to find a small area and work it is so true!!! I'm sure he thought he was getting the 800's coil over gold too just like his friend. Those targets sounded great. The lead and small tin targets are everywhere in that area. My Makro Gold Racer can get pretty noisy on that ground. The 800 was very quiet. It was great to see the 800 giving accurate target ID numbers and good depth. That is another big plus for the Equinox since most other VLF detectors have to run in low to mid sensitivity All Metal at this site because using high sensitivity will drive you nuts with all of the hot rocks and using disc kills depth there. Most of the gold VLFs running All Metal prospecting mode don't have target ID and neither do the PIs . Gold 2 might have been a better choice for that area since most of the gold is smaller stuff.

Hi, I am around 75% certain that Jim Hemmingway has correctly identified your specimen. As he said the photo is fairly blurry so that other 25% lurking in my mind says that this could also be a specimen of one of the Iron/Copper Sulfides like chalcopyrite or bornite. If tiny pieces of the specimen are easily removed by your fingernail and look like tiny thin sheets then it is definitely a phyllite or decomposing muscovite mica schist. If the specimen is harder and more compact with chunky pieces breaking off then my 25% minority guess is probably closer to the correct ID in which case we are looking at a mineral or combination of minerals.

Hi Mike what search mode and frequency were you using for your 6”-8”-10” dime test? thanks jeff

Hi DDancer and Brian are both right. You can find Citrine Quartz crystals in their natural state or you can take Amethyst and heat it a lot and get the same result. There is a big area of citrine quartz that runs from NW South Carolina up into Central North Carolina.

Hi, I don't think I've ever had the problem you are describing. My only thought is were you able to ground balance your Gold Racer? Also, did you try using it in Disc 2 mode and did you have the same problem. I live in a high EMI area with very mineralized soil. If I turn up the sensitivity too high (over 70) in All Metal my Gold Racer will overload just on the iron content of the soil with no target under the coil!!! It makes kind of a pulsing sound when that happens. Are you familiar with its overload tone? My Whites MX7 will do the same thing. The only problem I've had with my Gold Racer was that the original 10 x5 coil was just too noisy so that I couldn't bump it against anything without it having tone breaks in the threshold and wildly jumping VDI numbers for no reason. So, I sold the coil and bought a Cors Fortune 9.5 x 5 and got much more stable threshold and more depth too!

Hi, I totally agree with you Steve and Tabzilla. The Mojave does what it is made for very well I'm sure. I was looking for an easy to operate, trouble-free, fun detector that I could take out for an hour or two and enjoy or quickly teach friends or family to do the same. I already have several VLF mid-range detectors with all of the features necessary to find anything metallic at up to 18". As much as I love Tesoros, I just don't need a Vaquero or Outlaw. So, for what I bought it for, the Mojave just didn't work for me as a fun detector. Jeff McClendon

I received word today from Tesoro that my new Mojave was checked and no problems were found. They suggested that I needed a different model (with manual ground balance, etc. and more money) for the high mineralization in my area. The great folks at Serious Detecting are letting me return the Mojave for a full refund. My old Cutlass II microMax was out performing the new Mojave by 2" to 3" inches on air and depth tests with much cleaner signal responses and way less chatter. So, instead of replacing the Cutlass II I will just keep it and continue to enjoy it.

I have young nieces, nephews, etc. that like to go detecting with me. I don't like giving them my mid-level detectors and they don't like my ancient Tesoro Cutlass II microMax (I do!!!!) I decided to pick-up a Gofind 40 for them to have fun with especially since all of the original Gofinds are being closed-out with the new models about to hit the shelves. Thanks for the heads up on the new models, Steve. I really like how they fold up. Yeah they are very rickety and the armrest is a joke but they will fit in a back pack and I've got lots of camo duct tape! Bought it new for $135 with a nice carry bag and hat included. So, I thought I better learn it first so I can teach them. Today was the first decent day here lately in Denver to try it out. 40 degrees and after scraping 4 inches of snow off of my test bed I tried my X-Terra 705 (7.75khz concentric), my Tesoro Cutlass II (8" donut) and the Gofind 40. Ground phase mineralization numbers are low 80s to low 90s when the ground is dry. Wet ground plus EMI made the 705 and Cutlass II sound like a tree full of extremely rabid squirrels unless I cut sensitivity way back on the Tesoro and did lots of fancy adjustments on the 705. The Gofind40 was totally quiet even at full sensitivity????? So I said " WTH " and figured that the Gofind 40 probably wouldn't even detect a surface target with all of its pre-set discrimination circuitry under these conditions. Wow was I wrong. It nailed a 7 inch deep US nickel with no problem and with a clear signal. Target ID was way off but so what.... It nailed all of my shallower targets with pretty accurate target IDs and very clear signals too. The Xterra 705 could not even detect past 4 inches in any of the four pre-set coin modes because it gave only a very low signal (-8, way off TID too) in All Metal on the 7" nickel. Maybe I should have tried Beach mode!!! The Tesoro was somewhat better with 0 discrimination and sensitivity at 8 (half of full maximum) and gave a quiet, clipped signal on the 7 inch nickel and fairly normal signals on the rest of the shallower targets. There is nothing like ED120 on my 18 year old, totally beat up, microMax Tesoro. So, I am fairly impressed with the Gofind 40s ability to detect at decent depth in damp, cold, high mineralization and high EMI conditions with what doesn't even appear to be a proper search coil! I wonder what it will do in normal conditions or at the beach. If it doesn't completely fall apart it will be a keeper. jmaclen Teknetics G2+ Makro Gold Racer Minelab Xterra 705 Tesoro Cutlass II microMax Tesoro Mojave ( being fixed in Prescott I hope!) Minelab Gofind 40

Jmaclen hi, I recently purchased a Mojave and ran into possible coil problems. I live in Denver and ground phase numbers in my area are 88.5 to 93.5. On high mineral ground setting, discrimination at 7 o’clock (iron) and sensitivity at 5, I could barely get a solid signal at 4” inches on a nickel with a normal left to right scan and only faint clicks on forward a backward scan in my established test bed. Made it hard to pinpoint!!! I got no response at 6” inches with the same settings. Sent it to Tesoro after a call to Vince. I know that high ground phase numbers can adversely affect depth but those results seem really weak. Any ideas are welcome. This is not my first Tesoro. jmaclen