Chase Goldman

Because it's more than just multifrequency, its how the multifrequency is weighted and the signal is processed. That's the multiIQ part and is what gives each mode it's unique personality and capabilities. In the case of beach mode, Multi IQ is tuned to run less hot (basically the opposite of gold mode) and to balance salt ground conductivity which just happens to fall in the Gold range. Since that is where the Gold modes are tuned, they (and in fact most of the other non-beach modes) run terribly noisy and are unusable in wet salt sand and surf. Ironically, this means the beach modes are generally less sensitive to gold than the "2" and Gold modes, but balance the tradeoff sufficiently to lower ground noise due to salt conductivity enough that you can still snag some decent gold or platinum targets, especially if they are chunky. Because Gold mode is tuned hot for gold and by default for salt, no amount of taming (lowering of sensitivity) would enable you to use it in effectively in wet salt sand because you would have to reduce sense too far for practical purposes. You need to tweak the Multi IQ which is not possible for the end user and even then you are essentially turning it into Beach mode. HTH I think the VCO modulated pitch-like audio of the Gold Mode and true threshold are great features that are actually on my wish list for a future Equinox capability upgrade as settings options for the non-gold modes. The unique gold mode audio which is similar sounding (but still different than) pinpoint mode, rather than gold mode itself, may be what you are finding attractive about gold mode for your freshwater hunting purposes. Regardless, the fact that you can run gold mode in freshwater is good news for you.

It's just a smaller pin head. Lol. Side-to-side across then DD active coil region, the center spine is approximately the same thickness, between the two coils, but obviously, shorter in length with the 6" coil. That's how wiggle off works similarly between the two coils, you just have to pull the six inch coil a shorter distance (3 - 6" heel to toe vs. 5 to 11") off the target. So if you are oriented correctly, with the multiple targets lined up left-to-right in front of you will get the same machine gun effect with either coil due to the fast recovery speed of the Equinox. The problem is when those same 5 or 6 targets are lined up front-to-back in front of you, then obviously more targets will be under the 11" coil active region giving you a "flutey" signal depending on their composition when you pass the coil center spine over the target line. Whereas you may only have 1 or 2 under the 6" coil active coil when you swing across them giving you perhaps a cleaner signal. In real life, however, targets are rarely lined up in a nice straight line but scattered in random shotgun patterns, so that is where coil edge sensitivity comes into play as some of these random dense groups of targets will end up under the coil spine and edges giving a similar flutey signal (that is how coin spills typically sound). The 6" coil is less susceptible simply because fewer targets can reside underneath it vs. the 11".

What the gunship side gunner from the movie "Full Metal Jacket" kept saying as he was ruthlessly mowing down anything that moved on the ground.

"Get some!" No argument here. That's pretty much the point of getting the 6" (besides using it in a restricted swing situation like corn stubble or in thick vegitstion). Of course, I would scan the site with the larger coil(s) to cherry pick and scope out where the high density ferrous and nonferrous concentrations are. That being said, I can get machine gun responses on the 11" coil too at high recovery speeds. It's really a matter of having less targets under the coil to reduce coil edge effects from interfering than separation, though, strictly speaking. Right tool for the job, yep.

Based on the gold I've seen recovered, with the 11" DD and 6" DD not sure it can be detected much smaller. ML doesn't seem to show a lot of interest in developing OEM concentric accessory coils for its detectors, in general. I see that you've visited the Equinox gold hunting threads here so you know what Equinox can do with small gold using the stock and 6" DD coils. Always trying to learn more about MD tech. Please educate me on what more does concentric bring to the table for prospecting, presuming Equinox is even designed to be compatible with concentric round or coaxial elliptical coils? Thanks.

I think the difference is I am walking a miles long shore line not a freshwater swimming hole, so yeah, as I said a constrained area the 6" would make sense. Otherwise, the target density is MUCH lower in my situation so coverage matters. And, no I am not satisfied with these targets but they were ringing up hard in the 7 to 12 range at various depths without iron tone (I hunt without disc) so they had to be scooped. All I am saying is you can hit small targets and separate from iron with the 11". Higher density and of course 6" is the way to go and I would be staying put in a high density area anyway.

Don't quite understand what you are getting at here. Realistic vs. Ideal?? Can you explain further? I know you are probably referring to the 15x12 here, but even shoreline work with the 6" unless it was focused on a specific feature or small area would tend to be frustrating to me. As far as the 11" not hitting on tiny targets, well...I wouldn't want to be hitting anything much smaller than the targets surrounding the dime which were mostly recovered in wet salt sand or shallow water at the tide line. Target recovery was, shall we say, an adventure...

I take it you are not planning on using gold mode on wet salt sand or surf because it won't work. It will work on dry sand, though.

At the beach...Searching >All Metal - yes. Pinpoint - no.

Trying to cover a beach with the 6 inch coil would drive me nuts. Maybe I would hit a specific cut with it visible from my entry point but I wouldn't carry it with me hoping I had the opportunity. The small stuff the 11" coil sounded off on my last beach outing was ridiculous. As Steve said, no need to go micro micro with the 6". Recovery of such targets in the sand is hard enough since they sift right through the scoop like sand.

Still worth it to remind folks its an elliptical IMO. I know plenty of folks who mistakenly believe the depth performance on an elliptical is driven by the long dimension and who will argue about it until the cows come home. Also, I guess I'm used to GPX's where you spell it out because there are 15" round coils and 15x12 SEF ellipticals (and even larger coils) and a variety of similarly sized coils with wildly different performance characteristics (DDs and Monos) and folks pretty much spell it out in conversation to make it clear what they are talking about. Agree there is not a need to be as specific on the Equinox since there is only one coil available with a 15" dimension . My bad for being too OCD about it, I'll go back to my cave now. Lol.

Gold Mode in fresh water perhaps but it is unusable in salt water, FWIW.

Actually, if they intended to make a 5x10, I would have thought they would have announced it by now considering they announced the 12x15 9 months ago and it's still not out. Hope I'm wrong, though, because I would like to see that form factor. I think the best we can say is, "Who knows".

Pure Platinum has a specific conductivity less than iron, but metal mass not just conductivity and of course total target alloy composition and orientation of ring targets will affect VDI and the latter especially can cause VDI variations during recovery.

Any detecting day is a good day.

My point was it's not a 15 inch round coil. Folks were not adding "elliptical" so 15 inch coil (implying round) and 15 inch elliptical coil are two very different coils from a depth perspective. Just wanted to clarify that. I think the 15x12 is a great compromise between depth, coverage, and weight. Would like to see a similar elliptical at the low end too, like 8x12 or 6x10.

ML yellows are Piezos so are much quieter and do not have great sound isolation (compared to the Pelso's). The Pelsos require me to turn down the volume as the Dan said. Not so with the other WP headphones I tested. To be fair though, the others being Piezos will work better if you are detecting with your head submerged or diving, which is not what I do. I am looking for heaphones that will survive a dunking but I am generally keeping my head above water. Pelso fit the bill. I did a side by side volume comparison test linked below:

I like how everyone is calling it a 15-incher - It's a 12x15 elliptical, so don't get too excited if you are hoping for it to be much deeper than the stock . Great 15" coverage but at 12" wide, it is only going to be marginally deeper than the 11" round perhaps by an inch or two max.(i.e., slightly deeper than a 12" round) and it will be heavy for that marginal depth increase. If its swing coverage you want without the weight of a full on 15" round coil, then you will be happy. Just call me Debbie Downer. Lol.

And as Alluminati alluded to, try lowering sensitivity. It may just be the site has a lot of nails. But it this IS the case, lowering sensitivity a tad may help. The good news is that if you don't like and can live with the previous version, it's a snap to roll back.

Great find, Andy!

Already updated! I like it!

What Steve said. 600 or 800 for pure backup. Best value bar none versus the alternatives discussed below. I am into value. Don't be fooled that just because the Equinox is is a jack of all trades, that it is not a coin and relic master. In my opinion it is a master at detecting those targets. That being said, there is something to be said for employing detector tech diversity in your arsenal. Therefore, I recommend Deus (HF or X35 Coil) or Multi Kruzer for tech diversity/backup. Multi Kruzer has the edge if water hunting or wet salt beach hunting is on the agenda but I think EQX 600/800 still beats out the Multi Kruzer in this regard. Though more costly, Deus has the edge if primarily terrestrial hunting. Look for a value, used buy from someone bailing on Deus to go to EQX or is just ftustrated with it. You can probably get a deep discount on the legacy Deus LF coils but I would prefer to pay the premium for the investment in the far superior X35 or HF coils. 11" x35 for max depth and coverage or 9" round HF for great all around and kight weight performance or the 9.5" elliptical for pinpoint-like separation and restricted swing situations. HTH.

Agreed. Go with Sinclair's advice on lowering sensitivity. Increasing iron bias only increases your chance of completely missing a partially masked non-ferrous target amongst the iron. I don't really like filters of any sort in thick trash. Lowering sensitivity in thick iron (also called sifting) will lesson the tendency of Iron to overwhelm the detector and may make shallow, partially masked non-ferrous keepers to pop out of the muck. One thing threw me in your description, you are running all metal but you must have iron volume turned all the way down if you are "see[ing iron] silently appearing on the display as -9, -7, -3 etc." Sometimes the iron audio grunts clue you into a mixed ferrous, non-ferrous signal which can help you make a dig/no dig decision on a target with a questionable audio signal. If you can't hear the iron then you lose that vital piece of information. If I am bothering to run all metal, I may lower iron volume but I still want to be able to hear it. Seeing the iron TIDs flash across the screen without the corresponding iron audio does nothing for me FWIW. Happy hunting at what appears to be a great permission. Enjoy.

Bottlecaps are easy to recognize especially at the beach after you get dome swing hours in. The only "trick" I use is searching in AM. The bottlecaps are then pretty obvious with their weak, flutey tone and the accompanying iron grunt as I swing the coil edge off the target. Pull tabs are hard, but at the beach it just takes a few seconds to scoop 'em and move on. Otherwise, if the CTX is so much better in wet sand (I actually doubt that statement when it comes to gold jewelry), that's great, no one is forcing you to use the Equinox. The fewer Equinoxes I see on the beach the better as far as I'm concerned. HH.