Chase Goldman

Just for clarity - if you are working in 50 tones you cannot do the above as the breaks and volumes are set other than the delta between the iron and non-ferrous tones and the ferrous to non-ferrous break. If you want to do this in a mode that defaults to 50 tones (like Park 2 or Field 2), then the first thing you need to do is shift to 5 tones then follow the instructions above. Other than that, I do not customize tones as I am a 50-tones guy so I am the wrong person to ask on the details to how the above gets done, but the video lays it out pretty well.

I thought so too, that's why I asked. I know the PA guys and they were not doing any Equinox work last I checked. Dan pretty much confirmed that was the case, EQX's under warranty still going to Napier. I think Tom was mistaken regarding his 600. I know PA is repairing the other ML detectors, though.

That is a good tip I should have added to my post.

Actually, set up properly, the Equinox is the PERFECT tool for a trashy park, if you hope to snag keepers that would otherwise be masked by the trash, due to its high (and adjustable) recovery speed. If you are not hearing the machine gun bursts of trash target then you are not going to hear the keepers either because the silence you would hear with slower detectors is just the recovery circuit playing catch up while you pass the coil over that keeper target. Some suggestions: First of all, you need to figure out what your objective is. Grab all jewelry, nickels, clad, and silver. Or just cherry pick the high conductors. That will tell you what mode to use. For example, if the trash is indeed modern (i.e., aluminum can slaw, pull tabs, freshness tops, twist tops, crown caps) then just try notch out everything below 20 and go for the clad and silver because you will be hard pressed to pick out the gold rings and nickels amongst all that mid-teen stuff without a trained ear (after awhile you can start to tell the difference between a nickel and a pull tab and a gold ring and a crown cap by tonal quality) and will just be digging it all. Sure you will give up on gold and nickels, but you will lower the audio fatigue as you just listen for the the high conductors to ring out. If you are just going to cherry pick high conductors, then keep it in Park 1. Depending on the ferrous situation you might want to consider lowering the iron bias as that may exacerbate high conductor masking in iron, but that will also create more iron falsing. Avoid the "2" Park/Field modes if there is a lot of modern mid-teen trash, those modes which are optimized for mid-conductors and you will just hit that trash harder. Key is DO NOT MODE HOP and DO NOT TONE HOP. Pick an objective, pick a search mode and stick with it otherwise you will drive yourself insane. The only time I will switch modes during a hunt is if I want to use an alternate mode to interrogate a specific target (i.e., see how the target sounds in Park 2 vs. Park 1 for example for a mid teen target. Pick the tone setup that you are most comfortable with. I prefer 50 tones because it gives me a lot more information about the target than just a visual number. I think of TID number as a Black and White television - sure you get a single tone corresponding to that number in 50 tones but the audio "quality" not just tone gives you so much more information than a number. Is the tone sharp or pinging with steep rising an falling edges (likely coin) or is it soft an long (freshness cap) or distorted (bent pull tab) or unstable and flutey (rusted crown cap). Just a wealth of info - I call that Color TV! 5 tones gives you less audio fatigue but also less information, it is like having a TID display with 5 numbers on it. You need to decide which is the best tone setup for you, learn it and stick with it. Other strategies to consider to reduce fatigue: Consider lowering sensitivity. If the park is really trashy, it is likely that keepers missed by other detectorists with slow machines are just sitting there at the same shallow trash depth. No need to light up the machine with all that trash and ground noise as the higher conductive targets will be "visible" even with lower sensitivities. Also, avoid the tendancy to lower reovery speed to compensate for the depth loss as that will likely just result in more ground noise plus you will lose a key performance attribute that enables you to separate the keepers from the trash. Consider hunting in single frequency (5 khz). People have run some single frequency tests and have found that running single frequency at 5 khz really helps shallow high conductors pop out of the trash vs. multi IQ. Give it a go and see what you think. Be advised though, once you go single frequency - it doesn't really matter which mode you are in as the only thing that then differentiates the Park and Field modes are the different user settings. It is the unique multi IQ profile (including the multifrequency weighting and target signal processing) that gives each of the Park/Field modes their unique personality. You also lose some other "performance" enhancements that Multi IQ brings to the table like precise and forgiving ground balancing, no iron bias setting is available in single frequency mode, and of course, if you use the lower single frequency, you will be less optimized for mid conductive keeper targets too (besides the mid-conductive trash). But that is what metal detecting is all about - managing and balancing the tradeoffs. Consider removing some of that trash. Getting the trash out of the way will help uncover even deeper, older targets. This takes a lot of time (and multiple visits), effort, and finesse. You don't want to be digging up the entire park and destroying the landscape, but if you have a large beer can impeding your view, then by all means get it out of there. Use pinpoint to interrogate probable trash targets to get an idea of depth and size of the trash and make a call as to whether it makes sense to get rid of it to see what else may be hiding there. HTH HH

It does not restart according to both the ML Warranty provisions and the applicable laws of the US (the warranty runs from date of purchase even if warranty provisions are used to obtain a replacement unit). In some cases, it is within the repairing company's rights to offer a reduced warranty period to cover the use of a refurbished part to cover a new product warranty claim (say 12 months or 90 days when a refurbished part is used as a replacement for a covered part). This does not appear to be the case for ML warranties, other than the warranty terms do say that refurbished parts may be used as replacement parts for covered warranty repairs. https://www.minelab.com/usa/customer-care/product-warranty/warranty-conditions

Steve, OT but wish I could get those nice crisp, scalable grabs from the manual you use for your forum posts. There are a number of charts and tables in the manual that would be handy for ready reference on my phone rather than having to flip through the entire PDF. What PDF clipping app do you use to do that? Posting public as others might find it useful too. Thx.

Also, be aware that it is a 15×12" DD elliptical coil, so it is not going to get much depth over the 11" DD round (the elliptical coil width is comparable to a round coil of equivalent diameter, in this case 12"). But you will get that additional 4" of sweep coverage. Cheers.

I did not know they were repairing EQ's at the PA repair center, thought they were being sent to the distribution/exchange center in Naperville, Illinois. Are they actually being sent to PA now for repair/exchange - is that what the shipping label said?

Those are really good settings for deep silver and copper. I don't know what to tell you but try putting some into the ground at depth in a test garden and see what they sound like shallow vs. deep and in various modes including single frequency. Even pure non-ferrous targets can give a ferrous grunt (when in AM) off the edge. Give AM a try if you are not already doing so (you can turn down the ferrous volume) to see if that enables the high conductors to stand out.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Big Upgrade vs. AT Pro: Short Answer - YES!. The Garrett AT series is a solid detector series. The AT pro brought pro features, including a completely waterproof detector, high reliability and stable operation to the mid price range and it is no wonder it became so popular but it is getting a little long in the tooth, never had stellar ergonomics, and is now falling behind feature wise with its competition and with the release of the value priced Equinox and Kruzer series detectors, can no longer claim the high feature to price ratio crown that kept it a best seller for years. The AT Max added some bells and whistles (built in wireless, slightly improved ergonomics) and upped detector gain to placate the "depth is everything" crowd to its detriment (it appears to now be a mixed bag from a stability standpoint - be careful what you wish for, folks). The Equinox vs. AT Pro: Waterproof: Both are fully submersible up to 3M. Tie. Ergonomics - Equinox is not the best machine ergonomically speaking (the First Texas F75/T2 machines retain that crown IMHO), but it is definitely better than the AT Pro. Lighter, better balanced (though still nose heavy), much easier display to read, and intuitive menu navigation vs. AT Pro. Backlit display a plus on Equinox. Prize goes to Equinox. Wet Salt Beach Performance: Multi IQ multifrequency operation enables superior stability even at high gain settings vs. AT Pro on wet sand. Depth: Deep as any machine I have used. I have not been limited by its detection depth so far in any situation, except unusually highly mineralized soil conditions where no VLF machine performs well (most people use Pulse Induction machines in this particular relic hunting situation). Recovery Speed: Variable recovery speed settings enable the Equinox to be used in a variety of site conditions from a very trashy home site, where you can separate the keepers from the junk to deep silver seeking in a relatively pristine park. AT Pro recovery speed is decent but fixed so separation in high trash environments suffers even with the smaller "sniper" third party coils. Multi IQ vs. Single Frequency - Multiple Multi IQ profiles enable the Equinox to be optimized for specific targets such as high conductive silver, small jewelry, gold nuggets, mid-conductive relic buttons, deep nickels. It is like having a multiple machines in one package that enables you to tackle a variety of detecting situations. The AT series has even fallen behind discrete "single frequency" machines at similar price points like the Nokta Impact and Makro Kruzer that enable multiple different individual frequencies to be selected one at a time depending on the targets of interest (low frequencies for high conductors like silver or mid frequencies for all around detecting and high frequencies for mid-conductive targets like gold jewelry and relics). Equinox takes that to the next level by enabling the multiple frequencies to be transmitted SIMULTANEIOUSLY which enables stable target ID acquisition, precise, yet forgiving ground balancing, enables signal processing filters mitigate iron falsing, and gives the stable salt beach operation I described previously. It is like having the AT Pro and AT Gold plus a higher frequency gold machine all wrapped up in one machine. Equinox wins this one. Third Party Coil Support: Right now, ML has only announced three coils for the Equinox, two are now available (the stock 11" DD and a 6" round DD), with a larger 15 x13" elliptical open coil being available soon. AT Pro has been around long enough to have a number of third party coil manufacturers make a variety of coils beyond the Garrett OEM coil lineup. So at this time the edge goes to AT Pro, but this will not last long. High praise so far for the stock Equinox coil and 6" coil, and the third large coil should have 90% of the bases covered. User Settings and Future Upgradeability: First of all the default user settings work great out of the box. So, it is a great turn on and go detector. You simply, choose the search profile desired, let the Auto EMI noise cancel choose the quietest detecting channel, ground balance as necessary, and start swinging. With all the built in search profiles you can explore different areas of detecting you might not have thought about because of the limitations of your current machine (like gold prospecting, or relic hunting in highly mineralized soil). But you have the flexibility of exploring and adjusting advanced settings and customizing the tone settings to your liking. Finally, the Equinox has a connection that enables you to upload future firmware updates that either fix bugs or that may allow future performance enhancements. Other than adding accessory coils, you will not squeeze much more out of the AT pro as it ages in your detecting arsenal. Rechargeable Battery: The battery lasts a long time (at least 12 hours continuous detecting), is user replaceable, (should last 3 to 5 years or more under normal usage), and charges quickly (fully charges within a couple of hours from "empty". You can even charge the battery on the go (i.e., while detecting) from a portable battery USB power source affixed to your detector shaft if you are so inclined. I know that there is something about the ability to pop in some AA batteries in a pinch, but I have never had this detector let me down because of a rechargeable battery problem. On an all day detecting run I have not gone below 2 bars. So if you forget to recharge your battery from the last detecting session, you likely will have more than enough juice for a couple 3 to 4 hour back-to-back hunts on separate days. Neutral on this as this is more of a personal preference thing because you can go back and forth for hours debating the merits of "built-in" rechargeable batteries that cannot be substituted with conventional batteries "if something goes wrong with the rechargeable". I prefer the Equinox rechargeable even though a few folks have reported battery or charging circuit failures. Built-In wireless audio using both readily available Bluetooth accessories you can buy from Amazon (800 includes a wireless headset) and also proprietary wireless receivers (included with the 800, into which you can plug your favorite headset). I could go on, but we would start getting into the weeds. What Do I Like Most: It's versatility. I have been able to get rid of a few "specialized" machines as a result of its ability to be a jack of all trades, and a near master of some (shallow water salt beach hunting, relic hunting in trashy plowed fields). What Do I like Least: The shaft design seems like an afterthought and seems to be a weak link although ML is honoring their warranty, the issues are relatively minor and can be addressed in various McGyverish ways (duct tape anyone?), don't manifest on every detector, and their are some great, superior third party shaft options out there which even if you spend the extra bucks to buy one of these still enables you to spend less overall than you might have on arguably less capable machines because of the excellent value pricing. Do I recommend it as an upgrade to your AT Pro? Yes. One last recommendation: Peruse this forum especially Steve's compilation of other Equinox info in the first sticky post and determine whether the Equinox 600 or 800 is the right choice for you. HTH

What criteria do you use to determine the search profile mode? I consider a wheat penny to be a borderline high conductor, so if that was my primary focus, I would leave the detector in Park 1 and avoid the "2" modes unless I was going for extreme nickel depth and simply adjust tones, recovery speed and iron bias as necessary for the site conditions. Also, do you like to hunt in 5 or 50 tones? I personally prefer 50 tones. If you are hunting in 5 tones, Pennies, depending on corrosion, type can come in right at the default tone break of 20/21 which can give you a flutey tone (wheats should come in higher than that, but there are a lot of variables that can affect variability in TID). My deepest Equinox coin recovery was a wheat, nearly a foot down in mild, sandy soil lying next to a piece of wire. HTH.

Juice - Welcome to DP and the forum. I responded to you on another forum (as vferrari). I have seen site specific noise issues with the Equinox that can ultimately only be resolved by going single frequency after auto noise cancel, manual noise cancel, ground balance, reduced sensitivity, and switching modes and ultimately factory resets. Agree with other users that beach mode should be one of the least "hot" modes subject to interference and chatter though some dry beach resort areas have a lot of cell, WiFi, and other interference that even obliterates beach modes. I know you are almost at your wit's end and have tried all of the above. but based on what you've described here and elsewhere with high interference and low sensitivity, I really think you may have a lemon machine or coil (it happens) and should just request ML replace your machine (as I have recommended to you previously on the other forum). It will cost you absolutely nothing but loss of an Equinox for a few days. ML is bring very accommodating to Equinox customers and will give you the benefit of the doubt. It is basically the only way to know if the Equinox is simply incompatible with your sites (design or difficult site issue), not a good fit with your detecting style, or that you have a one off manufacturing defect with your machine (hopefully the latter). HTH.

Good news, it helps turnaround time that they are willing to do replacements rather than waiting for repairs and that they are doing detailed failure analysis back at ML HQ as I had suspected. Also glad they were forthcoming with their limited troubleshooting details. From what I gather from the description you relayed, if it was just a bad cell, they would have just replaced the cell (looks like the cell was able to be charged externally so they were forced to replace the entire control unit, likely faulty charge circuit as I suspected). Glad you will have it back soon.

Not having that issue that I know of. Jammed into some rough surf this week and it was totally solid - arm rest, control head, and lower rod held up under some extreme torque. Granted just a few times out so far. I have the single spring clip version. I will try the grounded coil twist (not something I would ever intentionally do - I don't lean on my detector shaft for support during target recovery) but the surf torque seems like a similar situation and I did not have issues. Will report back if I do. You do pay extra for the lower shaft and arm rest on the Anderson, but prefer the Anderson lower shaft vs. the ML which you have to reuse on the Plugger (I know that there are two ways to look at this). You can easily drive the price up on the Plugger if you opt to not reuse the ML components you don't like (arm rest, lower shaft). I like the Plugger travel shaft option, though. Not clear if the Plugger allows choices on where to mount the control head like Anderson. Love that feature, with the distance between the arm rest and control head being user adjustable, it has greatly reduced arm fatigue for me. If so, may just get the Plugger travel shaft for my 800 (my 600 water machine has the Anderson) In the end, glad there are more than one third party options for Equinox. It's good to have choices.

Well I put my Excal on a straight plugger shaft, am in the process of selling it, and put my Equinox 600 (dedicated beach/water machine) on a an Anderson shaft so I feel confident it will hold up. That being said, I know of no less than 5 or 6 Equinox owners who regularly hit surf and I would say half of them are using the stock shaft. So, I would say, yeah it can stand up to surf.

I like it when they put it in writing. Thanks for the info. Now it's just a matter of when.

oh... Weird.

I am a little confused. You disc up to TID 9 but have the first tone break at 2??

I just received that cable and will try it with my various iterations of GG's and Whites H/P's to see if I have issues. Still not sure why it works with the WM08 but not the detector jack.

Yeah. I read all through your supplied info and it was like the other article I read regarding protective circuits etc but no mention of continued operation at all. Either you are dead or the circuit recovers and the battery restores to normalcy, including ability to take a charge. 1 of 50 sounds like a lot less than "very common", but glad you found a real life example for me. I value your practical experience on the supply side. My career experience has been on power system design vs. small component design. I too would be interested in knowing whether they replace the entire control head or just the battery. Thanks, again.

Thanks for educating me, Phrunt. I did Google that very thing b4 I posted. I got a detailed rundown of failure modes in one article and one video on how to revive a dormant battery. None of them mentioned the battery still providing power. My experience has been down hard failures in all instances of camcorder li batteries, laptops, tablets, and phones. You have more electronics hardware and manufacturing experience than I do.

Did you figure it out? Also, I noticed you refer to the ML adapter cable as "waterproof". The end that plugs into the detector has the waterproof connector, but the opposite jack end of the cable is NOT waterproof and should not be submerged. You probably already know that, but just wanted to clear it up for other folks to avoid confusion.

I would approach it the same way you are doing it. One thing you said, though, was that rusted bottlecaps fool you every time. If you are indeed hitting the AM button every time you get a worthy signal, I have foun the bottlecaps give themselves away 90+ % of the time with that little iron grunt off the edge of the coil. Try taking the coil way of center of where you think the bottle cap is and listen for the telltale grunt. It becomes super obvious especially in coin rich environments like beaches. Sounds like you should pound that LA park into oblivion and it is a ripe candidate for the six inch coil. HH

The all hype "camp" is small. Lol.