Chase Goldman

I nominate Dan(NM).

Now I'm confused. What?

Well that changes everything and that could make sense if power is reduced in beach mode. Big difference from manually upping the GB setting per your original statement and what Cliff said he did. If you had said that in the first place, I would have stopped my reply at "...thanks for the background info." Lol. True. I have never seen it either. One thing I haven't tried is seeing if I can force it on by using Beach mode in highly mineralized soil. But not knowing how the power reduction algorithm works in the first place, I have no idea how forcing an "unnaturally" high GB would affect the algorithm. Yep. Your description above is consistent with my understanding of how the various GB modes work. Cliff said he auto GB'd, then manually upped the Auto generated GB number by 5 and then set tracking GB on, which makes the first two steps unnecessary because tracking will overwrite the manually set GB back to whatever the number was in Auto provided he does all this in the same spot on the beach. That is why I questioned it in the first place. But that is all moot if sensitivity is the parameter that should have been adjusted. Regarding what should be done (Manual/Auto vs. Tracking GB) and where at the Beach (saltwater). I think that is hard to say. But what I have observed is this: First, regardless of mode, as long as there is enough mineralization for the machine to grab on to, then tracking seems to work great. Therefore, in beach mode, if a manual/auto GB ends up with a low number near the 0 default, I would just let it be and not go into tracking GB mode. Even though you can't really discern mineralization solely from looking at the ground phase number, I think chances are good that if you GB out with a low phase number and the sand looks typical, the sand has low mineralization and then you should NOT run tracking because the tracking algorithm could be unreliable without enough mineralization changes to periodically force a tracking induced ground grab. On the other hand, if you see a significant change in GB reading at different points on the beach including the wet sand, then GB tracking might be the ticket. And indeed the instruction manual in the ground balancing discussion acknowledges tracking may be preferred in wet sand and water due the impact of to ground conductivity due to varying salinity concentrations. Thanks, Dew.

I guess they didn't think someone would be velcroing it to headphones. It really isn't all that big for something you normally would just stick in a shirt/vest pocket. OTOH, I have a BT APTX LL transmitter/receiver that has the profile of a book of matches and is not much thicker than that, so point taken.

Dew, thanks for the background info on where that +5 possibly came from. However, not sure I am on board with that advice at all for a number of reasons. First, you should not have to fight against what the detector thinks the ground phase should be. This is one of the more sophisticated ground phase detectors out there because it takes advantage of multi-frequency to get more than one data point. Second, I also hesitate to compare mode GB readings as each mode uses a unique Multi-IQ frequency weighting and signal processing algorithm. Third, GB reading, I believe, plays into the Beach Mode transmission power reduction algorithm to avoid over-driving the output power under black sand conditions. It seems you could be chasing your tail by upping the GB phase manually. Without knowing how that algorithm really works, afraid you could be chasing your tail or just make things worse by biasing the number high. Fourth, upping the ground phase number seems contrary to my understanding of ground phase conventions on other detectors which simplistically look like a form of discrimination. It seems to me biasing the ground phase number high should have just the opposite effect than what is desired because it would "discriminate more". On the Deus, running a GB offset low (i.e., negative bias) would make it appear more sensitive, but at the expense of more ground noise. Finally, with ML not sharing details of what is going on under the hood per the discussions of points 1 though 3, it just doesn't make sense to me to push GB phase high manually as a given approach. Experimentally, it MAY make sense in practice on a case basis, but it just doesn't sound right to me on a theory basis. I do wish ML would have given more control to the user in beach mode with the ability to go single frequency and with a switch to be able to turn off the power reduction feature (at least as far as the 800 is concerned).

They are up to 500 GB now and 400 GB on micro SD cards, which is just nuts.

And if you want to see the actual email graphic, its in the thread linked in my post above. Just running a test to make sure my posts are not invisible.

And If your violin starts sounding like a flute - my vast experience this weekend tells me that it's probably a hot rock. Regarding, the original question. You can gain some insight into how each mode biases or weights frequency high or low and, therefore, roughly the corresponding optimal type, size, and conductivity of the targets and site conditions for which each mode is optimized by reading the detailed search mode descriptions in the manual. Optimized also does not mean "only", too. For example nothing wrong with running beach mode in really mild soil hundreds of miles from the nearest body of water just as gold mode helped me to find the tiniest of brass relics in mineralized Virginia soil (see the percussion cap (top), grommets, and two-hole button below). Just as in music (e.g. jazz), improvisation and working outside norms and conventions sometimes creates beautiful music. And as Mitchel says, beyond that level of technical information (i.e. where and for what target types each mode is preferred), as a detectorist, I do not really need to know more about what is going on inside the "instrument" because that won't really help me detect or "make music" better. Hours of practice and actual experience take over from book knowledge ("music theory") at that point.

Yeah. That's what I was thinking. What does adding 5 to the GB number do? Thanks

I have a pair of light weight water resistant full size headphones I like to wear in cold wet conditions. The WM08 allows me to do that and remain untethered to the detector with the WM08 tucked away and safe from the elements. In general, the WM08 allows you to use a favorite pair of wired headphones yet remain untethered so in that respect they do have some usefulness. BTW anyone know of any full size APTX LL headphones that are water resistant (i.e. not earbuds)?

Good find. Your GB settings description is confusing did you GB in auto, raise it 5 points manually and then set GB to tracking? Why not just set it to tracking in the first place? Thanks, sorry if I am missing something. Still learning.

I've had a couple of what I call Equinox "brain farts" too. Mostly going into or out of pin pointer. Only has happened once or twice but it sure seems like a microprocessor hang where there were erratic sounds and lack of positive control from the pushbuttons. Think I just had to power cycle to get out of it. No biggie, but there may be some random code bugs in there that cause instability on "state changes" and that should get ironed out on future bug fix firmware upgrades. It is reliable enough to not be more than a minor annoyance but I have seen it happen. A low battery level may also play into it or make it more susceptible to these episodes, but I do not remember if that was the case when mine did it. Also, since we are talking about odd behavior and the possibility that it might be battery level driven, has anyone noticed the backlight on the 800 when set at the second dimmest setting with speaker audio, dimming in concert with audio coming out of the speaker? It seemed as though the speaker audio was causing enough of a voltage fluctuation that the backlight would dim with every tone. Need to test this again and see if it is just associated with speaker audio or with signal processing when the audio is sent to headphones or wireless. Did not do it on the dimmest or brightest backlight settings. It was weird and annoying because the second dimmest setting is perfect brightness but I don't need it flashing at me with every target.

Minelab put that info out via a warranty replacement “eFlyer” in February. You can check it out in this thread.

Use of non hot, non beach modes in dry sand can pay off. I generally stay in Beach one if I am zig zagging between wet and dry sand, but if I am “staying dry” Field 1 is a good choicel. Well played, sir. Congrats.

That's unfortunate but not surprising. As I said, I thought 1 amp was going to be pushing it from a source current standpoint (that's why the manual recommends at least a 1.7A charger, I guess). But yeah, you should still have a good emergency phone charger and now we know which is good info to have. Even if it would have worked, it would likely not be even close to being able to charge 30 to 40% back from the lipstick power bank because of losses associated with inefficient battery to battery charging as I explained in my previous post (i.e., you can't just simply divide the 2200 mah rating of the lipstick power bank by the 5000 mah rating of the internal battery because the internal battery only has to power the internal circuitry whereas the lipstick power bank has to push current through the charge cable which results in heat losses due to the resistance in the cable and associated voltage regulator electronics, power the detector electronics, AND charge the battery). If the lipstick power bank, however, was installed in place of the Equinox internal battery, then the 30 to 40% capacity estimate would likely be more accurate. HTH

One possible explanation is that the CTX is a fine detector but is optimized for high conductor recovery. It previously grabbed the low hanging mid-conductive “fruit”. Most, if not all, your finds were mid conductors and for whatever reason may have been iffy signals (depth, on edge, partially masked by ferrous) for the CTX but they were in the Equinox’s detection “wheelhouse” as a mid conductive magnet. Also, stuff is constantly moving around in the ground so who knows how many may have since moved to be also now visible to the CTX.

Echoing what Steve said. That really puts things in perspective. Hope you find peace and solace in this little distraction from the real world. Sometimes when I’m out in the fields the beeps are just background noise as I look out at nature and take stock of just how lucky I am and as I try to let to let the daily stresses of life take a back seat for awhile. You have had to endure more than your fair share, but persevere, carry on, and fight the good fight in their memory. You deserve the brief, peaceful time outs detecting affords you. Wishing you all the best.

I will add that although you may find the 800 will preclude the need to hang on to the AT Pro from a performance standpoint, depending on how frequently you detect or how hard it may be to get to decent sites, it is nice to have a backup machine just in case you have a technical issue with your primary machine that you either can’t resolve in the field, you have to send your primary machine out for repairs, or you want to bring a buddy/family member along to introduce them to metal detecting.

Recognizing there are some EMI situations that cannot be completely overcome even when pulling out all the stops. Even though the Equinox is chirping away, I have found I can still hear strong targets over the din. Would appreciate any comments you may have on my layered, progressive noise reduction approach above. Which above did you try in your situation and that were most effective even if they didn't completely eliminate the noise and, more importantly, what did you try that I did not cover. Thanks.

Richard, Welcome to the forum. Having come from the Deus myself, the Equinox is quite a capable beast and you will enjoy it. I have found both detectors have their own pluses and minuses and plan to hang on to my Deus with its HF coils for certain situations but will be mostly using the Equinox for now to get proficient and also because it has proven itself to out perform or at least match the Deus in most of my detecting scenarios. I have dealt with various forms of EMI with the Equinox. I also own a Deus, GPX, and various other detectors that have suffered under various interference conditions. Here are my suggestions on how to approach the issue: First eliminate any sources of self-imposed interference. For example, put your cell phone, if you must have it with you, in a pocket opposite from the side you swing the detector (i.e., left pockets if you swing right handed). You may want to check and see if your pinpointer causes interference. If you can change the frequency on your pinpointer to eliminate the interference do so, because you really can't do much about it on the detector other than the noise cancel process described below. In fact run through the below process in your yard before you get to the field so you can gain familiarity and also because you may have some sources of interference right in your back yard (e.g., wifi or fluorescent light fixtures, or a transformer box, nearby overhead transmission lines) that can help you get used to setting up the machine in a manner to eliminate them. First thing you do is select your search mode - you need to do a separate noise cancel on each mode because the external interference will affect the modes differently. Once you have performed your AUTO noise cancel and if you are still having interference - the 800 (vice 600) also allows you to manually select a channel (via +/- buttons) if you are not happy with the results of the auto noise cancel. Keep your coil in the air during either Auto or Manual noise cancel to eliminate ground effect noise. I have availed myself of this feature a couple times especially around power lines and other detectors such as PI's that can drive a VLF nuts. You may still have noise at this point, I will get to that in a sec. GB if necessary. If you are still having external noise based falsing, lower sensitivity. Don't be afraid to lower it from the 20 default to as low as 13 to 15 if necessary. You will still get plenty of depth and in fact, sometimes lowering sensitivity even in the absence of EMI related falsing helps clean things up at trashy site. So experiment with this. After you have lowered sensitivity as low as you are reasonably comfortable with and you still are experiencing interference based falsing then you may have to face some more unpleasant realities and start notching out lower conductivity segments to see if you can get the falsing to stop. This may mean that you give up on nickels, gold, or brass buttons, but if it saves your ability to at least detect silver vs. no detecting at all, then it may be worth it. Maybe you can retain the lower conductivity options and notch out the high conductivity segment, there are no pat answers when it comes to EMI. If notching is not palatable, then you may want to try going into single frequency mode. Typically, the higher frequencies are less susceptible to EMI. Of course, by limiting yourself to single frequency you are eliminating the advantages of Mutli IQ, again we are talking tradeoffs to at least enable your to get some detecting in (making the best of a bad situation). Note that going to single frequency, specifically to the high frequencies then you are biasing yourself to the mid-conductors which sort of the opposite of notching out the low and mid conductors I recommended above. Depending on your desired targets you can make the call to "pick your poison" so to speak and choose whether to notch and stick with Multi IQ or go to single (high frequency) and focus on small mid-conductors. Also, JUST like the notching discussion, don't be surprised to find that in some cases the lower frequencies work better from an interference standpoint - this is unusual but possible depending on the source of the offending EMI. Again there are no pat answers. Be sure to familiarize yourself with noise cancel, GB, segment notching and how to go to single frequency by reading the online manual then practice once your machine shows up. HTH

Having similar results in park/athletic field hunting, but unfortunately only modern clad. Great recovery and persistence, Tim. Merc 16-S in what looks to be excellent condition nothing to sneeze at though Denver would have been nice. Sometimes the machine just coaxes you to go with your instincts and dig those iffy's other times you have a pretty good feeling that it is ok to just walk away.

If you haven't already also check out these threads: Take the depth discussion in the video with a grain of salt. Air tests are great and everything but they fail to take into account ground noise which is a significant factor related to signal-to-noise ratio. Steve can and has explained it better (and it is also addressed on page 51 of the manual in the section entitled Swing Rate) but basically an air test can't replicate the ground noise that results as you sweep the coil across the ground (another reason why I am skeptical of air tests where the target is moved vs. the coil). Assuming you swing at a fixed rate of speed, you will generate a certain level of ground noise. Changing swing rate and/or increasing recovery speed can lower the ground noise effect and effectively increase the detection signal-to-noise ratio. While it is true that raw detection depth (i.e., without consideration for ground noise) will increase with lowering recovery speed as shown in the video, the effect is actually less pronounced when you consider ground noise because the detector will see more ground noise at the lower recovery speeds which will reduce effective recovery depth. There is a sweet spot balance where you can get optimal effective depth by increasing the signal to noise ratio while increasing recovery speed even though raw detection depth capability is going down. You can experiment with this but the variables are many including: search mode selection, GB variables (manual, auto or tracking GB), type of soil, level of mineralization, soil moisture content, ferrous target density, non-ferrous trash target density, desired target type size, desired target shape, desired target type (composition/conductivity), and frequency mode. Fortunately, ML has done most of the experimentation for you in the form of the mode recovery speed defaults which for the 800 are mostly setting 5, 6 or 7 and as low as 4 in Gold Mode 2. Of course, since these many variables I previously mentioned may necessitate deviations from the default for optimal results, ML has provided adjustable recovery speeds. Also, using iron bias in conjunction with recovery speed may help to overcome some of the issues raised in the video such as being able to unmask the desired target between the artillery frags. Some forum members have seen the need to significantly reduce recovery speed to get desired depth under certain conditions such as at certain types of beaches. Fortunately, ML saw fit to provide a range of adjustability on the 800 and to a lesser extent on the 600 to cover the outliers in terms of site conditions to meet user needs. HTH

Most probably via the USB charge cable which is dual purpose (power and data). Page 66 of the manual mentions that future software updates would be posted on the ML site and can be uploaded via computer and usb to the Equinox using ML provided XChange2 software interface presumably residing on your home PC or Mac.

I THINK if you plug in power bank it will default to charge mode even if the internal battery is nearly fully charged so you can see if the green light will at least turn on and blink with the power off. You may even be able to see if it will charge and run the power pod simultaneously with only a partially discharged internal battery. But, yeah, how much charge back capacity you can get is best determined on a nearly depleted battery. I would avoid discharging the Equinox battery all the way because that is hard on the overall lifetime of the battery.

My comments on the pics: I want, I have, I want.