Mtwolf2270

On 9/13/2018 at 8:17 AM, Daniel Tn said:

That's how I've always described an elliptical coil; via the larger number.  A 6x10 DD coil has always been a "10 inch elliptical" to me.  The 12x15 should be roughly the equiv to a 13 inch round coil, and if it offers up to 2 inches more depth, that is huge to a lot of us.  

The way it stands now, in my soil, the Nox is probably the most accurate IDing VLF machine I have ever ran.  BUT...the catch there is that in my soil, it is almost unheard of for a VLF to be able to ID anything accurately beyond 5 to 6 inches or so.  In my case, the Nox can give consistent coin numbers and tone on a dime buried at 10 inches.  Most all other VLFs will read that dime as iron.  10 inches is about as far as it can do that...you might squeeze another half inch out of it if your coil control is perfect and the coin centered of the coil, and even at 10 inches, it requires good coil control.  I have been blown away at the multitude of stuff that has been coming out of the ground with this machine as it is now....adding just 2 more inches to that might open up a whole new world for me.  The past couple weeks, I have been playing with the 6 inch coil and comparing it to the 7 inch concentric coil on the Multi Kruzer.  That 6 inch coil packs quite a punch too.  

Daniel I couldn't agree more I am in East Tennessee and same thing vlfs and even fbs machines struggle past 6 inches. With the nox I can punch down with accurate id to 10 inches that's a true pinpointer deep target.  The 6 inch coil can hit 6 to 8 inches with soild id as well. So for me if I gain any depth with large coil in my soil it's a bounce I suspect I will, which may bring things just out of reach within reach.  Plus just covering a large field abit more effectively is a welcome addition. 

In my experience with the machine in multi here in moderately mineralized ground of east Tennessee as well as in super hot spots in Culpeper, va. That while sure it will work and find targets even not ground balanced what you will find by utlizing the auto ground balance and auto tracking enabled is that you can keep the machine insanely stable even at a higher  sensitivity if you choose. 

However, this is a super hot machine even at stock sensitivity.  By optimizing your ground balance not only will the machine be more stable but it will also have more accurate id and depth gauge will be much more accurate. 

You also eliminate most of the flase targets or can here deeper peeps in heavy iron. I also have found that reducing the sound of the iron to a background level and increasing the non ferrous tons running in all metal you can really cherry pick, even in  hot soil with heavy iron trash.

So, even though the manual may imply you don't have to ground balance which is true you will get a better overall experience if you do especially if your ground is hot. I truly feel that is site specific and you should treat the gb as you do the mode select the best settings for the location.

Great grouping of relic hunters thoughts and experiences. I have been working in field 1 and 2 in heavy iron in hot soil. 

I found the tommy gun to be effective in my conditions but your point is spot on as too the rationale. In fact in default field 2 I basically moved to 5 tones adjusted my pitch etc to make iron just a backround sound.

I find keeping am on with iron quiter it allows me to know when you move away from from iron patches this really helps iding the homesites in big fields. 

I have also found iron bias to not cause masking the way we think of it .  What I mean is the ctx ignored iron so well with the slow recovery speed did mask targets. The equinox is so fast especially at 7 that with iron bias at 2 or 3 you don't see masking.

What you gain is that deep iron junk sounds great with 0 bias in field 2 but with a jumpy id or mostly 1 way hit. Bump up the iron bias that goes from iffy /maybe to not worth digging.  Now the is the key if you drop your recovery and raise iron bias too high I believe the more typical masking will occur I think it's more from the slow speed.

It's early and we are all still learning and certainly things will evolve as we go. I will be running the nox and further expermienting in Culpeper, VA over the next few weeks of course my gpx will get alot of time but will certainly work the nox in some of toughest soil I have hunted. 

49 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Thanks for the report, MTW. 

I don't recall seeing this term used before.  Would someone please explain or post a link to an explantion, including how to activitate it (if not part of a default).

It was created by Derek in the UK it's settings for iron infested sites. 

Equinox Programs - Derek.pdf

46 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Good info Wolf.  What is the tommy gun program program you are referring to? High recovery speed, primarily?

It was designed by Derek from the UK he was a tester as well. 

Equinox Programs - Derek.pdf

9 hours ago, Tnsharpshooter said:

For gee whiz,

I have an eleven inch deep nickel in test garden.

You should hear the difference in how it sounds with 0 GB default vs actual Auto GB being completed.

Big difference.

I can tell when I am using Nox if the ground changes here quite a bit. By the way the detector sounds when swept.

You won't  catch me in my area using a 0 ground balance default setting.

Now on fresh water beach different story,

Running it out of the box was my goal as so many claim you could with little adjustments and "need to ground balance" . I was sharing my observations on how that does make a difference.  I think alot of the people beating up the depth meter and bouncy numbers may find ground balance will fix that.

Cal_Cobra I have used field 2 only 2 things I did was when need need added iron bias started at 2 and went 2 5 tones in heavy iron I love that tommy gun program but you could certainly tweak feild 2 depending on site. That's what's so great about the nox you can do so much. 

My hunting buddy  Steve and I got out today and hit a new field just mordern trash and then ended up back at the site we first took the equinox's to it's an early 1800s homesite.

.A few additional observations as we continue to try adjustments and and settings.  We have moderate to semi-severe mineralized soil. We also often hunt old homesites on farms with heavy iron contamination and I must say the nox continues to impress it's flexibility is what sets it apart and of course multi IQ. What I mean is you can adjust this machine to really fit both you and the site. 

As a relic hunters being able to peak past that iron and not only lock on a traget but to lock in an id in hot soil is really impressive.

The first new observation is that I truly believe this machine is designed to run fast recovery and it's real magic is that recovery speed. I think if we try to revert back to the old ways it goes against the nature of the nox. 

I say this becaus this machine is so powerful it's plenty deep at a 7 recovery speed in our soil I have hit flat buttons now on 4 different occasions that were over 8 to 10 inches and they were banging signals. Not big buttons small cuff size buttons. Small fired 22 bullets at 8" are loud repeatable tones. In my soil that is a huge improvement over any other machine.

So, I  just don't see a need to  slow it down alot but that's the beauty you can if you choose but I wouldn't unless it's a clean site. I truly believe more targets are masked then super deep. 

 Out of the box this machine is already excellent and the sensitivity at 20 to 22  is truly plenty. We have been testing as it came first. 

Now what we did different today Steve was having some extra chatter so he ground balanced and it of course helped. I know alot of people have been and some say there's no need but here is what I observed in ground balancing instead of  just a cancel the vdi numbers improved and so did the depth meter it's still not exact but much closer.

 The next thing I have come to realize is we think of any iron setting as masking and we think 0 all metal is always the way to go. With many machines that's true with the nox it's different.  I use the horse shoe all metal to hear the environment  this helps me make adjustments on the fly and adding a little iron bias will truly knock down the trash iron sounding good. 

So, don't be afarid if your digging iron bits to add iron bias of 2 and move up to 3 or 4 if need be. You won't miss good targets or enough depth to worry about. Depending on the site if your digging nothing but trash iron because it sounds good your still not finding the good targets and if you you slow the machine down in hopes of depth your losing the separation and targets get masked. 

 The nox excels in trashy, iron and difficult soil.   In carpet iron the tommy gun program from Derek in the UK one of the tester who helped develop this  awesome machine hats off to all the testers  and minelab you  really got it right. 

While I only pulled  2 relics and a wheat  things continue to click with the nox. We have pounded this site now for 30 hours with the nox and I feel we have not left much behind you never get it all but I know it is slim pickings left.   Happy hunting!

Excellent report Daniel this is where I had hoped to here the nox would perform better then older vlfs. Do u run any iron bias at all? What tones  and mode were u using ? 

Congrats chase and well some excellent write up. Looking forward to your relic report as that's my main focus love the equinox so far in my home soil. 

Excellent report and I also believe it is not a fluke multi IQ is truly something new 

Depth is such a relative term I don't like  the discussion how deep is x detector vs y detector? Well that depends what tragets you hunt , what site conditions trashy, irony and soil conditions mineralized non mineralized. So, if you swing say an FBS like the ctx or a slower vlf in heavy iron or dense trash or heavy mineralized ground you have now in effect lost depth as the slow recovery speed combined with how well a machine like a  ctx ignores iron it will actually  "mask" or miss targets all together even shallow ones. Now this is where the equinox shines in my experience so far. That faster recovery speed and (it's fast) combined with it's separation ability plus the multi iq  even at high recovery speeds provides greater "depth" then say the ctx in that environment simply because the equinox sees the target at 4" that was masked or just missed  by other slower recovery speed of other smower machines or if you drop the recovery speed back on the equinox to far it loses it's performance in that situation.  So, again it depends what you mean by depth. People get so caught up and worried about depth. Far more targets are hidden or masked then at great depths in many locations. So, the question suched be  what do I need depth wise at this site? or this soil? For this location. Because it's not always the same. What is the site ? If, it's iron carpet I need recovery speed far more then raw "depth"  If, it's widely spaced targets in mild soil with low trash in plowed farm fields then I may need to squeeze out a little more depth. That's the beauty of this machine you can do both. So, I ask what really do you mean by depth?

10 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

User Profile is a saved profile so Field 1 should have been factory unless you changed it. Unless you meant you went back to the User Profile and it had reverted?

This is an easy one to get confused about typing back and forth! 

Yes what you said I think I confused myself typing lol thank you for the clarification. 

I had it happen to mine so I turned machine back on entered user profile made sure it was what I set up then exited the user profile and went to another mode in this case field 2 and back to field 1 and it was factory again. I guess if it still not just do a mode reset for the affected mode only. 

Not seen any more play in my 800 then any other machine even the 3030 has some wiggle.

54 minutes ago, Dan(NM) said:

It's called a Cuffer on e-bay, the one for a Garrett fits great.

Thank you for the info

Where you find the armrest nice set up.

1 minute ago, Chase Goldman said:

 

I think you know, but I got your point completely.  I was responding to George and jacob7z.  Just to be clear.

I did but thank you

On 2/26/2018 at 4:55 AM, George Kinsey said:

Culpeper is not far from my home. I hunt the red dirt . Hang onto that GPX. I have been testing the "Changer" in site conditions similar to yours. Glad it's working for you. Good report.

Are you not doing well in Culpeper with it? again not compared to a gpx that's apples and oranges. Compared to other vlfs 

I feel people have missed my point. I never meant for my post to offer up the nox was better then this machine or that machine. The ctx is a great machine i  The right conditions but do to my hunting conditions and locations it's not the right tool for the job. I spent 5 full years with the ctx hundreds of hours had it since day 1. So I can say with total confidence in mineralized soil it sometimes struggles.  You can't build a house with just a hammer. My point was in conditions that the ctx struggles and in conditions where other vlfs fall short. The equinox may perform I also pointed out that the gpx is King in hot soil and my goto in Culpeper but in heavy iron or trashy areas the gpx is hard to use again a void the nox may fill. Sorry if that was not clear. I am a believer in pick the right tool for the job. 

The nox uses an auto pinpointing like the Xterra series.  Other models and detectors use sizing. With machine hovering over the area and looking I. And move forward and backward till you lock on. So far I found it to be spot on directly under the bolt . 

4 hours ago, stumpr said:

Great report! Will be interested in your thoughts after DIV. I pick up my Nox at pre-hunt meeting. 

I am with Just Go Detcting have been to several divs tho. I will let ya know how it does in April when we are up there.

1 hour ago, Cal_Cobra said:

Thanks for the report.   I may have missed it, but what search mode/settings were you using? I'm very curious to see how it runs in the gold prospecting mode for relic hunting, I'm thinking it might be killer in mineralized nasty soil with nails and iron. 

HH,

Brian

I ran field 1 and 2 mostly field 2. I think the gold mode where the audio is set to tone while over a target like pinpoint it is not geared for alot of targets. We have moderate soil not like Culpeper but hot enough that ctx and at pro, t2 all of which I used often struggle or id is off much past 6 or 8 inches or IDs as iron. In field 2 normal sensitivity only thing I did was change 2 5 tone it handle the site and soil perfectly. 

I know these are what many of us don't consider relics this is more of my first impressions of the  Equinox as many of  you are waiting on one or considering one  my hunting buddy  and I gave the nox 800s a run in two tough homesites that were heavy iron. I mean carpet of iron with iron audio on ( horse shoe button) sounded like a machine gun  When we get our video clips together I will post a video of the hunt. We pulled lots of coins and some modern relics from thick iron. I ran field 1 and 2 5 tone iron audio on as well. The find that truly impressed me was the small cuff size flat button it was a soild tone a 10 vdi both ways it was 9- 10" inches with nails and iron in and around the hole. I stuck the pinpointer in the hole to measure it the black cap was just below soil line. Now it's important to note the scale as most of you know is from -9 to 0 iron and 0 to 40 non ferrous. This button IDs 10 or 11 out of the ground Here in our soil finding relics and coins over 6 to 8" is not common unless it's milder soil or large targets with vlfs or even FBS . We have moderate mineralized soil and often hunt heavy iron homesites both combined present challanges to the ctx and the at pro even with iron audio on.  My hope was the nox would perform well in our soil. If so it would work better in Culpeper, VA (where I go a few times a year for civil war relics) then the ctx or at pro where soil can be nasty as many of you know.  However, my go-to machine there is the gpx 4800 but in heavy iron or trashy fields the gpx just doesn't work well being PI.   I am very impressed with nox so far and I know we have barely scratched the surface of how to unlock it's full potential.  In our soil here the nox performed in the type of site the ctx would struggle in. What I found different about the nox was its power, recovery, separation  and accurate id in tough conditions. That's a big deal in mineralized soil folks must non pluse I'd anything  over a few inches as iron. Now the only thing I changed was tones to 5 instead of 50 in field 2, sensitivity and recovery in fact everything else was stock.   I already feel this machine is different and has excellent relic potential especially in mineralized ground.  For me when I don't need a gpx or in areas it can't do what I need the nox will be my first out. 

Great read steve and so far I love my 800 tomorrow will be the first true hunt this week has been just testing and learning.