schoolofhardNox

In a hammered park I think those finds were amazing. That coil just paid for itself. I have got to get me a small and large coil soon.

5 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

When you think you know everything you find out you really don’t know anything.

 Some great finds you got there .

 Chuck 

Ain't That the truth. It's a never ending process. But that is half the fun of it isn't it?

4 hours ago, Alluminati said:

The Equinox really likes that style of earring for some reason. Nice.

Hollow, incomplete circle gold or silver. It hits it pretty well. Just think every beach or park has those targets, as well as gold chains still hidden there from 100+ years of losing those items. That is what keeps me going back to the areas I hunt.

3 hours ago, Buzzard said:

From digging All...I got a nice collection of foil , pull tabs , and bottle caps , plus other goodies...

Unfortunately that is the drawback of it, especially if you are hunting parks. But eventually you can clear the more modern trash out of an area and concentrate on the deeper targets.

IF it does cause damage I will be the first to know.  I ran my GPX very close to a major train line in my area. Trains energize the tracks a while before and after they use them. You only get small intervals of nice quiet time between them. So I found a setting (207) that chatters so quickly that I can actually hear some targets above the chatter. That is the only way I can use it at this site. If that doesn't ruin my GPX (or my ears) nothing will. The results of yesterday's 8 hour hunt were 8 silvers and one gold earring and a lot of clad and wheat cents. I probably still have EMI radiating from my body

For me, the only issue I have is charging another thing when I get home. I'm lazy what can I say  My way of thinking is that a wireless coil does not entice me to buying a particular machine, but if it comes with one, I am fine with that and will enjoy it. Kind of like buying a car... Don't need really need AC or power windows or nice chrome rims, BUT I will gladly accept them if they are there  The patent comment may be correct or not. If there is a patent, and if another company wanted to, they would invest in finding a way around it. What I feel it comes down to is that it is way cheaper to make the simple coils we are used to.  Profit margins must be very high considering what is in the standard coil we have been buying all these years.  I do agree that I have not heard of many issues with Deus and unreliability. Honestly if I were to not have a Minelab, Deus would be my next pick, because they do invest in modernizing their machines and updates (including wireless coil technology). It's just a matter of taste and is not right or wrong.

Most of the best detectorists I know do not post on forums. Their reasoning was not so much that someone would follow them, but that even telling them what type of hunting you are doing invites 100's of on-line lurkers to try what you are doing. Here on the east coast, beaches and colonial cellar hole hunting has been over run with people that would never hunt there, especially in the winter. Now I see detectorists out on a beach in 30 degree Fahrenheit weather. I can see their point - keep quiet if you want to enjoy finding quantity and quality targets. One husband and wife team I met with a friend in the woods, has over 60 GW (George Washington inaugural buttons)  He even scoffs at Spanish silver or King George coppers. I will gladly take them if offered lol.

I'm still kind of in disbelief that this is their current lineup's answer to Minelab, Deus, etc...  Wasn't it Fisher that was going to have a breakthrough detector coming soon? Or was it someone else? I think the list prices are making me shake my head too. Not sure what their strategy is. Maybe they know what their market can return for them. Time will tell I guess.

I am always on a hunt for a new and better machine. After seeing that lineup, I can cross Fisher off of the list. I agree with LowTide on having a more easily understandable line up. If I didn't know better, I would think this product line was right from the 1990's. I'm not up on Fisher detectors, (I always felt they could not handle EMI at all), but for those of you who do follow Fisher, a question for you: Is there anything there that is new? Seems like they are pushing the  same stuff, just slightly redesigned.  I was hoping for a pulse discrimination in that line up, that gets unreal depth and no interference ……….

4 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I wonder what the true failure rates were on the CTX? There would be manufacturer defect stuff like a bad o-ring. And there would also be operator error stuff. I am sure most CTX units that got used in the water never never leaked but beyond that it is hard to get a handle on. There are lots of examples on the forums that leaks do happen, no question about that. I am sorry yours was one of them.

Thanks Steve. Once the blade loses it's (Nickel?) plating and exposes the copper, it was game over. After I cleaned all that gunk off of the blade, it started to crumble and then broke off while getting ready for another hunt. I remember the forums light up about it, and a fair number of people had that issue. It's a wonderful. powerful beach machine, especially with the 17" coil and using long tones. I would still be using it if it were not for that. I have not tried it since it was completely repaired (looks pretty new) and will be selling it soon. I kind of miss the sound of it.

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

You mean one of these metal blades has corroded completely off?

Battery seat Minelab CTX 3030 and GPZ 7000

Presumably somebody way better than I could solder a new metal blade in place but beyond my skill.

From http://parts.minelab.com/category-s/118.htm

Bulkhead, Assy Control Box CTX 3030 with Flex Cct Part# 0705-0062

Yep, The blade wasted away. It's leaked 3 times and I finally replaced the gaskets with more durable ones that I saw on You Tube. A guy that was diving pretty deep with his machine, gave a parts list of his upgrades. It worked, so I decided my original battery was getting old so I bought a new one not realizing it was a redesign to help with the original gasket issue. it leaked while I was digging where the waves break on the shore. Here's some pic of it. The sand on the gasket is from when I was at home in my basement. I have always removed and cleaned gasket before every hunt.

Look at that thing  It's like a dream and not real. I don't know what I would do if I found that coin.  He will be smiling everyday for the next year (and also digging #14 signals forever!) Great find.

21 hours ago, Geotech said:

I also don't pay any attention to social media, but you & I are in the minority. That's where the younguns hang out.

I stopped posting on most Facebook forums and don't do Twitter or other social media sites. But from a business stand point, social media is part of how the world works these days. It is here to stay (unfortunately) and any manufacturer that ignores it is only hurting themselves in the long run. I think it is a bad move for White's.

38 minutes ago, cjc said:

My old model CTX leaked in salt and the plate that goes into the cell (housing side) has been eaten off. Anyone have this problem and find a way to restore ;contact?   I'm looking at a bit of copper wire in the slot to contact where the plate sat...brutal makes me sick how bad this gasket seating is on this model.  Ive tried everything to keep it dry. 

cjc

I just had my CTX repaired for that reason. I believe it was repaired at a dealer in PA (USA). Mine ate the terminals and my brand new battery connections. I found that the battery is shaped a bit funny (Has a ridge on it) and if you do not make sure visually that it is seated properly, it can hang up a bit and not be seated correctly. Feels like it's on good, by visually you can see that it wasn't tight against the machine. It was easier to have it repaired. I'm not sure if there is a good fix for it. Mine happened when I bought a new battery (new style?). I had put on better "O" rings and it worked well, until I bought that new battery. Leaked first time out. I hope someone has a fix for you to try, but I would consider getting a quote to just repair it.

I'm a no vote too.  There are more important areas of improvement that I would be interested in, like real EMI reduction.  If you could shield most of the machine's electronics and maybe the top of the coil (somehow) to greatly reduce susceptibility  to EMI, I would definitely pay more for that.  All I can picture with a wireless coil is getting to my digging site and turning on the machine only to see the coil go silent due to a dead battery. I'm getting more impatient in my older years

Wonder why? Kind of unusual to do that without some kind of major disagreement between the two.

I've thought about what's happening in the metal detecting market often lately. In my thoughts, the Equinox was a hard blow to the other manufacturers, but not the first shot at them. Minelab started this process long before the Equinox was unveiled. For me it started with the Explorer II (which I did not like) so I traded it back for a DFX, as I was a White's guy since 1972. But their long over due release of the V3i made me try Minelab again with the E Trac… followed by the CTX, GPX and now the Equinox. While Minelab was gearing up and innovating, other brands were still selling repackaged old technology. They were unable or unwilling to change. Fast forward  to now and they find themselves extremely far behind in technology. They may never recover. I fault them for that.  I too will never look at any single frequency machine again unless it ID's GOLD (100% of the time) That I would buy  Seriously, the bottom market can not support all the other manufacturers. So they must compete with the Equinox or come out with some new, unbelievable technology. The question in my mind is not whether they will survive, but rather do they deserve to survive?

10 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Beside the incredible jewelry finds you post, your consistent recovery of older nickel, wheatie, and silver coins from your beaches impresses me most.

Thanks. Here on the New England beaches we are lucky that a number of them were formed in the early 1900's. Detecting technology, along with stronger storm surges, have now enabled deeper coins to be within reach of our machines. Now it's up to the operator to tease them out. Technology definitely helps

11 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

I do think from reading your posts Mr. Nox, that they show the operator is a large part of any successes that arise. Nice shooting.

Thank You. I try to get the most from my detecting these days. I love this hobby!!!  You never know how long life will allow you to detect. Besides, it releases the little kid in me

2 hours ago, RayfromAK said:

The silver color on that ring may be because it's what some call "white gold."  This type of gold loses its silvery color with time, so one can take it to a jeweler (better explained toward the end of this article):

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-white-gold-chemical-composition-608015

2 hours ago, RayfromAK said:

 

Yep, I think it's either Rhodium or Platinum like the article you linked to stated. Thanks for posting it. I heard of Rhodium plating before,  but I never knew of platinum being used.

17 hours ago, Sinclair said:

Congrats!

I should really dig some more low numbers...

I dig them all. It's too hard to determine if they are deep targets or just small pieces of can slaw. But I have found the best low numbers are 1-2, 6, & 9. The others in-between can  be odd shaped pieces, studs, etc... and junk too of course. Generally a solid, longer sounding, repeatable tone, has produced most of my good finds. But I'm still learning and I'm having a hard time trying other settings because the ones I have, work well so far. Who knows how many inches I have lost by not being flexible with trying new settings

Would love to see all single frequencies available on all preset programs. (example -  40Khz on Beach 1 and 2).  More Noise cancel options would be great too. But in reality this machine has more than impressed me on it's capabilities on the beach. Now if any manufacturer could make a great pinpointer that does not false in wet sand and does not have a small speaker grill that clogs up instantly and is located where one puts their hand and is built to last, and can find very tiny targets (like the Equinox loves to find) and of course is waterproof...…. I would buy it instantly

23 minutes ago, Alluminati said:

That is a really nice ring.

Thanks. I feel bad for the person who had to mount all 52 stones in that ring  Wonder if the #52 was intended to be one stone for every week in the year?

Just the Equinox 800 for me. Already had the GPX 5000. The Equinox did not disappoint me. I'm looking forward to any new technology that can give me more depth on a beach. The Equinox has been hitting the nickels pretty deep lately.