schoolofhardNox

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

Usually after a while of owning the next great thing in metal detectors, you kind of settle into the reality of what you purchased and how much of the hype is real or not. The Equinox is no exception. I am speaking strictly about beach hunting here, as I have not played a lot with it in real dirt.  Today I hit my favorite gold beach. The tide was awful having a (coefficient of 35), meaning there is not much difference between low and high tide. This beach has terrible EMI from trains that run regularly and are close to you. Chatter city for about 5 minutes when they pass. I do realize that a small beach has to stop producing after a while, especially since there are a LOT of beach hunters in my area. So today the clad count was around 1 dollar. (8AM to 4 PM) I still can not believe a machine can continue to produce good finds under these conditions, but the Equinox does. Today was a stellar hunt after a slow start. 4 Mercury dimes, a buffalo nickel, some wheats and copper pennies and the 2 gold rings pictured. This  10K and Aquamarine  beauty surfaced about 2 hours into the hunt. The last target of the day was what I believe is a 14K gold square cut diamond ring that may have been colored either with Silver or most likely Rhodium. It's marked and has the TWC (total carat weight) inscribed in it. It's worn but I think it says .48. Also has very worn numbers in it which may be a registration number in it. I was floored that the Equinox continues to give up the finds on pounded beaches. Hats off to Minelab. That Diamond ring was sitting at 10 inches on packed rock bottom. Rang in a choppy number 6. Out of the hole it was a solid 6 also.

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?

Had a day to hit my favorite gold beach, so I took advantage of the day. What looked like some sand had been removed in reality didn't pan out. Still fairly sanded in, and after digging some pull tabs at 10-12 inches, I figured it was going to be a strictly exercise kind of day. Not many coins on this small beach so I was just going to enjoy the day. Got another deep signal that I thought was going to be a crusty zinc penny and after digging 12" I final got it out. Now to use the pin pointer to get my crusty junk money, but instead what appears is a fairly good size man's gold ring. To say I was shocked is an under statement . Made my day and the Equinox was hitting nickels hard, most at 10". Two war nickels, 1935 Buffalo and some earlier Jefferson's ('39, 47 etc.) I mostly use Beach 1, manual ground balance (there is some black sand mixed in) and as high a sensitivity as I can handle.  The only drawback is I can not get myself to stop digging them small targets. I always think I may miss small gold studs, or thin earrings. When you keep digging the extremely small disc that holds the two pieces of a pull tab together, you think you would learn a lesson, but not me.  Even on a fairly sanded in beach the Equinox always seems to give me something good.

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.

Congrats on the rare 1885 V. Not many found and yours is still identifiable. Great find. I think the one on the left is an 1890. I think I can see a zero as the last digit and the 9 barely before it. Could also be an 1886 which is a nice date too.

I had a similar incident on the beach. I was hunting when a group of people entered and spread out around me. I don't know what brands they were using, but I kept an eye on them. They barely ever dug a signal. I noticed they were watching me too. I was digging a target almost every swing. Deep coins, mostly quarters. One of them came by my area after I left and detected for a bit. I went back to his area after he left to see if there were any targets there. There were. All probably just a bit deeper than they could hear. Technology always wins once you learn it. Some people are better off not using the latest machines. They are more comfortable with their old machine. I started in 1971 with a RadioShack., the Bounty Hunter, then White's for many years and finally Minelab. No one has come up with anything that will make me switch again.

58 minutes ago, Norm S said:

I know in my area the tides go out farther for the next few months then in the summer. I hunt the heck out of them but I have never found much. I see guys go out in the water in the summer and do well  but it seems if I hunt the same area at low tide I get not much more than exercise. LOL

Yep, it's hard to get targets at low tide sometimes, but I think that they are there. It all depends on how the sand is distributed. Recently the beaches are very sanded in, no matter what the tide is. I use the charts all the time, but this season it has only been sporadic little pockets that develop and then disappear again. When the sands shift it is amazing how many coins are within reach.

53 minutes ago, Alluminati said:

You mean reales sweet.

Maybe  Reales is plural. The singular term is the one I always question. I usually spell it Reale, but I see it everywhere as Real mostly. I think I've seen it written both ways in one article  I have to go to Mel Fishers site. What ever he says goes in my book.

Update; Now I'm really confused. Mel Fisher's site has some replicas listed as 1 Reale, 2 Reale (no s). Maybe because it's not more than one coin???

Great finds. I may get that 6" inch coil soon. That real is sweet!

14 hours ago, dewcon4414 said:

Beach 1 is a better choice for small gold on the WET sand than beach 2.   Interesting you can even hunt with gold mode on the wet sand because if my dry sand is damp most of the modes like to chatter really bad.    Its going to be a matter of picking out those small targets that with any depth on the wet sand sounds a whole lot like weak minerals.   I assume you are use the threshold and tracking....... some IB and maybe a high recovery speed...... like 6?   Might try that 6" coil and work smaller areas.  From what was shown on one of the other threads the 6" seems to be a pretty deep coil especially on small gold.  

I primarily hunt in beach 1. All those finds were found using that mode. I was trying to figure out how to use gold 2, but it falsed and chattered like you described. But if there is a way to get it to work, it hits a lot harder than beach 1 on those small gold targets. At home I keep some sand from different beaches and the gold 2 mode made targets much easier to hear (and deeper) than beach 1. But when I got to the beach, it was a completely different story.....unusable. Now that is a future update I would definitely be interested in

What a hunt! Some great pieces there. Check the axe carefully for some round circular makers marks. Very early ones look pretty much the same as more modern ones. I'd call that a very successful hunt! 

What an interesting thread. Great work and attention to detail. If you ever get to the point of selling them, let me know. But for now I have inadvertently solved the problem of a wobbly shaft and the adjustment problem as well. You see if you do not clean your stock shaft after each beach use, it seizes up and you will never get it to come apart....ask me I know …...

I don't know if you tried just the 40K frequency, but that is my go to when I am near interference. I'm not sure if that would work on multiple Equinox users.

I would like a detector that actually analyzes the metal. In other words it actually knows it's gold because it has analyzed it's composition. (like and XRF unit) does. Then add pulse depth, waterproof and the ability to discriminate out metals I don't want to respond. Simple right?  

20 hours ago, Alluminati said:

Nice finds.

I assume you are in salt? If so I can't help ya.

In fresh I run threshold of 5 or 6 and sens of 22.  No noise cancel or GB. Machine will make audio if I pump the coil but rarely enough to trigger a TID response.

 

Yep it's salt. I detect mostly on the wet part of the beach, that also has fine layers of black sand mixed in. I'll figure something out or I'll just stick with the 2 beach modes. Thanks for the reply.

It's been a very busy summer/fall, so I was dying to get out to the beaches to see if the Equinox would still be kind to me. These pictures are from 5 of the 6 beach hunts.  It's early in the season and the beaches are not shedding sand yet, so the finds are slimmer than last season. I did include a picture of one clad hunt that yielded over $17.00 in change in a 5 hour period. Most other clad amounts were much lower. Total clad after 6 hunts is $31.54 (average of $5.25 per hunt). It's going to be a long season and I hope to get out more often than once a week, but time will tell. So far I'm thrilled with 4 pieces of gold and the decent amount of silver I've found. I have been experimenting with Gold 2 mode, but so far with only a one tone option, all signals (including falsing from wet and mineralized sand) make a audible response. Can't figure out how to stop that. Wish it had 2 tones. I even ran a tight disc pattern, but the falsing was still reading in the low gold range. Anyone having success with the Gold 2 on wet sand??

I'm thinking it is a child's cuff button. I've seen some child's shoe buckles and they were tiny too lol

The Nox did well for a short hunt. Hope you get better faster than they think. But the down time can be used to find new sites on the computer.

I always regret selling a machine. Just hate to let go of those great memories. Sometimes I buy them back and then realize those days are gone. Sadly, those old machines can't compete with new technology. I remember them as being better than they were. The only machine I will really have a hard time selling is the GPX 5000. The combination of the Equinox 800 for small gold and coins and the GPX for deep silver can't be beat on beaches in my area. But one day that too shall pass.

No offence meant by this, but some people might look over a forum just to see what is going on, but do not have a lot of time to post. I am one of then.  I recently have been doing battlefield archaeology metal detecting, roughly 3 days a week. I just browse and figure I can catch up on replies later.  It's only been 10 hours, so give it some time. I can't speak for anyone else, but my detecting time is also limited due to my regular work, so I have not even tried many of the programs. Quite honestly, I have stopped sharing my programs recently. A lot of people on other forums I browse, are almost rude in demanding people's settings. They do not want to buy the books, learn the machine, practice different settings, etc.. They just want someone else to do it for them. I've had people friend me on Facebook, and once I shared some beach settings, I never hear from them again . There are some good videos on YouTube that may help you. There are also a lot of boring or bad Equinox videos too.  I've tried some of the settings people shared on YouTube and they were not very effective in my area. So someone's settings may not help everyone. But hopefully someone who is willing to share their settings will do so for you.

14 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

Schoolofhardnox

It’s been a beautiful dream that I hope I never wake up from. I just got a few years on you detecting. I was 24 going on 25 when I started. I was prospecting some years before that.

If I make it to Heaven I know I’ll get kicked out for digging up the streets.

Chuck

If you get kicked out of heaven, you are welcomed to join me where it is a bit warmer and metal detecting is allowed ? When I am done detecting, then I will be officially old. Life would be boring without at least the occasional hunt.

In the spring of 1971 I was celebrating my first full year of metal detecting at the ripe old age of 9  Thank God for my older cousin (technically my second cousin) who was 10 years older than me. Started me detecting in the spring of 1970. How time flies  Thanks for posting them.