maxxkatt

I am curious. are you detecting different areas of that park and it keeps producing, or hunting the same areas. If you are hunting the same areas are you wandering or gridding and are you using the same settings. What I am getting at if you are hunting the same area what do you think is the reason you missed these items the first time? I am not criticizing, but just trying to understand what is making that area still produce if it is the same area you hunted before?

Just use park1 or park2 and switch to 4 kHz. Even if it is noisy use a higher sensitivity than normal, as much as you can stand. Then listen for your coin audio. If you are comfortable using bins and tones, make sure your high tone will be silver coins, which it will be in a park1 or park2 probably so likely no need to adjust bins and tones. I have done just what I described in a very popular park with tons of modern trash. Turn on your threshold and listen. If it going off like a automatic weapon, that is what I call tons of modern trash. Doing this I started finding coins rather easily. No silver coins, because this park is along the Chattahoochee river and every ten years or so it floods and I rather think the old coins are too deep for most detectors.

The tip off was some day hunting and not finding much. If you really don't understand all of the settings use the standard settings and just noise cancel and ground balance. From the early days of having the 800 I messed with some of the advanced settings and not knowing really what they were all about. I would put a standard setting that you think is best in your user setting. Then play around. One thing that gets adjusted a lot on the Nox is the sensitivity in an effort to get rid of all the seemingly good good signals from lots of small fragments of metallic trash especially modern metallic fragments. So you drop the sensitivity to quiet the machine and you really lose depth. mess with the recovery rate and the iron balance and you can also detune the detector if you don't really know how to use those two settings and correctly apply them to your local site. Big hint. run your threshold and listen to the number of targets under your coil. Out in a field with few targets you can lower your recovery rate and get a little more depth. But the reverse is true, in a trashy park your threshold might be going off like a machine gun. you need to use a high recovery rate and if you do that and drop back the sensitivity to quiet the 800 you then are back down to if you are lucky a 4-5" recovery depth. So you will only conclude there is no deep silver in that park where you are hunting. So you are hunting now with a dectector "tuned" or set up to not be able to find deep silver. A better alternative for deep coins especially silver is to use a small 6" coil and use the standard park 1 or 2 mode and swing slowly with the most sensitivity you can stand. And hunt in the 4kHz mode. That will eliminate the pull tabs, pop tops and some can slaw. No joke, it really will. Test it out. I found out the hard way the most successful Nox hunters are doing: 1) not hunting in modern trashy areas. or: 2) really know how to set up their Nox or both of these. The nox is a really hot machine, great for gold hunting in the desert, small ear studs on the beach and volleyball courts, but that fine hot sensitivity to small metallic fragments should be able to be switched off. As far as I know, the only way to switch it off is to really turn down the overall sensitivity and detune hunting in for items where you don't wish to hear all those small pieces of modern trash. That is a feature of multi-frequency, so maybe hunt in 15 or 20 khz so as to disable the "hotness" of the Nox. Probably 4, 10, 15 if you are hunting for silver coins. Just a suggestion. I don't own my 800 any more. I know this is a bit of rambling, so I hope you could get something out of it that is useful. So your own test on 4khz. put a silver dime next to a square tab on some clean ground. swing in 4 kHz and then in multi and see how the TID and audio reports on the square tab and the silver dime. In a very trashy modern park, this will eliminate 80% of your problem targets. I saw a member's video on this and could not believe it and tried it and now believe it.

I think the CTX3030 was named after the famous Winchester lever action rifle using 30.30 bullets that won the west. Just a guess on my part. Have no inside knowledge.

I will tell you this. The combinatons and permutations are quite gigantic on the 800 resulting from the many ways you can set an 800. Stay as absolute close to standard modes. Why, because the engineers have done an excellent job of setting those defaults. And if you get one or two settings wrong, you in effect detune your 800 and make it much less efficient. I had to learn that lesson the hard, hard way. Wasted a lot of my hunting time with a detuned detector.

When hunting coins in a real trashy area switch to 4kHz. It totally hides pop tops and pull tabs and keeps them from masking a silver coin and keeps from down averaging the coin value. A guy did a video of that fact and it was hard for me to believe. So I tested it out and he was 100% correct. Then I went to my trashy park and I mean trashy, trashy with pop tops and pull tabs and same great results. Was quite easy to put out coins in areas I would not hunt before with my 800.

Looking at that picture I figure Gary is a genius. That is what I need. A younger person doing all the digging for me. Gary is smarter than I thought he was. Never really thought he was dumb. You don't get to be on a popular show like that being dumb.

I have been in and out of this hobby for many years. Jumped back in 6 years ago with AT Pro, fine machine. Got caught up in the Equinox hype and just had to have an 800 so bought one after selling my AT Pro. Recently sold my 800 and bought CTX3030. (for some loss of hearing, not any reasons the 800 was not a good detector). I hunt parks and civil war relics in urban Atlanta. For me the hobby gets me out of the house and the dreaded unlimited honey do list. My wife still works and I am semi-retired. Run a small online business. The part of being retired she feel quite content with filling up with her honey do list. Or as she starts out every sentence is "honey, I need you to do this...". My detecting is physical exercise since some hunts I hike in a mile or two and back out. The thrill of not knowing what is under your coil and digging is fun. But with my CTX3030 on coins it pretty much spoils the suspense since it is so accurate at ID's coins vs trash. Civil War relic hunting is a different story and even the CTX will keep you in suspense often. There is a technical and historical intellectual challenge to this hobby that helps keep the mind sharp. Learning a new modern metal detector, especially one from a different vendor is like learning a Mac when you have 30 years experience on the PC or vice versa. Learning to use new research tools is also fun and often results in some better places to hunt. I have thought about giving up metal detecting, especially in the 1st year with my Nox 800. But what else would I do? I really cannot think of another hobby that offers both physical benefits and intellectual challenges. Only thing close is panning for gold. But now in North Georgia where the gold is, it is all pretty much private property so you have to join a gold club and pay monthly dues. I guess I was spoiled for two years I had exclusive use of a 40 acre original lottery land lot with two gold mines and a gold bearing stream running through the property. I didn't back then realize how good I had it. But my boys and I had a great two years panning on the weekends. bike riding? no, bowling? no, walking or running? no, stamp collecting? no, coin collecting? no, art painting? no tried that, writing books? no best seller was produced but it was enjoyable and gave me a sense of accomplishment. reading? no and the list goes on. It is metal detecting for me as long as I can physically get out there and walk and swing. It is very hard to describe to others outside this great hobby. I also think it takes a special type of person. I think we detectorists are just plain curious and like to find things. Based on my years on the forum, we come from all walks of life. Some times we go a year or more between a really good find. But between those great finds we are having fun and that is what this hobby is all about having fun. Communicating on forums with like minded people is also fun, because in every day life, I rarely, if ever run into a detectorists other than some rare sightings while out detecting. Those are rare, maybe 4-5 in the past six years detecting in urban Atlanta. My dream location would be somewhere on the east coast of FL say lower half of the Treasure Coast down to South Beach. I know two detectorists who do live in that area and really clean up on the rings with nice chunks of ice on them. These two guys are not active on forums or do not make videos of their finds. But they make more than a decent living with their finds. The know where to hunt, know how to read beaches, they have the right detectors and years of beach hunting experiences. Each shared what the do with me because I was writing a small book on Metal Detecting the Treasure Coast. But they both ask me not to reveal their identity. But moving to FL is not in the cards. My wife has too many relatives near us and she would never consider leaving where we live. So like a lot of detectorists, we just have to make do with detecting sites that are within our comfort driving range. For me my limit is about 1 - 1.5 hours drive to a site. Fortunately I have quite a few sites within the 40 minute range.

I put more money in my 800, Carbon fiber rods, coiltek 10 x 5" coil, 6 inch coil. Of course this raised my investment and brought me closer to the CTX3030 and other detectors. I was very lucking in finding a CTX3030 four years old, new in box with full 3 year warranty. CTX3030, headphones, WM10, rechargeable battery and charger and akline battery holder, data cable. It was the latest with upgraded seals. All for $1,400 which was just at my budget level with enough left over to buy Minelabs Pro-Swing 45 harness, which is necessary for me. Only 3 weeks and about 20 hours on the CTX3030 but so far it is quite a coin hunter for me with that great display for FE-CO values. Xchange2 program makes programming it a piece of cake. It is a very well written program and my background is software development. Lots of good info on the CTX3030 in great detail on metal detecting forums and video because it was introduced in 2012. Never thought I would buy an older detector, but with my high frequency hearing loss the 800 was not doing it for me. With the greatly enhanced visual display of the CTX3030 it helps me overcome my hearing handicap. Don't read this post as a criticism of the 800, it just was not a good fit for me.

I have to amend my perfectly happy post. I finally figured out the problem I was having with the 800 but didn't know it. I have a high frequency hearing loss. One ear slight, other ear pretty pronounced. With the 800's very narrow TID spread of 40 you have to really rely on your ears to ID targets. Most people on the 800 recommend using 50 tones. Well it just was not happening for me. Sold the 800 and bought a CTX3030. Now even after two weeks of use, my junk to coins ration has reversed. Now finding maybe 90% good targets and 10% junk. Quite a turn around for me. The CTX has an excellent visual display and a huge ID space of TID numbers compared to the 800. An accurate depth gauges in inches and not little bars. The target trace feature gives you are a real picture of what is under your coil in color. So I do better with visual information so the CTX is better for me. I prefer the WM10 speaker clipped to my swing harness near my good ear than headphones. Speaking of the swing harness, the Minelab Pro-Swing 45 is very well designed and totally erases any weight issues when swinging. The bungie cord adjustment is very well designed and requires a simple one handed adjustment to your coil height off the ground. Yes I went back a few years on detector selection, but I think I finally have the right detector for me. Another reason the 800 was a problem for me, I hunt in urban Atlanta in super trashy locations and modern trash not iron. You know pull tabs, pop tops, can slaw, screw caps. This modern trash was almost making me a dig all targets type of hunter. I found that to avoid all the very small bits of metal, I had to turn down the 800's sensitivity and there went some depth along with the adjustment. I was also afraid to use the 800 in the water since it leaked once under warranty and fixed under warranty. But they don't extend your warranties on repairs. So I had an 800 out of warranty and afraid to get it in water. I now have two detectors. Vanquish 440 for tot lots and volley ball courts and CTX for all other hunting.

There is a lot of truth to what Mike said. I had been using an AT Pro for 3 years and then bought Nox 800 in Mar 2018. I really did not have a clue about what I didn't know about metal detecting in general and specifically the new technology used in the 800. A lot of stumbling and fumbling around during the learning process. Now 3 years of Nox 800 use I bought a New CTX3030 and it was/ is easier for me to learn how to use properly. I must add in your situation and my situation with the Equinox, it could and can be a frustrating detector until you master it. I figure it took me the better part of 2 years to finally get somewhat comfortable with it. I do prefer the CTX3030 for many reasons. But the main reasons are the better ability to identify targets and a pretty accurate depth gauge. Also the ability to tell when you are moving on to changes in ground mineralizations which is shown in the sensitivity panel display by the green numbers. Too early to make and absolute judgements (only have been using it for 2 weeks) but the CTX is looking good to me. The heavy issue is totally solved with the Minelab Pro-Swing 45 harness. The $30 harnesses did not work for me on the CTX. Pulled at my shoulder too much. The Pro-swing transfers the load to your lower back. Hope this helps some.

But you know in the government think somehow making zinc pennies makes sense to them. But to us clear thinkers, we are baffled.

just a little overlap on Clive's 3 books but packed with very useful info. Andy's books not so much.

I have read all three of Clive's books and one of Andy's. Hands down, Clive's 3 are the winner. Sorry Andy, but too much filler fluff in your book for my tastes. Yes it is way more polished in publishing terms, but I go the good info not the pretty stuff.

Great find. Don't forget that location in 7-8 months! I bet you won't.

check this nugget find:

I have found with my Nox 800 by discrim out all below 23-24, recovery speed up around 6-7 and sensitivity down around 18 I can still pull old coins out of a heavily used county park that is full of modern trash. If you use the threshold audio it sounds like a machine gun. But with these settings the 800 is still able to pull out old corroded coins that have been missed over the years. I have hunted this park for about 3 years with my AT Pro and at least a year with my 800 (before I really knew how to set it up for a really trashy park) and rarely found any older coins during that time period. It is nice to discrim out a lot of the modern junk below 23. Still get some screw caps, but they are not anywhere as numerous as the pull tabs and pop tops. As others have said the 800 if set up properly can find previously masked targets which in a sense almost coverts the old park back into a virgin. Remember I said "almost".

I hated the minelab wireless headphones that came with my 800. Too bassy for me. every thing sounded muddy. After a lot of research found these: TROND Bluetooth V4.2 Headphones Wireless Review | Mic Over Ear, Lightweight, 30H Playtime and I love them.

They forgot their detectors <---- click on link not image.

That last picture with the pipe in it looks like it was previously laid in the dirt. If so, then they missed that hoard of coins by a foot or so. But no matter, the government would have taken it away from the finder anyhow.

I went from an AT Pro to the 800. First 3 months I was about ready to sell the machine. I could find much more with the AT Pro. Why? Because I did not know the 800, did not have enough sense to put in 50 - 100 hours in the standard modes and kept screwing with the advance settings and recovery speeds not really knowing what I was doing. What I was doing was detuning a fine detector to the point it was about as effective as a cheap child's radio shack detector. After much studying and l learning from people who really knew detecting in general and specifically the 800, I finally got it. Now me and my 800 find things the AT Pro could and cannot find. There was nothing wrong with the 800, just me the operator. The 800 is nothing like a single frequency detector and you cannot treat it like one.

It has to be an engagement ring with a fat diamond for her to try that hard. No one would work that hard for a cell phone.

This is for the person who has no experience in metal detecting on what to buy and how to get started. Today's modern metal detectors are more like computers (or more exactly modern signal processors). They are very powerful and often complex. Buying one the best detectors out there, the Minelab Equinox 800 is a real mistake if you have never metal detected. Quite honestly it is too complex for you to learn in addition to learning how to metal detect. Instead buy the Minelab Vanquish 540 for $379 for a packaged deal. Why? It is simple to learn and it uses the same Target Id numerical range and tones as the Equinox 800. Use the 540 to learn the theory of metal detecting. The physics behind metal detecting is the same for all detectors for the most part. Use your 540 for the first year. Once you are proficient (eg finding some good targets on a regular basis) then and only then consider the Equinox 800. But be prepared for a steeper learning curve. But it will be made easier by your year's experience with the Vanquish 540.

totally agree with F350Platinum and Ridge Runner. After reading theses four books, I tried to put into use in the field and most clicked for me. But sometimes I had to re-read certain parts I was still unclear about. The absolute best source is the forums. This forum is tops, and I have a friend on another forum who is great at answering any question I have about metal detecting regardless of how technical it may be.

You have basically four books on the Equinox metal detector to choose from. 1) The Minelab Equinox 600 800 Metal Detector Hand book by Andy Sabisch $23.95 - 176 pages 2) Minelab The Equinox Series from Beginner to Advanced by Clive Clynik $19.95 - 111 pages 3) The Minelab Equinox: “an Advanced Guide by Clive Clynik $22.95 - 101 pages 4) Skill Building with The Minelab Equinox by Clive Clynik $21.95 - 119 pages There may be more, but these are the ones I actually purchased. I have no relationship with either author other than some email questions. I also run two very technical book review web sites on college level books and above. Andy’s book is well edited, with slick photographs and a large easy to read format with some general information on the Equinox detector. However, in my opinion it is padded with photos and testimonials that really don’t add much to the Equinox knowledge. Clive’s books are more expensive if you buy all three of them. Smaller format and yes, there are some spelling mistakes Clive did not catch. But, for the amount of pure Equinox knowledge (especially for the 800), these books are packed from cover to cover with very useful Equinox information. I find myself highlighting quite a bit in each of Clive’s books. I have many years of metal detecting experience with various metal detectors under my belt. Nothing prepared me for the 800. My previous detector was the very good Garrett AT Pro. Prior to the Equinox, I feel the AT Pro was the best mid-range metal detector available. That all changed in the Spring of 2018 when detectorists started buying the 800. Most people at that time could not or refused to believe the 800 was as good as Minelab and a few others were saying. Big caveat here, this was not your father’s detector. It is a very powerful and complex mid-ranged metal detector. Until you tame it, you will be frustrated unless you learn to just use it as the Minelab engineers designed it and that is to use the standard modes until you have at least 50 hours on the 800 or 600. And that brings me to Clive’s three books. They will show you how to get the most out of your equinox. If you are content with hunting in the standard modes maybe buying just Clive’s first book. Bottom line, I kept all three of Clive’s books and sold Andy’s book. But the safe choice would be to purchase all four books.