steveg

Jeff,

I see you are in PA.  I grew up in western PA and go back often, detecting as much as I can while I'm there.  I hope you are on the OTHER side of the state; if you've been swinging every model of FBS since they came out, and now the Deus, and soon, the Equinox, it wouldn't seem that there would be a whole lot left in the ground for me to clean up behind you, in most spots!  LOL!

Welcome to the forum.

Steve

That's pretty doggone good!!

Steve

DestinEngineer --

I will let you know, for sure.  We may be coming back again this fall.  I think the Equinox will be a welcome addition for you, given that it can do so many things, including hunt the wet salt!  And it's great that you are getting your kids involved!  The kids on the beach, when I was there this fall, were fascinated, and so I can imagine your kids being really excited!

As for the packs -- it's very kind of you, but I'd be more than glad to include a little bit in there for your time and effort.  It would be a great "accessory."

Steve

DestinEngineer -- 

I sure wish we knew what an "appropriate" capacity (mAh) should be...it's one of those things where you'd want the pack to have all the capacity needed, AND YET, not be too big/heavy and take away from the advantage the machine provides of being "lightweight."

Steve implies that a little weight under the cuff there might actually help a bit with "balance," especially with the larger coil, so there's that...

Whatever the case, this is a great idea.

By the way, I have to assume you are a "beach hunter," in the Destin area?  I just had my first beach detecting experience -- and it was in Destin, this past October.  Seemed like LOTS of sand on the beach (we got there the day after Hurricane Nate made landfall).  It was fun, though!

DestinEngineer --

I'd certainly be interested...

Steve

If anyone fabricates such a recharger pack holder that fits in those "under-the-arm-cuff" slots on the Equinox, I'd be interested in buying one...

Steve

+1, relicmeister...

Steve

7 minutes ago, Dan(NM) said:

I would assume, an 1/8" male stereo to 1/4" female for the 1/4" male jack on the headphones. I may have one in my stash.

Yes, Dan, that's what I meant to say, 1/8 MALE to 1/4 FEMALE.  DUH!  My bad!  (I edited my post, to fix it).  What I was really asking was is stereo to stereo correct?  

On the CTX, if hooking to the control box itself, I believe the male needs to be mono, and the female stereo, is why I was asking...

Steve

Yep, it is, Dan.  I am almost positive that it's 1/8" for the Equinox...

SO -- yes, I need an angled adapter as well, but don't know what we need...male 1/8 stereo to female 1/4 stereo, 90 degree, I assume?  Can you shed any light, Steve?

Steve

Based on what I know about where gold coins will ID, and what Steve has shared about the Equinox, I'd guess...

$1 -- 12 or 13ish

$2.50 -- 19ish

$5.00 -- as Steve said, the 22 vicinity

$10.00 -- 25ish

$20.00 -- 28ish

Steve

The picture says 1000 words!  

Thanks, Steve!

Steve, 

The WM-10 on the CTX obviously has a built-in speaker.  DO I recall correctly that the WM-08 for the Equinox does not -- the only speaker being that on the control box?

Steve

Steve --

I have a five-dollar gold piece, and so I will report on the EQ ID for it as soon as I get my Equinox...

I have a couple of $1 (type 2 and type 3, I think), a couple of $2.50, and MAYBE a $10, I can't recall for sure...I'll test everything I have, and report...

Steve

24 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

I've been waiting (patiently ) for this more complete report since you mentioned it a few weeks ago.  Worth the wait!  That Walking Liberty half dollar is a thing of beauty -- my favorite US coin design -- and you found one with very little wear.  I've yet to find any half dollar, even clad.  (I'll take a Standing Liberty Quarter, too!)

I also would like to read what settings you were using, especially the recovery speed setting (hope that's the right term).

One thing cherry pickers (and I might become one myself after reading this) may want to keep in mind is that there are many coins out there which haven't had comparables minted for well over a century:  I'm talking about half cent pieces, three cent pieces (silver and nickel), half dimes, nickel-copper small cents (Flying Eagles and the very early Indian Heads) plus the spectrum of gold coins, both official US releases and those from private mints.  Of course a lot of this stuff is rare and you need to be somewhere that those coins were actually being used.  Still, wouldn't be a bad idea to get the TiD's for all this stuff figured out.  The Eqx unlocking masked coins could open up some of these areas, searched out or not.  Last summer I was treasure hunting a 19th Century settlement (mining camp, I think) and there was iron of every size and shape everywhere.  Can't wait to get back there and see what the Eqx unlocks hiding between all that iron.

Yep, we all need to collaborate, and air-test whatever coins we have in our "collections," so that together, we might compile a list of most, if not all, "air test ID numbers" of most all U.S. coins...

Steve

23 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Two rules for success...

1. Eliminate as many things in life as can be eliminated that interfere with your detecting time. Any other outdoor hobbies? Ditch them. Spending too much time on yardwork? Get a smaller lawn. Etc.

2. Never, ever, under any circumstances let your wife think she might be subject to rule #1. If she suggests you go see a movie, then have a bite to eat, then walk the pups when you get home, do it. In my case that is easy since that's my preference anyway, but just saying! 

So no silver but if you want to see some great acting go see Gary Oldman portraying Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. An amazing performance - I hope he gets an Oscar.

You are a wise man, sir!  ;)

Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!  LOL!

Seriously, though, it's good when your wife is more of a "treasure" than anything you might find with your machine!

Steve

Steve --

Impressive, impressive pile of finds there.  VERY nice!

As others have said, THANKS for the great write-up, here, and on other posts.  THANKS for sharing.  THANKS for taking the time to give us your thoughts, even when they are sometimes received less-than-gratefully (especially on other forums), and even though giving your thoughts invariably leads to 100 questions from the curious, who want to know more than you are able to give.

I, for one, appreciate everything you have done, and shared.  Your writing is great in that AS a detectorist, you know just how to "relate to" other detectorists; you know what to say that answers many of the questions that are on our minds.  You share just the right info, and in a way that almost "puts us there" with you, as you gain experience with the Equinox.

Thank you, and Happy New Year.

I'm looking forward to having a chance to give the Equinox a workout.  My New Year's wish for you, is that as a reward for all you've "given," here on your forum, that you "receive" that first gold coin as a reward.  And I think you'll agree that the Equinox is certainly a very capable machine of doing just that!  ;)

(P.S. in answer to "skate's" question earlier in this thread, about where a gold coin might read on the Equinox, my answer would be "which one..." in that the range of U.S. gold coins register on detectors from sub-nickel range for the $1 all the way up to near penny/dime, for the big $20 "double eagle...")

Steve

I would guess that Minelab will come out with a battery pack -- and based on the specs (how many mAh) of that pack, we'd then at least have a guess of what Minelab would consider a "good option" as to mAh rating for a charging pack.  Then, we could kind of "go from there."  I'd love for them to provide some specific info, but I doubt they will.  It would definitely be helpful, for anyone looking to get an appropriate charging pack (minimizing size/weight, but still having "enough" power for a full recharge).

Steve

LOL!  Thanks Fred, I'll give those options a shot.  Maybe fasting can be worked into my New Year's resolution to lose some weight!  ;)

Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak...  LOL!

Steve

I would like to respectfully request something that I am sure has been requested before...

The option, on a CTX 3030, of running 50-tone conductive -- i.e., the full set of conductive tones -- in "combined" mode. Right now, of course, we can only choose four "non-ferrous" bins of tone, above the ferrous bin, in combined mode. Combined mode is such a GREAT idea -- but in my strong opinion it is HINDERED, unnecessarily, by forcing 50 possible conductive ID numbers into only four bins. I have ALWAYS hunted my Explorers in full multi-tone, and would LOVE the ability to run a "combined/full multi-tone" mode on the CTX. Could you PLEASE ask the engineers/software designers to place that option into a future CTX "software update?" I can't imagine it's any more than just some simple software coding to permit that option...

Thanks for considering --

Steve

Merry Christmas, "D," and to everyone here...

Steve

Redneck,

#1 -- I have never dug a gold coin (yet, LOL)!  #2 -- I have only owned the CTX for about 6 weeks.  With those disclaimers out of the way...

...I will say that I am near certain -- and that's an understatement -- that no way does the CTX find a 10" deep, 1 cm gold coin...

A very, very impressive dig, and testimonial on the Equinox -- if indeed that coin was near the bottom of the 10" plus hole he dug (which we don't know FOR SURE; we only that it was "in the dirt" removed from his 10+" deep hole...)

Steve

mn --

I can relate to a "broken SE Pro!"

What happened to yours?

Steve

Understatement, Redneck!  That's AMAZING in my books...

Steve

Yep, Nuke em; I've been pretty well "in tune" with the prices a used SE Pro would fetch here, and even 6-9 months ago, that machine would have sold in the mid $500s.  Minelab/the Equinox has caused a real shake-up in the detector world, that's for sure...but I'm not complaining!

Steve

Chris --

I am probably the former owner of that "under $400 newer FBS detector" you saw sold!  It was not sold because FBS detectors are not very capable.  I LOVE the Explorer line, and I found plenty of deep/old coins with Explorers.  But for my purposes (deep old coin hunter in turf), I like the CTX a little more.

Yes, the older FBS units are great on the beach, in terms of depth and stability, dry OR wet salt.  They do just fine on gold too -- with the exception of VERY SMALL gold, particularly chains/bracelets -- which in some cases they are "dead" to.  But rings, pendants, etc. -- they do just fine, and will get better depth on those targets in the "wet salt" than most (if not all) single-frequency VLF units. 

With that said though, with you already being a CTX user, not sure why you'd want an older FBS unit for the beach, unless just looking for a good backup machine -- in which case, YES, it would be a great deal at $400 for you. 

More particularly though, I see these $400 FBS units more suited to someone who is either swinging a single-frequency VLF in the wet salt and is looking for something that will perform better, OR someone who is a turf coin hunter who wants to "move up" in performance, but doesn't want to spend what a CTX costs.  For this person, YES -- a $400 FBS unit is a VERY good deal.

For SMALL gold, I think the Equinox will do a better job, particularly since you can choose single-frequency 20 kHz or 40 kHz in the "dry."  Not sure obviously (until they are available for us to swing) how it will compare to an FBS unit in the "wet salt," on a target like a gold ring, but I have to believe it will do just as well. 

Again though, I'm not sure why you are thinking about older FBS technology, as a CTX user.  If you didn't have a CTX, I would understand your interest in an older FBS machine.  But, IF you are looking for something that will perform BETTER than your CTX as a gold ring/gold coin hunter at beaches (which it kind of sounds like you are), my opinion is that FBS might "equal" the performance of the CTX, but won't "surpass it;" however, the Equinox MIGHT...

Just my two cents, as a 7-year Explorer user now swinging the CTX.

Steve