cudamark

For gold jewelry, I wouldn't hunt a park, but, that's an answer to a different question. I'm sure you have your reasons to be that masochistic! 😄 If I were going to look for gold (including tiny gold) in a city park, I'd start with 2 Tylenol, then set my Equinox 800 in either Field 2 (the most sensitive to tiny gold except for the Gold modes) or Park 2. The Gold modes in a park would be way too much sensory overload IMO. I'd run 50 tones, recovery speed @6 or higher, and Iron bias F2 @ 6 for eliminating most bottle caps. I would start with the 11" coil. If the park was really polluted with trash, I may switch to the 6". Normally, I like to run in "all metal", but, in most parks around here, that just results in tonal fatigue in short order, so, I would discriminate out iron. If you don't care about tiny gold, I'd also discriminate out 9 and below, and 20-21 to keep from digging zincs cents until I couldn't stand it anymore. Sometimes I just leave the 20-21 in, but, just ignore those numbers unless they're right on top the ground where i can just pop them. If your're just after gold and don't want to recover coins, you can kill everything over 24 too. 24-up is not likely a gold item, but, I've seen some big gold in that range, so, I reluctantly would dig them if they're a solid number. Gold items don't usually have a TID that jumps around. They're usually a real solid number......unless it a chain or mixed metal! Ignore sketchy targets at you own risk! I like silver myself, so, I keep 22 and up and dig them all. In an old park I dig all deep targets regardless of number. For me, when I want gold, I go to the beach! Just be prepared to dig a ton of pull tabs and aluminum junk!

When I first started testing with my Equinox 800, I tried various small gold items. A couple of them (notably an 18K tiny link bracelet) would only be seen by the Gold modes, and Field 2. None of the other modes would pick it up regardless of settings. I've had stud earrings test the same way.

I much prefer a threshold tone myself. Whether it's true with most or all machines these days, I just think you can hear faint targets better with a threshold. I've searched in silent modes in the past and it seems that it takes more of a signal to break through in silent search than a slight tone change with a threshold.

Yup, Joe stole my thunder on that. I don't use it often at the beach, but, tiny items that fall through the holes can be a pain to recover without one, especially at night. Also, when I've been asked to find someone's lost diamond ring, I'd hate to break the stone out of it. Same goes for cell phones and cameras. No point in recovering one if you break the waterproof case or screen before you can get it out of the water.

Hunting in the water, I have to use a lanyard. I've had pin pointers float right out of it's sheath out in the surf. I just use a shoelace attached to a carabiner clipped onto a D ring or loop on my pouch. I'm so used to it now, that i use it on land too. Haven't lost a pin pointer yet!

I hunted for about 4 hours today at a trash infested beach on a salt water bay. When running the coil in the salt water (no waves, just calm water in this instance) I usually have to use Beach 2 at no more than an 18-20 Sensitivity or it will chatter quite a bit. Today, with the 3.XX version, I could actually use Park 1 at 18 Sens with no chatter in the salt water. That's an improvement in my book. I find Beach 2 not to be as good with small gold/plat as the Park and Field modes, so, being able to use them in salt water would be a big plus. I'll see what it does in the actual surf in my next hunt, along with checking some of the other modes which I didn't do today.

Yeah, no scoop, long pants, and sandals are not the hot ticket in my book! 👎

I agree, the audio in discrimination is pretty bad. In all metal or combined or whatever you call it, it's even worse. I'd be tone deaf in a matter of minutesif I had to use that. Of course, I don't like the Deus tones either. Sounds like my dog's squeaky toy to me.

How deep were the targets? Oriented flat? On edge? have you tried Park 1 or any other mode? Also, I'm curious how it would react with the F2 setting at 8 or 9 in the iron.

Good video! I haven't used the Tarsacci, but, if this video is any indication, you need to hunt with it by tone, as the I.D. numbers were all over the place. I would have dug all of the Equinox signals except for the obvious iron ones, and maybe the cuff button. It didn't sound good at all.

I don't remember free updates as being part of their sales pitch, but, maybe I wasn't paying attention. It certainly wasn't the reason I bought it. Good to hear your new machine is coming!

I guess my experience will help balance the scale a bit. I've been using my Equinox 800 for over 2 years now. 1000's of hours both on land and in the ocean surf. Not one hiccup on the detector itself. I had a bad wire connection in the wireless headphones for which they provided me a new set, and I did have the dreaded broken ear on my 12X15" coil, which they also replaced withing a week. All the updates on the machine (and I've installed them all) helped performance in one way or another with no negatives. Some quirks still haven't been cured (the pin point double try necessity for one), but, if we keep supporting and giving kudos to Minelab and their updates, maybe they will be addressed too. Let's face it, Minelab doesn't have to give us free upgrades. It doesn't make them money to do so. Granted, we could be secretly used as guinea pigs or beta testers for future machines, but, if we can undo them, I say, bring it on! If the update doesn't pan out, they'll come up with a new one. That's progress in my book.

If you're getting the silent treatment on what was initially a good signal, but, now with the plug removed you get nothing (target still in the hole), that's something that I've experienced with just about every detector I've used. It seems especially pronounced with the Minelab machines I've had over the last few years. With BBS and FBS machines (and now the multi IQ Equinox) if find they don't air test well. You pull the plug so that the soil or sand is no longer over the target, and it's more like an air test now. These machines just seem to like the targets to be in contact with the ground to get a good signal. Remove the ground and halo, the signal gets weak or disappears. I'm used to it at this point and know just to dig a bit deeper to get the target out of the ground. Once out, it comes back to life again.

I installed mine yesterday and took it for a short test drive at the beach last night. It worked just fine. I did seem more stable at the higher sensitivity settings, and the I.D. numbers didn't bounce as much either. Still too early to make any conclusions though. More time in the field is needed.

RIP Mr. Sniff. Even though I didn't know you personally, I know of your work, which still lives on as part of your legacy. 👍