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!

Thanks for your responses. To answer Alexandre's questions......My beaches are mostly decomposed sandstone with quite a bit of ferrous black sand in most places. Like most of my other machines, I search in all metal. When I come across a target, I then switch to Tone (discrimination) to analyze the target and then dig it to see if my prediction is correct. My swing speed is a bit more than 2 seconds a sweep out of the water and in relatively trash free ground. I would consider that about average. In trashy ground or difficult ground it's a lot more.....maybe even 5-6 seconds a sweep. With the additional resistance swinging in the water, I've never heard of too fast a swing speed being an issue in the water, even with a lot smaller coil. Except for surface targets, I have yet to get a double blip on any target. Some deep nails sound good, some don't, but, none of them give a double blip at any angle or coil height. Bobby pins all sound good and no double blip there either using the same diagnosis method. I'll try some very conservative settings and see what it does. I figured that was defeating the purpose of trying to find deep good targets. I can run an Excalibur at max settings here without issue.

Yup, I love the Excal and Nox. That's the way I hunt with the Excal too. They're easy to detect with. I've done all kinds of surface testing with the AQ. It just seems everything is different when the targets have been there for a while. I usually adjust the ATS and Reject (the "expert" method) so that rusty nails just start to give a bad tone (and even further in my testing in trying to eliminate the damn bobby pins and bottle caps) Nickels still sound great at my settings. I try to run the delay at 7us, and usually can in the wet sand. In the surf I sometimes have to go to 10 to keep the chatter down..Volume and Threshold to a comfortable level, and Sensitivity as high as I can stand and then back off a hair so it's a bit more stable.

Figuratively speaking that is. Gold for sure, but, if I had actually struck it, it would probably split in two. Only 1.6 grams of 14K, but, I'll take it. Still not in love with this machine. Pin pointing is still vague, bottle caps sound great and seem like they're the size of a hubcap, and hairpins are driving me crazy! I just can't coax a double blip out of them, and can only get a reject tone with a max setting. I'm actually having a much easier time finding coins with it. The most disappointing thing so far is the lack of deep good targets. The main reason I got it was to find deep gold in difficult ground. I've been digging all targets and have yet to find anything good that my other machines wouldn't have found. This mornings gold ring is an example. In the 6-8" range, any of my other machines would have found it. Since I'm digging any repeatable target, I would have thought that I would have found some deep coins too. Nope, not a one. Nothing over a foot deep except iron targets that I just as soon not find. Oh, and this last hunt only lasted about 2 hours and 15 minutes before the battery died. Pitiful...... It had been a few days since it had been fully charged. Maybe I should have topped it off? Hard to believe it would lose that much life just sitting for a few days. If I don't start to click with this thing soon, it's going to be a closet queen, or E-bay fodder!

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.

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. 👍

Yeah, my totals are way down this year too. Lot's of competition out there these days, and many of them are using better machines (like the Equinox) than in days past. Since the 1st of the year, I've only found 3 gold, 15 silver, and another couple dozen junkers. Now granted, I haven't been out as much either with the quarantine going on, and there's been a lot less people (depositors) at the beach for the same reason, so, this is just a weird year all around.

Congrats Clive! How deep was the ring?

Being a Aussie company. I'm surprised Minelab hasn't used the name Ostrich yet. I can picture the logo with the bird with it's head underground looking around for treasure. Maybe some other company can adopt it.

Yup, I'd like to see how it reacts with our black sand mineralization. Still, It's not waterproof, so, I'd be leery about taking it in the surf, even if it's shallow. One accidental drop at the wrong time, and it may be history. I agree with Jeff. he needs to work on his recovery technique! About the only time I use a pin pointer at the beach is when a tiny item keeps falling through the holes in the scoop. My back would be dying if I did all the bending over and kneeling he did. A nice big wide stainless scoop would make recoveries a lot quicker too.

Looks like a great option! 👍

I agree, except for the getting gasoline. The difference in cash vs. card can be substantial. I haven't used a card at a gas station for many, many years.

Maybe the best techs from White's can join forces with the best techs from Tesoro to create something truly awesome! Opportunity is knocking there if someone can take the reins and run with it.

Yes, that what I do. I find the Expert procedure to work the best for me.

IMO, forget using that sample "nail" they give you. Find a common one where you are detecting and use that in your test and adjustment procedure. I found there was quite a bit of difference between the two in my settings. Deep, rusty and bent nails still sound good in my tests regardless of settings. Same with hairpins and bottle caps if you still want good tones and depth on small gold (in my tests only. still haven't found gold in the wild yet).