flakmagnet

Hi Chase, yes I agree with everything you posted. Here is what surprised me; I did this over about ten "hits" and each one was pretty close in results, and one of the hits was really deep, over 12"...the Beach 2 signals were more definite. I can't explain it. I do note that this beach does not have much black sand...at least accumulated to the extent that it affects the signal. Anyway, I will mess with it more, I was just surprised. Thanks for the comment, I always pay attention to what you post.

I recently decided to "learn" Beach 2, I had been using Beach 1 on dry sand and down into damp sand. I was pleasantly surprised at how responsive this setting is even in dry sand. I had the Sensitivity at about 23, Iron bias at 3. Has anyone else found this setting interesting?

Now that I think of it, many of my best finds with the Equinox have been from signals that were "different-sounding."

Thank you Steve for putting together a website and forum that reflects an intelligent and balanced approach to so many things. We are all better for it. Happy New Year and sincere best wishes for a better year ahead for everyone.

I had the same experience - before the update. I thought I'd broken the detector. It was a bunch of random coins that had been stashed in a hole at the beach near a parking lot. That strange signal or series of signals taught me a valuable lesson; dig all tones you don't recognize.

The update is easy and kind of a no-brainer. You will be fine. Happy New Year.

I had a couple of hours to go play at the beach on Christmas day. I am posting this because I know all you Equinox owners will understand how well your detector has to be working to find stuff like these two little items. The partial neckless was about six inches down and I felt good about understanding that the intermittent signal it gave off was worthy (Diamonds and saffires). The little ring was even deeper but gave off an unmistakable 'dig me' tone. Happy Holidays to everyone.

I purchased a 12" round Evo a year ago and find it is one of the most sensitive coils I have ever owned. It made me a believer that round coils (or close to round, in the 7000's case), work better for me. I am not usually interested in covering lots of ground, I like to be thorough and go slow, so maybe that has influenced my opinion. fwiw.

I also have both books. I am in the midst of the second one now and it has lots of interesting approaches to consider. Clive is able to set out complicated technical concepts in ways that make them accessible to people (me), who are not technically adept. His writing makes learning fun. Highly recommended for folks who are looking to get the most out of their Equinox.

Am sure others who are more technically gifted can talk about whether threshold plays a 'major' part when setting sensitivity etc. but it certainly helps to have a robust threshold working near the surf. Tweeking that and Volume Adjust a little is a help.

I have done a lot of messing around with the sensitivity while beach hunting and, personally, the higher I can get the sensitivity the better. Of course it gets ratty-sounding sometimes especially if you have it sounding off on all metal. I have tried lowering the sensitivity over deep-ish undug targets and (imho), feel there is a stronger signal with more sensitivity. And yes I generally use a slower recovery speed as well (4). Good luck!

You usually have lessons in your posts and the ones in this post are particularly valuable. Patience and gridding. I wonder if, when you have a moment, you could quickly describe how you go about how you grid an area and how big the areas usually are. Thanks for the post, it is inspiring to see someone who knows what they are doing show the results and describe how it's done.

And pic's? It sounds good.

I do think from reading your posts Mr. Nox, that they show the operator is a large part of any successes that arise. Nice shooting.

Yup that's gold alright...

I don't get needing an alarm. That is operator error. I would rather they continue to refine the actual electronics.

I have done the reset and what seemed to me to be a fairly chattery response after the installation of the update, reverted back into the stable and quiet Equinox I am used to. Also, it was easy to put my settings back in and actually it was good practice to re-do them all, a secondary bonus from resetting.

Thanks gents. Yes I will do it. I have been away from the detector and wanted a head start for when I get back to it. I will see if it makes any appreciable difference and report back if it does.

Anyone?

I may have missed this. On another forum I have read that it's important to do a factory reset after installing the update. I did not do that and I have noticed that the depth indicator especially is 'way off on targets, even one's on the surface. Any thoughts?

That is truly an amazing find. Good for you for not being rough with it.

Thanks for the thoughts Chase. You make sense as usual. I am not overly worried really, about where the tone break falls for exactly the reasons you mention. I got out today on dry beach sand and found that the simplicity of 3-tones (with the break at 19), was easy to use and did not give rise to many questions on what to dig.

I'm still wavering. Now I think I will be prudent and stay at 19. Sigh.

I finally got the time to put in a 3-tone setting. Now to get the time to use it. Starting at 19 is where I made my last break as well (although I was tempted to set it at 21 and leave the 19's and 20's in the second tone break, I hate pennies and have never heard of a half dime being found in CA).

That was a really nice post Rick. You have a good prospector's writing style and your hunting style speaks for itself. Continued good luck (which translates to 'hard work and perseverance.' )