CPT_GhostLight

I can usually run 18-20 sensitivity in my parks without tracking, but with tracking in a couple of spots I got up to 22 without chatter.

I did a little experimenting today at an older park that use to be a farm and had modern park turf, sand volleyball court, and modern shredded tire ground cover for the playground, as well as intermingled parcels of old farm land. I hunted in Park 2 with 50 Tones, FE2=2, and RS=6. I started out on park grass, doing an auto ground balance that set at 32 and switched on Tracking Ground Balance. When I got to the shredded tire playground, I went to do another ground balance like I usually do, and noticed it was at 12. I did the ground balance anyway and it stayed at 12. I left Tracking GB on and when I got to the volleyball sand, I went to ground balance again and saw it was at 1. I rebalanced and it stayed at 1. Leaving tracking on, I made my way to some of the old farm land and again went to do another ground grab. This time the GB showed 26. I rebalanced and it stayed at 26. Targets, good and bad, sounded like they usually do with Tracking GB off and the backround noise was much quieter than it is with tracking off. I always start a hunt by auto ground balancing and rebalance when I feel the need or notice increased ground noise. So after today's experiment, assuming I am ground balancing properly, I can only conclude that the Tracking GB works properly in parks.

Cool finds! That Fort Knox pin looks like it could be this: Sterling Silver Ft. Knox Armored Division Training School Pin

Awesome finds, strick! It looks like a lot of ladies items in there, so I would think the butterfly buckle is a lady's as well. Ecellent save!

Awesome, thanks, Steve!

While we're on the subject, is there any down-side to using ground tracking on land? I usually hunt in all metal (no discrimination) mode with the 10x5" coil in highly mineralized parks with FE2=0-2, and have been trying ground tracking after doing an auto ground balance. It quiets my iron ground noise to almost nothing. I'm a little worried that it may be hampering target response in some way, but it seems like it's not. Both ferrous and non-ferrous targets come through loud and clear, but those tiny bits of iron soil noise are gone. The last couple of times out, I tested a few areas with tracking on and with tracking off, trying to cover the exact same ground, before and after removing targets, and both modes hit the same targets, with none missed in either mode. Both modes seem to get the same depth too, but tracking ground balance really makes the ground in most places silent. Has anyone else used tracking GB inland?

We really need the experts to weigh in here as I only have a little over a year and a half on my Equinox. But in my high iron mineralized soil I'm noticing a difference. When I started out, it was factory presets Park 1 and Park 2 with 0 Ground Balance all the way. I did okay with that, but as I detected more and in different locations, some ground was just too noisy so I started doing the Auto Ground Balance (ground grab) and it tamed the wild ground alot and I noticed more good signal coming through. Of couse each place has different amounts of good targets, so that is anectdotal at best. But I started using Auto GB more and more when iron tones from ground noise becomes unbearable and it quiets the noise down quite a bit. I even played around with Ground Tracking after doing an Auto GB and that makes the ground really quiet. So much so that I'm almost afraid to use it. Anyway, I figured out in the iron-hot Colorado soil, I pretty much have to use Ground Balance.

You went above and beyond to find her phone. Even if she never finds out, you did more than most to find it and try to get it back to her. Maybe someday you'll make contact, but you should feel great that you remembered where she was frantically looking for her phone, you went back there months later, climbed up to where it was lost, and you actually found it! That counts in my book. 🙂

I'm not a diver, and maybe some real divers here could weigh in here, but I feel like many folks are misinterpreting the whole "waterproof" badging of some detectors and should consider some things if they are expecting to dive with or use a detector submerged for extended periods of time, specially in the ocean. First off an IP rating does not guarantee an electronic instrument is dive worthy (true waterproof at depth in large bodies of water). An IP68 rating means a device is dustproof and can be submerged for longer than 30 minutes to at least 1 meter (3.28 ft), with no pressure rating requirement. According to IEC, manufacturers can determine the duration and depth test, which are typically 30 minutes to 1 hour at 3 meters (9.8 ft). This is usually done in a water container and not in actual ocean and wave pressures. So an IP68 rating is really doesn't mean you can dive with a device. It means it can be dunked and survive. Clearly the Equinox was not meant to be a dive machine, although some people do use them for shallow diving. It's a wading proof detector. Even Minelab's marketing material states "WATERPROOF - EQUINOX is fully submersible, ideal for detecting at the beach and in rivers, streams and lakes. (3m / 10-feet)." But it does not say for detecting in oceans, or for diving, as opposed to their Excalibur which states; "WATERPROOF - Deep Dive Specialist - Waterproof up to 200ft (66m)". With the new Nokta Legend having the exact same rating, "IP68 Fully submersible up to 3 meters (10ft) and protected from total dust ingress.", I'd be careful about expecting it to be much more waterproof than the Equinox even with a tighter housing and I wouldn't dive with it. Now XP's new Deus II, even though tagged with IP68, exceeds those requirement to 20 meters (65.6 ft) and has addressed pressure differences as well. So I would expect it to be more waterproof than either the Equinox or Legend. I'm not trying to be critical of the new machines, but wanted to point out things that may help someone who needs a machine they can safely dive with or have their detector submerged for extended periods of time, specially in ocean water. We won't really know what the new machines can do until we've seen them used in the field and underwater by real users, but I'm hoping for the best because there are few choices for the divers out there.

Thanks for that, F350P, I look forward to your full review.

The boost mode probably drains the battery faster too.

I guess that's not too bad, that's only 3 ounces heavier than the Nox 15x12" coil.

Does anyone know how much the Arrow coil weighs?

How much does the Arrow coil weigh?

How about an SMF VLF/PI hybrid? That would be interesting.

My hunting partner who is a very accomplished ring finder told me more than half the rings he finds are nowhere near where people think they lost it. This certainly applied here. She didn't notice the ring was gone until she went back in the house. She had been wearing gloves while working in the chicken coop, but couldn't remember exactly where she took them off, assuming it was somewhere along the path from the coop to the house. From where I found the ring, she probably took her gloves off after exiting the coop and the ring went flying downhill toward the hose without her seeing or feeling it come off. It did fit very loosely on her finger. Her husband told her they were going to go get that ring sized down the very next day. 🙂

That is so awesome! It looks like you and Chase had a fun time and you both found some good stuff. But that Reale, wow, way to go! Congrats!

Excellent find! ... I think the pirate flag would draw attention. Maybe replace the dive flag with a plastic shark fin to keep people far away from you. 😁

Years ago, when I first started looking at getting into metal detecting, I was into gold panning and dreamed of nugget hunting with a detector. Most gold machines that I could find were pricey and Minelab was the pinnacle of gold machines with astronomical prices, so I could only dream. I later got a Fisher Gold Bug 2 which I still have, but life got in the way of detecting until some years later. When I got back into the hobby, the Equinox was coming out and I was "retiring", so it was doable and I'm very happy with that machine. I have since looked at PI machines as the next level, but $6K for a PI is back in dreamland for me. Of course I'm only a hobbyist so I get it, but it would be nice if hobbyists could get in the PI game for under $2K, and with the way the economy is going, even $2K is probably not going to be realistic for many detectorists.

Thanks GB_A! Yessir, I love the Coiltek 10x5 and Steve's Rod on the Nox. A match made in Detector Heaven! 🙂

Last Sunday I got a call from my detecting buddy. He's a member of the same detecting club I'm in and known as the guy you call to find lost rings. He said he got a call from a lady who lost her wedding ring somewhere on her property between the house and her chicken coop and wanted to know if I wanted to help him search for it. I said sure! I had only done that one time a few weeks before when we were detecting in a park and a parks supervisor came up to him. He thought we were in trouble and promptly started showing the supervisor how we take great care closing our holes, but the supervisor said he didn't care about that. He said he had gotten a call from a lady who had lost her wedding ring a week before at a playground and he wanted to know if we would look for it, which we promptly did. Unfortunately we didn't find that ring. So we headed out to the mountain property and met the lady and she showed us where she thought she had lost her ring the day before. I thought it must be laying on the ground in plain sight somewhere and this should be easy. Then I saw the chicken coop. Oh boy. I hit inside and outside the coop while my buddy took the trail from the house to the coop. The chickens were pretty well behaved except the rooster who kept giving me the stink-eye. I had a feeling he was just waiting for me to turn my back on him. We covered the 200x30 foot area pretty well for several hours, double checking each others search areas. We were about ready to throw in the towl when my partner decided to check the wooden walkway between the house and the garage. There were openings between the slats that the ring could have dropped into so the home owners offered to pull a few slats up to allow the detector access underneath. While they were ripping up the floorboards, I decided to wander back down the path toward the chicken coop to check any areas I may have missed. As I neared the door to the coop a garden hose caught my eye about 25-30 feet down hill from the path. I was going to sweep that area earlier after finishing the coop area, but the owner said she hadn't been down there so not to bother with that area. For some reason the hose intrigued me so I started searching down the hill from the path. When I reached the hose I was picking up the brass fitting with loud and clear 25 on the Nox but also with a lower fainter tone mixed in. I pushed the hose fitting back a bit and got a solid 7 from multiple angles. I couldn't see anything on the ground, so I pulled my pinpointer thinking it was probably foil of some kind while gently scraping away the pine needles and a little dirt and there it was, the ring! A beautiful Platinum wedding set with a 1 ct. center stone surrounded with 2 baggettes and 6 smaller diamonds. I yelled out, "Bingo!" and the owner and her husband ran down the hill. They were overjoyed and so was I. My first ring recovery! They offered a reward but we politely refused so they insisted that we take a donation for the Metal Detecting Club, for which we were very appreciative. What a day that was!

Interesting debate, but I have a question. Since all the SMF machines (except Vanquish) can also run in single frequency modes, why would you need a single frequency machine, except something highly specialized, like tuned to meteorites or something? I understand maintaining SF machines for the low end market, but as Jeff mention, with the Vanquish 340 coming in under $200 US, The low end SF machines might have to be in the sub $100-$150 range to sell after a while. As I see it (and I could be wrong), if you have one of the four SMF machines (not Vanquish), you have mutiple SF machines and a SMF machine in one unit. What else would you need, except maybe a PI machine?

I for one have no intention of debating anyone. I apologize to all parties if my post of Nov. 19th offended anyone. I was going through some stuff and I'm sure it colored my posts around that time. I am better now and hopefully back to normal and I am going to keep an open mind about the Legend and everything else that comes along. Whether I buy it or not, I hope it does well as more good detectors being offered to the hobby is a good thing for all involved. 😎

Here's a new pinpointer from Quest that has discrimination. Quest Xpointer Max