nickelNdimed

On 9/1/2020 at 12:17 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

All I can say is I am disappointed to not be disappointed. The price said it all. With very rare exceptions detectors are priced to reflect relative performance and features. Ace 400 for $339 or step up to Ace Apex for $424 and add built in wireless, rechargeable battery, and MF beach hunting capability. That’s how the sales guy would present it, and that’s what Garrett has done. They should sell a pile of them to people wanting a top end Ace, not those wanting an Equinox 800 at half price.

No doubt experience gained from this will go into the more powerful AT Apex down the road.

Probably needless to say folks are brand loyal. And the made in America factor for those who held out or are ready for something new and didn’t pull the trigger on an Equinox or Vanquish.  They will say “take my money Garrett” regardless of the reviews.  Something about their down to earth marketing that makes one want to root for them....
 

I’m all for supporting a domestic brand if it is a compelling product and good value, even at a slight premium. I was rooting for Fisher/Garrett/Whites to come out with something more compelling. Simplex wasn’t compelling to me.  Vanquish would have been compelling in a weatherproof packaging like my F22. I ended up with an Equinox 600. Had I held out longer, this Apex with the headphones might have been my choice. Or at a different price point, whatever next machine they have hinted already. 
 

Now though I’ll stick with the 600 and learn it well. Not compelling enough to switch even if I could get what I paid for it back.  
 

I kind of expect a price drop on their current models below and above the Apex. 

3 hours ago, okara gold said:

Have you tried switching arms?  I have gotten pretty good at swinging the coil with either arm. 

I’ve thought about it, not tried it.  I’ve spent a lot of time trying to improve my ergonomics and digging efficiency and on my third finds bag now. I’m left handed and should be able to switch this latest bag to my other side. I may try it but feel the swing might be a little sloppy like when I get tired with my left arm.
 

Just did not expect with this detector. My F22 seemed fine, my Seahunter not so much... I’m trying a different configuration on it next time I get to use it at beach which is not often.

I’ll finally get a chance to use my 6” this weekend. If that feels a lot better, I may try to rig up some sort of counterweight with the 11” and try that. I’ve been reading some other posts I found on this and if that works, it would be my preferred solution rather than change other things that are working well for me. 

Man, that would have to be last resort. I’ve seen them.  I don’t even like using the cuff strap and on wireless headphones!  I like to set it down when digging and not be tethered. I guess I could unbuckle it every time.
 

Also not sure it is the weight on my shoulder but the repeated short movements and load when reversing the direction of coil. The pain or this really more in my arm than in  my shoulder or joint. Sometimes elbow. 

Is there a counterbalance available for the stock shaft?  I know that does not sell more pretty carbon shafts but my shoulder struggles with the coil movement I feel. I’ve shortened my shaft a few notches and I think it has helped a little but can’t help to wonder about a counterbalance effect. 

19 hours ago, Renegade_Arts said:

I got my Nox for my birthday in April and still consider myself a beginner. I really liked The Equinox Series Handbook by Andy Sabisch. His "walk before you run" information and strategies are very useful for me.

But Clive's "From Beginner to Advanced" book brought the whole thing home for me. I'm a slow reader and have to re-read most things to get full comprehension, but for some reason the concepts just clicked for me. Clive's explanations of the way the Nox processes signal information and the related TIDs and his graphic representations of the different sounds made it much easier for me to understand. I've read that book 3 times now and  think I grasp the principles involved. In fact, my detecting skills at local parks and my trip to beach have improved to the point that I'm fairly confident that I know what's in the ground before I dig it. Of course I still dig them all just to verify, but I'm probably 70-80% accurate.

I'm about half way into "Skill Building..." and understand it better now that I got the basics down. I haven"t started "An Advanced Guide..." yet because I'm not advanced yet.

Sorry for running on but I finally felt like I had something to contribute. 😉

No, perfect. This is the kind of input I was looking for. I got mine around the same time you did and played around with simpler detectors before. Although I’ve finally feel I’ve made some cool finds and understand the basic functions, I’m also looking to increase my confidence and fill in some gaps. Thank you. 

Thanks for the references. I’ve bought the red and blue books for reference and to learn about the coins and have looked up a few. I don’t get too hung up on the values as I’m not likely to find anything that will significantly change my lifestyle. Although I think of all my dirty wheaties as scratch off lottery tickets and once I have a handful I will clean off the date area hoping to find that rare 1943 copper...

But yeah, they are dug coins and sometimes coming out of gravely areas. It is a little disappointing to damage them. I have a plastic trowel I bought for some backpacking trips. I’ll have to try that for scooping the loose dirt out or picking at the plug or hole sides. That’s a good tip.  

I’ll just have to start finding silver/gold coins and jewelry only. They come out so clean! 

Exactly. I tried the stock settings and dug more iron and junk. Read some sections in manual again and realized why. Changed some settings and sort of “fixed” my issue. Now I want to work my way back, maybe...  Hoping for a little more context out of the books. But not just some settings from a guy in UK using beach on land if I don’t understand why! I find it part of the fun with this detector. Some days, I just wish I had the F22 out and some limited choices. I may pick up the Andy book and the Beginner to Advanced books to start and go from there but welcome any other insight on the books.
 

Anyway, thanks. I think it is just the photo. The Mercs luckily are in fairly good shape. Unfortunately I need to work on my digging also.  A few of the coins, including the Barber, have some marks from my digging tool. That 1920 Buffalo I cleaned. I don’t know if I regret it or not.  Not to get off topic but here are some before and after pics for fun. 

Yes, thank you. Good feedback on Andy’s book.
 

I’ve been using my 600 this year and have found silver coins, 1800s coins, and a couple of nicer rings (pic of some of my coin finds so far). Just getting to start playing with the various settings and trying to truly understand how changing each may help me find the hidden stuff or what I have missed. Also picked up a sweet deal on a used 6” coil I’ve yet to try so hoping it expands a bit on practical use of various coils and how one may want to set the settings. The manual helps but it is also kind of vague in practical application. 

I’m still wondering if there is one of the 3 Clive books that might be more comprehensive or complement Andy’s book better?  It seems with the 3 Clive books there could be some overlap in material.

Curious about thoughts on the Andy book and the Clive books(3) on the Equinox. Are any of them preferred over the others or more useful?  Does one writer communicate or convey the information better than the other?

I’m personally looking for something to expand on the manual and add some field context to the settings/modes and maybe a bit of less basic detecting technique or skills and tips.  I have a 600 so also hoping the book is not too biased to the 800. 
 

The Minelab Equinox 600 800 Metal Detector Hand book

The Minelab Equinox: “From Beginner to Advanced”

Skill Building with the Minelab Equinox Series Metal Detectors

The Minelab Equinox: “An Advanced Guide”

Thank you for any insight. 
 

On 8/12/2020 at 12:04 PM, GB_Amateur said:

No -- see the tables Chase posted right below your recent post, or look in the manual = User Guide (that's where he got them).

Also, "iron bias of 2" is ambiguous because there are (since the v2.x update) two different Iron Bias scales, the original FE and the newer F2.  And the two settings (or any iron bias digital value) means something different in each one.

As far as ground balance value of 0 being the 'recommended' (in the manual) setting for Park and field modes, there was considerable discussion here about that a couple years ago when the Equinox was released.  I think this is one of those "let's be generic for the newcomers as the more experienced users will do what they want, anyway" kind of statements.

I find the ML Equinox Manual quite useful and informative, up to a point.  I guess if they told us everything they know, besides that being bad from a proprietary standpoint, it would be 600 pages instead of 60.  Just keep in mind that most experienced users ground balance their detectors (Equinox included) just about every time they turn it on, and particularly every time they change sites.

Default settings are good for a while.  But when comfortable with those, I recommend branching out, preferrably just changing one or two things at a time between hunts.  You can always easily reset individual modes or even the entire detector (see User Guide) back to factory defaults if you happen to make so many changes you freefall into a bottomless pit.

The question about differences between park/field/beach/(gold) and subsequently 1 vs. 2 in each is a good one, and as you have seen, isn't unanimously agreed upon even by experienced detectorists.  No one should any longer expect ML to help us out on that one as they've been radio silent for 2 1/2 years.

Yes, I am familiar with the chart and the manual. I guess I should clarify, I’ve only been comparing the Park and Field modes per my original question and those are all recovery speed 3 by default. In regards to iron bias, I should clarify that I have both FE and FE2 set at 2 at the moment and have only detected with the FE setting and have not tried FE2.

What you suggest is exactly what I am trying to do and what led to the question.

First I started with the presets, park 1, then Park 2, then Field 1 and only changed all to 5 tones. I mostly noticed I was not finding much more in previously scanned areas with park 1 but was digging a lot more iron junk that sounded good..  I noticed the major difference being the iron bias at 2 for park 1 and the others at 0.

Second, I decided to set all of them for FE iron bias mode of value 2.  This “fixed” finding the iron junk and sort of equalized the modes in that regard.
 

Third, that then led me to re-read the mode descriptions and to the question of “are the 1 modes and 2 modes weighted the same? Can I eliminate that variable or is that another variable?”  No straight answer to this on on the FB pages or the forums. This forum has been the closest to being informative and acknowledging of “we are not sure” rather than those that are certain that they are not because “why would Minelab do that or I just know they are different”.

So I appreciate the discussion.  Sounds like some of you have tried to come to your own conclusions in various ways and I’ll have to do the same.  My girlfriend loves when I spend hours with my baggies of junk and detector making noise.... I have to try some air stuff first and then find a place where I can burry a few things and try again. My approach is to make them all as simple/similar as possible and then work my way back one by one through the settings to understand how each benefits me.

Anyway, I got a sweet deal on a used 6” and want to try it eventually over same areas and back down the iron bias and see if I missed anything in between that iron junk.  
 

Back to work for now..

On 8/8/2020 at 12:22 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Do I think Park 1 and Field 1 are the same if set exactly the same? Yes. Can a swear I know for a fact this is true? No. Same goes for Park 2 and Field 2, plus Gold 1 and Gold 2.

1. Park 1 / Field 1
2. Park 2 / Field 2
3. Gold 1 / Gold 2
4. Beach 1
5. Beach 2

Wow, lots of replies for me to catch up on.  So I only have the 600 so have ignored reading about the gold modes but I understood/interpreted the same by the description provided of each mode in the manual. The “1” modes and “2” modes in park and field having the same weighting with different settings while the beach modes were uniquely different. 
 

I’ll have to read through the comments with more time and watch the videos but it seems like others have observed differences with some A-B-A tests. I guess I will also have try myself. 
 

Again, my thought was that, if it was known, I could just reduce the number of variables in settings and just create some similar modes that varied depending on the coil I was using. It is simple enough to adjust the settings when I swap the coil. Just a lot if things to remember...  I may have to just make some notes on settings I am trying/what seems to work for me.

For now, I have set all the park and field modes to 5 tones, iron bias of 2, ground balance of 0 (the manual actually recommends running Park  and Field modes at 0 GB), with all metal on (eliminates my need to change notching differences and I don’t dig that low anyway). I think they are all recovery speed 3 by default. I do hope to cover same ground with the 6” and lower the iron bias and hopefully unmask some stuff I may have missed with the 11” and iron bias on, maybe also lower my recovery speed and slow down more.  

Does it do this even if you set the iron bias the same?

Darn. I enjoyed reading the comparisons. Especially from guys with fancier detectors that also enjoyed trying out or taking along something simpler sometimes. I have an Equinox 600 and I like it and starting to play with the settings.  But  sometimes I just miss taking out the F22 for a simple park hunt. I have an Ace 300 and F22 and when I run across a good used deal on a Vanquish 340/440 and maybe a Simplex I would love to compare all of them. I would have preferred the Vanquish to have  copied the packaging of the F22/44 over the Ace line. I would not have bought the Equinox...

I enjoyed reading the topics under this forum as I have a couple entry level units un addition to my Equinox. But I have not been on this site for a couple of months and can’t seem to find it. It seemed pretty active. 

Yeah, I would not be upset. I would be happier to know and understand what I cant change. My reasoning and thinking was to set one “low” for the 11” coil and one “low” for the 6” with some slight differences for bias and recovery. Then same with the “high” weighted.  

Thanks. I did find a post where someone asked the same exact question and Steve said “he would ask the powers that be” but it did not seem like he posted a response. Was hoping somebody knew. I don’t  think that Minelab would have to give away any secrets by answering that question....

Hi, long time lurker, first time poster. 

So the manual only tells you that certain modes have “low frequency weighting” and “ higher frequency weighting”. Otherwise a chart shows the adjustable settings that have been optimized for scenarios they describe presumably.  Understandable, we get some presets.

My question in title in other words: Assuming I set all adjustable settings the same for Park 1 and Field 1 (or Park 2 and Field 2), would these two modes be essentially the same? Or would the non-adjustable portion of the “1” modes and the “2” modes still be different?
 

Thank you for your insight.  If this has been covered in another post, a link is appreciated as my search did not lead to an answer.