mn90403

What a splendid region!  I couldn't even begin to understand where to start.

You'll have to post up a few things here from your Facebook page once in a while.  Some of us here don't Facebook.

Mitchel

That is just great.  Nice to have you here and posting.

If you are learning from Gordon then you might be in UK for these hunts?  Just curious.

A few days in the UK is on my 'bucket list' just to say that I've done it.  I did Australia last year.

Mitchel

Here is what I found:

https://www.dhgate.com/product/wholesale-titanium-steel-lion-head-rings/270600536.html#redirect_detail=WAP2PC

Has anyone commented about cell phones and the need for the 4 kHz frequency?  Perhaps that is THE reason to get something other than 5 kHz?

Dan,

There are a couple of places that I still remember detecting with the SE Pro and it was unaffected by the EMI.  My other detectors can't duplicate that which were the 3030 and the Equinox.  One place is so bad I have avoid it with the Equinox.  Maybe now I should try the 4 kHz.

While detecting last night I didn't carry a cell phone.  I was wondering if the cell phones and that frequency caused the need for the 4 kHz?  I'll ask in the other thread.

The first night I went out with the update I went to a beach that I often detect as a test.  I could not complete the beach so I went back out again last night.  When I got down to the wet sand of the beach and started quickly walking toward my area the 'noise' was awful.  I had not changed any settings from less than 24 hours before but I could not keep a smooth sound at 23.  What had happened, had I 'imagined' the smoother, better quality sound?  (I thought I was going to have to retract all the good things I said about the update.)

I couldn't take it any more after about 15 minutes and had to lower the sensitivity.  I went down to 20 and it gave my head and ears a rest.  I detected a few targets but knew this was not how I wanted to detect on the way to my beach.  It would be too shallow.  I pushed the sensitivity back up and to my pleasant surprise the noise did not come back with the increased sensitivity.  As a matter of fact I could go up to 24 and stay smooth later in the hunt but for now it was stable and I was on the move.

The targets came slow while I walked fast to my spot. (I know I miss deep targets walking fast.)  When I got there I was disappointed also with the upside of my beach.  The waves had been small over the last 24 hours and targets were not really on the 'move' in my zone where I've found gold and silver already this year.  At the turnaround I had a few quarters and pennies but nothing else.  Then I decided to slowly walk back with the little waves on my left and the wet sand on the right.  I got a ring! (The cheap little stone ring.)  That made me relax.  I circled and found some other targets.  A pattern was developing.

This was a recent lost jewelry beach!  Small waves had grouped targets at the bottom of the hill at low tide.  I didn't go back up for the 1 hour back.  I stayed within 20 feet of the wet sand.  I got the steel ring. (10)  And then finally I got the lion's head ring.

That one was a surprise.  I had been digging 15s and 16s in the area with a nickel (13) here and there and this target was not deep and it crackled a bit.  When I looked in the scoop I saw this massive ring.  The band reminded me of silver.  It looked like it had been resized but the numbers didn't say silver.  When I got back at 3 AM I looked and still thought there was a chance it was silver.  It weighs .85 oz.  I researched it before I did this post and it is a titanium ring that sells for about $10.  Bummer.

I ended up with 4 rings.

and some other goodies including an old watch body.  It was a fun hunt even tho it was not very valuable.

I didn't have any more issues with the noise.  I went back over the area that had affected me in the beginning and it was smooth and I dug a target there.  Down about 3 inches was a black sand and gunk layer that also had a stink.  I don't know what caused it but it was no longer a problem.

Making an adjustment to the sensitivity and then adjusting back is something I'll remember for a future noisy session.

Mitchel

37 minutes ago, Raphis said:

Don’t get me wrong...I have found a mountain of silver, wheats, Injuns, etc with my Explorer SE pro....but I finally bit the bullet (after 13 years), and picked up a Nox!  I’m so satisfied with this machine!  

Dan,

I had an SE Pro before my 3030 and still believe it had some capabilities superior to it.  My wife used the SE Pro after I got the 3030 and really liked it.  She did drop it in the surf and it took about 2 years before it quit on us.

We have since bought a lightly used SE Pro but haven't brought it out yet.  I'm glad to know you think some Nox features are better.  I hope Minelabs new offerings remember the superior sounds of the SE Pro and the Explorer line.

Mitchel

14 hours ago, cudamark said:

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. 

I found the same thing about Park 1 and the wet beach sand last night.  I was never able to get over the hum before.

Minelab's statement about various stability enhancements would mean they would have to admit they knew there were flaws.  The way they worded it just allows them to fix things without specifying the problem.  I just got their email too so now I know they have tweaked stuff I use.

In addition to the 4 kHz upgrade feature, various stability enhancements have been included. 

On 7/26/2020 at 8:29 PM, kac said:

My wrist can't take the straight handles either especially when coin shooting as you can easily dig 50-100 holes in an outing.

I just ordered from your eBay site.

On 7/25/2020 at 4:31 PM, GB_Amateur said:

Forum member kac has invented and is selling a new idea digger (rotated handle) which some really like.

I just ordered one of these from kac and his eBay site.

51 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

I just had to watch a CT Scan "detect" a couple of Kidney Stones that had to be removed; and have been kicking my a$$, since Saturday! NOT Fun!

Good luck with that!  How were they removed?

4 minutes ago, phrunt said:

And to think you were going to wait a couple of weeks

I was never going to wait 2 weeks.  I was talking about waiting 2 days at the most.  I just had to jump through a couple of hoops, put the kid away, get the car fixed, pull out the other computer and check the tides.

My car is not back from being fixed but I'll use the backup boots and scoop to go out again tonight.

Did you get out and coin shoot yet?

One night I showed a guy a ring and he reached to handle it.  I didn't let it go.  He pulled and I held.  You just can't let some things go.

Exactly what you were looking for Skull.

You know many places for gold to fetch higher prices than melt!

Have you ever been out on the beaches where someone wants to see what you found and then they swear it is theirs?  It is just an awful trait of human nature in some people to claim a find.  Sometimes if there has been someone ask politely I will show them and others I'll show them when I find if they are near.

There is one thing I forgot to comment on which is a 'disappointment' to some I'm sure.  I still had 'trouble' with the pinpointing which I don't normally use.

I switched to it to test its characteristics and I found it 'cutting out' on a couple of targets and not very useful on others.  My swing technique and digging targets up near the top edge of the coil are often the best ways to dig targets.

While I was detecting I thought that Minelab is pinpointing challenged in the Equinox and the Pinpointers.  They need to have a dedicated 'Engineer of Pinpointing' to address their problems in that regard.  I do waste a fair amount of time zeroing in on targets.

I had very similar reactions to my update experience.  

There is something better about the sounds and target experience.

Yesterday I set up my 800 with a downloaded program from my Windows 10 computer.  It installed easily and last night I went to the beach for my first hunt.  When I turned it on as usual it connected in exactly the same way.  I didn't have to have it 'find' my headphones.  Once connected in the dry sand on the way to the wet sand I noticed a difference in quality of sound.  I didn't quite expect it.  I had expected no difference.

After detecting a bit and listening to a few good and bad targets I sensed that targets sounded better.  I was still in an area due to the lack of waves that had few targets but they sounded good and the threshold was smooth.  I was still in 23, on the sensitivity in Beach 1 manual gb which is my go to settings 90%+ of the time.  This difference wasn't really described in the update thread.  ColonelDan mentioned it in his thread.

The enhanced target sound reminded me of a switch I had made recently in dry sand to Park 1.  I felt that Park 1 targets sounded better than Beach 1 with less scratchiness on the corroded pennies and some other targets.  I was so pleased with the sound I extended my hunt in search of one of my patch beaches which would be a mile away.  After the long walk and few targets along the way I was rewarded with a bit of a sloped beach that had coin targets mostly.  Nothing was really deep but the layer was mostly 8-9 inches.  That is where I found most of the quarters close to the water.  I would like to have stayed out another couple of hours in that section but I had to go.

On the way back I tried to pick out a line that was more productive than the line I walked coming in.  I imagined a chain I had found one time that was 'floating' in the little waves.  It was gold but it still didn't bury in the sand.  I walked a line thinking of that when I got a hit and it was the chain and medallion.  That was my last beach target of the night.

When I left I decided to try the 4 kHz addition on the way back across the dry sand.  It was more quiet than the 5 as advertised in the update.  I found the little 'ring' in the sand with it which impressed me.  I'm certain if there were better targets where I was hunting I would have found them.

I like the update.

I followed the link at the beginning of this thread.  I downloaded the program to my hard drive.  I opened the program from the hard drive and hooked up the 'on' detector when it said connect.  It updated and said finished.

When I went to use my detector at the beach all of my 'settings' had not been changed.  I didn't need to reset.  It was more simple than I just described.  

I just returned from 3 hours of beach hunting.  I use mostly Beach 1 at 23.  To me it sounds better.  I'll make a separate thread.  I'm not going back to any previous versions!

Minelab must be confident the update does what it says.  I would think that many people in their company have received and installed the update before they release it to the public.  We know it adds the 4 khz for example.  What we don't know and maybe they don't know either are some of the additional effects.  

Ok, it is updated.  Very simple after you download the program.  It finds the detector as soon as you plug it in.

Thank you for the report.  It seems to be a quite noticeable difference in performance with this update.  Isn't that the way an update should be?  If you can't notice an improvement or make the users notice an improvement then why provide it?

Thank you for your time and effort to explain it to us (me).  I'll install mine this morning and hit my beaches later.

Mitchel

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Ok, who has any use experience with the update?

Other than adding a frequency I don't need I don't expect there to be a 'big' difference in performance at the user level but I hope someone proves me wrong.

I had one of the original 800s and the off/on switch broke.  The new one they sent as a replacement had the latest software with the F2 on it when I got it.  I don't use either F ... haha

Seven hours ago I finished reading this entire thread (until then) for the first time.  I then put up this post.  I didn't read what Minelab has said about their own update.  That is on me.

I was 'influenced' in my wording of my post by several who said that this was not really an 'Equinox' update.  The update was really for another unnamed machine coming out in the future.  There was talk about why this was the update chosen to add 4 when there were so many other things that could have been done.  It's all there to read.

I didn't say I wasn't going to put on the update.  I will.  I'm glad Minelab is keeping the platform current.  It is a free upgrade and that has always been good from Minelab.

Next update I'll just install it and not read any reviews about it or expect user input first.  I remember several user comments when the update with the new bias came out that were helpful but not so far on this one.

(Maybe I'm just digging a deeper hole here and there isn't a real target but I want to make sure.)

After I put it on I'll give my opinion of it as I use it in a different thread.

Mitchel

I have put on the other updates within 2 days of seeing them.  I'll be putting this one on too but I have to crank up another computer besides this Chromebook to do it.

I was HOPING someone that is using the new update now would tell me it is GREAT or not.  I haven't gotten any takers.

1 minute ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Somewhere at a Minelab a bean counter is proudly showing your post to the boss. “See, I told you these updates are a waste of resources on people who’ve already spent the money to buy the machine. These guys don’t appreciate the expense or effort on our part, so why do it? Just save this stuff as part of the sales pitch for the next model.”

You might think I’m joking. I’m not.

I just want some updates from users.  If they tell me they notice a difference I'll put it on now.  If not I'll put it on later.

I haven't used single frequency no matter what the version of the software.  I don't really expect to use the 4 unless someone tells me more things about it.  I'm a multi guy when I get the chance to get out.