damatman88

I am always trying to find new ways to improve my hunting on the saltwater beach. I do not dive, but frequently detect the wet sand/water in pretty rough conditions including rainy days. I'm looking for the best water resistant/proof headphone option with the best audio. I have the WSAIIXL's and love them in the cooler months, but way too hot in Summer. I have ear buds that I hook to the WSA6 master, but have to protect the master from water. I like the idea of being able to use the bone conduction headphones as they are waterproof but don't know about the sound quality with ambient noise from the ocean and wind. 

Can anyone share their experience with this?

I too went from the Nox 800 to the Deus. I mostly hunt on the beach near Topsail. I have found that the Deus does a better job of sniffing out non-ferrous targets deeper than the Nox. It also will give a pretty accurate ID on the deep targets. Allow some time to learn the D2's "language" and it will reward you. 

Anyone have experience with the WS6 with the headphones or as a standalone as far as it being rain proof? The only thing I see stated from XP is it being weatherproof, whatever that means. I just like to detect in the rain at the beach sometimes without worrying about my equipment. 

Maybe I'm missing something in the manual, but I cannot find a way to turn on a backlight on my WS6 master. Man, my eyes can't see that little display well! Any help?

I just print a copy for each custom program and fill it in with pencil so I can change when I need to. 

With all of the new updates that keep coming and wiping out my previous settings for custom programs, I have generated a form to put all of the settings for each program. It's a Google document and hope it will help you because I think it's helping me! When you click on the link, it will automatically force a copy, so that you can edit it. Hope you're able to access it. Let me know what you think. Custom Program Deus II

I have heard mixed reviews of the new update. From my experience so far, it seems to be ok, but I have only been out twice. I watched a couple of Sharpshooter's videos where he compared the 1.0 to the .071. He showed the separation was markedly worse in the new update based on a coil next to iron. Thoughts?

It has been my understanding since I have owned the D2 that Deep HC drains your battery charge faster than other programs. Does anyone have experience with this that could tell me how it compares time wise?

5 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Not meaning to overly state the obvious but currently at least for the hobby market, wireless and waterproof don’t exist since Bluetooth transmission and water don’t play well together so the market for waterproof BT over the ear headphones is limited. 
 

Serious Detecting appears to have the Quest Equinox compatible headphones in stock. 

I mainly am looking for rain proof since I want to just be able to use them in a downpour without worry. Would never want the capability to submerge as I know that would not be possible with bluetooth. As for the Quest, I tried them and the connection was terrible. I was disappointed because that was what I was looking for. 

I did a lot of thinking and research on this very topic. I do a lot of beach hunting and some land hunting when it may rain. I decided to go with the LS Pelso pair. Had them for several months now and they are great so far. Snug fit, good sound and I have peace of mind when it rains or when rinsing off my detector after a hunt. 80 bucks or so on Ebay. Hard to beat.

On 8/22/2021 at 7:01 PM, cjc said:

I'll say this.  Thanks Max for helping to promote my books.  I don't consider them to be definitive but they do reflect a lot of time swinging with all types for machines.  One thing my top pro buddy said to me years ago that I believe to be true is that  "You pay to learn" one way or the other--no exceptions.   I also see a lot of hunters who say that they "dig everything".  For the new hunter--this is the way to pay the most--with your time.    While there are a lot of good specific tweaks and tips on the groups and YouTube, having some general theory under your belt lets you begin to learn on your own and at the actual places you hunt.  Simple basic skills will also boost your accuracy and reduce frustration.  These are all based upon the simple rules of detector physics.  Nowhere in any of these posts and videos do I see any of these "old skills" mentioned but they are the bread and butter of learning to find treasure instead of junk.  Just for the record, all of my books sell for $16.95. cjc

Well said. I have had my 800 for a year now and have many hours of hunting in. I have read lots on the forums, watched videos, asked lots of questions, tweaked and re-tweaked. The thing that helps the most is time using the machine and figuring it out with your brain and techniques. Nothing can replace that.

I just received my Pelso headphones and really like them! The thing I noticed was that there was no right or left designated on the ear pieces as all other headphones have. Does it matter which way I wear them on the Nox? I didn't know if the signal / target would be affected by this. I did figure out which ear is which by plugging the Pelso's into my phone and watching a YouTube video that has audio to determine right and left channel. The cord on the Pelso's would have to be worn on the left, which is the right channel. This makes the cord on the opposite of where I would like it for connection purposes. Any thoughts?

8 hours ago, midalake said:

Well I hate to ruin things. But any headphones for beach hunting that do not block out ambient noise are worthless for me.  I would suggest these, and their are others. 

https://bigboyshobbies.net/sun-ray-pro-gold-universal-headphones

I'm sure those are very nice headphones but the most important things to me are a combination of being wireless and water resistant. The Quest are the only over the ear ones I have found that meet those criteria and are aptx LL.

The ones on Findmall were sold anyway. Still would like to hear user experience with these headphones. Thanks!

Thinking about pulling the trigger on a pair of these Quest headphones. They say they can be used in the rain which is huge for me as I mostly beach hunt in all weather. They are made specifically to pair with the Equinox. Can anyone share any first hand experience with the build/sound quality?

Wonder if they are rain proof? 

I hunt my saltwater beaches in the Beach 2 mode with the factory settings for wet and water hunting as well as the dry sand. We really don't have much iron around the beach and it's also not trashy. I am going to experiment with lowering the recovery speed and iron bias just to see what difference in depth/detection it makes. Do any of you adjust RS and IB down in Beach modes and if you do, what differences have you noted?

51 minutes ago, NCtoad said:

I was going to order those, but when I went to checkout a prompt came up that said they don’t ship to my state which is NC.  

Wow, that counts me out too

Has anyone found a pair of headphones that are just like the ones furnished with the 800 (bluetooth, aptx-LL, over ear, not earbuds) but are waterproof/resistant and have a higher quality audio for metal detectors? I am not super happy with the stock ones because I can't wear in the rain and audio is pretty sub-par in my opinion.

I am curious to hear from other 800 users on this one. I have detected many different sites in three different towns. Most are old public places with a good bit of activity throughout the years. My issue is this: almost without  exception, when I am hunting, there is an overwhelming amount of target signals coming through on almost every swing and it is frustrating to try and discern a good solid repeatable target to dig. I have ground balanced and kept the sensitivity down enough to cut out any EMI as needed. I run in park 1 typically. Also, when I have the horseshoe on, I have a hard time finding a clean spot to ground balance due to iron signals. I can't believe I am really getting that many target signals, so it concerns me I may have an issue. As a side note, this does not happen at the beach (salt water) when I detect there-it runs smoothly. One more thing: I have noticed since I have had my 800 (since August) that when I pinpoint, I sometimes have to reset by getting out of pinpoint mode and back in for it to work. Sorry for rambling, but any suggestions are appreciated!

8 hours ago, UtahRich said:

I've found some success in a slightly different approach when it comes to dealing with conductive trash in an area with older coins. 

In these areas I hunt by depth rather than discriminating out a segment of the scale.  With so much conductive trash, 5 tones works for me.  If I'm hunting for old coins and such, I lower the audible response on my iron segment (-9 to -1) as well as my foil segment (0-11) and the tabs segment (14-17). I have separate segments for nickels (12-13) and IHC level (18 to 40). I can tweak with the beginning of my high coins segment depending on the area I'm hunting.

zinc pennies are typically shallower as are the square tabs and pull tabs.  By turning the iron audio down, and lowering the "foil" audio  to something comfortable (both volume and tone) as well as the "tab" audio,  i can still hear those items from those categories. By increasing the audio / tone on the nickels and higher coins, these signals stand out to my hearing and can bring a quick STOP and allow me to investigate the target.

Also, by still being able to hear the "diminished" audio of the foil and tab segments, I can listen for deeper targets that are likely older items worth investigating.

This is something that works for me in some of the sites I hunting with lots of conductive trash. 

Rich -

Thanks for that Rich. I have been leaning more toward the volume tweaks after all the input from everyone regarding notching. I found an 1822 large cent on one of my permissions that also has lots of modern aluminum trash. There are so many goodies that may ring up in the other numbers I may have notched out, ie gold coins, trimes and IHPs. 

2 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

To completely misquote The Bard, "There are more things in the earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies..." 

Notching is pure personal preference. If it works for you, it's great. As a relative noob on the Nox, I have been tempted many times to just notch and go find some coins. But among all the excellent wisdom and kindly shared information on this forum, someone much wiser than I said to "Get to know what the detector is telling you about a target by learning and listening to the sounds it makes." That has been the hardest thing to learn on this machine for me, but I have forced myself to resist the urge to notch, and some of it is beginning to sink in. About a week ago I was really about to notch out the annoying aluminum foil, ring pulls, square tabs, and even the over abundant Zincolns in a local park that I frequent because I just couldn't stand hearing them anymore, when all of a sudden a rock solid 11 popped up through the trash and it happened to be a 14K white gold ring and my first gold ring! That drove home the advice about learning the sounds the machine makes. I could actually hear the difference between the ring and the common 11 trash. In the same hunt I heard some odd tones in the 20-21 range, which in my park are usually corroding modern pennies, and pulled 2 silver rings.

Now I'm not in any hurray in my parks so I can just plod along at a snails pace and on that hunt I was in Park 2 with the 6" coil. This week I was at the same park in Park 2 with the 11" coil and pulled a solid sounding 21, which I assumed was going to be a penny, and it turned out to be a silver cross pendant. Now this is a super trashy park so Park 2 may not be the best idea, but it's really helping me learn some of the nuances of the sounds the Nox makes and I'm beginning to get a feel for what the machine is trying to tell me.

I totally understand the advantage of notching to run & gun on specific targets, but for me, I'm still learning what my machine is saying, so I choose not to notch.

I totally understand what you're saying. Since I have owned my Nox, and I am still very green, I have  been trying to understand the "language" it is trying to communicate to me. Just when I think I am becoming fluent, it seems to send me a curve ball. I feel an overwhelming sensory overload in some of the places I am detecting and am trying to somewhat tame the signals by notching. I'm sure as time goes by, I will take on the full spectrum of accepted targets. Just wanted some more seasoned professionals opinions about notching. This is becoming an adventure! Thanks for any input!

I have a couple of old parks/homesites that I hunt that I know have silver and old copper left in them. My problem is, there are innumerable little pieces of trash mixed in with the good stuff., mostly foil and modern trash. I am thinking of notching out the known nasties to help make the good signals pop. Specifically -9 through 11 keeping 12,13,14 (I want old and new nickels) notching out 15,16,17,18 and keeping 19 through 40. I know some aluminum will ring up in the nickel range but I am just trying to eliminate the overwhelming amount of signals. Thoughts?

I'm always wanting to tweak my Equinox 800 settings to maximize searching for old, deep coins. Would love to hear from the experts here about their favorite. Specifically tones, FE/FE2, frequency etc.