glacialgold

Yeah, root gravel is nice here in IN at the glacial boundary. If I'm getting skunked/bored at the usual locations, I can almost always find a root-bound area on the interior bend of a gravel bar and pan a big count of micro gold. And occasionally flakes or actual pickers.

Agreed! Story time: Over Easter weekend I was visiting family out-of-town and ran across a YouTuber dectectorist (bhiggles) in the field. I was so excited to meet him, but hadn't brought my detector(s) along since it was going to be just a short overnight trip. What I was able to do, however, was borrow my partner's dad's barely functional White's Coinmaster (series 2, I believe) and join in on the hunt. Didn't find anything, but it was fun turning on the old machine and learning to get it to squeal just right. Also, good company.

I'd echo GB here, 100%. And it's a real positive point in your favor that you are starting with a Minelab Equinox 800, which is a fantastic and versatile machine. Gold prospecting mode on the 800 is a serious top contender for hunting even tiny nuggets, but it's also a great option for micro gold jewelry in parks and playgrounds. I've panned out some small nuggets/fat flakes here in Indiana at the glacial boundary (right on bedrock), and they ring out just fine on the 800 in Gold mode. Tiny things, maybe 0.05g maximum. Granted, those only hit on the 800 at like 3" on the 6" coil, but they do ring out. Coarser stuff like these flakes and nuggets are likely going to be close or on bedrock, and my understanding is you have depth of glacial till covering most/all of Michigan. That said, with the Equinox 800 you also have an incredible machine for coin and relic hunting -- and it has tailored functionality for saltwater beaches -- so you aren't confined to just gold. Hit some parks, playgrounds, fields, etc. -- wherever human activity existed, the older the better, and you can find all kinds of fun things in dirt. For example, the only silver I've found thus far was in my own backyard (1963 Roosevelt dime, almost 10" down) and it came from trying out the Equinox 800 for roughtly 5 minutes right out of the box, even though I'd pounded the yard with an Ace 400 for years.

Yeah, underwhelming I know, but I just pulled a 1955-D wheat penny out of the ground from my kids' school today during a quick 30 minute detecting window. Should be an entry-level bucket list item, I know -- I've already ticked off sliver, buffalo nickel, and jewely (no gold) so far -- but the wheaties have eluded me until today. Fun part is it was found on the section of the "old" playground (school builit in 1959) that I tried to hunt last summer as a newbie, and couldn't figure out how to sort out the signals or dig into the shallow gravel bed at the time. Pulled the wheatie and a '65 (so close to silver) Roosevelt tonight, so there's a definite indication I'm leveling up here. I used a Legend for the wheatie. but I can also say I pulled a big fat stainless ring last Thursday running the Nox 800 w/a 6" coil on a new location (local park where one of the kids had soccer practice that evening). Hopefully the next level is gold!

Nice! Just wait until you hit your first ring or real piece of jewelry!

Isn't Nokta also offering a deal on the LG30 for current Legend owners where, if they purchase the LG30 coil (now standard on the new production models instead of the LG28), they get the upgraded upper shaft and arm cuff free? Or am I off on that one?

BEAUTIFUL vintage paraphrenalia! Very quirky and fun info on how that apparatus was meant to work. I'd be thrilled to find something like that on my turf, but the best I've pulled so far is a brass one-hitter I dug in my kid's elementary school soccer field.

Great advice, thanks! I definitely ike the coil per 1) increased coverage, and 2) new finds on ground I've already hit. I just need to adjust a bit and get the pinpointing method down better for the spots I'm in. Looking forward to trying it out on "real" ground, vs. the moden elemetary school ground I currently use as a testing location.

Excellent point, thanks! I understand now the need to pay more attention to the orientation of the exposed target relative to the surface of the plug/signal, which isn't something I've considered before. Good clue, there. Pinpointing method...heh. Let me call it a "wiggle+" 😄? Pretty sure mine isn't the prescribed version, but it's what I've graviated to...and perhaps has room for improvement? So once I get a repeat signal, I try to center it as best as possible via repeat signal strength on the center DD coil line and where the shaft connects to the coil itself, backing off and coming back at the original signal from various angles slightly outside the coil dimension. Once I think it's pretty well dialed in there, I move off the signal, press and hold the pinpoint button, and hit it again from a couple different angles. That method suits me well on the stock 11" LG28 (targets are generally in the plug) but I feel like I'm missing something on the pinpointing piece with the 13.5" x 12.5" LG35 version.

What do you think about the LG35 coil for those who have experience using it? I have a few hours now running mine, primarily on an elementary school field of about 12 acres (i.e., plenty of open ground to cover). I've found plenty of targets using the LG35 so far, even on ground I've swung over before with the stock LG28. Weird thing is, the targets I'm finding aren't really any deeper, as I'd have expected with bigger coil -- that outcome, however, could be more do to the relatively modern age of the field (late 1980s/early 1990s). What I have notificed is difficulty pinpointing, and also the target depth on the Legend reading deeper for coins than they actually are. For example, I'm routinely finding my targets in the side wall rather than the plug, and digging a 4 bar target reading yields a coin at only 3-4" down. Anyways, anything anyone wants to share about experiences/tips 'n tricks for using this coil is totally appreciated!

Garrett Carrot (Pro Pointer AT) for me, and I'd echo similar comments upthread about the Minelab pinpointers being "sub par." I have a ML Pro Find 20, and only keep it around in case a friend joins in on a hunt and needs a pinpointer. It doesn't register a small target unless it's an 1" or so away, and doesn't have any bells and whistles like the carrot. I also have a ML Pro Find 15 still in the box -- it's going up in the spring garage sale since I can't see it having use except the most novice, budget detectorist. Maybe the Pro Find 35 is better, dunno?

I'm primarily a speaker-only hunter, so this would be a big problem if it hit my Legend. Glad to hear about the confidence in Nokta re: the warranty, however.

Same boat on the kid front -- we have twin boys in elementary school and they have A LOT of activities. Factor in both adults having FT+ jobs, needing to keep the house in order, etc., and I find myself squeezing in 1 hour hunts once or twice a week, weather permitting. Later in spring and in early fall I'll cash in some PTO time and do some half-day hunts, but that's about all I can budget for.

I don't usually do long outings, so a small bag of chips and an apple works for me. As for fluids, however, I learned a trick from my dad. He worked on a factory assembly line for 30 years, a brutally hot place without AC. He would take empty gatorade bottles, refill them with tap water, and place 4 of them in the freezer for work the next day. The then-frozen solid ice bottles would go in a small cooler, and viola -- ice cold water all day long. Works great for a hot day detecting, too!

Same here, roughly guessing...and maybe closer to 10". Soil in my area is mostly red/brown clay, minimal mineralization, with a thin layer of topsoil. I just got the LG35 coil, however, and can't wait to see how it does depth-wise. Interestingly, the moment that really hooked me on the hobby here was when I got a Nox 800 and, on my first test pass in the backyard (already hit repeatedly w/an Ace 400), I pulled a '63 Roosevelt dime at around 8-10". I feel the Legend would hit that same target, no prob.

1.11 is now live on my machine! It's a pity I won't have much time to test it out for at least the next couple weeks...although I may be able to squeeze in a couple brief dawn/dusk park hunts. Relying on you folks about how it goes, otherwise!

Just installed the beta 3 version on my Legend. I have an hour or so this afternoon to test it out in a local park before I'm expected to report back for dinner. Don't expect anything major, but it's a good excuse to get out and get some sun and fresh air.

Another thing I've noticed -- and maybe it's the camera angle -- is he sweeps real quick with that 6" coil. Like, totally zero overlap. Granted, he gets good stuff on video, but it makes me wonder about the presumed rigor of "Pretend you are painting the ground, overlap sweeps by 50%" method we've all heard about. I'm in the habit of overlapping maybe in the 20-30% range, but happy to reconsider.

Haven't tried this feature out in the wild, but it's what I'm wanting to use on the Legend for finding black sand deposits in the local creeks. High reading to the right = good place to dig/sample. Maybe flag readings across a 100 ft stretch of creek as a proxy indicator of where the gold deposits.

Totally agree. I'm guilty of some pretty sloppy plugs, especially in my area with the clay when wet. Being relatively new, however, I'm still trying to up my "hole hygiene" game, as I like to call it.

OK, the Quest V80 has me legit intrigued. I'll be curious to see what others report on YouTube (and hopefully on this forum).

careful what you wish for, the whole purpose of a update-able detector is so they can update to make things better or for if there are bugs that need to be fixed, I do feel this next update will be the last one for the time being, but who actually knows, there are some that no matter what a company does it will never be enough. Agree. There's a fine balance in the shift in state from optimization to stabilization. We all really want both at all times, but if the software hits a generally desirable final state maxing out hardware capabilities, hopefully it only requires infrequent updates to correct bugs. That said, I'm still happily running whatever the latest 1.10v# Notka had out in early Jan. Happily running the update, I should say, but not much actual use per the late January deep freeze here. I'm hoping to get out this weekend, however, at least for an hour or two to play around some more.

Very interesting. Dude has ALOT of energy...his recovery speed is impressive, to say the least.

All the clads I find in the clay soil here that have been in the ground more than a year or so are pretty well zapped. Don't know if it's the rain pollution, soil composition, or what, but it seems to leach the nickel out of the clad layer and nickels/dimes/quarters come out looking like junky coppers. And the zincolns look even worse than roman bronzes that spent two thousand years in the ground. I will say, however, I recently dug a 1917 Buffalo out of the ground that, while stripped of any nickel color, has a clearly-discernable date...which was a nice surprise.

Interesting spread. Less than a pound difference, bottom to top and vice versa. My question is -- and as a relative newbie -- I've only swung the stock coils on the Equinox and Legend (plus their 6" versions) and I wanted to get a feel as to how other folks experience coil weights differently. It's a rare thing for me to get more than 2 hours for a detecting session, and, while I can certainly feel the difference between an 11" stock and 6" sniper, the weight differential and balance doesn't strike me as a big thing overall. (Granted, we're talking short hunts by a guy whose is in the 6'/250lb range.) Definitely can see how the coil weight would have an impact on longer sessions, but just curious to hear what others think. Thanks!