LawrencetheMDer

Good advice, but should note that w auto ground tracking repeated sweeping over a target will cause the target signal to disappear.  Personally, I never use it.

One strategy I use, 8-12hrs/wk in Gulf surf w 800 and 15" coil, is to identify the segments causing excessive noise (usually 1-3) and to null those segments.  And, although it has been shown that some very small and low weight gold rings are found at those segments, it is very rare.  With the appropriate noisy segments nulled I can often run 23-24 sensitivity w a 15" coil.  Of course, noise cancel and ground balance should always be done first to minimize environmental effects.  And I don't use wireless headphones.

I do a lot of beach hunting w the 800 and 15" coil.  A recent sturdy I just completed with 19 gold rings and the Nox 800 VID (VDN) numbers.

Gold Ring Numbers on Equinox 800

Listed below are the visual display numbers (VDN) to 19 gold rings. The gold rings varied from 10k to 18k and weight varied from 0.8g to 11.05g. The numbers are based on air test, but generally, these match well with the numbers I get at the beach. Based on Equinox 800 with 15” coil in Beach 1. Air test at 3”. Other settings standard (eg, recovery "6").

VDN Number of Hits

5 (1) I

6 (0)

7 (1) I

8 (0)

9 (0)

10 (0)

11 (3) III

12 (0)

13 (3) III

14 (3) III

15 (1) I

16 (1) I

17 (2) II

18 (1) I

19 (2) II

20 (0)

21 (1) I

For my Equinox settings in Beach 1 and locations/conditions, nickels are a solid #12, pull/push tabs vary from #13-17, zinc cents overall vary from #18-21, copper cents around 22-24, modern dimes from 26-27 and modern quarters from 26-30. (Of course there are always exceptions, like cents appearing around #12 and quarters around #20 and pull/push tabs around #9 or #22).

If I hunted based on VDN numbers alone and ignored push/pull tabs (#13-17), I’d miss over 50% of the gold rings! Thankfully, I can rely on the sound of the target, sort of, given I’m “hearing challenged”. Push/pull tabs are generally much more variable in VDN with each pass of the coil (e.g., +/- 3 units) while gold rings are very stable (+/- 0-1 unit) when within range (i.e., not too deep). I have read threads that gold rings have been found at a VDN as low as #1 and as high as #25 or #26. Based on 3 ½ yrs of personal experience with two 800s and with about 55 or so gold rings found during that time, I have found gold rings from #5 (in data reported) and as high as #23 (not in current analysis). I have reported previously that there is a positive relationship between gold ring weight and VDN; as ring weight increases the VDN also increases (a statistically significant positive correlation between ring weight and VDN).

So the next time you’re out hunting with the 800 and tempted to ignore one more pull/push tab – look at the variability of the VDN and listen closely to what the target has to say...you just might want to dig that pull/push tab after all. Of course, that is easier to say when digging in soft beach sand vs hard, frozen dirt. 

One more thing, esp about ignoring cents: For me, silver rings are often found in the cent range (19-23).  So the next time you want to pass on a cent, it just could be a gold ring or nice silver ring.

Happy Hunting