GB_Amateur

Yes, larger coils pick up more targets per swing, and are more likely to have both good (desired) and bad (trashy) targets in the field-of-view at the same time. As far as finding low trash sites, that's quite a tradeoff. I can hunt my back yard which wasn't used much (the only owners before us never had kids and AFAIK spent their time indoors) so my yard is pretty quiet. But if I go to a park or school (which is where the goodies have the best chance of being as far as accessible public sites) there is iron and aluminum trash aplenty. Are there quiet parts of these sites? Sometimes, but those are both trash quiet and good finds quiet. People didn't segregate the areas they threw trash and the areas they dropped coins and jewelry. Lost items occur where people spent their time, and a big part of that time was spent eating and drinking (with associated screw tops, poptops, aluminum foil,....) The really old sites around me previously had buildings which were razed but their nails were strewn everywhere -- thus the origin of the iron trash. It appears I'm in the minority on my suggestion of getting a simpler detector to start out. I'm just basing it on my experiences but maybe mine are the exceptions. Jeff's comments about newbies being less confused with a feature-packed new detector than many experienced users is quite interesting (and paradoxical).

I question whether or not the Minelab Equinox is a good first detector. Yes, it has canned settings so it doesn't need a lot of adjustments to be able to find metal. However, the 11" stock coil isn't as forgiving as small coils and we've seen plenty of people here (some even experienced with other detectors) question everything under the sun (bad settings, unit is a lemon,...) with this detector. I had been detecting for 3 years with multiple detectors before getting an 800 and it took me a long time to get comfortable with it. (I hardly go out without it now.) One of the things that's a must with any detector is reading and understanding the manual. The ML Eqx manual is the best I've ever seen, but that's because it covers about everything. I think back 5 years when I was getting back into detecting (after 35 year layoff) and recall all the terminology I was unfamiliar with. A simple to operate detector with a simple manual can be a helpful starting point. There are many good detectors out there for less experienced users. But you said your husband has an eye for Minelab so I suggest the Vanquish line. It has the same inner workings as the Equinox but has fewer things to be concerned with and the lower end models come with a medium sized coil. (You can get the top end model with two coils, one large and one small.) Another thing to keep in mind is that detecting is more than just the main detector. For most detecting you pretty much need a hand-held pinpointer ($100-$150), a good digging tool (~$40), a finds pouch (can be as simple as a nail apron, but there are advantages to multi pockets -- better ones are another ~$35). I can make a list 2-3 times this long of accessories I have. So getting a moderately priced detector and including a $200 gift card (or just cash) for the accessories makes a lot of sense to me. Finally, if he likes the Vanquish he can later step up to an Equinox and have the Vanquish as a backup (or even encourage you to get into the hobby and go detecting with him, swinging the Vanquish). Here's a link to Gerry McMullen's outlet site. (click here) He's not only a good guy with over 20 years experience helping others find the right detector, but he's patient and knows how to put himself in the shoes of the less experienced customer. Also he has integrity so you don't have to be concerned about him steering you towards something you don't need that makes him more money. In some ways he's old-fashioned -- likes to communicate face-to-face or over the phone. (Oh, and does he like to talk!) He may or may not agree with my recommendation but he sells both Vanquish and Equinox (and many others, Minelab and other manufacturers) so whatever direction you end up going he will be quite helpful.

No ring-and-beavertail pulltabs among your junk targets (but I see the Busch beer can lid had one). Only one nickel 5 cent piece. Did you hunt wide open for a while and then disc against the lower conductors (including nickel zone)? If I'm at a site that has been used more/less continuously over the years I want to see R&B pulltabs (last manufactured ~1975). For the modern tabs I'd be happy if I never saw another one. BTW, you should have pointed out that the top coin is a modern USA $1 coin. The Aussies and Kiwis think we don't have those, and I sometimes wonder myself....

Nice finds, Mike. You made the most of your limited time. What is a triangulated coil? Is it the stock (concentric) coil on the Fisher F44? (I didn't know that worked on the Tek 8500 -- I assume it was released for the F44 and then people tried it on the Greek Series and it worked well.)

The responses remind me of the party/parlor game called 'dictionary' (or 'fictionary'). Someone puts forth an esoteric word and all contestants write down a definition and turn them in. The person who chose the word reads the correct meaning and all the made up definitions (in random order) and each contestant must then vote on which definition s/he thinks is the true one. Klunker, this is what you get for kidding around so much on this site.

It was worse than that. My wife was ready to call 911 (asking them to make sure to bring a straight-jacket) when she saw me standing on my head in front of the computer. 🙃

Hugh, that was a low key title for such a great find. But now I see your ploy -- post is analagous to your experience: non-descript signal leads to monumental discovery! Do you think it was dropped at the same time as the other relics? I assume this is a Civil War site. Did soldiers actually carry gold coins? (Apparently some did.) Anyway, hope you bask in that aura (pun intended) for the rest of this otherwise trying year.

Not sure what you mean, which may be just my ignorance. I follow the linkup instructions and let the detector decide what needs to be on or off. I think it remembers whatever transmitter channel you're using until you decide to change. After doing an initialization linkup one time, from then on when I turn on the detector and turn on the WM08 it's ready to go every time. I've only used the MI-80 headphones a few times but if I recall, the Eqx is only capable of one or the other and if you switch between devices (WM08 or Bluetooth) you have to go through the initialization/linkup procedure for the one that isn't currently active. (If you do a factory reset you also start from scratch.)

Glad you got your headphones to work with your detector. Just to avoid confusion, I'll point out (before Chase does 😁) that the WM08 doesn't use the Bluetooth channel. It's a propietary transmitter/receiver configuration (and quite a bit faster than even the fast low-latency Bluetooth).

What's up with the orientation of that photo? Are you trying to make the members here from the bottom side of the world feel more comfortable?

A 1985 receipt on your computer? What is it, an IBM PC/AT with Intel 80286 processor? If so and you have the original keyboard, that alone might be worth more than a couple of those grams of gold. That's another nice thing about this site. Some of us are old enough to jog each others memories out of the dark recesses of our brains. You both look young and fit. I hope you can still mount your control box around your waste and see the meter and controls. (And I'm not referring to the acuity of your vision, either. 😉)

Made me look! My forearm is 11 inches in perimeter (is it called 'girth'?) at it's fattest place, which is where my cuff is positioned. I don't use a strap since I wear a watch on the wrist of my detecting arm and it gets caught sliding in and out. (Not having to slide in and out is also more convenient.) Every detector I have with its smallest coil still keeps my arm in the holder through the torque caused by it being at least slightly nose heavy. A few years back I asked here what is the correct angle and position to hold the detector. I recall at least one answer (from Steve H, BTW) -- hold your arm and swing in a comfortable position. Keeping my elbow straight would not be comfortable and would stress my back more than occurs now. I'm not saying this won't work for some, but not me. Bottom line is that there is not a one-size-fits-all technique for holding and swinging a detector. (I'm not saying that you claim there is.) From what I gather, many of us here are in the 2nd half of our detecting lives (4th quarter may be more accurate, but let's not get depressed). Young people can get away with a lot more in terms of body positioning and usage. Older people even more so need to find a comfort zone that allows them as many hours of detecting and pain free hours when not detecting. I've learned (and am still learning) by experimentation what best accomplishes that for me.

I just use strips of (soft) packing ethafoam and duct tape (Red Green recommended!). It's worked great for me. I also hate the slop and appreciate First Texas's effort in providing an adjustable width arm cuff on the Fisher F75. Over a decade later no one (that I'm aware of) has yet gone to the ergonomic detail that First Texas did with the Teknetics T2 and Fisher F75, the arm cuff being just one component in a well-thought-out ergonomic design.

It looks like the socket is next to or under the arm cuff. Did you try farther back? Would it not fit over the butt end of the shaft? My experimentation would indicate better balance if back farther. I actually have a roll of USA dimes (total weight 1/4 lb) inside but at the upper end of the shaft to help with balance. That still leaves the unit somewhat toe heavy even with the 11" coil (as compared to the 12"x15" coil), but it does help with balance. (Actually, a bit toe heavy is required. Somewhere in there is the Goldilocks point. Can't say I found that, though.)

Thanks for the positive feedback, Ken, and thanks for your thoughts on dealing with these difficult sites. This post should be bookmarked by many (I've done so myself), there is so much juicy advice. Obviously you are a thinking type of detectorist. I suspect those are the most successful, and I've found that when I'm on a cold streak at least I enjoy the thinking part. (I'd rather have both thoughtful hunts and good finds, though!) As an example you've posted in the past (with excellent finds) about searching in the woods and some of your techniques. Many detectorists choose not to be bothered by this kind of difficult site; easier to hunt the nicely mowed grass fields. But those comfortable sites are most likely where others have detected, in some cases many times -- aka 'hammered' sites. (Another parallel to natural gold detecting -- the conveniently accessed locations are the ones most hard hit and least likely to produce large nuggets except for maybe really deep ones.) One exception in your detailed and informative post above I'll point out (only exception I noticed) is that for gravel or crushed stone pavement (walkways, roadways, parking lots) there can be deep targets if more than one layer of aggregate has been put down at different times. I have such a parking lot in this park. I got a weak (deep?) high tone signal and was salivating it was going to be good. I used my pick to (carefully) dig down about 5 inches only to find a Memorial penny. 😞 I agree that if the pavement is left alone, the targets stay near the surface. (Good example are my many turn-of-the-century fired lead bullets and casings in an earlier post's photo above.) It's the repaving process that effectively pushes targets deeper. Thanks also for encouragement in not giving up on this particular sub-site. With all the lead bullets alone, some of which are right where nickels ring up, it's likely even if previously detected there are still some goodies. Fighting through the iron masking is the hard part (as always) and persistence, experimentation, and thought will probably produce if I'm right. I think I've been spoiled this year making finds in the comfortable areas. As for the creek, this probably isn't the best time of year since it's rather loaded with leaves (as are the wooded areas) and the water is getting cold! But I'm sure I'll be back in there, too, hopefully with my thinking cap firmly attached. Good news is that even when the park is loaded with visitors they aren't in this shallow part of the creek, only downstream where they can swim.

Glad to read replies, some containing advice, some showing appreciation, or just showing that you're reading. I'm often not sure if my posts are more annoyance than value. I've always been of the opinion that if something confuses me or causes misnunderstanding, or enlightens me then at least some others are in the same boat and would benefit from my observations. I went out for 4 hours yesterday (last 30 minutes or so wern't in this area, though) to continue this investigation. This is likely my last post in this thread unless someone has questions or comments which I can respond/add to. I spent part of the time searching the 40% of the trail I handn't searched in detail on the previous hunt (Wednesday) and the rest in the creek. I changed my settings to Park 2 MF, recovery speed 6 (still iron bias F2=6 and 6 inch coil). I found a few more bullets but not nearly as many. In a picnic area along the trail I did get a couple beavertails and ring-and-beavertails. I noticed that this lower (elevation) part of the trail had much more soil overburden (about 3 inches worth) comparted to the upper trail which was exposed gravel/crushed stone. As a result, the targets were a bit deeper. No coins but a few other non-ferrous items (strike wheel off of a modern disposable lighter, for example). I did find some coins in the creek -- one clad dime, one Zincoln, and one or two copper alloy Memorial pennies; no old coins. The dime was green enough to make me think it had been there a long time. Creeks around here are similar to those in gold country -- heavy targets tend to settle out first (and thus deeper) and especially congregate in transverse bedrock cracks. I've found this convincingly in a creek near my house. Similar to many gold-bearing creeks, often the bedrock is buried under thick layers of gravel overburden. That is the case with this creek (so far). As always I'm left wondering many things: 1) were there ever old coins here? 2) if so, have they been vacuumed by other detectorists? 3) if not, are they hiding, either deeper than I can detect, or washed downstream? 4) are they there within reach but my settings and technique aren't good enough to find them? Interestingly the lesson I thought I learned isn't the lasting one. I have a new appreciation for carefully setting up the detector for these trying conditions. In mild or moderate, consistent ground with not much trash you can get away with about any detector, coil, and settings. As the ground gets more difficult the requirements for proper tuning go up considerably. I've allowed myself to get hypnotized by those mild conditions. Now I've been shocked into understanding that isn't the right way to go in every site. Of course many know this and many books, articles, and posts have said this. But there's something special about learning from experience, particularly your own mistakes.

Unfortunately, partly because of our impressions of the unrealistic special effects in movies, etc., these kinds of recordings don't really do justice to the spectacular experience one gets seeing it in person. I'm pretty sure (not 100%) that what they show is in slow motion; if so why couldn't they also show it in true time increments, like the fortunate real-time viewers saw? Still won't come close to being there, though. Same thing goes with aurorae. They inundate us with time lapse (speeded up) views. When I first saw them in person I was confused. "Why aren't they moving like draperies in the wind?" Still glad they share these, though.

I don't know what sources you are referring to, but it's in your best interests to keep an open mind. The reactions to the Minelab Equinox here (going on 3 years) have been mostly positive (and that may be putting it too mildly). Not every detector matches up to every detectorist, though. I have (and like) a Z-lynk system for use with my other detectors (e.g. Fisher F75) but the Eqx 800 comes with proprietary transmission/reception which is ultra fast. Unfortunately ML has chosen to charge an outrageous price for the WM08 receiver which is included in the 800 package but not the 600 package. The good news is that you can find them for less than $100 (with shipping) on Ebay, sold be Eqx 800 owners who choose a different audio path. (I bought a backup -- that's how much I like it, but you still have to plug in your corded headphones to the WM08 and many people find that inconvenient/annoying, particularly since cordless Bluetooth options are available.) There are tons of posts here on detectorprospector.com regarding Bluetooth options for the Equinox (works the same for both 600 and 800) and also some for the WM08 (ditto).

With the settings (from ElNino77) it's pretty quiet so I don't think increasing the discriminator threshold will bring out more targets. I'm using my custom 5 tones (although one of those is for subzero ferrous and thus wasted when discing). My ear is well trained for that. I mentioned there are more bullets but even those aren't so plentiful as to cause problems. The real problem is the iron masking which thanks to ElNino77 I'm doing better handling, but there is a limit to unmasking as most know. (I'm sure I'm not yet optimally tuned for that.) BTW, I've added a photo to the original post plus a bit of explantion. Yes, the creek is shallow and easily searchable with knee-high rubber boots. I'm going to do some more test searching today but no way I can cover it in one day (3-4 hour) hunt. If I find any old coin you know I'll be back again!

Congratulations on the silver (jewelry) cycle. You had a double win this week -- second one helping a friend, and that paid off, too. Silver takes a backseat to gold here at DP.com, but for me any silver (coin or jewelry) makes a successful hunt. And if my wife likes the jewelry, even better! My (very) modest cycle is (copper) penny, nickel, dime, quarter USA common coins. Better is the old coin cycle: Wheat or Indian Head cent, Buffalo or older nickel or silver alloy WWII nickel ('Warnick'), silver dime, and silver quarter. Best I've done are three out of 4 (I've not had much success finding silver quarters, let alone silver halves or dollars -- big zeroes for me on those last two).

https://www.pbs.org/video/gangsters-gold-pa78zu/ As part of their ongoing series (18th season?!) titled "Secrets of the Dead", PBS just released an episode on the (supposed) Dutch Schultz treasure. You can watch online (link above). In a nutshell, Schultz was a Prohibition and early Great Depression Era mobster/gangster in New York (city and upstate) who met his demise in 1935 when he bucked the syndicate and set out to assassinate a powerful federal government prosecutor -- Thomas Dewey (same guy who 'defeated', well almost, Harry Truman in the 1948 presidential election). Supposedly Schultz had hidden (possibly buried) a steel strongbox with several million $ (1935 dollars...) in diamonds, gold coins, paper currency, and WWI US government bonds. As is typical with PBS, the historical components of the show are well done. As far as the treasure search (and searchers)..., well, at least they don't keep talking about a curse. I'll call them 'optimistic' and leave it at that. (As we all know, treasure hunting isn't the proper activity of pessimists. ) Basically three pairs of treasure hunters are featured along with a couple freelance researchers (one of whom joins one of the teams near the end of the show). All teams have metal detectors. Also used is Ground Penetrating Radar; fortunately no hocus pocus snake oil LRL's -- take that Gary Drayton. I was able to recognize some -- Minelab Equinox, Garrett Treasure Hound (2 box), Garrett AT (one of the VLF models), White's Coinmaster or Treasuremaster. Two of the teams (boyfriend-girlfriend and father-daughter) admit to being amateurs and one team (two guys ~mid 40's?) call themselves professionals. Those familiar with treasure hunters in the NE USA may recognize the so-called pros, or not. (Let's just say I wasn't super impressed with their professionalism, but they are a lot better than those two brothers -- supposed professional miners -- from Arizona who had a show last year on cable looking for a different major lost treasure every week.) Spoiler alert: a find is made which would excite most of us, but whether or not it has anything to do with Schultz is just wishful speculation at this point. Bottom line, IMO, is that this is more/less typical of these kinds of shows. If you like them you'll like this and if you're a disser, well here's more ammo for you. Oh, and sorry to disapoint Simon, but the find was made with a Garrett.

Back out today (Wednesday) trying out ElNino77's recommended settings (well, sort of). I accidentally set up Field 2, not Park 2, but otherwise what he suggested. (I used Recovery Speed = 7. Oh, and I was swinging the 6" coil.) I'll take a picture of my 'finds' in the next couple days and post them. Summary is that I found lots of spent lead bullets and quite a few spent casings. Some are 22 calbier but others are larger (I haven't measured yet). Only dug a few pieces of iron. I've found a few bullets and casings plus one cartridge in this park previously (including several shotgun shell butts) but nothing close to the quantity I found today. I'd say roughly half that I found were 12-13-14 TID's (USA nickel sweetspot is 12-13) and I tend to dig all of those (except sometimes signals with 14 -- lots of modern pulltabs hit there). As mentioned before, this trail has been part of the park since the 1930's. Were they allowing hunting in the park or were these shot prior to that? Times have certainly changed so maybe many decades ago they allowed hunting in the park, with warnings or even bans to other visitors during those time windows (hunting season). Seems odd since there are so many places people can hunt around here. Why allow it in a municipal park? But like I said, people thought differently in the past. I will say one thing. Recovery speed 7 and recovery speed 5 are very different. That higher recovery speed allowed me to pick up these non-ferrous targets. There were so many (I could have dug more if I wanted) that I surely had my coil over some previously but apparently they were masked. A majority were close to the surface. (Note: I've hunted with both 11" and 6" before.) But there's a price to fast recovery speed so I'll only be using it on these iron loaded type sites. In 3 hours searching I only found one penny (think it's a zinc) on the trail and one Wheat penny just off the trail in some soft ground. I found no pulltabs today which is also surprising. (I wasn't digging all in the pulltab zone, but way more than I usually do. I get tons in the nickel zone normally.) Maybe this trail has been searched by other detectorists.... No way coins haven't been dropped over 8+ decades. (My Wheatie find is proof.) Or they are still hiding behind the mask. If previous detectorists were here, did they not dig the bullets or just leave them after recovering? I plan on going out again tomorrow and finish up the trail. I'll also play in the creek. I found a large pulltab (Pringles can size) and an old beavertail aluminum can lid in the creek today in only about 10 minutes, but no coins. Where are the damn coins? Edit: I've attached a photo of the finds. Top are iron, middle are general non-ferrous, bottom are bullets and casings. The small casings look like 22's (no printing on them that I could find) and the larger are 25-20 WCF which were popular 1890-1920 according to this Wikipedia article. So maybe they really were deposited prior to the park being designated as official Muni property. Most of the bullets measure in the range 0.30-0.32 inch (~7.6 mm) diameter which doesn't seem consistent with 25-20, though.

Sorry to hear about your predicament but good on you for not letting it interfere with your passion. Sounds like you're talking about lengthening the pistol grip stem so the control unit is farther away from the shaft. It's going to add weight, obviously, but the weight is somewhat centered so maybe won't throw off the balance. (Would be nice if it improved the balance.) Is there a way to rig up a (hopefully lightweight) fiber optic system, even attaching it to your glasses or a headgear? I've seen this kind of thing done before, but not with a metal detector. Here's an example of the principle.

Oh, hmmm, now I understand this thread, and it sounds like a pretty lame offering they came up with. I get it that they don't want to 'threaten' the Equinox 600 sales, but this dangling of a rotten carrot is over the line, IMO.

These are Nickel-metal Hydrides, right? Are the rechargeables from Minelab also NiMH or are they lithium? I've used the Eneloop Pros in my White's TDI/SPP. I like them, and they are well-known for holding their charge during storage, which is rare among NiMH batteries. The biggest problem I've seen with NiMH is their lower voltage (e.g. AA's 'plateau' around 1.25-1.3 V). But for most modern electronics with voltage regulation that isn't an issue.