GB_Amateur

The stock coil is a 7"x11" concentric. I don't think you can buy a 3rd party aftermarket concentric coil, just DDs. The Nel Sharpshooter at 5.5" x 9.5" has you covered for a medium sized coil. If Detech makes a version of their Ultimate (13" diameter) that is compatible with the F44, IMO that would be a good large coil choice. Works great on my Fisher F75 and I just bought a used one for my sister to put on her White's MXT. Those are quite lightweight for their size. (Thanks to Simon=phrunt for tipping me off to the Ultimate.) Here's Detech's website and they don't mention that the Ultimate has an F44 version, but they do have F4 and F5 version(s) so it's worth contacting them about it. https://www.detechusa.com/product/detech-ultimate-13-vlf-coil/

Definitely. All of those early teen San Francisco issues from 1910 through 1915 are scarce -- mintages between 4 million and 6 million. Excellent find!

Tesoro's lifetime warranty makes you wonder: was it simply a marketing ploy, or were they really built to last? There's something about an analog detector that isn't the same today. Consider digital music, which hit the scene bigtime in the mid-80's. Yet today there are afficianados who swear by vinyl. I think you got a good buy. Go out and enjoy the instrument!

Welcome, (name too long to successfuly repeat 😁)! We are glad to have your presence and look forward to your expert postings.

Well done, deathray! Haven't seen your finds lately but it looks like you've made up for quantity with quality. I particularly like the the nickel 3 cent piece. I'd be giddy with that. (Nugget, well of course!) What's the date & mintmark of the middle Lincoln? I zoomed in on it but couldn't quite make it out. I'm hoping that is a scarce one (like a 1912-S or 1913-S). Thanks for posting the pics and hope your next hunt(s) is just as rewarding.

I just put a caliper on my Jolly Roger switch (without taking off the nut). The o.d. came out right at 6.00 mm and the thread pitch was close to 0.63. (There are obviously uncertainties on these measurements.) Is M6 x 0.7 a standard for electronics? I guess it could be 1/4-40 although I don't remember that being a standard for electronics (1/4-32 is, so I guess that's a possibility).

Welcome Army1! If you're interested in learning about all kinds of detecting, or even just looking at real finds (aka 'eye candy'), you've come to the right place.

Nice video! Could you give a little more detail on the "Milwaukee Vacuum"? What's the model number? Have you done any modifications? Any tricks/tips on using it in these conditions?

Weclome! You live in the right place for gold! Please share pictures of your finds for all of us to envy.

Welcome, Sandwalker! I look forward to you giving your Impulse a workout there and posting your finds for all of us to enjoy.

Good lesson for a youngster. Most adults wouldn't know to do these but your daughter will remember for the rest of her life.

How old are the coins? That might give you an indication of the button's age. It sure has nice patina -- I wouldn't pitch it yet. Even if not military or merchant marine related it could still be from an old piece of clothing.

Welcome, Jim! You have a lot of buried history up there and here's hoping you get some permissions to hunt when the nice weather returns. Keep us posted with your finds.

In the USA if you're on Federal public land (such as BLM or National Forest) you're better off leaving them there. A fine, equipment confiscation (or possibly worse) isn't worth the risk, IMO.

Welcome, Joe! You and I have a lot in common -- just recently retired, started detecting in early life (my last detector of that part of my life was a Garrett GroundHog which I bought in 1979), lost ~35 years of opportunities and came back to the hobby in 2015. I see you already have over 100 posts and likes (some of the latter are probably from me 😄) so please keep up the good posting. This time of year a lot of us envy you for being in FL, well, at least the weather part, not the crowded streets, highways, and beaches.

Wow, most US dectectorists never find a silver dollar in a lifetime of hunting here and you recovered one in Australia! Condition/grade looks pretty high, too. Likely worth a couple hundred $ if the reverse isn't damaged. (You told Simon you damaged the token?) BTW, in the 19th (and even early) 20th Century, apparently to save $ (not) paying a professional sculptor, the US mint produced multiple denominations (dime, quarter, half, dollar, sometimes dollar, and even 20 cent piece for a short time) with the same obverse design. So best to show the reverse where the denomination is indicated when using an early US coin for scale. But, yes, you told us it was a dollar, so those of us familiar with US coins know your scale here. Still amazed and impressed you found that coin Down Under.

I conclude you are in Canada. Can't beat the Canadian nicknames: Loonie ($1) and Toonie ($2). 😄

Way to tough it out. Windy and low 40's F is at or below my threshold. I bet you didn't have any competition! Sounds like you've found a detector that you have confidence in. Hard to beat that.

kac, any chance of modifying the tip? I think Chuck is right on his conclusion that in packed gravel and packed crushed limestone the narrower angled tip is going to be superior.

I think it's more complicated than this. George Lesche is now with Predator (family business?) but it appears his earlier products are made by the other company. Whether he sold the rights to the originals, got forced out,...? Bottom line, though, is that thanks to this thread (and those on the linked site), many of us are now better informed going forward.

WTG, Castleberry! Way to do your research; it paid off. Hope there's more where that came from. Maybe you'll be as lucky as Simon (phrunt). Nah, nobody in the USA is that lucky.

I don't have much experience with horseshoes as I've only encountered a few. Large targets close to the surface reveal themselves by the longer (not sharp) drawn-out tones, and especially in pinpoint mode. Deep targets get sharper (and quieter) and are thus more difficult to reject as they sound more like desirable small targets. Nails on the other hand -- every old site I've ever been to has those, and typically a lot of them. Square nails in particular seem to be problematic for most everyone, regardless of detector being used. Bent modern (that is, round cross section) nails can also be an issue. Another problem nail is the roofing nail because its head gives a 22-23 signal on the Eqx. Depending upon its orientiation you may not get any iron grunt, and even under best orientation you are going to get both and have to decide if it's a roofing nail or a desirable target very close to a nail. Even modern nails with small heads that aren't bent will sound good if they are oriented very close to vertical. (Try an air test with one oriented parallel to the coil axis = perpendicular to the coil plane.) Iron bias setting, recovery speed setting, and even cross checking in certain single frequency modes will probably help some. IMO you are going to have to put in the hours with the Equinox, listening carefully to the tones and digging a lot of junk targets to tune your brain on what to listen for. Even then you likely never will be 100% sure of the dig / no dig decision in the more difficult situations. The perfect discriminating metal detector doesn't exist. The only detectorists who never dig any nails are either in sites where none exist or are leaving good targets in the ground.

There may have been some misunderstanding of what I posted. I do realize that frequency adjust is a local, not global setting. My point was that in some cases a change in microfrequency (via the noise cancel) can take a mode from extremely noisy to quiet. I've never seen this before in 450+ hours of operating the Eqx 800. Usually it's a small effect, if any. That is, when in a quiet environment it doesn't matter what microfrequency you are in -- they are all quiet. But in a (broad band) noisy environment it also matters little as you can't quiet things down by simply doing a noise cancel. At least you can't with my unit -- I can't speak for others.

🤣

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Steve. I was thinking the length of the rod would also be critical, but apparently not.