GB_Amateur

Interesting response by a commentator (seen at end of blog): E.T. on June 3, 2018 at 11:01 There is no uPC inside the coil and it means that there are no “protection codes”! 6 month for R&D and 6 month to start “production” so in spring 2019 we will have a great choice of coils from MarsMD, NEL, MGC Lab and so on! Thanks to great variety of coils Equinox will be extremely popular metal detector! I would have thought just the opposite.

Nice finds, Gerry! I think this is the company that made your spoon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Parker_Company

I tried this technique while out hunting the last couple days. I didn't accept it as the end-all; I know better. What I was tending to see (it's never easy, and I do mean 'never') is that for isolated targets it worked well. However, isolated targets (for me, anway) are the easy ones to figure out. For multiple targets near/under the coil it wasn't as helpful. There are a lot of tricks in metal detecting. In real world trashy sites your bag of tricks needs to be large. Even then I doubt there is any 100% accurate method. If you don't like digging then skip all but the cleanest signals. If you don't like leaving any (potentially) valuable item in the ground then dig-it-all. If you're like most you have to find your own happy medium in between these two extremes. Fill your bag with tricks, but don't expect any (or even all together) to give you Superman's X-ray vision.

Are you doing a (auto) ground balance? If you're lifting your coil slightly at the end of your swing (I know I do) the out-of-balance ground may be the cause of the iron signal. I know the manual says leave the ground balance set to the default (zero) unless you are experiencing ground falsing. The implication is that mild ground doesn't need adjustment. My ground isn't particularly mineralized but I've certainly noticed signals from the ground when the coil gets closer and farther from the surface. I've just gotten into the habit of ground balancing every time out, and sometimes check during a session as it can change even in my mild-to-moderate ground. I'm constantly working on my coil control as I know, particularly for gold hunting, that keeping the coil a consistent height helps. But just like a golf swing, unless you're the 1 in a million born with the knack it takes lots of practice (that is, time in the field).

Mark G. did another video on this issue -- with gold coins and a gold ring. IMO, Mark's videos are always meaningful.

Did you notice the letters/numbers on the first photo, about 6 O'clock, roughly halfway from center to edge? Looks like 'PAS 19' but not sure, especially the 'S'. Somethings that big only hitting 35 makes me think it's not a very high conductor (so it's not copper). What's "an old round"?

Welcome, Michael! Keep us up-to-date on your finds. Don't expect too much out of your Eqx on day 1. You might hit the ground running, but possibly not. Keep it simple and only adjust a bit at a time after you get comfortable with the stock mode settings.

Don't forget the GPAA which I mentioned in the Meet and Greet thread you started. Check out their website: http://www.goldprospectors.org/ There are 17 local chapters in California alone (see the map on the website). Find one (or more) close to you and contact them to find out when and where they will have their next meeting. You don't need to be a member to attend the meetings. The national organization conducts open-to-the-public regional gold shows (as you'll find on the website) -- about 6 each year. They do the Western US in the Jan-May time window and the Eastern US in the Autumn. I don't think they've posted their 2019 shows yet; last two this year are Lawrenceville, GA (20-21 Oct) and Springfield, OH the following weekend. There should be at least one in California early next year. But you don't need to wait for those to attend a local chapter meeting. When you attend a show, make sure to check out the hour-long lecture/presentations which are usually on Saturday. There will likely be at least one on metal detecting for gold.

I didn't notice many changes in the product line other than the obvious (new) MX7. Given I'm a TDI owner, I did see that they no longer list the 12 inch mono coil, but I don't know how recently this was removed from their catalogs.

Excellent choice for an all-around metal detector that is affordable. Definitely read the manual (and more than once)! Here is an excellent guide to gold hunting: http://www.fisherlab.com/hobby/davejohnson/DavesGoldbook-reders.pdf As far as your question about submersing the coil in water -- yes, you shouldn't have any problems with that alone. The big problem comes if you slip and fall into the water, dunking you detector. The F70 control unit isn't waterproof. If that happens, immediatly turn off the detector and remove the battery. If possilbe (for example you're in a location that allows and you have the tools) carefully open the control unit and dry it out (gently!). Canned air is a great way to facilitate drying without doing damage. My guess is that most waterproof units aren't bought to be used totally underwater but just to be safe in the event that the detector gets dunked. But with a non-waterproof detector it's still a choice -- risk it getting damged by dunking or risk the enjoyment of water searching by avoiding this activity. I can't speak for anyone else, but I've taken two of my non-waterproof detectors into creeks and they've lived to tell the story.

I'm sure there are more knowledgeable people here who can advise, but given that it's been 7 hours without any responses I can at least chime in. If gold nuggets are on your wish list then (general principle, not gospel) you want to be in the higher frequencies. The Fisher F44 is an excellent low cost detector and it has a first derivative mode which is generally (again, not gospel) the right feature for hunting gold. Unfortunately its 7.8 kHz operating frequency is far from optimal for that kind of hunting. Coins and relics OTOH, yes. I'm a strong proponent of used equipment. The reality is that for half to 2/3 the price of new you can get used detectors in excellent condition. Examples of multi-purpose detectors that fit this description (and can be found in the $300 - $350 used price range) are the Fisher Gold Bug (and its sisters, Gold Bug Pro, F19, Teknetics G2, Tek G2+), Minelab X-Terra 705, Garrett AT Gold, Whites MXT, and several models by Nokta/Makro to name just some out there. Definitely familiarize yourself with Steve's detector reviews which cover these and more. Then check Ebay and also the classifieds on the Internet sites such as this one.

Yes, you have! Welcome, Ray. Lots of good places in California to find gold. And even more places where it just isn't. You should consider joining the Gold Prospectors Association of America: http://www.goldprospectors.org/ for even more camaraderie and lots of information, group claims, etc. It's easier to find gold with a pan than with a detector since there is a lower limit on the size a detector will react to compared to a pan. Further, in many sites with gold, the size is so small that no detector will respond. As Steve has said many times, metal detecting for gold is like big game hunting -- the ultimate challenge. Still, if you enjoy the outdoors (and it sounds like you do) then getting skunked is the next best thing to finding the oro. Enjoy!

It would be nice to have a drone overhead videotaping the coil coverage on a hunt. I think that would be very enlightening. I was out 4 1/2 hours this morning with the Eqx 800 at my favorite park. The first 3 3/4 hours were fresh real estate but not finding anything older than a Jeffy I decided to spend the last 45 minutes in a section which has produced very well. I found a Jefferson nickel at about 4.5 - 5 inches and a Wheatie between 6 and 7 inches. I could have sworn I'd been over the place I found the nickel at least 3 times in the past. Likely hit the spot with the Wheatie at least once. The penny was in a trash infested location so maybe it was masked previously (hunted with the F75). But the nickel should have been cleanly signalled with any of my detectors. (Hunting in Park 1, noise cancelled and ground balanced, sens. = 21, custom 5 tones, iron bias = 4, recovery = 5, no discrimination.) I'm agreeing with you, Chase. At least in my case I'm sure my coil coverage is far from complete.

You were walking back then and now we can see you are running -- nice finds! The Merc right below the Seated quarter looks to be in fantastic condition. Without revealing too much, could you describe the site you found the seated quarter? I'm wondering if the condition is due to the site (e.g. saltwater) or if it just went in the ground that way.

Nice finds! Not even close to an expert on jewelry, so my comment might be totally bogus. I can't imagine any standards where '925' can be used for either solid or plated. I'm voting for solid sterling. Then again, I don't know what the 'PC' means, unless it's a politically correct ring size. ?

Nice Merc! You've gotten some excellent advice on the iron falsing question -- much better than I could have done. (Still learning, as are all of us.) Regarding the ergonomics, I noticed similar discomfort the first time out. Coming from the Fisher F75, it's a difficult bar to reach. In particular after many 10's of hours I was still bothered by the loose forearm cuff of the Equinox. I know many detectorists use straps (most detectors have these in either the base package or as an extra cost option) but since I wear a watch on my swinging (left) hand it always gets caught on the strap when I put my arm back in. The F75's adjustable forearm cuff is brilliant (at least compared to the competition I'm aware of) and certainly that has spoiled me. My solution for both the Fisher Gold Bug Pro and the new Equinox is to add weather stripping foam strips -- available at any hardware store, lumber yard, and even Walmart, which come with adhesive on one side. Add enough layers to take out the slop and problem solved. This solution is also reversible -- something I try to always achieve in case things don't work the way I expect (and likely when cold weather arrives this winter and I'll be wearing sweatshirts and coats I'll be doing some reconfiguring). Regarding the toe weight, at first this bothered me but after a couple times out I realized I no longer noticed it. For operating without a forearm strap it actually keeps the detector tight against my arm better than a perfectly balanced detector. I'm pretty picky when it comes to ergonomics, so the fact that I've gotten used to the toe heaviness should give you hope.

Surprisingly to me, this is a feature which typically gets swept under the table. On the RH side of the control module is a toggle switch which allows you to set up a mode with particular settings, save it, and retrieve it with one push of a button. There are multiple cases where you might want to apply this option. The obvious one is when you get an 'iffy' signal in your preferred mode+settings and would like to check with other mode/settings. Different mode? Different frequency (that is, single freq vs multi), different recovery speed, iron bias, etc? I'm sure part of the resistance to using this feature is the apparent bug that when turning off the detector in this condition, problems can arrive when restarting. Hopefully that will be addressed by Minelab for future upgrades. For me, an additional issue is the difficulty in switching to this feature. It likely partly has to do with me using the detector left handed, meaning the closest digit to this button is my (short) thumb. But to make matters more challenging, the force required to engage any of the (left and right) side switches is significant, in comparison to the front face switches. Personally I wish the front face frequency change button (which I only use on rare occasions) had been swapped with the profile button. If that were the case I'm sure I'd find a way to take advantage of the profile feature much more frequently. In fact, I can imagine multiple profiles being useful, although this does complicate the switching required, both for the user and the engineers. I really appreciate the myriad of settings/options the Eqx has available. I don't know how this ranks with the universe of metal detectors but suspect it is at least in the top 10. But, seemingly unfortunately, the difficulty of using the profile option makes it more challenging to take advantage of all these opportunities.

Obviously everyone has their preferences. I waffled over the 600 vs. 800 decision. My past experience (trying to decide which First Texas 'flagship' model to buy -- F70, F75(std), F75 black, T2, T2 black) and ending up going with the most bells and whistles (= highest price), then realizing 98% of the time I would have done just as well with the F70 (errr, make that the Teknetics Patriot which is the F70 with an 7x11 in^2 DD coil) at half the cost. But often you don't know until you try, and are left wondering 'what if?' I've tried 50 tones a couple times, and I see some advantages, but I keep going back to what has worked for me in the past. (And, yes, I've tried multi-tones with both the X-Terra 705 and the F75, with the same reversion.) For a while I've wanted a detector that allowed tone-adjust so this was part of the reason I chose the 800. I use it all the time now, have my own custom settings (tone pitches, tone breaks, and volumes) and really like it. Once you get used to it (i.e. don't need to review the manual nor tax your memory) it's a pretty quick setup to go from factory default to custom. Probably takes me 2 or 3 minutes (in a single mode, which is all I tend to use for a single day's hunt right now). The Gold modes are something I will be using as soon as I can get out West where the metal detectable gold actually lives. Since the weather turned warm I've used the WM-08 exclusively (with earbuds). So it's more than just the advanced adjustments that I'm taking advantage of. I'm certainly not trying to talk anyone into the 800 over the 600. $250 is nothing to sneeze at in my world so I understand. And if I had a 600 I'd be out there just as often having just as much fun.

Building up good Karma while you await the healing to finish. Good to hear you're on the mend!

Here's part II:

I've done some more thinking on this. I do really like the pinpoint feature of the Eqx, but it's not perfect, IMO. I'm not complaining. Facts (or at least claims) shouldn't be interpreted as complaints. There isn't a perfect detector and there never will be. Bottom line is that it helps to know the limitations. I've frequently had the pinpoint pull me away from the target I've been trying to find. Pretty sure that is because another target in range of the coil is stronger (in the 'eyes' of the pinpoint circuit and software) and it 'pulls' me to that. Other than changing the coil (or maybe turning down the gain), I don't know any way around this. As such I sometimes have to use other pinpoint methods. In trashy areas (almost everywhere I hunt), the 90 degree technique has problems as well, because the strength of the signal coming from the coil isn't symmetric. In my experience, the toe is less likely to see a target off the coil than the sides of the coil. This can be experienced when near a chain link fence -- you can get closer to the fence without detecting it by facing the fence head on as opposed to swinging (left/right) into and away from the fence. The wiggle method is where I think I have the problems getting a false target location. Actually, Mark's video: may be a hint that my theory has veracity. Right under the center of the coil is where a vertical coin gets silent. I'm never 100% sure of anything so I may be misinterpeting what I'm experiencing. But I've never had this kind of issue before, where I pinpoint and subsequentyly find the target well away from that spot. Most of the time the wiggle method gets me spot on, but it fails enough that I don't think it's just me being sloppy.

I'm envious at those old nickel finds! I've noticed (although it's not yet scientifically determined) that the Eqx is deadly at finding nickels. As many have noted, it also 'finds' a lot of other targets in the nickel range. But if you're not allergic to digging trash targets, you're going to get your share of rewarding finds.

In other words, use the Golden Rule. That is why I love this place: knowledge, excitement, camaraderie, and respect -- all positives. Negative attitudes (i.e. attacking others) isn't welcome. It's OK, even healthy to disagree if that leads to discussion and learning. If it's simply about defending turf, ego, and insecurities there are enough places to do that, but this isn't one of them.