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HI Guys! I know it's comparison apples with oranges but was curious about depth in mild ground between these two machines.I know in mineralized ground ATX is deeper than Equinox,thats for sure.I'm going to hunt a lake with no mineralized ground and in this condition I will know which detector is deeper.Any tips???

This video also demonstrates that both low conductors are in the same exact VDI range.

I went out this morning and did a auto GB in a couple of places in my yard, one read 5, the other 6. Does anyone have bad dirt that they have GB'd in? I'd like to know what kind of numbers, really mild and some harsh soil reads come in at.

The manual shows how to do auto ground balance. do we have to do an auto ground balance before we put it in tracking ground balance or can we just do a noise cancel and then put it in tracking GB?

Here’s a good very of Keith demonstrating how to adjust the Salinity Balance on the MDT 8000 in bad dirt. (Thanks Keith!) Aaron Keith

Hi Equinox owners. I have had mine for several months but mostly used it for relics, now and then on gold in quiet ground, so mostly have not needed to even reall contemplate tracking. But now as the weather has really cooled off I have decided to try in more in various areas for gold. Now, when using Auto balance which I have up till now used it's all good. See the ground change raise n lower the coil, hear a variation, hit balance, see it change and go quiet. Ok. But I have tried Tracking and I see a ground colour, mineralisation, change, raise and lower the coil and there is ground noise. So, the ground balance I started in was say 15 by the numbers, but now it's changed whilst in tracking and still showing 15. But when I hit balance and pump the coil whilst holding it, it may go up to 60! Now thats a big change and the noise as I raised and lowered the coil corresponds with that, or agrees there is a significant change. But even though the tracking icon was shown and tracking chosen it didn't move from the initial balance. So I stop, press the track/balance and up it shoots to where it should be. My machine to me is just an manual balance, Auto balance detector and has no Auto Tracking. I can balance say to 10, then manually change it to 70, or go into minus numbers, but when I put it into Track and raise and lower the coil, I can hear the pitch either rise or fall dramatically as I raise and lower it but nothing happens. Now and the a minor number change, but just by a few to several after repeated pumps, sometimes 20 to 30 pumps. Then it stops. Then I press and hold the button and it can change significantly by tens or more number values. How do you guys find yours performs in Tracking please?

Steve, Every since you posted that you lose depth when you ground balance, It is in the back of my mind........ "Ground balancing is a filter and not all that different that the way the discrimination system works. The ground signal or salt signal (or both) are identified and then tuned out. The ground effect is still there, but the detector subtracts it from the overall signal. The key word there is "subtracts". Ground balance methods work by subtracting part of the signal, and all subtractive methods create depth losses of some sort the closer any detected item gets to the "hole" created by subtracting the ground or salt signal. Signals are not perfect but spread over a small range, and so eliminating any signal usually means taking out a small range of signals. " I have always tried to keep my detectors ground balanced while using them.... Now I wonder if I should? Can you put my mind at ease......

Went out yesterday for a full day of detecting. Wanted to try the new semi auto ground balance. Went with pretty much basic default settings otherwise. I have to say I was quite pleased with it. I was in one of my beat to death patches. Lots of magnetic iron stones, hot rocks. It ran very smooth. It seemed I could separate the targets very distinctively. The small bits of wire were a raspy on the edges sound. The square nails were bangers. The non ferrous targets were about the same as the gold targets. Had one really weird target sound. I always dig those. But I usually dig everything 95% of the time. But the weird sound was gold. Not sure if my focus was just better yesterday or it was the new ground balance. But my instincts were pretty spot on, on what the target was going to be. But very pleased with the new update and settings. The take wasn't too spectacular, but I avoided the skunk in a hammered patch.

This thread starts out slow but gets into some good tips later about hunting “carpet of nails” situations. Tom does not mention until late in the thread that the tips are for low mineral soil - not applicable to medium and higher mineralized ground. I just want to highlight that because his tips about using low recovery speeds don’t work well in most ground I hunt. Some of the comments about higher frequency attenuation in bad soil obviously don’t apply in nugget hunting situations either. We both agree about Park 1 though for a lot of hunting. Sort of a mixed bag from my perspective so be cautious always about taking online tips as applying to everyone everywhere. That includes mine!! The real secret is knowing how your machine works not by reading posts but by using it enough to truly understand the detector and adjust it yourself for different situations. But do check it out as food for thought is always good and may help certain people in ground similar to what Tom has. http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,166825

My brother and I are having issues with Field 2 and what is apparently ground noise (constant low level grunting). So much so that I have to find a clean spot for ground balancing in Field 1 and then switch to Field 2 to balance. I am assuming that our soil here in Mississippi is mild. On our last hunt I was running sensitivity of 20, Iron Bias 0, and a recovery speed of 3. The site is not overload with trash and iron. In "all metal" we are getting constant grunting. Switching to Field 1 clears the background noise up and allows us to hear just the iron. Is there anything we can do to reduce the ground noise in Field 2? Thanks!!

I always have my ears perked up for something new in metal detectors and metal detecting technology. I’m not educated enough to really get deep into the technical side of it, but I have a general layman's knowledge of the subject. A couple years ago Carl Moreland, the Engineering Manager for White's Electronics, was interviewed on a radio show. I tripped over a reference to the interview on another forum and checked it out. It is very long, and near the end Carl dropped a bombshell. At least I thought so, but it went unnoticed and uncommented on in the metal detecting online world. I thought about posting it on a forum back then but decided to wait and see what developed. Here is the applicable portion of the interview: Relic Roundup Radio Show, January 17, 2012, Interview with Carl Moreland, Engineering Manager, White’s Electronics http://en.1000mikes.com/app/archiveEntry.xhtml?archiveEntryId=260469 Transcript beginning at 50:57 mark: Carl Moreland - “I can mention one technology that we’re working on because the patent has already been published… or the application, not the patent hasn't gone through yet. We’re working on something called half sine technology, which has actually been around since the 1960’s in geophysical prospecting applications. This is where instead of transmitting a sinusoidal signal you actually just transmit half of the sine and you can do that at extremely high voltages and high ? rates and so on. It’s technically not pulse induction but it’s not VLF either and it is a time domain method. And with that we can get really good depth and we can even get target id information and do discrimination and so forth.” Can you see why I perked up at that? I am still amazed it did not get any notice at the time. Nothing happened for a long time. Then I got this PM from Rick Kempf recently: Sent 29 January 2014 - 09:04 AM Was looking for info on my new SD 2100 this AM when I sort of fell down a rabbit hole of old forum posts and emerged reading Whites new patent. About the first thing I noticed was that you were cited in "prior art". Here's what they cited: http://www.voy.com/76600/7/475.html The patent is here: http://www.google.com/patents/US20110316541 Is this something you knew about? Just wondering. Rick Kempf I told Rick, yeah, heard about that. It was the patent finally being granted from the application Carl mentions in the interview. It was fun getting a mention in a patent though I think it was just the examiner studying up on the subject and finding my old post helpful in simplifying the subject. For a long time the Holy Grail in metal detecting has been something that combines the target identification of an Induction Balance (IB or more commonly known as VLF) detector with depth of a Pulse Induction (PI) detector. There have been many promises and false starts over the years, and that was one reason I kept the radio interview mention quiet the last couple years. Frankly, I had half forgot about it until Rick brought the patent being granted to my attention. Notice the title: Hybrid Induction Balance/Pulse Induction Metal Detector A new hybrid metal detector combines induction balance and pulse induction technologies. Target signals are generated from a transmitted wave that has both induction balance and pulse current inducing characteristics and uses pertinent sampling of the receive data. Combining the two data sources provides eddy current target identification while excluding ground permeability and remanence obscuration. Is it time to sing Hallelujah? Well, there is a big gap in between getting a patent and bringing a detector to market. Many patents get filed and you never even see something directly related to the patent. Maybe it looked good on paper but does not pan out well in reality for numerous reasons. So just because White's was granted this patent does not mean something is around the corner. However, they have been working on it for over two years already obviously. And it has been some time since White's put something new out. I do not count remakes of the MXT etc as new. So I think there is reason to be hopeful we may see something one of these days. John Earle is one of the unsung heros in the industry. He had a hand in many of the best products at Compass Electronics before moving over to White's after Compass went under. To this day I have never used a VLF that goes any deeper than my old Compass Gold Scanner Pro. John was one of the brains involved in that, as well as the White's Goldmaster 3, regarded by many as being the pinnacle of the analog development of that model line. I was fortunate to have met John at the factory some years ago. He is listed as the inventor on the new patent. Half sine technology is also mentioned in an earlier patent filed by White's, again with John listed as inventor at http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7649356.pdf Looks like serious stuff brewing. Bruce Candy of Minelab makes mention of half sine technology in a patent application at http://patents.com/us-20130154649.html which makes me wonder about the new "Super Gold Detector" he is working on. But it is this most recent patent by White's that seems to put the finest point on it. Maybe the Holy Grail of detecting is soon to be a reality. The fact it is White's certainly gives me more hope than what we have seen in the past. Edit May 2015 - see also White's patent for Constant Current Metal Detector

Hello new here and to detecting. I bought a new Lobo st in 2004/2005 played with it a bit and pulled the batts and put it away for a few years. i didnt have much luck with it . i have a gold piece 24k about .51 grams and .400 long .200 wide and .050 thick, how deep should i be able to detect this piece. ive got several silver dimes and quarters older pennys going back to 1890s. im setting up a test field with the coins in zip lock bags. and rope markers added some junk and nails as well . should i be able to detect a 1971 penny at 6 inches in any mode? im getting nothing, and i see videos at 8 ,10 ,12 inches and nothing on the gold at 3 inches, could there be something wrong with the detector?

Is it better to do manual balancing or autotracking in salt water? On dry sand I have not found great differences, but in sea water the doubt remains, it would seem that autotracking tends to eliminate weak signals, according to you which is the best solution?

I just came back from a beach hunt with my 3030. There was not much there (a 2g silver ring) and a few coins. Most of the 3 hours I was out I was thinking about another thread that has brought up in my mind the difference between hearing targets or ground listening for targets. The 3030 gives you choices of Low Trash, High Trash, Ferrous Coin and Ground Coin as examples of how you want to separate the sounds. This would have to be a bit of a speed control choice. The Nox has different settings of course. I've found gold with both detectors. I'm a fair beach hunter and reader of a beach with the 3030, SE Pro, Equinox, 5000, etc. I swing for target sounds and dig'em. I pretty much ignore the ground and the salt water. Often times I go to our local gold fields and I'm not as successful as others. I don't seem to get some of the little nuggets or the deep ones. Most of the time I've described my nugget style as beach hunting for nuggets. The bottom line is I want more nuggets. I just read Steve's tips on setting up the Nox in a way that will allow it to identify nuggets. I've got a 7000, 800 and a 2300 and some other detectors (GB Pro) that can also hear nuggets but maybe this is not what I should be doing for nugget hunting. Maybe what I should be doing is listening to the ground! Let me give a couple of definitions: listen to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear. to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed by to?Children don't always listen to their parents. to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed by for?to listen for sounds of their return. hear to perceive by the ear:Didn't you hear the doorbell? to learn by the ear or by being told; be informed of:to hear news. to listen to; give or pay attention to:They refused to hear our side of the argument. The reason for these definitions is to show myself that hearing is not listening unless I concentrate. Most of the good nugget hunters that post here talk about getting a smooth threshold. They learned their techniques back in the day when ground balance was much more difficult than it is now. I think those guys intuitively listen to the ground even with this new technology. I've always wanted to hear targets. (Is this too find a difference?) So, I could go on and on but the question becomes: Do you listen to the ground or concentrate on target sounds? Mitchel

Dear fellow hunters, I am running my new Nox 800 for about 2 months now. Trying to go out nearly every day for 2-4 hours. I did find some nice coins and other cool stuff and some not so cool stuff. Learning the detector is fun. I found a several times when being in AUTO ground tracking the machine got a little loud/unstable. When I looked up the ground tracking it was telling me a number in the 90ies. Switching off AUTO and do manual tracking (pumping the coil) the machine went quiet at 12. I was expecting the AUTO ground tracking to be "up to date". Did you make similar experiences?

The following information is from an apparent leak from a First Texas distributor meeting? The link is posted at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/555-new-fisher-pulse-induction-multi-frequency-detectors/?p=10571 as part of the thread about upcoming Fisher products that have been circulating for a couple years. These leaks seem to jive with previous statements by Tom Mallory of First Texas. The main one of interest to the people on this forum would be a new CZX model aimed at gold prospecting. Here is the text from the posted screen shot: CZX - Fisher and Teknetics This machine is ground breaking technology Turn on and go 2 frequency - 9:1 ratio No need to ground balance or adjust the detector to the environment It automatically senses the ground and makes changes accordingly. First detector birthed from this platform is a gold unit priced around $1000, but deeper than current VLF, this detector will also see through red dirt, and highly mineralized soil. From this platform other machines will develop. We intend to develop the CZX and MOSCA platforms to offer more machines in the $1000 to $2000 range than have ever been available. Target release 2016 We have senior engineer Dave Johnson on this project The "Mosca" platform referred to is further described and apparently is aimed more at being a general purpose non-prospecting detector (coins, jewelry, relics). Again, here is the text from the posted screen shot: "Mosca" Fisher and Teknetics Waterproof up to 10' (3 meters) Wireless headphones - Waterproof loop and connectors for headphones 2 frequency - 7:1 ratio Hobby/Treasure Market - Great for Saltwater, Relic, Coin Auto Ground Tracking Single Pod Design LCD Pad, control buttons, 2 AA batteries Arm Pad in rear Retail target - $1200 - $2000 Target release 2016 We have dedicated engineers on this project OK, so a gold unit around $1000 that goes deeper than current VLF designs. I also have high hopes that knowing the proclivities of the engineer, Dave Johnson, that it will be relatively light and ergonomic. Dave also prefers simple and the design statements reflect that. We seriously need something that brings gold detector weights and prices back to earth and so hopefully this will be it. I have stated over and over again I would be very happy with ATX equivalent performance in a less expensive lightweight package. Garrett so far seems disinclined to make that unit but they have a year at least before it may be a moot point. The CZX would have to obsolete the White's TDI as it is aimed squarely at or below the same price point and unless it beats TDI performance would be dead on arrival. We will not have long to wait - 2016 is coming fast!

How does IB detectors compare to VLF and PI's? Worth trying to build one or just a waste of time?

NUGGET SHOOTER JOURNALS Published on Feb 12, 2019 - In this video I am using the Minelab Equinox 800 in "gold 1", sensitivity "16 to 18", Multi IQ, and auto tracking. Rest of the settings are stock. It amazes me what this little beast if a VLF detector will do in hot ground (minerals) and finding the smallest bits of gold for the operator. Beautiful area with lots of Agate and other cool stuff just laying on the ground.

hi I am a begginer in gpx 5000 prospecting deep targets , I prefer to use coin/relic timings and use a double D 18" coil . What confuse me is ground balance , we have "fixed" and "tracking" in front of panel and also 3 option to choose by setting in GB type . Would you tell me what to choose to gain maximum depth? And is it possible to ground balance on a target and eliminate that size of target in prospecting? Thank you

Since Steve is looking for more pictures... I did get out Saturday afternoon. Temps said 30 deg, so figured it was a good day to see how my Vista Gold Gain likes colder weather. I have been addicted to using it since trading for it in August, in any site that is not too infested with modern aluminum. The part of the field I was hunting is usually very wet, and hence, freezes very solid...its kind of like frozen mud...once you disturb it...gets messy. The frozen solid layer 2 weeks ago was only about 2 inches...Saturday it was about 5 inches. A brief plug for anyone looking for a new shovel. I have had my Lesche 38 ground shark d-handle for more than 3 years now. It is indestructible. It was taking 3 or 4 jumps per cut to get through the ice layer...then I basically pried using my weight to get the plug up. The targets were mostly below the frozen stuff, so actually pinpointing and retrieving targets once the plug was out...pretty easy. This spot produces its share of buttons...didnt disappoint this time, either. VGG just nails the small stuff as easily as the larger items. The oval is a cufflink, it has a running fox on it...ozzie and I have both gotten multiple of these at this spot now, and I have multiples of the other ladies buttons from other hunts there as well. The object just to the left of the spoon....It is a cast item, as it has a seam. It is a decorative item, as it has two flowers on it. I will post other pictures if I can manage to get it cleaned up any better. Temps have been so low the last 4 days...no shot at detecting now unless it warms up for a week or two...i shall hope.

Many of the sites I hunt will have a whole lot of -6 to -9 readings when having a gain of 18 and above. Is this the mineralization in the ground making the detector false? If so should I drop sensitivity even further until the readings stop? Just curious because I half way thought I remembered Steve h saying something along those lines

There are few places left where you can dredge legally in the United States, especially with larger suction dredges. Alaska however is very dredging friendly. I have been updating the Alaska Mining Claims For Sale page and there are several decent dredging claim packages available now at some good prices. If you are looking for a summer long dredging adventure, this is the place to start so check it out.

White's V3i Information page

I got a new White's Ground Hawg Shovel in September, have used it on 3-4 hunts, and yesterday I was digging and it folded up like a cheap suit The metal tubing before the head, just bent over ? I wasn't in rocky soil, wasn't wailing on tree roots, it was normal California soil, no clay, no crazy bermuda grass roots, nothing crazy. Does anyone know if White's provides a warranty on this? I hate to loose $59 on a new "heavy duty" shovel ?