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This morning the tide was in early so i went to the beach for an 8am start , the tides are a bit short right now and much of the beaches are built up . I used the Nox today and i decided to have a go on the dry tops and try to solve the EMI issues . First though i got my feet wet looking for goodies low down and came across a few coins and a knackered strange looking Silver ring with its band broken . When i got to the area that has the worst EMI i went up to the tops and did a noise cancel , this time it worked . Though only for 15 minutes or so then i had to do it all over again and then again ...... . By the end of the search i had found £22.72p and the Silver ring . I wish the Gold would show up , maybe it will on the longer tides when i can get onto sand but then i am working the next long tides so might have to wait till later . I saw 2 other detectorists , 1 with an E.Trac and the other with a cheapie machine , dont know which machine . My next day out is in the weekend . Working tomorrow .

Tuesday evening after work i went to the beach again , even though it was a bit cooler and misty i thought maybe there would be something to be had. I got to the beach at around the same time as the last time at 7.15pm and used my Terra , i took the Nox with me in case the lower beach looked suitable to detect . But it didn't , using the Terra is easier on my beaches on the dry tops. I searched the same beach as last time plus another East and by 10.30 i was almost finished when a couple with a torch appeared and were looking for something . They said the Girl had lost a Silver ring , they seearched one area but i thought after looking that they must have lost it slightly further away . And i was right , within a few minutes i had found it . So thats 19 i have had this year , though i dont have a picture of it . My total finds for this search were 2 Junk rings , a junk ear ring , the Silver ring (returned) and £30.69p and also 2 Pencil sharpeners ! My next search will be with the Nox further West on Thursday morning for low tide . Time to find Gold , if its there . I know fresh coinage might be boring to some but to me its what pays for my machines and thankfully it does. It will be a sad time when it all finally goes cashless , finding coins will be very nostalgic .

After i finished work late because of very warm weather getting the crowds out and onto the beach i took my Nox and Terra to the beach . I was thinking work the tide out with the Nox then do the dry tops with the 705 which is better for that , is ! I got there at around 7.15pm , when i saw the beach it looked quite busy and the lower beach looked worth doing . I found within an hour that it wasn't so i got my Terra set up and as the crowds left as it started to get darker i started to find some fresh losses . Not as much as in the past but not bad and hopefully it will get better as the Summer comes. I found a wallet , it had no money in it and only had 2 i.d. cards for clubs and a National Health card and a Visa card ( i sense a cloning could happen!) , i called the numbers on the clubs but had to leave a message . I could not find a Copper to hand it in too so i took it back to my Bus Depot and put it into lost property and left a message saying that . Anyway before that and upto around 11pm i had found £37.12p and a flashy Lighter which i have refilled with Gas . I didn't see anyone else detecting so i had all the beach to myself . I would go to the beach on monday and the weather is going to be warm again but i have an early start on Tuesday . I have other things to do on Wednesday including going to Hospital with Mum to get her a CT scan for her suspected lung Cancer so i think maybe Thursday will be my next day out .

First report I have seen from somebody getting Equinox actually underwater - this guy on Findmall down to 8 feet with no issues - and some gold!

Had a chance to do a beach that was not very productive last fall. I did not want to keep hitting the same beaches, as I would have to move on sooner or later, so I tried this beach out. I wanted to see if the 800 would get anything. This beach was heavily sanded in and only the light targets were shallow. The good stuff was deep. I knew it was going to be tough finding any gold so I decided to hit the beach early and stay late. 11 hours and I was able to get a partial gold (9k?) high school ring, and probably a 14K white gold ring (says 585). The other ring is 14K FG and is not gold. Two .925 rings add to the better finds. Rest is clad and junk. The Equinox made the hunt on one charge but was down to its last bar. I don't think it would have lasted much longer. Next week's hunt will have very bad tidal coefficient (between +0.5 and +0.7) on the beaches I hunt. Not a low enough tide to get the areas I like to hunt. We shall see what the 800 does that week. I still amazed this machine has kept me in the gold streak for this long.

Over the last couple of days the weather has been wet and a bit windy , looking at a nearby beach i pass every day when working that usually looks like my local beaches i search it didn't look good . Anyway i decided to go this morning at 5am for a while and work the tide out . I was also wondering which machine to use , either the Nox or the ET . In the end i went with the Nox . When i started i searched along the lower beach above low tide but above the sand but the finds were quite sparse so gave up after a couple of hours . At that time the sand was showing and so i put the Nox in Beach 2 and got my feet wet , my settings are different to the ones on the Beach 2 but when i went into the water the Nox stayed completely stable and no falsing . I only found 3 coins but then i didn't expect them . By the end of the search i had found £5.11p . Unfortunately no gems this time. Beach 2 works far better than Beach 1 . Unfortunately the Nox wont work on the top parts of my beaches due to huge amounts of EMI but at least i have found where its best suited. My next hunt is either tomorrow or next Monday , that will be with the Nox too.

This morning i went to the beach at 3am so i could work out the tide and would have been there at 1am but overslept . I only went on a small section of beach as the rest was not really that good after giving it a check . Gladly i found a good spot and pulled a number of coins out , i found a Cross too but cant see a hallmark so cannot say if its Silver or not . My total was 1.20 Euro's , the Cross , 2 other foreign coins and £18.53p . In the picture one of the Pound coins in the second row turned out to be the Euro coin after cleaning . I am still not getting more than 6 maybe 7 inches of depth from the Nox but still cannot say if its the machine or the beach . My next search will be early on Wednesday but i will use the ET as the Nox wont work on the dry tops due to serious EMI from the clubs along the seafront or something . The ET and Terra can handle it and i know their tones but the Nox is very different . The only best place for the Nox on my beaches is between the low and high tide points . I have another 800 ordered and have found a buyer for my Explorer 11 but i dont know whether to buy the second Nox or not or keep the E 11 ? Its a pity there are so few of the machines out there in a way , i could do with another person using the Nox on my beaches to see if they have the same issues . As it happens i might have to postpone my second machine anyway due to something else , might have a Holiday to book for Mum and i to Oz at some point . I will take the Nox to Oz for a hunt on their beaches . Not sure when that will be .

I was metal detecting the beach in the water about Waist Deep, when I hit this signal that was large and the Equinox was giving numbers from 12 to 18 with the occasional hits around 26 to 32 At first I thought bottle caps! I have found groups of them before... and as I started to walk away I thought to myself I've never had bottle caps hit up in those High numbers before... So I went back and started digging and my first scoop had two Rusty bottle caps in it... went back over the hole and now the signal still bounced around but was more solid than before... My next scoop was another bottle cap and as I ran the coil over the hole again, a solid 28 the next scoop brought up a completely crusted black ring! I just thought cool it must be silver with a little star of gold.... I didn't think much of it... when I got back and cleaned it up, I started thinking this is not just an ordinary silver ring, this is some kind of fancy designer ring! It's made in France by a jewelry company Mauboussin that's been around since 1858 I think it was... And a quick search of the internet they sell for 500.00

I made a waterproof connector using the cover plug for the WM - 8 module... using my Dremel I carefully cut a hole in the top and had to slightly widen the two ribs that come down inside the plug... becareful not to mar the edge of the plug where it seats against the O-ring ( red arrow) clean it all up with acetone or denatured alcohol... then use 3M 4000 sealant it's good for plastic! You can find it in any Marine store! I first screwed the plug in to the head of the machine then I coated the plastic of the 1/8 in headphone jack and inserted that through the hole I made making sure it plugs all the way into the machine if you're not sure turn it on and check! I then added the glob to the end to make sure it's sealed! Remember everybody you're at your own risk when you make anything for your machine! I have about ten hours on it!

I managed to get some time to do my 5th beach hunt with the Equinox. I was a bit anxious (self-imposed lol) about continuing my gold streak. I had a plan of attack and was optimistic about this hunt. But I did miscalculate the tides and it was evident when I got to the beach that my plans would have to be altered. I got the low tide correct but never considered how the wave action would not allow me to hunt comfortably at low tide. I struggled the whole hunt and finally conceded defeat ---- I would not get gold on this hunt ☹ My steak would be over, and I could finally get back to normal hunting. I got to the beach around 7AM and it was nearly 4PM and I was just wandering around basically just trying to coin hunt. On this beach there are some types of black rocks that read good to the machine, and on the Equinox, they read in the range of small gold. You must dig them. This next signal was similar to the rocks, as it was an iffy reading, and was in the TID range. I got the signal out of the sand and started spreading the pile out with my coil. Suddenly on one sweep, I removed enough sand to see this shining gold cross appear. I could not believe my eyes (and luck) ….. My gold streak would continue! I did manage to get some silver on the hunt, and also found a lot of remnants of coins. Coins in this area disintegrate to tiny bits of metal. I’m looking forward to next week’s hunt #6. I’m getting anxious already ?.

Went out for the 4th time beach hunting with the 800. This time I used it all day and left the GPX home. My objective was not deep silver but fine gold. I really was expecting to end my gold streak, but was determined to learn the machine a little bit more. I just can not understand how this machine continues to find all this gold. Amazing is an understatement My best day ever for gold. Yes you have to dig tiny targets, and yes the numbers for cherry picking targets are not as favorable as the E Trac / CTX, but I don't care.....it works and works well. I won't post all the junk, just the gold and some of the silver and small jewelry (some of that may be silver too). I can't wait for hunt #5. Seriously Minelab.... you made me late for work that day

I took my E-800 to the beach this morning not expecting to find much because the beaches in Biloxi don't have much to give up. Anyway I come away with more questions than I learned. I used Beach 1 and left 1 & 2 open then 13 open and from 19 up open.. recovery 6 and sensitivity 23. I learned what tiny pieces of foil were and I hit a ton of tabs at 13 with solid signals but I did find one nickel. It seemed the tones were softer even with a dime at 6". My headphones went dead but I hadn't charged them for a week..lol I seemed to have a lot of ghost signals. I would get a blip and no matter what I did I couldn't get it again. I had a cpl 25 signals but quite weak and I took my scoop and quit scooping at 12" and still didn't find anything. I guess the highlight of the morning was finding a set of keys for a guy that lost them.. He stopped me and asked if I found any keys and I said no but if I find any I will look you up, About 25' away I got a mixed 22 - 25 signal and sticking out of the sand I seen something and reached down to find his keys.. So over all I found 40 cents and a set of keys

Hello , Some of the beach find with the great nox . Here all the gold is 18 k . I regret to dont have the nox more soon , i missed the good conditions beach of the winter , april is not good , but finally it's not so bad !! This is the result of approximatively 30 hours of hunt .

Looks great at a fair price.... https://xtremescoops.com/ Anyone have any surf experience with one of these?

I had two beach days this week for about three hours each, and it looks like I took home more sand than treasure! I pulled the cover of my coil for the first time today to clean, and was amazed at how much sand can creep into it while attached to the coil! Almost made the mistake of taking it off in the house. That would have required a cleanup. The cover seems so tight, and yet sand finds its way. Wierd!

Minelab will be the death of me yet ? 3rd beach hunt yesterday and I'm just amazed at this machine. I wasn't ready to drive a couple hours to get to a beach and take a chance at not finding much, so I brought the GPX to hopefully get some silver. That way my hunt was successful and I could go home knowing a had a good day. The GPX delivered about half the silver coins pictured. But when I pulled the Equinox out, it started finding targets right away. First bits of chains, then a 18K gold cross, then silver dimes, then 2 other (junk) chains, although the religious metal attached is sterling, then a beautiful 925 Italy chain. Also hit a small locket which has writing I can't read, but I believe it's gold. Also a 10K Signet ring and finally a 14K marked earring. A total of 4 gold on this hunt and I think 19 silver coins. I didn't want to leave, but after 10 1/2 hours I was spent! Minelab you are killing me ..........with gold ?

I hit a beach with the Equinox 800 to see if last week's hunt was a fluke. This is a beach that has produced a lot of silver with the GPX but no gold. So it was up to the Equinox to help me get some gold. I used the GPX for half the day and ended up with 7 silver coins and 2 silver rings and a lot of copper pennies. The Equinox produced a silver dime and quarter, but also gave me not one, but three pieces of gold! I really must admit, this machine finds that tiny gold. Unbelievable MINELAB!!! Thank You!!!

Home in the Melbourne, FL area for a couple of weeks, and the weather looks nice, so going to try some beach hunting this week when I can get out for a few hours. While some here will be hitting Cocoa and Melbourne, I'm going to "get my feet wet" south of Indiatlantic on some quieter beaches where I can really drill down on the settings, and without crowds on the beach. Results will be posted as I learn.... (Back to Eglin Air Force Base on the 22nd to attack another closed 40's to 50's housing area that is producing lots of wheaties, and therefore probably a lot of silver awaiting recovery.

Sure isn't much to talk about and far from my biggest gold but yet it is noteworthy....... my smallest gold saltwater find to date, .32 grams hoop earring that was open. Took two scoops to get it out yet I can't say how deep it was, I could have just missed it with the first scoop but the size and the fact it was open tells me that this machine can hunt! I've now found 4 golds in the past 6 hunts none over 2.5 grams for a total weight of 5.26 grams. Yeah, some real small stuff...... Guess I now have a real good test piece for new machines! Settings: Beach 2, Noise canceled, GB on wet in Auto and then raised it 5, tracking on, FE Bias 3, Response Speed 5, sensitivity turned down until stable, 5 tones factory set, running all metal. Lots of aluminum, pull tabs and a few bottle caps that fooled me.... Still lots to learn with the 800. Cliff

I finally had a chance to hit the beach with the Equinox 800. My first hunt was at a cellar hole. It did fairly well considering I did not study up on it. This past week was it's maiden voyage at a beach. I was a little more up to speed at programming it. The machine exceeded what I thought I would get on this hunt. The is a moderate to heavy EMI location with not a lot of shoreline to escape away from it. It handled the EMI a little bit better than the CTX or the GPX. My very first target was a junk earring stud. Nice, sort of micro jewelry. A little while later a part of a silver chain. Hmmm. Then another tiny chain and heart. Hmmm again. Next a silver chain and small ID bracelet. OK what gives? Three chains from a beach I hit a lot and I never found one chain. But the Equinox had more surprises in store. 2 Buffalo nickels right in a row, and then a thin gold heart. Probably attached to something bigger originally. And at last call, it gave me a beautiful .583 gold earring w/ice. Probably fake ice, but ice just the same Next week I'm splitting the day with the GPX and Equinox at a beach I have found close to 70 silvers in a relatively small area of about 120 x 20 foot section. All around 14" deep. I will cleanse it again with the GPX and then see what small things I missed. I am anxiously awaiting beach day !!

I seen Nuke asked about beach hunting in the iron bias thread. Ive got about 100 hours on it now beach playing ..... i say playing because i just got a pair of phones done on the 1st. So..... now im hunting ... about 28 hours serious and about paid for the detector in the last 4 days. You gotta want to hunt with this machine because she likes minerals and concentrations of aluminum. So .... few things ive done to quiet it down. One is ..... you can move the Iron bias from 0 finding a decent number without going over board..... and 6 default is to much for my beach, it seems 2 works well. Also.... recovery speed.. the lower you go the longer those tones are stretched out making it sound like you are hunting right next to an electric fence lol.... moving it to 5 worked for me. Let me throw something else in here ...... GB. My beach was reading auto GB 12 in beach 1 in the wet sand.... but do another GB in beach 2.... you will get 4. ADD 5 digits to you beach 2 GB will get you about the same sensitivity as beach 1, yet is a little quieter. Anyone ever hunt with an Xcal with sensitivity set at just above 8 in disc..... thats what this machine can sound like...... and those digits jumping that Brandon showed on his video is what you may get..... until you hit a target. If you run all the defaults......and in beach 2 shes pretty quiet...... but you aint getting the best out of it. I also was using AM and reduced the target volume to 2 for iron....... throwing those tones in for me broke up the constant low tones the machine was giving. Cant wait to see what others think about the machine IN the water and the suggestions/tricks they used for depth, sensitivity and chatter.

I go to a local beach this afternoon and I head straight away for my normal pattern which is the waterline. This is what I am familiar with as it is new territory on a receding tide. That was the plan and I stuck with it in one direction of about 2 miles. At the end of that walk I had about 3 cents! Nothing, nada at the top or bottom of the beach slope. I'm using beach 1 just about default. Time to switch the pattern. Too many people on the blanket line so it is time to split the difference between blanket and parking lot. Finally a few targets. Coins here and there and I just plod along in the soft sand which I dislike. The wind is picking up and I'm about half way back to my starting spot and I see another detectorist out in front of some houses. He could be on the wet also but today is a day to stay dry. A few hundred yards further I come about a culvert which is directing the wind. One side the sand is holding and the other it is blowing away. That is when I saw my first crumb. I was swinging and had gotten a couple of coins and then I looked down and saw a dime and 2 pennies with all the sand blown away from them! Wow ... no one has been here recently. I continue on in field 1 in this little area and I hear another target (18-19). I can see the edge of a coin, no ... I know what that is because I've found them before in the surf. It is a bus token. I reach down and pick it up without using a scoop. This one is in excellent shape. Now it is time to grid the 20x40 ft area. In less than 3 minutes I get a 9 and I look at my coil and I see the edge of a ring. I see the portion of the cross. I wish now that I had a camera to take a picture as I first saw it. I don't so I quickly grab it. It's 4.5g and feels good. I finish gridding the area and work another trashy area nearby. I pull out a few coins from the muck and I'm on my way back. These coins, token and ring could have been found with ANY detector but I was swinging an 800. It 'challenged' me to find that trashy spot and use it and instead I went near and found a spot I might not have gone to with my CTX. Coincidence? Luck? I found some clues and acted upon them. Sometimes the detector doesn't matter. Mitchel

Well, it's with a certain wistfulness that I am about to spend my last night in Indian Harbour Beach, FL. This little island has been the closest thing to a "home" that I've had for the past 5 years. We towed our "big house" to Georgia a few days ago and got it all tucked in and safe from the Florida hurricanes. The "little house", our 27 ft toy hauler, is parked in our spot and all ready to go exploring for the season. There was a minor glitch with the Polaris as it wouldn't start when we took it in for new tires Thursday. Route 1 Motorsports says it's just the battery and I'm sure they will get it all straightened out for us before we leave Florida in a couple of weeks. I hunted "my" beach for probably the last time yesterday and had an awesome time with some old friends and some new ones. None of us found much except clad and lead sinkers, but Terry Shannon did say he found a 10K ring the day before....which Mrs. Shannon promptly confiscated. We'll be in New Smyrna Beach next winter, if we can get a spot reserved, so it will be fun learning to "read" a whole new set of beautiful Florida beaches. I've heard that they're not as sand-truck happy up there as they are here, so that will be a big plus. I do wish I'd had more time on my new Equinox before we left here, but at least I'll get in a couple more weeks of beach hunting at St. Lucie and Daytona before we leave Florida. Tomorrow I face the "downside" of this RV lifestyle, saying goodbye to some dear friends and knowing it will probably be the last time I'll ever see most of them. Those of you who also live this nomad life know how it is. You always say "we'll meet somewhere halfway in between for lunch next winter" and then you never do. At least with Facebook you can still stay in touch. So we're off to St Lucie in the morning, so ya'll please say a little prayer for safe travels, if you're so inclined. It is always greatly appreciated. On to the next big adventure! Ammie

So, one of the reasons the equinox appealed to me was because its such an all around detector, including being able to use in the water. So, now that I have a waterproof detector, I'd like to try doing a little freshwater lake and river detecting. I don't want to spend a lot on equipment since its not something I'll be doing a lot of. I was looking at the Quest Scoopal anyone have an opinion on it, or recommendations on something else? What other equipment do you need for water detecting?

Today was a nice day at the beach. It was actually too warm for my long sleeve shirt. I started out at a very low tide and found next to nothing. It was time to get up off the wet sand and go hunt behind the lifeguard stations, away from the non-producing wet sand. What a relief. No salt water, no hot rocks ... just a few bottle caps! I could use beach, park and field as I wanted. I was on the dry sand for about 2 hours which is the most for me in a few years. I think I'll do it again in the right area. The pin is a Dade County Police Chiefs Association lapel pin. I'm in California. I don't know how it got here. Some research that I did indicates that that sociation has renamed itself the Miami-Dade association which would make this pin older. I don't know what year but interesting to me. The big coin is a 1998 Two Pounder. Mitchel