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Went out to a local freshwater beach on the Colorado River , was full of folk this weekend.... Got there at day break...was already 8 folks hunting , I took my place on the beach. I found 5 pennies , 2 dimes and 2 sinkers plus 3 metal tent pegs . Still learning but I am getting able to tell bottle caps from coins and pull tabs . If it beeps I still dig it but I try to ID what I am about to dig. Hardest thing to find was 2 split-shot sinkers as they was the same color as some of the gravel. I am learning , finding stuff , but learning. Does anyone have problems with sand getting in between the coil and cover....how to fix it ????

Yesterday was nice and warm at around 24 c and i heard that someone over a week ago lost a Gold ring in the sand and low tide but being the sand doesn't show till a bit under 1 m low tides i doubted i would find it but had to have a look anyway . I took the Nox on the Anderson shaft and took the Terra box and coil in the rucksack. I got to the beach not long after high tide and worked the tide out , it was very quiet . When the tide was out at around 4.30pm and i couldn't get onto the sand because of waves i gave up . I will search there again on a longer tide . With the Nox i had £5.62p and a 2 Euro coin . I then changed machines and did the tops , before doing so i checked to see if the Nox would work and yet again it wouldn't stay stable so that was that . I am thinking its all the people with Mobile phones and there is less chatter than if few people are about so Terra had to play . I changed over and went in for the kill hoping for plenty of fresh losses . But again this year is showing just like last year the rapid decline of cash . I found £13.53p and a 1 Euro but in past times i would have tripled that at least . I finished at 8.30pm after over 8 hours . My bald head and forearms were also red with Sunburn . Not sure what to do today "Monday" , might go later for low tide but not sure if it will be worth taking the Nox . The weather is warm again although there is threat of thunderstorms but i dont care about that . I am going to have to find some new beaches , with coin hunting getting harder and my beaches tending not to be the best for Gold i will have to travel further . Will see what the Summer brings on my local beaches for the next month first.

I have the pleasure of sporting the worst cold I have ever had. I should be doing battlefield metal detecting, but for the past 5 days I am just enjoying this cold.? So, not feeling like doing any real work or going anywhere, I decided since my beach hunts are over until fall, I would gather up and count and post all my finds for the whole season…. A season wrap up, if you will. Since I couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm to do everything in one post I figured I would at least post the good stuff. So here it is – the Gold and Silver finds from last Labor Day thru this Memorial Day. I managed 36 beach trips, not sure how many hours but probably about 250 hours of detecting. The breakdown goes like this: Gold total – 36 pcs, at an average of 1 pc per visit. Silver total (coins and other) – 207 pcs, at an average of 5.75pcs per hunt. The breakdown for silver is: 146 coins consisting of 6 Half Dollars, 27 Quarters, 98 dimes, 15 War Nickels. The other items (rings, chains, earrings, pendants, odd broken pieces etc.… - amounted to 61 pcs. Coming later “someday” will be the clad count, and a breakdown of the junk items to show the ratio of good to bad that comes with the territory. It was a great season for me and I look forward to shifting gears and doing the battlefield hunting and maybe some cellar hole hunting if I get a chance. And since I have neglected my other hobbies, maybe doing some of those until Labor Day. Most of the gold was found because of the Equinox, probably 75-80% of it. Most of the silver was found with the GPX (at depth) probably 90% of it. Not a great comparison since I have found most of that gold in 8 visits and the silver was found with about 28 visits and I was specifically looking for deep silver, so I did not use the Equinox for that, mainly due to the fact that it was busy finding gold Seriously, I was too inexperienced to get that kind of depth out of the Equinox, as most of that silver was in the 14" deep range, basically sitting on a clay layer with the sand above it containing small wisps of very fine black sand. But that combination worked well for me and I'll probably stick with it for a while.

Possibly my last beach hunt until fall. They don't allow detecting while the public is using the beach, once they open for the season. Today I tried 2 beaches, but quickly left the first one to go back to a more reliable one. It was a good move. The gold streak continues with 2 (possibly 3) gold items. I found some nice silver too, including a beefy .925 Academy ring. Great day to be out detecting and I finally found my first gold chain with the Equinox!

Today i took the Nox out again and only the Nox "mistake" ! I went to the beach at around 12 noon so i could work the tide out then do the tops for the fresh losses and i am sure there would have been some . The machine behaved mostly lower down the beach between the tides where i found all the finds for today . I didn't have any gems this time , considering the conditions of the beach i am surprised . It looked good . But like i said it was a mistake to only take the Nox , normally i would take the Terra and change the machines over on the Anderson shaft. When i tried to use the Nox on the dry tops like the last trip i had nothing but interference from something . Maybe EMI from the clubs again or maybe mobile phones ?? plenty of people using them on the beach today . It got so bad that the headphones kept tripping out and the machines main speaker would go on , then the machine would just go silent like when the ET or Explorer's would nul on a target of Iron or something . I noise cancelled several times but it made no difference at all. So i gave up at around 4pm and headed home . My finds for today were £15.03p and 2 foreign coins . It is an understatement to say how bad the conditions of the beaches i search are , and many think i am being negative . I'm not . From now i will only take the Nox out with the Terra 705 , it will mean more weight in the rucksack but its the only way to make sure i have a machine for all areas of the beaches i do . The Nox works in the water and up to the ridge where it gets level with the tops but on the tops its hopeless . I will have to visit another beach elsewhere at some point . Tomorrow i am thinking using the ET so i can go on the tops and do a little in the tidals too , on that beach that and the Explorer 11 are the only machines i have that can do all areas without trouble . Except for some nulling on Iron and bonfire markings , that will be early in the morning at 5am till 10am if i go . Tuesday is a definite due to 6 days working after that. Very frustrating !

As the Equinox is having trouble with EMI and other things on the beach where i go i decided to use my E.Trac today . I got to the beach after 3pm and searched the lower beach till low tide walking for around a mile . I found a few coins here and there through out the search and it seems that the Nox hasn't been missing that much . I found most of the coins at similar depths i was finding the coins yesterday with the Nox except for a couple that would have been i think to deep for it . I still find the ET much better for target info and tones than the Nox . I also found a Silver ring and a Bell , dont know what its made of though . After searching the lower beach i went on the tops but it was very quiet for finds so i finished and left for home at 7.30pm . Not sure when i'm out next , might be tomorrow but i might leave it till next Tuesday . The weather is going to warm up a bit over the next few days , typical . I have to work for 6 days after tomorrow .

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 .

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.

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.

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 will be moving to the Clearwater area in July. Anyone on this forum that is in the area and is willing to show me the ropes of beach detecting? I currently am landlocked in the western U.S., so I don't have any idea how to read a beach. The only beach success I have had was on vacation in Puerto Rico a few years back. I took my AT Pro and found out quickly that it is not so good on the beach! However, the night before leaving the island, checking through the finds from the week, there was a copper Maravedi from just after 1500--something I thought was junk. Goes to show that we should take the junk with us and check our finds before pitching them in the trash. I have an Equinox 800 on the way, so salt and water should not be a problem now.

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!

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

Well, I'm finally upgrading from my piddly short handled hand scoop to something much better. I'm getting ready to purchase a Stealth 720i, but there is a scoop option I need help with. In the past, the holes have been 1/2", but now you can have the option of 1/4" holes in the bottom and the back. It seems like with that much 1/4" coverage wet sand would have a tendency to sit there and not want to sift out or at least take longer. (I'm sure the small holes are there for good reason earring charms etc.) Does anyone have experience with 1/4" holes in this or other scoops. Is 1/4" a good thing or go with their standard 1/2" holes. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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

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 .

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 ?

Just got home from my annual trip to Hawaii. Thought Id post my detecting adventure for you guy's. With all the hoopla on the new Minelab Equinox that are coming out...........well my old Excalibur is feeling a bit long in the tooth, as it goes. I'd like to pony up for a Equinox but the reality is I only get to detect at the beach two weeks a year and other than a rare park hunt most of the time is running a dredge. The obvious solution was to mod my Excal. Other than a Pluggers dive shaft that I added last year it's stock. Last year I had made up my mind to replace the headphones, FYI the stock yellow Koss phones suck! I was able to get a Pin Point kit with headphone jack to fit Grey Ghost phones. I purchased it from Joe Priest, AKA - OBN (oldbeechnut) If your ever in need that is a stand up guy! After a bit of surgery I ended up with a pretty impressive setup. IMHO. Both the headphones and the remote PP switch are excellent adds. Cost me about 300.00 and it's money well spent! Excalibur before adding mods. Excalibur with PP kit and new headphones. I was able to get out detecting eight days for about three hours each day and spent about half that time in the surf and the rest watching the girls on the beach. So I feel pretty good with what I got in the time invested, actually it was a good run for my talent on a detector. Ended up with pretty minimal trash using the Pin Point feature, 93 lead weights. (surf) 1-14 KTGF chain. (beach) ^ 2 - 925 silver rings. (surf) 2 - 14 KT gold men's rings. (surf) A pile of change. (mostly beach) And a 10 Ruble coin, had to google that to figure out what it was. LOL. And some really pretty sunsets! HH.