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Got a 600, been taking it to the beach every day. About 3-4 hours in with the sun beating down on it, the LCD display becomes hard to read. Should I get a hat for it? 😀 Seriously, is this a common issue? When I turn around and it's shaded somewhat or of I let it cool down for a bit the screen comes back, but it's annoying.

Ok my first post....go easy on me Is it possible to use other brands/makes of coils on my Equinox 800?

I have not done any updates to my Equinox 800 until tonight. I could only find 2 updates - 2.0 and 3.0. I did both updates. I thought there was an earlier update as well. Did they combine the earlier one with 2.0?

Hello everyone, I have an Eq 600 and while detecting today in Park 2 mode I noticed that I was not getting an iron “grunt “ with negative VDI values. I tested this at home and got the same results using a ring they came in at 8 and some nails that gave -2ish. The ring and the nails had the same tone (the 0-10 region). Switching to all other modes, the nails had the iron “grunt”. I’m on Ver 3 software and was using 5 tones for all modes. Is this normal? Thanks for any input! Steve

My brain has been programmed over the years by all the VLF detectors I've used, and their default operation. You had notch (absence of audio) and discrimination (absence of detection). Then with the Deus, I had to introduce the silencer paradigm into my brain. No problem, kind of a hybrid discrim/audio filter to keep you from hearing "iffy" signals. A higher silencer setting will only let strong/confident signals through. When I started using the Equinox, I only quickly skimmed through the manual and started using it. My brain automatically associated iron bias with iron discrimination, and the horseshoe button with a preset audio notch. Apparently I've been using it wrong. According to the manual, the iron bias is more like the Deus silencer setting, and the horseshoe button is a preset iron discrimination pattern. My brain started smoking while I was testing stuff in my yard. With the horseshoe button on and iron bias F2@9, I was still hearing an iron nail next to a dime. I was expecting the nail to be discriminated out because of the iron bias setting. It was just the opposite. The nail doesn't get detected with the horseshoe button off and doesn't even register on the screen because it's being discriminated out. Hopefully this helps some new or even old detectorists understand the Equinox better. Minelab and their manual are very vague about the Equinox technology. I assume this would also apply to the Vanquish series.

Was trying out high gain, single Frequency on the Nox 600 on one of my spots; got a very deep high tone signal that didn't even register a VDI. 10 minutes of hard digging through wet clay yielded a nice assortment of silver coins. This machine is amazing!

Wanted to see who was using the Equinox for prospecting and if you are, woudl you be willing to share settings and some find photos for the new Equinox Handbook that is getting ready to ship to the printer . . . will send a copy of the book when they come in if we can use them in the book. Send prospecting find photos or settings to asabisch@att.net Thanks in advance,, Andy Sabisch

I don't know how long version 3.0 has been available, but has anyone tried it out yet for Nugget shooting? It should help with deeper detecting of relicts as they added 4 kHz to the frequency list on both the 600 and 800 with v. 3.0 and now are up to 3.1.3, but I am curious about what the other "enhancements" do, especially for the gold modes on the 800, if any? https://www.minelab.com/usa/equinox-software-update-3-0

It looks like I have an 800 coming next week but I will feel better when I get the tracking number. I Do a fair amount of park hunting and see that the tabs and the nickels seem to hit about the same on the Equinox. Now that there are a few machines out there I wonder who has figured out any way to tell nickels from tabs. Has anyone found a way to at least up the odds on nickels vs tabs? I am familiar with some of the Deus tricks (raising the coil) (frequency shift) etc. Have any of these tricks helped with the Equinox?

Something to watch out for.... Went to charge my headphones recently but couldn't get the status LED lights to show red charging , no matter what I tried just couldn't get a light. Changed cords and chargers but to no avail. About to ring my dealer about a replacement, with thoughts of "Knowing my luck ,I bet you don't have stock etc etc " when.......upon reading the manual pg 56... I realized that I was looking at the lefthand earpiece status LEDs and not the righthand Status LEDs. .. Duh!! . The righthand earpiece LEDS are the only ones "activated". Both earpieces(left and right) have LEDs or provision for and whilst the mini usb plugs into the left hand earpiece you need to check right hand earpiece for status. All good now, I'm a Happy Chappie once again.

In most high-end metals detectors, the number of vdi points that can be displayed is 100 or more, why is Equinox scaling reduced to 50 points? What problems could arise from this compression? Less selectivity and more chance to dig trash? Perhaps I-Q allowed this compression for greater selectivity? Have they reduced the points to get more VDI stability? I have not yet got my hands on Equinox but I plan to do some testing to see if this compression brings disadvantage in the search. What do you think?

It seems as everyone looks to Nails and Bottle caps as a standard for reducing iron targets. While this debate will NEVER go away, I think there was a planned use for the the FE and F2 mode for modern times. We all see many countries turning to coins that are mainly Ferrous due to the cost of alloys that are non ferrous. So pictured below is the Mexican 1-2 and 5 peso coin. Above is a US penny. These coins are actually not totally ferrous. The gold center portion does contain some sort of low grade non ferrous metal. What is completely unbelievable is the Equinox will identify these coins as Ferrous 100% of the time and when running in IB 6 Very little Iron wrap around occurs. I find this hard to be a coincidence. So maybe there is a train of thought of what engineers are looking at when Iron Out modes are used. Not sure how many other people have tested ferrous coins and those results but maybe some of you can chime in. Anyway the ability to look through/around ferrous coinage is fantastic in my opinion.

If this has been covered before please just point me to the thread but I couldn't find it with a forum search. Nox 600, Field 1, All metal, 5 tones, searching in the Uk I'm trying t understand what actually happens with a particular signal. I'll hit a strong non-ferrous target that gives solid tones left/right and again at 90 degrees. However, just as I lift the coil to put the machine down I'll get an iron burp. If I move the coil up and down the burp is repeated but left to right doesn't register. Dig the target and it's invariably a button with shank or a shotgun cartridge or rotted out primer central area. I always re-check the hole but the iron signal on lifting the coil has gone. There may have been some iron in the same location which has now been disturbed but what I don't understand is why the iron signal only occurs when the coil is moved up and down and not side to side. Any thoughts please? Thanks for the help, Chris

Getting a little more time on the 6” in an area I’ve already gridded in Park 1 and Park 2 with the 11”. Found a gold ring, silver quarter, and lots of pull tabs and nickels here before so wanting to see what I am leaving behind from coil masking and lower positive VDIs. This earring back today wasn’t exactly low VDI, came in 10 - 12 range. But I dug those before. Either missed it or it averaged lower with some iron or foil under the 11”. Anyway, not sure it will be worth the effort yet but interesting challenge and learning what the detector can do. That tip toe behind that 6” can get old or test my patience.

Do you use the Equinox Bluetooth, the WM08 module, both, or none? Follow up posts explaining your poll vote will provide important information. Please narrow your poll selections to one or two answers at most - saying you use it all really says nothing, just bumps them all up a notch. I'd ask people make a little extra effort on this one. The poll is for your benefit. Thanks. And please everyone with an opinion, vote in the poll at the top! It makes tabulating answers way easier.

This probably has been done a hundred of times but I have recently bought my Equinox 800 and been having a lot of fun. Throughout my use I have received signals that become very jumpy in some areas. Is this a grounding issue? I have tried noise cancelling and grounding. Reducing the sensitivity may have helped, but wouldn't this reduce depth? What are the negatives if I reduce sensitivity? What other tips can guys share? I also plan on doing water metal detecting (saltwater) on the beach some tips would also be appreciative.

Been detecting for years, but relatively new to the multi frequency game. I am experiencing a lot of ground noise in multi that isn't present in single frequency. I was amazed at how much quieter single was compared to multi. When I use multi, it sounds like there is constant iron (low iron tones) with every swing. This happens every time and not just particular sites, and in different modes. I can't distinguish nails from what I'm guessing is ground minerals? In single frequencies, it is super quiet, and I can hear every little piece of iron. Once I noticed the difference I started digging low tones just to check. 90% of the low tones in multi aren't actually targets. I alway noise cancel and ground balance. Live in south central KY with pretty mild ground. Is this just a side effect of multi, or am I missing something?

Having been in and out of detecting for the last 35 years, decided to get back into it after selling all my equipment 2 years ago. Bought an Equinox 600 and plan on trying it out next week on the coast, the only unfrozen ground in my area. Really looking forward to getting used to it since it is quite different than my prior Fisher CZ-21. My plan for this season is to hit dry sand beaches, water shallows(since I don’t have waterproof headphones yet), school yards, parks, and old house foundations. I don’t plan on detecting deeper water for now, but towards the end of our short season here in Maine, I’ll give my detector a few good dunkings to see if it leaks. After reading some of this forums posts, I’m concerned about putting my season in jeopardy if it does leak. I would be interested in hearing from those of you who have NOT had problems detecting in say 5’ or so of water, especially fresh water. All my water hunting in the past has been in fresh water, not salt. Also, has ML corrected the problem with the “ears” of the coil breaking? From some of my reading here it seems to have been a problem.

I urge everyone to answer the poll questions with as much detail as you can provide. Thoughtful responses only please. Thanks. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/53-minelab-equinox-forum/

I guess we can’t add videos to our posts? Anyway, the default setting FE and F2 is 2. I set out a gold ring, old square I ron nail, and quarter. With FE or F2 set at defaults of 2, it seems to mask these targets. Set to zero all is good. (This is an EQ600). This seems to contradict the original videos that came out when the detector did. Beach2 program.

So I thought nothing ventured nothing gained. I have about three blocks of beach where the EMI forces me to turn the sensitivity down to 20. Also sick of hearing all the cell phones coming at me from 20 feet away so......It was not pretty. Did not know what to expect. I WAS FLOORED! Not only did I not hear cell phones any more, my EMI issue completely disappeared. I was able to run a solid 22 sensitivity and even 23 with water contact. On the wet sand [no water contact] I ran 24 all the way back. I have NEVER been able to run at 24 on this beach. Your mileage may very, but I will be out with this again today. Dave

Hello everyone, I'm recently new to the site, and was going through the threads, and can't find the one that talked about Equinox water intrusion! So I'm starting a new one! Several months ago i bought a silicone cover and battery compartment seal combo that seems to prevent the problem! But i can't find it on Ebay again! Hope you all will be more successful in locating this product! Here is a screenshot that i saved, and also a picture of the battery seal in place, and removed! I believe it came from the Ukraine! The cover comes with several silicone ties to secure any openings! So far it's worked well, but i have not dive tested! It would seem to me that the battery compartment is the weak link for water intrusion, other than the obvious wire entry points and caps! But this seals all points covered! Good luck and happy hunting! Joe D.

Normally I run the equinox in multi-frequency mode, but yesterday I tried to use it at 5Kz in field mode 1. Lately I am hunting with the Iron filters at 0, but I did not like it in the single frequency mode so I went to modify it and what was my surprise it wouldn't let me enter the submenu to upload iron rejection. I tried it with the partner's equinox in case it was a failure of mine and the same thing happened. In single frequency mode it does not let you enter the iron rejection submenu. Do you know what the reason is?

Hi all ! and cheers for the add ! I have had the Nox for nearly 3 years now and have finally bitten the bullet and grabbed a Monster 😁 also this morning Eyyyyhaaa ! Now for the stupid first question (I've had a read and could not find anything in a post on it 😔) Has anyone here tried a Nox 15 inch coil on the Gold Monster. The Nox can run at 40mHz and the Monster runs 45mHz so pretty close there and I have read (not confirmed) elsewhere that the coils have proprietry chips in them to stop interchangeability. They both fit each others coils though even though some said the plugs would not but I have not been game to turn on the monster with the Nox's 15 inch coil plugged in. (Big chicken 🤣) The thought of the Monster with a 15 inch coil is so tempting So back to the big ask. Has anyone actually tried ? (Ps love my 2 nox 800s)

The reason I ask is because a number of the guys in our club have 800's. When we go on hunts there have been times I'll hit a target and they'll want to listen to it. Many times they don't hear it or maybe just barely with theirs My machine is just out of warranty now and I'm reluctant to get a different one for that reason. I've heard stories about machines being hotter than others or...just maybe better? Any thoughts on this? Thanks!