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I scored a permission a few days and finally got to it today. Although not very old, it turned into a very productive hunt. I was using an Equinox 600 and was digging everything from nickles up. First sweep yielded a wheaty, that's a great way to start a permission. Little did I know I would spend the next 5 hours digging almost almost nothing but coins. Almost every sweep netted a coin or something cool, fortunately, everything was shallow. After almost 2 hours of digging nothing but copper memorials and wheats, when I get a solid and repeatable 33 on the nox. I flip the dirt over and felt a metal object hit my digger :headbang: big silver!!! I love these coins, I thought I might find a silver Washington or maybe a Bengy, but, the Walker was a big surprise. That was only the beginning of a great silver day from a rather small yard. As you can see, lots of neat fun stuff came out of the yard, the 3 small Mexican coins were in the same hole. It appears to have been a homemade piece of jewelry because the solder joints look a bit rough. I also found some kind of trade token, but I cannot make out what it is because it's worn pretty bad. I went over the place 3 times from different directions and will be going over it one more time with the Etrac just to see if the Nox and I missed anything. I also have another permission a couple of houses down from this one. I plan on trying to get into several others as well. Very unusual yard, I found a silver rosie on top of the ground last week when I was delivering the mail to this house, which is what prompted me to ask for permission. Several of the wheats were barely under the surface, the Walker was maybe 2" deep, nothing over 5" It appears that this yard has never had grass or has been worked since the house was built, barely a blade of grass, just dirt :icon_scratch:

Well i wondered when this would happen. Ive got at least 700 hours on my Nox ... but this morning in shallow water she let me down. Top part of the cuff broke off. The cuffs are really to far apart and with the torques we put on them back and forth you may consider a metal one a better choice if you water hunt. Kind of bad, i wanted to hunt with a couple of people from a few hours away who came for a few day and hadnt been able to because of the less that great weather. So about an hour into it........ ugh. But i kept pushing it along...... in the wet sand. At least i got a 1.4 gram 18K (750) necklace charm for all that work lol. Got home and called Jamie at ML........ new one coming Monday. How bout that for FAST? Thanks ML. At least there were finally some trash to at least chase around so ...... road trip again tomorrow. Like most of us ive got a few cuffs laying around.

18/ How to Run “10 kHz” as a Cap / Iron Identifier A lower frequency like “10 kHz” is what can be called a “plodder.” It responds slowly, makes sure its reporting accurately and only shows a couple of numbers to describe what it sees. When you run “10 kHz,” make sure to give it the time it needs to do the task. Switch over, wait for the threshold to return and make a slow, even coil pass. Just as with “Multi” the first numbers that appear may be cap or gold-range indications--in the teens. However, when you go to the cross sweep (or even a slight angle) the ground becomes apparent in the forum of a ”20 plus” reading. This change will be a lot more definite than with “Multi.” So go slow to let the slower frequency process, use the cross sweep and watch for the “wild” high number indicating a cap or iron. “10 kHz” produces a more defined, more “general” meter response. This response takes into account more of the ground’s signal--making “10 kHz” a great cap identifier. (This is also a great illustration of the dichotomy between what the high and low frequencies actually do). The idea though is to work on your coil and meter recognition skills so that having to make the change-over is a last resort for only those caps that display a very narrow band of numbers in “Multi.” These are in the minority. I especially go to “10 kHz” where the indication shows “14”--again--a good gold number. (Note: If you are using the 800, in “5 Tone” a high “Tone Break” of around “19” or “20” will produce an intermittent high tone on caps with this test. Another interesting lesson to be observed when running “10 kHz” is that if you make multiple passes of a target sometimes the slowed response speed will cause the meter response to “double up”--that is it gives a “cumulative” high number. This is something to watch for in that a response can be falsely “ID’ed” as higher than it is--in this case a worse signal. Referring back to our “coil control pass types” above, this kind of a response comes from making “keep in” passes--instead of letting the target leave the detection field each swing (so as to “reset” the meter). Both have value in identifying responses but it’s good to be aware of the difference. It’s important to recognise the parallels between this machine and the CTX. With the CTX this “grounded” number comes in the form of a “1” or “30” “off screen” response--indicating iron or steel (non-constancy). I’ve heard these referred to as “cross-feeds” In that they initially sound good as the two parts of the response “connect” on the first pass--but this electrical “join” is then rapidly processed out with subsequent coil passes. With the Equinox these indications are more centered on the meter--"10” for rusted caps or “20” plus for steel caps. It’s more like where you have a coin next to iron--pulling the response down (or up towards the “wrap” zone). With an analog detector--either of these (CTX or Equinox “outlying” numbers) would be the low tone (or “nulls)” of iron mixed in to the audio response, or a high “sound off” or “false.” From: "The Minelab Equinox: An Advanced Guide" (2018)

Well I can say for sure the wireless headphones that come with the 800 model are the best I've found so far. I've been experimenting with different wireless brands of headphones and I've yet to find a single pair that comes close to the performance and minimal lag time compared to the stock phones. Amazing machine. Congrats Minelab. Minelab Bluetooth / Apt-X Low Latency Wireless Headphones for Equinox 3011-0370

A place for all things related to water detecting with the Equinox, fresh or salt. Feel free to post questions, suggestions, pictures of daily finds, etc.

We recieved the 15's from Crawfords in the UK . Who kindly sent mine with Randy's together for Saturday delivery .Thank you the Crawfords crew you made this hunt possible . Kev my son with his sooty and sweep went out with Randy Dee on a permission that has been well detected in the last few years . And producing Roman coins and artifacts . Randy and my self where armed with the new 15 inch coil . I was in field1, AM ,5T,BIAS 4,RECOVERY 2 . I usually set at 20 but due to the nature of the field iron infested . I settled with 17 with the 15 . It worked great . As we progressed I meet up with Randy mid morning (fund out ) Bloody hell the whyly fox had 8 romans .His comment was THIS A CRACKING COIL. Coming from Randy that a great complement as he has 40 ++ years detecting and has had the machines . I had 2 ???? I was detecting back to the car for lunch . BANG 31 hhhuuumm . Dug over the full length of my JR Stainless spade . Tried it still in the hole reading 29/30 .By this time Randy and Kev had appeared . Randy gave it a swing hhhuumm summet there DEEP . So I dug 4/5 inch out with my digging tool place it on the side looked .Could see a silver glinting in the muck . I pick it up gave it to Randy .he said its a bloody Denarius and an early won .'Turned out to be a Vespiasian . 69/79 AD . My first Roman Silver and a cracker . I ended up with 8 roman bronzes and the Denarius . nice roman brooch . Randy really cut it up 22 romans and other bita and pieces .Kev had 8 and a very nice snake item (*brooch) ??? Se if I can put some pics on . Well done Minelab on producing a fantastic coil WHICH will stay on the Noxie .

I got this email today... Hi Randell, Thank you for your enquiry, I have forwarded your suggestion to our engineering team and they will look into this. We are in the final stages of completing the 17X11” elliptical coil for the Equinox which will be available for purchase from your local Minelab dealership soon. Kind Regards, Minelab Service

Anyone got the low down on the estimated availability? Thanks, Andy. Minelab Equinox search coils - 15" x 12" DD, 11" round DD, 6" round DD

What techniques do you experienced users have for manual ground balance in areas with hot soil, lots of iron, and lots of EMI? Most of my hunting is in Northern Virginia in areas with hot soil that reads in the 40s or 50s on the Equinox. These spots also have lots of iron and EMI from electric fences, nearby houses, etc. My technique is start with auto noise cancel, then I find a spot with no metal and do a manual ground balance. I also do frequent manual ground balances periodically, especially if when switching from one type of terrain to another. It’s surprising how much the ground balance changes even in different parts of the same field. I found that in my dirt auto ground balance seems to drift, possibly due to the combination of lots of iron, high EMI, and hot soil. Usually my technique works fine, but I find it hard to accurately ground balance when I get close to an EMI source (ground balance numbers sometimes shoot up to 70s or 80s). Usually I move away from the EMI, and also turn down the sensitivity to get an accurate ground balance number. Then I go back to the spot where I want to hunt and turn the sensitivity up as high as I can go without getting too noisy. From what I have read on this forum, ground balance is not much of a concern for Equinox users in areas with mild soil. My experience in my hot soil is that getting an accurate ground balance is key to keeping the machine quiet and finding deep targets. I’ve been using the Equinox 800 with the stock coil for about 2 months and have been very impressed with the results. I used a White’s V3i for about 5 years and after lots of research and experience was able to use it to its fullest potential (found lots of relics and coins). Now I’m going back to the same places and finding more stuff with the Equinox, go figure. One other observation: when I used the V3i, I tried all of the coils available from the manufacturer. I found out that all of the concentric coils were less susceptible to EMI and allowed me to turn gain all the way up with boost on. The double D coils for that machine were way too sensitive to EMI. As I said, I’m finding lots of great stuff in pounded areas with my Equinox and have no complaints at all. However, I do think that a concentric coil would help in high EMI areas. FYI - I usually hunt in Park 2, RD 7-8, IR 0-3. I used Field 2 with the same setting for the first month with great results, but Park 2 seems to lock in on deep signals better. Joe

Didn't find much. A few dollars, a junk ring, wine bottle opener and, what I think, a nose ring. I was surprised to find such a small thin item with the 15" coil. Or should I not be surprised that the big coil found the nose ring even though it is so small? Big coil, small coil no difference in hitting the small items? It was certainly hard to pin point. Here is a pic with a dime for comparison. The nose ring has tested as silver.

Had a day to hit my favorite gold beach, so I took advantage of the day. What looked like some sand had been removed in reality didn't pan out. Still fairly sanded in, and after digging some pull tabs at 10-12 inches, I figured it was going to be a strictly exercise kind of day. Not many coins on this small beach so I was just going to enjoy the day. Got another deep signal that I thought was going to be a crusty zinc penny and after digging 12" I final got it out. Now to use the pin pointer to get my crusty junk money, but instead what appears is a fairly good size man's gold ring. To say I was shocked is an under statement . Made my day and the Equinox was hitting nickels hard, most at 10". Two war nickels, 1935 Buffalo and some earlier Jefferson's ('39, 47 etc.) I mostly use Beach 1, manual ground balance (there is some black sand mixed in) and as high a sensitivity as I can handle. The only drawback is I can not get myself to stop digging them small targets. I always think I may miss small gold studs, or thin earrings. When you keep digging the extremely small disc that holds the two pieces of a pull tab together, you think you would learn a lesson, but not me. Even on a fairly sanded in beach the Equinox always seems to give me something good.

Hi all! I have a site where -- for some reason -- I dig a TON of moderate-depth wheat cents, but very little silver. It's a small strip of grass, next to where a pool used to be located, on a former country club site. ANYWAY, I went through there many times with my old Explorer, and pretty well "cleaned it out," as far as the Explorer's capability goes. The coins are intermingled with quite a bit of iron/nails, and so many are masked by the iron. But given that caveat, there was not much else there, once I "finished," that the Explorer was able to "clue me in on," in terms of there being any coins left. Well, when I got the Equinox, I thought it would be a great "test site." I went through that small strip of grass with the 11" coil, as a "test," to see how well the Equinox's improved ability to work in iron (compared to my Explorer) would actually show itself "in the field." Well, it did not disappoint. I believe I turned up about a dozen wheats and a Rosie, all from a this small grassy area that I'd hit MULTIPLE times with the Explorer and various coils, and all of the coins under, or very near, iron. I had nails in just about every hole -- which explains why the Explorer missed these coins. Having said that, I did have to "work" each one of those targets with the Equinox pretty carefully, listening very closely to hear the chirps of high-tone mixed in with the iron tones, and then to try and figure out which of those high tones were just "falses," and which ones were hints of a coin. Still, though, like I said, the Equinox enabled me to pull roughly a dozen coins out of a small area that -- after many trips with the Explorer -- would have suggested a conclusion that the site was about "played out." NOT SO, though, for the Equinox! This was a great testimonial to the ability of the EQX, from my perspective. I had not hunted the site again, since. So, fast forward to few nights ago. I headed back to this same spot, still with the 11" coil, but this time with the updated software version. In a very short hunt, over this same, small grassy area, I recovered three more wheats, and several '60s Memorial pennies, all of which were "missed" when I hunted it with the Equinox before. While it's not surprising that I "missed" several coins the last time, as it was only one hunt with the EQX, what WAS surprising is that several of the ones I dug this time were OBVIOUS -- yes, they were still within iron, but I was able to get the machine to really "lock on" to the high tone, from several angles, that left almost NO DOUBT that there was a coin down there, in the nails. The targets were so "easy" to pick out from the iron, that I'm surprised I missed them last time. Now -- I'm not sure if the fact that it was "easier" to hear these particular coins in the nails (coins that literally stood out to my ears like a "sore thumb" amongst the iron tones), was simply due to several more months of experience on the machine since the last time I hunted this site, OR whether that new software build is allowing the machine to "unmask" in iron even better than it did before. Any thoughts from anyone? Has anyone else perhaps noticed the new software build offering better ability to "unmask?" (Or, was what I experienced more likely to be simply additional experience on the machine?) It was a pretty stark, obvious observation, and the several months that have elapsed between these two hunts (with two different versions of software) offer a unique scenario to "analyze..." Was it "more experience," or was it assistance offered by the new software? Steve

Matt cheers

Lets talk tones a bit. Most of us i dare say adjust our Nox 800 close to the machines we are used to hearing. Like foil being a low tone and quarters very high. Im starting to play with both the bins ... and tones. I want to see how iron affects the second bin with a higher tone....... and if i notice any advantage to using the tones that stop us all for gold hunting. EVERYONE stops at a high tone..... even if its a penny i bet. Im thinking about making my second bin 25 and dimes and above lower ..... say 10ish. Im looking to optimize those tones that we typically hear that stops us in our tracks. In the water .... a low tone in the second bin can get lost with the mineral tones...... but i catch a 25 tone even if its weak thrown in there and moving slow. I run my bins right now as follows: Bin 1....up to 0. Bin 2.... up to 11..... Bin 3...... up to 17..... Bin 4 ..... up to 22. and of course everything else in bin 5. Think gold. But ..... im still looking more for a target first and foremost. I have noticed that the headphones can make a difference....... on my piezo ones they have a little more modulation IE when set on 25 for a quarter..... targets sound smaller..... could just be because the coin is round. Not so much with speakers ..... all targets have the same volume to me. The two things ill be testing ..... is will the higher tones affect small targets more and will minerals bleeding over to the second bin make it to difficult to hunt this away. We have the tone adjustments........ but not to many play with them. Seems to be a set and forget if it sounds close to our other machines......... which a good many times are optimized for coin hunting. I may have to swap phones on and off as well. I noticed during my playing around ...... using say a quarter and adjusting the tone from say 10 and slowing moving it up as i swung the target across the coil..... that the tones for me affected where the coin disappeared. Again...... might be the phones....... but as my buddy pointed out (dang him) im old and maybe its my hearing lol.

I was fortunate enough to find a 15x12 coil last week and jumped on it. I got it yesterday and plan on taking it to a couple of place where I was digging 8-9" silver and wheats, but, the spots finally played out. I also came across a post on Findmall before it was deleted by the mods because it mentioned a guy's product who wasn't a paid sponsor. He posted about his upgraded armrest by Jeff Herke, glad I saw it when I did. I got mine yesterday as well and this thing is sweet. He put a lot of thought into and the quality shows. Since it's aluminum, your able to adjust it to suit your clothing or just your arm. I also ended up getting one of Steve's lower rods which I'll mount my big coil on for it's maiden voyage. Here's a couple of pics.

I previously posted a similar thread on this forum but thought I'd expand on and share my reasoning for using 3 tones. I've now used this exclusively/extensively and like it more every day. Over the years, I've tried numerous ways through a combination of VDI and tones to better identify targets that were under my coil. It didn't take long for me to discover that trying to cut the tone and VDI distinction too fine in an attempt to accurately identify targets was unproductive. Through some trial and error, the obvious finally became clear. VDI is not an exact science by any stretch. Target ID can be affected by numerous variables such as depth, soil composition, the metallurgical make up and orientation of the targets in the soil. Expecting a consistently exact value for each possible target was unrealistic. I finally concluded that what I wanted was only an indication of what might be under my coil rather than expecting or trying for a precise ID. Can VDI and Tones do that for me? Yes After realizing what I wanted or needed from of a tone/VDI combination, I settled on a 3 tone option. Below are a few bullet points that summarize my case or reasoning for adopting that 3 tone solution. ~ My attempt at using 50 tones proved impossible for me...information overload! I then tried 5 tones and although much more understandable than 50, I felt that 5 tones was really unnecessary and might even be overkill. Why? ~ ALL targets fall within 3 categories/zones of conductivity of Low, Medium or High so it made more sense for me to focus on those 3 zones and then align the tones accordingly. The tones provided information on what zone I was dealing with while the VDI gave me some rough indication as to where that target fell within the range of that zone. ~ I also wanted a system that wasn't apt to cause me to ignore good targets because they were similar in make up to worthless targets. Example; gold and aluminum are both mid level conductors and generate similar VDI within that range, I therefore didn't want to exclude anything within the Mid or High level conductivity scale. Yes, I'll dig aluminum so as not to pass up potential gold and dig other high conductive targets so as not to pass up silver. ~ I tested quite a number common targets of varying size and metallurgical composition and came up with some common VDI ranges that I see on our beaches for each of the conductivity zones. I then modified the 5 tone option to 3 tones which suited me just fine for the beach hunting I do. My results: Conductivity VDI Range Tone Low -9 to 0 1 Medium 1 to 19 12 High 20+ 25 ~ In my work with a local museum however, the 2 tone option could also be used. When digging museum quality artifacts, iron is a valued metal so I dig everything. I also dig it all when I detect along Florida's Treasure Coast as remnants of the ships fall within the iron or low conductive range and are often times found along our beaches. Just the view from my foxhole...your view may vary.

Mostly Gold 2. I tried G2 once before but yesterday I used it for a whole hunt. I was using the sniper coil, also. I have mineralized SE dirt plus a ton of extra iron everywhere that comes in all forms from microscopic to nails of all sizes up to horseshoe sized and even larger. I opted for the 800 over the 600 primarily because I didn't know exactly what settings would turn out to be optimal for my challenging sites and wanted to have all available options possible. I would rather have settings and not need them then not have them and need them. I am a mad scientist of sorts and I am not afraid to try some very outside the box settings on my detectors and the patience to keep at it. I am just starting to experiment with the possible settings, I have used a few of the factory settings, park and field 1 and 2, tweaking them a bit here and there and good things are happening and yesterday I messed around with the two gold settings for the first time. I like it, it seems to work pretty well here and I got used to the super amount of data overload very quickly because of my past experience using my F70. I found out using my Fisher lots of settings work well but the best and most productive set up I ever used is when I have it in all metal, the threshold setting set to max and the sensitivity also maxed out plus with the speed on SL...boost, most of the time. Noisy, jumpy, schizophrenic...you don't know the half of it. A friend watched me go right behind him and find targets he missed completely and asked what settings I was using once so I let him see and hear what was happening using these settings as we walked around. He was flabbergasted, he asked me how in the world I could make any sense at all out of the shear wall of sound and jumping numbers and I told him it took hundreds and hundreds of hours over the last few years practicing to be able to do just that. I like hunting quietly too, way less mentally fatigueing that way, but when it counts here in my strange devil dirt I would much rather get data on everything that is happening under my coil and use my ears, brain and experience as my prime discriminator. When I switched to the gold modes it took very little time to get used to it...it almost felt natural and like home to me. I was using the small sniper coil through all of this hunt, not thrilled with the small footprint but masking is my most challenging problem here so it will be staying mounted on the bottom of my lower rod for the foreseeable future. On these modes I used factory settings but made sure to set reactivity to 6. So exactly what were my observations using the gold modes looking for normal coin and jewelry targets... 1...This mode can sense the smallest targets, it seemed to lock on some very tiny pieces of foil all day pretty solidly and accurately even fairly deep like at 5-6". I can see why gold hunters would use this, extreme sensitivity. Using these settings I watched the screen pretty closely most of the time but I was listening for some solid good tones with sharp ends even closer. 2...Depth, even with the small coil depth was very good even in my devil dirt where sensing anything accurately past 6" is usually a gift. All I really need to hit is the 6-7" level because that is where there is a layer of great targets that have been missed for years by huge amount of hunters with all kinds of detectors because of masking, however there are some targets deeper in some areas and it would be nice to be able to go deeper if possible. On this hunt I got a very jumpy signal that went from lower numbers up into the 30's and that usually means iron falsing around here but I got a deep depth reading so I got curious. In the hole I opened there were a couple of rusty nails on my way down, common around here, but there was still something pretty big deeper so I kept going even though I knew it was probably going to be junk. I finally hit it and I didn't measure but this thing had to be at a minimum of 10"...could have been a bit deeper. I am still shocked I hit this thing that deep with the sniper coil. It is pictured below, a very old nozzle that had to be down there for many decades because it has fallen completely apart past the screw on end part. I think it is probably a water nozzle, it seems too big to be for gas or anything else I know of but the metal that is just above that end is thin, brittle and falling apart. Only extreme age and a long dirt nap can do that to metal. Conclusion...if I was going relic hunting I would probably be using gold modes instead of others to get the deepest in my mineralized mess. I still have to compare to other modes but what else can I ask for when looking for deeper targets? 3...Coins on edge. I can't say for sure but on two coins I came across, in areas I have scoured in the past by the way, I hit the tightest, smallest, quickest signals I can remember getting so far but they sounded so good I stopped in my tracks and had to dig them. One was a quarter that came up when I flipped up the plug and the second was a Susan B Anthony dollar coin that literally flew out of the dirt when I flipped over that small plug. I am pretty sure both of these were on edge, the dollar coin almost definitely but I can never know for sure. On the dollar coin I did try a few other modes and to me it did not seem to hit that coin quite as well as the gold mode did but I did not try them all and I might have not been over the exact area of the target with the others because I didn't suspect I was swinging over an on-edge coin at the time. All I can say is in gold 2 even with the small coil and over this unusually tiny signal I was able to hit it easily and get 29-30 numbers to show up very solidly from more than one direction. I wasn't going super-super slow either...I was not crawling but moving the coil at my normal speed ant that solid quick tone really stood out every time I passed over that spot. On both these coins it was the tones that alerted me to them first, I didn't even look at the screen and see the good, repeating quarter numbers until I stopped and examined the area after I heard those tones. At this point I still don't know exactly what will work the best here or what will be the best setting combinations to make it the easiest for me to notice targets but I do know that these all in gold settings, especially gold 2, with a bit faster reactivity is definitely something that isn't the easiest but definitely can produce once I get some more practice. More to come.

I haven't had much time to detect in the past couple of months due to honey do's and other things getting in the way. I did try for some gold in New Mexico and got a bit of color and one tiny nugget about 1/16". I had a lot of hits but I didn't have a plastic scoop so that made things really hard and the closest place to buy one was at least 35 miles away. It was late afternoon andI had about a 2 hour drive to my next motel so I gave up. I did consider it mission accomplished because all I wanted to do is find gold with my 800. I tried a cpl of tailing piles and got a cpl signals but couldn't find what it was. Yesterday morning i went to a park I hit hard in the spring knowing there had been a lot of activity there recently. In less than an hour I found $2.60 in clad and one 1962 silver quarter. The funny thing was I had to dig for everything and most of the coins were very tarnished. I thought for sure I would find a lot of surface drops and didn't find one. Most of the coins were 2" to 4" deep. I kinda a guessed my success of not knowing my equinox very well when I 1st hunted the park back in March and April. That park was my learning curve. Yesterday morning I hit most of the coins in holes with tabs or nails so I think I may have passed them up back in March. I used both park 1 and park 2 in 50 tones. My ear may be even better now than then. Going out again in the morning for at least 2 hours and that will tell me how much I really missed back in March and April. I pulled over $200 out of that park and was pretty satisfied I found most of what was there. Like the old saying goes you never find all of it. I did have one ghost signal yesterday and never could find it. I dug in about 4 places where it pinpointed and when I got down to 4" or so the signal disappeared and nothing beeped with my pinpointer.After digging the 4 holes the detector went silent like nothing was ever there. When I was walking back to my truck an ATP user said you didn't find anything did you and I said not much about $2.60, He said no way I hunted that park and only found about 75 cents in almost 3 hours. I said you need an Equinox and he said they are all hype and I said yeah maybe so but $2.60 vs 75 cents is all the hype I need. I said buy a 600 at about the same cost as your ATP and you can hunt salt water too and you can't with the ATP. I said the ATP is a good detector but the Equinox is better. He said maybe so but Garrett has good service and I said so does Minelab. I said all mfr's have great service. I said after about 100 hours of use your AtP will collect dust and will be used as a backup. I said out of the box it is easier than the ATP. I said buy one you won't be sorry, He said I will think about it and have a nice day I opted not to buy the 6" coil because although I know there are places it will shine I rarely go to places like that.where it will benefit me I still need to update my 800 and tonight I just may do that. I had to get back on here to catch up on the latest info available and to see if anyone had a magic setting that will only produce good targets....LOL

On one of the earlier posts someone mentioned that they were using The Sennheiser CX 6.00BT wireless APTX Low Latency in ear headset (Ear Buds) and he said that they were excellent with the Equinox. I followed his advice and bought a set and I am now waiting for delivery of them, does any one use this type of APTX Low Latency Ear Buds and if so how are you finding them. I am almost completely deaf and have to use my hearing aids under the cupped headphones and as a result my ears tend to become sweated up and I am not sure if all of this dampness will be detrimental to my hearing aids and it is now becoming really hot here in the UK so went with the idea of using the Sennheiser CX 6.00 BT wireless Low Latency ear bud phones, I have also bought the Avantree Audition Pro Aptx Low Latencey wireless headphones and I have used them several times over the past 4 weeks and I am finding them much lighter and with better ear scope to allow me to keep my hearing aids in and with plenty of free space to prevent my hearing aids squealing and whistling, my Minelab ML80 wireless headphones do not have the same loose cup freedom fitting and tend to squeeze on my hearing aids and set them off whistling which is most annoying. Any feedback will be appreciated. Good Hunting Randy Dee

Has anyone used the Sun Ray Gold headphones with the WM 08. It would take an 1/8" to 1/4" adapter to do it. I read that the Minelab adapter might not work with the Sun Rays.

After researching I purchased my first detector Oct. 2, the Equino 800. The second time in the field, fully charged, the display faded to blank. Being unfamiliar with the machine, I thought I did something. turning it off and on again brought the screen back. I was on a trip and doing my first detecting in Nevada sun and it happened again. The audio was fine, screen blank. Got home and went to the beach after 10 minutes, the same thing. Reset unit and it worked for the next two hours just fine. I contacted ML and they sent me a pre-paid UPS ground label to send the control pod unit in for repair. So it appears, just in shipping time alone, the detector will be away as much as I've had it in my hands so far. Of course I'm a bit disappointed in not being able to go detecting and am experiencing some buyer's remorse. I am now wondering if I made the right choice in detectors. Maybe in the mad rush of hype and sales of the EQ, Minelab's quality control is slipping?

Hi all; As some of you may know, I've been producing lower rods for the CTX 3030 for about 8 months now, selling them through the forums and my website (www.stevesdetectorrods.com) to a number of satisfied customers. Along the way, I've had several inquiries regarding whether I could build Equinox rods. My answer was always "no," as a major stumbling block was that piece that fits onto the "coil end" of the rod, i.e. the piece to which the coil attaches -- the "yoke," or "clevis," as I call it. Well, with requests for me to build Equinox lower rods so frequent that eventually I couldn't ignore it any longer, I set my mind on working on a design for that clevis/yoke piece. Once I came up with a working design idea, I submitted engineering drawings of my design to the machining/fabrication company that supplies my CTX rod parts, and asked if they could build me a prototype. Meanwhile, I ordered a carbon-fiber tube from my tube supplier, in the precise diameter to fit inside the Minelab Equinox middle rod, and also some washers specific to my yoke/clevis design. The tube and washers arrived recently, and just today, the yoke/clevis was delivered. I'm pleased to say that it turned out perfectly! All the dimensions are correct/exacting, and I "test fit" the parts with success -- please see the pictures below. The only parts I'm still waiting on are the push-button "spring clip" for the upper end of the rod, and a specialized drill bit for drilling the hole for the spring clip. Those will be here soon -- and at that point my "proof-of-concept" prototype rod will be ready for me to use! MEANWHILE, given the successful prototype, I am ordering parts tomorrow to make a first batch of 20 Equinox lower rods. As I said above, these rods are designed to fit seamlessly into the Minelab EQX middle rod -- exactly as the Minelab stock lower rod does. I plan to build them the same length as the Minelab lower rod as "standard practice," but can also build them to whatever length desired. I expect to have the first batch of rods available for sale in roughly 4 weeks. Tentatively, I expect pricing to be roughly $60 plus shipping -- but will know for sure once I place that first "bulk" order of carbon fiber tubes and yoke/clevis pieces. If you have any interest one of these lower rods, please let me know, and I'll be sure to have one available for you. THANKS! Steve

Now that the 6" is readily available, and the 15" is trickling out, what, if anything, is next? It seems like Minelab is finally listening to their customers, will we see the coveted 5x10" closed DD for relic hunting and gold prospecting ? I don't really care if Minelab makes it or Mars, NEL, or anyone else for that matter as long as it works.

What do you guys think about these? I made them initially because it’s what I need but... I’ve got a small batch of Carbon shafts for the Minelab Equinox that are perfect for shortening your detector right up for transport or water type detecting, for a fully collapsed detector you’ll have shave down or melt the small plastic locating pin on the handle clamp to let the inner shaft come in and get the last 100mm of retraction. They look superb, have no wobble or slop and are a lot lighter than the stock shaft (110g vs 186g) Even when fully collapsed and the aluminium clamp Is within the coils proximity it has no effect on detection depth, sensitivity or ID surprisingly. Taking PRE-ORDERS for a discounted price of AUD$75.00 ~USD$54.00 They are very limited so definitely be quick as most are already gone! http://www.detect-Ed.com All comments welcome ? Cheers! Ed

I’ve used the 6” coil several times now and it’s proving to be effective in my most iron-laden sites. I found the reale about 4” deep using field 2, sens 22, iron on. Threshold, 50 tones, GB 0, recovery 6, Iron bias 2. It was hitting a solid 22. The button was found at about 6” and rang up 18-19. I am using the updated software and have no plans to go back to the original version as the new has been working well for me