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The first thing I would point to is coil control. With this detector--coil control is the activator of all the other target info coming in. When you learn to use the coil to perform tests (sweep direction, length, speed) the results will be there in the audio and on the meter. Try some hunting in G2 with a low block rejected (0 to 6) to settle the audio down. Test each signal on the cross sweep and note how caps and anything odd shaped will "stutter" and hesitate. Smooth responses will be clean metals (not alloys or anything with iron / steel content like caps). Using this method has upped my beach accuracy by miles and at the most heavily hunted site in Canada--I now look for the areas with the most junk to pick though using this method. (Take the volume down a bit--it's sharp and loud). This is also a good way to learn to listen for responses with extension in the tone. The Equinox's gold field quality noise reduction and iron rejection are amazing tools with some practice. Two Tone in Beach 2 is interesting to experiment with as well. B1 is a lot harder to stabilize but it can be done--certainly in fresh water but in salt there is this "bittyness" to the tone--its harder to listen for extension in a good response. B2 has great stability in salt. Not crazy on how the low tones stand out in 5 or 50 but if you run a Tone Selection of 20 (T2 in Two Tone) gold sounds off really well and carries better-- deeper--try it! Kind of like the Jays Gold Program middle tone for the CTX--perfect. You can also custom tune the Tone break (both models) to up above the seabed ground noises. Running 2 Tone is also a better deep water method --louder all around. Good Luck Detecting clive

Esta es la solución para la poderosa luz que tiene el modelo 600. Cazo principalmente de noche en la playa en la temporada de verano y la luz que tiene el equinoccio 600 es bastante molesta. Así que puse un poco de vinilo en la funda protectora. Cuando lo uso durante el día solo tengo que eliminarlo. Una solución rápida y fácil This is my solution for the powerful light that has the model 600. I hunt mostly at night on the beach in the summer season and the light that the equinox 600 has is quite annoying. So I put some vinyl in the protective case. When I use it during the day I just have to remove it. A quick and easy solution

So I did the update on Friday and went out for a hunt yesterday. I feel like I noticed an increase in depth, shocking depth on a couple of Targets ? The location was an old colonial Rock walled field in the woods. There were 5 or 6 piles of rocks with thousands of small stones in them, so heavy agricultural activity. No home site visible but plenty of Iron in the area. I run the machine pretty hot but I feel like I dug more nails than usual after update. Anybody else experiencing that? HH Sillllvar

Any chance either Minelab or Coiltek will make a 5X10" coil for the Equinox?-----That's a coil I would be interested in for both gold & relic hunting.

With the 11" coil you don't realize how much iron you actually are dealing with. It takes the 6"er to tell the tale of how bad the iron contamination really is. Hunting the same areas with the 6" coil previously hit with the 11" it was an eye opener to realize how bad the iron actually is. Whereas the 11" blends many iron sounds together as one, the 6" separates them out. The difference is akin to a Gatling gun vs a mini chain gun. well almost but I hope I made my point. Iron sounds with the 11" iron sounds over the exact same spot using the 6" coil Are you really hunting slow enough?

Hit this deep, 10 gram Platinum ring on the beach recently. Initial signal was a faint, choppy tone, jumpy 12/13 ID. After the 1st and 2nd scoops the signal went to negative #'s and gave me the iron tone. After the 3rd scoop the signal was gone. I utilized pinpoint mode thereafter and recovered the target after the 5th scoop. Solid 13 out the hole. Wet sand was hard packed so I don't believe the target was moving or sinking, no water filled the hole. Has anyone else experienced an initial good target going to negative #'s/iron readout? Halo effect on non-ferrous? Positive this target was at the brink of detection range...14" - 15" inches. Impressive depth but I will not trust that iron reading/tone if it is mixed with a positive reading/tone going forward. I run Beach 2 with no discrimination almost exclusively on the beach. GL & HH!

Haven't been around for awhile. Busy being a trophy "wife" for my senior commander spouse! That aside, and after many weeks of oppressive heat and humidity here in Oklahoma, the weather has FINALLY moderated, and we don't have to worry about heat exhaustion and melting while outside! So it's getting right on time to attack the ground for her hidden treasures! Have a pretty good plan for initial areas I will be attacking, and more as high grass dies down after the summer. Gotta get ahold of Steve G soon to joint hunt some areas we have previously discussed on Tinker AFB. Loving my 800, and decided to put my 600 up for sale after making a decision NOT to keep both. (It's listed in the For SALE forum here). Also extremely pleased that Minelab is being so proactive about updating a virtually new detector. WOW! Great company!! Cheers!

This information seems to have been left out of the update instructions. When starting the software this is the first screen you see. If you connect and have not updated you will see the new version offered up automatically. If you have already done the update you will see this screen. In either case, look carefully in the lower corners. There is an info screen accessed in the lower left corner (a tiny "i" in a circle) and in the lower right there are three small dots that access the rollback menu. The rollback screen looks like this (shipping software version 1.5.0) You can switch between versions as often as you wish.

Now that we have an update I've been out on the beach a couple of times but beach 'conditions' are much more important than updates. I don't know if that could be said for finding gold nuggets. Has anyone been out nugget shooting with the update installed? Mitchel

I see that Plugger sells Carbon Fiber rods for the Nox. Is the weight difference really that noticeable? Or is it just the cool factor

Hit some nice spots this summer, got an interesting class ring that looks like from 1932? No markings but it tested 14 karat, which is uncommon for class ring which I normally 10 karat. Has two hearts for Sacred Hearts and the letters SH on the side. Got my 3rd Indian head in a month, nice V nickel, and some other cool finds. Pretty dry soil out here this summer so nothing very deep, but that's not what I used to nox for anyway.

Hello you lovely buggers, i need some advice please. Just got the permission of a life time. 4 HUGE UK fields in a historic area. The main focus is on field number 1, which is plughed soil, very loose and easy to dig and the nox finished its Ground balance at 7. Nox was hitting a lot of iron which i could see silently appearing on the display as -9, -7, -3 etc....... , and was getting loads of iffy signals. Sorta like 21 mixed with -9 etc and lots of one way chrips. Maybe lots of masking going on. I did recover a load of buttons and 2 defaced silver coins, which chirped up smoothly and effectively. Here were my settings. Iron bias 0 Sensitivity 23 Field 1 Discrimination -9 to +2. All metal Recovery 4. Can this program be improved upon? Maybe higher iron bias? Your expertise would be massively appreciated. \Andy.

Between downpours I had a small window to try out the 6" coil.. Fortunately I stumbled on an old Lumber Camp last fall that is less than 10 minutes from home so the plan was to get in a quick hunt and try out the new coil. I have hunted this site many times with a variety of machines since finding it and although coins are few and far between, between myself and a buddy we have managed some nice keepers there. Most coins are found within 20 feet or so of what we figure must have been the cook shack based on some large utensils and barrel bands from flour barrels found around the cellar hole. Actually found an advertising token for the flour brand there last fall. Dug a few bits of iron foolers getting the hang of the coil then about 15 minutes into the hunt got a solid 12 which was an 1887 V Nickel. A bit later got the small snap type button that looks like it could be off a pair of overalls or jeans. Dug some later brass and the tiny washer shown and then had to bug out of there due to weather. Solid iron grunts almost everywhere along with the usual rusty bits and flakes that can fool you into digging. Did dig a double blade axe head that rang in at 15 but knew it was a large target. Here's today's finds along with a pic showing the flour token and a crotal bell found last fall.

Today I went to ye old faithful pounded out cellar hole Circa 1750's to try the 6 inch coil. I was in field 2, Sens 20, Iron bias 1 and recovery speed at 6, Multi. I was right in the thick of heavy Iron that sounded the Home site. I'd love to say something next like "and the 8 Reales was right there" But alas no ? Not this time! I did however find some buttons that I had missed, bits of lead and a couple of copper widgets. Depth was really good on the little coil!! The vegetation around the cellar is at near Jungle proportions, so it will be spring when I try there again with the little yin there. To get some more detecting in I put on the big coil and moved out into the sounding woods. There were a couple of stray targets out there, shotgun shells, 22 bullets and the odd riffle round. I did find one of those copper toe tap things and a Suspender buckle PAT 1866. I did also find the smallest colonial button known to man..ya I think I've said that before but this is even smaller ? My mind was blown by this Target. The signal was tiny but it rang true with reading of 9 at a good depth! I know for sure my SE would NOT have picked this Target out. Pic's to follow as Items are being preserved. Every time I use this machine I like it more and more! Apologies for waffling on!!

Before I start I must declare that I am speaking from a platform of 42 years of metal detecting experience not a fly by night. Well, over the past 3 months here in the UK my normally very productive Roman fields permissions have not produced finds of any significant numbers or depth most stuff found has been either on the surface or no more than 3 inches deep no matter of the size of the find and this has been borne out with not just myself but friends David Hopper, Kevin Hopper and Pistol Pete on my very sandy soil permissions, and I know that my fields show an abundance of Roman finds but like all sites with past Roman occupation there is stacks of iron junk and iron slag and this ferrous crap was always showing good signals when the soil conditions were dry. Between the four of us we have used a wide selection of detectors but providing the same result. We have used 3 Equinox 800, 2 Minelab CTX-3030, 2 XP Deus, 1 Makro Racer 2, 1 Golden Mask 5+ and 1 Golden Mask 1. so plenty of tackle to get the correct conclusion to the dry soil effect. Yesterday Sunday 2nd September I took Pistol Pete with me to one of my Roman permissions where one of the fields was in wheat stubble and which I have not detected on before and on this field there is three active springs so the damp soil is more conductive, Pete started with his CTX and using the 6" coil and I decided to use my Deus and the 9" black coil with the normal settings which I have used for the past 8 years, Pete said he was getting too much chattering so switched to his Golden Mask 1 but again heavy chattering but this was nothing to what I was getting with the Deus the noise was a constant rapid rattling like a machine gun I tried everything to attempt to quieten it down but to no avail the whole field was covered in Roman iron slag and through it being wet was highly conductive the lowering of the "Sensitivity" and "Ground Balancing" didn't have any effect so before I threw the towel in I changed to my 9" White HF Coil and used my own program but what I had achieved was to find broken plough share after plough share six in total and masses of rusted iron bars in the 30 - 45 VDI range but nothing non-ferrous very weird. We decided to move on to a close by field away from this annoyance, and between us we had brought some test pieces so as to carryout some testing to see why we have seen the terrible loss of detection depth during this extremely dry spell my gold gents ring on a cord and a hammered silver and some Roman bronzies, Pete buried my gold ring 5" inches deep his hammered silver 4" deep and a thick Roman bronze at 3" deep, well we were left gob smacked when these items couldn't be found by the CTX, the Deus, the Equinox or the Golden Mask remember this soil is like flour and all test pieces had been shoved into the un-disturbed side wall of the hole, with one detector at a time switched on to test and it was during the testing and altering the functions that we became aware of what was influencing the detection depth results and to get to the point it was because the soil is bone dry and with a pathetic conductive response for non-ferrous objects but just the opposite for ferrous objects so it was a case of getting the "Noise Cancel" & "Ground Balance" & "Sensitivity" right, the main culprit for loss of detection depth was proved to be having the "Sensitivity" set too high even what we would normally set mid range the effect was that the Sensitivity was amplifying the mineralisation feedback for the Ground Balance and the Sensitivity was now desensitizing the Non-Ferrous signals, now armed with this info we gradually reduced the "Sensitivity" and witnessed the signals slowly becoming audible and eventually loud. We spent some considerable time adjusting the "Noise Cancel" & "Ground Balance" & "Sensitivity" levels on all of our detectors we even dropped the test pieces deeper to find the best results and comparisons between detectors by the time we had completed the testing the Equinox 800's were the top results with "Sensitivity 16" the "Ground Balance 51" the "Reactivity 2" and the "Iron Bias 4", be mindful that these settings were applicable to my dry soil only and may differ on other detectorists land conditions but gives food for thought, by this time the temperatures were in the high 20's and mid day so detecting was a slow laborious endurance but we both had a massive improvement in detection depth for non-ferrous. Hope this conclusion gives a wee bit of guidance help to others. Good Hunting Randy

Hi all. I noticed that a reputable detecting retailer here in Australia has pre-orders on offer for Grey Ghost headphones for the Equinox. I rang and spoke to him and he is hoping to have them in stock in 3-4 weeks. Nothing on the DetectorPro website as yet. Wondering if anyone else has heard anything. Cheers.

eHi, This is my first "serious" post on this nice forum. When the equinox was announced, I ordered one before reading any information about it. Then the user manual came online…. I am searching beaches in Europe. As soon as I was able to read the online user manual, and that was months before I got my 800, I thought there was a problem for EU beach hunters. Pulltabs and bottlecaps are too close to the best coin we have here...2€... When I started using the 800, I soon noticed that beach setting (MULTI ONLY) was pretty unusable on dry sand….Bottlecaps, bottlecaps...No matter the tricks we can use…(pumping, backwards coil swinging, etc) they still come through... So I quickly decided to hunt the dry sand in park 2, and 5 Khz… This way, I'm able to eliminate ALL bottlecaps. OK, The 800 is a versatile detector, isn't it??? I started lookig after gold one week ago...In the summer months, I'm a "coins only" hunter, as our coins here are very valuable compared to US ones...I tend to discriminate the lower 10€cents, and the Equinox can do that perfectly. But now I started to look for gold on wet sand beaches, and that is a real disaster ! Every bottlecap and his brother in law shows up as a good target...Pumping, sweeping the coil backwards does NOT help. At this point, I have to say that my CTX 3030 is MUCH better on wet sand. I'm thinking of selling my 800... I put my Sovereign for sale recently, but I am thinking of getting it back home. I am still to be amazed by the nox 800, and that annoys me more than a bit. My CTX isn't "obsolete", nor is my ace 400i (great in iron trash) To sum it up...The 800 did not convince me... Happy hunting Siskoppeke

The Equinox fitted with the 15 x 12 inch elliptical Double-D coil will provide maximum depth using the 5kHz Frequency. This frequency is ideal for hoard hunting in the UK and for relic hunting in USA.

I've been taking my Equinox 600 to sites that I've hit hard in the past, and found multiple silver coins, with an Etrac. I've exclusively used Park 1 and a recovery speed of 3, the maximum. The results are inconclusive so far. Site 1: found a wheat cent. Site 2: found two wheat cents. Site 3: found a war nickel and a wheat cent. The wheat cent was completely surrounded by iron. Site 4: found nothing old with Equinox. Tried Etrac immediately thereafter and dug a Mercury dime and wheat cent. Site 5: found nothing old with Equinox. Tried Etrac immediately thereafter and dug a relatively shallow Standing Liberty quarter.

Hey guys, having come from a 705 to the 800 Im waiting for Mars MD to see if they bring out coils for the equinoxes. I had the 10x6 sniper and goliath coils, they were fantastic coils and had 2 frequencies. The goliath was deeper than an SE by far. The sniper was the perfect coil on the 705. I sold it all to buy the 800 but miss that coil. Check out MarsMD.

I put a post about the Nox and trashy parks about three or four weeks ago asking if the Nox was a good choice because of all the trash noise. It seems to me by the replies to the post that the Nox WAS a good trashy park machine because of it's ability to separate signals and it's fast recovery speed. To reduce the "machine gun" noise, it was advised to reject -9 to 22. But by doing so, you will be missing a big part of the gold range. I tested 15 gold rings that I found in parks with my CTX program against the Nox program suggested in the replies to my original post. The results were disappointing in that the Nox couldn't sound off on any of the rings except one. A large 18K yellow gold, 10.8 gram ring that rang in at 23 (penny signal). The rest of the rings were comprised of what someone might call women's size rings. Size five to seven mostly, 10 or 14K white or yellow gold. Some with diamonds and some without. So, by this un-scientific test, does this tell me that the Nox is basically a coin machine, in a trashy park setting, unless you want to hear a bunch of noise and try to pick out the non-coin good targets? I really like the machine at the beach. It's the first one I grab when I go to the beach. But, for the So. Cal. parks and all the trash that the people leave behind, I'm still having trouble with the cacophony of noise. So much so that I know I'm missing some targets. Any advice and I'm ALL EARS! Thanks in advance for all the help with this matter.

I headed for the hills today to try out a recovery speed of 4 on the Equinox Gold mode, with the 6” coil, and I must say I was gobsmacked at the performance gain. I was also running the Iron Bias at zero and the sensitivity at max. I chose to grid an old spot that I’ve gridded with every machine I’ve ever owned. I hit the first flake right away, and the fun didn’t stop until quitting time. The last dig of the day was a whopper...0.7 of a gram at 5”...I was absolutely incredulous that A) the EQX hit so strong on it, and B) none of my other machines ever hit it; a real head scratcher!

I finally got my hands on the long-awaited new 6-inch coil for my Minelab Equinox 800 (thank you Gerry); definitely a sight for sore eyes! I had a couple of hours to kill this afternoon, so I took it to an old nugget patch where I had found a few bits with the Gold Monster last year. The Nox is ultra-lightweight with this small coil, making the detector nearly effortless to swing. Set to all-metal in Gold 1 with Sensitivity at 24, the EQX was zipping pretty hard on the hot rocks, but notch-discriminating them out helped tremendously whenever they started to get thick. Straight away I got a hot rock signal reading -7,-8,-9 on the EQX display, but in the mix were some jumpy positive numbers of anywhere from 1 to 5...hmmm, definitely worth investigating. After removing the first inch of soil with the pick, the small hot rock was out. Moving the coil back over the target zone now displayed a solid 2, with an occasional jump from 1 to 5. After another 3 inches of depth, the target was in the scoop: The small, heart-shaped nugget was undoubtedly apropos, since I was already quite enamored with this little 6-inch sharpshooter.? Just 2 feet away I hit a persistent signal of 1; this time, the gold was only an inch deep...easy money. Swinging down slope only a few more feet and I had a repeatable 2 on the display; a screamer at 2 inches, this bit had some thickness compared to the first two, and was in a small clay-filled crevice in the bedrock. The fourth target was a ripper from the get-go, but as I was removing soil from the hole, I noticed a much fainter signal as I waved the scoop over the coil. A quick sifting revealed a tiny little speck of yellow: No doubt about it, the 6-inch coil is super hot. With the main target still screaming in the hole, I finally had it in the scoop after removing 3 inches of soil: a mini arrowhead-shaped golden beauty. I couldn’t be more pleased with this new coil, a solid performer on the gold fields. Well done Minelab.