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I went back to a park that's been producing some good finds. Today was a very unusual nickel day. Ended up with 3 silver war nickels, a v nickel, an unidentified coin, 4 Wheaties and a religious medallion. I didn't really have a goal this year for silver coins but with today's finds that puts me at 112 for the year. Running park 1...2 tones..no disc...manual gb at 30..recovery speed 3..iron bias at F2-0.. tone break at 10...sens 23. All war nickels hit at 15, the V hit 12-13, the unidentified coin(?) hits at 12.

I did some more testing of the Equinox 600 and the AT Max in my yard, local park and modified Monte's Nail Board. Right now, I'm 98% certain I'm keeping the Equinox 600 and selling the AT Max. Below are my results concerning my series of tests using my modified version of Monte's Nail Board. I'm going to briefly explain my set up, then provide my results. But TL;DR: the Equinox 600 handily beat the AT Max. My Monte's Nail Board is "special" because I have it set up where I will use a clad dime as the "high tone" target and it's on a plastic tube so the metal detector can be tested with the dime on the same plane as the nails, as well as about 2.5 inches below the nail. At the very bottom are some pics of the modified Monte Nail Board set up. Legend: Coin Position 1 (Up) = the dime is in the middle coin position, but the dime is on the same plane as the nails. Coin Position 1 (Down) = the dime is in the middle coin position, but the dime is below the plane (about 2.5 inches) the nails are on. Coin Position 2 (Up) = the dime is in the side coin position, but the dime is on the same the plane nails are on. Coin Position 2 (Down) = the dime is in the side coin position, but the dime is below the plane (about 2.5 inches) the nails are on. 4 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would definitely result in me digging the target. 3 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would likely result in me digging the target. 2 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would likely result in me NOT digging the target. 1 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would definitely result in me NOT digging the target. When tested, the AT Max was set up so I notched out everything below 65 (so I was in Custom mode), Iron Audio off and sensitivtiy at 2 (out of 8). I also ran the test in Zero mode, but the results were worse (1s all around). The AT Max was using the stock coil (8.5 x 11). Coin Position 1 (Up): Sweep 1: 2 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 Coin Position 1 (Down): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 Coin Position 2 (Up): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 Coin Position 2 (Down): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 When tested, the Equinox 600 was set up in Park 1 where everything was stock, except I adjusted F2 = 0. Sensitivity was at 10 (out of 25). The Equinox 600 was using the stock (11") coil. Coin Position 1 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 3 Sweep 4: 4 Coin Position 1 (Down): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 Coin Position 2 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 2 Sweep 3: 2 Sweep 4: 2 Coin Position 2 (Down): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 I also tested the Vanquish 340 (and the Fisher F2, but that scored 1s all around). The 340 was in Coin mode with sensitivity at 1 (out of 4). I was also using the V8 coil with it. Coin Position 1 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 3 Sweep 3: 3 Sweep 4: 3 Coin Position 1 (Down): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 Coin Position 2 (Up): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 2 Sweep 4: 1 Coin Position 2 (Down): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1

Curse of Oak Island watchers will notice that after 9 seasons the Minelab CTX-3030 is still the machine of choice for the crew, particularly Gary Drayton. I know there has to be more people like me, bitten by the bug, watching and waiting to see if the Equinox would make an appearance. To date, it has not. Other than the occasional GPX-5000 clip, and some imaging hardware, CTX-3030 remains the primary detecting platform on the show, and often enough time is taken to point out the make and model being used. So one has to wonder, if not for The Curse Of Oak Island, where would the CTX-3030 be in light of the Equinox. I don’t claim to know how many CTX-3030s have been sold on the basis of the show, but I do know it’s not even close to none. It’s a significant amount, particularly among those wanting “the best.” People assume, rightly or wrongly, that the now elevated, popular show and a “metal detecting expert” like Gary Drayton would not be using anything less than the best. You don’t have to go far into various threads to realize a lot of people have sat up to take note of what machine is being used, and have expressed a desire to own it. In various threads regarding current owners the show comes up quite often as a basis motivating their purchase. The continuing high price tag of the unit, at $2,500, seems to confirm their impressions. Is it reality though? Can the CTX-3030 still be considered the best or one of the best? Clearly, metal detecting manufacturers have all but ignored it, setting their sights instead on the Equinox. If you were to take away the color display of the CTX-3030, and just look on paper, and at field results, you begin to wonder. The CTX makes the claim that it utilizes a full band of 28 multiple frequencies from 1.5khz to 100khz. Field results and independent spectral analysis does not support that claim. Rather, it seems to utilize one 3.125khz fundamental frequency and one 25khz harmonic frequency in each and every mode, leading to a bias toward deep silver, and user feedback that the unit is weak on fine gold; results that are entirely what you’d expect in light of the spectral analysis. Enter the Equinox. The Equinox was an obvious redress of some of the most common feedback about the CTX-3030 and other BBS/FBS multifrequency units, mostly that they were slow to recover and overlooked fine gold. It may have also been a response to those who had chosen the V3i over FBS platforms claiming they could get the best of both single frequency and multifrequency worlds. The Equinox now offered a range of single frequencies, which the CTX doesn’t, and mode/task tailored frequency blends, whereas CTX frequency weighting never varied from mode to mode, instead depending upon other settings to vary performance. The Equinox retained the ability to seek out deep silver, while gaining the sensitivity to seek out gold fine enough to make it a competent prospecting unit. With a new approach to recovery speed the Equinox could now hunt among commingled sites in a way CTX couldn’t according to many users. While there’s no shortage of those insisting the CTX-3030 is still the best (often citing the high tag rather than its ability), there’s also no shortage of those claiming to have dumped the platform in favor of their Equinox. There’s also those in the middle, claiming a marriage of sorts between the two platforms would be detecting nirvana. What say you? Is the CTX-3030 still one of the very best? Is it still worth $2,500 in light of the Equinox? Did the Curse of Oak Island ever shape your or anyone you knows initial view of the CTX-3030?

We've had nice weather here in the Midwest the past week or so and after getting out Wednesday I was doubling up on Thursday afternoon. The curve ball mentioned in the thread title was breaking an ML Equinox 11" coil ear when loading the car, which I described in the appropriate thread. Fortunately I have both the 6" and 12"x15" coils (but not the Coiltek 5"x10" yet). I'm detecting a park with not too much iron or aluminum trash so I figured the large coil would be OK, as long as it didn't mess up my elbow swinging a heavy coil through the deep grass. (Wet and warm early autumn hasn't met with the Parks Department's mowing budget....) First target was showing low 20's (typically an aluminum screw cap) and out popped a clad dime. Hmmm, that should have been 25-26. Was the larger coil giving different dTID's. Going back over the hole answered the question -- 20-21 and out comes a Zincoln. I don't think the two coins were touching but they were super close to each other leading to the anomalous dTID initially. 15 minutes into the hunt I get a Wheatie, not too deep (3-4 inches). That's the age coin I'm looking for. Maybe an hour later after the typical occasional can slaw, a couple rusty nails, and a few modern coins I got a nice sounding but inconsistent tone & dTID. From one direction as I swept close to the target location left-right I was getting hi-lo-hi-lo... tones (14-19 = pulltab zone is set for a medium tone whereas 20 and up are high tones; the tone was alternating between these two). This is not typical of coins in my experience by any means so I'm thinking a flattened, non-symmetric aluminum screw cap. I don't remember the exact strength indicator value but I'm sure it was at least 5, maybe mostly 6, possibly occassional 7. I also don't remember the dTID at a 90 degree compass change angle of approach but I'm sure it was at least high 20's (large, elongated can slaw?). The tone volume told me it wasn't a near-surface coin-sized object. Definitely good enough to dig. Weak(er) signal strength means take a good sized plug so about 7"-8" diameter and 5" deep was my start. The Garrett Carrot (set at max gain = 3) said I was in the right spot and switching to the fine tuning White's TRX told me I had a localized (coin-like size) target which was between 1" and 2" deeper than the current hole depth. I carefully cut about a tennis ball sized chunk of dirt centered on the TRX signal's centroid and upon removal was told the target was in that glob. Breaking it up with my fingers I saw a coin but it wasn't immediately obvious if modern clad or silver. Again, careful not to scratch I picked off a clod of dirt and saw the familiar (from dimes I've found 🙂 Barber Head. See middle coin in photo: Only my 3rd silver quarter ever and 1st Barber Quarter, others being Washingtons. (Guess I'm going to skip the Standing Liberties. ) Even better than being 19th Century date was the -S mintmark. Left coin in the photo is actually a 1919-S which I found the previous day probably less than 10 m away from where I found the quarter. So -S mint oldies in consecutive days, and neither is particularly common although neither is a semi-key. On the right is a 1941 Merc which I found last week, so three consecutive hunts with non-penny old coins. That's very good for me in my current public sites. Why the anomalous dTID from one direction? I wonder if the coin was oriented on-edge. So what's the big 'A'? Some of you recognize this as the Atlanta Braves initial. For those who don't follow our North American professional baseball, they just won the annual championship (not so modestly called 'World Series') for their first time in a quarter century. They were underdogs vs. at least their last two playoff opponents. But there is a detecting connection. I sometimes hunt in rural areas during Autumn and that is prime (gun) hunting season. I have other bright (orange) garb but I wanted a baseball cap (easier to accomodate headphones) and I saw this hat at a flea market for $5 a few years back. I wonder if I can sell it now for a profit. Anyone interested?

Reasons to Hold on to Your Equinox Proven performance with frequency selection, and frequency weighting solutions proven in the field. 4,5,10,15,20, and 40khz cover the range of detecting scenarios. There are diminishing returns for frequencies over 20khz so that the difference between 40 and 45 is quite a bit more negligible than one would think, and effectiveness will boil down to other factors having to do with proper tuning; gain for example, as we have seen before. Minelab has done for multifrequency what XP has done for (digital) performance in iron infested and commingled sites. When one steps into the wheelhouse of the other we would be right to take a wait and see approach. Equinox came closer to, but did not match or eclipse Deus’ strengths in single frequency modes and I’m sure they tried. We should not assume Deus 2 will eclipse an Equinoxes strengths quite yet. In fact it’s a bit early to even assume Deus 2 will retain all of Deus 1 strengths. There’s a tightrope to be walked and compromises to be made trying to be all things to all people in every detecting scenario. Deus 2 underwater solution remains dodgy. The main advance comes in the form of the waterproof remote. Despite the repetition of “no cords” during the underwater promo, use of an antenna is still necessary, and we can debate about whether an antenna of this nature constitutes a “cord.” The lack of forthrightness here knocked my trust down a couple notches as it was perfectly clear the company intentionally created a buzz implying they had made a breakthrough here they actually had not. The fact however remains that a robust and secured cord remains the best solution for submersion underwater. Wireless solutions still do not exist and has not in fact been achieved for underwater metal detecting. Coil selection. Although Equinox coil selection is not what it could be if opened up to more 3rd party players, the coil selection at present is sufficient to cover a wider range of scenarios with 6” round, 5”x10, 11” round, 9”x14”, 12”x15” and 15” round selections. If the Deus 1 is any indication the wider selection here will always be the case. Save $650. Not an insignificant amount of money that could be spent on other detecting items (even an ORX). Honestly, I couldn’t come up with very much and reason 2 is a bit like throwing stones in a glass house. XP Deus 2 looks pretty good, and so it just remains to be seen if it truly is all it claims to be. What reasons can you think of to hold onto your equinox 800?

Wife and I both use the 800s and hunt side by side. Was at a rodeo arena and I was getting a very poor signal in tone and numbers but was an iffy high squeek and vdi of 27, 28,29.30. So was telling me possible quarter? Dug down around 15 inches , nothing on pin pointer still. Called wife over to have her check it: Nothing, only iron grunts and vdi of 6,9,3 so on. I went over both detectors to affirm they were set up identical! Park 1, sen 21, speed and iron the same. I changed hers to park 2 and upped the sen to 24 and such to no avail , no matter what, hers couldnt see what ended up being a quarter on edge in the side of my hole about 9 inches down. So it has me convinced that one detector may be more sensitive then the next. Has any one compared two equinox 800s on same targets in the ground ? It doesnt really seem to matter caz she beats me on best finds 8 out of 10 times anyways!

Hey everyone, I've been swinging the equinox since I got it in February, moved up from simplex, and been loving it since, despite a rocky start I've found a small bit of gold, and been killing it on silver. I bought a couple of Clive James clinick's books. Skill building, and gold jewelry hunters handbook. I found both to be helpful. I am running into a bit of trouble understanding target tracing/pinpointing. When I first get a target I can tell if it's huge by the sound, but for regular targets, in pinpoint, I'm getting better at telling the size, but still having trouble. Everything still sounds largeish. Clive talks about tracing the outline of a target in pinpoint to ",see the shape" but I'm stuck there. Everything is just blob shaped, with no real definition. I've noticed on some YouTube videos when they are showing the response to a target, the sound is super quiet. I'm wondering if I'm just running the volume too high (21 on the machine, and a couple down from Max on headphones. I'm using the equinox ones). Or too high sensitivity (average of 18 in my parks) Could someone make a YouTube demo on target tracing?

We do like Steve, wife sold her nox 800 just before 3 years and ordered her new one. Showed up today and she was all excited ,put it together, charged up ready to try it out. Well the on/off switch wouldn't work! She was a little disappointed but Minelab said send it in, so off it went !

I have been suffering from plantar fasciitis and torn ligaments in my left ankle for about 6 months. The plantar fasciitis has cleared up on its own. The torn ligaments have not yet healed so hunting with a dig it all approach just hasn't been possible since last March. Walking is iffy enough, but lots of getting up and down is very painful. So, I have had to limit myself to shorter outings and lots of cherry picking. I tried an experiment using the F2 iron bias feature during my recovery for some of the parks I hunt that have high iron mineralization. I used Park 1 and Park 2 with F2=4 and just concentrated on obvious no brainer signals. Deep or shallow didn't concern me, just the quality of the response. I hunted with both zero discrimination and with half of the iron range rejected = -9 to -6. My target recovery of deeper low to mid conductive targets pretty much ceased to exist during this time.......deeper silver jewelry and coins along with any depth of higher conductive US modern coins (wheats, copper memorials, clad dimes and quarters, Kennedy halves and modern "gold" President and Sacajawea dollars) was seemingly not effected. Today, I hunted an exact area that I had hunted a month ago with those settings except that I hunted with F2=0 and dug every target that sounded good. I had already cleared out the higher conductive clad so none was found. I tested every low to mid conductor target from +6 to +22 (the gold and small silver jewelry range) that sounded decent using F2=0, and then switched to F2=4 and F2=9 before I dug the targets. All of these targets which were clear and obvious targets using F2=0 were beyond the range of my handheld FTP Tek Point pinpointer that was set on maximum which usually reaches coin sized targets down to 3.5 to 4" in this park. All of the targets in the photo except for the first two modern pull-tabs (bright silver and red surface finds) were recovered at deeper than 4". Some were as much as 8". They all sounded very good with repeatable signals in all four swing directions (+), and had dig me gold range numbers using F2=0. Using F2=4, all of these targets were iffy at best and the deeper ones sounded mostly like iron. Using F2=9, all of these targets were mostly iron with just a hint of low to mid conductor tones and corresponding numbers. It is no wonder that I previously walked right over these targets since I had limited myself to digging only excellent sounding targets due to my injury. Even if I wasn't injured, I am not sure that I would have dug these using F2=4. No way using F2=9. Two of the nickels are fairly old for the Denver area, a 1949 and a 1960. Both were 8" deep and sounded very good using F2=0. The big stainless steel ring (+8) and the Avon gold plated junker (+14) were 6" deep and sounded fantastic with F2=0. The two .925 small silver jewelry items (+22) sounded great using F2=0 and were 5" deep. So, in higher iron mineralization, are my results an outlier or is using F2 iron bias above zero just too agressive on low and mid conductor non-ferrous targets? Comments, disagreements and Pooh Poohing are welcome.

I hunt really trashy parks and hardly ever go after nickels because my time is limited. I'm going to notch in 12-13 on my next hunt due to amount of wheats and silver I've been taking out of 2 places I've hit this past month. Have you found the Nox the hit nickels in this range at depth, I'm talking 7-9" depth, that's where most of the keepers are being found, thanks.

Blank Sheet for Recording Custom Settings for my Nox 800 OK, Ok; back in the day of my XLT Spectrum... ...I had a notebook full of custom settings for my records. Now I can convert (scan and save as) to Word Document or Adobe Acrobat to save and carry with my Smart Phone. Problem is, I cannot seem to find a sheet to copy online. I know I could create my own, but... HELP! Started a list to see if I have the settings in the right order. Does anyone have suggestions and/or corrections for the following list. OK; what order for the Equinox Settings Sheet??? 1. What preset program to start with 2. How many tones; 2, 5, 50 3. Ground balance setting and/or auto balance 4. Setup accept/reject notches for your hunt site or hunt style 5. Select Volume for each tone region 6. Select Tone Pitch for each tone region 7. Set tone break, preferably at 1 8. Set recovery speed for conditions or accept default 9. Run Noise Cancel 10. etc. etc. etc. what am I forgetting

I bought these headphones and used them in the ocean last week in the Kauai (up to my neck).The dealer is always busy or on a trip so I thought I'd throw this out there to get some feedback. I had a few instances where the audio cut out completely and I jiggled the cord and it came back. My question is, should the end of the headphone cord have an o-ring like a lot of my scuba equipment does? The EQ800 still seems to work fine so I don't believe any water made it's way inside detector. As to my success ..well let's just say I understand why my dealer goes to Cancun for his jewelry hunts and not where I went where the waves are 3,4,5 feet. I quickly looked for beaches with "breakwaters" that you can safely take children to and I did find lots of coins and 1 silver diamond ring..but man, it was still 'surgey' as heck and not easy to lift one foot up to push scoop into sand while keeping your balance! Anyone have any experience in using the EQ in the ocean? I saw online sand scoops with a "cross" handle (like on a small shovel) where when you scoop you can keep the scoop from twisting sideways...thoughts..usage?The scoop handle would have to be a "breakdown" type to be able to pack for air travel. The scoop I took has a straight shaft that easily turns sideways when scooping.

So, my beach season hunting has officially started. I was going to shoot for two days hunting but a wash out on Thursday made me change some plans. I had reserved Thursday for the GPX 6000 and the 14” DD coil, but had to settle for trying the 6000, 5000 and Equinox on Friday. I changed beach locations too and ended up at the less EMI beach for the day. Started out using the GPX 5000 for clearing out some of the recently deposited junk in an area that has produced silver before. I thought the storms that ripped through the previous day would remove some sand, but it was just the opposite…. sand deposited along 3/4 of the beach (top to bottom). Also, high tide reach to the highest point of the beach, so I could only hunt where the waves did not constantly reach up top. The 5000 did well considering the beach was really sanded in and gave me my first silver of the season – a 1955 Washington quarter. The rest was clad, but for 2 copper pennies. Some junk jewelry, and maybe some iron shot or just a ball bearing, - it measured .75 caliber. The big spoon was found at 20” and I thought I was going to get a beer can or some big iron, so that was a nice surprise. Hunted with the 5000 for 6 hours and decided I cleared enough to try the 6000 in that spot. The EMI was a bit more than usual but not really bad. I’m still not sold on that 14” coil. I tried both ground settings, as well as both Salt mode and EMI mode. I tried auto, auto +, manual (full) and manual (setting 1) and some in between. I just could not get the 6000 to not false on the sand. It was partially damp, as high tide receded a while ago, but with a sensitivity of 1, I would have expected a smooth clean machine. IDK maybe the coil is not good. I did not bring the 11” mono as I really wanted to see if the salt mode would work on the 14” DD. Being a bit disappointed, and after trying all combinations of settings, I called it after around 10 minutes. So, the tide was getting as low as it was going to be, so I hunted for 3 hours with the Equinox and traded my spade for my scoop. I didn’t use the Nox much last season as the 5000 was killing the silver, so the Nox sat idle. But I wanted to see if the heavy waves dropped anything on the beach along with all that sand. There weren’t many targets, so I dug everything to get a feel for all the numbers. The hairpins and tiny wire all read a steady -2, -3. The Nox did well for the short time I used it and if I wasn’t beat from the hunt, I would have stayed in the area that was producing some coins. It was the best machine for the day to give me a chance at some gold. It felt really, really good to get out and just walk the beach. Next week all 3 machines will be at the crazy EMI beach. I will have the mono coin and the DD to see if this beach (dry sand) will be ok for the 14” coil. Can’t wait!!!

Official Minelab instructional video

Hello all, I'm new to digging and have bought an Equinox 800. On my first dig I dug up enough iron to start my own scrap metal yard. On my second dig i altered my FE number and I dug less rubbish. the more experienced members seem to dig less but find more. There must be an indication as to whether the VDI is potentially worth digging or not. I've read the 64 page user manual and been out with a club a couple of times but have some basic questions that the manual does not seem to help with: 1) Can I set the accept/reject so that I never dig lead or ring pulls ? 2) Would the same target eg a silver sixpence give different VDI numbers at different depths ? 3) Will lead always be the same VDI number or does it depend on size and depth ? I know its not an exact science and experience will help but I need to know what I'm learning.

First. The title of this topic has been changed to APEX vs Equinox. That was not my title and I don’t agree with it. I did not start this topic as one versus the other. These two detectors are not equal in technology or price. I just wanted to show what they can do on the same test. If you want to make it a versus comparison that is your choice. I performed these Monte's (outstanding member of this forum) nail board tests using the Garrett ACE APEX with the stock Viper coil and the Equinox 800 using its 6" coil so at least coil widths are similar. I do not have any other APEX coils to test presently. If the Mercury dime is heard during both left and right swings that equals 2 points. If it is only heard in one swing direction that equals 1 point. If it is not heard, that equals 0 points. A perfect score is 16 points. I did not make these videos in order to make one detector look bad and another look good, etc. I think they both performed at about their respective price points. By the way, my Deus in Pitch mode with the 9" HF coil consistently scores 15 on this test with a USA Indian Head penny, Mercury dime and Half dime. The APEX and Equinox scores in these videos are also consistent with my off camera testing on those coins. I made them to show first of all that relic hunting/coin shooting in iron trash should not be done in any of the APEX preset modes other than Zero. However, in my soil conditions, using Zero adds too much ground noise to the audio even with a good ground balance. I use a Custom mode very similar to Monte's suggestions with discrimination set from +20 to +99. This allows silver and copper coins to be detected audibly. At least with the circa late 1800s square nails I am using, the iron plus Mercury dime VDIs sometimes end up in the low to mid 30s. Garrett's preset Relic mode starts at +35 and Jewelry starts at +40. Using either mode may unintentionally silence non-ferrous targets in thick iron trash. Also, the Viper coil has to be exquisitely swung at just the right coil height during this video in order to get the best results. That coil height is different for each of the four swing directions. I struggled to get it right while holding my camera.........but the results are consistent with off camera testing for my/Monte's Custom mode and the default Jewelry mode. There is a bit of EMI and the APEX does have a bit of iron falsing on some of the nail heads. This APEX has the latest 1.28.1 software update installed. I also made them to dispel opinions or rumors that the Equinox 600 and 800 are not very good in iron trash. Personally, they do well for me........as well as a Deus, of course not. Better than any simultaneous multi frequency detector on the market today........if set up optimally, yes. I used Park 2 with a similar amount of the iron range accepted compared to the APEX Custom mode and Field 2 with the entire iron range rejected similar to the APEX Jewelry mode. The Equinox down averaged the Mercury dime also due to all of the iron targets. However, those VDIs stayed well within the mid conductor non-ferrous area. The Equinox also had some iron falsing on some of the nail heads. Thanks for watching. Turn up your volume. Sorry about my very poor video skills. Both videos are around 5 minutes each in length.. ACE APEX EQUINOX 800

I got out for a while last Thursday morning to the farmhouse. Dug this bracelet, it is iron and brass, maybe some gold plate. It has hand engraving on it, and "Japan" stamped into the back. I estimate it at around the 1970s. I've been a little concerned that using iron balance at F2=3 (max on the 600) might be a bit extreme, so I re-buried the bracelet at about 4" and tried every IB setting. Got some interesting results: Iron/brass/gold plated bracelet 4" deep with 90 degree swing to check FE=0 19/20 no iron tone Fe=1 19/20 short iron tone Fe=2 -1/-2 sometimes 18-20 mostly iron Fe=3 -3 to -5 solid iron tone F2=0. 19/20 no iron tone F2=1 19/20. No iron tone F2=2 19/20 no iron tone F2=3 19/20 iron tone Park 1 5 tones all metal sensitivity 23 Since this object is both iron and brass, I would expect the results I get at FE=1 and F2=3. I was a bit surprised by FE=2 and 3. If I don't use F2=3, I get a lot of this due to false tones: I dug all these at FE=2, after going over an area I feel I have pretty much wiped out. This is all I found there. Interested in input. 🙂

Who among you has experienced a coil ear breakage? Among those who have experienced a coil ear breakage, how many use or have used the coil/machine under water? I ask because I’m wondering if the added pressure of resistance under the water is the primary cause of breakage (aside from obvious design flaw). I use mine under water occasionally but haven’t had a breakage yet, and trying to avoid one until I buy a coil ear stiffener. Being aware of this issue I try not to over tighten too.

Well, after over 3 yrs my 11" coil broke an ear. Here are pics of my attempt to make it stronger than new.🙂 Put the fiber glass on with super glue then a layer of epoxy over that. I'm not sure it needed the epoxy but it smoothed it out. Little black paint coming.

You have basically four books on the Equinox metal detector to choose from. 1) The Minelab Equinox 600 800 Metal Detector Hand book by Andy Sabisch $23.95 - 176 pages 2) Minelab The Equinox Series from Beginner to Advanced by Clive Clynik $19.95 - 111 pages 3) The Minelab Equinox: “an Advanced Guide by Clive Clynik $22.95 - 101 pages 4) Skill Building with The Minelab Equinox by Clive Clynik $21.95 - 119 pages There may be more, but these are the ones I actually purchased. I have no relationship with either author other than some email questions. I also run two very technical book review web sites on college level books and above. Andy’s book is well edited, with slick photographs and a large easy to read format with some general information on the Equinox detector. However, in my opinion it is padded with photos and testimonials that really don’t add much to the Equinox knowledge. Clive’s books are more expensive if you buy all three of them. Smaller format and yes, there are some spelling mistakes Clive did not catch. But, for the amount of pure Equinox knowledge (especially for the 800), these books are packed from cover to cover with very useful Equinox information. I find myself highlighting quite a bit in each of Clive’s books. I have many years of metal detecting experience with various metal detectors under my belt. Nothing prepared me for the 800. My previous detector was the very good Garrett AT Pro. Prior to the Equinox, I feel the AT Pro was the best mid-range metal detector available. That all changed in the Spring of 2018 when detectorists started buying the 800. Most people at that time could not or refused to believe the 800 was as good as Minelab and a few others were saying. Big caveat here, this was not your father’s detector. It is a very powerful and complex mid-ranged metal detector. Until you tame it, you will be frustrated unless you learn to just use it as the Minelab engineers designed it and that is to use the standard modes until you have at least 50 hours on the 800 or 600. And that brings me to Clive’s three books. They will show you how to get the most out of your equinox. If you are content with hunting in the standard modes maybe buying just Clive’s first book. Bottom line, I kept all three of Clive’s books and sold Andy’s book. But the safe choice would be to purchase all four books.

This morning I woke up to much less heat and humidity. So not having to much luck at a few sites I decided to have a little fun and decided to just dig The dreaded Zincoln's. I was inspired by a fellow forum member who absolutely LOVES the Zincolns, I won't mention his name (GB amateur) Like I said I won't mention his name (GB amateur). I know that all of you will say, that is not fun. I look at it this way, It will always be rewarding. It will always give you a signal and it will hone your pinpointing and digging skills. (also give you a bad back). So off I went to start the Zincoln project. After a 4 hour run I was rewarded with 53 zincolns, 2 dimes (had to dig for my sanity) and 1 Quarter (also for my mental health). Not sure if I dug any key dates or mints (mostly were corroded). I hope our fellow forum member, Who I still won't mention (GB amateur) will now have a renewed sense of how rewarding it is digging these once pristine and beloved coins, But sometime cleaning out a park of these magical coins makes you feel bad for fellow detectors, Who will never have the chance to find such a wonderful coin. So in parting, don't be greedy leave at least a few so others can bask and revel in one of the greatest coins ever made. HAPPY HUNTING MY FRIENDS!!!!!

have been prospecting in an area with a lot of old gold mines in North Queensland using a Nox 800. Generally the area is benign, being on gold 1 and sensitivity of around 20.in an area of about 3x3 km. I was Detecting in one area when the nox went into high level chatter. One next to Creek and one in the creek. Both areas were about 4x4 m, once I moved the detector away from the area every thing became normal with chatter normal. I noticed some black sands in this area. Could a concentration of this be causing the chatter.

I have been prospecting in an area with a lot of old gold mines in North Queensland using a Nox 800. Generally the area is benign, being on gold 1 and sensitivity of around 20.in an area of about 3x3 km. I was Detecting in one area when the nox went into high level chatter. One next to Creek and one in the creek. Both areas were about 4x4 m, once I moved the detector away from the area every thing became normal with chatter normal. I noticed some black sands in the area. Could a concentration of this be causing the chatter.

Interesting test. Results were not what I would expect.

Can anyone weigh-in on the following? I am new to the Equinox 800 and am learning the machine. So far, finding silver and/or copper type coins does not appear to be a problem. Generally, I get a response that clearly tells me that it is a good coin target. However, on the newer Canadian coins that are made of steel, the detector simply does not find them well at all. We have set up rows of these newer Canadian coins on top of the soil and the detector hardly even "sees" them. Numbers are all over the place and basically meaningless. Even pinpointing is difficult. Clad US coins are easy to find because of the copper content. So i am hoping that folks with a better handle on this machine can pass on along a little wisdom on this topic. And maybe someone can even shed a little light on what the meaningfulness of the numbers are on the Equinox display. (So far, I rely almost exclusively on audio signal). Thanks all. PS - the sign-a-graph and vdi numbers on my Whites DFX actually meant something and were very helpful for targeting decisions.