Search the Community

I had actually commented/pics some photos of finds on anothers post that was similar, but realized I did not want to steal his thunder. In my part of the country our lakes draw down each Winter/Spring to make room for the up and coming Spring/Summer runoff. This allows for some detectable areas though maybe not as perfect as beaches. Well when you live 500+ miles from the Coast you learn to adapt and find opportunities some others don't think of. Here is a quick story of a trip to a well known high country lake thousands visit each year. I was heading to NV to do our 1st of the year 3 days Field Training Trip on Gold Detectors. Sometimes I like heading down 3 days to a week early to get some time alone. Not that I do not enjoy detecting with others, as those who know me, will fess.. I actually prefer enjoying a swing with other like minded seekers. (hints the 3 days training we offer) This allows me a variety of accomplishments if desired. Sometimes testing a new model of detector, or coil. Other occasions I could be actually Prospecting for new areas and greener pastures for future hunts. Or I usually end up seeking an early coin/trinket from the trashy rustic RR stops along my course there, even though I have hunted them many times over. Getting down to Rye Patch and not feeling it (got to have the gut feeling it is the right site), I drove on past and kept the truck/trailer heading West on I-80. Lake Tahoe was on my mind as was a nice gold ring or two and always a silver coin as consolation. Pulling my camp trailer all the way up (Boise 2730' - Lake Tahoe 6225') found me in snow and not just a dusting. Not thinking all the way through my last minute change (I should have called 1st) left a lump in my throat as I drove around trying to find an open area for my 50' combo to settle for the night. Now is not a good time to find out most of the camp sites on the CA side were still snowed in and closed. I spoke with a Forest Service lady the 2nd day as I ended up sleeping over night at a school parking lot in Kings Beach and she told me of 2 camping sites they just plowed. She was certainly a trip saver for me. Finding my way that afternoon to said site and paying the daily fees to camp (nothing is free in CA), I was eager to get out in the water. Mistake #2 (no wet suite as I had not planned a dip in the snow banks of the chilling Tahoe waters. Heck, I'm USMC...just do it!! was my thought and desire. Shorts and tennis shoes is all I needed, lasted about 45 minutes and 15 targets, which none were gold or silver of choice and the day was shot. Certainly was one of my cold/numbest & dumbest water/beach hunts I have dipped. 2nd day I came back with a new plan and hunted gravels/rocks along the banks (out of the water) and after many scratches, digs and picking...YES.. scored a nice heavy yellow metal ring. Interesting how they stack the rocks on the shoreline, so I took a few picks of my stacked 3030 next someones artwork, heck why not? On a side note: If ever around there and you enjoy smooth dark ale beer, a World Beer Cup Gold Medal Winner is by far my favorite. Double Nut Brown Ale made by Mammoth Brewing Company is serious winner. A couple days later as I was picking more signals in the rocks along the shoreline, this nice black disc appears. Did not even realize it was a coin at 1st, but when I turned it over I could read "ONE DIME". Ended up being my oldest coin to date from Lake Tahoe, an 1856 US Seated Liberty Dime. So if you know of an old high country lake or swimming hole...or just want to try something different, maybe this short story will inspire? At least the dark ale lovers get a tip of beer greatness. And be sure to plan appropriately...and let others know where you'll be.

As some of you know, I head south each winter with a few clients and have some sun in the fun, with a few stiff drinks to kill any bacteria on my ice. I always take a detector and sometimes even test a few for manufactures (like I did last year with the TDI Beach Hunter). Anyway, I seem to find interesting metal objects in my scoop and on occasion they are still moving (that is for another story). So here are a few photos of finds and laughs. 1st pic of at least 10 different countries and some of their coins. Some of them I know others I'll need to look up in a book some day. 2nd is a waterproof Fugi camera. I took the card out and guess what was on it? Now here is a weird twist. There was video footage of me metal detecting. They actually filmed me. 3rd is a gold plated miniature brass shovel. Now I know there are some serious gold diggers walking those beaches, but now they seem to wear a shovel? I guess that should make it easy for the old guy to figure out their intent? 4th is an interesting piece. I thought it was an aluminum dog whistle but blowing on it numerous times has not produced a peep yet? Maybe one of those secret silent ones? My other thought was some kind of mini magnifier, but each time I look through I can't see anything. Sure does have an odd smell though. 5th. Is a Samsung phone. I've found a few throughout the years and you better have a serious scoop to reach them as sometimes the detector will go near 2 feet deep. I realize it is not a ring, but I also know a Rolex watch could be down there too. I'll be posting some of the jewelry later on as I am still getting caught up with customer emails and phone calls to get them detectors. Until next post, enjoy and if you know any info of my finds, please chime in.

Finally had a chance to get out to one of my better silver beaches. With the extreme cold about a week ago, and along with the high winds, I missed some of the record low tides in my area. Wednesday was the first time out and I was hoping the now normal tides didn't wash too much sand back on the beach. Lucky the sand was not frozen, so I was good to go. I had the GPX set up the best I could with all the train interference, and took breaks when the EMI was just too much to handle. Managed these goodies. No gold, but enough of silver to make the trip worth while. 2 quarters, (SLQ and Washington), 9 dimes, (Mercury and Roosevelt), 19 Wheats and 6 copper Memorials, and a '29 Buffalo. The layer I was able to get into was around the early 50's to 60's. I was itching to get out and hunt, so I really didn't care what I found. I did dig a lot of other targets as well, including 3 silver plated spoons (a common beach find) that were 18+ inches deep. They were a reminder that I have to get back to my other duties, as I had just picked up 2 full pickup loads of spoons, forks, and knives for my small recycling business and I needed to work on them. Weather was great, and coin size targets were at reasonable depths of 8-12". Finally nice to see the waves and breathe that (cold) shore air

Are you planning to hunt the beach? Have you ever traveled a long distance and have been disappointed by the accumulation of sand? Search for the beach you want to visit in Instagram. Recent posts can help you understand the state of the beach without having to go directly. You can see almost real-time beach images with uploaded photos by Instagram users. Only popular beaches can see your recent photos. I choose the beach in this way. Sometimes you may find yourself in another person's instagram.

Late this afternoon after the rain had stopped and the tide was coming in I was able to get out for a 2 hour hunt on the beach. We've had a storm but the wave effect was not as great as it could have been. When I started detecting I noticed some dig holes both old and new. I found a few quarters missed by those and I jumped over to a beach I know well. It had very few targets. Too bad because when things are right I've found some nice rings there. I went back to where I had found the quarters and started gridding getting a few of the pennies and a couple of the micro-jewelry pieces. Some of them were difficult to pinpoint and they went through my wire scoop and they were hard to see with my old eyes. (I still have really good long range but reading ...) On one of the targets I had to get down on my knees and find the target. I thought it looked like a little pearl stud. It was very small against the sand and all the trash from the rains. When I got home and looked at it with a couple of reading glasses it says .925 silver and it only weighs .15g! I think that is the smallest piece of silver I've ever found. That piece and a couple of other targets today made me learn a better pinpointing method. I now back my coil below the target until I can't hear it. I then move it up until I can hear the fringe sounds (this is the 11 inch coil). When I hear it I believe it to be at the edge of the round of the coil at 12 o'clock. If it doesn't lock on the target then I go at a 90 degree angle and try it again. It has greatly reduced my 'random' scooping I was doing when the target was in the center of the coil. I gridded this little unworked area a bit longer and then I had to strike out for more know beaches. I was thinking about the other thread on how to know a ring from trash when I got a different sound. It was not a coin sound or at least a normal coin sounding target. I dug it and indeed it was different. It was a clue! (Please guess at what my 'clue' was. It is in the picture.) This made me circle near that target. If that was there then ?? Sure enough I got a 15 (beach 1, 22) and I had HOPE! I dug down a couple of scoops and then the signal started jumping a bit. This seems to happen to me often when there is black sand and I'm within 30 feet of the water. Water did not fill the hole but I had to widen it to get down to 8 inches and get the target out. I saw the edge ... YES ... hope answered. A few people are around taking pictures so I carefully put it in my pouch. (When I got this one home it says .585 and it weighs 7.2 grams!) Of course I circled and gridded without any other targets. It wasn't a 'patch.' Darn. My reason for heading this direction on the beach was because the waves were focused ahead of me because of the wind. I wanted to get to the spot on the beach with the most energy but that would be a mile or so up the beach. There was not enough time so I circled back in the direction of the ring find and I stayed on the same 'line' until I decided to dig yet another penny. It was in the water's edge and down about 10 inches and instead of a penny it was my second ring of the day. It is a fun find but not of value. It was corroded before I removed it with vinegar. That was pretty much the hunt. I'm very impressed the Equinox 800 could find such small silver on a wet salt beach but hey, it finds tiny lead pellets all over the desert too! Mitchel

Published on Jan 12, 2019 by Gaptain's Metal Detecting Vlog

Hello all! One thing that I have not seen or heard since the Nox has been out is what people are finding for Spanish treasure and relics with the Equinox out on the FL Treasure Coast. Of course ever since the Nox has been out there has not really been any storms to get some good beach erosion going on. Out of curiosity, what settings and mode are folks using for the relic/treasure hunt on the treasure coast beaches, including the iron settings. Can't wait to hear the answers! I plan on being down there for a couple weeks in Feb and if the weather gives some good erosion I'm gonna be out there with the 15' coil swinging away! But even if the weather doesn't "cooperate" I'll still be looking for that modern bling in the Beach modes. I think I have to be the only person that goes on a FL vacation that hopes for a NorEaster

I am an avid metal detector user and I like always being at it. Just because there is no gold prospecting for me in a given time frame is no reason to not go metal detecting for gold. There are a lot more ways to find gold than prospecting, and so jewelry detecting is very high on my list. If you like finding a gold nugget, I do not see how you could not also be excited about digging up a gold ring. Jewelry detecting and nugget detecting share many common traits, not least being the hunt for gold. Both also require a high tolerance for digging trash items, and both are best done with detectors made for the purpose. It just so happens that the detectors best used for nugget detecting are often the best to use for jewelry detecting. In other words, a lot of you guys are already outfitted for this! There are two general ways to hunt for jewelry - on dry land, or in and around water. Let's leave the dry land for another article and focus on the water detecting for now, since I am gearing up for a water hunt myself right now. Almost any detector, with the remarkable exception of the most expensive one you can buy, comes with waterproof coils and can be submerged to the control box. Minelab PI stock coils are not warranted waterproof but only water resistant so it takes aftermarket coils to get them up to speed. But they are a poor choice for wading as there is probably no machine I would like dropping in the water less than a Minelab GPX 5000 with high amp battery attached. Detectors that can be hip or chest mounted offer even more flexibility for wading applications. Few nugget detectors are fully submersible, but there are some, most notably the Garrett AT Gold, Infinium and ATX, all waterproof models. Jan 2019 note: see also Makro Gold Kruzer and Equinox 800. Water detecting can be broken down into fresh water and salt water detecting. Fresh water detecting is pretty straight forward since fresh water is invisible to your detector. The tuning and operation of the detector is similar to what you do on dry land. All you have to worry about is keeping the electronics dry, and recovering targets underwater. Fresh water swimming holes are great for jewelry detecting, and there are many fresh water stream and river opportunities for gold prospectors. Any good gold prospecting detector also works well for freshwater beach hunting. The Garrett AT Gold has an obvious edge for being waterproof. The Tesoro Lobo gets special mention for being convertible to hip or chest mount. In fresh water VLF detectors usually have an edge due to large amounts of trash often being present but PI detectors do have their place in fresh water detecting. The only way to know is to just give it a go and see how much trash there is. The nice thing about beaches though is the digging is easy compared to what nugget hunters often face. Salt water adds a whole new dimension. Salt water is conductive, and therefore a hot metal detector can actually get a signal from salt water or wet salt sand. Many prospectors already know the issues surrounding salt and alkali flats. Detectors that are used in salt water need some way to tune out the salt signal. The problem is even worse on beaches that have mineral content, classic black sand beaches. A white beach composed of broken down coral and shells is no problem at all, but add volcanic material and the issues compound. Most prospectors would not be surprised to hear that pulse induction (PI) detectors have an edge in dealing with salt water scenarios. There is an unsolvable conundrum however. The signal for salt water and small gold items, like post earrings or thin gold chains, actually overlaps. When you tune out the salt water, you tune out these items also. There is no solution to this problem with existing metal detectors because of the way they work. It is possible to find these items at the beach using a hot detector, like a White’s Goldmaster or Fisher Gold Bug 2, but you must be on bone dry sand. Any attempt to get near wet salt sand with these units will result in the sand acting like one giant target. Most mid-frequency gold machines handle salt water beaches to varying degrees. They will generally have no problem until you get on sand currently seeing wave action or actually in the water. The higher the frequency, the less able to handle wet salt sand. The Fisher Gold Bug Pro at 19 kHz and Garrett AT Gold at 18 kHz are not happy on wet salt sand. They can be made to function but only by losing a lot of depth. The Tesoro Lobo has an alkali setting and White’s MX Sport a salt setting specifically designed to handle wet salt sand. In general though these detectors will all work better higher on the beach and have an edge on small rings, earrings, and chains that other beach hunting machines tend to miss. The Minelab Eureka Gold and X-Terra 705 have low frequency options that make them well suited for beach hunting. The Eureka can be hip or chest mounted, but be aware the stock coil is another that Minelab does not warranty as waterproof. The PI detectors fare better, the Garrett Infinium and new ATX having an edge again for being waterproof designs. The White’s TDI and Minelab series do well but must be kept dry. The TDI models except the TDI SL have an advantage in being convertible to hip or chest mount. Be aware that turning off or not using a ground balance system can often add extra depth with a PI on white sand beaches. The TDI and GPX 5000 can turn off the ground balance setting, and the factory default on the ATX before ground balancing offer possibilities on low mineral beaches. For 2019 see the new White's TDI BeachHunter. For serious salt water beach detecting hunters turn to detectors not normally used for prospecting. Ironically, this is because the general lack of sensitivity that makes prospectors eschew these models makes them ideal for salt water. Multi-frequency VLF detectors are not very good prospecting machines but they excel in salt water. Two detectors that vie neck and neck in the salt water VLF market are the Fisher CZ-21 and Minelab Excalibur. On the PI side the Garrett Sea Hunter, Tesoro Sand Shark and White’s Surf PI are the three popular models. Minelab Excalibur II waterproof metal detector There are lots of options but if you ever want a specialized waterproof detector for both fresh and salt water and want to make a safe choice, get a Minelab Excalibur. It is probably the most popular water detector made and for good reason. It gets the job done with minimum fuss and will work well anywhere. I am a PI guy myself however. I have used the Garrett Infinium extensively trying to deal with salt water and volcanic sand and hot rock conditions in Hawaii. I have had success with the model but it is difficult to deal with, suffering from an inability to ground balance into the salt range and susceptibility to EMI interference. Huge numbers of posts exist on how to try and get an Infinium to behave in salt water. The new ATX has taken steps to address these issues but the jury is out there yet. I will be giving the ATX a good go in Hawaii soon. My latest water detector is a White's Surf PI Dual Field to back up the ATX. I have had good luck in the past with the White's Surf PI models and recommend them for people interested in a waterproof beach PI. Again, a simple unit that gets the job done, and at a bargain price. Where to hunt can fill a book, but really boils down to two things. The first is that the best finds will be made where people who wear quality jewelry congregate and engage in some kind of physical activity. On fresh water beaches where items get dropped is generally where they stay. The second item comes into play more often on salt water beaches. The waves and seasons concentrate items on layers, much like placer deposits. They sometimes bury the items too deep to find, and at other times expose them for easy recovery. Beach watching can teach you a lot. There is the towel line, where people set up shop for the day. Lots of items get lost here. Then there are the places where people tend to play beach sports, like Frisbee or volleyball. Best of all, are areas in the water where people congregate, with areas where people can actually stand on the bottom being best. Items dropped in sand obviously sink over time, but hard sand will resist this longest and keep the targets close to the surface longer. Extremely soft sand swallows items quickly and is not a good place to hunt. Areas where the sand tapers into a hard rock or coral bottom can be very good when the overlying sand is shallow enough to reach that hard layer with a detector. Beach detecting is very popular, but beach hunters have on tremendous advantage over prospectors. The finds are being constantly replenished. There is no beach, no matter how heavily hunted, that does not have the potential for finds. The more activity there is the more items are lost in a given period of time. The finds made by beach hunters can rival the best made by prospectors, as not many gold nuggets come with diamonds attached. I know for many prospectors it is about getting out into the middle of nowhere and away from the crowds. Beach hunting is not for everyone. But you can hunt early in the morning or even on rainy days, when people are few and far between. As more and more areas accessible to prospectors get hunted out, it is possible other places are near to you where gold may be easier to find. If you have a detector already you certainly have nothing to lose by giving it a go. Hopefully this post has at least made you consider the possibility. As always, volumes more information can be found just by Googling “beach detecting forum”. Here is an example of a hunt at White's Surf PI Pro and Platinum Rings in Hawaii I got four platinum and three gold rings over a couple week period. One of the gold rings is white gold so it looks like only two gold. All fairly plain men's bands reflecting the rough surf area I was hunting. There is a picture of everything I dug at the link including the junk. All the platinum I have ever found was rings, and when platinum peaked at over $2000 an ounce I cashed in over two ounces of platinum. Another very successful hunt was Detecting Gold in Hawaii with the Garrett Infinium Please note that unlike my prospecting outings I do not spend every hour of every day in Hawaii detecting. These finds are being made hunting on an average of two or three hours a day. I am not one to just sit around so detecting keeps me busy. And a good vacation can be paid for in finds or at least subsidized with some hard work and a little bit of luck. Waterproof VLF Detector Comparison Guide Some gold and platinum finds made by Steve in Hawaii

I’m considering buying an Anfibio multi and am wondering about it’s abilities in and around saltwater, I know it has a beach mode but do you have to lower the sensitivity much to get it stable? I have an Equinox 600 and it’s a great machine except I live in Canada and find it frustrating on our clad coins, I’ve heard the Anfibio does well on it, the 600 is great in many ways but my buddy finds way more clad with his AT gold but can’t go near the salt, I have used the 600 snorkeling and would also dive with the Anfibio, the fact that it is rated deeper is a bonus along with the collapsible shaft. Anybody have experience with one.

Last week I visited my favorite gold beach and hit an area at the end of the day that produced 5 silvers, a couple of war nickels and 8 wheat pennies. Much better than the limited amount of clad I found the first part of that day. It was posted in the Equinox forum under Equinox and EMI. Today I hit that same area with the GPX instead. Being a holiday, I figured there would be limited train runs, and for most of the day that was the case. I ran the GPX as hot as I could handle and put on the 12 1/2" DD coil to get the most depth I could get. It worked! Had a great hunt. Some oddities for the day included a nice old Ford key, a twisty tie (bread tie) that fooled me for a bit, as it is the brightest gold foil that I have ever seen. Thought I had a gold chain But the oddest thing I found (or actually re-found) was a deep (18+ " ) remains of a Pringles potato chip can. I found it a while back and the chips still looked like the day they were made. I never took a picture of them and left most of the remainder of the can and chips in the hole. Well, today I came across it again and took them home. Unbelievable what they label as food these days! As for the goods, I found 21 Wheats (one wrapped in red cloth from a change purse?), a bunch of silver coins including some war nickels and a W/L half. The best find of the day was the unmarked gold ring. Gold beach gave me some yellow today! As for depth on the coins? Nothing was shallower than 9-10" And 2 of the Mercs came in as a repeatable ground mineral signal. If you use a GPX you will know what faint ground variations sound like, I dug a lot of those today and most disappeared when you took some sand of the top. But 2 of them got louder and I knew I had a small fringe target. What I was surprised at was, that both of those dimes came in at a measured 18". I used a pin pointer to locate them and dug the last inch by hand. I wanted to make sure I did not drop the target back into the hole while digging deeper. I needed to see just how deep this machine can go with no EMI present. I am still in awe of how good that GPX 5000 is. So, a great start to the New Year and hopefully I can count on the GPX/Equinox combination to handle any beach conditions I come across.

Hi folks, I've been a die-hard Equinox 800 user since april 2018. Now I've got enough clad together to buy another detector, or upgrade my homecinema Does anyone use the deus on the dry sand beach? I love my Equinox, but my right hand is not the most healthy, so weight and balance counts alot for me. Also the Equinox puts many stuff found on my beaches in a very narrow ID range. Will XP ever come out with a multi-frequency? At the moment I would opt for the 11" X35 coil with RC and WS5. Weight wise the XP in this configuration is about 1000g with remote vs 1300g for the Equinox - that's quite a difference. I also like the portability - you can easily put it in a backpack. What I don't like: No bluetooth, expensive headphones needed, even when you buy the RC (if you don't want to mess with additional tranceivers etc. for wireless freedom). If I ever get my permission to detect fields, the deus would be handy, for sure - but at the moment I am only allowed to detect our beaches. I'll keep the Equinox anyhow. Suggestions? Or should I just buy a new projector for my homecinema?

I've had a chance to go out to the beach 3 times in the last week. Each time there was something interesting to find or learn. Each of these hunts was to just about the same beach but each time conditions were a bit different. The first hunt was to an area of the beach where I found the sword/cross. There was nothing similar this time but as you can see it was LIVELY! I went in one direction on the beach and found nothing when I turned the opposite way I was surprised to find one of the live 44 Mags. Nearby was another and then there was a 38 and then a 22 long. As you can see there is some corrosion on them so they had been in the water and sand for a bit. All of the live rounds were found withing a 50x50ft area. Go figure. This hunt I was using beach 1 and the 11 inch coil. They were down 6-8 inches. After I finished gridding that area near it was the ring and chain. The chain was very crusted/black but has cleaned up nicely and is 13.5 g/.925. The ring is cheap. A few days later I went back to the same area with the 15x12 to see if I could find more of the ammo. Nothing was to be found so I headed in the opposite direction to the south. The beach was without targets. I was near the waves at low tide and nothing for a couple hundred yards and then a quarter. As it turned out it was mostly quarters but there was something unusual about this patch. I would get the quarter sound as a high pitch but then it would go higher. This was in the 5 tone setting. (I've tried some two tone and 5 lately because I constantly have to keep blowing my nose to make my ear pressure normal for better hearing.) I discovered that the higher tone was because some of the coins had fused together. You can see that in these photos: The final hunt was tonight. I went back to the fused quarter location and found a couple of quarters at the low tide but moved on down the beach. It was a lot of trash which you can see in the black container. I was walking at a brisk pace but wasn't finding much but I was at the bottom of the hill as I say. At the end of 2 miles to the south I had to return to my car but I was not satisfied with how the machine sounded. I had been using a lot of Beach 2 at 6 speed. I switched back to Beach 1 and lowered the speed to 4. I walked about half way between the water and the top of the sand. The sounds were louder but I still needed to get back. I was going to write about it and say it was just a trashy day. Then I slowed down and heard an interesting target. I dug and dug and down about 15 inches in the damp sand on the side of the beach hill I got a quarter. This must be the deepest quarter I've found, ever! The slower speed with the 15 had made a difference and it changed the entire hunt. I continued on this same line and found the two cheap rings (the corroded ring I had found on my way out) and the imitation nugget bracelet. The slower setting with the large coil seems to be very effective and I keep it that way for a while. Mitchel

Well, it's with a certain wistfulness that I am about to spend my last night in Indian Harbour Beach, FL. This little island has been the closest thing to a "home" that I've had for the past 5 years. We towed our "big house" to Georgia a few days ago and got it all tucked in and safe from the Florida hurricanes. The "little house", our 27 ft toy hauler, is parked in our spot and all ready to go exploring for the season. There was a minor glitch with the Polaris as it wouldn't start when we took it in for new tires Thursday. Route 1 Motorsports says it's just the battery and I'm sure they will get it all straightened out for us before we leave Florida in a couple of weeks. I hunted "my" beach for probably the last time yesterday and had an awesome time with some old friends and some new ones. None of us found much except clad and lead sinkers, but Terry Shannon did say he found a 10K ring the day before....which Mrs. Shannon promptly confiscated. We'll be in New Smyrna Beach next winter, if we can get a spot reserved, so it will be fun learning to "read" a whole new set of beautiful Florida beaches. I've heard that they're not as sand-truck happy up there as they are here, so that will be a big plus. I do wish I'd had more time on my new Equinox before we left here, but at least I'll get in a couple more weeks of beach hunting at St. Lucie and Daytona before we leave Florida. Tomorrow I face the "downside" of this RV lifestyle, saying goodbye to some dear friends and knowing it will probably be the last time I'll ever see most of them. Those of you who also live this nomad life know how it is. You always say "we'll meet somewhere halfway in between for lunch next winter" and then you never do. At least with Facebook you can still stay in touch. So we're off to St Lucie in the morning, so ya'll please say a little prayer for safe travels, if you're so inclined. It is always greatly appreciated. On to the next big adventure! Ammie

Took the 800 NOX out with new 15x12 coil for a quick swing along fresh water beach. And I have to say I was most Happy, this is the same beach I detected when I 1st received my 800 with 11 inch coil in March 2018, then detected again with 6 inch coil. Both of those coils found coins ( 1 1964 nickel ) the rest so far have been newer coins. But when I went over same ground with the 15x12 coils I found 10 more coins ( no silver ) but these coins were deep, I'll say in the 15inch to maybe 20 inches in depth, hard to tell because ground is really wet and water table hasn't dropped much. Was running Park 1 with a little messing with sensitivity. When reading 21 to 32 it was always a coin, to bad I couldn't tell if coins were laying flat or on sides. Now I would like to start digging 13 / 14's to see about finding nickels, I have been cleaning beach up of crap, so maybe a couple of more coins are in my future. Happy Hunting

Not getting much detecting time in lately.....but managed a few hours at the beach. Found these 5 rings and two silver dimes at the same beach. All the rings were found in the water. The rosie and merc were found around picnic tables. The gold ring is 14K and weighs in at 12.25 grams. The silver ring with the amethyst also has fire opal in it. The three other rings are all 925 silver.

Last week I went to Bill's outing. I was there mostly to learn (I say that now) but I also picked up the big Nox coil. I didn't use it in the desert but I did use it on the beach. The first hunt was pretty uneventful. Bad beach, bad results as they say. The next time I used it a couple of days later the beach was not that much different but I was ready to test it to the max. I'll have to admit that I didn't walk very slowly. I wanted a big sound to stop me. I also had a specific place in mind. On the way there I got a signal that was mostly 'deep penny' sounding but some of them you have to dig. I kept digging and digging (later measured to be about 15 inches) and I saw something about the color of the sand and it looked like a blade or utensil. When I got it out it was the piece in the center. Sword shaped but used as a pendant? Someone told me it might be from some type of uniform or costume? I've never found anything quite like it. It weighs 1.33 oz and it has a mark of sterling but nowhere does it say .925. After this I continued on down to my beach and I got a signal and looked down and the darker stainless steel ring was on the surface in a footprint. On the way back I gridded an area and came up with the other stainless ring. Here is a previous hunt with the 11 inch coil. You know what detector someone is using when you find this! I have many desert 'tourist' photos I could post but there are no finds to go with them. Mitchel

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.

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.

Headed out tomorrow to a beach a couple of hours drive away with my Nox800. My question is- Should I wait for low tide and hunt the water beyond that, or just go and hunt the sand above the water line while the tide goes out?

It's been a very busy summer/fall, so I was dying to get out to the beaches to see if the Equinox would still be kind to me. These pictures are from 5 of the 6 beach hunts. It's early in the season and the beaches are not shedding sand yet, so the finds are slimmer than last season. I did include a picture of one clad hunt that yielded over $17.00 in change in a 5 hour period. Most other clad amounts were much lower. Total clad after 6 hunts is $31.54 (average of $5.25 per hunt). It's going to be a long season and I hope to get out more often than once a week, but time will tell. So far I'm thrilled with 4 pieces of gold and the decent amount of silver I've found. I have been experimenting with Gold 2 mode, but so far with only a one tone option, all signals (including falsing from wet and mineralized sand) make a audible response. Can't figure out how to stop that. Wish it had 2 tones. I even ran a tight disc pattern, but the falsing was still reading in the low gold range. Anyone having success with the Gold 2 on wet sand??

How many of you have had an itch that no detector can scratch? Is there a set of features out there that haven’t been combined yet to make your dream detector and you think about it all the time? I constantly think about this hole in my detecting life that has yet to be filled! I’m posting this in the Nokta-Makro forum because they like and respond to these kinds of threads. Heres the dream machine that would obsolete a lot of detectors for me. Dream Beach Detector General idea: -A waterproof pulse induction detector -ground balance available with on and off -internal coil cable? -collapsable for diving -changeable tone to suit hearing <5lbs -hard wired headphones (reliability) loud headphones! (Comfy!) -12” DD great coverage, weight and size(hardwired if necessary) -some form of ferrous rejection! -EMI tuning for quieter use in suburbia -li-ion rechargeable with gold contacts (or something with no opening required) and 10hours+ battery life. -membrane style buttons for durability or something NOT a knob! -10m+ waterproof -overall reliable beach and water unit I know Steve still wants a lightweight ground balancing PI that can preferably go in the water for his Hawaii holidays, what does everyone else dream of?? :)

Got in the water on the weekend with the Equinox for the first time in months (been too cold) and had a blast 😁 I’ve finally got some good waterproof headphones for the equinox that are really acceptable under water volume wise 👍👍

The Equinox got wet for the first time today, it survived and will be without a doubt my primary water detector. I can do 80% of the area I want to do without needing the waterproof headphones, which is kinda nice. The beaches are fairly well sanded in here right now, but I know where to look for a few spots of clay. Things are going to get real interesting this fall when the mighty winds shift. Pictured are the older coins. A 1957 Penny, 1959 silver dime and a 1952 silver quarter. Not a bad bit of change considering I only found 5 coins total. Also a brass ring and a nail that might be from a horseshoe.

Sometimes you just have to find the right beach ... the right energy. That is what I did this morning. I got out about 3 hours before low tide (4:30 AM) at a regular beach and found next to nothing. There was nothing that had been moved by the tide or the waves in one of my favorite beaches. This half of a mile beach was dead. It was time to go over a jetty and detect a beach that could get waves and energy from a different direction. That got me started. The waves overnight had been small and the tide was not really going to be very low but the beach had quite a slope to it. I found a couple of quarters. I gridded as I have done this beach before and the quarters kept coming. These were 'old' quarters as my wife sometimes says. That means they are tarnished and have been in the water for some time. Now enough energy had focused on this beach to move them up. What comes with old quarters? RINGS! The first one came at the bottom of a grid. It was the stainless steel black ring. More quarters and more dimes and then the bracelet, and then the second ring and more quarters and a little trash and I'm skipping some pennies. Then I get an 18 on the 800 and I did it and it is the 3rd ring. Another cheap one but still a ring. I'm closing in on 3 hours and I need to go move my car but I also want to complete my grid pattern. Then for about the 3rd or 4th time this hunt I get multiple signals but the 800 is fast enough to distinguish the sounds. I focus on a 'ring sound' and sure enough I get the 1.9g/14k ring. It was among 2 other quarters, a couple of nickels and a dime. These were all within a 5 ft circle digging down about 6-8 inches. It was a good day and a good lesson once again about the energy. The places I hunt need energy to move valuable objects. Some of the heavies will be at the bottom of the grid but the gold ring was near the top. Quarters will get there also with the right waves and wind. I don't need a negative tide to find some good stuff. Totals 38 Quarters 37 Dimes 14 Nickels 23 Pennies (I could have dug more but I do a little cherry picking to save my arm and time!) 4 Rings The beach is not always this good and looking for gold in the desert has its challenges also. You have to take what you can get. Mitchel