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I keep reading comments by people who think the ergonomics of the Equinox are just horrible. Coming from my 7 lb harnessed GPZ 7000 the commentary is interesting. People do know the Equinox is a waterproof detector, right? My challenge? Please list all the waterproof metal detectors you think have better ergonomics out of the box than an Equinox. Current waterproof detectors from major manufacturers listed by weight. Click for larger version...

Hi All, First post, please do not judge... Question to more experienced EQ 800 users. I have been detecting for over half a year now, got piles of questions I can't seem to find a definitive answers, so decided to register and ask instead. I also want to highlight I'm interested in all relics, not just coins. Thanks in advance. Long story short, I have 2 things to ask about, these are sitting for quite a while in my head and can't seem to figure it out. First and probably most asked is the firmware version. I have tried all 3 versions (with proper resets before and after) and my suspicions are that the oldest is the most neutral to the other newer ones - most suited to "all" detecting. Newer ones' frequency response is not as flat, but equalized if I can express this way. The newer it gets, more biased towards coins and larger objects it seems to appear. For example, with stock 11" coil, on fw 1.5 I could detect items as small as pistol round lead bullets (16-17 century), around 4-5mm in D, while with the V2 it simply does not see them at all. In fact, with V2 I pull mostly larger coins and not much of anything else. I also own 15" coil and in regards to small objects of say, I see the following unmasking pattern: Small copper button (10mm D) in top of mineralized soil, same program, sensitivity, GB 0, IF 0, FE 0, recovery 4: v1.5 - 11" performs better than 15" - can ID easier with with 11 with iron grunt v1.7.5 - 15" performs better than 11" - can ID easier with 15 with iron grunt v2.1.12 - neither of coils can see the button (FE 0 and F2 0), not even a chirp, completely blind, just iron grunt It takes an awful lot of time to test things, I often hunt same fields, therefore my question, what fw do you use for digging everything? Situation no 2. My friend owns XP Deus lite and we went hunting on 200 year small old field full of coke (VDI 1-2). Soil was excellent, GB was 1! He was pulling various buckles, coins and buttons from a significant depth, while I found only few coins and one other copper thing, he only made 3rd of field when I finished. We frequently tried to scan questionable targets with both detectors to confirm if they are worth digging. What happened next was a bitter surprise. He pulled a button from about 10" hole beside the coke. I asked him to drop this button into the hole to try to ID it again, but Equinox was completely blinded by the coke, all I could see is VDI 1 and no matter what program or setting I tried, and notching it out, different angle and speed, no chance, nothing. The only thing I did not try is to switch to single frequency. Deus had absolutely no problem seeing it. I feel I missed so much in that field. I was running fw V2 and I really want to go back there once more with the old version. Is there anything you think I could try to get past the coke? I'm going to that field again this weekend. Just to add another oddity. I have done a FP reset on the equinox at some point and that made coke to sound very faint for a half a minute before it returned to full blinding strength. Sorry for rather long post. Thank you

I'm a former XP Deus user and have been searching around for aptX LL headphones similar to my old Deus WS4 wireless backphones so that I can wear sunhats. I purchased the 66 AUDIO BTS Pro's last week and was pretty disappointed after syncing them up to the Equinox 800 and no aptX LL!!! I contacted their tech support and didn't hear anything for a couple of days. I boxed them up to return to Amazon and just as I was heading out the door to the UPS Store I received an email from them saying "We will send over a manual firmware update in 1-2 days to resolve the aptX-LL issue." Two days later (today) I got the firmware update. The update went smoothly on my PC, I synced up to the Equinox 800 and aptX LL now works GREAT!!! I tested them out around my garden and they're awesome. If anyone needs the firmware update file without having to wait four days send me a PM. These headphones sound great, loud, are comfortable and have some pretty impressive specs with a 40 hour battery and 100 foot range. https://www.66audio.com/bts-pro https://www.amazon.com/66-AUDIO-Wireless-Bluetooth-Headphones/dp/B01M8M4R7K

I figured I should post this here as I posted the information elsewhere on the forum that's less relevant than here. Our extremely innovative Russian friends have managed to make a range of aftermarket coils for the Equinox, they remove the security chip out of your coil, reseal your coil and give you an adapter which then allows you to run aftermarket coils. They make a range of sizes too. My pick of the bunch would be the 9.5x5.5! That's the range of sizes and pricing in Russian currency. You can find out more about it here on these Russian forums, you'll have to use Google translate or something similar to read it. Original thread http://foxmd.ru/index.php?route=product/category&path=77_92 More information http://foxmd.ru/index.php?route=product/category&path=93 And videos from them about the coils and lucky last 🙂 When nobody can do it, the Russians do and they do it well.

A decent video comparing targets on the Vanquish Vs the Equinox. The Vanquish really looks like the perfect first detector for someone, easy to use, built based on the Equinox so performance is pretty damn impressive.

With the Equinox being such a versatile detector, I have used it in many different detecting situations. Lately I have been helping a local municipality try to find the exact location of a 19th century narrow gauge railroad right of way on some of their city land. The rails and cross ties were removed long ago and the terrain has been altered. So I’m looking for the iron relic debris along the railway roadbed for their museum and to trace the railroad’s location and any other period non ferrous targets too. I get to keep the non- ferrous ones!!!! One easy way to selectively find deep big iron targets with the Equinox like spikes, bolts and nuts, fish plates, etc. in Park or Field modes is to locate an iron target and then size it in pinpoint mode. We all know that the pinpoint feature can be a bit wonky sometimes. A friend of mine is helping me with this project and he is new to the Equinox (longtime CTX user). I was helping him setup his Nox in Park 2 and Field 1 and showing him how to ground balance and pinpoint. He didn’t know about the global and local settings difference so he just assumed that what he set in Field 1 applied to Park 2. He manually ground balanced Field 1 at 5 while Park 2 was unknowingly left on 0. The ground balance here can change from -2 to + 10 rapidly. I was trying to help him hear the difference between what to me sounded like a short 6” or so piece of barbed wire (correct assumption btw) still in the ground and what sounded to me like a much more dense piece of iron (turned out to be a spike). The pinpoint audio “halos” were very different on my Nox 600 and clearly outlined a long, thin target as opposed to a target whose audio halo was at least as big as my 11” coil. His Nox 800 was in Park 2 and in pinpoint mode it responded with a loud, long cats meow that lasted for his entire 4’ coil sweep over what turned out to be the barbed wire strand at 8” depth. He tried several times with the same result. I just figured he was continuing to press his pinpoint button but after checking he wasn’t. I tried his Nox and got the same result. I switched to Field 1 and his 800 pinpoint mode worked just like my Nox had. I switched back to Park 2 on his Nox and checked his settings and fixed the ground balance discrepancy by doing a ground grab which set at 4. I then went back into pinpoint mode on his Nox in Park 2 and it pinpointed just like his Field 2 and my similarly setup Nox 600. It appears that obtaining a good ground balance reading may improve pinpoint mode function on the Nox. I sure don’t remember seeing anything about that in the manual. So, I have always wondered what pinpoint mode was on the Nox since there is no classic All Metal mode. I have also wondered how smart (or not) it was to just simplify things and leave a Nox on 0 ground balance. This experience has reinforced my belief that taking the 30 seconds or less to do a ground grab now and then on this internally complex high gain detector during a hunt is definitely a smart idea. Jeff

I share an image of today. It is a beach, at low tide, and the sand is not too mineralized. I have always used the Beach1 mode, but I have doubts about using Beach2 (or other custom) Yes, I know that it is best to test - error, but some of you have a lot of experience, and that is why I would like to hear your comments and why. And if it's another way, I'm all ears. Thank you so much guys!

Hi everyone, I want make me sure if my program on my Detector is properly set or.. I own Equinox for 4 weeks and walked lot of km with it (90% of time on field). But I am still little confused about my settings to forest. I tryied with settings: field 1, 5 tone, disc -9 to 0, Rs 4 and iron bias 2. Our woods is pretty clear, so I can get more depth. (I am coin hunter) What I read or what I heard is that park 2 is more to depth than field 1.. But park 2 is more for dirty locations.. I'm from central Europe and local old silver coins are differently conductive because of their age and and size. what would you recommend? Park or field settings? I'm still trying to understand it and I'm still learning. I will be glad for your advice, I have not read anything about the forest anywhere in the topic. PS: sorry for my english I'm not native speaker Thank you

Which do you think will hit deeper on wet sand? I'd prefer a TDIBH over a DF but I'm budget limited.

So one of the ears on my 3 month old Equinox 600 11" coil has busted ( see picture). Will Minelab replace this under warranty? Once replaced is there a way to help prevent a reoccurrence? if they won't replace it, any ideas on a self fix? Thanks Brian

Here's a video of the Minelab Vanquish 540, Equinox 800 and eTrac comparing some targets while relic hunting. The area is challenging because there are not many targets left and the EMI is terrible. Steve if this should be under Comparisons feel free to move the post. Thanks

I am copying part of a post by Badger in NH on the Dankowski forum. Will this beach performance transfer over to hot dirt and more nuggets? I don't know but this guys results are certainly interesting. “For the depth testing I had a silver quarter, a silver dime and a medium sized mans 14k gold ring. I had drilled tiny holes in the center of the coins, ran a nylon string through each one and tied a knot on the end. This is to ensure that coins stay flat when buried. I would bury the coin at 15 inches and slowly pull the coin towards the surface a little at a time until it just came into detection range. When I reached the edge of the max depth that the coin could be detected, I grabbed the string where it came out of the sand, pulled up the coin and measured the length of the string. It worked perfectly. The gold ring is attached to the end of a fabric measuring tape. I tested the Tarsacci MDT 8000 against the Minelab Equinox 800. Settings were - Tarsacci - GB 600, SB 26-30 depending on Freq, Sense 7, Threshold 0, Disc 0, Mix mode. Equinox - Beach 1, Sense 23, 2 tones, AM on, recovery 6. To achieve a max depth designation, the detector must have a clear repeatable non-ferrous tone and reasonably accurate numerical ID. Tarsacci max depth on the silver Quarter was 13". Equinox was 10". Tarsacci max depth on the silver Dime was 12.5". Equinox was 9". (All the Tarsacci frequencies picked up the coins at max depth but 6.4 kHz sounded best.) Tarsacci max depth on the gold ring was 13". (All freqs picked it up but 18 kHz sounded best) Equinox had an iffy signal at 11" and 10" but only got a decent tone and ID at 9". I tried radically changing the GB number on the Tarsacci to see what that would do but came back to 600 because it got the best depth. I forgot to test Black Sand mode but will do that another time. So the Tarsacci wins the depth test by a large margin. I am extremely happy with it.” Tarsacci MDT 8000 Data & Reviews

I've hunted this fresh water beach the last 3 days with some decent luck. The first 2 days I hunted it with an Explorer 2 with an 8" coil, and did ok. I went back today with the Nox and did even better 🙂 My settings were: Park 2 2-tones 0-ground balance Disc -9 to 0 recovery speed 4 F2 0 sens 20 The gold ring hit a solid 12 the 2 little pendents rang at 1...found within 6" of each other. silver ring 5 open ring, not connected at the top silver beads 12, I've found 8 so far The little junk beads hit at 1 all the cleaned up silver was found with the Explorer 2

Received my Equinox 800 yesterday. Charged the detector and headphones up yesterday. Took my time putting it together and inspecting it. Rain and cold yesterday so no hunting. Today was different. Didn't even read the manual. Got it out this morning in the house and turned it on for first time. Ran a couple coins across the coil then went to tinkering a little bit. Park 1 stock except for threshold which I set to 3. FE to 3, left recovery speed at 5. notched out 39 and 40 , took the T1 volume down to 3 paired up my headphones and that was it. Took it to a place I had been one other time with my other detectors, and had really racked up with the other units there. Well.. The Equinox was doing really well today. 18 dimes, 6 quarters, 17 pennies 4 nickels, and a gold plated silver ring(my wife found that by eye!). less than 3 pulltabs dug today ( ID=14=pull tab for me). Used park 1 and nothing else. Didn't make any changes other than above. Ran sensitivity at 16-18. Some EMI was present so varied it according to that. Ground Balanced too. I did try 0 but found an actual ground balance did better. It handled that dreaded red dirt with gold specks like a boss! deepest find today was a copper penny at 8.5" down and under 3 different types of material (wood chip top, red dirt with gold specks, and sandy clay). I'm very happy with today's first outing and have no doubt I made the right choice in getting this unit. Seems I'm finally ready to appreciate all it has to offer. Gotta say the EQ600 I had earlier this year ran NOTHING like this unit. This thing is smooth and I can understand it. Almost forgot. I also had a piece of Skinomi techskin screen protector left over from when I bought it years ago for a tablet. Took a piece of paper and traced out the equinox control pod front as a template. Then I cut a piece best I could that would fit over the entire front, or most of it anyway. Managed to have just enough to cover the screen and buttons. So far that is working like a charm. Really cut down on the glare problem so many speak of. Had no trouble seeing the screen today.

My new T2 arrived this week so I decided I'd take it out for a test run today, I haven't bothered detecting football fields before, it never really crossed my mind to do so especially small town football fields that barely ever get used. I think the last time I even saw people on this thing was about a year ago and they were riding a horse 🙂 I guess back in time it was probably a popular place and my results today show this. This is going to be more of a picture story as the pictures tell 1000 words! I started using the T2 with Mars Tiger coil and within two minutes of arriving I had my first coin, then another, then another..... it was nuts, coins everywhere and very little junk, I was finding nice old coins, possibly one of my oldest in a while too Silver 🙂 1938 British Penny The T2 was getting good depth, easily hitting on coins with good ID's, another silver! 1948 Penny - Now NZ currency, not British like the older Pennies, we used some British currency until 1967. Prior to 1933 United Kingdom currency was the official legal tender of New Zealand, although Australian coins and notes were also generally accepted. The first New Zealand penny was minted in 1940. The penny ran until 1965, when New Zealand stopped minting pre-decimal coins in preparation for decimilisation in 1967. I have no idea what this thing is This is the football field I was detecting, under the goal posts and along the end of the field had a good collection of coins, I guess from all the diving with the ball and coins in the players pockets, I don't know much about football, probably the only NZ male who has no clue about the game 🙂 My oldest find of the day, a British 1912 One Penny It was quite deep down but the T2 banged on it real hard with a solid ID. At this point I decided I'd go home and gear up better as this place obviously has a lot of good old coins. I was only using my T2 with Carrot and Lesche digging tool which was hard work with all the coins being so deep. I wanted a bigger coil to cover more ground but there was no way I was going to strap on the 15" Teknetics coil to continue using the T2 as it weighs a tonne. I opted for the Equinox with it's 15" coil and almost straight away after turning it on, another coin 1950 NZ One Penny. I left the bit of dirt on the coil up the top it came out of, I love when you get the impression of the coin in the soil. Another silver, 1934 Shilling This is the hole it came from, I always recheck my holes and I'm glad I did, another target in the hole, then another... this was crazy 3 Silvers in the hole so far, 1934 Shilling, 1934 Shilling and a 1946 Sixpence, I was sure this was it but I did another check and off to the side of the hole, ANOTHER SILVER Another 1934 Shilling, 4 silvers in one hole, incredible! Someone had a bad day. 1964 Sixpence... the coins just kept coming, all old ones. No longer are they made of silver in 1964... Nice and deep though +++++ My first modern coin, a $2 But look how deep it was, it was deeper than a lot of far older coins.... weird! Another two in one hole, just one cent coins from back when NZ had one cent coins. Another coin leaving a cool impression of itself in the soil, just a one cent I think It sure a lot of ground to cover, I'll be at this place for weeks... plenty more coins to find I'm sure. Time to head back to the car, with my coil to the soil. Another for the road 🙂 Double sided impression on the soil with this one. I couldn't possibly put up a photo of every coin find as there were just too many, all in about 3 hours detecting. The good stuff The bad stuff... not a bad ratio, good stuff far outweighed bad stuff, unusual for me.... I'll be back there tomorrow.... and the next day.... and the next day 🙂

Gold Nugget Detecting with the Minelab Equinox Metal detecting for gold nuggets is one of the most difficult detecting tasks, and learning to run a VLF detector in highly mineralized ground will challenge even the best detectorists. There is more to this subject then can be covered in a brief article but I will try and offer some tips to get people started with the Minelab EQUINOX for gold nugget detecting. Minelab Equinox with 6" coil at work gold nugget detecting Tiny nugget in scoop - the Equinox can find very small gold nuggets! The EQUINOX 800 has two modes that are not available on the EQUINOX 600 – Gold Mode 1 and Gold Mode 2. The two Gold Modes as far as I h e been able to determine are identical except for the default settings. Gold Mode 1 is set up with a default Recovery Speed of 6 and Gold Mode 2 is set up with a default Recovery Speed of 4. These modes employ a boosted audio that increases both in volume and pitch as a target is detected. This in turn accentuates the signal on tiny gold nuggets. The threshold is also different than the “reference threshold” employed in the other modes and is more responsive to ground changes, providing important audio feedback about changing ground conditions. The Gold Modes are similar to the threshold based all metal modes available on most VLF nugget detectors with a major difference. A target id number is displayed for strong targets and each target id number can be independently set to accept or reject. In this regard the Gold Modes are a hybrid mode with more discrimination capability than is available in normal threshold based all metal modes. Normal VLF nugget detecting relies on the operator having their ear very tuned into the threshold sound of the detector. Slight variations in the threshold tone can indicate potential targets. The threshold tone is also very sensitive to changes in the ground mineralization. This includes the so-called “hot rocks” which have mineralization different than the ground they reside in which makes the detector react to them as targets. The challenge is to get the detector to operate with a relatively smooth threshold as the coil is swept over the ground so that desired targets will stand out. If hot rocks are signaling with every sweep of the coil, then progress will be extremely slow if not impossible. Tuning a VLF detector to hunt nuggets starts with the theoretical most powerful settings, and then reduces those settings until the detector becomes stable. Every setting is a trade off, because making a detector more sensitive to gold also makes the detector more sensitive to mineralized ground and hot rocks. The key settings for the EQUINOX 800 in Gold Mode are: Frequency. Multi frequency is the default and the most powerful frequency setting, with 40 kHz and 20 kHz single frequency options. Multi is the most sensitive to gold, but also reacts the most to bad ground and hot rocks. The goal is to get the EQUINOX to run well in Multi but if bad ground or hot rocks make that impossible, going first to 40 kHz and then to 20 kHz will make the EQUINOX progressively less reactive to the ground and the hot rocks. Ground Balance. The default is ground tracking on. Tracking attempts to keep up with and smooth out the variations in the ground. In doing so it has a filtering effect and can possibly tune out the slight audio variations that come not just from the ground but from very small or very deep gold. Tracking off is therefore the most sensitive setting, with adjustments made via the Auto (pump) method or manually. Sensitivity. The range is 1 – 25 with a default of 20. Increasing sensitivity increases the audio response from all targets, plus the responses from things like electrical interference. Most importantly, too much sensitivity makes the ground itself into one giant target, and so if the detector refuses to ground balance properly then reducing sensitivity until a proper ground balance can be obtained is critical. The default of 20 can easily be too high for the worst ground, and settings in the mid to low teens may be necessary. Recovery Speed. The range on the EQUINOX 800 is from 1 – 8. The defaults are 6 for Gold Mode 1 and 4 for Gold Mode 2. Recovery speed as regards nugget detecting can be viewed as a smoothing filter. Higher settings act to smooth out audio responses from the ground and hot rocks. Lower settings enhance audio responses from weak gold signals, but also make hot rocks and bad ground stand out more. False signals from the coil bumping a rock also increase at lower settings. In general the EQUINOX will be easier to handle at higher Recovery Speed settings, with more careful coil control required at lower settings. Iron Bias. The range is 0 – 9 with a default of 6 in both Gold Modes. Lower settings reduce the chance of gold being identified as ferrous, while higher settings reduce the chance of ferrous items being misidentified as gold. Accept/Reject. The default is -9 through 0 rejected, 1 through 40 accepted. The discrimination range on the EQUINOX runs all the way into the ground signal, with ground signals in highly mineralized ground normally coming in at -9, -8, and possibly -7 though it depends strictly on the ground itself. Hot rocks can read almost anywhere, even in the positive number range in the mid-teens or elsewhere. Electrical interference is also likely to exhibit in the low negative number range. Any offending numbers including trash targets can be blocked directly, but the more numbers that are blocked or rejected come at a cost of slightly less signal strength on desired targets. Threshold. The range is 1 – 25 with a default of 12. This is normally set to be just loud enough to hear, but no more. Just a barely discernible tone. However, the threshold can also act as a backend filter. Once all other tuning has been completed, the threshold can be set lower until it is silent, or set higher than normal. Running silent can suppress small variations in the ground signal but also the weakest gold signals. Running the threshold higher than normal can smooth out weak variations, again with a subsequent loss on the faintest gold signals. My starting point (initial settings) for either Gold Mode are: Frequency: Multi Ground Balance: Auto (pump method) with manual tweaking Sensitivity: 20 Recovery Speed: 6 Iron Bias: 0 Accept/Reject: -9 through 40 accepted (either through the settings or by hitting the “Horseshoe button”) The main thing I am going to try and do is operate the EQUINOX in Gold Mode without blocking out or rejecting any target id numbers. The goal is to find settings that reduce and smooth out ground responses while reducing the signal from gold as little as possible. These two things fight each other and there are no perfect settings, but simply the best compromise possible. For some people that will mean making the machine very stable, while others may prefer hotter settings that require more audio interpretation from the operator. The first step is to find an area clear of trash, and walk a bit waving the coil over the ground. Chances are you will get lots of ground noise. Go into the settings and adjust the ground balance. This normally means pumping the coil over the ground while holding the accept/reject button (see the manual) until the ground response evens out. If the ground is highly variable with mixed hot rocks, waving the coil from side to side may work better than pumping the coil. With any luck the machine will settle right down. However, in bad ground it will not, and the solution normally will be to lower the sensitivity setting. Basically this just takes some experimentation, lowering the sensitivity and adjusting the ground balance until the detector reacts very little or not at all to being waved over the ground. If you can get the EQUINOX set to where no target id numbers are popping up at all as the coil passes over the ground but where you can still hear faint variations in the ground, you are there. Then it is simply a matter of going detecting, and digging every target that stands out above the faint ground variations present in the threshold tone. Gold can read anywhere from negative numbers all the way up into the 30’s so typical nugget detecting involves digging everything. However, most nuggets weighing under 1/10th gram will give a target id number of 1 or 2, nuggets under a gram in the single digits, and several gram nuggets reading in the teens and higher. The smallest or the deepest large nuggets will produce no target id number at all, just a variation in the threshold. In real bad ground you may have to not only reduce the sensitivity setting, but possibly even increase the recovery speed setting to 7 or 8. In ground that refuses to behave, switching to first 40 kHz and then 20 kHz will progressively detune the EQUINOX , making it easier to get a stable ground balance. Engaging ground tracking may also help smooth out the worst ground – you have to experiment. In severe ground all this may not work, with ground signals still coming in around the low negative numbers and possibly higher. Some hot rocks may read as positive numbers. This is where the EQUINOX can go to the next level. Go into the settings and reject or “notch out” the worst offending target id numbers. This will usually be -9, -8, and -7 but may include even higher numbers, including positive numbers. Block as few numbers as you can. Simply rejecting the bottom three negative numbers will usually settle the machine down a lot, especially if there is any residual electrical interference being encountered. Rejecting target id numbers does come at a cost in reduced signal strength on desired targets, but you may find now that the sensitivity level can be increased from one to several points, reclaiming that lost sensitivity. In theory if you can get the EQUINOX running stable with no target id numbers rejected you have the ideal situation. However, EQUINOX allowing some offending signals to be rejected with an attendant increase in the sensitivity setting may be the better way to go. It just depends on the situation. So far we have been trying to deal with bad ground by using various detuning methods. In low mineral ground you can go the other direction. If the detector ground balances immediately with a sensitivity setting of 20, then try higher settings. You can also try reducing the recovery speed setting from 6 to 5 or 4 or even lower. Each reduction of the recovery speed setting is fairly dramatic and you will find it suddenly very hard to get and hold a decent ground balance if you go too low with the setting. In mild ground however it can add substantially to the signal strength of the weakest targets. Finally, for the worst ground and for EQUINOX 600 owners we have other alternatives. There is no reason at all why the other modes cannot be used to nugget hunt. Park 2 and Field 2 are both very hot on small targets and offer the ability to use tones while nugget hunting. Prospectors who encounter salt lakes/salt flat situations would do well to remember the Beach modes as possible last ditch settings. Either Park 2 or Field 2 can make for very good nugget hunting modes. I prefer to use Park 2 as a base because by default Field 2 blocks out or rejects the key target id numbers 1 and 2. Small gold nuggets read there, so using Park 2 makes sure somebody will not accidentally reject nuggets in that range. You can use Field 2, but beware those blocked numbers and adjust accordingly. For Park Mode 2: Frequency: Multi Ground Balance: Auto (Ground pump method with manual tweaking) Sensitivity: 16 – 25 Recovery Speed 800: 4 - 6 (default is 6) Recovery Speed 600: 2 - 3 (default is 3) Iron Bias: 0 Accept/Reject: Everything accepted, rely on tones (alternative reject -9, -8, and -7 if too much ground feedback) I have suggested accepting everything, and then using the two tone mode to hunt by ear. If trash is minimal then set the tone break lower than normal, so that 0 and several negative numbers read as non-ferrous. This way you can have ground signals reading as low tones (and possibly at a lower volume) and signals from gold as higher tones. Again, this works well with both EQUINOX models. To sum up, I suggest trying to use the EQUINOX 800 in the Gold Modes with no target id numbers rejected. Tune up just like any normal nugget hunting detector, and dig all decent audio signals. Some nuggets may deliver a negative number response or no number at all. A secondary method for more difficult ground is to reject or block out offending ground and hot rock signals. And a third method for both EQUINOX 800 and 600 owners involves using the Park 2 mode as a nugget hunting mode. That should give people plenty to experiment with. Nugget detecting can be very challenging, but learning to do so means you will learn how to wring every bit of performance possible out of your EQUINOX , and that can benefit you in other areas of detecting as well. Good luck! Steve Herschbach DetectorProspector.com Earlier post on same subject Gold found in Alaska by Steve with Minelab Equinox Gold found in California and Nevada with Minelab Equinox

Hello, brand new to the hobby, first post. So I ordered and received my 600 from Kellyco the other day. After using it for a bit I realized the backlight has many levels of adjustment. I turned it over and saw the “Equinox 800” sticker on the shaft. It does not have the gold mode or 20 & 40 kHz single frequency modes. So it’s like they ran of 600’s, and just grabbed an 800 and disabled the 800 features manually but left the multi backlight enabled. I haven’t checked any other 600/800 features. Has anyone else seen this? Thank you.

Hey everybody. Since I have bought the Equinox 800 as all of you know it comes with the WM08 module. I really don't hear of anyone much using that module. Minelab claims it has 17ms latency. Supposedly the AptX LL headphones have around 40ms latency. Coming from a computer/networking background I do realize there is a difference between these numbers. But in the real world of using the Equinox has anyone ran the WM08 and found it to be noticeably "quicker" than the wireless headphones? I have only been out on 1 hunt so far with the Equinox 800 and was very pleased and used the headphones. The headphones are very nice, very comfy to wear and have good audio. However I have a pair of gray ghost headphones I use with my Teknetics T2SE and really like them. I have ordered the headphone adapter cable from Digger's Den (Thanks again Brian for having the best price) and plan to try out the WM08 with the trusty gray ghosts. I don't feel it is necessary to baby the gray ghosts vs I do feel the minelab wireless headphones need more care and gentle handling. So again I ask, has anyone else used the WM08 and found it to be better in some way? It seems it is a waste to not put the module to work. Call it ignorance, but I want the lowest latency possible.

Hi, a good friend of mine lost his father about 5 years previously and has worn his fathers ring ever since. Four months ago my friend broke a bone in his hand and changed the ring to a finger on the other hand. The ring dropped off his finger as he was cutting the grass, unfortunately the mower was a ride on type and could have dropped off in any one of three small fields. Would I be better off switching to gold mode or leaving the equinox in field 2. In gold mode will it ignore all other metals(would save me a lot of time if it did ). Any ideas to my best approach? Regards Ed

My CTX had been in the shop for quite a while–it had the old config and leaked more than once. One bulkhead, one set of clips and two lithium cells later she was still drinking brine. Thanks to Minelab I’ve just gotten a like new machine and am very excited and grateful. (This must be what it’s like to complete a jihad and be granted a virgin in the afterlife)! Anyhow, I do a lot of testing in my basement in that the interference from furnace, household panel and dryer simulate actual tough salt surf conditions. If you can tune a detector inside–you are doing something right. This is especially true of big coils. I have the large coils for my CTX, Equinox 800 and a WOT hardwired for my Blue Tubes Excal. There is a ton to be learned about signal balancing big coils under these high interference conditions. This kind of testing has gotten me a lot of deep, heavy gold in conditions where there is a lot of pro-level competition. First, its amazing how much of a difference in performance loss (even in air) there is between large and stock coils. These big coils just suck the interference out of the air (or water). What I notice is that target sounds have a much more “inverse” .sound–as if the threshold was “taking over.” The higher you turn the Gain–the quieter targets get. In some instances–the stock coil actually hits targets further out. (Talk about a “teachable moment!)” One thing that’s worked well with the CTX has been to run a P2 version of one of the programs that features one or a couple of reject lines. (Andy’s Beach for example) This seems to balance the signal and reduce all the reverberation-type noise. This works well in the field too–especially of you don’t pile on more interference from current and any incline. This involves a slow sweep speed and working only North / South. I’ve gotten some rings down at the 20″ level this way. The Excalibur–as hard to tune with the WOT coil as it can be–is a simpler platform with less going on–electronically. While it can’t be run that high–maybe at 1 to 2 o’clock is a balanced signal–it does get great depth in discriminate–taking rings at an easy 18″-plus. It’s also stable. Now the Equinox is one of the hardest detectors to tune with a big coil that I’ve used. My usual 2 Tone method works–but is unstable and gets only moderate depth. My super-sharp responding gold magnet “Undertune” (GB -9 / tone “25”) method is out of the question. Without Ground Balancing–the threshold is lilting, uneven and requires careful coil control. I’ve seen videos of guys running down at “14” Gain–unacceptable. Why bother with a big coil to run that weak of a signal? The sense I have is that this detector has a hard time supporting a coil that size. When I run near-preset B2 with 5 Tones–it seems more balanced and stable. This is about the only time I’ve ever been driven back to the pre-sets to balance a detector. It’s a good coil–but hard to balance–just saying. I see a detection signal as being kind of like an arithmetic sum. When you keep subtracting with say, fast water, Gain too high, (in this case) Recovery Speed too fast, high saline conditions bottom contours / inclines and the work a detector does with a highly processed signal like that of the CTX or EQ–what’s left is not always enough to get any more depth than the stock coil. I’m still learning with both of these detectors / coils but am really struggling to get any respectable depth–especially with the EQ. I’ve a lot of great signal balancing “tricks” up my sleeve–including smoothing out the threshold with a “1” discriminate setting or even bringing up the Tone Break–but have yet to find anything that convinces me that a narrower–more manageable detection field drawing less interference would not perform better. I’ve also been instructed on the forums to keep the Recovery Speed low–down at “4” with the big EQ coil. This is just not that stable in salt conditions unless its absolutely still. Of the two, the CTX wins in terms of stability–but for coils that size–even compared to the WOT–the depth just does not seem to be enough to justify the extra swinging effort–at least not in salt water. I’m open to Equinox big coil salt water suggestions. Otherwise–next trip–the coil at least–is staying home. cjc

My new Equinox does not seem to have the newest firmware. I do not see the F2 option so pretty sure it is not the latest firmware. I've read varying opinions on the newest update. All sorts of things have been said, good and bad. Some say it has messed with the ID a bit too much and thrown them off from what it used to be. Some say the addition of F2 has been a good thing, others say nope. So, what do you think? Should I just run it like it is or is the new firmware somehow better in general? Curious is all and would enjoy hearing from anyone that cares to respond with their experiences and findings. Thanks for your time

This is less of a comparison and more of a question. It is a real head scratcher for me. I am not in any way trying to put down one detector and hype up another. This is just my experience. So, I recently had another try at the F75/T2/F70 platform. I have over 150 hours on these detectors and have now sold them all.......Why? My last go at this great group of detectors was with a 2016 F75LTD Special Edition with all of the latest features. After ten outings with it (about 40 hours) I have given up. Selling on Ebay right now with bids. My last work with it was at a city park that has such bad EMI that a Version 4 Omega 8000 and a T2+ were unusable there. This newer F75LTD had no audible issues with EMI at this park which for me anyway was a big improvement. My problem with it was determining a dig or not dig signal. At this park there is an audible signal every 2 or 3 inches, sometimes even closer. I did two field tests with the F75LTD 11"X7"DD and an Equinox 600 11" DD. Settings for the F75 were ground balance 87, Fe3O4 4 to 5 bars, DE mode, discrimination 15, 4 tones, sensitivity 80. Settings for the Nox 600 were ground balance 3, default Park 1 except for a bit of threshold tone set at 6 and sensitivity at 17 (even the Equinox can have EMI issues). I did use the horseshoe button a lot for iron ID. The first time I did this field test I did not want to believe the results. They were not pretty and were basically repeated in this second field test. So, I decided to try again. Both times I picked an area about 50 yards long and 2 yards wide, roughly a full sweep in one direction/lane and a return to the beginning in the adjacent lane. I marked the area off so I wouldn't stray or miss any ground. First I used the F75. Tons of signals, 1/4" aluminum shards are everywhere from shredded pop cans...... came up with 41 cents (3 clad dimes, 7 zinc pennies, 4 pre-1982 copper pennies) , a really cool HO scale tractor (I am a model train guy too, so great find, don't even have to weather it!) a shell casing and some pull tabs, etc. I did hit a really big target that sounded like big iron falsing by itself and did not dig it. There were so many iffy signals (at least to my ears and eyes with numbers and tones all over the place). I was only concentrating on two-way signals with generally consistent numbers and those are the targets I recovered. None were more than 6" deep. Next I covered the exact same ground with the Equinox. From the photos you can see that I or the F75LTD or a combination of both missed a lot of legitimate targets. It was easy to make the dig or no dig decision on these targets with the Nox 600. They were solid, two way, stable numbers and audio, no brainers. None were more than 8" deep and most were in the 2" to 4" range. The big iron screw had a clad dime that was 1" away from it and a little deeper than the top of the screw which was 3" below the surface. I heard the clad dime clearly both during sweeps and pinpointing, two separate obvious.targets. Lots of silver mercury dimes and wheat pennies in this area so I dug both targets. I only heard the iron with the F75. Also, there is no way using the Nox 600 that I would have missed the vast majority of the targets that I recoverd earlier with the F75. They were not difficult targets to recover. Also, except for the big iron screw and dime, I did not dig any targets with the Equinox 600 that were in previous F75 plugs or even adjacent to them, like within masking distance unless the F75 with the settings I was using can have masking issues with targets 4" apart........... So, I guess I am super spoiled by the Equinox.......or I seriously suck at the F75/T2 platform. Jeff These were recovered by the F75LTD These were recovered in the exact same ground afterwards by the Equinox 600. 1974 Kennedy half dollar, 1983 Washington quarter, 3 clad dimes 9 zinc pennies, 6 pre-1982 Memorial pennies, several pieces of lead and solid aluminum, etc.