Equinox 900 Vs 800 Iron Test

[dogodog]

In my opinion the 900 and 800 are about the same on what I call iron confusion. I've run dozens of tests with the 900 in the ground and with above ground air tests. What I have concluded is that if your not running the 6 inch coil on the 900 or the 800 in high iron area's your wasting your time. For me I run bias at 0 and my recovery at 2 in multi when hovering in nail infested areas. That being said, do not abandon your dig if you pull a few nails out of your hole. Remember your pointer will locate them too. The 900 is a great machine in the tool box for more reasons than iron separation. My favorite is how the 900 separates gold targets from a lot of aluminum targets. I would say the the target ID's are much better suited to gold jewelry detecting. I thought the 900 would be an easy set up, Its not. I played with the 900 for 2 weeks to get a coin program that would tone break your average copper penny out of the silver tones. I run my 900 with the coiltek 10x5 only now and it is better than the 800 only because of the extended ID numbers. If I hunt iron patches I run my 800 with the 6 inch and low recovery speed. With any machine the magic bullet of separating targets from iron comes from your brain and patience. 

[midalake]

3 hours ago, dogodog said:

My favorite is how the 900 separates gold targets from a lot of aluminum targets. I would say the the target ID's are much better suited to gold jewelry detecting.

Can you give an example of why this would be true? 

[Jeff McClendon]

I have shown these photos before on this site. Targets are on or just below their target IDs.

Equinox 800 low/mid conductor target IDs for some common USA coin, trash and jewelry targets:

 

Equinox 900 low/mid conductor target IDs for some common USA coin, trash and jewelry targets:

[strick]

8 hours ago, midalake said:

Can you give an example of why this would be true? 

Park hunting and beach hunting are two different worlds entirely. The trash never goes away at the park...it's not subject to winds, tides or the actions of the surf...therefore having the expanded ID range can allow one to make a better "guess" before the dig...note I say "guess" I love park hunting for gold jewelry but it is a tedious and difficult process of constantly bending down on your knees and digging out a target in the turf... then theres Beach hunting 🙂

strick 

[sodbuster]

Thanks for your conductor ID charts comparing 800 & 900.  Are these "found" with the corresponding detector or air tested?

I would have dug all the 5-6 thru zinc with the 800.  Usually dig the high conductors anyway.   Maybe it would save me time using the 900, moving quickly on to another target.   I am not sure how long you need to pursue aluminum in search of gold on those 30's range targets with the 900.   My guess is that there is some gold in that range.   But seriously I don't know for sure.

 

[Jeff McClendon]

3 hours ago, sodbuster said:

Thanks for your conductor ID charts comparing 800 & 900.  Are these "found" with the corresponding detector or air tested?

I would have dug all the 5-6 thru zinc with the 800.  Usually dig the high conductors anyway.   Maybe it would save me time using the 900, moving quickly on to another target.   I am not sure how long you need to pursue aluminum in search of gold on those 30's range targets with the 900.   My guess is that there is some gold in that range.   But seriously I don't know for sure.

 

Most of those targets were found with the Equinox 800.

I air tested for the target IDs in order to make the charts. 

Those were just the gold targets that I had available and their target IDs.

I did not include canslaw and foil or broken/cracked pull tabs. I just included normal, frequently occurring trash.

The charts are not meant to be perfect or complete. They just show tendencies like the big clump of targets between 10 and 17 in the Nox 800 photo.

[midalake]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:26 AM, strick said:

therefore having the expanded ID range can allow one to make a better "guess" before the dig...note I say "guess"

It is my Experience that an Expanded ID range to 100 scale is a hindrance to idenification of aluminum to gold ratios. 

Example: My equinox is AWESOME at locking in tabs where I hunt at 13-14 for 95 %. 

My Deus 2 is HORRIBLE at locking in a range of tabs. I run numbers from 49 to 64 for 95%.  This is absolutely unacceptable and makes skipping tabs impossible. 

Don't run air tests, they are worthless. Run ID tests on the wet sand. The dynamics of wet sand and black sand will change ID numbers, especially at depth.   

[strick]

31 minutes ago, midalake said:

It is my Experience that an Expanded ID range to 100 scale is a hindrance to idenification of aluminum to gold ratios. 

Example: My equinox is AWESOME at locking in tabs where I hunt at 13-14 for 95 %. 

My Deus 2 is HORRIBLE at locking in a range of tabs. I run numbers from 49 to 64 for 95%.  This is absolutely unacceptable and makes skipping tabs impossible. 

Don't run air tests, they are worthless. Run ID tests on the wet sand. The dynamics of wet sand and black sand will change ID numbers, especially at depth.   

Yes I am in some agreement with you in that it seems the Nox was easier...

 In the photos above that Jeff posted the targets from 10-17 he mentions then the corresponding targets from 20-34 on the 900..does it separate the gold from pull tabs better? maybe round 32-34 but then there are gold rings that fit in that bracket as well that re not pictured........do you dig every target on the beach...most of the time? I've never detected Mexico beaches just curious. 

strick 

[midalake]

12 hours ago, strick said:

do you dig every target on the beach...most of the time? I've never detected Mexico beaches just curious. 

I dig everything that is nonferrous! Except for one beach where I try to skip some tabs. I take the Equinox to this beach. 

[rvpopeye]

So , I'm at the end of warranty on "Noxous" .I might even hit hr #100 this summer !

But have far surpassed that on forums and YT vids.

I've noticed a "lack of pattern ? "in regards to those "precious" rings by looking at so very very many ID charts here and elsewhere.

For every ID # on a detector , there is probably a gold ring that rings clear as a bell.  And not just gold , that first piece of sterling was a 20 IIRC , a zincoln #.

End of the story ,,yet I persist.

Considering I've never found a gold ring with the 800 , if it's a consistent # , I'm pulling it out ! 

And yes , there ARE a lot of pull tabs on an 800  #13 ! But lots of nickels too.   And ding ding ding , also a ring.  The 900 has tabs more spread out .  Lots of room in there for hiding goodies ! 

I heard once that you could donate pull tabs to the Ronald McDonald House ...... ? Not sure what they do with them but collectively we could help them corner the market on the little PIAs !

I know all kinds of good places to toss the junk out ! And besides I can't let SOH Nox make me look bad forever...😜It might take me all year but I'm having one of those "everything but the kitchen sink" pics.

  I wrote a song to teach the kiddies on my pirate ship  " Row row row yer boat , across the ocean green . Merrily merrily merrily merrily , All The Gold's For Me !"  Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr