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Wanting To Learn.. Equinox 900


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Very new to this and of course I'm addicted! I have the EquiNox 900 and was wondering if there is a list of items and what the numbers are for such items. I good buddy of mine introduced this metal detecting to me about a month ago and I'm loving it. He has the Excaliber 2 so his numbers can't help me. Any advice and or pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance..

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Go out among them as the old-time saying goes and start swinging and digging it all. Stay with the factory programs and settings until you get well aquainted with your Machine and use a smaller coil if you have one to start with.

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If the Excal ll actually had a display and target ID numbers, they probably wouldn't be the same as the Equinox 900.

If you are in the USA, get a US Jefferson nickel, a modern zinc penny (post 1982) a modern copper Memorial penny (pre 1982 and some 1982s), a modern clad dime, a modern clad quarter, a Sacajawea or presidential dollar coin and any other older USA coins and do lots of static testing on them to learn their audio and target ID numbers. Do the same with 22 lr or larger caliber shell casings, bullets, lead fishing weights, all varieties of aluminum pull tabs, some steel crown bottle caps especially Corona and Modelo (with the foil coverings) aluminum screw caps from liter sized and shot sized bottles and any other non-ferrous items you can find. Do the same with nails, nuts, bolts, etc and learn how they sound too. Making your own list is a lot better idea than using someone else's.

If you have any gold or silver jewelry, test that too. 

If you are saltwater beach hunting, dig it all at least starting out.

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As has been said before, go out and use it. Dig everything you can to see where they fall on the numbers but more importantly to learn what a good sounding target is vs. a crummy one. Learn to hear the rough edges at the end of your sweep indicating a bad target. Learn to walk around a target while sweeping it to determine whether to dig or not. A bad signal can become a good signal by moving 90 degrees. 

Like Jeff said learn the 4 basic coins and where they lie on the TID and then go dig. When you get to where you're going take them out and throw them on the ground and listen to the tone and see the ID then go hunt. I always take a few coins with me every hunt just to get my hearing adjusted even though I've dug thousands of coins. There is no replacement for actually using the machine in real conditions.

Testing in the garage is when we're too bored to fish and the wife wants us to watch a movie on the Hallmark channel. 

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4 hours ago, Skate said:

Learn to hear the rough edges at the end of your sweep indicating a bad target. Learn to walk around a target while sweeping it to determine whether to dig or not. A bad signal can become a good signal by moving 90 degrees. 

Yes and YES!!!!  Sometimes 360 degree look! 

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   I good friend of mine is new to detecting and I kind of steered him towards the 900 because of its versatility. However, I did not think it was the best beach machine for our area and I am a pulse user most of the time. I must say that I've been surprised at how well he is doing with the 900 in the wet sand and shallow water.

   On one recent hunt he called me over to check a signal and it was a very faint tone with my TDI BeachHunter which turned out to be a coin between 2-3 scoops deep. Even in the black sand he seems to be able to pick out targets although the target ID numbers are not accurate for deeper targets. 

  Personally, I am not a fan of the way the detector sounds although I know that the audio can be programmed for different tones. However, his results speak for themselves. Yesterday, he forgot to bring his headphones and just used the built-in speaker which I thought would be difficult with all the wave noise. That didn't stop him from pulling out a sweet, 8 gram, 18K, white gold comfort band from the surf!

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Jeff and others have posted your best bet. Make your own chart using items you hope to find . (Soil is different everywhere and affects the results).  Then go detect with Doc's advice on dig it all anyway to get your ears tuned in. 

Remember gold can be on any of the ID #s................

Skate's advice is also good . I'd avoid the hallmark channel out in the garage too 😉

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Thanks for all the advice.... Been out about a dozen times now and really finding some nice jewelry in the water. Been borrowing a buddy's Greay Ghost II headphones so I'm in the market looking for a set of my own so I can return his. Really like them. So if any of you know of someone that has a pair and wants to sell them, send them my way... Thanks again for the advice,,,

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