Mf Machines On Mineralized Black Sand Salt Beach. Update 4/8 Legend, Manticore, Nox 900.

[midalake]

At times of the year, I really struggle with Black Sand in my location. This year was no different. I have done more comprehensive testing on updated machines. On many days I hunted half days on each machine so I could tell differences in same conditions. [thanks to my wife delivering machines]  I want to outline a few general recommendations:

1. Slow Down, 2. Use Tracking GB, 3. Sensitivity set so you hear just slight Black Sand interference. 4. Look at your fringe targets with a couple more points of sensitivity. 5. Don't trust your machine is working well with moving water, wave wash. [do checks]. 

D2> So much to unpack here. First, the D2 is a tale of two machines. One [the devil] in Black Sand, the other, [the angel] in non-Black Sand.

The positives> Light to hunt. Fair separation of iron from non-ferrous. Good separation of targets. Good at noise canceling.

The negatives. Noisy. The Menu.  Clipped target sounds at depth for non-ferrous. Moving water takes D2 out at any depth. Must look at many targets from Mutiple directions[time consuming] . 

Equinox 800> Not much to unpack.

The Positives>  Better Black Sand handling. The Menu.  Good separation but under the D2.  GOOD sounding targets [not clipped]. MUCH better target sounds at depth. Better and faster deciding iron from non-ferrous. Works with moving water unless target is deep. 

The Negatives>   Lousy noise cancel. Heavier to hunt with. Waterproof issues. Sometimes loss of targets in the hole. 

Hunting summary> For about a week I hunted the D2 exclusively, I really wanted to get a gold chain hunting in Beach Sensitive [which I think is better than Equinox Beach 2.] [no gold chain] Then had the Equinox out a few times. Then updated the D2, and started hunting both machines daily. 
Every day I started with the D2 and switched to the Equinox. There was not ONE DAY that I wanted the D2 to remain with me. I find the D2 ear exhausting, both in how it handles Black Sand and in deciphering targets. The clipped and bite-y sounding nonferrous targets at depth are a real PIA. The range of pull-tab numbers are ridiculous. Tough to make headway with the interrogation needed on some targets. Not much difference in hunting with a max frequency of 24 or 40. Maybe 1-point sensitivity lower with 40. ANY moving water would completely wipeout the detection field of the D2 in both Beach and Beach sensitive. At best I could only pull a 91-sensitivity setting, but most detecting was done at 87-89. 

The Equinox> So MUCH better on handling Black Sand. Most hunting was done at 21 even with water contact. Detection field works in moving water but not on targets of depth. With the Horseshoe mode on telling the difference between Ferrous and nonferrous is MUCH easier and quicker. The unmistakable double ring of iron is clear and smooth. Target investigation time is cut down.

I don't think there is a winner in the small bit category. Both machines seem to find small bits well. While I did not do any head-to-head burying of targets. Both machines seem to have their moments of man that was shallower than I thought and also the holy crap, that was deep moment.

NOT trying to make this a one is better than another, your conditions may provide different results. If you have compared other machines to the ones I have PLEASE post! I will answer all questions of settings or conditions or  ???

In the picture:  ALL of the larger jewelry was found with the Equinox yesterday. Only a few small bits with the D2. This has been a bit of a trend. I give the nod to the Equinox's ability to tell ferrous from non-ferrous at depth. Most of this jewelry was deep with negative numbers but had clean one beep hits.  My D2 will be in the closet until the black sand subsides. 

 

[midalake]

Picture: In center is a cracked face of a very small gold ring [square]. Rang in a 3 on the Equinox! Pretty impressive. 

 

[Hardtimehermit]

Thanks for sharing your findings 👍

[RickUK]

Makes a very interest read,thanks for posting.

[Van Rijn Stewart]

Wow I hope XP gets a hold of your writing there's some very important information they could use for a latter update thanks Midalake 

[EL NINO77]

Midalake, thank you for the comparison... I have one question... if you switch from horseshoe  mode to discrimination  mode on the EQ 800 when checking the target... you will be able to improve the VDI identification of the target... - even if at the price of, for example, a less smooth audio signal... ?

[midalake]

1 minute ago, EL NINO77 said:

if you switch from horseshoe to discrimination on the EQ 800 when checking the target... you will be able to improve the VDI identification of the target... - even if at the price of, for example, a less smooth audio signal... ?

I have not switched back out of Horseshoe for years. I find the response in Horseshoe to be crisp and rounded. I will experiment on some deep nonferrous targets next time out. I doubt it will produce a better TID number....but who knows?  Will report back.  😎

[Rattlehead]

Nice comparison and a good read. Thanks!

[Sinclair]

What I often experience in addition with the D2 compared to the Nox:

I get a loud and clean hit on a target. After I remove one or two scoops of sand, the signal is nearly gone - I mean so far gone, I wouldn’t dig any further, if I didn‘t knew there MUST be something.. 
If you get the target out, it sounds nice and clean again.

You sometimes have the same effect with the Nox if you move the target, but not nearly as often as with the D2 imho.

 

[RIbeach_hunter]

Thanks for the comparison.

 I talked with two other hunters while hunting the salt water surf-line today and both had EQ 800's.

 Both said that they handled soil minerals well and were good for small gold jewelry.

 I found an 8.7gm 14kt band today with my CZ-20, but the CZ does not like heavy black sands, otherwise a deep hunter.