Equinox Gold Beach Finds 21-03-18

[Nuke em]

Since i started using my Equinox i had found it to be a bit weak and couldn't get it to work right for the first couple of trips . But i have got the beach 1 mode sorted now and even though it could do with a single frequency option say 10 khts i have got to understand it better . And feel it is definitely the X.Terra replacement i was looking for or at least mostly .

This morning i took the Nox to the beach at 5am hoping for something nice , all the trips out so far have yielded Silver and so i must have been doing something right . I have had 4 Silver rings in the last 2 trips along with a Silver Pendent , a Silver Bangle and a Silver Bracelet and around £65 in coinage .

But today i was hoping for 1st prize and thats what happened . 

I started at 5am in the dark and stayed out till around 10.30am after walking 2 miles on the sand and shingle trying to find anything about , i did find the odd scattering of coinage as usual and some where around 6 to 8 inches in depth . Nothing deeper except large Aluminium "Aluminum" LOL . At around 7.30am i came across a target that was 14 TID and thought 10p or 50p which would have been fine and as i used my 3 pronged fork to dig out the target i saw what i thought was a junk dress ring , but in fact was a nice 3.3 g 18k Gold ring with a yellow stone in it . No idea on the stone but i will check it out later sometime . 

After finding that i kept up the pace but didn't find much more and so at 10.30am i left the beach .

My total finds for today were £10.58p , 3 knackered Foreign coins and the Gold ring .

So now i have found a Gold ring which i felt wasn't an easy find i have ordered my second Equinox 800 . 

The Equinox isn't all i had hoped in every way but it is 9 / 10 . The only things that could have been a bit better are software issues really . Maybe updates can be done ? 

They are a 10 khts frequency option on beach 1 mode so you can do dry tops without changing modes , And the other which cant be done through software is the poor battery endurance , charging every trip is awkward unlike the RNB charge on the Explorer. 

But anyway i like the Equinox . Its a little less capable than the Explorer and E.Trac in neutral ground but better in some trashy ground and better on some targets . Still dont rate the depth but then i still have to check other programs so the verdict is still out on that one . 9 / 10 .

 

[Chase Goldman]

Fantastic Nuke!  Glad the machine is finally coming around for you.  Great finds, especially that ring.  Let us know what you find out about the stone.

I have a couple of comments on your legitimate concerns. 

ML made it explicit from the get go that they have no intention of providing single frequency operation for Beach Mode so your wait for a single frequency option may be a long time coming.  In any event, I gather you are switching to a different mode for single frequency ops which is cumbersome.  Are you using the mode button to do this?  If so, I would suggest storing a 10 khz single frequency version of the most compatible non-beach mode with the User Profile button that way you can quickly switch back and forth at the touch of a button without having to flip through all the modes (I know the User Profile button is harder to get to though than the mode button so it is probably a wash in the time and effort needed to use it).  Also, I wasn't quite sure exactly what your were using single frequency for ("dry tops"?) so there may be other ways to flush out the undesirable targets (e.g., AM mode?).   

Regarding battery life, how long are your detecting sessions?  I can barely put a dent in the battery after 4 to 5 hours of detecting (including having the backlight inadvertently on) and I honestly don't know how long I can make it last, but I have about 13 hours on the detector and have not discharged it fully yet.  Going to do some all day endurance sessions in relatively cold weather over the next few weeks so we'll see how it fares then.

HH

 

 

[BeachHunter]

Nice fair review Nuke and congratulations on the 18K!

[Nuke em]

On my beaches the tops are very trashy and airy , a low frequency gives better depth and machines like the Terra are lethal on there as my past finds prove. 

As for my sessions i have done 14 hours straight in the past . Having to charge every trip is a pain and may not last a full session due to the trash levels on my beaches . Trust me trash levels like a landfill site .

[Chase Goldman]

Got it, it is sounding off so frequently so that is draining the battery quicker than what I was experiencing and going in the water an on board power bank is not an option.  14 hours straight.  I would have to get paid more than beach coins and the occasional Gold ring to put in those kind of hours in one day.  Ha Ha.  Well I am sure battery technology will continue to improve so a bigger capacity battery in the same form factor may come along soon enough.  As far as charging is concerned, I just plug it overnight in the same charging station that my cell phone is connected to.  But a 9/10 ain't too bad.  Hope you figure out a way to kick in that single frequency easier, but I am surprised that you are really eeking out that much more depth going single freaker, I know the lower frequency is theoretically deeper, but Multi IQ in beach mode is  set up to be low frequency biased.  Have you noticed whether you are getting the transmit power reduction symbol when you are in Beach mode in the really trashy areas?  in black sand?.  Maybe ML will see the light and give single frequency options to Beach mode in the future.  HH, Nuke.  Thanks for the reply.

[Nuke em]

On some sessions through the night i have had 3 figure somes . I dont stop till my batteries are flat let alone the machines!  I dont think Minelab put in the best battery they could have used .

Single freqs like the Terras are very good for the beaches i search , no black sand to worry about unless a very low tide. Lots of shingle and some sand. Multi freq is not an advantage unless in the wet . 

[Chase Goldman]

My batteries run down after about 10 hours max.  Ha Ha.   That battery is a standard LiIon cell and I believe max capacity in that form factor (and probably determined the dimensions of the handle compartment) and I bet they chose it specifically to keep cost and weight down vs. going with a custom design.

The reason I was asking about black sand or beach mineralization is that the Equinox, in the Beach Modes, will automatically throttle back transmit power if it senses mineralization above a certain threshold which can definitely affect depth, but so can mineralization, they are trying to balance things out so you don't get the high beams in fog effect.  But that doesn't appear to be the issue you are having.  Regarding Multi IQ depth vs. single frequency, the limited Multi IQ depth is something you directly observed baking the Equinox off against the Xterra, I take it.  I know that FBS machines like the eTrac or CTX might be deeper than the Equinox on high conductors in mild conditions because that is what they are optimized for,  but wasn't aware the Xterra would beat them at single frequency.  Interesting.  Thanks for insight.

[Nuke em]

The low freq coils like the 10.5 inch DD coil on the Terra 705 at 7.5 khts is very deep and brilliant on coins , its the standard fit for that machine when sold unlike what i think is standard in the US , the 9 inch concentric coil . The Terra is a good air tester and being shingle beaches in many places here means i need good air testers . The tones and numbers of the Terra are very accurate too , just a pity about the old design of the Terra's .