Divine Intervention With Equinox E600

[Cabin Fever]

Great finds Tim.. 4 Silver days are rare on public land these days.. Way to stick with it..

There have been some good points made by you and others about the iffy signals with the Equinox..  Besides a few deep coins really tight to iron that I have found. I just don’t remember any of the the others being questionable..

Its easy to start questioning yourself after a lull in good signals..  Before you know it, your digging stuff you knew in the back of your mind was probably crap..  Coins just plain sound good, both shallow and deep..

Thanks for sharing your story..

Bryan

[Norm S]

Just about every iffy signal I have had has turned out to be worth digging. This morning I dug $3.38 in clad in less than an hour and two quarters were in someone else plug they had dug. I thought I had been the only guy in this park for a long time but I kept noticing what I thought were plugs but thought maybe they were mine.  then I noticed them where in areas I hadn't hunted. When ran my detector over a cpl of them I got a solid 28 and thought it was probably a can but went for it and with no digging the plug popped out and bingo a clad quarter the guy missed. I have pulled over $38 from this park since last Sat.

I hunted till my battery went dead this morning and then walked the park and counted the guys plugs and there were like 52 of them. He either didn't know how to hunt or had a really poor detector.

I get a lot of jumpy signals and more often than not there is trash in the hole along with the coin. This morning I had a piece of copper wire and a nail in a hole with a dime. 

One other signal bounced from 19 - 25 and mostly hung out at 23 but got an occasional 27. I had a gut feeling it was a penny but when I dug I got a brass tack a rusty nail and a dime and quarter. 

I agree 100% with Cabin Fever that coins just sound good whether a faint signal or strong signal and shallow or deep.  I am beginning to trust my judgement more and more with the Equinox and haven't dug trash for 3 days but now that I say it I will probably dig a ton of trash tomorrow..lol

[Tiftaaft]

I enjoyed your post Norm.  That is amazing that you were able to count so many plugs... and also that you are still pulling coins out of some of them.  $38 in clad?  That is some coinage!! 

I should qualify what I mean by "iffy" signals... or better stated, what I don't consider "iffy".  If I can get a repeatable tone in both directions, that seems to be hitting in same spot on the ground... that, of course, isn't iffy.  Even if the ID is jumping around.  I dug a few wheats this past weekend that were bouncing from 24 to 30 with every sweep of the coil... but the tone was repeatable, and didn't move around... including when I pinpointed. 

"Iffy" to me is a non-repeatable tone... maybe it hits only in one direction, or every 2 or 3 out of 5 passes.  It may stay in one place, or move a little with each pass, and the wiggle location is different than the pinpoint.  And also, when the ID jumps up and touches 37 or 38 on occasion... Those are in most cases iron for me.  Sometimes there is enough "high 20" ID's along with the tone for me to narrow my sweep and try to clean up the target... and I do have a tendency to try to make targets sound good (that is a common ailment for us all I think haha). 

That being said, I have been fooled a few times by solid signals.  Good ID, repeatable tone with hard edges, at 3 or 4 arrows on the depth meter... only to recover a piece of iron.  Some of that may be my running in IB 0... but when I have an "iffy" in the ground... and try to make something good out of it... I don't think I have dug anything but iron...   As I said... that won't keep me from digging them... I just know there is a treasure hidden behind one of those "iffy's"  :)

TIm.

[Tometusns]

Good post Tim,  I like your explanationon iffy signals and I'm guilty as charged for doing the same thing. I was finding some good stuff as you know at the ball fields but in other areas there I wasn't hearing the "round sounds" and before long I was really working the iffy signals. Well that wasn't working and after a while I told myself to stop, trust the machine and if it's not there it's just not there. Later I pulled another rosey from the front of the park. The plus side is boy am I learning what sounds to NOT dig. Lol

[Cabin Fever]

Well explained Tim and good point on the moving targets.. If you have to struggle to find the repeatable tone, and it seems to change positions as you circle the target,  it’s iron..  Repeatable solid tones will keep you out trouble most of the time..

Bryan

[Tiftaaft]

I don't intend to post a pic of every silver coin I find... especially since I have a feeling that will be a growing number throughout the year with the Equinox.  But, I thought I would substantiate the claims that the Equinox separates amazingly well, especially with the 11" stock coil.

I decided to try a very well traversed public park that was built in 1910.  I decided to run 50 tone, Park 1, sens 22, Recovery 3 (max on the 600), IB 1.  I came across a signal that was bouncing all over, from low conductor to high 20's on each sweep.  I spent a good 3 or 4 minutes shortening my swing, multiple directions, pinpointing, and back again.  I was able to identify at least 3 targets, maybe 4.  Two sounded like iron falses.  one sounded like a pull tab.  And another sounded like a copper/dime signal, but I could only hit that on odd swings between the rest of the targets.  Because it was such a mix of tones and id's, I decided to dig it. 

First I pulled out a bent rust nail at 6" off the side of the plug, and refilled my hole... stood up and swept again.  More distinct mid tone to the upper right, and a more defined but still a bit scratchy copper/dime tone to the lower left of the hole I just dug.  I went back into my hole, and a bit further off the side of the hole, I dug two more nails at 5", and after sweeping with my pinpointer, refilled the hole again.  I decided to dig the mid tone, and used the Equinox to pinpoint it.  I popped a random piece of aluminum at about 3 inches, and refilled my hole again.  As I gave the area one last sweep with my coil, a pure and solid high tone emerged... 25 - 29 id. at about 7 inches, under the area I pulled the nails... 1916-S merc.  This machine is amazing. Tim.

[GB_Amateur]

Nice find, Tim!  When I heard/read about the Eqx I was really hoping it would be a master unmasker.  You just proved it.  The condition is very high -- that can be seen from your photo.  Only thing better is if that -S had been a -D.  But at least you can sleep -- that wouldn't be the case if you pulled a 1916-D out of the ground in that nice of shape!

[Tiftaaft]

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

Only thing better is if that -S had been a -D.  But at least you can sleep -- that wouldn't be the case if you pulled a 1916-D out of the ground in that nice of shape!

I have to admit, my heart started racing a little as I carefully uncovered the mint mark.  I think I would have given it a thread all to itself ;)  

[Skate]

Your success is infectious Tim. It's really a treat to read your reports, it's like I'm looking over your shoulder as you're digging them out of the ground. 

Reports like these have got me thinking, when was the last time people had this much fun metal detecting? I'd have to say the hype of the equinox has been met with an equal amount of success in the field. 

[Chase Goldman]

Having similar results in park/athletic field hunting, but unfortunately only modern clad.  Great recovery and persistence, Tim.  Merc 16-S in what looks to be excellent condition nothing to sneeze at though Denver would have been nice.  Sometimes the machine just coaxes you to go with your instincts and dig those iffy's other times you have a pretty good feeling that it is ok to just walk away.