GKman Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 Hello folks I went back to a little area that's probably about 60 by 60 feet in a woods setting. This area has produced many flat buttons over the years. Although a nice historical find they are pretty generic looking. Some have backmarks but for the most part they are blank. I have detected the area with the CTX and earlier before that the E-Trac. When I first discovered this site I was pulling out button after button. Not exactly sure why there's so many in this area and no coins, but nonetheless it was nice to hide from the Sun in the adjacent field and detect in the shade for a while now and then. As time went on finds dwindled and now every so often I would go back just to see what I could find there. Usually I could pop a button or two if I tried hard enough. I had hit it multiple times with the CTX and the 17 inch coil and figured it had finally given up the ghost. You probably know where this is going by now... This morning I decided to revisit this site with the Equinox 800. I was using pretty much stock settings of Field 1 but I bumped the recovery speed up to 7. Lo and behold I started hearing smooth repeatable signals. Nine buttons later I was left scratching my head wondering how I could have missed these. All of these! There were a couple iffy signals I dug that ended up being buttons, but for the most part they sounded good. They ranged from 7 to 18 on the Equinox. I haven't dug that many buttons from this site in years. The larger button (maybe a small dandy) and the musketball were at the fringe of the site, but I am still surprised they were missed all these years. The site does have some square nails and iron trash mixed in. Not what I would call loaded with iron but it is there.. My credentials are that I have been detecting for years, been using Minelab since the 90s, read books and wrote articles about detecting, so I guess I consider myself a pretty good detectorists. Now along comes the Equinox and it made me feel bad in a way today. By that I mean how could my good old CTX have missed these. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Goldman Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 One possible explanation is that the CTX is a fine detector but is optimized for high conductor recovery. It previously grabbed the low hanging mid-conductive “fruit”. Most, if not all, your finds were mid conductors and for whatever reason may have been iffy signals (depth, on edge, partially masked by ferrous) for the CTX but they were in the Equinox’s detection “wheelhouse” as a mid conductive magnet. Also, stuff is constantly moving around in the ground so who knows how many may have since moved to be also now visible to the CTX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKman Posted April 3, 2018 Author Share Posted April 3, 2018 Yes lots of variables. Definitely an eye-opener. Unfortunately don't have my CTX now to compare the signals. In that adjacent field that I mentioned I have been over that many many times with the CTX. I don't think I posted over here that with the Equinox I did dig another button, a cufflink, and actually that part of a buckle that is in the image attached to this post. Other than that everything I've been trying to get out of that field with the Equinox has been iron trash. I have walked away with an empty pouch many of times with the CTX. So far the equinox is earning its keep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPL Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 Nice finds. Betcha can't wait to revisit all your old fields when the 15" coil becomes available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strick Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 Nox is way faster...loves low deep conductors. I had a love affair going on with the CTX for quite a while and it's going nowhere but where the CTX would blend in a coin spill with a chorus of wierd sounding tones, the Nox will pick them out individually with the right tone and proper ID...it's just faster. strick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKman Posted April 4, 2018 Author Share Posted April 4, 2018 Yeah, I have had the CTX since it first came out and loved it. I got an offer I couldn't refuse though, so I sold it. My thoughts at that time were to try the Equinox, if I like it, keep it, if not sell it and get a new CTX that has a warranty. So far no regrets... Thanks Guys, I will go back to that site and try it with Field 2. It sounds like those Field 2 Park 2's are for the most part the way to go. I like to learn on my own by experimenting, but it would be foolish not to watch/read and learn from someone that has already worked hard to understand the Equinox and share their findings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vez Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 I too had a similar situation, but it doesnt appear I was missing large buttons with my CTX, just small ones. 5 largies but like 30 early to mid 1800s buttons. The reason they lost so many buttons at my site is because that part of the farm is where the family built canal boats to sell in North East Ohio. So it is infested with finishing tacks and square nails. I keep my recovery speed at 4 because I am so used to going slow and low with the 3030 that it feels awkward going faster than the 1-2-3 dance tempo. Just a heads up, every time you change a mode you will have to noise cancel and ground balance again. I realized this when the auto-tracking symbol disappeared when I went from park two to field two when testing a deep signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkgt Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 21 minutes ago, Vez said: Just a heads up, every time you change a mode you will have to noise cancel and ground balance again. I realized this when the auto-tracking symbol disappeared when I went from park two to field two when testing a deep signal. Can't one just Noise Cancel and GB each of the modes one will use before starting a hunt or do you have to do it again EACH time you switch a mode? Doing it all at once at the start seemed to work for me the other day but I may have missed something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vez Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 2 minutes ago, parkgt said: Can't one just Noise Cancel and GB each of the modes one will use before starting a hunt or do you have to do it again EACH time you switch a mode? Doing it all at once at the start seemed to work for me the other day but I may have missed something. I haven't tried that. As I only switched once and made note of the change in auto tracking. Can't test it out right now, but if that works I will be happy to take advantage of that capability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 Ground balance and noise cancel are local only i.e. you are only doing them for the Search Profile you are in. All other Search Profiles stay where they were. If you change one Search Profile to ground tracking, you have not changed any other profiles, just the one you are in. It is very important when in bad ground and switching Search Profiles to ground balance etc when you switch Profiles. Important Tip - Global Vs Local Settings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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