Can’t Access Advanced Tone Break Functions

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

It’s funny you mention that Chase. I am the first to tout that in 5 tone mode a person with an 800 can vary all the tones, break points, and tone volumes. Yet in reality I almost always use 50 tone mode where these options are not available. Outside of gold prospecting a 600 will do almost every single thing I have been doing equally well as the 800. I have to admit that is partly out of laziness. I like doing full factory resets regularly and so prefer my setups to be simple. I could create some whiz bang custom 5 tone setup, but it would get wiped on a full reset, and have to be entered all over. I find it easier to just go to 50 tones and get with it, and ultimately I am convinced 50 tones is better for me anyway.

To reiterate, if you use 50 tones, half the advanced functions are not accessible even on the 800.

I also almost never use the manual Noise Cancel, User Profile, or even mess with the Iron Bias. I don’t use the WM 08 module either. It really just comes down to Gold Mode, and outside of that a 600 really would do me just as well as an 800.

Agree.  50 tones is a holdover from my Deus "full tones" experience.  I too am lazy and the infinitely less user friendly (compared to Equinox) multi-tone break menu routine on the Deus kept me from super-tweaking my Deus 5-tone setup (though there actually are some advantages to going multi-tone vice full tones on Deus, but that is a topic for another forum).  Also, I have run into the User Profile mode reset issue a couple of times, and am glad I basically use the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) method when it comes to settings tweaking.  Thus avoiding a painstakingly complex custom tone break setup going up in smoke, just because I turned off the detector in User Profile mode.  That IS  something that might make me a tad grumpy, and I know several who do regularly set up custom tone breaks, lament that issue or encountering something that requires them to go back to factory presets (FP) for other reasons (e.g., it was a last resort for Norm and his BT headphone issue, and he put it off for as long as possible) .  With 50-tones and only slight tweaks on recovery speed and iron bias, the User Profile issue is really a non-issue for me.

[Steve Herschbach]

20 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

$250 is nothing to sneeze at in my world so I understand. 

Yeah, but on the flip side for many people $250 is not that much to end up not having regrets over something missed or left out. And for people like me who sold a CTX with full accessory coil complement once I got the 800 - well, lots of people are putting cash IN their pocket because they bought an Equinox, not the other way around. I could literally buy two Equinox 800 detectors and still be over $1000 ahead of where I was with the CTX plus 17" coil, 6" coil, 5" x 10" coil, spare lower rod, and underwater headphones. Even with buying discount brand new that's over $3000 worth of detecting gear. Equinox 800 at $899 = cheap date by comparison, even with a full complement of accessory items.

Tones like hand grips and rod designs are personal preferences with no right or wrong answers.

 

[Norm S]

I started using 5 tones but switched to 50 tones about  month ago.. I am still getting used to the 50 tones but I love the sound of a quarter in 50 tones. There is absolutely no denying it's a quarter when you hear it in 50 tones. 

 

 

[Happa54]

Hmmmmm... I sure learned a lot from these posts, and since I hunt in 50 tones, maybe there is no need to upgrade to the 800.

I like simplicity as well.... factory settings for me (and I have been killing it).

[Sinclair]

For fresh coins beach hunting I love the adjustable tone break settings. I only have approx. 2-3h per hunt, so everything is about speed and simplicity. Some small tweaks and those coin ID areas shine through nicely. I've hunted in 50 tones and will further investigate when the season is over.

I think it all depends on your hunting situation and circumstances - the nice thing about the 800 is, that you can adjust it to your needs. If you don't need adjustable tone break settings, the 600 might fit the bill just fine.

[StevenB]

I have an 800 and primarily hunt for coins on land using 5 tones, and I consider the adjustable tone breaks to be one of the greatest features of the machine.  The Equinox is designed for the worldwide market and the default tones are essentially linear, in groups of 10 TIDs.  But each country's coinage is different so it makes total sense to adjust the tone breaks to reflect local conditions.  (Mine are currently set at 11, 13, 17 and 23)

[Jackpine]

5 hours ago, StevenB said:

I have an 800 and primarily hunt for coins on land using 5 tones, and I consider the adjustable tone breaks to be one of the greatest features of the machine.  The Equinox is designed for the worldwide market and the default tones are essentially linear, in groups of 10 TIDs.  But each country's coinage is different so it makes total sense to adjust the tone breaks to reflect local conditions.  (Mine are currently set at 11, 13, 17 and 23)

Hey you stole my old coins settings. ?

[Cal_Cobra]

On 6/12/2018 at 2:36 PM, Dubious said:

I use 50 tones on everything, for maximum information, so wouldn't have the extra tone adjustments even if I had an 800.  With my 600, the only feature of the 800 I have sometimes wanted is the adjustable backlighting.  The 600's backlighting is too bright for at night. But that's an issue only at night; and it can be fixed with a layer of red film.   

I don't think the 800's backlighting is that great either, still too bright, get out the red film (will be my solution as well).  I like the backlighting on my Racer/Impact/Multi Kruzers the best, has two low modes that are both useful when night hunting.  The low mode(s) on the 800 are far too bright for effective night hunting IMO.

[Chase Goldman]

7 hours ago, Cal_Cobra said:

I don't think the 800's backlighting is that great either, still too bright, get out the red film (will be my solution as well).  I like the backlighting on my Racer/Impact/Multi Kruzers the best, has two low modes that are both useful when night hunting.  The low mode(s) on the 800 are far too bright for effective night hunting IMO.

Red film is probably the best solution to preserve night vision, regardless, but the few twilight-to-night hunts I've done have worked out just fine with mid backlight settings. The lowest setting is problematic for me because it seems to flicker on target hits, weird.  I wonder if there is some variability in brightness settings between units.