Minelab equinox 800 observations

I got about 12 hunts with the Nox 800. Here are some observations.

Park one is my bread and butter program for cherry picking I adjusted the high tone bin down to 27 so silver is very distinct.

Only iron discriminated out(I might change this in the future) but i check most iffys with all metal(this is a must) to hear that iron grunt..

Recovery speed from 3 to 6 is a world of difference for target separation. However, the depth is cut nearly in half!

Solid 23 always seems to end up being an aluminum screw cap.

DO NOT ADJUST THE GROUND BALANCE. If not done properly you can lose depth. Take my advice and just leave it on default.

Noise cancel often and raise the coil in the air when you do(you can point it at the suspected EMI offender).

Sensitivity should be around 20-23 in the city, 25 out in the woods or away from civilization.

Also, low sensitivity is better for target separation as the detecting range expands outward from the coil as well as downward and upward(picture two egg shaped fields one on top on the coil and one below the coil).

Last two most recent hunts:

Last week I hit a park(I was using park 2) that everyone and their grandmother hit. Most these places have been beat to death(Just ask Dan). However, I managed to find an 1892 indian penny right in the middle of the park. It was missed(believe me when I say that because my father and I hit that spot 10 times at least last year alone). It was a 19-20-21 bouncy.

Wed hunt: I found a park(I was using park 1) I never hit before and this place was about the size of two baseball fields. I did my homework and from what I saw, this place wasn't anything up until 1959. Most of the place had no signals at all! No coins no junk not a peep. I thought the Nox was broken. It was obviously it was hit hard. Finally, I found a section that had targets.

First target was a wheat penny. Good start. My headphones weren't working for some reason, so I decided to go all the way back to the car to put them away. Almost there, I get a nice 23 tone and it looks like a silver button. It is larger than a dime so I can't figure out why it hits low if it is silver. I go back to the area I found the wheat penny and find 3 more and a 1954 silver dime. My first silver dime with the Nox. I found more targets around the edges mostly coins and junk. I got some pics I will post.

Beyonder --

Nice hunting!

And, I agree with almost everything you said, with one exception being the part about depth being "cut in half" when switching from 3 to 6 recovery speed. My own observations, and testing in my test garden, do not confirm this "halving of depth" at all...

Anyway, most of your observations match mine very well. Glad you are getting along well with it so far. Not sure what the deal with the headphones is. Are you talking the Minelab Bluetooth headphones?

Steve

steveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Beyonder --
>
> Nice hunting!
>
> And, I agree with almost everything you said, with
> one exception being the part about depth being "cu
> t in half" when switching from 3 to 6 recovery spe
> ed. My own observations, and testing in my test g
> arden, do not confirm this "halving of depth" at a
> ll...
>
> Anyway, most of your observations match mine very
> well. Glad you are getting along well with it so
> far. Not sure what the deal with the headphones i
> s. Are you talking the Minelab Bluetooth headphon
> es?
>
> Steve

No they were generic headphones

You run default GB setting here in my area, guess what?

Some of the deeper stuff a user won't dig or think is nonferrous.
Like a 9" deep dime.

Mr Dankoswksi has commented on using auto GB procedure here on this forum.
And it seems based on my experiences for good reason.

Here a tidbit the host dropped here a few weeks ago.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For instance: A Manual Grnd Bal of..... say.....
> .. '34'.......,,,,,,,,, is not the same as a Auto
> Grnd Bal of '34'.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2018 06:27PM by tnsharpshooter.

To me that statement says what he ment. He didnt address leaving the GB at default. Steve .... if im going to GB yes i auto GB, but my Gulf beaches are pretty tame compared to most dirt.... so ive not had enough noise to require me to run other an 0 default GB either. I believe Gordon Heritage addressed that as well in an article of the searcher...."My advice is to follow the official instructions manuals advice and leave it at 0 ALWAYS!". But we all know .. his conditions arent the same as ours. His main advice is to never manual GB over auto GB. Theres always a trade off by balancing ground.

Steve ..... ive not noticed a lot of depth loose between 3 and 6.... but at 3 to me the tones are really spread out causing more noise. 6 reduces the noise and open up the audio a little better to hearing target... just more of a realistic tone..... thou 6 is a little high for me.... 5 seems to be best In the salt water. As you can see ... modes and location matters.

A person cannot comment on depth gains or losses using Equinox by virtue of speed setting, with out disclaiming actual target in question, its conductivity level, detect mode used, and level of ground minerals where detector is used ( tested).

An example, I can hear my 9" deep dime the best using park 2 speed 6, auto GB.

But if I select a level 3 sped setting, no cigar period tone wise. Whereas based on some comments above one might think I could indeed detect an 18" deep dime using speed 3.
I wish that were indeed so.
Unfortunately it ain't happening.

So things are all relative as far as depth and Equinox.
No blanket depth statements can be made and in fact be true in all cases.
.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2018 07:24PM by tnsharpshooter.

Dew --

I've also gravitated toward "5" as being the setting I like best; 4 or 6 are fine, but 5 is the middle of the "sweet spot" of what sounds best to me.

I hit a fairly deep coin the other day, that I was almost sure was a coin (turned out to be about a 7" deep wheat), and because I was pretty sure it was a deeper coin, I stood there and worked it for awhile pre-dig, in all the different recovery speed settings. Highest speeds, the signal was chopped/clipped. Lowest speeds, it was drawn out and a bit "unnatural;" I'd have thought it a "bigger" target than what it actually was. Those mid settings, 4-5-6, are what were the cleanest and most realistic-sounding tones, for a coin-type object, IMO. NOT that there's not a time and a place for the other speeds (high or low), but I like those mid settings the best, tonally...

Steve



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2018 07:40PM by steveg.

Beyonder-Pa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> DO NOT ADJUST THE GROUND BALANCE. If not done properly you can lose depth. Take my advice and just leave it on default.
>

Just to be clear, when you say DO NOT ADJUST THE GROUND BALANCE, do you mean simply do the ground grab/auto-GB, or do nothing (as the detector does self adjust to the ground anyhow) ??

Thinking to try your Park1 silver audio adjustment, although I tend to favor 50 tone.

I suspect that at some point Minelab will have the noise cancel feature setup to continuously sample RF channels and make adjustments on the fly, but just having the ability to do a noise cancel is a fantastic feature.

Some good tips! Nothing like the school of hard Nox to learn by

I just hunt for gold. Lets get real.....you have to find general setting that work... all have draw backs.

Good stuff Beyonder-Pa. Please continue to keep us up to date on your progress.

Up to my ____ in Pulltabs, Grant

Solid 23 always seems to end up being an aluminum screw cap?
In my target ID exercise, a 23 was also a 2 piece coat button (NC State Seal CW) and a cast Block I CW button.

Edit: Ah, if you are only searching for coins, I suppose 23s can be skipped, but there may be coins at angles or co-located with other targets that you might miss when not digging 23s.

Wayne



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2018 10:29PM by ncwayne.