Minelab Equinox owners - Question

silverfiend Wrote:
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> Rick, N. MI Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Pinpoint also tells you it's a false hit on iron
> off to the side.
>
>
> True, but you have pay very close attention to the
> response and pinpoint details. A coin very close
> to larger iron can seem like its just the iron in
> pinpoint. The trick is to see if there NO pinpoin
> t response over the good hit spot, but only off to
> the side. If you have any amount of response unde
> r the good hit, you still gotta err on the side of
> caution and dig it anyway. Ive pulled some great
> coins missed by everyone else because the pinpoint
> sounded small and pulled much louder to the iron s
> everal inches to the side.[b/] Of course, I do get a
> few bent nails now and again, but I consider it wo
> rth the trouble.

Ah yes I agree but not all detectors make best use of ratcheting PP. Get too close to the target with some and you loose it. Others and I think the Nox falls here have a lesser chance of tuning the target out when pressing the PP button with the coil in close proximity making it more useful in co-locate situations.

Mike K...…… absolutely. Pinpoint can tell you 'size', shape, orientation, tilt...…… with some practice. BUT...….. all bets are off...… if it is a coin with a nail (combo). In areas where their are carpets of nails...… the pinpoint feature will get you in trouble (mislead)…….. so much so...….. that the pinpoint feature is rendered 'useless'. I never use the pinpoint feature... when nails are present.

The weakest point of the Nox is its pinpoint IMO. For a machine with so much tunability being stuck with a ratcheting PP is mind numbing. I guess my 20 year old Bandido with its auto retune and normal VCO PP were way beyond its time..

I agree that using the Nox in moderate to heavy iron requires locking on the target (consistent VDI and audio) and digging, PP is nearly worthless. But from what I'm reading, you all are saying that while implementing this strategy (locking on the target with VDI/Audio), using F2 = 0, iron wont lock on as well as it did with F1 =0?.. thus, not digging falsing iron.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
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> Mike K...…… absolutely. Pinpoint can tell you 'siz
> e', shape, orientation, tilt...…… with some practi
> ce. BUT...….. all bets are off...… if it is a coin
> with a nail (combo). In areas where their are ca
> rpets of nails...… the pinpoint feature will get y
> ou in trouble (mislead)…….. so much so...….. that
> the pinpoint feature is rendered 'useless'. I neve
> r use the pinpoint feature... when nails are prese
> nt.

Thank You For Clarifying That... Understood!!!!!

Rarely use the pinpoint as I'm a field hunter and I've never looked at the depth thingy, if it sounds good, i 'X' the spot and dig a big deep plug!
Sometimes it's best to not overthink things....

Tom D. when I do a ground balance and the number come up lets say 20 or less is it okay to just run it at 0? Will it have much of a negative effect on hitting on targets by dropping it to 0? F2-0 seems to really be working great for me in the old parks I'm hunting. Hit a new one yesterday pulled 13 old coins. Lots of trash and iron.

LOVE your success that you are experiencing/encountering!

I'd prefer you run GB at '0' if mineralization intensity/strength is low.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
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> LOVE your success that you are experiencing/encoun
> tering!
>
> I'd prefer you run GB at '0' if mineralization int
> ensity/strength is low.

Tom D
Coming from an Explorer background XS, Exploer II and SE Then moved to the E-Trac, CTX 3030 and Now the NOX 800. Still own the 3030 it's collecting dust and I should sell it while I can get a few bucks for it. I've done pretty well over the years using these models but never really played with Ground Balance as I was told here in Ohio we don't need to. So that leads me to my question. I've started doing the Auto Ground Balance "as I've read it in this thread" but how do I really know if I need to? What's the advantages to doing it. and or How do I know if I need to run it at or close to 0 as you have mentioned here. Didn't know if I could be curbing some finds as I'm running this when I shouldn't be. I just don't understand how the ground balance works with the machine that's why I've never touched it. Thanks if you can shed any light onto this for me.

Mike K



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2019 12:47PM by Mike K.

The biggest problem is: IF you can find a clean patch of dirt ….that has no metal targets in it.....(more difficult than suspected)…………. then you can perform a Auto Grnd Balance. Select Ground Balance via the Settings button. Then...….. press/hold the accept/reject button …. and bob the coil. IF the unit is having a hard time grabbing on to a Ground Balance number...….. the soil/dirt may be close to a air-test (having low minerals). This is when it is beneficial to leave Grnd Bal on '0'.
What would be more ideal is: If you have a test-garden that reasonably emulates your real-world dirt conditions...….. and you can test different Grnd Balance settings...….. and see what happens to fringe-depth target ID accuracy...……….. and depth detection performance. This will let you know a optimal base-reference performance standardization.

Thanks Tom I think for the most part I've been able to after looking and looking find a small patch of ground at the sites I've been hunting that doesn't give me any noise or sounds. Usually takes 4-6 pumps to get the machine to settle on a solid number that doesn't change. Would it be more beneficial to noise cancel before or after the ground balance? I would think think afterwards but am not sure. Thanks again for taking the time to help me/us out...

Mike K

Thanks Tom D. Your expert help has really helped me get the most out of my Equinox. I'm up to 115 silvers for this year. Since using your settings I feel my skill level has greatly improved. Being able to go back to my old hunted sites using what I have learned has rewarded me with many new finds. Thank you so much.

Kevin...…. you're welcome.

Mike K..... Perform a Noise Cancel BEFORE you do a Ground Balance. That way...… the EQX can then 'more focus' on the ground...… instead of having other complications to ALSO contend with.

Too many Mikes here---I'm getting 'em mixed up!

Old age will do that, Del! HH jim tn

D&P-OR Wrote:
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> Too many Mikes here---I'm getting 'em mixed up!


Me too.

jim tn Wrote:
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> Old age will do that, Del! HH jim tn


That's what my wife keeps tellin me Jim!

Well, bud, I sure can identify with it. HH jim tn

Might be a stupid question would there be any value in having a detector that could be setup to give you only signals at certain depths like 7" + anything less would not be audible... Something that could be programmed into the machine... I've hunted allot of old 1800 houses and some have gotten new windows put in so there is a ton of flashing around. Which I knew we are in the biz to dig but sometimes you only have a short period of time and would be nice if you could just see targets at certain depths.

That's why detectors have a depth gauge, you don't have to dig anything shallow.

Problem is..... small surface targets can fool those depth gauges. Id say backing off the sensitivity would be more likely to do the trick. That would also give the machine less dirt under the coil to process improving TID.

Has anyone found deep (on the edge of detection) gold rings on the beach with the latest update 2.0? What does it sound like? I now know what iron and bottle tops sound like, but what does deep gold rings sound like???
I had the iffy sound of deep gold on the previous update down to a tee, but now with the update I'm not sure if the tone has changed, as I have yet to find gold.
Is it a clean solid sound or is it still iffy or perhaps a small iron grunt?
I use 50 tones and use both the 6 inch and 11 inch coils. Thanks in advance.

Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2019 05:16PM by DiggaMke.

Detecta Wrote:
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> That's why detectors have a depth gauge, you don't
> have to dig anything shallow.

I very rarely look at the screen just listen to the tones!!! When one catches my interests then I will take a peep at the screen. So if I didn't have to watch the screen for every beep it would be very beneficial.... As you would spend most of your time looking at the screen...

Mike K

Mike .... it’s hard to say that ring was on edge. Rarely do we take the time to determine how it sets. Rings do seem to have a very ROUND solid sound. On edge....they might not be as deep as expected .... depends on how you swing over them .... how much of the ring gets seen. The digits can down size as well. Best to say ....dig 1 to 21ish for most gold.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2019 08:23PM by dewcon4414.

dewcon4414 Wrote:
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> Mike .... it’s hard to say that ring was on edge.
> Rarely do we take the time to determine how it set
> s. Rings do seem to have a very ROUND solid soun
> d. On edge....they might not be as deep as expec
> ted .... depends on how you swing over them ....
> how much of the ring gets saw. He digits will do
> wn size. Best to say ....dig 1 to 21ish for most
> gold.

Dewcon4414... Thank you for the explanation. I have the EQX600 and prior to update 2.0, I could not use that bright backlight at night, so I became a tonal hunter... but now with the dimmer backlight, which is such a blessing, I will have to check that TDI and dig the 1 to 21's and relearn the associated tones (if there has been any changes).

Mike

Started hunting this old park a few weeks back. Never hunted there before. Was told by several that have hunted there in the past that they stopped hunting there for lack of finding old coins anymore. So my brother and I have hunted there 3 times using the program Tom D. gave us and plus we started using F2-0. We have pulled 12 silvers and 28 wheats from this old park. This park has lots of trash and iron so you have to move real slow and really listen to hear the high conductors if silver is what your after. Had 2 high conductor targets that were right beside iron. If you tried to pinpoint the target it sounded like one target and would sound off over the iron. Both times it ended up be a silver coin. One was a 1876 cc dime and the other a 1916 dime. Using F2-0 is really working for me. I can really tell the high conductors from the iron.

Hi all.
I'm new to the forum but I've been lurking for a couple o f years nowand just wanted to chime in, I've just received my equinox 800 a few days ago. What an amazing machine to operate. I've been on an f75 for 2 years and the difference is quite amazing. Right now I'm learning with the I/B at zero as the default in field 1 is zero, with that value I'm getting lots of low conductor targets, tiny lead an and copper items that the f75 missed. I'm going to experiment with other settings soon. Lots of valuable info on this forum and glad to be here.

Welcome Joey! If you like excessively technical jumble …… to fill your head with..... here we are!!!

Thanks Tom, that's why I'm here because of the tech aspect of it, lots of reading here.

Started hunting this old park a few weeks back. Never hunted there before. Was told by several that have hunted there in the past that they stopped hunting there for lack of finding old coins anymore. So my brother and I have hunted there 3 times using the program Tom D. gave us and plus we started using F2-0. We have pulled 12 silvers and 28 wheats from this old park. This park has lots of trash and iron so you have to move real slow and really listen to hear the high conductors if silver is what your after. Had 2 high conductor targets that were right beside iron. If you tried to pinpoint the target it sounded like one target and would sound off over the iron. Both times it ended up be a silver coin. One was a 1876 cc dime and the other a 1916 dime. Using F2-0 is really working for me. I can really tell the high conductors from the iron.


UPDATE

I shared the post above on the 10th. Since then I ran into 2 others at the park that had Equinox 800's. Told me they been hunting this Park for 10 years. Said it's seems like the silver and other old coin finds have gotten impossible to find. So I shared Tom D. suggested Program and settings with them. Ran into to them the following weekend. They couldn't wait to tell me what they found. One found 5 silvers. From seated, Barber, merq. to Roosevelt. The other guy found a Merq, wheats, LC, flying eagle penny and a shield nickle. They said this program was amazing. So we all hunted together and by the end of the hunt we pulled 12 more silvers and like 30 more wheats. When I first met these guys they were using Park 2, 5 tones, sens. 18-20 and recovery 5-7 and bia's F2-6 to F2-9. They were totally shocked at the difference the new Program and setting made. I told them there program is what I started out on 2 years ago except it was Fe bias. Then I moved to Beach 1 50 tones and then Park 1 50 tones after Tom D. set me straight. Now I share Tom D's. program with everyone I cross paths with using the Equinox. So far everyone that has tried it is loving it. Going back to all there old sites and finding great finds.

I'm just glad it's working out for you guys.... (((and didn't backfire on me)))!!!