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Tom I have to be careful on the subject of which technology has the edge on High Conductors because
A: I’m not smart enough.
B: I haven’t done side by side testing in the wild..
I had plans to but after my third hunt I just didn’t feel the need to compare anymore..
I already knew what a CTX and E-Trac, with stock 11” coil could do as far as depth in my ground..
I regularly picked 7-8” s
by
Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
One thing I’m not sure of is if the average detectorist will recognize the power and unmasking abilities of the Equinox..
The FBS hunters who don’t cruise the parks in a tight “Trashy Park Pattern “ in Auto waiting for the “Fluty Silver Tone”
and dig the iffy one ways will be the hunters who recognize the abilities of the Equinox..
For some the CTX might be the better fit..
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
I’m not surprised at Toms results in any way..
It could be that Equinox performance might be soil dependent but it is my opinion that the Equinox 800 is
superior to FBS for old coin hunting.. I don’t believe the CTX or E-Trac have a depth advantage on deep silver in my ground..
I am way beyond wondering if the Equinox is deep.. I am now moving on to more advanced techniques with the setting
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
SkiWhiz Wrote:
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> I would like to try an Etrac sometime, I could be
> wrong but always figured that they would be compli
> cated to setup & use.
Very easy to use SkiWhiz..
I will be selling mine in the next week or two once I get the time it get it ready for sale..
Send me a PM if interested..
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Yes Tom, the Recovery speeds affect depth noticeably.. Slower usually deeper but this may vary with soil and trash conditions..
I’m not technical enough to go in to this subject deeply.. Maybe Tom D can weigh in on the Equinox Recovery Speeds and how they affect performance..
You can kind of turn your Equinox audibly, as in length of tone by slowing it down, into an Explorer type feel..
Get
by
Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Hombre Wrote:
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> I hunt old sites, I dig a lot of junk too. I don't
> want to pass up a good find, just today I dug a sh
> allow Indian head about 2 inches deep. I could rai
> se the coil about 8 inches before it would fade ou
> t. I do not hunt parks, only rural one room school
> houses or old churches, most of
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
No wobbling shaft or hand grip issues with mine Rich.. Hope your is the same..
As far as hunting by depth.. It’s not as easy with the Equinox as say the CTX because of poor modulation
within roughly the first 5 inches.. The Pinpoint function has good VCO so I have been using that to gauge depth..
The meter is more accurate if you center the target and figure that it’s calibrated to bigger
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
The speed settings have turned out to be one of my favorite features of the Equinox for park hunting..
I am constantly adjusting on the fly to match my trash and ground conditions..
After you get some hours on the Nox you can really get a feel of when your starting to get a little sluggish
and can bump it up a notch or two to match conditions..
Then when you venture out into an open area you
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
The only thing I really see missing from your report are Recovery Speed testing..
They affect the Equinox quite a bit and I didn’t see any mention of changing those up.
Soil and trash conditions matter for these settings but just going from 3 to 7 drops depth by as much as 2” in air testing..
A recovery Speed of around 3 or so probably would be close to your Explorer speeds..
The 4 setting
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Hombre Wrote:
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> I'll dig those shallow signals every time, in the
> past they have been shallow watch fobs and Indian
> head pennies , gold rings and have also dug up sha
> llow walking liberty halves.
>
> Do what you want but you are walking over treasure
> if you are passing up loud shallow signals. Stepp
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Tom_in_CA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cabin Fever Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > Wow.. Only one hour of use..
> > I had assumed you at least ran it for an entire
> da
> > y before selling it..
>
>
> I ran it for 2 days. Over the course of many man
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Cal_cobra Wrote:
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> calabash digger Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thanks cant wait to see your ghost town report..
> .
>
>
> Don't think that's going to happen:
> bay.com/itm/Minelab-Equinox-800/123037214453?hash=
> item1ca596e6f5:g:nk4AAOSwVEx
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Now that I have a few more hours on the Equinox, I’m starting to appreciate the ID more then at first..
It can get a little bouncy but like I have said before. High conductive coins stay in the proper high conductive penny, dime, Quarter range..
Not quite as tight as FBS but if you center up your target, it will tighten up and the depth meter will improve too..
Many coins that I have found, th
by
Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Good report Tom.
The Equinox will not be everyone’s cup of tea.. I can see where some FBS users won’t take to it..
If you want more of the Explorer feel on deep targets you are going to have to drop your Recovery Speed way down
to around 3 or so.. I like 4 when I’m not in heavy Trash.. That will give you your longer bigger tones at depth like your Explorer..
You of course will start loosin
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
It would also be nice to have a few of our own mode slots to create custom programs and pick
which frequency weighting we want.. I will probably never use the Beach modes because I don’t live near salt water..
Those bins will just sit unused by me.. It would be nice to have those slots for something I would use..
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Put the user button where the frequency shift button is.
Raise the VDI to 50
Increase the tone frequencies from 500 Hz to at least 750 or better yet 1000 Hz
Add modulation control like on the CTX and E-Trac
Calibrate the depth meter to a penny instead of a quarter..
Add depth number reading on pinpoint mode..
Give it normal and sizing pinpoint options like CTX.
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Your doing good work Calabash..
Some people are just blinded by their own emotions and biases..
It can be very powerful to those who are unaware..
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
rustic charm Wrote:
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> The F Pulse is PI and the Carrot is VLF
>
> Are we now saying a PI Pointer is more sensitive t
> o small gold than a VLF Pointer?
What I was saying is that the F-Pulse is more sensitive to tiny gold nuggets then my Carrot using air tests
I won’t know until this summer how it performs in the ground
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
The Carrot has been very good to me but I did wear through the tip.. Still going strong though.
I’ve had none of the problems it seems some have had with it.. Hundreds of hours using it..
I have a Minelab Pro-Find 35 on the way to see how it does..
Probably end up with another Carrot when my original finally croaks.
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Yes, if you like the TRX you will love the Fisher.. The Fisher performs a lot like the TRX only better..
I was not a fan of the TRX and same goes for the Fisher.. It’s just too slow for my liking and more directional dependent..
I’m going to keep one for nugget shooting because it is more sensitive to small gold then the Carrot and TRX..
I will have to say that the Fisher F-Pulse is the be
by
Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
I end up with two of them.. I don’t really like it for coin hunting but will keep one for nugget hunting..
Send me a PM if interested and I’ll sell you one for $100.00 shipped.. Used on one 3 hr. Hunt..
SOLD
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
One more thing Tom.. If you decide to go after Nickels, they seem to hold to a very tight ID compared to the high conductors..
They do not bounce much and so far I have not dug one that has strayed from 12-13 with the majority of them at 13..
They come in very strong at depth and sound really nice..
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Tom I hunt old deep coins in a similar style as you, ignoring most shallow targets except for areas with less sink rate..
I have been doing very well with very deep coins in Park 1 and Field 1... Iron Bias 0-2 and Recovery between 4 and 6
with an occasional bump to 7 depending on conditions..
If you are going to knock out your TIDs I would drop it at least one more notch to 18 for the Indian
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
MichiganRelicHunter Wrote:
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> No love affair/brand loyalty here dude
>
> I own several makes/models including 2 minelabs
>
> I was only pointing out the flaw in your "test" (a
> nd all test like it)
>
> seems *I* yanked someones chain by pointing out th
> e unfair advantage given to one unit V
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Diggs4ever Wrote:
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> Exactly right, Hearing the iron holds a lot of val
> uable information especially with with the EQ whic
> h loves to false
The Equinox is kind of deceiving because it runs so quiet at high power compared to the CTX and E-Trac..
It will false on nails pretty hard at 22-25 sensitivity on my ground but quiet
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
I think those with mild ground can’t grasp what its like for us who have bad ground.
Detectors like the CZ 5 and other top end Fisher/Tek machines just can’t ID coins much past 6” here in the Pacific North West..
Makro’s and Whites V3i fair a little better then the Fisher line in my soil and FBS was the only technology
that could ID to its maximum depth.. I only have roughly 11 hours on my
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum
Good report Daniel..
Anyone who doesn’t think the Equinox is deep either hasn’t run one or haven’t gotten their
coil over a deep target yet..
I know all the Fisher/Tek Detectors do great in mild soil but they can’t compete in depth where I live..
Bryan
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Cabin Fever
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Thomas Dankowski Metal Detecting Forum