Minelab Equinox tips and questions

[Heatho]

One thing that bothers me from Gary's article is the discrimination, there are a lot of beer bottle caps and bobby pins on the beaches I detect and the CTX can totally eliminate them depending on where the ferrous line is set and still get the gold. I would hate to have to start digging them again...... I guess that's the price that must be paid to start getting the fine chains and stuff that the CTX easily misses. I already dig a lot of pulltabs, sinkers and other bits of aluminium so that is already par for the course.

I have found gold rings down to 0.7g with the CTX at reasonable depth but no gold chains at all in the couple of years I've owned it. Hopefully the Eq will change that when I get one.

Anyway I guess I'll have to adjust my detecting style to the Eq to get the best from it. Looking forward to it actually.

 

[PhaseTech]

VLF's get chains much better than BBS and FBS machines, and most PI as well. The smallest bit of jewellery I ever found after many years swinging a Sovereign, was an earing stud, where the metal clasp was maybe 6mm in diameter. This was with the small 8" coinsearch coil, which was well known to be quite sensitive, but the target was only an inch under the surface and it took me a good 5mins to recover! Definitely not a regular occurrence digging targets that small.

The first time I used the X-Terra 70 with 10x5" high frequency coil on the beach I dug a small section of chain. I also dug lots of small foil and aluminium that never troubled the Sovereign. I liken this to a GPX that can cruise around all day and not really be troubled by tiny bits of foil or very small shot, but pull out the SDC or GPZ, and you can't stop digging them!

But, VLF's have always suffered depth on wet sand if you could get them stable enough at all. The Makro Racer 2 was really the first VLF that started to work well on wet sand and in shallow water, but still sacrificing a little depth, but an improvement over the X-Terra 705. Now here comes the Equinox. It is the first Minelab to have single frequency and Multi-simultaneous frequency options, basically giving you the best of both worlds. If you want stability, select Multi, but if you want sensitivity, then select a higher freq option. It's going to be an interesting few weeks ahead, as users from different beaches around Australia start to compare notes.

But, first thing I'm going to do is bury some coins and rings, and test up the CTX and Sovereign, and see where the Equinox sits. I have no problem swinging a heavier CTX if it'll give me an extra 2 inches on $1 coins and chunky rings, but then you'll never want to leave a spot without using the Nox if it does better on fine jewellery.

Just very glad the Equinox is being released now and not in the middle of winter.

 

[PhaseTech]

Seems to handle the salt very nicely, but still the question of depth remains.

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COYuaJ4c5BI[/video]

 

[Wally69]

My only reservation so far is how much extra can-spam and foil pellets will need to be attended to to find the fine gold. And will I need to start dealing with shotgun pellets as well.

Not getting much feedback on target IDs yet but they seem to bounce around a lot at depth.

Hopefully someone will crack the perfect discrimination settings for the rest of us to piggy back on. Think it will be more the case of digging more to extract more.

 

[AussieTex]

Does anyone know if the Equinox 800 has the prospecting mode equivalent that is in the X-Terra 705 or is that what the higher frequency on the Equinox use?

I noticed that 705's pinpoint sizing isn't in the Equinox software which is a bit of a bummer.

I found with the right coil and freq and dropping the sensitivity, I can get pretty okay depth on wet sand. Then again I am using a NEL Thunder coil at either 18 or 3 khz.

 

[Heatho]

Hey Nenad, great writeup. For sure Nox and CTX will compliment each other just like the SDC and Zed/5k.

Yes I'm wondering about depth as well, that earlier vid from Detectival seemed to have good depth on that small hammered coin that was dug up, really looking forward to seeing your test comparisons, as always they are straight to the point and always highlight strengths and weaknesses.

Detecting over the past week at Evans Head on the NSW North Coast with the CTX and 17 inch coil I have never dug such deep targets with the CTX, it seemed someone had cleaned the beach up with a lesser machine and missed all the deep coins I was getting. Some $2 coins were more than double my pinpointer deep, I've been wondering why I can't get the same depth on Manly or other beaches I hunt in my area that are very benign in mineralisation, EMI compromising depth maybe?? It was an eye opener for sure, wish I had an Equinox there to compare depths as some coins were right on the maximum and only partially repeatable signals but still they were "dig me" signals. The beaches there have plenty of heavy mineralised black sand too.

Was running standard beach program with standard discrim pattern, with sens on auto +3, deep on, saltwater on, low trash target separation.

 

[PhaseTech]

Don't know if I've heard the Equinox prospecting mode on any vids yet, but would think it would sound similar to the 705, as the Equinox sound overall is very X-Terra'ish. But I'm getting stock this week, so will soon find out.

When in the Gold Mode, you can work in Multi, 20 or 40 kHz.

Sorry if this has been posted before.

 

[Heatho]

My only reservation so far is how much extra can-spam and foil pellets will need to be attended to to find the fine gold. And will I need to start dealing with shotgun pellets as well.

Not getting much feedback on target IDs yet but they seem to bounce around a lot at depth.

Hopefully someone will crack the perfect discrimination settings for the rest of us to piggy back on. Think it will be more the case of digging more to extract more.

Be a trail blazer mate, don't worry too much about what others use as discrim settings, it will come with experience and customising for your hunting areas. When I first got the CTX I just dug everything until I was confident to leave known trash or nuisance target signals. I'll do the same with the Equinox.

The CTX signals can bounce around too but you get an average of what it's doing with experience and good target signals are hard to miss.

I'll get one in a few weeks, gotta save some moolah after the recent holiday, though my goldies container is half full and I reckon I can fill it over the next few weeks and get an Equinox from goldies alone. :Y:

 

[anton]

My only true reservation, and the reason i,ll hold off a tad until the all the first time real user reviews roll in, is, Target resolution, or what i percieve as lack of (0-40?? come on minelab, what were you thinking? ), looking at the manual , our one and 2 dollar coins are lumped together under the same id (which will also encompas bottle caps and other trash)..i hope it doesnt turn out like the original racer and lump as much trash as tresure in that range 8.( .. this is coming from a primarily coin hunter's point of view, your mileage may vary

 

[PhaseTech]

Yeah it's a catch 22 with target ID's. A narrow range leads to very stable ID's, aka X-Terra 305/505, but then junk and good targets overlap. Same as the Makro/Nokta range, people complained about the ID 82 target grouping, so Makro widened it for the coin guys, ferrous 1-10 on the Racer 2, and 1-20 on the Fors Relic, but then some complained it wasn't as stable as their red racers or Fors CoRe's etc. So manufacturers can't win - unless you use different ID scales for different modes aka Impact, but that in itself can get confusing for a lot of users.

 

[Manpa]

Yeah it's a catch 22 with target ID's. A narrow range leads to very stable ID's, aka X-Terra 305/505, but then junk and good targets overlap. Same as the Makro/Nokta range, people complained about the ID 82 target grouping, so Makro widened it for the coin guys, ferrous 1-10 on the Racer 2, and 1-20 on the Fors Relic, but then some complained it wasn't as stable as their red racers or Fors CoRe's etc. So manufacturers can't win - unless you use different ID scales for different modes aka Impact, but that in itself can get confusing for a lot of users.

Manufacturers of any item will always try to accommodate the majority needs = increased sales. You just cannot build a product which suits everyone, hence as I look across this forum many users have multiple detectors for multiple uses and areas.
Agree totally with your sentiments Nenad, manufactures can't win.

 

[Wally69]

My only reservation so far is how much extra can-spam and foil pellets will need to be attended to to find the fine gold. And will I need to start dealing with shotgun pellets as well.

Not getting much feedback on target IDs yet but they seem to bounce around a lot at depth.

Hopefully someone will crack the perfect discrimination settings for the rest of us to piggy back on. Think it will be more the case of digging more to extract more.

Be a trail blazer mate, don't worry too much about what others use as discrim settings, it will come with experience and customising for your hunting areas. When I first got the CTX I just dug everything until I was confident to leave known trash or nuisance target signals. I'll do the same with the Equinox.

The CTX signals can bounce around too but you get an average of what it's doing with experience and good target signals are hard to miss.

I'll get one in a few weeks, gotta save some moolah after the recent holiday, though my goldies container is half full and I reckon I can fill it over the next few weeks and get an Equinox from goldies alone. :Y:

Had tongue-in-cheek with the 'cracking the perfect discrimination settings' comment. As gold and trash ring up the same, don't think it will be possible. I run the 705 open unless the spam is too thick to keep my thoughts together. Keen to see if the speed and tone response can give me a better walk or dig indication. The 705 doesn't seem to talk to me that way in that ID range so it is a binary decision; walk or dig.

Old gold is of more interest to me than new gold, so my key indicator in very trashy ground is finding my first aged relic with the gold/trash bands masked, I then extract the Silvers and coppers, then go back over in open mode to see what can be liberated along with the pull tabs. Would be utopia if the Goose can cover it all in one go.

I have no doubt your goldies container could fund a couple, it has to be overflowing again after this years efforts.

Will have to get the tide charts put on the shortcut menu of my phone and hit a few beaches with you once we are kitted up.

 

[Wally69]

Don't know if I've heard the Equinox prospecting mode on any vids yet, but would think it would sound similar to the 705, as the Equinox sound overall is very X-Terra'ish. But I'm getting stock this week, so will soon find out.

When in the Gold Mode, you can work in Multi, 20 or 40 kHz.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ges/3149/1518580480_freq_amp_detect_modes.jpg

Sorry if this has been posted before.

Hi Nenad

Please let us know when your stock arrives, if Minelab dispatch from Adelaide you might be the first to get stock.

Communication is only one way with Miners Den at this stage, so happy to send business your way if I can get one in Sydney for the weekend.

Wally

 

[Heatho]

Keen as Wally, there are quite a few large and small beaches we need to hit, should be good as they have been constantly replenishing over summer with the hoardes of tourists. Still a hard slog somedays, that Georg Jensen, the big citrine and the palladium ring were all almost last targets for each hunt, dunno why it happens that way.

 

[DetectingSA]

Keen as Wally, there are quite a few large and small beaches we need to hit, should be good as they have been constantly replenishing over summer with the hoardes of tourists. Still a hard slog somedays, that Georg Jensen, the big citrine and the palladium ring were all almost last targets for each hunt, dunno why it happens that way.

If you're anything like me, the "last target" is 5-10 targets before you drag yourself away

Just one more, just one more

 

[Moneybox]

I'll try one at the APLA field day this weekend. I want to see the discrimination in action. We sold the 705 because it had a scrambled brain. It would come up with a new ID number on each pass of the same target. There seemed no point in having target ID if the detector is not capable of identifying anything with reasonable reliability. I was turned off the Gold Monster when it identified a target as gold on one swing and iron on the return swing.

 

[Smoky bandit]

I'll try one at the APLA field day this weekend. I want to see the discrimination in action. We sold the 705 because it had a scrambled brain. It would come up with a new ID number on each pass of the same target. There seemed no point in having target ID if the detector is not capable of identifying anything with reasonable reliability. I was turned off the Gold Monster when it identified a target as gold on one swing and iron on the return swing.

Did you have the target id switched on..the little + on top of screen..mine is very stable especially on coins..really only jumps around if its junk :Y:

 

[Danny13]

Mine arrives tomorrow :Y:

 

[SinHof]

Arvo Danny; mate you are on a roll this week, gold, gold and now a new Equinox, have fun.
Cheers, SinHof.
PS: I will look forward to your first post on its performance, no great hurry, an hour or two after you take delivery will be fine LOL.

 

[flyrodder]

im the same sold my 705 a while back n now sorry so i will wait to see reports on equinox hopefully be a good back up to the 3030

Arvo Danny; mate you are on a roll this week, gold, gold and now a new Equinox, have fun.
Cheers, SinHof.
PS: I will look forward to your first post on its performance, no great hurry, an hour or two after you take delivery will be fine LOL.