Trip 1 - Complete Newb - Beaching with an Equinox 600

[Pieces-Of-Eight]

Hi All,
I don't know if this is the correct place for this type of post but after benefitting from other threads about which detector to purchase I thought I would give a little feedback and first thoughts on both the detector and the hobby, if nothing else you may get a chuckle as you see me evolve in this space layful: . I'll try not to ramble but can't promise. For context my interest is treasure hunting beaches for now.

So, a 20% off deal at Anaconda was the final straw to make me put my money where my mouth was and $800 down I have a minilab Equinox 600 in my hands.
Assembly is an absolute no brainer and within minutes its switched on going beep bop boop at all the metal in my living room and the electro interference.
A trip to the Minelab website had me checking and installing a software update and I guessed I was ready, just a couple of evenings reading the instructions and I'd be good for Saturday morning ??? O

I was reasonably pleased with the quality of the documentation. There is a lot of detail (though understanding when and where you should change any of the settings is something I imagine will come with experience rather than from reading) and a surprising number of tips for beginner detecting. However for all the quality, I appear to have developed a certain Teflon coating to my memory cells and considering all the automation why do I have to go into the menu settings every single time I turn It on ??? really no single button (or even auto scan on boot up for interference) and no mention that it remembers that you have auto ground balance on.. Read, forget, read again.

Saturday morning, Plastic trowel and a boat bailer that I've drilled dozens of 10mm holes in hand and i'm off to a quiet beach spot. I factory reset the Nox working on the idea that defaults are plenty for now so just run the initial interference and ground balance checks.
Beep Beep detector down, on hands and knees scoop scoop nothing. (yes i'm straight into it having forgotten to bring my sample targets to see what a real ID might look like). Back on my feet sweep sweep , beep beep beep. Oh yea, the how deep settings. Back to my knees and a deeper hole.... Back to my feet and I realise I don't actually know where on the coil its detecting, i.e. beep does not mean the middle of the coil I then realise I'm set on park mode as I factory reset it :/
OK, beach mode (I don't know if this made any difference as I was in dry sand) and it probably took me 10 minutes to remember pin point mode as i'm staring at the crater I've excavated :8 :8 :8
So it also takes a while to discover that you cant just run in pinpoint mode, I'm figuring that broad scan to acquire target and whilst its still on the display switch to pinpoint to locate where X marks the spot. 5 minutes later and i'm the proud owner of a twisty bottle top another 5 minutes and another twisty another 2 mins bottle top no 3 :| 4 :| 5 :| 6 :/ wow $800 to find bottle tops. I decide to change spots because on reflection this is the obvious spot for people to sit down for a beer once they have cleared the path.
A little further down the beach and I think I've got a grip on both bottle tops reading 13 and that multiple beeps sometimes means they had more than 1 beer During this I also note that the NOX lights up for aluminium every time I think oh that's not a bottle top, its a bloody ring pull
Along the way I've also discovered that I don't like full headphones and this detecting lark is giving me back ache
I decide to get off the top of the beach and try just up[ from the waters edge and things get a little more interesting. a dog tag, a lead weight and 50C :money:
Then a really strange signal bouncing between a few readings but really strong, dig, sweep, dig sweep, diggggg, where is this thing ? pinpoint shows im on spot but the bottom of the hole is filling with water, about 12 inches down I find a key.. scan the hole and another target there, another scoop and its the remains of a bunch of keys, the salt water had clearly corroded the keyring but they are all together (hmm always check the hole), I'm surprised how deep the Nox detected and how big the signal was when it was something better that drinking left overs.
A little further and another strange multi beep multi reading signal looks like a bottle cap and a ring pull together. about 8 inches down and.... $2 :money: :money: check the hole and there is still a target, another trowel full sees another $1 :money: Feck Yea, Now i'm into it
It was an educational first outing. I've learnt. Big headphones in Australian sun are not fun, My back is too old to be crawling round a beach, some times bottle caps are dollars
I'm on the board, i'm in this for the treasure but for some reason have kept all the crap as well :/
Total earnings $3.50

Steve

 

[Sandta]

Good onya Steve :Y:
You did better than me on my first day
Patience , perseverance and a bit of luck should see you addicted in no time

 

[Dave79]

Good yarn mate! If you hit the horse shoe button and go into all metal mode the bottle caps will give a mixed iron signal and you can save yourself digging them up. As for the ringpulls, they sound so much like a gold ring you'll have to get used to collecting them!

 

[Ded Driver]

well done Po8 :Y:

 

[golddiggerart]

Learn as you go... Good one mate. :Y:

 

[Perth Tim]

Hi Steve,

I'm still new to metal detecting, but I've done 4 or 5 outings now and I've improved everytime. I usually hit a local sports ground and a beach, but from what I've found so far I think the beach is a really hard place to hunt. The sporting ground has been far more productive being able to find sterling silver jewellery everytime. I figure if I'm finding silver it's only a matter of time before I hit some gold stuff.

2 Pieces of gear I wouldn't be without on a field are my pro find 35 pin pointer and a solid turf spade. The point pointer lets me search in the hole where the nox won't fit, I use the pin point function on the nox to determine where to dig, but the pro find does the actually final investigation.

The other reason is on the sports ground it's ring pull HELL, I literally always have a target under the coil, but this has also been very educational for me in how to discriminate and find more valuable objects. I recommend you give it a go - just don't dig on the playing field, dig around the sidelines as thats where people sit and lose stuff plus someone might get upset if you ruin the playing surface.

 

[Pieces-Of-Eight]

@Dave79 cheers mate, I've kept away from the any of the buttons so far for fear of missing targets (still in the dig everything headspace) I'm also a little worried about multiple targets close to each other, however, i'm 4 trips in now (i'll put another post up on my other outings) and starting to get a little used to the machine at a very basic level (was having a little play with winding sensitivity down yesterday). I'll certainly give it a go next weekend.

@perth Tim, Wow, you surprise me that you've had so much silver !! I don't have a pin pointer yet as its pretty easy to sieve the sand and you just pick your winnings out of the scoop. However with the knowledge of treasure finds i'll add it as a destination.

 

[Perth Tim]

@Dave79 cheers mate, I've kept away from the any of the buttons so far for fear of missing targets (still in the dig everything headspace) I'm also a little worried about multiple targets close to each other, however, i'm 4 trips in now (i'll put another post up on my other outings) and starting to get a little used to the machine at a very basic level (was having a little play with winding sensitivity down yesterday). I'll certainly give it a go next weekend.

@perth Tim, Wow, you surprise me that you've had so much silver !! I don't have a pin pointer yet as its pretty easy to sieve the sand and you just pick your winnings out of the scoop. However with the knowledge of treasure finds i'll add it as a destination.

Yeah the beach is easy digging, but due to how dynamic it is with sand movement it takes a lot of know how to find the good stuff. Really you want to check out anywhere that 1000's of people go to and create the opportunity to drop items of value. That's 1/2 the fun for me, finding strategy's and testing it out.

 

[tricast]

Well done Steve

You are on the road to success the more you go
The more you learn about your machine and conditions in front of you
Some days are better than others just being there is half the Fun
Nothing wrong with digging everything at beach you will
Be surprised
Will have to catch up
Mark

 

[Pieces-Of-Eight]

@Mr T, wow another Novocastrian.
Yea a bit of a walk, bit of a dig and all whilst getting sea air and beautiful views, when i look up of course
I'll posted my next few trips and its getting a little easier understanding the Nox each time though i think this weekend the stormy sky / rain may have been throwing me out a little. I'm always up for a catch up and feeling hungry to learn more :Y:

 

[Pieces-Of-Eight]

So this will get me up to date with my outings,
Trip 2, only 2 hours out.
I've upgraded to some Bluetooth sports earbuds, so much more comfortable

I decided to hit a more popular beach but hit the dog walk side for now so there was less risk of getting quizzed by the curious. The nox was behaving much the same as my first trip but I felt a bit slicker with handling it. I've noticed that sometimes its gets a little noisy (like hitting multiple targets) and pinpoint gets a little erratic. placing the coil on the floor and waiting a few seconds seems to let it settle down and then its back to normal, i'm wandering if the auto ground balance is keeping up ? or if perhaps the recovery time (not sure I've got this right) needs shortening a little. I tried a few strolls form the top to the waters edge but most was close to the dunes. There were a lot less bottle tops but also a lot less of everything. I did note it was a bad idea taking the dog with me. Every time I started to dig a target the dog decided she was going to help with the dig with her chain collar setting everything off. Oh well it had the potential to be a duel purpose trip. I tried the last 30 mins more on the public side picking up $2 on the path but that was it. Back ache problems again, sod this i'm getting a sand scoop.
Trip 3
Back to beach no1 for a couple of hours but I only hit the low tide mark this time. Sito Sand scoop in hand ickshovel:
This was a strange session, half of my targets were really strong and I was finding the depth detection was pretty spot on, most of these turned out to be lead and although I don't need lead I understand that its a similar signal to gold so I was pleased I seemed to be pinpointing these a bit easier. the other half of the signals were just plain strange. lots of multiple targets but pinpoint all over the place. and even after really deep digs 12-14 inches i was getting signals in the hole and in the excavated sand. i gave up on a number of these but eventually unearthed what seemed to be buried instant bbq but all melted to the sand, i'd spot the signal patter for next time.
$3.05 this time, The lead with the steel insert was a really odd signal, i really thought this was 2 items.
I also noted that the scoop was a pain interfering with the signal unless i was dragging it behind me at handle length. Again, perhaps i need to be turning the signal down.
Trip 4 -
I tried at Blacksmiths but this was hopeless, the detector was going off plenty but all i was finding was the smallest pieces of tin foil its like they were just blowing all over where i was so i bailed and tried Caves beach by the SLSC, Again i had issues with the scoop interfering and a little annoying, being full of holes it works in revers when you drag it filling up with sand roll a couple of bottle caps and 5C so i headed up to the dog end but no treasure there either except for an odd lead or zink pAris broach type thing.

So that's me for now, Total cash is $7.65

 

[Heatho]

Some ferrous targets will give multiple tones and ID's as the detector is trying to discriminate them out, generally it will give a partial tone as it's discriminating and then jump up and down between high and low tones, once you understand what the detector is telling you then you'll be able to walk away from a lot of these targets confidently. Though while still leaning the Nox's language keep digging everything.

One way to help discrim out ferrous trash is to switch to 5khz from multi, ferrous targets will then give a higher tone whereas non ferrous targets won't change too much at all.

Keep at it, takes a little while to learn the Nox but once you know it well it's a very very good detector.

 

[golddiggerart]

What heatho said :Y:
It's a very good machine... Try your settings on beach mode 2, sensitivity around 15 - 20...I also have threshold around 6 - 10, I auto noise cancel as soon as get to the beach and also auto ground balance then run tracking.. Pretty much runs silent until I hit a target. It goes deep this detector especially out in the water.

All the best and look forward to seeing your finds.
Cheers Gda :Y:

 

[Greenhornet_au]

Pieces-Of-Eight, I did a DIY of Plug Diggers that is pinned in the DIY section, you may be interested in looking over that thread.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=19869&p=1

However I thought that I did put up some other stuff on there that would be useful to you, but have not found it when I just looked,
Kato my daughter uses a CTX 3030 and finds it is very sensitive too, so she doesnt take the stainless sand scoop I bought her.

We do have another digging tool for sand that you may like to see.....
I'll do some work and pop up another DIY Sand Digger, hopefully it will also get pinned up for everyone to use.

 

[Heatho]

What heatho said :Y:
It's a very good machine... Try your settings on beach mode 2, sensitivity around 15 - 20...I also have threshold around 6 - 10, I auto noise cancel as soon as get to the beach and also auto ground balance then run tracking.. Pretty much runs silent until I hit a target. It goes deep this detector especially out in the water.

All the best and look forward to seeing your finds.
Cheers Gda :Y:

On the beaches Art you really shouldn't need to GB, maybe if it's quite mineralised but I've never needed to GB the Nox except on the goldfields, anyway I'm sure it doesn't hurt to run it but just my observations. :Y:

 

[golddiggerart]

What heatho said :Y:
It's a very good machine... Try your settings on beach mode 2, sensitivity around 15 - 20...I also have threshold around 6 - 10, I auto noise cancel as soon as get to the beach and also auto ground balance then run tracking.. Pretty much runs silent until I hit a target. It goes deep this detector especially out in the water.

All the best and look forward to seeing your finds.
Cheers Gda :Y:

On the beaches Art you really shouldn't need to GB, maybe if it's quite mineralised but I've never needed to GB the Nox except on the goldfields, anyway I'm sure it doesn't hurt to run it but just my observations. :Y:

Yeah you're right mate but here mineralisation is deep and makes the nox chatter...Amd as you know it sure does go deep..

 

[Pieces-Of-Eight]

Some ferrous targets will give multiple tones and ID's as the detector is trying to discriminate them out, generally it will give a partial tone as it's discriminating and then jump up and down between high and low tones, .

Thanks Heatho thats realy valuable :Y:

One way to help discrim out ferrous trash is to switch to 5khz from multi,

If you hit the horse shoe button and go into all metal mode the bottle caps will give a mixed iron signal

I'll try a mix of both suggestions next Sat and learn how the Nox reacts :fistpump:

Try your settings on beach mode 2, sensitivity around 15 - 20...I also have threshold around 6 - 10, I auto noise cancel as soon as get to the beach

After forgetting my sample targets on my first outing i've not tried to revisit this. now with a couple of outings under my belt I'll give this a go for an hour before hunting.

Thanks everyone for the wisdom and great advice. :Y: :Y: :Y:

@Greenhornet_au I'll respond directly in your thread, looks awesome and DIY is just up my street

 

[user 16909]

That was awesome. I hope to make my first post of my first crack too soon :Y: