Is the Equinox the best?

graybeard · Mar 28, 2020

I did more testing with the Equinox 800. I placed a clad dime with a nail beside it then scanned over it, very few times did it detect it and that was crossing strait over it. Detecting at any angle over it the detector showed nothing was there. I then put the nail on it the detector couldn't hit it at any angle and that was with the 11" and 6" coils.

I have other detectors that hit the dime with the nail beside or on the dime. So what gives with what is supposed to be the best detector out there the Equinox?

TrenchKnife · Mar 28, 2020

nailed the clad dime to the wall

Hello,

I just went out and tried the same thing. I get different results depending on what mode, which recovery speed and how the dime/nail are placed.

with the nail on top of the dime, I can say it's difficult to get the dime to squeak out over the nail's presence. but adjusting the sensitivity and recovery speed AND my swing rate, I can get the dime to at least make a difference noise.

but i'm thinking there is no issue. after all, the nox probably detects the nail/dime so close together as one object. from this I've learned that some of those targets I ignore (due to low tone so close to a high tone) I might have to revisit targets or try a whole regime of settings to get a better idea on the actual target.

also, I found (oddly) that the beach 2 mode was one of the best of the modes to sound off with two distinct tones for the nail and dime. the gold modes also had good tone separation but that back ground humm is something else.

jmaclen · Mar 28, 2020

graybeard said:
I did more testing with the Equinox 800. I placed a clad dime with a nail beside it then scanned over it, very few times did it detect it and that was crossing strait over it. Detecting at any angle over it the detector showed nothing was there. I then put the nail on it the detector couldn't hit it at any angle and that was with the 11" and 6" coils.

I have other detectors that hit the dime with the nail beside or on the dime. So what gives with what is supposed to be the best detector out there the Equinox?

Hi Graybeard,
what mode and settings were you using? Were they default settings? If you are in Park 1 default the iron bias setting is set to mask iron targets somewhat. So if the nail and clad dime are touching and you are in default Park 1 with -9 to +1 rejected, the Nox is going to do its best to mask the nail and since the dime is touching it, it will be semi masked too. Set your iron bias on zero or use Park 2 default which has the iron bias preset on zero.

The Equinox will average two targets that are touching to some degree so the numbers might be low teens to 20 instead of 24 to 26. If you separate the dime and the nail just a little bit and press the horseshoe button you may get two distinct targets depending on the dime/nail orientation.

Jeff

jmaclen · Mar 28, 2020

graybeard said:
I did more testing with the Equinox 800. I placed a clad dime with a nail beside it then scanned over it, very few times did it detect it and that was crossing strait over it. Detecting at any angle over it the detector showed nothing was there. I then put the nail on it the detector couldn't hit it at any angle and that was with the 11" and 6" coils.

I have other detectors that hit the dime with the nail beside or on the dime. So what gives with what is supposed to be the best detector out there the Equinox?

TrenchKnife said:
Hello,

I just went out and tried the same thing. I get different results depending on what mode, which recovery speed and how the dime/nail are placed.

with the nail on top of the dime, I can say it's difficult to get the dime to squeak out over the nail's presence. but adjusting the sensitivity and recovery speed AND my swing rate, I can get the dime to at least make a difference noise.

but i'm thinking there is no issue. after all, the nox probably detects the nail/dime so close together as one object. from this I've learned that some of those targets I ignore (due to low tone so close to a high tone) I might have to revisit targets or try a whole regime of settings to get a better idea on the actual target.

also, I found (oddly) that the beach 2 mode was one of the best of the modes to sound off with two distinct tones for the nail and dime. the gold modes also had good tone separation but that back ground humm is something else.

The Gold modes have a preset default threshold tone volume setting of 12. All of the other modes have a default threshold tone volume setting of 0. If you don't want to hear that background hum in the Gold modes just go into settings and turn down the threshold tone volume to 0.

Donut · Mar 28, 2020

Setting.
Try it again with recovery at 2
Obviously there has to be a littler separation between the targets.

I rarely ground balance anymore, why. Because of my ground.
Infact if you read the manual for newbies start up it doesn’t ever have ground balance in the proceeder.
Doug

jmaclen · Mar 28, 2020

Minelab hype is for people who are susceptible to "drinking the Koolaid". It's just hype. Obviously it helps to sell metal detectors. Real world experience helps sell metal detectors too.

Personally, I have tried out 32 detectors that were made in the last 10 years. I have not found any single VLF detector that is the best at everything including the Equinox. From experience I would say that for VLF USA coin hunting, jewelry hunting, relic hunting, lake and stream hunting, salt water beach hunting, and gold prospecting, the Equinox would be my 1st, 2nd or at worst 3rd choice in every one of those hunting environments. Even though that is pretty good for the moment it supports my belief that the Equinox is not the the best VLF detector for any one specific task. The 800 is the most versatile however, for someone that just wants one detector (and is seriously willing to learn it!!!!!) that can do it all very well and I didn't say it can do it all the best.

Jeff

woodbutcher · Mar 28, 2020

jmaclen said:
Minelab hype is for people who are susceptible to "drinking the Koolaid". It's just hype. Obviously it helps to sell metal detectors. Real world experience helps sell metal detectors too.

Personally, I have tried out 32 detectors that were made in the last 10 years. I have not found any single VLF detector that is the best at everything including the Equinox. From experience I would say that for VLF USA coin hunting, jewelry hunting, relic hunting, lake and stream hunting, salt water beach hunting, and gold prospecting, the Equinox would be my 1st, 2nd or at worst 3rd choice in every one of those hunting environments. Even though that is pretty good for the moment it supports my belief that the Equinox is not the the best VLF detector for any one specific task. The 800 is the most versatile however, for someone that just wants one detector (and is seriously willing to learn it!!!!!) that can do it all very well and I didn't say it can do it all the best.

Jeff

Well said Jeff.. Although I think the equinox is good , even if I thought it was the best out there I still wouldn't use one everyday on every hunt.. That goes for any machine.. Reason being the fun factor is the ability to use different machines and always find somthing cool.. Even the easiest of machines to use, tesoro, are just a blast and alot of fun.

sube · Mar 28, 2020

graybeard said:
I did more testing with the Equinox 800. I placed a clad dime with a nail beside it then scanned over it, very few times did it detect it and that was crossing strait over it. Detecting at any angle over it the detector showed nothing was there. I then put the nail on it the detector couldn't hit it at any angle and that was with the 11" and 6" coils.

I have other detectors that hit the dime with the nail beside or on the dime. So what gives with what is supposed to be the best detector out there the Equinox?

Those two signals are going to be combined as one no way to separate them so the id well be teens to 20 with F2 0 and if your running 1.75 version it well be 11 to 12 or 15 id much lower than 2.0 version never tried 1.50 version .

With that said all versions will hit it just the blended #s change you have to be in 0 bias .Now recovery speed I did lot's of testing all versions and recovery speeds will hit it with dime under nail with nail being north and south now if we try to hit this going east and west recovery speed 3 will not give tone recovery 2 will give tone every other sweep recovery 1 will give good audio but well display lower id #s because it's a combined signal .Recovery 1 sees all but is very hard to run unless your in a area of light trash it it very elongated signal but misses nothing as long as the sweep speed is slow can't run the sweep any faster other wise your going to miss stuff.
All the recovery speeds see this target but the audio is to short to hear on a combine target .There is no difference in separation at whatever speed you run at there all the same speed only the audio is changed longer or shorter .The shorter audio recovery speed of 6 will let you swing faster instead of bunching all the audio together there by letting you hear each target easier than being on recovery speed 1 .
So we can use recovery 1 but with a slower sweep to get some space between the audio of the targets it's hard on the brain with the elongated response of recovery of 1 but it see's all recovery 2 will see what 1 does but not with every sweep once we get to recovery 3 there gone . That' targets that are bended and position east west with nail .
Now since we can hear the signal in recovery 1 on a east west hit with nail over dime the nail being long will throw the signal to either side of the coil there by making your pinpoint off 3 to 4 inches off if using a 6 inch coil and father using a larger coil the signal is not generated till the coil trailing edge passes the coin and nail . sube

SoOregonMd · Mar 28, 2020

sube said:
Those two signals are going to be combined as one no way to separate them

Agreed.. You will notice that if you stack a nickel with a dime
it will give you a pretty solid 15.. This ALMOST makes sense because after all it is 15 cents :lol:

graybeard · Mar 29, 2020

I had it in park 2 with iron bias 0. No mater what recovery speed or iron bias setting I use on the Equinox, with a nail on a dime it will NOT hit every time. Any time it does hit I have to sweep straight across the nail. I can take a Tom tuned CZ 3D and put the nail on the dime and hit it at every direction even down the nail I get a good tone on every sweep. With the X-Terra 705 or F75 LTD it hits straight across it and at some angles, I can't go down the nail and get a signal.

If you are wondering how long I have had the Equinox it is almost two years, with lots of testing to see what it can do.

Trashfinder · Mar 29, 2020

graybeard said:
I had it in park 2 with iron bias 0. No mater what recovery speed or iron bias setting I use on the Equinox, with a nail on a dime it will NOT hit every time. Any time it does hit I have to sweep straight across the nail. I can take a Tom tuned CZ 3D and put the nail on the dime and hit it at every direction even down the nail I get a good tone on every sweep. With the X-Terra 705 or F75 LTD it hits straight across it and at some angles, I can't go down the nail and get a signal.

If you are wondering how long I have had the Equinox it is almost two years, with lots of testing to see what it can do.

These coplanar tests are interesting but keep in mind most real world situations are 3D not 2d. Although you could have a 2D situation inside a 3D which then becomes impossible. When they develop a machine that can unmask in that situation you will again see a lot of hype!

Bill_Ace_350 · Mar 29, 2020

jmaclen said:
Minelab hype is for people who are susceptible to "drinking the Koolaid". It's just hype. Obviously it helps to sell metal detectors. Real world experience helps sell metal detectors too.

Personally, I have tried out 32 detectors that were made in the last 10 years. I have not found any single VLF detector that is the best at everything including the Equinox. From experience I would say that for VLF USA coin hunting, jewelry hunting, relic hunting, lake and stream hunting, salt water beach hunting, and gold prospecting, the Equinox would be my 1st, 2nd or at worst 3rd choice in every one of those hunting environments. Even though that is pretty good for the moment it supports my belief that the Equinox is not the the best VLF detector for any one specific task. The 800 is the most versatile however, for someone that just wants one detector (and is seriously willing to learn it!!!!!) that can do it all very well and I didn't say it can do it all the best.

Jeff

Interesting perspective. I tend to agree.

Some people can't believe I feel my At-Pro is a better detector than the 600.

For me, where I hunt and how I hunt it is.

Detector debates are like hunting rifle debates, but remember the lowly .30-30 has, and continues to put meat on the table.

A lot has to do with how well you know your detector.

I agree I don't have nearly the amount of time with my equinox as my at-pro, but side by side comparison of the same target before digging, has led me to believe the Pro is more accurate at ID.

Makes me wonder too, if all the people using a new detector, who talk about targets their previous detector missed in a previously hunted area just didn't get the coil over them, or didn't know their old detectors well as the thought they did.

sube · Mar 29, 2020

Trashfinder said:
These coplanar tests are interesting but keep in mind most real world situations are 3D not 2d. Although you could have a 2D situation inside a 3D which then becomes impossible. When they develop a machine that can unmask in that situation you will again see a lot of hype!

I'm wondering how close is the coil to the targets since this is a high gain detector it does not have a overload so if the targets are to close to the coil there will be a overload and the detector will not see the target. try lifting the coil to 4 inches and see what happens .sube

Mud-puppy · Mar 29, 2020

I got the NOX 800 when it came out....From all the input, I figured it was a perfect rig to replace my F70 and my AtPro in one simple lightweight package....I shelved both my steady performing rigs (F70/ATPro) and committed to learning the language of the NOX....

It proved itself to be smarter than me or sumpthin'.... too much dikking around....I couldnt pull shallows as fast as with my F70, an It was no better on beach/water gold than my AtPro....So I went back to my steadys and aint lookin back..Running the F70 and AtPro this 2020 season...

The Minelab Nox 800 is just not for me, where I am and how I hunt.....too complicated...I want infield results and my rigs give them a plenty..I tried though, running the NOX rig for 6 mo straight...hoping for a magic bullet...

Its top heavy and wants to roll over in a guys hand..It aint any kind of mega producer or fun for me at all...

Your experiences may vary of course..

texan · Mar 29, 2020

The beauty of the 800 is blanking individual sounds out so you can hunt with little discrimination and still notch unwanted sounds. I find it also is quiet good at unmasking. As Trashfinder stated you need to listen for iffy signals.

mh9162013 · Mar 29, 2020

Mud-puppy said:
I got the NOX 800 when it came out....From all the input, I figured it was a perfect rig to replace my F70 and my AtPro in one simple lightweight package....I shelved both my steady performing rigs (F70/ATPro) and committed to learning the language of the NOX....

It proved itself to be smarter than me or sumpthin'.... too much dikking around....I couldnt pull shallows as fast as with my F70, an It was no better on beach/water gold than my AtPro....So I went back to my steadys and aint lookin back..Running the F70 and AtPro this 2020 season...

The Minelab Nox 800 is just not for me, where I am and how I hunt.....too complicated...I want infield results and my rigs give them a plenty..I tried though, running the NOX rig for 6 mo straight...hoping for a magic bullet...

Its top heavy and wants to roll over in a guys hand..It aint any kind of mega producer or fun for me at all...

Your experiences may vary of course..

Salt or fresh water?

graybeard · Mar 29, 2020

Trashfinder said:
These coplanar tests are interesting but keep in mind most real world situations are 3D not 2d. Although you could have a 2D situation inside a 3D which then becomes impossible. When they develop a machine that can unmask in that situation you will again see a lot of hype!

Do you want to explain 2D and 3D in English? Not something like 3 x Y +Z = MPX

graybeard · Mar 29, 2020

sube said:
I'm wondering how close is the coil to the targets since this is a high gain detector it does not have a overload so if the targets are to close to the coil there will be a overload and the detector will not see the target. try lifting the coil to 4 inches and see what happens .sube

I do know that a detector can overload if run too close to a target, so I was running it around 5" or 6" above the ground.

sube · Mar 29, 2020

graybeard said:
I do know that a detector can overload if run too close to a target, so I was running it around 5" or 6" above the ground.

Just doesn't make any sense I can hit that target combo anyway running Fe2 0 recovery 1 to 6 try reinstalling 2,0 again and see what happens maybe you have a computer glich my 800 does not act as yours does don't know what else to try mine works just fine .
2d and 3d are different 2d the nail and coin are at the same depth 3d is when a coin and nail are at different depths nail 2 inches above coin not on the same plane as 2d. sube

jmaclen · Mar 29, 2020

Woodbutcher and Mud-puppy both mentioned something that is really important at least to me. That is the "fun" factor.

I didn't get to detect near as much as I wanted to before I retired. Now, aside from the non-essential travel ban in my area, I can detect anytime I want and in a wide variety of environments.

When I want to just go have some fun detecting I do NOT pick the Equinox. The Equinox challenges me big time to be a better detector user every time I pick it up even though I have over 2000 hours using it. Don't get me wrong, I really like to use the Equinox, but it is more like work than play and I expect some productive results from me and the Equinox when I use it.

When I don't care what I find and just want to go have some no pressure fun, I pick a different detector.

Jeff

Is the Equinox the best?

graybeard

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TrenchKnife

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jmaclen

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jmaclen

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Donut

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jmaclen

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woodbutcher

sube

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graybeard

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sube

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