Equinox 600 pinpointing

Bill_Ace_350

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Seems to me the pinpointing on the 600 isn't as accurate when compared to the At-Pro.

Stock coil and 6 inch coil.

Anyone experiencing any difficulties with accurate pinpointing with the 600?
 
Wiggle back. When the tone stops, its at the tip of your coil. Thats how I pinpointed with the AT Series too. Didn't notice much difference. I only use the pinpoint feature to gage the size and depth of a target.
 
Wiggle back. When the tone stops, its at the tip of your coil. Thats how I pinpointed with the AT Series too. Didn't notice much difference. I only use the pinpoint feature to gage the size and depth of a target.

That is what I've been doing. The built in function seems to be off.
 
The built in function is dependent on several things being just right.

You have to press the pinpoint button when the coil is not over a target. The ground is a target if your ground balance setting is off even by a little bit. This is one reason why I think Minelab goofed when they said so often just leave the ground balance on zero. Theoretically, the pinpoint mode is like hunting with no targets rejected and the return signal is amplified. So, I auto ground grab no matter what and only use zero at the beach and only use tracking if I absolutely have to.

It really takes some practice moving the coil over the target at the right speed.

The button is just wonky. Even Minelab says something similar in their current online Equinox manual like, if you get a really loud or soft pinpoint tone, press the pinpoint button to leave pinpoint and then try again. It is in one of those bluish highlighted boxes on the Pinpoint procedure page.

Jeff
 
The button is just wonky.

Jeff summed it up pretty good. It often takes multiple tries to get a usable reading. It seems that the coil center needs to be near the target, but not too close, when the button is engaged.

The wiggle method works so well with the 6" coil that I rarely use the built-in pinpoint mode. The larger coils require dragging to the toe as Stiffwrists noted.
 
The built in function is dependent on several things being just right.

You have to press the pinpoint button when the coil is not over a target. The ground is a target if your ground balance setting is off even by a little bit. This is one reason why I think Minelab goofed when they said so often just leave the ground balance on zero. Theoretically, the pinpoint mode is like hunting with no targets rejected and the return signal is amplified. So, I auto ground grab no matter what and only use zero at the beach and only use tracking if I absolutely have to.

It really takes some practice moving the coil over the target at the right speed.

The button is just wonky. Even Minelab says something similar in their current online Equinox manual like, if you get a really loud or soft pinpoint tone, press the pinpoint button to leave pinpoint and then try again. It is in one of those bluish highlighted boxes on the Pinpoint procedure page.

Jeff

I haven't messed with ground balance. Will have to try, see if it makes a difference. Thanks.
 
Jeff summed it up pretty good. It often takes multiple tries to get a usable reading. It seems that the coil center needs to be near the target, but not too close, when the button is engaged.

The wiggle method works so well with the 6" coil that I rarely use the built-in pinpoint mode. The larger coils require dragging to the toe as Stiffwrists noted.

Thanks!
 
I discovered early that the SW updates after Ver 1.5, was skewed more in accuracy and I went back to Ver 1.5. I'll accept missing a half dollar on edge, to keep the pinpoint accuracy. jm2c
 
I also use the wiggle method, usually from 2 directions and it puts me right on the object
 
Thanks for the tips and advice everyone. I'll stick with the wiggle method.

My Simplex is due to arrive today, so as soon as that is charged and I read the manual, I'm hitting the yard.
 
The reason.
The 600 and 800 are much more sensitive than other detectors and will react with a stronger signal so that makes it harder to pinpoint. It’s harder for the processor to handle all the information.
So raising it up also helps.
Unless I’m in an area that I have to detect deep I lower my sensitive lower than most but that depends on where I am detecting. If it’s a heavily trashes area I lower my senesitivy.
Practicing on a test target will give you an idea how low you can go.
Doug
 
jamaclen pretty much nailed it.

Try raising the coil while pin pointing till you loose the signal then lower it till it comes back while doing a small swirl in the air. Sometimes the higher sense number can throw off the PP spot on shallow targets.
 
....The built in function seems to be off.


The pinpoint feature on the AT Pro doesn't work the same as the Equinox. The AT Pro has manual re-tuning with a quick release and re-press of the pinpoint button.

The Equinox pinpoint feature automatically and progressively re-tunes as you swing. If one doesn't realize it's doing this, then it's going to seem like signals are erratically appearing and disappearing. After I figured out how to utilize the automatic re-tuning I started to use it more often. It can be really precise. But, I mostly use the waggle method because it works well enough. As mentioned above, using the pinpoint feature can also give clues about target size and depth.
 
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I've noticed PP on the 600 is sensitive. Trash target signals rattle around in the hole with detectors. Sometimes They move from where you first pinpointed it with the built in pp. Coins usually seem to be true to where you first PP them. As far as pinpointing in general these detectors work well if you lower the sensitivity a few numbers. I used to have fun out digging clad with the 705 by lowering the sensitivity, especially on the 6" digger coil , the machines VDI also stabilized nicely. Pin point on that detector was great too. Now back to the point, using the 600 I noticed this issue. But If I engage pp near but not on the target area it tunes some of the signal down and now PP seems to work nicely. if I engage pp button while the coil is off the ground the signal gos bonkers!!!!! Very loud as you re -lower the coil. So the best acting pp I've had with my new 600 is engaging pp near the target. Just a few things my pea brain noticed.
I too use the wiggle method more than pp on the detector. It's quick and easy.
 
........But If I engage pp near but not on the target area it tunes some of the signal down and now PP seems to work nicely. if I engage pp button while the coil is off the ground the signal gos bonkers!!!!! Very loud as you re -lower the coil. So the best acting pp I've had with my new 600 is engaging pp near the target...

The pinpoint feature on the Nox is automatically tuning when you turn it on and then automatically retuning as you swing.

That means if your coil is already against the ground, and you press pinpoint directly above a strong signal, or swing right away over a strong target, then it takes an even stronger signal to hear pinpoint audio. So, obviously, you don't want to start pinpoint above your target. If you press pinpoint with no metal present, then even the smallest signal will trigger the pinpoint audio.

This feature doesn't work so well when you have a strong trash signal near your intended target. You might not even be aware of that trash signal if you have iron discriminated out, or are running a cherry picking discrimination pattern. (The pinpoint feature doesn't care about your discrimination pattern.) This explains the erratic pinpointing behavior people report with the Nox.

So, to pinpoint the quieter good target you not only have to avoid pressing the pinpoint button over that stronger junk target, you also have to avoid swinging over it while you are trying to pinpoint your quieter signal. If you don't, it'll retune and you'll lose your quieter good target.
 
ToySoldier said it very well. His description of the Nox pinpoint feature and interesting habits is right on point. I will only add that if you are detecting in higher mineralized ground with the ground balance set on default 0, the ground itself many become an audible target when you go into pinpoint mode.

Jeff
 
The pinpoint feature on the Nox is automatically tuning when you turn it on and then automatically retuning as you swing.

That means if your coil is already against the ground, and you press pinpoint directly above a strong signal, or swing right away over a strong target, then it takes an even stronger signal to hear pinpoint audio. So, obviously, you don't want to start pinpoint above your target. If you press pinpoint with no metal present, then even the smallest signal will trigger the pinpoint audio.

This feature doesn't work so well when you have a strong trash signal near your intended target. You might not even be aware of that trash signal if you have iron discriminated out, or are running a cherry picking discrimination pattern. (The pinpoint feature doesn't care about your discrimination pattern.) This explains the erratic pinpointing behavior people report with the Nox.

So, to pinpoint the quieter good target you not only have to avoid pressing the pinpoint button over that stronger junk target, you also have to avoid swinging over it while you are trying to pinpoint your quieter signal. If you don't, it'll retune and you'll lose your quieter good target.

Thanks TS.
 
I haven't used the Nox but if it is like other Minelab machines the pinpointing will be well off if a flat target (e.g. coin) is at an angle. It seems to "project the pinpoint" at the angle of the coin, like I reflector. The E-Trac seems to work this way (at least mine does), but at least it finds these coins.
 
Also switch swing angles as to avoid the trash target next to the intended target. You can tell if you hit a bad signal while pinpointing your intended target with the long drawn out tone of the machine. Same with if you hit pin point while over a target. It will be long and drawn out tone. I also dont pay attention to the intended line display on the screen. Instead I find the target, narrow the signal by swinging over it, find its axis, then slowly bring down coil until sound stops and move coil an inch or 2 to the right. This has helped my pin point game immensely. Beats fighting to have the display lines meet at the top.


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