Clive Clynick's Skill Building with the Minelab Equinox Series Metal Detectors

I just searched the web and I never thought of reading a book about MD and how many are out there. Tell me what you think of the book when you are done.

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I've always liked Clive's books. Enjoy the read and good luck!

DbblTap said:

I just searched the web and I never thought of reading a book about MD and how many are out there. Tell me what you think of the book when you are done.

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Clive Clynick Equinox books:
Skill Building with the Minelab Equinox Series Metal Detectors – his third on the Equinox
The Minelab Equinox: “An Advanced Guide” – his second on the equinox
The Minelab Equinox: “From Beginner to Advanced” – his first on the Equinox

Andy Sabisch has one titled The Equinox Series Handbook

At this point I prefer Clive's books over Andy's. Why?

Andy's is basically the Equinox manual expanded. And this is what many newbies to metal detecting need. Andy's adds to his page count by including side articles of what others are doing. He has a lot of other people's Equinox settings for different types of hunting.

I consider those settings pages a waste of print space. Why? because just using other people's settings will lead you down false and unproductive hunts.

Here is why. You are much better off just using any of the default settings that the Minelab engineers have designed. Those settings are signal balanced, meaning it sets you up for the best settings for a typical hunt site and you will get the best results. As you learn more and become more experienced with the Equinox you can adjust the settings just a little bit to find a more balanced signal.

But using settings your Equinox is not balanced for your hunt site and it can easily turn a tuned detector (with the default settings) to a very much untuned detector that could not find a 4" dime among trash or other ground noise.

Whereas Clive in his latest book (as far as I have read) goes into great detail about getting your detector tuned to a point where at your particular hunt site it will really reach down and give good signals to you.

I have experienced this. I have hunted this one Civil War site by using settings of other Equinox relic hunters and after two hunts I figured the guy who told me the location was wrong. But halfway through the 2nd hunt, I just did a Field2 reset and did a noise cancel and ground balance and within 15 minutes found two civil war relics. One a small 1/2" flat button about 4" - 6" down and a carved bullet.

I have learned that the most appropriate default mode for your site is best and as you learn more from Clive's books you can slightly further tune the 800 for peak performance.

There is no fluff sidebars in Clive's books. It is all factual. Plus Clive will debunk some accepted so-called facts floating around in the forums.

If you are an experienced detectorists coming from another brand of metal detectors, forget Andy's book and get all of Clive's books or at least his third one.

A total newbie you should start with Andy's book and then pickup Clive's books in order of 1-3.

I tend to yellow highlight important points in a book and make notes if any point needs to be written in terms I understand better. And with Clive's books after I finish, I end up with mostly yellow pages with lots of pencil notes.

Thanks Maxxkatt, good feedback as usual! I'm finishing my second reading of Clives first two books and looks like I need to order number three as well. Keep us tuned to what you find in three - much appreciated.

Trying to find the ebook version. Can someone post a link? Thanks!

maxxkatt said:

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I consider those settings pages a waste of print space. Why? because just using other people's settings will lead you down false and unproductive hunts.

Here is why. You are much better off just using any of the default settings that the Minelab engineers have designed.....

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good post maxx-katt . Reminds me of the old Spectrum and XLT days. Here's what would invariably happen : The newbie catches wind of more-advanced hunters mentioning changing this or that setting. And the newbie sits there in the club-meeting hearing the chat, and seeing the finds on the table.

So he goes out with his own "star ship enterprise" Spectrum or XLT (with 1000 setting options), and can't resist : He maxes all of them out 100% .

Then, out in the field with the newbie, he's getting chatter and falses all over the place. I go to try to help him. I look down at his control panel and see that everything it topped out max. I ask: "Why did you do that ?". He answers: "Because I wanted max depth and didn't want to miss anything". He's convinced that he will be "missing out". And that , based on what he overheard pro's saying, that the factory settings are for sissies.

Yes I agree that some settings can certainly be "tame" for factory defaults. But on the other hand, to simply rush out to program in someone's cheat sheet robs you of truly learning what each function does, and the pro's and con's of doing them.

Does he have any information on the F2 iron balance in this book? Thanks.

Watermoc said:

Does he have any information on the F2 iron balance in this book? Thanks.

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Not in the sense that he devoted a chapter or even a paragraph to F2.

The whole concept around this book is metal detecting skills and how they relate to the Equinox. This is a book you will have to read, practice and maybe even re-read certain areas. There is no fluff in this book. It is all hardcore useful information for the Equinox user.

For instance I have had my 800 since March 2018 and did almost everything wrong in the beginning. I began messing with the advanced features without having a clue to really understanding those features.

Minelab is not famous for really going into detail on how to use the Equinox's features in their manuals.

The book gives you a deeper understanding on how to fine tune some of the default settings. He will encourage you to de-dune your Equinox so you know what it sounds like de-tuned so you will know you should adjust the settings so it is balanced (another term he uses for tuning, or adjusting the settings properly for your specific hunt site needs).

He does refer to passages of his two previous books that you should understand. So it helps to have read his 1st and 2nd book on the Equinox.

Are his books worth the purchase price? Yes, because the Equinox is complex detector. Unless you are a previous experienced users of other multi-frequency Minelab detectors you should buy all three of his books. If you are a newbie to metal detecting starting with a new Equinox you also should not only buy Clive's 3 books on the Equinox but also a good general introductory book on metal detecting.

Absolutely stay in the proper default mode before messing around with the settings. Only tweak the Equinoxes settings when you know what you are doing.

I am replying to your question in a long winded post to help inform others about this new book of Clive's on the Equinox.

Clive Cylick third Equinox book – “Skill-Building with the Minelab Equinox Series Metal Detectors.

Review of Clive Cylick third Equinox book – “Skill-Building with the Minelab Equinox Series Metal Detectors.

I think this is the best book in his Equinox series. It is written for a large group of new Equinox users. It is not written for very experience users of other Minelab products or the Equinox experts and there are a few of those experts around.

It is written for and I think most helpful for the newbie who bought the Equinox 600 or 800 and experienced detectorists coming from other non-Minelab machines. The total newbies to metal detecting should buy a good beginners metal detecting book and all three of Clive’s Equinox books.

The book is packed with information that for me told me two major things: 1) why I was not getting the performance out of my Equinox that others were reporting and 2) how to make the Equinox do what I need it to do to perform at a level it was design to perform.

I am not going into a lot of detail because that would be like quoting everything in the book.

I will tell you I learned what my biggest problem was with me and my 800. By playing around with all of the features without not truly understanding the physics behind most of the settings I was operating with a detector that was often greatly de-tuned or not balanced. A balanced Equinox means selecting the proper modes for your type of hunting and small settings adjustments to make the 800 a little more balanced.

The Equinox engineers made the different modes for park, field, beach and gold very balanced. In most cases just using the default mode best for your type of hunting will serve you will. Only until you truly understand the settings and how to effectively use them you should leave them alone. This is why just copying other detectorist’s settings will get you into trouble. Their settings are for their environment, not yours.

Keeping in mind that sensitivity (gain), recovery speed, and iron bias all affect each other. So, you really need to make small adjustments of all in a manner that none or many of these adjustments cause an unbalanced detector.

Sounds complicated? Yes it is. But it becomes a lot less complicated after reading Clive’s third Equinox book carefully. The book is packed full of information on the above topics. I was surprised to learn that even the detector’s volume level affects your ability to hear deep targets and not buy turning up the volume which is what most of us would think to do.

I recommend all three of Clive’s books for the novice as well as a good metal detecting beginners book. For the more experienced detectorists who have never use a Minelab detector the third book will probably be enough to get you over the Equinox learning curve hump.

Thanks Maxkatt. I have read Andy's book. I will look at Clive's books and go from there.

Thank for your feedback, MaxKatt.

I really appreciate seeing someone "get" the intention of my EQ books--especially the new one. A machine like the Equinox is designed to sound stable--even when it's not performing as well as it could be. The solution as you well stated it is to take your time, learn your basics and stay away from these "gonzo" high power settings until you are really familiar with what the machine is telling you. I've had my best successes with this machine running the Gain at "19"--just like how signals come in that way. The theme of the book is to "walk first"--the idea being that when you are able to "run" you will be a lot more accurate and effective. Another theme is the idea of going from the general to the specific--not trying to substitute random digging (for example) for basic skills and the broad-based tools that make for an accurate hunter with any machine. Maxkatt I'm really glad that are bringing a strong desire to learn to looking this book over Im sure that it will help you to have a good season. Be sure to take a good look at the section on "Dense Iron Methods"-- that part came out quite well. There is a tiny bit on the F2, but to this day Im still studying it.
Kind Regards, clive

maxxkatt said:

Review of Clive Cylick third Equinox book – “Skill-Building with the Minelab Equinox Series Metal Detectors.

I think this is the best book in his Equinox series. It is written for a large group of new Equinox users. It is not written for very experience users of other Minelab products or the Equinox experts and there are a few of those experts around.t is written for and I think most helpful for the newbie who bought the Equinox 600 or 800 and experienced detectorists coming from other non-Minelab machines. The total newbies to metal detecting should buy a good beginners metal detecting book and all three of Clive’s Equinox books.

The book is packed with information that for me told me two major things: 1) why I was not getting the performance out of my Equinox that others were reporting and 2) how to make the Equinox do what I need it to do to perform at a level it was design to perform.

I am not going into a lot of detail because that would be like quoting everything in the book.

I will tell you I learned what my biggest problem was with me and my 800. By playing around with all of the features without not truly understanding the physics behind most of the settings I was operating with a detector that was often greatly de-tuned or not balanced. A balanced Equinox means selecting the proper modes for your type of hunting and small settings adjustments to make the 800 a little more balanced.

The Equinox engineers made the different modes for park, field, beach and gold very balanced. In most cases just using the default mode best for your type of hunting will serve you will. Only until you truly understand the settings and how to effectively use them you should leave them alone. This is why just copying other detectorist’s settings will get you into trouble. Their settings are for their environment, not yours.

Keeping in mind that sensitivity (gain), recovery speed, and iron bias all affect each other. So, you really need to make small adjustments of all in a manner that none or many of these adjustments cause an unbalanced detector.

Sounds complicated? Yes it is. But it becomes a lot less complicated after reading Clive’s third Equinox book carefully. The book is packed full of information on the above topics. I was surprised to learn that even the detector’s volume level affects your ability to hear deep targets and not buy turning up the volume which is what most of us would think to do.

I recommend all three of Clive’s books for the novice as well as a good metal detecting beginners book. For the more experienced detectorists who have never use a Minelab detector the third book will probably be enough to get you over the Equinox learning curve hump.

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I’ve liked and benefited from every one of your books. Off to order the latest when I can find a place to order. Good luck!