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Equinox 50 tone

UT_Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2021
Messages
303
Location
Utah
My EQX 800 arrived last week. After about ten years of not detecting. My old machine that I did use for ten years before that, was an XLT.

I only have about 14 hours on the new machine and at least 2 of those were just in my old coin garden. Running in five tone.

No amazing finds yet, but the first site I tried it I got a 1956 dime amongst a carpet of iron trash (horse shoe nails). Second site I tried I found a spent (and sadly, smashed) .56 Spencer case - and, my best find so far with it, an unfired .44 Henry (about a foot from the Spencer).

I've been feeling like I need to be staring at the numbers a lot. Staring at them and interrogating the !!!! out of stuff has been working, quite well, by my standards. I'm just not used to paying so much attention to the screen.

Just got back from taking it on a 90 minute hunt at a very trashy park very close to the house. I decided to try 50 tone.

I think I'm going to like 50 tone. Lots of noise in all that trash, for sure. But it felt like I was getting more target info out of the sound. Found myself able to swing the detector without feeling like I needed to see every number on every signal.

Nothing but scant clad and one fired 9mm slug, but almost all the trash I dug I was expecting trash.

Curious how popular 50 tone is among seasoned EQX users?

Really liking this new machine though. And I think I'm going to keep using 50 tone until I feel a reason to change again.

Some finds from the first day.

My first silver with the 800, from an abandoned ranch site.

20210925_Camping-3.jpg


That was only about the fourth hole I had dug with the new machine. I feel like it was largely dumb luck. Lot of iron nails at that site. Numbers matched a deep copper penny in my garden at home. Turned out to be a .22 shell, a .250-3000 case and a 1956 dime all in the same hole.

The ammo was found at an 1880's mining camp that only lived for about three years. Only got to dig there for two hours. But dug zero modern trash and nothing less than about six inches. Mostly rusty iron. Lots of horseshoe nails, especially. But the site feels like it has potential to me for some old coins.

20210925_Camping-2.jpg


Looking forward to getting out to some more ghost town type sites before the snow flies.

- Dave
 
Oh! Rambled and forgot to ask my real question!

Any tips on iron falseing, and specifically using 50 tone in deep rusty iron?

I figure if I can get back to that mining camp, I'll get to learn by doing, lol! But any tips to shorten the learning curve are greatly appreciated. I don't think that site has been messed with. So I think I'm just going to suss out a piece of it and dig ALL the iron, just to see what else I can see.

- Dave
 
Oh! Rambled and forgot to ask my real question!

Any tips on iron falseing, and specifically using 50 tone in deep rusty iron?

I figure if I can get back to that mining camp, I'll get to learn by doing, lol! But any tips to shorten the learning curve are greatly appreciated. I don't think that site has been messed with. So I think I'm just going to suss out a piece of it and dig ALL the iron, just to see what else I can see.

- Dave

Dave not sure if I extended a welcome or not so welcome to the best metal detecting forum hands down. A ton of members with answers to just about any questions you may have. I have been hunting with an 800 for 3 1/2 years and still have many questions. One thing with iron you can try, if you get a high tone and good numbers, do a wiggle back, if tone drops right away, leave it. If tone follows you to the edge of your coil, investigate further. Even if in only one direction, most likely a good target in with iron. Hopes this helps. And for me 50 tone, TMI. I prefer 5 tone with set bins and volumes. Good luck and good hunting. Mark
 
I like the full 50 giving my ears all the info, so my brain can sort it out. Well, actually, I like using the 40 tones above zero most of the time. The rest of "the full 50" is the 0 to negative 9 numbers that I usually leave discriminated out. When in heavy iron, I will hit the horseshoe button so I can hear those tones too. Then it's all about slowing down and investigating the high tone squeakers. Sometimes you can tell it's just iron falsing by only getting the high tone from one direction. Sometimes you get the false signal from multiple directions, but the pinpoint mode finds your target is a couple inches off from where you were getting the signal. Sometimes you get a fairly clear indication that it's a false high from some ferrous metal. Of course, there are also times you can't be sure until you dig it and find it is just a bent nail. Then, of course, any of those signals you determined were false could actually be something good being partially masked. It's all very maddening! Good luck!
 
I’ve used 50 tones from the start, coming off a Compadre I wanted as much sound info as I could get, and I like it.

Congrats on the silver Wash and welcome aboard.
 
I use 5 tone and put FE up to max (9) I hate hearing iron.
Go slowish and dig high tones. Just my style that's all.
Happy Detecting!
 
50 tones for me, and I relic hunt almost exclusively. Took a little getting used to for what initially seemed like information overload, but it's what I hunt with now most of the time. Sometimes I'll use the Sabisch coin program to cherry pick a new site before switching over to a Field 2 setup for relics. I believe Sabisch uses a 5 tone setup for coin shooting. Search YouTube for "equinox sabisch coin program".

As for false high tones, I typically hit the target with an X pattern. If it changes significantly, then move on. I probably miss some dual target goodness on occasion, but my back can only take so much digging in a 6 - 8 hour day.
 
I wouldn't call myself a "seasoned 800 user" but I've got a fair amount of time with the 800, and have been a huge fan of as many tones as I can get for many years.

I only ran my 800 in 50 tones. I have a good ear and it helps me cut way down on the time spent looking at my VDI. Once you get used to the tones you won't hear trash, but the good tones among the trash. The key is once you know what trash sounds like, any unusual tones will tell you there is something there other than trash.

I love the Whites 191 tones, and the multi-tone of the Minelab E-Trac speaks for itself by popularity.

Many tones can take a bit longer to understand but it is well worth the learning in my opinion.
 
Thanks for all the input gentleman. I appreciate it!

Dug my first "park silver" with the new machine yesterday. Not a coin, but a very small locket. Bent and misshapen, but it was deep and it's silver, so I was happy to see it come up.

- Dave
 
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