Why nickels?

dewcon4414

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most people get all excited about finding nickels the Nox is no exception in that it finds a lot of them MOST, not all fall in the digit 13. So i got out about 150 gold rings just to see where some hit. Ive attached the photos.... of the 3, yes 3 rings that hit as a nickel 13. Ive also attached two other photos....... one is digit 14 pull tabs and the other .... bottle caps 15. I thought this might hold some value for those who like to disc. By the way....there were 9 rings that fell in the 12 digit.....for the most part deep or broken tabs.
 

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SD51

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Good post! How did you position the rings on the ground? Compare a vertically positioned ring to a horizontal ring.
 

OBN

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I can call nickels with the xcalibur most of the time, unless it is fairly deep. They sound to good to be gold, same with the pull tabs...but we still dig them all. I just try and put myself where there is less of the one and more of the other. Wish I had a reason to buy a Nox..just does not fit into my hunting needs.

Some Nice looking golds by the way!!
 

ROBOTCOP13

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Same exact targets on dry sand versus wet sand (salt water), how do the numbers vary? One or two digits?
 

stevemc

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The first and only time I used an Equinox 800 was a couple months ago, with a friend who has a detector store near me in Bradenton, FL. We went to the beach and found a good clean area. I had several gold rings, 10 carat thin, 14 carat thin and thick, 18 carat thin. Also a nickel and a stainless steel 1/4” washer. I use that washer when I test all of my detectors. On the test with things on the surface, the washer and a thin 14 carat ring both rang up 21. When buried deeper I think they both rang up 14. There were numbers all over the place if is wet salt sand, on surface or buried, dry sand etc. don’t trust the numbers. Kind of like the Excal, if it is anything but iron dig it. And yes the Excal can make some good sounds, but still dig any non ferrous. I have an Excal with a big SEF coil and in pinpoint it will find stuff deep, but in disc it can’t tell what it is. I dig it up and it’s iron. But if I was hunting in disc I wouldn’t have heard it. One really nice thing about the Equinox is it is super light.
 

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dewcon4414

dewcon4414

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This just happened to be the Nox....but how many of you PATTERN hunt? I know a few who do and some get tired of digging the bottle caps. But I did it not just to see if our fascination with nickels over the other two make them more attractive to look for. You are right Joe ... most us us have enough time on our machine to know what we are digging. I also believe I had as many that hit in the penny range...around 21. Any variation in depth, position, near targets, or corrosion/discoloring can change it all. But of all the coins ...nickels makes us think there has to be gold near... just like sinkers.

the Xcal hates iron ...so for the most in disc you just wont hear much from it.
 

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Hawks88

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Thank you for sharing all that info. Much appreciated. Nice rings.
 

melbajoe

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yes thats why you just have to dig it all!
 

smokeythecat

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Very nice rings. You really do have to dig all the non ferrous, although 99% of the time I can guess which pull tab it is. However the 1% is gold.
 

Rodbuster209

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In the fresh water lakes where I hunt nickels have always hit at 13, 14k rings at a solid 11 and 10k rings at 8, I dig all targets when in the water, this is using the Equinox 600. To be honest at the end of the day I always revert back to my Excalibur.
 

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dewcon4414

dewcon4414

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With the Nox....... rings are just all over the place. The ones youd expect to hit hard near say 18 ..... like that very heavy nugget ring (15 digit)..... dont. Ive got a lot of thick heavy bands that hit low...... and thinner ones in the 16/17 range....... or down as low as 2. We do know in a good many of the cases what we are digging....... but that surprised percentage makes digging necessary. Yes those were air tests....... but most didnt change digit wise unless you were a good 10" out......and i was using beach 2 mode. I used to dirt hunt a lot....... i was all smiles to bring home a nickel.... or even a couple of wheat pennies...... now i wonder why? Most arent real collectable and as a beach hunter....... we still seem to gauge in some way how many nickels we found for the day. But clearly....... the percentages say pull tabs bottle caps and foil might be more promising.
 

1KBlueTuber

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There’s a recent vid by Tony Eisenhower on YouTube that he did with a large amount of gold and silver rings. End result was gold hit just about everywhere on his chart 26 and below for Nox vdis.
 

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dewcon4414

dewcon4414

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Also, conditions, depth, and position play a huge part as to what a target may read on any given machine as well. Air testing ..... well ... we arent doing that once the coil hits that sand or dirt...... but its a starting point so for new hunters i dont count on it as fact and disc a lot of targets when water hunting.
 

Hookka

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Oh man, I misread another post and have been passing on many promising signals the last two times I've been out... Oh well, live and learn. Hopefully I can make up for it this time out. I was wondering why it seemed like my equinox only liked silver and junk...

Passed up on half a dozen 5-9 signals in areas that typically give up the goods.
 

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dewcon4414

dewcon4414

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Those jumpy signals in that 5 to 7.... can be can foil, BUT do you want to take that chance. I will say one thing about the OLD program..... it may miss on edge coins. Recently hit a local beach pretty hard with the Nox and had it down to few signals worth digging. So i grabbed the Xcal ..... i got 2 pennies..... nothing else, except quarters...... $3.50 worth of um. scattered out about chest deep.... and a couple of scoops down each.... very black coins. Now im not a real coin digger..... but the quarter is in that silver ring range too. I concentrate on gold..... but for those who like to have a good coin count at the end of the year to pay for equipment you might want to think about this. So ..... was i out farther (i dont think so), did some sand move just enough....... or were these coins at an angle that the Nox didnt like?
 

Oct 5, 2014
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IMHO: You have dig it all to really know whats under the coil! I hunt relics and dig every signal; when water hunting...every signal. On groomed lawns and sensitive places (I would like to dig everything) you have to use discretion. :icon_thumleft:
 

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