Equinox 600 First Outing and impressions

[RobNC]

I was able to take a day off today to test out my new Minelab Equinox 600. This is the only good day we are going to have for a while so time was of the essence.
Here are today's findings below

I took the new machine out today for the first time. I found mostly clad. 8 quarters, 8 dimes, 13 cents and 1 wheat penny. No silver.
Very pleased with the Equinox 600. It's a great machine. Once you noise cancel and ground balance it is a killer on dimes. I used park 1 and 50 tone.
As for trash? Yes i dug some but not a whole lot. For the questionable items that varied in ID they were pull tabs or bottle caps. I also flipped over to all metal mode and if I heard iron tones that was junk.
Using the stock coil. I can see where the 6" coil would be especially brutal on items. I do not regret buying this detector one bit. I found more today than I have found in ALL previous years I detected combined. Of course this was a new location I went to, but this thing is a slayer!
It is important to note this is the first time I've metal detected in over a decade. Have owned a lot of machines over the years but this one is the best I've ever put in my hand. Have even owned a Minelab Explorer and X-Terra 70 among many others in the past This is finally the detector that I can understand. If nothing is found it is because either A) the site sucks or B)I didn't do my part.
I have access to some very old sites however I can not go until the weather is better and things are not so muddy. Looking forward to seeing how this does in another place I have hunted over the years.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

You will love it more every hour you spend on the headphones! Great first hunt with it!

 

[hbrown66]

What Terry said!! You will love it more once you learn it...

 

[tennessee digger]

You did very good. I also have a 600 and it's a killer machine for coins. I hunted a place yesterday that is very old for my area (late 1700's) and it's been pounded for years and years but the first decent signal that I dug turned out to be a cut Spanish coin (no date) plus some flat buttons. One of the buttons was around 7" deep with nails everywhere. It read 17 to 19 and was a solid signal. I'm loving this machine.

 

[RobNC]

You did very good. I also have a 600 and it's a killer machine for coins. I hunted a place yesterday that is very old for my area (late 1700's) and it's been pounded for years and years but the first decent signal that I dug turned out to be a cut Spanish coin (no date) plus some flat buttons. One of the buttons was around 7" deep with nails everywhere. It read 17 to 19 and was a solid signal. I'm loving this machine.

I took it out again today before the rain came to a local school. I have visited this site in the past with other metal detectors. Was only out a little over an hour and found 6 nickels, 2 dimes, and some pennies along with a canadian cent. All clad.
Also found a little key. Looks more decorative than functional. The oldest nickel was in excess of 8" deep. It was in the wood chips. I also dug some junk like foil and a little piece of metal no bigger than an eraser. It wasn't an eraser holder off a pencil, it was flat and looked like it could have came off a shoe (little glitter piece), found a button off a coat too. I'm learning more about how the Equinox talks. I did get a whisper high tone and it was so deep there was no ID on screen. I dug down over 12" and still could not locate it or get my pinpointer to sound off. I let that one go. I later heard another similar signal and went all metal and could hear low tone and see a -4 on screen. Did not dig. Probably an old rusty nail, both of those.
I hunted two spots yesterday and I must admit I was a glutton for punishment since my legs were already sore, but had to do it today anyway!

It was cold, windy, and drizzle started so it was time to go. As we walked back to the vehicle I could feel the cold in my legs. It's weird how you don't feel such things when you are detecting, haha.

While we were there someone drove up in a truck, stared at us and took off.I took off my headphones and was ready to speak to him but I reckon he wasn't in the mood to be nice today. About 15 mins later another guy came up in a different truck and brought his dogs out for some exercise. He was actually nice.
This is why it is important to have permission. And in this case I certainly do. I mentioned it to the one guy that stayed and named the school principal. People talk, and this guy will let others know "that guy has permission to be there". Had the other one called the police or something, or otherwise felt in a mood to cause problems he would have no leg to stand on, as I have written permission. This was also an important lesson that I know well, ALWAYS GET PERMISSION. I've always had permission to be in a place or I don't go there, period! It eases your mind and lets you enjoy where you are. I know it is frustrating when you ask people, or send out letters asking for permission and get no response or a no but hey, it's their land or property they are responsible for, and it is a good thing any time they allow you there. I'm thankful any time someone allows me to spend time at their property. I'm thinking it may also be a good idea to send the people that gave you permission a Holiday Card when that time of the year rolls around. And if you are feeling generous send them a little $5 Subway card or something with it. Just a thought, because for me peace and de-stressing is priceless.

 

[smokeythecat]

Yes, ALWAYS get permission. They are good machines. Do NOT ignore the iffy signals for numerous months. GOLD hides itself there!

 

[RobNC]

Yes, ALWAYS get permission. They are good machines. Do NOT ignore the iffy signals for numerous months. GOLD hides itself there!

The iffy signals you speak of, I did see some of them today and the only reason I dug them was because I have found gold in this place before.
The ones I seen today were 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16. All these ended up being junk.
Any tips on other numbers to look for or spread patterns? Thanks in advance.

 

[smokeythecat]

I don't have any specific tips on this model, just general detecting knowledge. What I thought was a small buckshot in lead at about 4" was the brass top to a 17th century tobacco box down somewhere between 15 and 18". (I didn't measure it.) It was on edge and presented itself "funny ". Dig it all let God sort it out. For the first few months anyway. One signal I thought was a pulltab with my Tesoro Cibola (no meter) was a 10k man's gold wedding ring down about 8". You want the gold, you gotta dig some junk. Now by the end of summer, you will be able to know the machine a lot better, however on my other machine I was consistently getting pulltabs reading a "72". One of the last signals of the day was a small piece of yellow gold, which read exactly the same at "72". I think gold does that deliberately. Gold can read all of the scale due to size, shape and karat value.

 

[ripvanb]

Unless its a private school I see no reason to ask for permission.