First outing with new 800

saanich2018

Sr. Member
Apr 25, 2018
283
533
Atlanta, GA
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
As many of you know I recently purchased a new Nox 800. This is my first detector
Other than playing with it for about twenty minutes at a local school, today was my first time out with it. I am at the beach - Destin Florida
I am very impressed with the unit and also realize there is so much I need to learn, such as how to use it so after three or four hours my arm is not killing me like it is right now!

I have several questions, but the main one concerns beach usage. I was going down the beach and suddenly it started going crazy. Numbers jumping all over the scale. The VDI was showing numbers bouncing from low to high. And the chatter was constant. Not a signal like when you detect something but chatter like Morse code. I thought something was seriously wrong. I did a factory reset and set it all back up but still had the same issues. Then after walking about 100 yards further down the beach everything cleared up. When I walked back through the area again it did the same thing. Could I have just hit an area with high minerals or what would have caused it?

As for my finds, I had pretty good luck. Coins. Bottle caps. A key to a condo. And I guess you would call it beginners luck, but I found a good and platinum men’s wedding band. I figure some guy is in big trouble. The interesting thing is the ring hit between 8 and 9. Is this normal for a gold ring? Normally when I was hitting 8’s and 9’s I was finding pull tabs.

Thanks


E22A70C6-494F-469C-8FC1-7B74D44E34B8.jpeg 6FBB08E0-963B-466B-AC6F-11E9CE976CBE.jpeg
 

Whyme

Silver Member
Aug 22, 2007
3,731
5,451
Western New York
Detector(s) used
CTX-3030, Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice finds! Congrats! :icon_thumleft: All depends on karat and size.
 

HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
4,594
Pa
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Nice job! Yep, gold will ring up low. Also your machine acting up I suspect is from an area where Emi is present. Is there a bunch of buildings close to this spot or over hanging wires nearby? Thats a sweet ring!
 

pa-dirt_nc-sand

Silver Member
Apr 18, 2016
4,233
14,644
South Western PA
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
ACE 250 with DD coil
Equinox 600
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Nice ring. Congrats!! I have the same problem at my beach. Runs fine except for a 100’ section. Been that way with multiple detectors, I think EMI is the problem. Try lowering sensitivity in this area.
 

vferrari

Silver Member
Jul 19, 2015
4,910
8,377
Near Ground Zero for Insanity
Detector(s) used
XP Deus with HF/x35 Coils and Mi6 Pinpointer/ML Equinox 600/800/ML Tarsacci MDT 8000 GPX 4800/Garrett ATX/Fisher F75 DST/Tek G2+/Delta/Whites MXT/Nokta Simplex/Garrett Carrot
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
As many of you know I recently purchased a new Nox 800. This is my first detector
Other than playing with it for about twenty minutes at a local school, today was my first time out with it. I am at the beach - Destin Florida
I am very impressed with the unit and also realize there is so much I need to learn, such as how to use it so after three or four hours my arm is not killing me like it is right now!

I have several questions, but the main one concerns beach usage. I was going down the beach and suddenly it started going crazy. Numbers jumping all over the scale. The VDI was showing numbers bouncing from low to high. And the chatter was constant. Not a signal like when you detect something but chatter like Morse code. I thought something was seriously wrong. I did a factory reset and set it all back up but still had the same issues. Then after walking about 100 yards further down the beach everything cleared up. When I walked back through the area again it did the same thing. Could I have just hit an area with high minerals or what would have caused it?

As for my finds, I had pretty good luck. Coins. Bottle caps. A key to a condo. And I guess you would call it beginners luck, but I found a good and platinum men’s wedding band. I figure some guy is in big trouble. The interesting thing is the ring hit between 8 and 9. Is this normal for a gold ring? Normally when I was hitting 8’s and 9’s I was finding pull tabs.

Thanks

Regarding the chatter, you probably hit was a heavy EMI area - buried cable, wifi from a nearby beach shop, or a cell tower or public service transmitter/repeater.

Regarding the ring ID - gold rings can come in just about anywhere from the low single digits up to the 20's depending on the purity of the ring, its size, and even its shape. Mix some other metal in there (not an alloy, but a separate solid band of metal) like platinum (which is less conductive than iron) or a high conductor like silver and you can make the numbers go even lower or higher. It's a crap shoot and the reason why you should dig pull tab numbers regardless. You will recover a lot of pull tabs but one of them is going to be a ring. Your pull tab numbers seem low though they are usually 14 or 15 or sometimes as low as 11 or 12. Single digits are usually reserved for foil, small can slaw, or freshness seals (the round foil seals that you peel of plastic juice containers) which sound awesome by the way.

Nevertheless, great find!
 

CarsonChris

Sr. Member
Feb 11, 2019
486
1,998
Carson City NV
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800, AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks for posting those pictures! I’ve found pull tabs to ring up higher if they are fully intact but if it’s a broken pull tab they hit like a nickel. (Using AT Pro) Nox comes in a couple days.
 

CarsonChris

Sr. Member
Feb 11, 2019
486
1,998
Carson City NV
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800, AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
As far as arm fatigue, trade hands periodically , and shorten the shaft.
 

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saanich2018

saanich2018

Sr. Member
Apr 25, 2018
283
533
Atlanta, GA
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
As far as arm fatigue, trade hands periodically , and shorten the shaft.

I will try to shorten the shaft. Good suggestion. Switching arms is not an option at the moment due to surgery shoulder recovery.

It was also the nteresting the beer and soda cans buried 18” deep hit at about 29. Is this about right.
 

CarsonChris

Sr. Member
Feb 11, 2019
486
1,998
Carson City NV
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800, AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I will try to shorten the shaft. Good suggestion. Switching arms is not an option at the moment due to surgery shoulder recovery.

It was also the nteresting the beer and soda cans buried 18” deep hit at about 29. Is this about right.

I’ve only swung an AT Pro. The only way it reads 18” is by digging 9” off the top. My Nox comes Friday.
 

sandmartin

Sr. Member
Feb 20, 2015
296
284
Scarborough, England
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 900.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Great first hunt buddy! I have a new 600, they are awesome machines for sure. I made a sling for mine, I can swing it for hours now.
 

boxxxer

Jr. Member
Feb 25, 2015
53
153
ohio
Detector(s) used
Nox 800, AT pro, 8.5x11 and 5x8 and nel storm coil
Deus ws4 with 11 inch coil, hf coils
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Gold and Platinum togeather will read lower than gold and higher than platnium it depends on the mix and size of the piece and whether it's 9 10 14 18 k or 900 950 plat its like hitting a coin spill numbers could be spread over 1-2 numbers like the ring because its two metals but touching and one is part of the other so it averaged number or picked the major weight or cover several numbers, and a crazy mixed signal. not any one tone. They're a lot of variables, "SO DIG IT ALL" to be safe.
 

Hawks88

Gold Member
Aug 26, 2012
7,878
11,840
Niagara falls
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice finds for your first outing with the equinox. Love the ring. Congrats
 

FloridaSon

Sr. Member
Sep 29, 2018
320
564
Between Half Reale Beach and Nuestra Seflora de La
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett, Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Yes, the numbers going crazy happened to me and other MD'ers knew about this one area on the beach. Did some research and found it was where undersea cables ran into the ocean. And we all did the same thing first time. We stopped; and tried all sorts of changes as you did, had we walked on a few hundred feet it would have fixed itself, haha
 

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saanich2018

saanich2018

Sr. Member
Apr 25, 2018
283
533
Atlanta, GA
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yes, the numbers going crazy happened to me and other MD'ers knew about this one area on the beach. Did some research and found it was where undersea cables ran into the ocean. And we all did the same thing first time. We stopped; and tried all sorts of changes as you did, had we walked on a few hundred feet it would have fixed itself, haha

The area I was in did not have any power lines nearby. No cell towers nearby. The homes were at least 75 yards away.
It has to be something buried, as this si the only thing that makes any sense.

the interesting thing is when I used a friends cheap detector in this area, it did not pick anything up.
 

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