Starting year 3

[CarsonChris]

It's been about 2 years since I purchased my first equinox. The machine is simply phenomenal and as time goes on I'm getting better with it. When I first started with it I was a noob to detecting. I feel like I'm turning a corner and I can pick up sounds that lead to finds that I would have passed on 2 years ago or even 6 months ago. Lately I've been going back to sites that have been picked over by me and others and turning the swing speed up from 6 to 8 and working the nail beds. I'm slowing my swing motion down in the nail beds to a crawl and listening for high tones. I got this last night at a picked over spot. My oldest Barber dime. Found in a nail bed where any place you put the pinpointer down it sounds off. Got a faint high tone. Kept working my coil in smaller and smaller wiggles until I was able to isolate a repeatable 23/24 signal.

 

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[67GTA]

Congrats! A lot of my best finds over the last three years with the Nox have been picking these kinds of targets out of pounded sites. Find the iron patches and slow down. Found an 1876 dime last month that was an iffy 16-17 with recovery @7. I checked it with recovery @5 and it was just one of those small chirps you don't stop for, but it is just one of those sites where you dig any signal.

 

[sphillips]

It's been about 2 years since I purchased my first equinox. The machine is simply phenomenal and as time goes on I'm getting better with it. When I first started with it I was a noob to detecting. I feel like I'm turning a corner and I can pick up sounds that lead to finds that I would have passed on 2 years ago or even 6 months ago. Lately I've been going back to sites that have been picked over by me and others and turning the swing speed up from 6 to 8 and working the nail beds. I'm slowing my swing motion down in the nail beds to a crawl and listening for high tones. I got this last night at a picked over spot. My oldest Barber dime. Found in a nail bed where any place you put the pinpointer down it sounds off. Got a faint high tone. Kept working my coil in smaller and smaller wiggles until I was able to isolate a repeatable 23/24 signal. View attachment 1908135 View attachment 1908136

Swing speed meaning recovery?

 

[KSdiver]

Thank you for the insight Chris. I've been detecting for 15 years - just got my Equinox 800 last month and have been out only 3 times so far.
I really like this machine, I can see it's potential and I'm learning alot. It's good to see time and patience are have paid off for you!
Nice Barber dime!

 

[CarsonChris]

Yes, recovery speed. Recovery speed up and search low and slow.

 

[BH505Man]

It's been about 2 years since I purchased my first equinox. The machine is simply phenomenal and as time goes on I'm getting better with it. When I first started with it I was a noob to detecting. I feel like I'm turning a corner and I can pick up sounds that lead to finds that I would have passed on 2 years ago or even 6 months ago. Lately I've been going back to sites that have been picked over by me and others and turning the swing speed up from 6 to 8 and working the nail beds. I'm slowing my swing motion down in the nail beds to a crawl and listening for high tones. I got this last night at a picked over spot. My oldest Barber dime. Found in a nail bed where any place you put the pinpointer down it sounds off. Got a faint high tone. Kept working my coil in smaller and smaller wiggles until I was able to isolate a repeatable 23/24 signal. View attachment 1908135 View attachment 1908136

WTG. Really nice find.

 

[billb]

Glad to see that you dialed in the equinox Good Luck going forward

 

[xr7ator]

Fan DIME tastic!

 

[pulltabfelix]

I have had my 800 for three years. out of warranty (ugh). Before 800 had AT pro and was proficient with it. But the 800 took much longer because I made a mistake and tried to learn and use all the features. Well I learned them, but lot of them you don't really need. Just use the appropriate mode, noise cancel and ground balance and set your sensitivity and that is about it. Have fun and don't worry about other features until you really know you need to use them for a particular site you are hunting.

Great machine, sold my Vanquish, Simplex and AT Pro but won't sell my 800.

 

[pulltabfelix]

I have had my 800 for three years. out of warranty (ugh). Before 800 had AT pro and was proficient with it. But the 800 took much longer because I made a mistake and tried to learn and use all the features. Well I learned them, but lot of them you don't really need. Just use the appropriate mode, noise cancel and ground balance and set your sensitivity and that is about it. Have fun and don't worry about other features until you really know you need to use them for a particular site you are hunting.

Great machine, sold my Vanquish, Simplex and AT Pro but won't sell my 800.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

It's been about 2 years since I purchased my first equinox. The machine is simply phenomenal and as time goes on I'm getting better with it. When I first started with it I was a noob to detecting. I feel like I'm turning a corner and I can pick up sounds that lead to finds that I would have passed on 2 years ago or even 6 months ago. Lately I've been going back to sites that have been picked over by me and others and turning the swing speed up from 6 to 8 and working the nail beds. I'm slowing my swing motion down in the nail beds to a crawl and listening for high tones. I got this last night at a picked over spot. My oldest Barber dime. Found in a nail bed where any place you put the pinpointer down it sounds off. Got a faint high tone. Kept working my coil in smaller and smaller wiggles until I was able to isolate a repeatable 23/24 signal. View attachment 1908135 View attachment 1908136

Congrats and great tips on how to run the Equinox 800 in nails. They LOVE coins especially silver!

 

[MackDog]

I have had my 800 for three years. out of warranty (ugh). Before 800 had AT pro and was proficient with it. But the 800 took much longer because I made a mistake and tried to learn and use all the features. Well I learned them, but lot of them you don't really need. Just use the appropriate mode, noise cancel and ground balance and set your sensitivity and that is about it. Have fun and don't worry about other features until you really know you need to use them for a particular site you are hunting.

Great machine, sold my Vanquish, Simplex and AT Pro but won't sell my 800.

Now run 50 tones and all metal. Scrub the ground, swing as slow as it takes for you to interpet each tone. You'll be amazed

 

[pulltabfelix]

It's been about 2 years since I purchased my first equinox. The machine is simply phenomenal and as time goes on I'm getting better with it. When I first started with it I was a noob to detecting. I feel like I'm turning a corner and I can pick up sounds that lead to finds that I would have passed on 2 years ago or even 6 months ago. Lately I've been going back to sites that have been picked over by me and others and turning the swing speed up from 6 to 8 and working the nail beds. I'm slowing my swing motion down in the nail beds to a crawl and listening for high tones. I got this last night at a picked over spot. My oldest Barber dime. Found in a nail bed where any place you put the pinpointer down it sounds off. Got a faint high tone. Kept working my coil in smaller and smaller wiggles until I was able to isolate a repeatable 23/24 signal. View attachment 1908135 View attachment 1908136

We have a similar history. Got my 800 March 2018 coming from my AT Pro. From one good machine to another good, but complex detector. Big difference between the complexity of the AT Pro and 800. I probably wasted 6 months on my 800 trying to learn and use every single feature without really knowing what some of those features were really for or I should say I didn't fully understand them. So I figured probably half the time using my 800 I was using a badly tuned machine for my hunting areas.

I read all of Clive Clynick's books on the 800 as them came out. What an education for me. From his books and other experienced detectorists like Vferrari and Calabash digger I finally started putting it all together.

I now have a 800 with a Coiltek 10 x 5 Nox coil coming this week and a Vanquish 440 for my guest hunters. Advice to new 800 users: Stay in the standard modes until you really master the machine. Trust me park, field and beach will do just fine using as they were designed. The Minelab engineers knew what they were doing when setting defaults for these standard modes.

 

[CZKidd]

Well done!

 

[CZKidd]

I did the exact same thing. I tuned myself out of the 800, I sold it and picked up an XP Deus. Couple months ago, got back into the Equinox game and picked up a 600. I decided on the 600 as it would keep me out of trouble of over sampling everything and I never used all of the features of the 800 at the end of the day. So I spent less and have a really good machine. The XP and the Equinox, compliment each other very well. Just found a dealer that had the 10 x 5 in stock and ordered it Friday. Got a confirm its shipped today. Can't wait. Want to get in the water with the small coil. Like the 11", but getting to be a bear in the water, especially after getting used to swinging a 9" Deus coil.

 

[pulltabfelix]

Thank you for the insight Chris. I've been detecting for 15 years - just got my Equinox 800 last month and have been out only 3 times so far.
I really like this machine, I can see it's potential and I'm learning alot. It's good to see time and patience are have paid off for you!
Nice Barber dime!

If you really wish to understand the 800 especially if you are coming from other detectors not in the Minelab family you should get clive Clynick's 3 books on the Equinox 800. He really knows that machine and his books are packed with very useful information and no filler fluff like other books on the 800 on the market.

disclaimer: No I am not a personal friend of Clive or any other connection and paid for all three books.

 

[pulltabfelix]

I did the exact same thing. I tuned myself out of the 800, I sold it and picked up an XP Deus. Couple months ago, got back into the Equinox game and picked up a 600. I decided on the 600 as it would keep me out of trouble of over sampling everything and I never used all of the features of the 800 at the end of the day. So I spent less and have a really good machine. The XP and the Equinox, compliment each other very well. Just found a dealer that had the 10 x 5 in stock and ordered it Friday. Got a confirm its shipped today. Can't wait. Want to get in the water with the small coil. Like the 11", but getting to be a bear in the water, especially after getting used to swinging a 9" Deus coil.

You have some good machines to work with. Thought about getting the XP Deus, but some more experienced Civil War relic hunters said for me, the 800 is all I need. 3 books on the 800 by clive clynick were very helpful in my finally learning the 800. But only after about 50 hours of staying in the standard modes.

I also have a Coiltek 10 x 5 Nox coil coming in next week. Like you cannot wait to try it out. I used to love my 5x8 coil on my AT Pro before I got my 800. I hunt Civil War relics in Atlanta that are mostly overgrown with weeds and small trees in the summer along rocky creeks. The stock coil is a little to heavy and too big. I expect the 10 x 5 coil to be much lighter to ease arm fatigue on a hot summer day. Sees some good reports on it.