My first test run on Equinox 800

[OBXmetalDet]

I just took my Equinox 800 out in front of my house to test various settings on various objects. In front of my townhouse, there is a sidewalk. Between the sidewalk and the curb, there is a narrow strip of grass may 1.5 feet wide. I did a auto noise cancel. Then I did an auto ground balance (I think I did it right). Then I took the detector off of multi-frequency and tested one frequency at a time (5, 10, 15, 20 and 40 kHz).

When I was scanning the narrow strip of grass, to my surprise I was getting quite a few signals, with various target IDs showing up. I can't imagine there were really that many metallic objects there but I could be wrong.


1. Why was I getting to many signals? I lowered the sensitivity and this seemed to reduce the frequency of detectors but I still had quite a few. Even with a lower sensitivity, what could account for getting so many signals?
2. If you have signals due to ground mineralization (noise/junk signal), how can you tell those signals apart from a real signal (whether the real signal is ferrous or non-ferrous).

I also tested a quarter, nickel, penny and a thin nail on the sidewalk. To my surprise, any given frequency was able to detect all of these objects even though they are made from different types of metals. I thought that any given metal could be detected by only 1 frequency or maybe 2 overlapping frequencies.

1. How can more than one frequency detect a single metal object?
2. High frequencies are good for shallow objects. Low frequencies are good for deep objects. Does this mean that low frequencies can't detect shallow objects?
3. Any suggestions on how I should experiment in order to better understand how all these settings work?

 

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[ArfieBoy]

You need to start digging all those signals. That is the sure way to learn what they are, and how you learn. Parking strips are famous for finding coins.

 

[eman1000]

1. How can more than one frequency detect a single metal object?

Gold is a low conductor and Silver is a High conductor but generally both and everything in between iron, zinc, aluminum will respond to both the low and high frequencies. However you will start to lose small gold with the lower freq 5,7,14 as it responds better to a higher freq. same with small silver will respond to the lower freq. Generally 14/15 is considered a safe middle of the road freq for both silver coin and gold rings, ect. you might experiment with small chains and earring backs and you might find that they do not respond to the lower freq. Personally unless your hunting for gold nuggets or deep silver I would recommend you stick to multi (Let the machine do the work for you)

2. High frequencies are good for shallow objects. Low frequencies are good for deep objects. Does this mean that low frequencies can't detect shallow objects? Yes and No a low freq is going to struggle with the small gold at any depth. However a lower freq tends to perform better on deep silver (assuming moderate ground conditions) I had an fishers f22 that ran at about 8 freq. and it could find just about anything in the tot lots minus only the smallest of gold chains.
3. Any suggestions on how I should experiment in order to better understand how all these settings work?

I'm no expert on the Equinox but I would suggest you pick a standard program like beach 1 and lower the sens to 16 if 20 is too chatty. I would start with 5 tones as your ears are not used to 50. Then I would test some targets you may already have penny, dime, quarter, gold rings, chain, earrings. Dig everything above 20 that is a solid tone. Dig 12/13 is your nickel range and your gold will come with time and experience digging the lower vdi numbers (not sure if you need to dig lower than 9 but if your on the beach and its an easy dig why not?)

You got a great machine to start with. HH

 

[CCDAMEEK]

Not to be redundant, but with a new machine, start with one of the installed programs, don't change a thing, and you need to DIG EVERYTHING that gives good solid responses! And somehow learn the responses and remember them.
You can & will miss something good even this way as you learn the machines traits. (like a silver or gold chain can can come in scratchy & broken up depending on it's depth and how it is positioned in the ground), but in time, that same signal will just make your mind say "hey, that just sounds a bit different than trash" and makes you dig.

I have a friend who bought a unit like yours, and I gotta tell you, I am impressed with it. He is still searching for his first silver coin or gold jewelry after 3 years (one season with the 800), but I am sure he just hasn't gotten over anything.

Just don't get too confident in IDing targets either. Just when you are sure the target is a certain type of pulltab, you could be passing up a small gold ring! My 10K worn out wedding band responds just like some of the old type two-part pull tabs.

JUST DIG IT!

 

[Toecutter]

Start digging!! it'll all make more sense, then come back with questions you have and it'll be easier to understand....

 

[gunsil]

First, download and read the entire owner's manual a FEW times. Pretty much any frequency used by any metal detector will find any kind of metal, different frequencies may be better at identifying one metal better than others but all frequencies will find metal. If your machine is "chattering" or sounding like there are many different targets drop your sensitivity down to maybe 16-18. It is almost impossible to hunt at max sensitivity of 25 in most areas. Make sure you noise cancel every time you turn the machine on. Run the machine on multi, there is usually no need to choose a single frequency for most hunting and stick to the park one or two or field one or two to learn the machine. If this is your first detector or your first Minelab there is a learning curve that needs to be learned and it can take a LOT of hours.Most folks figure close to a hundred hours of operating time to learn a modern detector with a lot of features as the Nox has. And, like Toe says get out and dig. With all the bells and whistles of modern high tech detectors still the only way to know exactly what the machine sees is to dig it up.

 

[Rawhide]

I have a few hours on my Nox800 and would say you have a trashy yard. You can discriminate out a lot of that but if the detector is set up right you should have a slight hum for tine break. If this confuses you just know right out of the box it dogs. Things like your phone and foil will cause the machine to false. I bought a book by Andy S. and to tell the truth I hunt better with factory default settings. Someone who can show you how to set up for depth may have some settings to share. Also what are you hunting, if coins all you need is park1.

 

[Normsel]

Simply put practice. Start out with factory settings and forget about testing each frequency. The 800 is a multi frequency detector and that is what makes it good. I use modified factory settings after about 20 hours on mine and the 1st 60 days with mine I found $300+ in clad. Don't try and out smart the detector. Everyone finds settings that work best for the type of detecting they do.

I will guarantee once you get used to your detector and modify factory settings to your liking you will find as much as anyone and even the experts. It's 60% detector and 40% you knowing what the detector is telling you. Don't be afraid to dig trash because that's how you learn. Some bottle caps show up like a quarter but you can tell by the tone it is a bottle cap 90% of the time.