Equinox sensitivity, recovery speed and F2 setting relationship question

[pulltabfelix]

On another forum a Equinox user posted this:

He stated: "I found that a lower sensitivity (13-18) was best when paired with a recovery speed of around 3-4 and an F2 setting of between 5-7. Those were the “sweet spots” for me that day at that beach."

Are there any general relationships between sensitivity, recovery speed and F2 settings like at lower sensitivity you should use a lower recovery speed and some special F2 settings?
or is it one of those questions we just have to figure out for ourselves for the areas we hunt?

 

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[jmaziarz]

Let me preface this by saying I'm not an expert and don't claim to be.

The sensitivity function "determines the strength of the signal that will trigger an audio response" and not how much power is put into the ground. The iron bias function analyzes "a target's signal and extract more information to help determine if it is actually a ferrous target that is trying to sound like a non-ferrous one". The recovery speed function determines the "time it takes the circuit to reset and be ready to pick up the next target'.

Given those definitions, as the values are increased (e.g. higher sensitivity or faster recovery speed) the machines is being asked to do more processing. If you are in an area with tons of ferrous targets, high ground mineralization and are swinging fast with each of those settings maxed out, the machine will not be as stable. The relationship between them determines how stable the machine will be for the conditions you are in.

Anytime you encounter shared settings, be thinking about or ask what the specific conditions were like (e.g. in wet sand, trashy area, etc.), the person’s preference (e.g. can’t stand background chatter) and their priority. I wouldn’t be surprised if the person you describe was cherry picking recent drops on a moderately trashy beach and only wanted to dig loud (obvious) targets while covering a lot of area.

Remember, what works for one person in their specific conditions may not work for you.

Reference: The Equinox Series Handbook by Andy Sabisch

 

[Jason in Enid]

No, I have never heard, nor personally seen that there is any inter-relation between the settings. Don't get wrapped up in what settings other people use. As long as you understand what each setting does, just set each one for your local conditions.

 

[pulltabfelix]

Let me preface this by saying I'm not an expert and don't claim to be.

The sensitivity function "determines the strength of the signal that will trigger an audio response" and not how much power is put into the ground. The iron bias function analyzes "a target's signal and extract more information to help determine if it is actually a ferrous target that is trying to sound like a non-ferrous one". The recovery speed function determines the "time it takes the circuit to reset and be ready to pick up the next target'.

Given those definitions, as the values are increased (e.g. higher sensitivity or faster recovery speed) the machines is being asked to do more processing. If you are in an area with tons of ferrous targets, high ground mineralization and are swinging fast with each of those settings maxed out, the machine will not be as stable. The relationship between them determines how stable the machine will be for the conditions you are in.

Anytime you encounter shared settings, be thinking about or ask what the specific conditions were like (e.g. in wet sand, trashy area, etc.), the person’s preference (e.g. can’t stand background chatter) and their priority. I wouldn’t be surprised if the person you describe was cherry picking recent drops on a moderately trashy beach and only wanted to dig loud (obvious) targets while covering a lot of area.

Remember, what works for one person in their specific conditions may not work for you.

Reference: The Equinox Series Handbook by Andy Sabisch

Ok, I think I understand. Like the older personal computers running windows, the more programs you were running the slower each program responded. So If I have sensitivity cranked up to max, along with recovery speed cranked up to max and iron bias doing what iron bias is doing then one of those features might be slowed down. Thus maybe a higher sensitivity might slow down the recovery speed.

Or you just have to find the optimal settings for these features for the area and type you are hunting. I think the latter is the true solution to this question.

 

[jmaziarz]

Ok, I think I understand. Like the older personal computers running windows, the more programs you were running the slower each program responded. So If I have sensitivity cranked up to max, along with recovery speed cranked up to max and iron bias doing what iron bias is doing then one of those features might be slowed down. Thus maybe a higher sensitivity might slow down the recovery speed.

Or you just have to find the optimal settings for these features for the area and type you are hunting. I think the latter is the true solution to this question.

It isn’t so much that the machine will be bogged down and perform sub-optimally. It is about trade-offs. If you know what you’re seeing/hearing from the machine you may choose to run with less stability in order to get more depth. You may tolerate more chatter or falsing in areas with fewer targets. You may want to dig more bottle caps and pull tabs as verification the area you are hunting has been skipped by other detectorists.

There are so many variables which is why it is wise to take the shared settings with a grain of salt and instead focus on developing your own from proficiency in your area.

 

[cudamark]

It can be a delicate balance at times. This is my take on the settings. Raising the sensitivity increases depth (most of the time), but makes it more chatty and unstable if you set it too high. A lower recovery speed will increase depth slightly also, but, in an area with lots of targets, good deep targets can get masked. A fast recovery speed can reduce depth, but, pick up shallower good targets mixed with trash better. Now, you add playing with the iron bias which, if set too high, can also mask targets mixed with iron, and it can get confusing. Most of the time, if the iron trash is not too bad, I like to run a high F2 iron bias setting (6 to 9) if bottle caps are everywhere. I also run the recovery speed up toward the high end for good target separation. Adjust sensitivity to a fairly stable setting, usually just on the edge of being chatty, and adjust my swing speed as necessary. I'm not normally a fast swinger anyway, so, masking hasn't been much of a problem with me so far. All those settings need to be adjusted depending on ground conditions, depth of targets, and amount of iron and other trash targets. If I was going to search for deep non-ferrous targets in iron infested ground, I would run a lower iron bias, recovery speed about in the middle, and sensitivity where it's REAL stable and swing slowly. Investigate any good signals, even ones mixed with iron sounds or nulls (I hunt, and recommend hunting, in all metal and 50 tones) by changing some of those settings to see what improves the signal/I.D. That will give you an idea on what will work best at that location.

 

[sgoss66]

Felix,

(edited to note that jmaziarz and cudamark responded to you while I was typing up the following, ridiculously long message, LOL, and I agree with what they said, as well).

No, you don't have to worry about "too many programs" acting to "slow down" your machine. The processor in the machine is MORE THAN fast enough to do whatever you ask it to do, settings-wise, without "bogging down."

Perhaps a better way to think of it, is that it is good to understand what each one of the settings accomplishes individually, and then learn to "tune" each setting to the site you are hunting, the conditions there (ground, EMI, etc.), the type of targets you are hunting for, whether you are trying to locate deep targets, targets in trash (or both), etc.

Take sensitivity, for instance. The general rule of thumb with the EQX is to run sensitivity as high as you can, SITE-DEPENDENT. In other words, run it as high as you can, without whatever EMI is present becoming "obtrusive." Obviously, the higher the sensitivity, the weaker of a signal return that will be reported to you, as an audible tone. So, high sensitivity is GOOD, in that it can allow you to hear a weak signal emanating from a deep target. HOWEVER, if there is EMI present at your site, then running high sensitivity will ALSO allow weak signals emanating from EMI to be reported to you, as an audible tone -- and thus the machine can sound "chattery" as a result, and eventually possibly overwhelming you, in terms of "mental fatigue." So, in those situations, there's no REASON to run sensitivity high. YES, by lowering sensitivity, your machine may not report to you the weak signals emanating from the deepest targets. BUT, it's a moot point -- because obviously, if you are setting your sensitivity high so as to hopefully hear that weak, deep signal, but as a result, you are also being barraged by weak EMI signals, then that weak signal from the deep target would be "buried in" and "indistinguishable from" all the EMI chatter anyway.

So, my long-winded point there is, instead of thinking of some "combination of settings" that someone somewhere may have chosen to use at some point, it's better to understand each of your settings INDEPENDENTLY, and know what each one does. Then, YOU can decide how to set up your machine for YOUR situation, AND you will better understand when, and why, you might want to adjust those settings.

We've discussed sensitivity, and what it does. Along these same lines, to add a bit more to the discussion about Iron Bias, and about Recovery Speed, and how to utilize them...

Iron Bias is basically a setting that alters the way a "combination" target -- i.e. a target that is a mix of iron ID and non-ferrous ID -- responds. The LOWER you set your iron bias, the less you are "biasing" the machine toward giving an iron signal. In other words, you are allowing the non-ferrous tones (higher tones) to be reported to you, ALONG WITH the iron tones. Obviously, that's GOOD if you are trying to find "combination" targets -- i.e. coins mixed in with iron, for instance. With these types of targets, running low, or no, iron bias allows your machine to report BOTH the high tones, AND the iron tones. This can then "clue you in" to the possibility of a non-ferrous target existing near the iron target, and might therefore alert you to dig. Meanwhile, running the iron bias at progressively higher settings, means you are telling the machine to allow the iron tones to prevail -- i.e. to "minimize" the high tones, and instead "accentuate" the iron tones. As a result, you'll be less tempted to dig a "falsy" nail, for instance, but with the downside being that you'll ALSO be less likely to dig a nail/coin combination target. So, if you want to minimize the iron you dig (i.e. you want iron targets to SOUND like iron targets to the greatest degree possible), run iron bias HIGH. On the other hand, if you want to "hear it all," i.e. the iron tones MIXED WITH the high tones, so as to hopefully maximize your ability to find those "nail/coin combination" targets, then run iron bias low.

Recovery speed is, despite what some think, essentially just "clipping" a tone, as far as I understand it. It doesn't actually "speed up" your machine, but it can give that "appearance" that it does so; in truth, though, it is really just altering the way tones are outputted/reported to you. To describe, a musical analogy may help. In music, there are two opposing terms that I feel are applicable -- staccato, and legato. Staccato is defined as short, abrupt notes (choppy, as I might describe it). In other words, each note is kept short, and thus there is "separation" between each note. On the other hand, legato is the opposite. Legato is where each note is "drawn out," into a "smoother" flow of the music, without much, if any, break between the individual notes. If you can imagine these two terms, with respect to music, then this I think will help you to understand recovery speed.

The lowest recovery speeds yield a "legato" nature within the audio output. As such, when hunting in trash, where there are lots of tones being reported to the user, the tones will tend to blend/run together more, at low recovery speeds. As a result, these "lengthened in duration" tones, running together with each other, can make it harder to pick out individual tones, within the "blend" of noise. HOWEVER, the benefit is, when hunting where there is NOT a lot of trash, a "lengthened" tone might catch your attention more, and so a deep target giving off a subtle, quieter tone will be "lengthened" a bit, at lower recovery speed, making it potentially a bit easier for you to hear or "notice" it, and thus more likely to dig it.

On the other hand, high recovery speeds are imparting a "staccato" nature to the tonal output of the machine. So, when hunting in dense trash, there is more "separation" between the tones; you are more likely to hear the short, brief tones as representative of their separate targets, as opposed to being a "blend" of a bunch of tones. As a result, it may thus be easier for your ears to pick out a specific tone that you may be listening for, amongst the barrage of other sounds, given the more "staccato" reporting of the tones (as opposed to running lower recovery speed where the tones are more blended together). High recovery speeds, i.e. shorter tone lengths -- and thus more separation between tones -- might SOUND like the machine is "processing faster," but actually it is simply that the AUDIO REPORTING is altered (shorter tone length, versus longer tone length -- i.e. blip blip blip versus bleeeeepbleeeeepbleeeeep).

So, again, I think that if you can think about each of these settings (sensitivity, iron bias, and recovery speed) INDIVIDUALLY, and try to think about what types of hunting scenarios you might encounter, and how in each scenario some adjustments of these settings might help or hurt, then I think you will be better off -- as opposed to trying to find some "magical combination" of the settings.

Steve

 

[MackDog]

Best bet is to go low and slow. I am able to pull 1/4' jewelry from 3 or 4' in trashy areas using a 15" coil. Just have to scan slow enough to identify the target.

 

[Donut]

I was out yesterday and tried something.
I had a good solid signal 24-25 and had sweep speed at 2 and raised it to 6 and it was gone. It was a Rosevelt dime at 6”.
Earlier this week I was on a wet beach (Fresh water) and hit on a clad quarter and I was amazed because it was over 12”.
so you just never know because conditioning and coin angle change.
If it’s a solid hit dig it. Or even a iffy hit.
Doug

 

[ColonelDan]

On another forum a Equinox user posted this:

He stated: "I found that a lower sensitivity (13-18) was best when paired with a recovery speed of around 3-4 and an F2 setting of between 5-7. Those were the “sweet spots” for me that day at that beach."

Are there any general relationships between sensitivity, recovery speed and F2 settings like at lower sensitivity you should use a lower recovery speed and some special F2 settings?
or is it one of those questions we just have to figure out for ourselves for the areas we hunt?

That was my post intended to illustrate the importance of “dialing in” the EQX’s optional settings to optimize performance for the conditions present at that specific location. I then compared those settings to settings at another beach just a few miles away...a significant difference.
The bottom line: to maximize performance, adjust the settings to the environment.

 

[jmaziarz]

I had a good solid signal 24-25 and had sweep speed at 2 and raised it to 6 and it was gone. It was a Rosevelt dime at 6”.

Not saying this is what happened but be aware that if you're using tracking ground balance, swinging too many times over a marginal target can cause the machine to see the target as part of the ground and it will disappear.

 

[CarsonChris]

I turned my sensitivity down at home once. Forgot to crank it back up. Went to a beach that has black sand and can be noisy. I’m thinking someone really cleaned out the garbage. Wasn’t finding much. I got some high tones with no VDI. Dug some on edge quarters that were fairly deep that I previously missed.

 

[vferrari]

Not saying this is what happened but be aware that if you're using tracking ground balance, swinging too many times over a marginal target can cause the machine to see the target as part of the ground and it will disappear.

This concern is overblown as far as the Equinox is concerned. The Equinox GB tracking triggers on changes in measured ground mineralization not ground conductance, so a non-ferrous target will NOT trigger a rebalance and will not be nulled out if you camp over it. Plus, the Equinox reacts pretty slowly to mineralization level changes. Less sophisticated tracking GB implementations in other detectors such as early version 3.X Deus units (subsequently fixed in ver 4.2 and greater software) and others were susceptible to nulling out targets in tracking with prolonged swinging over the target.

 

[cudamark]

I've never lost a target with the Equinox by oversampling.

 

[Happa54]

Felix,

(edited to note that jmaziarz and cudamark responded to you while I was typing up the following, ridiculously long message, LOL, and I agree with what they said, as well).

No, you don't have to worry about "too many programs" acting to "slow down" your machine. The processor in the machine is MORE THAN fast enough to do whatever you ask it to do, settings-wise, without "bogging down."

Perhaps a better way to think of it, is that it is good to understand what each one of the settings accomplishes individually, and then learn to "tune" each setting to the site you are hunting, the conditions there (ground, EMI, etc.), the type of targets you are hunting for, whether you are trying to locate deep targets, targets in trash (or both), etc.

Take sensitivity, for instance. The general rule of thumb with the EQX is to run sensitivity as high as you can, SITE-DEPENDENT. In other words, run it as high as you can, without whatever EMI is present becoming "obtrusive." Obviously, the higher the sensitivity, the weaker of a signal return that will be reported to you, as an audible tone. So, high sensitivity is GOOD, in that it can allow you to hear a weak signal emanating from a deep target. HOWEVER, if there is EMI present at your site, then running high sensitivity will ALSO allow weak signals emanating from EMI to be reported to you, as an audible tone -- and thus the machine can sound "chattery" as a result, and eventually possibly overwhelming you, in terms of "mental fatigue." So, in those situations, there's no REASON to run sensitivity high. YES, by lowering sensitivity, your machine may not report to you the weak signals emanating from the deepest targets. BUT, it's a moot point -- because obviously, if you are setting your sensitivity high so as to hopefully hear that weak, deep signal, but as a result, you are also being barraged by weak EMI signals, then that weak signal from the deep target would be "buried in" and "indistinguishable from" all the EMI chatter anyway.

So, my long-winded point there is, instead of thinking of some "combination of settings" that someone somewhere may have chosen to use at some point, it's better to understand each of your settings INDEPENDENTLY, and know what each one does. Then, YOU can decide how to set up your machine for YOUR situation, AND you will better understand when, and why, you might want to adjust those settings.

We've discussed sensitivity, and what it does. Along these same lines, to add a bit more to the discussion about Iron Bias, and about Recovery Speed, and how to utilize them...

Iron Bias is basically a setting that alters the way a "combination" target -- i.e. a target that is a mix of iron ID and non-ferrous ID -- responds. The LOWER you set your iron bias, the less you are "biasing" the machine toward giving an iron signal. In other words, you are allowing the non-ferrous tones (higher tones) to be reported to you, ALONG WITH the iron tones. Obviously, that's GOOD if you are trying to find "combination" targets -- i.e. coins mixed in with iron, for instance. With these types of targets, running low, or no, iron bias allows your machine to report BOTH the high tones, AND the iron tones. This can then "clue you in" to the possibility of a non-ferrous target existing near the iron target, and might therefore alert you to dig. Meanwhile, running the iron bias at progressively higher settings, means you are telling the machine to allow the iron tones to prevail -- i.e. to "minimize" the high tones, and instead "accentuate" the iron tones. As a result, you'll be less tempted to dig a "falsy" nail, for instance, but with the downside being that you'll ALSO be less likely to dig a nail/coin combination target. So, if you want to minimize the iron you dig (i.e. you want iron targets to SOUND like iron targets to the greatest degree possible), run iron bias HIGH. On the other hand, if you want to "hear it all," i.e. the iron tones MIXED WITH the high tones, so as to hopefully maximize your ability to find those "nail/coin combination" targets, then run iron bias low.

Recovery speed is, despite what some think, essentially just "clipping" a tone, as far as I understand it. It doesn't actually "speed up" your machine, but it can give that "appearance" that it does so; in truth, though, it is really just altering the way tones are outputted/reported to you. To describe, a musical analogy may help. In music, there are two opposing terms that I feel are applicable -- staccato, and legato. Staccato is defined as short, abrupt notes (choppy, as I might describe it). In other words, each note is kept short, and thus there is "separation" between each note. On the other hand, legato is the opposite. Legato is where each note is "drawn out," into a "smoother" flow of the music, without much, if any, break between the individual notes. If you can imagine these two terms, with respect to music, then this I think will help you to understand recovery speed.

The lowest recovery speeds yield a "legato" nature within the audio output. As such, when hunting in trash, where there are lots of tones being reported to the user, the tones will tend to blend/run together more, at low recovery speeds. As a result, these "lengthened in duration" tones, running together with each other, can make it harder to pick out individual tones, within the "blend" of noise. HOWEVER, the benefit is, when hunting where there is NOT a lot of trash, a "lengthened" tone might catch your attention more, and so a deep target giving off a subtle, quieter tone will be "lengthened" a bit, at lower recovery speed, making it potentially a bit easier for you to hear or "notice" it, and thus more likely to dig it.

On the other hand, high recovery speeds are imparting a "staccato" nature to the tonal output of the machine. So, when hunting in dense trash, there is more "separation" between the tones; you are more likely to hear the short, brief tones as representative of their separate targets, as opposed to being a "blend" of a bunch of tones. As a result, it may thus be easier for your ears to pick out a specific tone that you may be listening for, amongst the barrage of other sounds, given the more "staccato" reporting of the tones (as opposed to running lower recovery speed where the tones are more blended together). High recovery speeds, i.e. shorter tone lengths -- and thus more separation between tones -- might SOUND like the machine is "processing faster," but actually it is simply that the AUDIO REPORTING is altered (shorter tone length, versus longer tone length -- i.e. blip blip blip versus bleeeeepbleeeeepbleeeeep).

So, again, I think that if you can think about each of these settings (sensitivity, iron bias, and recovery speed) INDIVIDUALLY, and try to think about what types of hunting scenarios you might encounter, and how in each scenario some adjustments of these settings might help or hurt, then I think you will be better off -- as opposed to trying to find some "magical combination" of the settings.

Steve

You put a lot into this post Steve. It's a good copy & paste for future use.

 

[Donut]

Try that with autotrack

 

[Donut]

I've never lost a target with the Equinox by oversampling.

Try that with autotrack turned on. Auto ground balance all the time and can null out targets when passed over them multiple times. That’s my experience anyway and why I don’t use it. If I was out west gold detecting I would probably use it but where I live my soil doesn’t change that much.

Doug

 

[McKinney_5900]

I was out yesterday and tried something.
I had a good solid signal 24-25 and had sweep speed at 2 and raised it to 6 and it was gone. It was a Rosevelt dime at 6”.
Earlier this week I was on a wet beach (Fresh water) and hit on a clad quarter and I was amazed because it was over 12”.
so you just never know because conditioning and coin angle change.
If it’s a solid hit dig it. Or even a iffy hit.
Doug

The deeper a coin sized target is, and the bigger the coil size, the slower the recovery speed needs to be. I always run my 600's recovery speed at 2 since I want to get to the really deep coins most hunts.

In shallow or trashy spots...fast recovery does separate a little sweeter. My 8-10 inch buried garden coins are many times not heard using the max of 3 on the 600.

My Whites V3i was where I learned this. The factory 10" coil ran with a slower speed number in the settings, whereas their 4x6 Shooter was set to half the speed in factory files compared to the 10".

Hop this helps.

 

[MackDog]

I always run auto track, no problems. I frequently check what my ground balance is, and I found in the hilly areas it is a wide variety.

 

[vferrari]

Try that with autotrack turned on. Auto ground balance all the time and can null out targets when passed over them multiple times. That’s my experience anyway and why I don’t use it. If I was out west gold detecting I would probably use it but where I live my soil doesn’t change that much.

Doug

As I said above, this is not the case with Equinox.