I thought in multi, its only runs 5, 10 and 15. doesnt matter if its the 600 or 800. Guess ill have to wait for vferrari to chime in on that.
First of all, to address the OP, I favor 28 khz for relic hunting when forced to use my selectable frequency Deus or Orx, but multifrequency Field 2 or Park 2 fills the bill bill when using my Equinox. I only use single frequency on Equinox if I have no other choice such as when multi is unusable due to EMI and a selected single frequency enables me to hunt the site or if I am looking fir a very specific target type that might favor using a single frequency such as big silver at depth which might benefit by using 5 khz or specific gold or relic targets that might benefit by using 20 or 40 khz. Otherwise, multi is generally the way to go. If you are used to hunting with a single frequency or selectable singke frequency machine and now have an Equinox, you would do best to move away from the single frequency/specific frequency mind set and instead think of the optimum Equinox search profile or mode for the detecting situation or group of target types you want to focus on for a specific hunt or detecting session.
To specifically address Sultan's quote, actually, the answer is none of the above. It uses a combination of typically two (but possibly 3 in some modes) prominent frequencies (based on spectrum analyzer results from various users) to give a frequency spectrum that roughly covers the range from less than 5 to greater than 40 khz. The combination of frequencies and their magnitude varies from mode to mode (e,g., Park 1 to Park 2 to Field 1 to Field 2 to Beach etc.) to give each mode a unique frequency spectrum profile or weighting which favors either the higher or lower frequencies and gives each mode a unique performance profile that favors either high conductors (lower frequency weighted) or mid to low conductors and smaller targets (higher frequency weighted). But since the Equinox is truly multifrequency, each mode has the capabilty to "see" across most target types/conductivities better than single frequency machines (or the single frequency Equinox modes) even though it might favor the low or high conductivity targets it is optimized for. This results in performance overlap between the modes such that you can usually have your pick at least 2 or more modes that can get the job done well. BTW the two or three base frequencies used to create each multi IQ profile appears to not correspond exactly to any of the Equinox's 5 single frequencies (5, 10, 15, 20, or 40 khz). Also, where the modes are identical between the Equinox 600 and 800 (e.g. Park 1/2, Field 1/2, and Beach 1/2) the corresponding Multi IQ frequency profiles and signal processing are also identical despite the limited user settings of the 600 vs. the 800 and also have
nothing to do with the limited single frequency mode choices of the 600 (5, 10, and 15 khz) vs. the 800 (5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 khz) which is just a business decision to limit the 600 feature set to enable offering a detector at a lower pruce point for marketing purposes.
The profiles arranged from roughly lowest to highest frequency profile (and roughly from high conductive/larger size/mass target favoring to lower conductor/smaller target size/mass favoring is as follows):
Beach 1/2. (effectively both have the same Multi IQ profile but Beach 2 has a lower transmit power level to provide more stability in salt/black sand combos - Beach hits high conductors hardest because the low frequency favored profile gives the most stability in salt conditions, but the multifrequency aspect also allows it to hit pretty good on gold, platinum jewelry at the beach. Also, though the Beach modes tend to favor higher conductors, they are not necessarily the best at deep silver shooting off the beach vs. Park/Field 1 because of the variable transmit power levels used to keep the detector from overloading in the presence of black sand mineralization).
Park 1/Field 1 (unknown whether these modes use the same multifrequency profile but they both appear to be optimized to higher conductive targets like silver, copper, and clad but can still hit well on lead, gold, brass, and af course aluminum).
Park 2/Field 2 (as above with Park 1/Field 1, no one other than Minelab can confirm if these modes actually use the same Multi IQ profile, but both favor mid to low conductors so are good on jewelry, brass, lead, hammered copper and silver alloy coins (which are lower conductors than purer silver and copper stamped coins) and other relics and smaller targets so they are favored by gold ring and relic hunters but will snag you silver, copper but likely at shallower maximum depths than Park 1/Field 1. These modes will snag natural gold too so can be used by 600 800 users as an alternative prospecting mode, just not as optimized as and lacking the VCO audio of the 800's gold prospecting modes).
Gold 1/2 (effectively the same Multifrequency profile for both, just the recovery speed settings differ, least stable and most sparky of all the Equinox search profike modes).
There is some overlap in target coverage as you work your down the list. There are no absolutes and experimentation is key so often more than one mode may fit the bill for any given situation. For example, a relic hunter might want to zero in on the higher conductive coins at a cellar hole site rather than the brass buttons and buckles, so he might go with Park or Field 1 vice Park or Field 2.
What the multifrequency Multi IQ profiles actually look like for each mode and the base waveforms and frequencies used (despite the measurements by end users which only reveal part of the story) and how the target signals are processed is what determines performance on any given target. That is a mystery that only Minelab knows details of and is a trade secret that Minelab holds close. That means your mileage may vary and experimentation is key to detrmining what mode is actually optimal for your specific situation, but the above hopefully gives you a good starting point. HTH and good luck.
? What's your thoughts on this? Thanks, C-dog
