Equinox identifying trash issue

[pulltabfelix]

I think most of the Equinox users agree pull tabs, pop tops, bottle caps, can slaw, and especially round aluminum wine bottle caps are a bane to us.

So if you have leaned some good techniques that help ID these pesky items on your 600 or 800 please share them here.

I did't like the narrow 40 segment ID range but just have to deal with it since my 800 has so many other good qualities.

lets us know it your technique works on the 600 or 800 or both.

 

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[dirtlooter]

sometimes the tones reveal more info than just the numbers and that is why I like the 50 tones. I am getting better at knowing that I am about to dig trash but I still get surprised here and there. I had dug two nickels in a row the other day and had another signal that had the number 12 and the good sounding tone like the others that turned out to be a pull tab so it still happens. cans can turn into silver dollars from what I hear.

 

[cudamark]

Since I upgraded the iron bias with the F2 setting, I don't dig near the bottle caps I used to. I run the setting all the way up to 9. At that setting, it seems to help with the aluminum "nuggets" too. I also run 50 tones and all metal almost all of the time.

 

[AstralDruid]

I wish i could help..... but am at a loss to see how anything on this machine is 'dealing' with the problems that have been bugging detectorists from the start.
I opened a few threads discussing this, in reality the equinox should be called the DTF, deep trash finder... It really has no clue.
In the last two days i have dug a good handful of nails in different soils all reading different but exciting tones... Running field 2, with sensititvity at 16/17..balanced and noise cancelled properly... the Nox is clueless.
Where are the advancements ?? just marginally deeper rubbish is my opinion,, about 50 hours used so far..
I know it is hard for folks to hear such things, or to admit it, but the new tech is nothing new at all.

 

[smokeythecat]

You have to dig it all to get the gold...it's that way with most machines out there.

 

[A2coins]

I agree with Smokey, I have noticed the 800 hits solid on bottle tops you can change some settings to help a little but gotta say my At Max I could tell a pull tab alot easier. This isnt a whos machine is better statement but you do have to dig it all to find it all

 

[HighVDI]

One thing that seems easy to call with an Equinox after some hours logged is bottle caps. IMO they sound off 100% different than any coin will. Now, sometimes the pinpointer deep caps can sound more like a deep coin but those are far and few between for where I hunt.

 

[xr7ator]

It's that way with all machines. You pass up marginal targets, you pass up keepers. IMO of course..

HH ALL

 

[A2coins]

One thing to consider is alot of the parks here in Mi which the pop top is our State flower if you dug every signal you wouldnt move more than 10 ft per day and would need a dumpster to haul all of them away thats a fact.

 

[RustyGold]

Too funny A2!
I thought the pull tab was California’s State flower!

 

[A2coins]

They are poppin up everywhere pun intended

 

[AstralDruid]

One thing that seems easy to call with an Equinox after some hours logged is bottle caps. IMO they sound off 100% different than any coin will. Now, sometimes the pinpointer deep caps can sound more like a deep coin but those are far and few between for where I hunt.

This is true enough, the pinpoint on the caps and alu is like a dentists drill hitting your throbbing nerve..
I am at the stage of thinking about dicriminating from 14-20.... i really had higher expectations , that the newer machines could tell a nail and not bother us with it..!!
Alas, i must get used to digging noisy bits of crap...

 

[cudamark]

This is true enough, the pinpoint on the caps and alu is like a dentists drill hitting your throbbing nerve..
I am at the stage of thinking about dicriminating from 14-20.... i really had higher expectations , that the newer machines could tell a nail and not bother us with it..!!
Alas, i must get used to digging noisy bits of crap...

Are you using the higher settings on the iron bias and still finding nails? I don't seem to have that problem with mine set at F2 @9. Same with bottle caps, those have virtually disappeared with that setting. Aluminum, yeah that's still a problem with every machine out there, so far. As for finding deeper junk......at least you can detect it now. Some of my previous machines wouldn't pick up what the Nox can. In hunting many old sites, I use the depth meter just as much as the I.D. numbers and sounds. I have some spots where ANY sound down deep is usually good, regardless of what the machine thinks it is. At least the Nox gives me the option to dig or not, and isn't just ignoring the sound, or ignorant of it's presence, like other machines I've used. If you want better target I.D. get a CTX. There is a reason that it's more expensive. As for discriminating out 14-20, that might get rid of some of the aluminum and other low conducting non-ferrous trash, but, you will lose some gold jewelry and coins, and won't help you much, if any, on iron falses. In most places with deep rusty iron, you can get a mid 30's chirp along with an iron null. Sometimes those can be good (as in two targets, one good, one bad) or it's deep and rusty junk. Usually, if you get a high signal sweeping one direction, and the iron null (or low sound in all metal), the other way, it's iron. Try sweeping again at 90 degrees before rejecting it completely. No machine (currently) is going to be 100% accurate, if in doubt, dig it out! The more junk you dig, the more you will know what junk sounds like.

 

[Kuiu]

Yea, after using the Nox for over a year on the beach, I thought I knew what I was doing. But, put me on a early 20th century or late 19th century site and I don't even know what a good target sounds like anymore. Shotgun shells, aluminum wine/liquor bottle twist offs and copper nails are killing me into total confusion and frustration. Maybe testing this trash by lifting the coil a foot or so is the key. IDK. I am going back to the beach to keep the love of the hobby and where I have confidence in my machine.

 

[cudamark]

Yea, after using the Nox for over a year on the beach, I thought I knew what I was doing. But, put me on a early 20th century or late 19th century site and I don't even know what a good target sounds like anymore. Shotgun shells, aluminum wine/liquor bottle twist offs and copper nails are killing me into total confusion and frustration. Maybe testing this trash by lifting the coil a foot or so is the key. IDK. I am going back to the beach to keep the love of the hobby and where I have confidence in my machine.

I don't know of any machine that will disc out those items and still ring out good on other keeper targets in that range. You can always hit the reject button on a particular I.D. number that pollutes the site, but, other targets that read the same will also be killed off.

 

[HighVDI]

Makes me laugh because theres over a dozen people commenting in here that hunt all different sites! Hahah. Everyone here knows if you disc out certian items you will lose other good targets. Nothing is set in stone here. Maybe someones main goal is to not dig one bottle cap all day.....or to never dig a zinc penny no matter how many gold rings they miss. Different strokes.

 

[vferrari]

As High VDI and Cuda said, no machine can disc out non-ferrous trash (aluminum screw caps (duh), pull tabs, copper nails (seriously?), shotgun shells (again seriously?), ), that is just physics.

Regarding iron nails, a lot of complaining but no mention of whether iron bias (especially the new more effective F2 setting) is being used. Please post back once you all get a handle on how to properly set up the machine to mitigate falsing. Minelab provided the features, but only you can choose to use them.

The Equinox is not Harry Potter's magic wand, it is just a vlf detector, and like all induction balance machines has limitations and can't work miracles. Learn a little about the physics of the detector and then you won't look so foolish complaining about things that cannot be solved with this type of technology multi frequency or not. Multifrequency merely helps with salt balancing on the beach and enables a broader range of targets to be ID'd at depth without the limitations inherent in single frequency machiens. This means it should hit about as well on gold jewelry and mid-conductive brass and lead relics as well as it does on silver coins, where single frequency machines tend to favor one or the other depending on the operating frequency it uses. It also means that mid-conductive brass and aluminum junk (shotgun shells and pull tabs and screw caps) are also going to get pinged as well. Gaining some experience with the machine to understand the tonal nuances that occur with irregularly shaped junk, use of the pinpointer to get clues as to the footprint of the target (so you know the difference between a quarter and an aluminum beer can which will ring up similarly) and multi mode interrogation techniques can up your treasure to trash ratio a little, but if you expect any machine to tell you the difference between a shotgun shell and civil war coat button, please reset your expectations and take a reality check that with detecting practically nothing is 100% certain and always involves balancing tradeoffs.

No one likes to show their trash pile when showing off their keepers, so some less experienced folks get the false impression that no one but them is digging trash out there. Uh, nope.

Gotta take the good...





With the bad...

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Apparently some of you think the Equinox is magical. Only finding the good stuff, and leaving the rest in the ground? Not gonna happen! If it sounds even questionably good, DIG IT! Yeah your gonna dig some trash, there's no way around it. 90% of the time I can call an aluminum screw cap, or even a rusty crown cap. On the other 10% I still sometimes get a nice surprise. I still dig them out though to not only clean them out of the site, but sometimes they are in the upper layer and can be laying over the top of something else older and deeper that might be awesome. Hunt in 50 tones, and learn to wiggle the coil side to side over a target. Doing this will help, but it's not a tell all.

 

[nuggetdog]

I upgraded from a BH Tracker 4 to an equinox, wow what a difference, I love this machine. From day one I was blown away by its ability to separate trash from goodies, sure I still dig a few pull tabs, bottle caps, beaver tails etc: but who doesn’t. I’m so impressed with this machine I’m getting another one to use as backup.

 

[HighVDI]

I've never dug any trash....said nobody telling the truth.