Equinox on the beach info?

[MikeRo]

Heading to Florida on monday. My wife is "allowing me" to take my Eq 800. Ive hunted briefly on the beach near myrtle, so i know the basics of the machines beach modes. Anybody have any info, tips, advice for beach hunting? I will be on the gulf side...Anna Maria island. Thanks

 

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[cudamark]

Without knowing the exact makeup of the particular beach you'll be hunting, I can only give you the basics. I like Park 1 for dry sand and Beach 2 for wet and water. Sensitivity as high as it can remain stable. Iron bias on F2 @6 if bottle caps are a problem....lower if it's not. recovery speed @4 or so depending on chatter in the wet.....higher if you're around the fire rings and/or a target rich area. Horseshoe on so you can hear the iron. Pretty much dig everything that isn't a dead iron sound/number. If you have black sand, you may have to dig some real iffy scratchy signals mixed with iron tones. If a target disappears after the first scoop or two, dig deeper. Deep targets can do that. If you start finding several good target in an area, grid it. At an unknown beach, I like to zig zag from dry sand to surf. Once you have recovered a few targets, you can get an idea of where they are on the beach/slope/water. I then concentrate on that area by working parallel to the shore and try to follow the "treasure trough".

 

[midalake]

Without knowing the exact makeup of the particular beach you'll be hunting, I can only give you the basics. I like Park 1 for dry sand and Beach 2 for wet and water. Sensitivity as high as it can remain stable. Iron bias on F2 @6 if bottle caps are a problem....lower if it's not. recovery speed @4 or so depending on chatter in the wet.....higher if you're around the fire rings and/or a target rich area. Horseshoe on so you can hear the iron. Pretty much dig everything that isn't a dead iron sound/number. If you have black sand, you may have to dig some real iffy scratchy signals mixed with iron tones. If a target disappears after the first scoop or two, dig deeper. Deep targets can do that. If you start finding several good target in an area, grid it. At an unknown beach, I like to zig zag from dry sand to surf. Once you have recovered a few targets, you can get an idea of where they are on the beach/slope/water. I then concentrate on that area by working parallel to the shore and try to follow the "treasure trough".

I concur with everything above, except I hunt in full discrimination mode and recovery 6.
Go to horseshoe mode for every target that wants to ring in and investigate more as to dig or not. Everything that double rings in horseshoe mode is iron, unless the display number confirms different.

Dave

 

[saanich2018]

I agree except that I use Beach 1 for dry sand.

 

[Dirt Duke]

Sadly, they just completed the latest beach renourishing project from 78th St in Holmes Beach down to the southern end of the island at Coquina Beach. Expect slim pickings. I've spent many hours hunting that beach. Sand is very pure. Set GB to zero. Park 1 or Beach 1 for the dry, Beach 2 for the wet and the water.
Watch where you park and check the signs for parking rules. Good place to start is Manatee Public Beach. Get there early before the crowds. Good parking.

 

[ColonelDan]

Heading to Florida on monday. My wife is "allowing me" to take my Eq 800. Ive hunted briefly on the beach near myrtle, so i know the basics of the machines beach modes. Anybody have any info, tips, advice for beach hunting? I will be on the gulf side...Anna Maria island. Thanks

I agree with cudamark but in the dry sand, I normally use Beach 1 and Park 1 at 4kHz only to check iffy deeper targets. I have used Park 1 at 4kHz for general hunting the dry but in my area, Beach 1 seems to work best for me.

 

[cudamark]

I've tried every mode in the dry sand at the beach, and around here anyway, Park 1 gets the best depth and stability combination. Beach 1 works fine too, but, Park 1 just seems a bit better for general hunting. The gold modes can work great there too depending on what you're trying to find. It's killer on tiny gold jewelry like stud earrings and tiny link chains.

 

[MikeRo]

Only ended up getting a few short morning hunts in..... about 3hrs total. As Dirt Duke said, they had just renourished the entire beach, so signals were scarce. I was surprised how smooth the Equinox runs in the wet sand & surf. Thanks everyone for the tips & advice..... got me started on the right foot!

Found mostly in the wet sand & surf, which was a lot of fun! I did lose a few really good sounding high tones in the shallow surf.... I figured I would buy a sand scoop down here, but nobody on the island or close by had one!