I’m not sure if it’s me or I’m expecting better results. I’ll put a silver dime 7” deep and I expect the equinox to hit that no problem and it’s very very iffy if not won’t hit it in different modes. Our mineralization in our ground is mid to high range. The 800 ground balances from the 40s to 80s. Even on the same property I’ll get different ground balances in different areas, so I’m just starting to use tracking. I’ve been using the equinox now for a while. I was one of the first ones to receive one and detect very often, and having had other detectors I was expecting it to hit a dime at 7 inches with an 11 inch coil. I’m kind of disappointed. I hope it’s just me or conditions.
If your ground is highly mineralized, then depth is going to suffer big time unless you go with a PI machine (but that comes with its own problems). No way around it. I hunt Culpeper, VA regularly and it has some of the worst ground around. You cannot get reliable TIDs greater than 4-5 inches in most spots and deeper than that everything sounds like iron, and you can't hear anything greater than 8 or 9". So if your ground is mid to high mineralization, then I am not surprised by your results. In fact, I am impressed you can hit it that deep. But like I have said previously, do not obsess over a single target type or obsess over depth, frankly. Try other targets than your lucky silver dime, including other dimes, pennies, quarters, buttons, and minie balls to see how your machine responds across the board.. But frankly, I will only worry if I am not picking up any targets. I don't use test gardens to figure out how deep a detector can find a target, I use it to do general comparison testing. No test garden or target can replicate all the conditions you will ever encounter because there are just too many variables. If you are going out to a variety of sites and time after time coming back empty handed then it is time to consider you have the right tool in your hands.
Yeah it’s hot my AT’s always hit in the 80’s. But it usually stays in the 50-60 range but then again I have a hard time ever find a spot with zero noise. Our ground is hot and dirty.
The Dirty South
Be careful about comapring GB numbers between machines. That is basically meaningless, the GB number displayed is just a reference number applicable the specific machine as an operator aid to help in setting ground balance - it is not a parameter that can be compared from machine to machine. Even on the Equinox, each mode needs to be individually ground balanced, and each mode will give a different GB number on the same exact patch of ground. If you have a lot of variability in ground phase reading at a site, then go ahead and use tracking. Very little, if any, down side.
Did you try the AT on the dime? We both have AT's and I know mine will hit it.
That is a good suggestion. But all it may do is cause more anxiety. lol.
I don’t beach hunt much but I had the opportunity couple of weeks ago and I was stunned to see the 800 hit targets deep and it was smacking them. I wonder if I should lower down to 4 or 3 for my depth problem.
If you are talking about recovery speed here (you didn't say) then that might be a good move, but remember, the problem with lowering recovery speed to gain depth is that you will also have to lower sweep speed to compensate and, especially in mineralized ground, may increase the level of ground noise you are picking up. So there is a point of diminishing returns where the raw depth gained by lowering recovery speed is overcome by the increase in the noise floor. If you do tweak recovery speed lower, I would advise against going any more than one or two points away from the default for the mode you are in. Experimentation is good to see how it affects the signal. In fact, taking your single "lucky" silver dime target. Try the various modes, tweak recovery speed to see what that does to the signal, try all metal to see if discrimination has any effect, and then finally, try hitting that dime with single frequencies from 5 through 40 to see how it sounds and reads. Good luck, Truth. Don't drive yourself crazy over depth and a single target.
