I do have a question....Can I just turn on the Nox 800, select Field 1 for old house places, and start detecting? Do I need to ground balance and noise cancel in Field 1? I am just trying to figure out the step by step process to first using the 800 and making sure that I am not forgetting anything. Thanks for any advice that I can get!
V's guide to getting started with Equinox:
Here's how to get started hunting:
Turn On, will come up in Park 1 Detect search profile, if you have already paired a wireless
headset allow it to attempt to reconnect, then select Settings Mode, Noise Cancel for EMI (coil
in the air), Ground Balance, Do not change ANY of the other default settings. Go back to Detect
mode and swing away.
Regarding ground balance - doing an auto ground balance takes about 5 seconds to pump and go, so I recommend doing it as a matter of routine. But the reality is that if you are operating in Multi-frequency you really won't notice a poor ground balance situation because Multi does a good job of not letting that affect non-ferrous target signals. You will only notice it if you are operating with no discrimination selected (e.g., with the horseshoe button enabled, sometimes erroneously referred to as all metal mode - no true unfiltered all metal mode on the Equinox) as continuous -9/-8 TID and associated low tone ferrous grunts. If you don't intend to operate with no disc you won't notice the situation. Also note that ground balance is unique to each mode, each mode ground balances to a different number so if you are going to use more than one mode at a site, you should ground balance both if you plan on operating with no discrimination.
In the Park 1 mode search profile you have a five tone machine (the 5 tone segments
are marked around the outer dial of the display with the first segment -9 to 0 being ferrous and
that is discriminated out by default), TID 13 +/- are nickels but pull tabs and gold jewelry are in
this range too. TID Mid to High 20's and Low 30's are high conductors (copper, silver coins and
jewelry). Play with the pinpointer function with a test target until you get used to it. And if you
want to hear everything in the ground just hit the Horseshoe All Metal Button (very convenient
instant suppression of all disc and notch filters). Park 1 is geared towards high conductive coins
but you will find the whole gamut of targets including mid-conductors like nickels, aluminum
trash, and gold jewelry so it is a great general purpose and learn the machine search profile.
Avoid the temptation to switch search profiles just yet until you get used to the interface and the
way the machine sounds and how it displays targets. Every search profile changes up the
frequency spectrum a little so you can optimize different types of targets and site conditions
(e.g., Park 2 is geared more towards smaller, mid-conductive targets like jewelry but will still hit
on high conductive coins, Field 1 is a two-tone high conductive beep dig search profile, Field 2
is also geared towards mid-conductive targets but more "relic" focused. Beach 1 is designed for
dry and wet salt sand (not freshwater beaches) while Beach 2 is designed for surf and deeper
salt water hunting (up to 3 meters).
Each Search Profile is like a different detector (including the need to separately noise cancel
and ground balance each search profile) so to avoid constantly resetting your learning curve,
stick with Park 1 for now to learn the machine.
Detailed Search Profiles Rundown:
If you make any changes to the search profiles settings, they stick. You can individually reset
the search profiles or reset the entire detector to get back to factory defaults. Check the manual
Each search profile is set up with a frequency spectrum (Multi IQ) that favors certain types of
conductors and has software algorithms and user settings that enhance the resulting signal you
hear assuming certain environmental conditions. The Multi IQ frequency spectrum is comprised
of a combination of all 5 frequencies but the processing for each search profile "favors" or
weighted towards either the high or low frequency signals, even though it "listens" to all the
frequencies. It works out like so (forget about what Minelab called the search profiles because I
think that just confuses things).
Park 1 is weighted towards the lower frequencies in the spectrum and therefore favors high
conductors like pure copper, silver, and clad coins which tend to be detected better/deeper at
low frequencies like 5 and 10 khz. Regardless, all five frequencies are still used so you are also
still going to hit on mid conductors like nickels, brass, aluminum and even gold. This is probably
the best "all around" search profile to use and to learn the machine with. Probably best for coin
shooting in parks and athletic fields.
Park 2 is weighted towards the higher frequencies and will hit harder on the mid-conductors
(nickels, gold) and small targets (earrings, pendants) than Park 1 but will still hit on the high
conductors too, perhaps not to the same depth as Park 1, though. Good search profile if you
want to zero in on jewelry, especially gold jewelry. But will hit small silver and copper jewelry
and also coins as well. Some like to use this search profile for relic hunting, too.
Field 1 is similar to Park 1 in that it is biased towards high conductors, but is a two tone search
profile. Have not used this search profile at all.
Field 2 is similar to Park 2 in that it is biased towards mid-conductors. It has slight differences in
ferrous/non-ferrous tone break and recovery speed vs. Park 2. This search profile is my favorite
relic hunting search profile and the search profile I have found the most old silver with (because
that silver was in the same fields as the relics I was hunting).
Beach 1 is biased to high conductors and is for dry and wet sand salt beaches. Great search
profile for beach hunting. Don't be fooled by the fact that it biased to high conductors, it will find
gold, too.
Beach 2 is able to deal with the ground phase effects of changing salinity better than Beach 1
and is suited for salt surf and underwater detecting. Same targets as Beach 1 but under water.
[Gold search profile is 800 ONLY]
The Gold search profiles are very different than the other search profiles in that they use VCO
audio which varies pitch and volume based on proximity to the target (similar to pinpoint mode).
Gold 1 is suited to milder ground and Gold 2 is suited to more mineralized ground. The both are
optimized for gold so, again, even though they are multi-frequency, they favor the high
frequencies (mid-conductors).
Each of the search profiles are very different in how they sound and behave. Therefore, I
would stick with a single search profile (Park 1 if land hunting or Beach 1 if beach
hunting) to learn the machine before search profile hopping. Because the machine uses
multi-frequencies, it is unlikely that you will actually be missing out much despite the fact that
the search profile may "favor" certain types of conductors. It still sees practically everything.
Single frequency modes can be useful under specific situations but you lose some Multi IQ features such as ground compensation (you can still do a ground balance to eliminate ground noise, it is just in single frequency you may notice ground noise more if out of balance) and there is no iron bias in single frequency. 4 khz (just added with the last firmware update) is a great deep silver mode and the higher frequencies of 20 khz and 40 khz tend to be more immune to EMI, hit mid conductive targets like relics and jewelry harder, but also don't penetrate into the ground as well so your depth is more limited.
Final tip - download and read the electronic PDF user guide - it is pretty comprehensive and provides types not only specific to Equinox but that apply to detecting in general. Lots of tidbits, extra info, and "exceptions to the rules" in the blue inset text boxes.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting
