tjarrett -- I don't know what "coin setup" you were using, so it's hard to say if you would miss rings, and stuff.
To me, the best way to learn the machine is choose your mode (I'd suggest Park 1 if you are primarily a coin hunter as it sounds like you are), and set it up like this:
somewhere around 5 reactivity
somewhere around 4 iron bias
somewhere around 20 sensitivity (up or down, as needed, to achieve a "stable" machine AFTER you noise cancel and set your ground balance using the "auto" balancing option)
and -- 50 tones.
I know, many will tell you that 50 tones is "too much to listen to at first," and it WILL be...at first. BUT -- in my opinion you lose out on ALOT of information that the machine can provide, through it's audio language (and all the nuances therein) if you try to run only a few tones. It's like telling me I can type this message, but only use a 10-word vocabulary. Why limit what the machine is capable of telling you? Of COURSE you won't understand much of what it is saying to you, at first. But, in time, it will become clear to you -- and once used to its language, you WILL be able to hear things in the nuance of the language that a "3-tone" or "5-tone" user can't/won't.
Finally, I'd do one more thing. I'd hit the "horseshoe" button, taking off all disc, so that you can "hear" the iron. The Equinox has a unique feature where the iron audio in the 50 tone/multi-tone setting is VERY low-pitched, and "unobtrusive." The machine, in 50-tone, assigns a VERY low pitch to -9 targets (iron), and then a tiny notch higher of a pitch for -8 targets, and then a tiny notch higher for -7 targets, etc., all the way up to -1. THEN -- a change occurs, that I feel is excellent. The "0" target ID (roughly the break point between ferrous and non-ferrous) jumps up MUCH higher in tone, as compared to the -1 target -- so you CLEARLY can hear the difference between the "highest" of the ferrous tones, and the "lowest" of the non-ferrous tones. From there, a "1" ID is a tiny notch higher of a pitch than 0, 2 is slightly higher than 1, etc., all the way up to 40. SO -- my long-winded point is that all 50 ID numbers on the unit are assigned their own pitch/tone, slightly higher than the previous ID number -- BUT you have that "switchover" between -1 and 0, where you jump up SIGNIFICANTLY in pitch from -1 to 0. This keeps the iron "audible," but kind of "in the background," since it sounds so much lower in pitch than your non-ferrous targets.
Anyway, running your machine this way, you will hear a lot of sounds, but you will learn what all those sounds mean, in time. And running it this way, you will definitely hear BOTH coins AND rings/jewelry. You will learn to use your EARS as a discriminator, instead of the machine's disc. settings.
Anyway, that's just what I'd suggest. If you don't like this answer, that's totally fair! In that case, tell me specifically how you set your machine up in a "coin setup," and I will then tell you if the way it is set up would still allow you not to "miss rings," which was your question.
As for jumpiness -- I'd say yes AND no. If you are SURE it is a single target, and it's jumpy on the ID, then yes, it's very likely junk. BUT -- since the machine is so fast, and the coil so "sharp" or "tight," the unit is EXCELLENT at seeing targets very close together. SO, say you have a nickel a few inches from a quarter. As you sweep over those two targets, YES, the ID will be "jumpy," but it will be because of the two targets in close proximity, in that case. But in general, yes, jumpy ID = junk target. Only a couple of numbers of deviation (or, in the case of something really deep, maybe 5 or 6 or 7 digits of "jump") means a likely rounder/better target.
Steve
