First, the PDF manual is really good, here's the link:
https://www.minelab.com/__files/f/326548/EQUINOX 600 800 Instruction Manual EN
Pretty much just use the defaults at first they are pretty good.
Park 1 (5 tones)/Field 1 (2 tones) for coins as they are weighted for high conductors, though as Multifrequency they will still hit on mid-conductor like gold jewelry, Nickels, lead, and brass.
Park 2/Field 2 for Relics (default is 50 Tones for both but you can set it on 5 Tones if you desire). They are optimized for mid-conductors which holds for most relics but you will still hit high conductive coins too.
Other Tips:
Each mode is like a separate detector which means that you must separately EMI noise cancel and ground balance (if necessary) each mode separately if you use more than one mode at a site. (see the quick startup guide for the sequence of doing this). Recommend running an EMI noise cancel at the beginning of each hunt and if you start to encounter interference during the hunt.
Ground balance is not necessary for most modes unless the ground is somewhat mineralized or the ground phase varies a lot over the site you are detecting. Ground balancing is relatively easy, though, so I recommend spending the extra few seconds doing it. Defintiely do it if when you swing the coil in all metal mode you get a lot of jumpy high negative numbers (-9 to -7), that is ferrous ground noise and indicates that ground balance is needed. If the ground is mild to heavily mineralized you can just put GB in tracking mode and then not worry about it. No real downside to doing this. I just wouldn't do it at the beach were there is minimal to no mineralization since that can mess up the tracking algorithm which relies on the presence of a least a little mineralization to make ground phase adjustments.
The detector does not have a lot of modulation for shallow or large targets and the depth meter lacks accuracy. Use the pinpoint feature to get a bead on whether a target is shallow or large by the pinpoint volume and by sweeping over the target to determine its size boundaries.
The all metal pushbutton on the control panel is a great tool to instantly remove all discrimination or notches to listen as to whether you might be getting mixed ferrous and non-ferrous tones which indicate likely iron (though you can never be 100% sure unless you dig it all). Good way to ferret out things like rusty crowncaps that ring up right around nickels.
Listen to the tones - they give a lot more information about the nature of the target than just the target ID which is a single number. Flutey tones and variable target IDs are indicative of likely trash, for example, but some legitimate targets can also have slightly variable IDs and tones at depth.
Avoid the tendency to mode hop and switch settings. Pick a mode based on the desired target group (e.g., Field 2 for a relic site) and stick there until you get used to the machine. Don't change the default settings. Stick with the default recovery speed and iron bias. I don't really care for iron bias because it can mask keepers in thick iron but it does cut back on falsing a bit. Don't fall into the trap of trying to lower recovery speed to gain depth. This will introduce more ground noise because you will have to swing slower so going to extremes either way is not good. Maybe lower it perhaps one click from its default setting in each mode. BTW p. 62 of the online manual defines all the default settings for each mode.
Rough Target IDs:
Nickels are typically solid 13 with some variability if they are corroded. War nickels have more ID variability because of their variable silver content.
Zincolns are at 20/21 if not too corroded (then they might ring up lower)
Copper Pennies - 22 ish
Dimes mid-to-high 20's
Quarters low 30's
Pull tabs and can slaw hang out in low to mid teens.
Gold jewelry, anywhere from low single digits up to high teens or 20.
Minie balls are high teens
Brass Buttons are below minie balls mid to high teens.
Have fun, its a great detector if you are patient with it and learn what it is trying to tell you. Don't over think it and don't over tweak it.
HTH HH
