On the Equinox 800 pulltab numbers equal gold?

[NSC]

7.4 gram of 18k white gold TID 17

 

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[vferrari]

Nice.

 

[fuceye]

I trained my equinox to scream "dig me" when it detects gold....when it turns out to be a pull tab it chuckles "ha ha"

 

[smokeythecat]

I like the 74 kHz frequency the best.

 

[Possum]

Dig it all between 5 and 15 (stable) for gold jewelry, just like any machine, if you want to be 100% sure because the gold composition varies and rings up in the aluminum trash range. Not a machine thing, that's a gold thing and if you want to try to game the system, learn the audio. I don't dig unstable numbers in the single digits. Crown caps are totally obvious to me now without any special tricks (look for unstable numbers, flutey tones, or in the absence of that, telltale iron buzz off the coil edge). Pennies are 20/21 unless really corroded then they can dip down to 18/19 (either way, easy to ignore and move on) and dimes/quarters/silver jewelry are pretty obvious from tone and VDI. I do get "fooled" by multi type coin spills which cause variable VDI's but strong audio says dig anyway, and that is always a pleasant surprise.

VF, Today Truth" and I were hunting a church which was established in 1875 and I was getting some solid "9" VDI and an occasional "8" from sweep and cross sweep of my coil, the VDI stayed locked and the tone remained solid and clean, well of course I thought about it a moment and yep you guessed it I walked away. After reading this thread I feel like kicking myself, not saying it was anything good, but there again it could've been something. I suppose I've gotten a little complacent and lazy, but I will go back and see what those solid "9's" and "8's" actually are thanks to this thread.... Thanks all for the info, as always you'll certainly learn a lot from y'all... "D"

 

[TomNWMI]

I've found 8 gold items now with my Nox800. They ranged from 8 on a small, thin, nugget ring, to 22 on a BIG man's gold band. I've also found lots of tiny jewelry (not gold) in the 4- 10 range.....earrings, charms, chains, etc. I have some test gold jewelry I've played with in air tests that have given me readings all the way down to 1, although I have yet to find one reading that in a "real" hunt. At the beach, if you don't want to miss anything good, you have to dig it all in the non-ferrous range.

Definitely have to dig the low 20's to get the decent size yellow gold bands. There is a large spread in numbers between yellow gold and white gold.

The 2 white gold bands I have found so far both ring in at 16 while a small 10K yellow gold band came in at 18 and a decent size 14K hit mostly at 22 but bounced up/down by a number.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

What happens when you place 14K acid directly on the hoop earring? I've had some gold filled items which passed the acid test on an emery board, but once I put a drop of 14k acid on them, instant green foam. That 10K ring showing a TID of 14 caught my attention. Is that a solid repeatable 14 or does it bounce to 15?

Wow! Now I'm convinced the hoop earring really is gold. I did as you suggested, put a drop of the 14k acid right on it, actually several drops, and it hung right in there. Did not stain it either.

The 10K ring is a solid 14 on a very tight swing, no bouncing.

 

[flgliderpilot]

Wow! Now I'm convinced the hoop earring really is gold. I did as you suggested, put a drop of the 14k acid right on it, actually several drops, and it hung right in there. Did not stain it either.

The 10K ring is a solid 14 on a very tight swing, no bouncing.

Nice! Make sure you scratched through the surface though just in case it's plated... I usually scratch it hard on sand paper, file, cement, etc, and then drop the acid on it.

Sounds good so far!

 

[CoinFetcher]

My nice nugget band was 17.

Pull tabs are a blessing. One target closer to gold

 

[CharlesUpstateNY]

VF, Today Truth" and I were hunting a church which was established in 1875 and I was getting some solid "9" VDI and an occasional "8" from sweep and cross sweep of my coil, the VDI stayed locked and the tone remained solid and clean, well of course I thought about it a moment and yep you guessed it I walked away. After reading this thread I feel like kicking myself, not saying it was anything good, but there again it could've been something. I suppose I've gotten a little complacent and lazy, but I will go back and see what those solid "9's" and "8's" actually are thanks to this thread.... Thanks all for the info, as always you'll certainly learn a lot from y'all... "D"

You need a dig/don't dig check list. Here's mine...

1. Is the tone stable when I circle the target sweeping from multiple directions or does it change? Ditto for target ID but you can hear shapes in the tones. Round targets like coins and rings are pretty stable, not much variation. The shape of odd shaped trash targets tends to change when sweeping from different angles.

2. Does the target stay put when I pinpoint from different angles? Coins and rings stay put, odd shaped trash not so much. One exception to the rule, on edge coins. Go do some air tests on coins and rings straight up on edge, they have a distinct behavior when swept. Practice sweeping them from both angles, they behave differently in line with your coil vs sideways to your coil. Keep a sharp ear peeled for those odd ball sounding targets as the Equinox can actually get a hit on them where they were invisible to Explorers.

3. Depth, if I'm hunting and older site and I know the old stuff starts around X inches deep I'm more likely to dig an iffy target at that depth or deeper, below the modern trash. Pick an older site and dedicate one hunt to simply digging anything at the OLD target depth and deeper that's not iron. Its an eye opener.

 

[Possum]

You need a dig/don't dig check list. Here's mine...

1. Is the tone stable when I circle the target sweeping from multiple directions or does it change? Ditto for target ID but you can hear shapes in the tones. Round targets like coins and rings are pretty stable, not much variation. The shape of odd shaped trash targets tends to change when sweeping from different angles.

2. Does the target stay put when I pinpoint from different angles? Coins and rings stay put, odd shaped trash not so much. One exception to the rule, on edge coins. Go do some air tests on coins and rings straight up on edge, they have a distinct behavior when swept. Practice sweeping them from both angles, they behave differently in line with your coil vs sideways to your coil. Keep a sharp ear peeled for those odd ball sounding targets as the Equinox can actually get a hit on them where they were invisible to Explorers.

3. Depth, if I'm hunting and older site and I know the old stuff starts around X inches deep I'm more likely to dig an iffy target at that depth or deeper, below the modern trash. Pick an older site and dedicate one hunt to simply digging anything at the OLD target depth and deeper that's not iron. Its an eye opener.

Thanks for the info, I'll certainly put it to use!!! "D"

 

[xr7ator]

By the time you all have gotten to #2 on Charlie's list, I have done bent down, dug the item and gotten back up swinging for the next target.

If it might be treasure, dig it and move on.

Passing up penny signals will cost you gold.

 

[flgliderpilot]

Most earrings wont pass step 1

 

[TomNWMI]

Most earrings wont pass step 1

The 800 is hitting 2 to 3 stud earrings every hunt (fresh water)

CZ 925 open basket setting so not much metal there.

 

[OZARKS]

Your going to find gold and pull tabs in the same TID range many times, if you want to dig gold your going to have to dig the pull tabs.

I knew that...lol Point was that the machine that's supposedly going to obsolete all vlf detectors....you still are back to dig it all for gold, same as if you used a Fisher F2...was my point

 

[vferrari]

I've moved on from ML's ridiculous marketing campaign months ago.

I look at it this way. All I care about are the finds, recovery speed, stability in all water and soil conditions, and versatility of the detector to go from salt surf to sand to coin shooting to relic hunting to Gold prospecting without having to change up machines. That's what sets Equinox apart from many (but not all) machines. It's not going to obsolete VLFs, but I have been able to sell off some more "specialized" rigs because Equinox fills the gap nicely.

Is it Harry Potter's magic wand that is going to tell the difference between alumunim and gold? No. Because no machine using induced magnetic field detection technology can do that due to the similarity between those two metals from a conductivity standpoint. That's just physics and metallurgy. Nothing is going to change the fact that you have to dig pull tabs to find gold with a $900 Equinox just as you would with a $150 F2 unless a new technology is used that can sense a different physical property that can differentiate those metals.

The pulltab to gold question is not really the point, though. The question should be which would I rather take into the surf, Equinox or F75? Which would I rather take relic hunting, Equinox or Excal? Which would I rather take Prospecting, Equinox or CTX 3030? Which would I rather use in wet sand Equinox or AT Pro? Why is the Equinox at least viable in all those situations, while none of the other machines mentioned (all great machines in their own right) would be viable in ALL of those situations. It is not so much about obsoleting all these detectors but being able to get away with fewer detectors to do a variety of different types of detecting. That is what I think Equinox brings to the table.

 

[gene the machine]

Yes, dig it all. On my Deus the gold rings start at 45 and go to about 55, pulltabs maybe 70, so all my guesses have been right so far, but it is better to dig them all. One of my low numbers I thought for sure was aluminum FOIL was a gold ring. No machine has been invented that will 100% give you the correct ID. If you ignore low numbers, you can miss Rev War buttons which are very expensive items!

what frequency are you using to get those TID's Smokey?

 

[gene the machine]

what frequency are you using to get those TID's Smokey?

DOAH!!! i already asked that Smokey... please disregard.

 

[flgliderpilot]

I knew that...lol Point was that the machine that's supposedly going to obsolete all vlf detectors....you still are back to dig it all for gold, same as if you used a Fisher F2...was my point

When CTX owners are choosing their $600-$800 equinox over their $2500 CTX multifreq machine, I'd say it pretty much did obsolete those VLF machines at least for now. Weight, speed, depth, and features, price.

 

[toddbbq]

When CTX owners are choosing their $600-$800 equinox over their $2500 CTX multifreq machine, I'd say it pretty much did obsolete those VLF machines at least for now. Weight, speed, depth, and features, price.

As soon as Minelab sells the large coil I will be selling my CTX but until then I will keep my CTX with the coiltek 14" coil for wet sand only hunts.