Very early thoughts on the Equinox/for new users potential purchasers

[DFX-SE Gregg]

Remember these are very early thoughts as I only have 3 hunts in.
Please remember I am not new to detecting started in 1980.. returning after a long break...
The Good
Thanks to members on a few sites... and some you tube videos.. the good first
Good
#1 The tones... listen to the tones learn the differences... like them and already can tell a few coins apart

#2 depth range I am dealing with partially frozen ground... but have found my first silver coin with the nox 800...during my 3rd hunt.
The reason I started back up with the nox...(still own a dfx and explorer se as well as an old coinmaster 6000) was to slow down and hunt out hunted areas to see if I could still have some good finds...

But I have a feeling this detector is going to be like the Explorer SE better depth and will find that deeper silver...

#3 Pinpointing I actually like it... and forcing myself to use the standard coil before I switch to the 6 inch coil but I will start rotating based on area soon...

I personally am used to the smaller eclipse 5.3 and 6 inch double "D" coils in the trashy areas I hunt... but want to learn with the stock coil...

#4 Lightweight...Lightweight with the 11 inch coil...can imagine when I throw the 6 inch on...

#5 ThE 800 has adjustable features where you can save a few of your own programs, and can adjust the backlight 3 levels...I like this feature as I do night hunt too...and the added frequencies does not hurt...

The BAD
#1 I personally do not like the TID... the target Id is not what you expect on an upper end detector... it bounces around a little with at least 2 numbers...and does not lock in very well and I watched several videos where they simply could have spaced out the readings instead of cramming them all together... Your general coins are all crammed between 13 to 30....and several are overlapping!

#2 The depth indicator is more of a rough estimate then a true reading... It is reading 4 inches when at times it is 1-2... and showing 6 to 8 when it is often 3-4... I understand the grass and ground level plays a role.. but with my dfx it actually shows in inches with numbers and is always very close...

#3 I see a TON of people advising first timers to start with the Equinox...for several reasons I would NOT advise a newbie to start with the 800...I know there are success stories for some new...but I am 100% more closet queens then there should be!...

First cost... someone new might not realize digging holes takes a little effort... reality is NOT digging a coin spill or treasures all the time lol... due to the issues I mention.. new maybe start with something a little easier..if I had not had an explorer in the past... I doubt I would have liked this one... but I will learn it and it will pay for itself..

I am also going to prepare a question list for those like me newer with the detector...in the next week or two...

Oh editing to ADD>>> if you are getting to much chatter even after turning sensitivity down... try turning your cell phone off while hunting...or switch modes on phone...

 

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[DFX-SE Gregg]

Adding as a negative... location and shape of power button on the nox... should move to front of unit so it is an easy on/off....not the easiest to turn on/off especially on the side...

As I learn the detector more will add to the list with both positive and negative...the purpose being to help others either learning or thinking of purchasing...

 

[eddie13]

I’ve been working hard to learn the EQ.. I have only ever had analog detectors before that just find anything..

I’m getting there and had a bit of a breakthrough last night detecting..
I found that I can work it a whole lot better staring at the ground where the coil is and listening to it rather than trying to use the screen to get its information I need..

I was in a situation where I had about 4-8” of clean sand on top of hard packed and rocky fill.. Artificial beach type area.. The full underneath was full of junk and very difficult to dig in, and imo very unlikely to have much good in it..
I decided that I was NOT going to dig anything in the underpayment fill, and only dig in the top sand, and then realized that I could totally hear the difference in something shallow than something deep, including pinpointing..

Something quite shallow I can hear as it passes the coil outsides and middle. 3 beeps as it goes across a lot of the time, and something shallow will pinpoint to a very small spot instead of a bigger target area..

Figuring this out I was able to pretty easily ignore all the deep junk that I didn’t want to dig to china for, and quickly recover targets in the shallower sand layer..

Discrimination was also much better detecting this way.. I dug all shallow targets and it did a great job with discrimination on them..

Didn’t find much but a handful of modern coins but it’s feeling good that I’m starting to understand what it’s telling me..

Thing will definitely detect way deeper than I wanted to dig there..
Like 10” and I’m like nope..

 

[cudamark]

Down deep is where the older, and heavier metals are. If you just want shallow fresh drops, you don't need a high end detector.

 

[eddie13]

This place was built in 1998 and the artificial beach area there is even newer than that.. It doesn’t even show on google maps it’s so new..

I just wanted to search the beach sand layer on top of the hard packed underlayment in that scenario..

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

I’ve been working hard to learn the EQ.. I have only ever had analog detectors before that just find anything..

I’m getting there and had a bit of a breakthrough last night detecting..
I found that I can work it a whole lot better staring at the ground where the coil is and listening to it rather than trying to use the screen to get its information I need..

I was in a situation where I had about 4-8” of clean sand on top of hard packed and rocky fill.. Artificial beach type area.. The full underneath was full of junk and very difficult to dig in, and imo very unlikely to have much good in it..
I decided that I was NOT going to dig anything in the underpayment fill, and only dig in the top sand, and then realized that I could totally hear the difference in something shallow than something deep, including pinpointing..

Something quite shallow I can hear as it passes the coil outsides and middle. 3 beeps as it goes across a lot of the time, and something shallow will pinpoint to a very small spot instead of a bigger target area..

Figuring this out I was able to pretty easily ignore all the deep junk that I didn’t want to dig to china for, and quickly recover targets in the shallower sand layer..

Discrimination was also much better detecting this way.. I dug all shallow targets and it did a great job with discrimination on them..

Didn’t find much but a handful of modern coins but it’s feeling good that I’m starting to understand what it’s telling me..

Thing will definitely detect way deeper than I wanted to dig there..
Like 10” and I’m like nope..

I have over 100 hunts in now...for me and my style and location... TRASH everywhere modern I switched to the 6 inch coil... so I lose depth but fantastic separation... Reminds me of my old double "D" on another detector...but deeper... Getting up to 6-7 inches with the smaller coil.

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

Down deep is where the older, and heavier metals are. If you just want shallow fresh drops, you don't need a high end detector.

Not a lot of fresh drops since covid... But I am starting to find surface finds lately...

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

This place was built in 1998 and the artificial beach area there is even newer than that.. It doesn’t even show on google maps it’s so new..

I just wanted to search the beach sand layer on top of the hard packed underlayment in that scenario..

If you are just trying to go a few inches and are worried about deeper junk... What I find with my deeper finds is the opposite of what Nox users told me here...`I find my deeper finds are often just a short blip with scattered readings..NOT just the solid signal and one number... I look for good readings within the scattered signals and that works well for me... I focus on the numbers for scattered signals and often now I am pulling coins with the tabs and bottlecaps with them!

 

[eddie13]

If you are just trying to go a few inches and are worried about deeper junk... What I find with my deeper finds is the opposite of what Nox users told me here...`I find my deeper finds are often just a short blip with scattered readings..NOT just the solid signal and one number... I look for good readings within the scattered signals and that works well for me... I focus on the numbers for scattered signals and often now I am pulling coins with the tabs and bottlecaps with them!

So anything that even blips to a good number even from irony numbers?

Do you not dig tab and cap readings usually?

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

So anything that even blips to a good number even from irony numbers?

Do you not dig tab and cap readings usually?

Yes on first question... what I do is if I see good numbers like 25, 30 26 mixed in I dig even if it sounds like a pulltab/14. This is quite the opposite of what I was told... it helps...

My nickels are coming in as low as 11 to 14... 14 seems to mainly be a pulltab number for me... I try to learn the exact sound and work around it... Anything that screams out... I dig even if a bottle top... some of my most valuable finds with different detectors have been those loud audibles/numbers... Had a very large silver ring a month ago sounded like a can...

Also several years ago with my Whites dfx.. I had a loud can type reading... dug it.. It was two very large gold rings! Still till today my best single finds.

What I like about the Equinox is it might give you a 14...a pulltab and jump to a 29/30.... and I dig a quarter with the pull tab! That is what I like the Whites signa graph would go crazy and bars would jump everywhere making you think it was trash... For me swinging over several times and knowing those good numbers and tones help...

On the other side a guy walked up to me and buried his 18k gold ring I swung over it... and it came up an 18 like a cent! But I dig the cent signals as painful as all those Zincolns can be to look at... that made me stick to digging them... or I say I will at least dig 10 signals from 16 to 24/25 bouncing around a hunt...

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

#2 The depth indicator is more of a rough estimate then a true reading... It is reading 4 inches when at times it is 1-2... and showing 6 to 8 when it is often 3-4... I understand the grass and ground level plays a role.. but with my dfx it actually shows in inches with numbers and is always very close...

Keep in mind Metal Detectors are tuned for a coin size objects. Anything bigger or smaller or laying flat can change that. I've never seen a detector yet that was accurate on everything.