Equinox 600 - when to dig

REAL_RAT_FINK said:

My nox 600 arrived 2 weeks ago and I have been putting it to work. For me it has some drawbacks but the good outweighs the bad. I still need a lot more time with this detector. My Nokta Fors Core and I were "in tune" with each other.

I run the Nox on park 2, multi, 20-21 sens, 8 disc, 1 iron bias, recovery speed 1 or 2. Anytime I see a vdi of 20-34, even if its super jumpy and bouncing out of that range I dig it. 35+ has been iron or oddly enough hot rocks so I Ignore those. 12-19 is where most of the targets sit, often jumpy as all get out. I have been digging all these targets but have yet to see a pattern of good target/bad target.

I have been avoiding 8 - 11 vdi. From those of you with nox experience, when do you dig?

Click to expand...

REAL_RAT_FINK said:

My nox 600 arrived 2 weeks ago and I have been putting it to work. For me it has some drawbacks but the good outweighs the bad. I still need a lot more time with this detector. My Nokta Fors Core and I were "in tune" with each other.

I run the Nox on park 2, multi, 20-21 sens, 8 disc, 1 iron bias, recovery speed 1 or 2. Anytime I see a vdi of 20-34, even if its super jumpy and bouncing out of that range I dig it. 35+ has been iron or oddly enough hot rocks so I Ignore those. 12-19 is where most of the targets sit, often jumpy as all get out. I have been digging all these targets but have yet to see a pattern of good target/bad target.

I have been avoiding 8 - 11 vdi. From those of you with nox experience, when do you dig?

Click to expand...

Jason in Enid said:

Very subjective question, "when to dig". what are you calling a good target or a bad target? Are you referring to iron or to pulltabs, or canslaw, or foil?

As for "jumpy" targets, you have spend more time watching how each one reacts and pinpoints and depth reading and tone quality. I can tell a deep a deep coin most of time, there is a certain way the response varies as you swing back and forth over it.

Use the "wiggle" to isolate, use pinpoint to check for iron. If the response varies up and down over THE SAME SPOT, dig it. If the response shifts around, its almost certainly iron. If you get a response and see iron close by, you should still get a pinpoint over the target even though it may get stronger as you slide towards the iron. if you get NO pinpoint over the response but only over the iron, its almost certainly an iron false.

Of course, even with those good rules-of-thumbs, there are always targets that will fool you.

Click to expand...

Ohiodigger said:

I can tell you on my 600, if u are skipping 12-19 you are missing some good stuff. V and Buffalos for me have all been 11-12, Jefferson’s are all 12-13, usually just 13, and all my IHPs have been 18-19, as well as wheats at 18-19.....

Click to expand...

REAL_RAT_FINK said:

This is helpful information. My question is subjective for sure, I'm just wondering the approaches and patterns noticed by other detectorists. My style has always been nickel range and higher PT range VDIs. On my Nokta, a penny was 80-84. Silver rings ranged from 69-84 (generally) and I found a gold ring in this range too. 55-57 were nickels and 58-69 was generally lower vdi pull tabs and lots of garbage. I know im missing some gold but i hunt trashy areas and have my limits.

Can I assume say 16+ on the nox puts me in the higher pulltab spectrum?

Interesting thoughts on the jumpy targets. I think this will require the most practice. I have found depth to usually be wrong and pinpointing to be occasionally helpful.Sounds like something that can only be learned in the field with a lot of practice.

I will definitely listen closer on the pinpointing and up and down tones vs shifting tones. I was unaware of this, a big thanks for this tip!

Click to expand...

ohiochris said:

Learn the target ID numbers for the particular targets you hope to find. Dig those and any that are one or two off... high or low. The nox target ID system isn't the most accurate but its usually not that far off and usually pretty consistent. Just narrow down those dig worthy target ranges.

I personally just look for coins mostly and I skip most pennies and nickels.....its a calculated risk , I know I could possibly be missing gold and the few silvers that might ID in penny range for some reason but if I spend all my time digging junk there is a good chance that's all I will get. I concentrate on dime 25-27 , quarter 29-32 , and anything above those numbers if it appears to be coin sized. Days I don't mind digging clad I dig shallow and deep targets but if I am really wanting silver I maximize my time for finding it by skipping all but the deeper stuff. After you have been using the NOX for a while you develop a fairly accurate sense for how likely a target is to be good vs. trash.

Everybody has their own system , but a detector like the equinox sees more targets than a lot of other detectors do and that means it sees a lot more trash targets that may ID close to good target numbers. That means you either dig more trash or you become more selective about what you dig. I usually choose to be more selective , for the purpose of covering more ground with the time that I have , and digging less trash. But ,.....I almost always hunt high traffic , super trashy ground so if I am not selective I will spend all day in a tiny area and probably have nothing to show for it but the trash.

Click to expand...

ohiochris said:

Learn the target ID numbers for the particular targets you hope to find. Dig those and any that are one or two off... high or low. The nox target ID system isn't the most accurate but its usually not that far off and usually pretty consistent. Just narrow down those dig worthy target ranges.

I personally just look for coins mostly and I skip most pennies and nickels.....its a calculated risk , I know I could possibly be missing gold and the few silvers that might ID in penny range for some reason but if I spend all my time digging junk there is a good chance that's all I will get. I concentrate on dime 25-27 , quarter 29-32 , and anything above those numbers if it appears to be coin sized. Days I don't mind digging clad I dig shallow and deep targets but if I am really wanting silver I maximize my time for finding it by skipping all but the deeper stuff. After you have been using the NOX for a while you develop a fairly accurate sense for how likely a target is to be good vs. trash.

Everybody has their own system , but a detector like the equinox sees more targets than a lot of other detectors do and that means it sees a lot more trash targets that may ID close to good target numbers. That means you either dig more trash or you become more selective about what you dig. I usually choose to be more selective , for the purpose of covering more ground with the time that I have , and digging less trash. But ,.....I almost always hunt high traffic , super trashy ground so if I am not selective I will spend all day in a tiny area and probably have nothing to show for it but the trash.

Click to expand...

Jason in Enid said:

?Need some clarification.... WHERE are you hunting? Are you talking about yards and parks type locations or are you talking about beach hunting?

If you are talking about beach hunting, you dig everything that makes a sound regardless of quality. Gold jewelry will respond anywhere from 01 up to the 20s. Silver will read from the 20s to the 30s depending on size. You truly have to dig everything thats not iron when youre on the beach.

Click to expand...

ohiochris said:

Learn the target ID numbers for the particular targets you hope to find. Dig those and any that are one or two off... high or low. The nox target ID system isn't the most accurate but its usually not that far off and usually pretty consistent. Just narrow down those dig worthy target ranges.

I personally just look for coins mostly and I skip most pennies and nickels.....its a calculated risk , I know I could possibly be missing gold and the few silvers that might ID in penny range for some reason but if I spend all my time digging junk there is a good chance that's all I will get. I concentrate on dime 25-27 , quarter 29-32 , and anything above those numbers if it appears to be coin sized. Days I don't mind digging clad I dig shallow and deep targets but if I am really wanting silver I maximize my time for finding it by skipping all but the deeper stuff. After you have been using the NOX for a while you develop a fairly accurate sense for how likely a target is to be good vs. trash.

Everybody has their own system , but a detector like the equinox sees more targets than a lot of other detectors do and that means it sees a lot more trash targets that may ID close to good target numbers. That means you either dig more trash or you become more selective about what you dig. I usually choose to be more selective , for the purpose of covering more ground with the time that I have , and digging less trash. But ,.....I almost always hunt high traffic , super trashy ground so if I am not selective I will spend all day in a tiny area and probably have nothing to show for it but the trash.

Click to expand...

wmarcin said:

..... I am new to the hobby, so I am not sure I understand how some of these work. I still dig everything, and it's mostly trash. ......

Click to expand...

Ohiodigger said:

I can tell you on my 600, if u are skipping 12-19 you are missing some good stuff. V and Buffalos for me have all been 11-12, Jefferson’s are all 12-13, usually just 13, and all my IHPs have been 18-19, as well as wheats at 18-19.....

Click to expand...