First hour out with new Equinox 600.

tinsmith · May 31, 2020

First I have to say I thought having used a Xterra 705 for 5-6 years meant I wouldn't even need the book when the new 600 cometh.. Wrong!
I first made the mistake of turning it on in the house!! I had to turn that sensitivity way way down and still I wouldn't trust any settings done in MY house anyway. Once I got out in the yard I did a factory reset because in the fury inside I hit all kinds of settings. Then chose Park 1, noise cancel, auto ground balance. I've pounded our yard already with every coil on the 705 the largest a 10.5" so I thought this would be a good test for the nox. As expected I dug some deep canslaw and just poked around reading junk type signals. I then hit a clean sounding hit reading 30 on the VDI. I couldn't believe this target was a tiny brass 22 cal half eaten away casing at 8-9 inches! Wow I thought this thing is going to tire me out fast! I had to get out of the hot sun so I went up alongside the old house we live in and thought well let's see what a US quarter will do. Now I well know about the halo effect and how a test garden isn't worth a damn until the targets have been in a while. But... I don't have a test garden. I go directly to a park usually. It's Saturday and people have been all over parks so home I stay. So I bury a quarter 6-7" . The 600 with stock 11" coil doesn't see anything . Ok fresh lose dirt. So I bring the clad quarter up to 4" , it still hits nothing. I check the settings, re noise cancel and auto ground balance over a non signal area near by. Nothing! So I move the quarter up to barely 2" maybe less and finely Im getting a hit that sounds like its 10 inches but no its my 2inch quarter and now I'm sure something must be going on and probably because I'm too close to the house, about 8 feet. I lowered and raised the sensitivity a few times but no help so again I go all metal hitting the horse shoe button and the same but Im getting a hum in the ground all around this burried quarter at only 2inches.
I'm not blaming this machine, the new 600. This thing had just hit a deep 22 cal eaten up shell out in the yard. Too close to the house? Strange hum in all metal from ground? I'm not sure but next time out, tomorrow, I'm going to a park the real time real target tests.

Lee1968 · May 31, 2020

My personal experience -
The only time I use the all metal mode, is in fields and woods. In parks and yards, I use Park 1. In a trashy park, I discriminate out all of the signals below 12, plus 15 and 16. This will keep you from finding small gold items, but it will quiet the machine down quite a bit. Not sure why this makes a difference, but I will also change frequency at times. Yesterday, I was on 15 frequency, and I got a small chirp in one direction on a target. I couldn't get it to repeat, until I went to 5, then got a steady 22 in both directions. Another thing with me is I have to tell myself to slow down. It is definitely different than the ATPro I was using, but after a year of having it, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Beachhunter · May 31, 2020

In the all metal mode what you’re hearing is the Threshold hum. It can be adjusted up or down.

tinsmith · May 31, 2020

Beachhunter said:
In the all metal mode what you’re hearing is the Threshold hum. It can be adjusted up or down.

Thanks, I think park 1 has the threshold at 0. I just switched to all metal from park 1 for a minute. Trying things. I wrote that poorly.

You know I took the same 1990 clad quarter and brought it over to a wood table outside and air tested it. Was getting solid 29-30 at least 10" away. Throw it back in the 2" whole 8 feet from the side of the house. Cover with dirt and its a weak bouncy hit. ? ? I don't get it.

jmaclen · May 31, 2020

8 feet from you house may be too close. My house is full of EMI and so is my backyard. The Nox using 2 or 3 simultaneous frequencies is very susceptible to EMI that you can hear through speaker/headphones and by the really jumpy numbers. It is also effected by silent EMI that does not register a response on the detector.

I can run my Nox at 14 sensitivity tops in my backyard no matter what mode or frequencies I use. Air testing and fresh in ground testing is a joke in these conditions. If you noise cancel, ground balance, and lower the sensitivity until you get no numerical target IDs showing up on the display with the detector away from the ground, you can proceed with testing but don't expect much. If you are still getting a hum with the coil near the ground your ground balance may be incorrect.

I have an established test garden in very high mineralized dirt. My Nox will easily hit and correctly ID 6 to 8" targets even at 14 sensitivity in my test garden that single frequency detectors will barely respond over and either give no numerical target ID or totally wrong ones.

tinsmith · Jun 1, 2020

jmaclen said:
8 feet from you house may be too close. My house is full of EMI and so is my backyard. The Nox using 2 or 3 simultaneous frequencies is very susceptible to EMI that you can hear through speaker/headphones and by the really jumpy numbers. It is also effected by silent EMI that does not register a response on the detector.

I can run my Nox at 14 sensitivity tops in my backyard no matter what mode or frequencies I use. Air testing and fresh in ground testing is a joke in these conditions. If you noise cancel, ground balance, and lower the sensitivity until you get no numerical target IDs showing up on the display with the detector away from the ground, you can proceed with testing but don't expect much. If you are still getting a hum with the coil near the ground your ground balance may be incorrect.

I have an established test garden in very high mineralized dirt. My Nox will easily hit and correctly ID 6 to 8" targets even at 14 sensitivity in my test garden that single frequency detectors will barely respond over and either give no numerical target ID or totally wrong ones.

Thanks, I believe your absolutely right. My small yard is no place to test detectors. My point should be, it's my first time out with the 600 and wow these are sensitive machines. So the real story is how I dug a 8-9" 22 cal casing. While out 40 - 50' in the side yard.

maxxkatt · Jun 5, 2020

I was in field 2 hunting civil war relics and it is common to find .22 short casing 7 to 8 inches then later hit a small jeans like rivet about the same depth. Yes the 800 and and 600 are very sensitive in mild soil with the proper ground balance. Sometimes that is good, sometimes that is annoying when hunting relics. When CW hunting relics I find it is not too advisable to discrim out almost anything.

First hour out with new Equinox 600.

tinsmith

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Lee1968

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Beachhunter

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tinsmith

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jmaclen

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tinsmith

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maxxkatt

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