Finding deep coins with Minelab Equinox

What's cool with the Nox 800 is that we don't have to imagine turning it into that 3 tone machine. We can easily customize the tone bins. I've done it to hunt for deep coins and focus more on tone quality and repeatability rather than being misled by jumpy pitches.

Thank you for the insight! Can you be a little more specific about this part of your reply? Are you using 50 tones, or 5 tones with a high pitch on target areas?
 
Thank you for the insight! Can you be a little more specific about this part of your reply? Are you using 50 tones, or 5 tones with a high pitch on target areas?

The Nox has options for 1,2,5,and 50 tones. Of course, many machines are 3 tones, and for good reason. There's a big jump between running 2 tones and 5 tones. The advanced audio options on the 800 (not 600) can simulate a 3 tone machine. Or, a 4 tone machine. The basic idea is to start with the 5 tone setting and then mirror the volume and pitch settings for ranges 2 and 3 and then 4 and 5. For a 4 tone machine you just mirror one of those pairs. You can adjust the breaks, too.

Presto change-o. You now have a 3 tone machine to focus your ear on the general audio characteristics of a signal (depth, size, edges, separation, amount of ferrous content, etc...) while still being able to hear the general variation in conductivity and see the large screen to examine those variations in more detail.

This could be less frustrating for somebody new to detecting and jumps right into a Nox. (Again, unfortunately, you can't do it on an 600.) Or, ear training for a Nox user who just can't seem to hear through all the the complex/jumping audio tones and is missing other important "DIG!" audio characteristics. Ben's video demonstrated some of those other audio characteristics really well.

Why not use 3 tones all the time? Obviously, when your ear can pay attention to more things at once, the extra audio info on tone pitch (i.e., variations in conductivity) can be heard---rather than stopping to look at the screen--and combined with everything else to reach the goal of digging more goodies and less time digging junk.
 
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Dang it!! No, no, no...

Anyone living in the NW Ohio area using an Equinox, do not watch detectorben’s video or read any of TS’s or jmaclen’s detailed posts - they are full of lies and misconceptions! Keep walking past those “jumpy”, deep signals; they’re all junk! :lol:

For everyone else, pay close attention to the video and the discussion here - it’s perhaps the best, most insightful, and easiest to understand demonstration of how the Equinox alerts on deep, desireable targets. Like Longbow62 mentioned, I had to dig a few of these kinds of signals on my own before the lightbulb went on for me...a thread like this would have saved me a lot of trial and error as I was learning the machine!
 
Dang it!! No, no, no...

Anyone living in the NW Ohio area using an Equinox, do not watch detectorben’s video or read any of TS’s or jmaclen’s detailed posts....

Thanks. Ben's video is worth 1000 show and tell videos as far as spurring discussion.

I've experimented with videos. I have a chest mounted GoPro and figured out how to use two mics to hear both the headphone audio and my voice. I'm stuck on the idea of videos that include the discovery of the signal, and having the camera running all the time is both a chore and a distraction. I can see why few people do it and eventually go to turning it on after finding a signal worth featuring, either good or bad. The other option would be short scripted instructional clips. Then there's editing..... I can see why people post unedited videos.

Unfortunately, for the past few months I haven't had much time or opportunity to sniff out much of anything, much less deep shiny silver. I rely largely on private permissions and by March I had pretty much wrapped them up.
 
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Dang it!! No, no, no...

Anyone living in the NW Ohio area using an Equinox, do not watch detectorben’s video or read any of TS’s or jmaclen’s detailed posts - they are full of lies and misconceptions! Keep walking past those “jumpy”, deep signals; they’re all junk! [emoji38]

For everyone else, pay close attention to the video and the discussion here - it’s perhaps the best, most insightful, and easiest to understand demonstration of how the Equinox alerts on deep, desireable targets. Like Longbow62 mentioned, I had to dig a few of these kinds of signals on my own before the lightbulb went on for me...a thread like this would have saved me a lot of trial and error as I was learning the machine!
Thanks. Ben's video is worth 1000 show and tell videos as far as spurring discussion.

I've experimented with videos. I have a chest mounted GoPro and figured out how to use two mics to hear both the headphone audio and my voice. I'm stuck on the idea of videos that include the discovery of the signal, and having the camera running all the time is both a chore and a distraction. I can see why few people do it and eventually go to turning it on after finding a signal worth featuring, either good or bad. The other option would be short scripted instructional clips. Then there's editing..... I can see why people post unedited videos.

Unfortunately, for the past few months I haven't had much time or opportunity to sniff out much of anything, much less deep shiny silver. I rely largely on private permissions and by March I had pretty much wrapped them up.
Thanks again for all the kind words fellas!

@Toysoldier you sound like you are aware of the hard work and time that goes into making metal detecting videos. It is really nice to see that the hard work is helpful and enjoyable by other detectorists so I really appreciate it. I do love doing it as it can be very rewarding and useful learning tool for me as well. I review all footage and gain knowledge each time.

I just dug a barber quarter today that was SUPER deep and I got it on live dig too! I did have my headphones on so the audio is not going to be as useful. I wish I would have had the footage for this video as it was a text book deep silver signal on Nox. I will publish it later.

I often leave camera on for approach to targets as well and have hours of that footage. I have a couple of videos with that footage on my channel as well. I blow through batteries very quickly that way though so I don't always do it. Then there is all the added editing time sorting through hours and hours of footage. It is a LOT of work! Lol.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
I often leave camera on for approach to targets as well and have hours of that footage. I have a couple of videos with that footage on my channel as well. I blow through batteries very quickly that way though so I don't always do it. Then there is all the added editing time sorting through hours and hours of footage. It is a LOT of work! Lol.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I bought my GoPro in excellent condition on Ebay. Some guy was using it for filming his kayak fishing videos so he left it on all the time. (I know because he left a few videos on the memory card.) He included a large memory card and 9 batteries! That wasn't clear in the description, so I ended up getting what turned out to be a great deal.

I agree that being able to look back at the videos for myself is pretty instructive.

I ended up capturing my large cent on video earlier this year. I never even remembered saying "BE GOOD!!!" when I pulled it out of the hole. A hold-over from my golf days.
 
I just wanted to jump in and add my 2 cents.
First, great video Ben. I called every silver target LOL.
Little story, I have used the CTX for about 2 years prior to one
of my hunting buddies getting the Nox 800 when it was released.
We were on a hunt together couple days later and he let me swing it for 20 minutes.
After using the CTX so long I thought "Geez this thing feels like a toy"!
It reminded me of a golf club.

For about a year after I just kept swinging the CTX the heavy brute it is.
Even with its superior balance with the 17" coil daily hunts wore on me in the long haul.

Another one of my buddies got a Nox 800 as well. So I said alright I am going to make this plunge. So I jumped on the the band wagon, I am glad I did!

So, had the Nox now for over a year and have only touched the CTX about a dozen times. I decided to let the CTX go.

Do I think it has surpassed the mighty $2500 CTX NO!, do I think its as good as the CTX NO! But, I think its IMO a lot closer than you would expect.
Lets put it this way, I am just as confident with the Nox on deep coins as I was with the CTX that I feel I left nothing behind.

After running FBS so long I would never imagine using anything other than 50 tone/combined. Now using the Nox 800, all I use is 5 tone.

Anyways, enough of my rambling.

The one thing I wanted to add is when I look for deep coin targets, I listen for the tone SMOOTHNESS NO MATTER IF ITS VERY SHORT OR EVEN IN ONE DIRECTION! This is possibly why I have stuck to 5 tones and not 50 tones. It simplifies listening for the SMOOTH coin tone. Once you train your ear for that SMOOTH coin tone, its light out.

Jer
 
Great post, Pulling silver from old virgin ground is easy. Pulling deep silver from old , heavily detected , trashy parks is not. I have also been using my 800 for almost two years. Your settings are nearly identical to mine, i just use a higher recovery speed to help unmask in the trash. In the two old parks that I hunt, there is virtually no shallow silver. Everything good is at least pinpointer depth and beyond. Lately, good signals have become more scarce and I haven't dug a silver coin or old nickel in either of these parks in the last 30+ hours of detecting in them, Over time, they have produced a couple dozen mercs and 5 or 6 barbers , including my 1 and only barber half dollar. I still find a few wheats at those depths so I still try. I still dig a lot of deep falsing iron but I just can't seem to pass it up. Thanks again for the post and the technique reinforcing video.
 
I just found this thread....AWESOME video, thank you very much. I'm going to put it into practice in my "hunted out" park

You're a VERY fast digger :)
 
I just found this thread....AWESOME video, thank you very much. I'm going to put it into practice in my "hunted out" park



You're a VERY fast digger :)
Haha Thanks! Hope it helps you find some more goodies!

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk
 
Nice video.
Thanks for sharing.

Only one suggestion. I have seen this quite often too.
If a person checks hole using disc mode. They may not get a signal thinking object they heard, already dug for instance the wire in your video.
If one will push horseshoe button many times they may indeed hear a nonferrous object(iron tone). Crazy sounding I know.
This can even happen to a find in the dirt pile.
Got some thing to do with disturbing soil matrix is all I can figure.

Sometimes a big clod or pile is hard to use a pinpointer on and detect a find.
So I use detector and check both clod and hole using horseshoe if disc modes gives me nothing tonally.

Keep the videos coming.
I like em.

Cheers.
 
While we're on the subject of deep silver with the NOX, does anyone have any feedback on the 6" coil and deep silver? I have some heavily pounded, super trashy parks that I still think have potential, but the trash is so heavy that the standard coil is just too busy for me to discern good targets from trash. I'm wondering if the 6" coil loses the much needed depth I think I'd need in these parks.
 
While we're on the subject of deep silver with the NOX, does anyone have any feedback on the 6" coil and deep silver? I have some heavily pounded, super trashy parks that I still think have potential, but the trash is so heavy that the standard coil is just too busy for me to discern good targets from trash. I'm wondering if the 6" coil loses the much needed depth I think I'd need in these parks.

Yes, the 6" coil is very good at weeding out trash and separating and it does not pickup as much EM interference as the stock coil.
Yes, you will lose depth with a smaller coil but you can still pickup most coins at a fairly good depth. Ive been using the 6" coil and have got some very good results.
If you want to keep some depth, keep the coverage of the stock coil and weed out most pop tops, screw caps and pulltabs (not all though) you can notch out everything below 18, and keep 15 for nickles, set iron bias to 3 (on the 600) and set swing speed to 3 (600) Keep in mind this will eliminate gold, rings and lots of other things you may want. Also, ignore double beeps and set sens to 20.
 
While we're on the subject of deep silver with the NOX, does anyone have any feedback on the 6" coil and deep silver? I have some heavily pounded, super trashy parks that I still think have potential, but the trash is so heavy that the standard coil is just too busy for me to discern good targets from trash. I'm wondering if the 6" coil loses the much needed depth I think I'd need in these parks.

The 6" Equinox coil is the best 6 inch coil I have ever tested over the years from other detectors. I can hit 9" buried coins with it. The 6" Nox coil can be ran really hot, without being beaten by EMI. jm2c
 
While we're on the subject of deep silver with the NOX, does anyone have any feedback on the 6" coil and deep silver? I have some heavily pounded, super trashy parks that I still think have potential, but the trash is so heavy that the standard coil is just too busy for me to discern good targets from trash. I'm wondering if the 6" coil loses the much needed depth I think I'd need in these parks.

I have come to use the 6 in. most of the time. I see very little depth loss and it seems to run much more stable in emi and in the iron. This past winter in a city park I dug 2 Barber dimes, one at 10 + in. and another that was a good 9 inches down. The 9 one had a rusty nail in the hole with it and the 10 had iron close by. I run my recovery speed at 4 and my Ib 0. The other nice thing about the 6 in. is you can get in tight places where the stock coil won't go. And this in no small way contributes to my silver count. Good luck. Mark
 

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The Legend has the same coils as the Nox, and I was finding that I was getting almost the same depth (if not same) with the 6", as I was getting with the 11". So much so, that I wrote a post asking Nox owners if they were seeing the same thing...to which they were.

The 6" seems much less susceptible to EMI and ground mineralization, and it can use a higher sensitivity setting. Obviously, separation and unmasking is going to be superior with the 6" as well. One other factor, and this is by no means a "scientific" explanation, but it seems that with the tighter field on the 6", it's more sensitive to the deeper coins that present a small surface area.

The only disadvantage with the 6" is low ground coverage, but IMO, the advantages of the 6" far outweigh the possible ground coverage issue.
 
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