Multi IQ what does it stand for?

graybeard

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Multi stands for more than one frequency. I know that, but what is the IQ supposed to stand for? It can't stand for an intelligent ID number or tone that is on the Equinox detector. Because if it did why would the tone and numbers jump all over on coins, meaning 19--31 on a zinc penny and other coins. It's like they designed it with dead brain cells. When it gives a tone and ID number on the Equinox the best thing it can do is to say there ..is ... something ...in ... the ...ground.
 
Means on recovery speed, depth and ability to hit a wide variety of conductors, it’s a genius.

But on target ID and depth meter accuracy, it’s a little bit retarded. Multiple IQ levels! :lol:


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That's it a crusty zinc is all over and crumby sounding
Good coins have a solid number
The Equinox is an accurate machine, maybe not as much as an etrac or ctx?
Which detector do you use?
 
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Simultaneous Multi-Frequency In-phase and Quadrature Synchronous Demodulation.

“For each frequency the detector transmits and receives there are two signals which can be extracted which we refer to as I and Q. The Q signal is most sensitive to targets, while the I signal is most sensitive to iron content. Traditional single-frequency metal detectors use the Q signal to detect targets, and then use the ratio of the I and Q signals to assess the characteristics of the target and assign a target ID. The problem with this approach is that the I signal is sensitive to the iron content of the soil. The target ID is always perturbed by the response from the soil, and as the signal from the target gets weaker, this perturbation becomes substantial. With some simplification here for brevity, if a detector transmits and receives on more than one frequency, it can ignore the soil sensitive I signals, and instead look at the multiple Q signals it receives in order to determine a target ID. That way, even for weak targets or highly mineralized soils, the target ID is far less perturbed by the response from the soil. This leads to very precise target IDs, both in mineralized soils and for targets at depth.”
 
3 things can/will make a target ID unstable in my experience.

1) Sensitivity too high for conditions/skill level-the most common mistake a person will make...period.
2) EMI. If noise canceling or switching frequencies or using the tiny coil doesn’t help, see line 1.
3) Multiple targets in close proximity, whether you can find them all or not. A corroded zinc all by itself may fluctuate a bit, but not 12 points.
 
Multi stands for more than one frequency. I know that, but what is the IQ supposed to stand for? It can't stand for an intelligent ID number or tone that is on the Equinox detector. Because if it did why would the tone and numbers jump all over on coins, meaning 19--31 on a zinc penny and other coins. It's like they designed it with dead brain cells. When it gives a tone and ID number on the Equinox the best thing it can do is to say there ..is ... something ...in ... the ...ground.

Like IDXmonster said it's pretty stable unless it's really trashy. His post is spot on. The Equinox is a super sensitive machine sitting on a 20 sensitivity setting. This is especially true in Park2. I am sure that is part of what you and others are seeing in the jumping I.D. numbers. You really need a lot of hours on it to get the most out of it and figure out what it's telling you in trashy spots.

I have personally seen the Equinox I.D. silver dimes and nickels that an Etrac could not identify as a coin. So you can gripe about the Equinox's I.D. numbers till your blue in the face, but I know what it can do.
 
Multi stands for more than one frequency. I know that, but what is the IQ supposed to stand for? It can't stand for an intelligent ID number or tone that is on the Equinox detector. Because if it did why would the tone and numbers jump all over on coins, meaning 19--31 on a zinc penny and other coins. It's like they designed it with dead brain cells. When it gives a tone and ID number on the Equinox the best thing it can do is to say there ..is ... something ...in ... the ...ground.

You've received some great replies already. After reading them it might occur to you that the detector shows a variety of numbers because it's erring on the side of giving the user a lot of information about what's in the ground. It's not simplifying anything for the user. It's quite the opposite of being "brain dead" as you were suggesting.

It would be very easy for Minelab to apply some averaging to make the numbers appear to be more stable. But, advanced users would also lose the ability to sniff out good targets in trashy areas. Running 50 tones would be pointless. Further, multiple frequencies doesn't necessarily mean the detector better locks into a single number. It means the detector can tell you a lot about what's in the ground.

If you want a detector that lights up an icon of a quarter when it thinks there's one under the coil, then there are other options for you out there.
 
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We are by NO means saying you don’t know how to detect Graybeard...I think we can assume better than that. When I first started with the 800 about 150 hours ago I didn’t do well. I do just fine now, when I use it and where I use it, which is not everywhere all the time. If I’m after 9”+ targets IN MY SOIL I use FBS and a big coil. When the trash is unruly or my shoulder is flaring up, the EQX does just fine. I personally don’t believe the EQX has the ID at depth that FBS is capable of but it operates in high amounts of low conductive trash very well. Try different recovery speeds to see if some of those wandering ID’s become more stable. I’ll use anywhere from a recovery speed of 4 to 7, depending where I am...and I only look for silver coins. There are an infinite number of different targets in various situations in widely varying soil conditions so get the machine to be STABLE and work from there. Just as an example, I had a wheat cent show up with good repeatable audio and ID in the mid 20’s with a Sensitivity setting of 18. The coin was exactly the length of my Propointer. So it is capable of seeing a fairly small thing without having to have the machine jacked up and acting unreasonably.
Yes...it’s cold and dark outside and I have nothing else to do.:lol:
 
All kidding aside, I think the machine trying to analyze multiple targets under the coil at the same time accounts for a lot of the jumpy ID numbers when hunting trashy spots. In cleaner ground mine IDs pretty solid. The tip Kevin posted above about playing with the recovery speed a little to stabilize the ID is spot on. Unless I’m hunting thick iron or trying to eek out the last couple of finds from a pounded spot, I usually keep mine around 5 or so. Still plenty fast for all but the trashiest of locations IMHO.


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Multi stands for more than one frequency. I know that, but what is the IQ supposed to stand for? It can't stand for an intelligent ID number or tone that is on the Equinox detector. Because if it did why would the tone and numbers jump all over on coins, meaning 19--31 on a zinc penny and other coins. It's like they designed it with dead brain cells. When it gives a tone and ID number on the Equinox the best thing it can do is to say there ..is ... something ...in ... the ...ground.

Most of our current US clad contains 75% copper and 25% nickel. The Zincoln is 97% zinc mixed with a little copper on the inside and the remaining 2.6% copper is plated on the outside. It doesn’t take long for the copper plating to oxidize and fail and the zinc on the inside oxidizes and rots really easily. It is no wonder that the Nox with its multi frequencies will jump around between 19 and 31 on a rotting zincoln with who knows how many ingredients in it after it has started to disintegrate. Even the rest of our modern clad and the 1964 and earlier 90% silver/10% copper coins will respond with at least two numbers. Compared to how the Nox responds to modern steel core Canadian clad, we here in the USA have it easy........

Those number combinations are very consistent down to 10” depth where I detect. After almost 2000 hours using the Nox, I am rarely surprised by what is under the coil if it is a US coin.

ghound did a great job accurately describing what the IQ means in Multi IQ.

Jeff
 
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I don't have near as much overall detector experience as many folks here, but I don't think I dig a lot of trash with the Equinox despite it's very compressed I.D. range. I think I can tell most of time whether a nonferrous target is round just by circling and listening to tone and watching the numbers.

Even in 5 tones round targets have a much smoother tone than a less round target. The numbers don't jump up or down much on round targets as you circle them either. Now washers and nuts are a different story. I dig my share or those. The depth meter is very important to me as almost all the silver I find is at least four shovels or deeper on the graph. If I see 4 shovels on the depth meter I know the beep is going to disappear as soon as I start lifting the coil up on most coin size items dime through quarter. So any target gets very suspect if I can raise the coil much at all off the ground and still get a beep.

One thing I have noticed about the Equinox that is different from other detectors is you really have to center the target to get the most solid numbers. I never ever use the pin point feature because I have pinpointed the target just by honing in on it by numbers and sound using very sort swings or wobbles. I think there are many tricks to tell what a target is other than going by the numbers entirely. I try to use all the tricks I can or I would be digging non stop at many of the places I hunt.
 
I use the DFX, AT PRO, F75 LTD and the X-Terra 705 and dig coinage with a lot better ID numbers than the Equinox 800. It is not just me that the numbers are jumping a long range for. I have watched lots of videos with the Equinox and I see it on them. On videos they are after silver or wheat back pennies.

I use park 2 most of the time, I don't use a fast recovery speed, I usually keep it between 3 and 6. I don't run the sensitivity real high on the Equinox.
 
What you need to think about is that on some of the coins where the ID is jumping, they might be coins on edge, co located with iron or trash, at edge of detection etc
I found that the Nox was giving me dig signals on some targets my other machines couldn't give a peep on.
To only way that you could positively say that your other detectors are giving better ID, is to compare them over a period of hunts on dozens of targets that are giving jumpy ID on the Nox.

I use the DFX, AT PRO, F75 LTD and the X-Terra 705 and dig coinage with a lot better ID numbers than the Equinox 800. It is not just me that the numbers are jumping a long range for. I have watched lots of videos with the Equinox and I see it on them. On videos they are after silver or wheat back pennies.

I use park 2 most of the time, I don't use a fast recovery speed, I usually keep it between 3 and 6. I don't run the sensitivity real high on the Equinox.
 
IQ stands for 1 of 2 things : Ideal Qualities or Idiot Questions.
 
I use the DFX, AT PRO, F75 LTD and the X-Terra 705 and dig coinage with a lot better ID numbers than the Equinox 800. It is not just me that the numbers are jumping a long range for. I have watched lots of videos with the Equinox and I see it on them. On videos they are after silver or wheat back pennies.

I use park 2 most of the time, I don't use a fast recovery speed, I usually keep it between 3 and 6. I don't run the sensitivity real high on the Equinox.

Do you ground balance or just keep on 0? I ground balance every time I switch sites. (You might see if ground balancing effects the jumpy numbers) I know a guy that does really well with his using a lower recovery speed. He says he does not like to go over 5 and prefers 3-4. I personally have always kept mine at 6, but I am going to start lowering it on less trashy sites.
 
We are by NO means saying you don’t know how to detect Graybeard...I think we can assume better than that. When I first started with the 800 about 150 hours ago I didn’t do well. I do just fine now, when I use it and where I use it, which is not everywhere all the time. If I’m after 9”+ targets IN MY SOIL I use FBS and a big coil. When the trash is unruly or my shoulder is flaring up, the EQX does just fine. I personally don’t believe the EQX has the ID at depth that FBS is capable of but it operates in high amounts of low conductive trash very well. Try different recovery speeds to see if some of those wandering ID’s become more stable. I’ll use anywhere from a recovery speed of 4 to 7, depending where I am...and I only look for silver coins. There are an infinite number of different targets in various situations in widely varying soil conditions so get the machine to be STABLE and work from there. Just as an example, I had a wheat cent show up with good repeatable audio and ID in the mid 20’s with a Sensitivity setting of 18. The coin was exactly the length of my Propointer. So it is capable of seeing a fairly small thing without having to have the machine jacked up and acting unreasonably.
Yes...it’s cold and dark outside and I have nothing else to do.:lol:

If you have nothing else to do, you could try to convince your local brewery to sell me spotted cow and moon man across state lines! It's a long drive to Wisconsin.:laughing:
 
Means on recovery speed, depth and ability to hit a wide variety of conductors, it’s a genius.

But on target ID and depth meter accuracy, it’s a little bit retarded. Multiple IQ levels! :lol:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Funny, but true. It is like some people you meet who are very smart but often seem to lack some common sense. The Equinox got left out in the target ID and depth departments.

On the Equinox 800 Target ID, I concentrate on what I know are bad target ID's and other techniques and then just assume anything else "might" be a good non-ferrous target.
 
Simultaneous Multi-Frequency In-phase and Quadrature Synchronous Demodulation.

“For each frequency the detector transmits and receives there are two signals which can be extracted which we refer to as I and Q. The Q signal is most sensitive to targets, while the I signal is most sensitive to iron content. Traditional single-frequency metal detectors use the Q signal to detect targets, and then use the ratio of the I and Q signals to assess the characteristics of the target and assign a target ID. The problem with this approach is that the I signal is sensitive to the iron content of the soil. The target ID is always perturbed by the response from the soil, and as the signal from the target gets weaker, this perturbation becomes substantial. With some simplification here for brevity, if a detector transmits and receives on more than one frequency, it can ignore the soil sensitive I signals, and instead look at the multiple Q signals it receives in order to determine a target ID. That way, even for weak targets or highly mineralized soils, the target ID is far less perturbed by the response from the soil. This leads to very precise target IDs, both in mineralized soils and for targets at depth.”

:goodpost:
 
My number are consistent most of the time. Deal with EMI and ground balance before I start. Usually I end up at 17-18 sensitivity but if the ground accommodates I go to 20-22. Generally that’s a couple under where it chatters. My only complaint with my Nox 800 is gold can be anywhere from 12 to the 20’s depending on size. Gold seems to be the only thing that has wild numbers.
 
gold can be anywhere from 12 to the 20’s depending on size. Gold seems to be the only thing that has wild numbers.

That is for two reasons:
1- Gold is always alloyed with other metals in varying ratios. This greatly changes the conductivity.
2- Gold objects come in a very wide assortment of sizes and shapes. Both results in differing RX signals.

This is typical of ALL detectors when a gold object gets under the coil not just the Nox.
 
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