Minelab Equinox 800 tips and questions

Hi Rustydog I had a Xterra 705 before I got the nox and to answer your question from my view point is Yes There will be someone on the forum that will have had there's longer than me that will be able to answer it as well.
Roy

Both great detectors .
But go the Nox you wont be disappointed.
Just my opinion though

Just to clarify Rusty - are you asking is it a big step-up in performance or a big step-up in the difficulty of using the machine?

Might make a difference to people's answers that's all

I'd never had a VLF with TID's, different tones and all that sort of stuff before the Nox 800. But I found it reasonably easy to use as long as you read the manual twice, play with it in default settings for a good while before fiddling too much, etc.

So if you've had experience with the 705 I doubt the jump to a Nox would be too difficult.

As far as a difference in performance I can't comment :Y:

the 705 to the nox is a big jump I have hit places with the 705 done well and pretty much the place was done bought the nox went over the same ground was like it was never detected before top machine goes deeper than the 705 my daughter uses the nox on the gold fields when we go out and it does a pretty good job you wont be disappointed with the nox

My opinion is, the Equinox is a little bit deeper than the the Xterra but most of the coins in Australia are not deep anyway.
Like Savage, I've gone over ground previously done with the xterra and pulled out more predecimals than I thought would be left. The big difference is the recovery speed of the equinox, even with the 15" coil I can pick coins out of thick rubbish where the xterra would mask them.
On the open clean fields the xterra doesn't leave much behind. I've picked up small silvers with the equinox and called the kids over with the xterra to see if they can find it and no probs, just means the xterra coil never went over that spot in the fist place.

Good luck
Daggy

Thanks everyone for all your replies much appreciated. Thanks . I ended up getting the equinox 800 on Saturday and went for a quick swing yeasterday arvo ...

Jewellery and goldies - nice start :Y:

G'day all

As a newbie into detecting,I'm looking for my first detector.
Did a bit of research and found the Minelab Equinox 800.
One thing I do like about it is that it's waterproof and submersible as I also intend to detect rivers,creeks and beaches.
Would this be a good starter detector?
Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers :Y:

Its a great detector I got mine just before Christmas and I'm not looking back good luck detecting :Y:

YLR the nox 800 is a great detector if you have never had a detector befor you will take some swing time to use it at it full prenatal. Mine loves the silvers.
Roy

Thanks guys.
:Y:

Hi Guys,

New to the forum so big hello from me.

Know this thread is a bit old but was wondering if any others are having any luck with the Nox on gold nuggets?
I have the 800, went to a spot today that has pickers in the 0 to 0.15 gram range.

I have been over place before with a 5000 and SDC. SDC did better than the 5000 which might not be a surprise.

So, didn't really expect to find much and had tried the Nox once before in the triangle and wasn't sure whether I would be able to get the settings right so that I could 'see' through the hot rocks and find the gold.
Anyway, long story short, the Nox is a very capable gold machine when you get it set up right and learn what the detector is telling you.

I came back with 3 species and 4 little pickers ranging from 0.015 grams to 0.09 grams. I was using the 6" coil.

I am not going to make any comparisons to the SDC as I will have everyone up in arms, but some pieces were deeper than I have ever found gold with an SDC.

Anyway, happy to share the settings if anyone is interested in trying the machine out for gold nuggets vs treasure detecting.

I would be interested in your settings just to see how the nox goes.

Well done mate. I've struggled to get my Nox to run quietly in the goldfields with the sensitivity above 16 so would be interested to know what settings you use to find tiny bits like that. I've only got the standard coil which might be something to do with it.

Well done Bads Gold.

I'd also be interested in your settings, I've only got the 600 but should be able to get near enough, plus got the 6" coil so it might be good if I can get the wife to come out for a day and have her in with a chance of finding something.

well done bads gold on getting bits that small. I too would be interested in those settings so when you get your number of posts up enough can you p.m. me them if you are not going to post them on this thread. cheers mgh.

Good stuff mate :Y: would be interested if you posted your settings as well. This guy found a few bits at Clermont last week with the 800 in a trashy area.

Thanks all and here is the settings below that I made note of for myself:

Minelab Equinox 800 Best Gold Settings 6" coil.

Mode Gold 2
Volume 23
Tone Volume 25
Threshold Level (threshold volume) 14
Threshold Pitch 11
Target tone (default) 1
Target Tone Pitch N/A
Accept Reject (Reject Following due to hot rocks) -9 to -4 inclusive; 11 to 14 incl.
Tone Break N/A
Recovery speed 7 (5 to 7 good)
Iron Bias (FE) 0
Sensitivity 23
VIP - Coil motion (swing speed) should be low and slow. This is because with the "accept/reject" (discrimination) being set to remove hot rocks, the hot rocks can mask a good signal but a slow swing speed gives the detector time to sample and allows for a solid positive "zip zip" on a good target. Also, the recover speed set higher (preferably 7 but 5 worked well too) allows for the detector to respond quicker when good target is masked by a hot rock or iron. Also VIP - only dig targets that have a repeating signal consistently when the coil is swung both directions (back and forth) over the target. VIP - gold nuggets that are faint will often at first not even register a number on the screen but will always have a consistent repeat signal back and forth. Unless masked by a hot rock this will be a smooth signal albeit feint. Once the nugget starts to register it will most often register a "1" or "2" on the screen but can range from "0" to "6".

Just some comments about the above settings and why. Firstly I noticed that with the 6" coil you get hot rocks coming in at two different settings -9 to -6 (mostly sitting in -9/-8) but also at (12/13). No matter what I tried, you just cant get rid of the hot rocks without losing so much sensitivity that you wont pick up anything above a 0.5g.
So you really have to "notch" them out and you have to go one or two numbers either side to smooth things out. When detecting you will hear this "masking" effect on the hot rocks and might worry that you wont hear a good signal, but if you go low and slow with the recovery speed 5 or above (I prefer 7) the good signals are unmistakable. Note that the detector starts to respond similar to the SDC/GPX in terms of slight changes to the threshold that are repeatable in both directions being positive targets even if at first you are not getting numbers.
Note, adjust the sensitivity as required but I would try stay as high as possible and wouldn't go below 18-20.
Threshold Level was using the speaker so with headphones can be 11/12.

With the 600, I cannot comment but in Multi in Park 2 i would try replicate the above as much as possible and see how you go.

Anyway, try these settings and remember when you do that you still have to walk over gold.
Am keen to know if these help any of you - that would be great.

Picture of the small bits all together - smallest wouldn't even register unless I had another piece on the scale.

Also need to add that the threshold will not be as quiet and smooth as an SDC or GPX - there will still be some small occasional crackles and pops but not bad at all and after a little while you wont notice it. But a good non ferrous signal will come through confidently and once you have found your first piece you will know exactly what you are listening for.

Thanks I will give it a go regards john :Y: