Minelab Equinox 800 tips and questions

Ardosa01 said:

Hi all, only new to this forum. I am after some honest answers in regards to sterlings for gold on the equinox 800. Factory settings are a little too easy for the ground I am trying to hunt on. Can anyone share their settings for gold?

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I have had an 800 for a few months and only used it for relic hunting, but still found a short length of gold chain (9 grams)

That said, from what I understand for nugget hunting, the main factor affecting the performance of the Nox is the mineralisation of the soil...if you can say roughly where you intend hunting, I think it may give others a chance to give better advice...

Hi all Ive been detecting on and off for about 6 months now, so only new to the game. Ive had help from my brother who has been detecting for over 12 months. But hes not too sure on gold settings either. I go detecting for gold in the Bathurst area. So ground is mineralised. I have my noise cancel at 0, ground balance set on 3 manual. Threshold level 12, (pt 11) recovery speed 3, and sensitivity around 20/21. Went out today for a look, but to no avail. Can anyone shed any light on these settings for mineralised ground?

1, noise cancel changes every day so set it by pressing the tick/cross button in the noise cancel menu as soon as you turn it on.
2, set the ground balance to tracking while you are learning
3, put recovery speed up to 5 or 6 so your detector recovers from the false signals from mineralization quicker.
4, I find gold mode 2 easier to use than gold mode 1.
5, get a 6" Coil, you'll struggle with the 11".

Ardosa01 said:

Hi all Ive been detecting on and off for about 6 months now, so only new to the game. Ive had help from my brother who has been detecting for over 12 months. But hes not too sure on gold settings either. I go detecting for gold in the Bathurst area. So ground is mineralised. I have my noise cancel at 0, ground balance set on 3 manual. Threshold level 12, (pt 11) recovery speed 3, and sensitivity around 20/21. Went out today for a look, but to no avail. Can anyone shed any light on these settings for mineralised ground?

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Firstly, I notice from the Equinox manual that the two gold prospecting presets (Gold 1 for normal ground and Gold 2 for difficult ground, see page 26), both utilise Tracking Ground Balance as a default. You should too - you won't benefit from manually ground balancing until you're expert with the machine and maybe not even then. Minelab's SDC2300 doesn't even have a Manual Ground Balance option - it's automatically tracking and adjusting for ground mineralisation all the the time and is a fantastically-successful detector, even for absolute beginners.

I also notice that the default Gold 1 Recovery Speed is 6 and for Gold 2 it's 4, but none of the various presets for the Eq800 use your setting of 3.

Minelab know what they're doing when they determine presets for their machines - they've got experienced testers here in Australia who use them in the field to ensure they get good results. Until you've mastered the machine, maybe 6 months down the track, I'd recommend using one or other of the Gold pre-sets and forgetting about manual ground balance altogether. If you find it too noisy, perhaps lower the Sensitivity to around 15.

I have used the 6 coil, I bought it as I thought it may be better for depth and more selective on targets. I set my swing speed at 3 because I thought it may be able to pick up better targets when going slow. Oh well, back to the field to keep trying I guess!

Ardosa01 said:

I have used the 6 coil, I bought it as I thought it may be better for depth and more selective on targets. I set my swing speed at 3 because I thought it may be able to pick up better targets when going slow. Oh well, back to the field to keep trying I guess!

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Do you have any access to some fine gold? Maybe some you or your brother have found previously?? Or could you even borrow some? At a pinch you could even use small pieces of lead shot or an airgun pellet to start, or a small fragment of aluminium cut from a can, but gold would be much better..

If so, put it in a small plastic bag or vial and use it as a test target for your detector in the field...Try it on the surface first and then burying it a few inches down...try in different areas and in different soil types..

Using a test target in the field where mineralisation is present will give you a good indication what your detector can do and what to listen for...

Remember also, you may be listening for very faint signals where as a ring pull or bottle top will be a screamer in comparison. If you don't use headphones, you really should as they make it far easier to hear those faint signals you are after....

Thank you Pete E I will try what you recommend. I dont have access to fine gold, my brother has a small piece of gold I could borrow I guess. Thats a start? I do have headphones, but I rarely use them. I guess I will have to Just work on the settings with the 800 until I can save up and buy a gpx or sdc machine. $$$$
Thanks for the tip!

Ardosa01 said:

Thank you Pete E I will try what you recommend. I dont have access to fine gold, my brother has a small piece of gold I could borrow I guess. Thats a start? I do have headphones, but I rarely use them. I guess I will have to Just work on the settings with the 800 until I can save up and buy a gpx or sdc machine. $$$$
Thanks for the tip!

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I switched from a Makro Racer to the Nox and first time out I hated it with a passion!

It took a little while to get the basics with the Nox but now I have, I would never go back...

That said they are obviously not the best for highly mineralised soil, but luckily we don't have any to any great degree over here..

The headphones can be a bit tricky to pair, especially the first time. My advice would be to do it at home first and make sure there are no other Bluetooth enabled devices turned on in the immediate area..Once the pairing is done for the first time, it's usually quicker and generally more straight forward in future...

Once you are out in the field, I would again advise walking away from any other Bluetooth enabled machines before pairing....Usually there are no problems but when I first started, at the start of a club hunt I did some how manage to pair my head phones to somebody else's machine :8

Thanks Pete E.
I will try and use headphones from now on. I also have an sd 2100 that Im working on fixing and getting parts for. I will try and get that going before I spend big $$ on a current top quality gold detector.

I've done a search for manuals for Equinox 800 but doesn't come up with anything specific .

There probably is somewhere but click on this link and there is lots of stuff in the one place. Manual is the 5th link from the top :Y:

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/5979-minelab-equinox-essential-information/

Northeast said:

There probably is somewhere but click on this link and there is lots of stuff in the one place. Manual is the 5th link from the top :Y:

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/5979-minelab-equinox-essential-information/

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:Y:

Minelab have their manuals online these days - this is the link to their knowledge library

https://www.minelab.com/anzea/support/downloads/product-manuals-guides

Thanks guys have downloaded and printed it out.
Got some reading and learnin' to do :Y:

Greatings to and and all.
Hoping all are healthy, safe and well.

So, I thought I'd start this thread in the hope of documenting my experience with the Minelab Equinox 800.

I found this video to be great for an introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb1gGWyFp_g

I have taken it for a spin/sweep and have, so far, discovered some... rocks. lol

Coming into this as a complete newb, I am really happy with the simplicity.

The modes are very easy to switch between and the various basic settings conveniently found and adjusted.

In these early days, noteworthy things are:

Noise Cancel is easy as!
Ground Balance is a cinch too.
Keep feet and implements away from the coil (esp. if wearing steel caps)
Go without headphones (one less thing to worry about)
Try "All Metal" mode (the horse shoe) to see what the unit is capable of "unfiltered".

I do some questions for the experienced, if I may please?

1) Can the coil wire that connects the coil to the control box set off the coil?
My instincts tell me yes. I just wonder if the manufacturer integrates some sort of compensation for this.

2) Does bumping the coil cause deformation and therefore change the inductance, triggering a target response?

3) Is the junction where the cable meets the coil very fragile/sensitive by nature (like crackling plug on amplified guitar)?

4) The human body can also be a target, is this why a plastic scoops are used?

5) When the detector is placed in pin-pointer mode, is the sensitivity increased or is it more focussed?
I am imagining the 'lobes' of an antenna becoming narrower rather than longer.
5a) Does this mean the 'lobe' is shorter and narrower?

Many thanks for reading and I hope to grow this into an archive of info of on this machine of my own, hope this is cool?

dad_jokes ickshovel:

"How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together."

Wow - some good questions from a newb
1) Can the coil wire that connects the coil to the control box set off the coil?
Yes if it is loose/moving around. In saying that don't wind it around the shaft so tight that you're trying to strangle it. The Equinox is a motion detector so either the coil over target or target near coil needs to be moving.

2) Does bumping the coil cause deformation and therefore change the inductance, triggering a target response?
Possibly? Running sensitivity too high can also cause coil bump sensitivity as can faulty coils.

3) Is the junction where the cable meets the coil very fragile/sensitive by nature
It should be reasonably flexible but like everything will have a breaking point if pushed too far.

4) The human body can also be a target, is this why a plastic scoops are used?
In my opinion plastic scoops are necessary with LF detectors (high frequency VLF's) as they can & will pick up the mineral salts on your skin/hands.

5) When the detector is placed in pin-pointer mode, is the sensitivity increased or is it more focussed?
Credit for info to Jeff McClendon Detector Prospector forum:
"Pinpointmode immediately puts the Nox in an all metals acceptedmode andprovides tone and volume modulation of targets along with a much narrower detection signalbeneath the coil."

Thank you so much for your response, mbasko!

"The Equinox is a motion detector so either the coil over target or target near coil needs to be moving."

This is a great bit of info I was not aware of.

Much appreciated!

*goes to look online for a good scoop*

Hi All,

My first post here !

I have been detecting for about 4 months now and have a few questions for my fellow Equinox owners.

I have yet to find any gold likely due to that fact that it can ring up anywhere from 1 to 20.

First:
Aluminium is undoubtedly the worst thing ever invented. Whether it is a ring pull disguised as a gold ring or a solid chunk pretending to be a florin, it gets the shits right up me !
The EQ800 has a gold mode that I have never used. I do not have any gold, so I can't experiment with it :-(

My first first question is: Is there a secondary check I can use before I dig yet another piece of aluminium ? eg: can I flip it into gold mode and get a reading of XXX as a secondary check ?

Second:
Sometimes I get a good solid signal eg: 17 and I dig up a 50c as you would expect. Far more often I get a 17 that will flip between 16,17 or even up to 18. I dug one once and it actually was a 50c and a 20c in the same hole, but usually it is junk. This seems to be the same with $1 and $2 coins that seem to flap around a bit.

My second question is: Can you read something into the less solid signals ? ie: If it is not a solid 17, can I assume it is NOT a 50c ?

Third:
How do you read the tone strength ?

From my experience so far, it seems to be a measure of the % match, ie: solid tone solid match, lesser tone is a maybe, and a fluting tone seems to be got a match but you have it filtered out (like iron)

Any tips you have or links to relevant info welcome

--G

Gold rings can masquerade as anything from a 5c piece to a ringpull so you gotta dig em all. Flip into all metal mode to check fluting tones. Jumping between 1 or 2 TID numbers is pretty normal but any more is probably crap.

same as dave dig every thing and you will start to hear your machine and train your brain on the tones the way i have my nox running coins are pretty solid and pull rings seem to give a twin type tone i bought a nox book and got a lot of tips from it which help heaps