Going to start..

[eddie13]

So my GF is all into finding rocks especially Petoskey stones and Charlevoix stones.. Wants to go look for rocks all the time..
I oblige but eh..

She does it a lot with one of her friends, and the other day she tells me her friend got a metal detector (barska) and she wants to try it too..
OMG down the rabbit hole I go..

I had a metal detector when I was a kid, like a radio shack one, and had all sorts of fun with it including a couple fond memories at the very beginning of my memory span..

I usually have very little money for things such as quality metal detectors, but I have a little right now, and I love doing things with her, so here I go searching searching for detectors..

I'm usually very frugal but I figure if I find a good deal on a used detector I'm not losing money because I can just sell it for what I paid for it..
Give myself permission to spend some money make an investment..

Really having a hard time debating wither I should buy this or buy that or how cheap to go etc.. Can't decide..

Say screw it and go driving around today to check on some deals I found on FB marketplace..

Came home with..
A Bounty Hunter Junior (hey, kid might have fun and find something)
ProPointer AT
Garrett ACE 200
Garrett AT Gold
Equinox 800 almost NIB (lol)

So I went a little overboard.. Oops..

They all work good..
The AT Gold is awesome.. Super easy for me to figure out, easy to figure out discrimination, easy to figure out iron audio, it easily does an amazing job at discriminating the difference between nails in the floor and the coins, rings, or whatever I lay on the floor..
The ACE 200 works similarly but seems slow (recovery speed?).. Don't really expect too much out of it, it came in a bundle..
The EQ 800 obviously works but is more confusing and is going to take me a bit to figure out.. Not as intuitive..

The pinpointer works good too and we were both surprised to find out that she has some sort of metal in the back of her head that she had no idea she had (3 brain surgeries)..
Kind of concerning.. Could it be dangerous metal detecting her head? We stopped..
She intends to find out about this metal she didn't even know she had in there.. Was quite surprised..


Anyway we intend to go metal detecting on the shores/beaches of Lake Michigan, elk rapids, Petoskey, Charlevoix, etc..

Really I'm mostly interested in trying to find jewelry, and gold is quite on the lower end of the umm ?conductivity? spectrum these detectors indicate, so I believe that we will discriminate out very little only on the lowest end and dig dig dig pretty much every target until we get the hang of what were doing..

How do you guys figure the AT Gold will stack up to the EQ 800 on freshwater beaches and possibly in the shallows trying to find lost jewelry?
You think the AT Gold might even possibly have a slight edge here?
Do you think we should dig negative numbers on the EQ? How low on the AT?

I think we will probably just have to learn by digging everything for a while until we get some experience..

 

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[Kray Gelder]

Sounds like you're ready to roll! Something to dig with and carry tools and finds in, you're good. Good luck!

 

[PetesPockets55]

You and your girlfriend are about to have a blast. Your freshwater beaches should be easier to detect than the salt water we have here with the AT.

Be sure to carry something large (backpack?) to put the "junque" in. LOL

 

[cudamark]

If you can afford the Equinox 800, grab it and don't look back. It will do everything those other machines do, and more/better. Of the machines you mentioned, distant second place would be the AT Gold. Start out with stock programs until you get some experience and then can do some further tweaking to meet your site and target needs. Other new detectors that would also be a good choice would be the Legend and Deus machines. Used detectors that are still decent to use would be the AT Pro or Max, Simplex (a relative bargain at that price point) and some of the other BBS and FBS Minelab machines. A lot will depend on whether you need them to be fully waterproof or not.

 

[eddie13]

Already got the AT Gold and EQ 800..

Got them used..

Really, I’m skeptical that the EQ is THAT much better than the AT for my intended purposes..

Really I don’t know much of anything about them but I am suspicious that much of it’s reported superiority might be hype..

The fact that it’s rechargeable is a great feature over the AT and I’d say it feels better than the AT.. But the AT is much easier for me to understand, and I just have my doubts that the EQ will be so much better at finding gold jewelry in pretty clean sand..

Michigan is pretty much all glacial till sand.. Little else..

I am studying the EQ to figure out how to best use it, which I have to do MUCH less with the AT..

I have some questions about the EQ but I think I’ll ask in its subforum..

Edit: Found a bunch of bullets on my property.. No surprise..
All 9mm and one that looks like was a saboted round from a muzzle loader..
And a bunch of foil pieces..
One foil piece buried under a small pair of panties that read “party starter” across the rear..

 

[cudamark]

In that limited area of detecting, small gold in fresh water, you probably wouldn't see a great deal of difference, depending on relative coil sizes. You search for deep silver, or, hunt salt water, and you'll definitely see a big difference.

 

[eddie13]

Tried in Lake Michigan for a while today, about knee depth, all rocks..

I’m going to need goggles.. Tring to dig blind with just the vibrating pinpointer..

Found a decent ball of bare copper wire! Maybe 1/4 lb, so the most valuable find so far!
Dug a bunch of little chunks of iron..
Some folded up aluminum sheet..

And this extremely weird UFO flying saucer shaped chunk of something encrusted in rock!
Maybe concrete but I’m not sure.. Concrete would make sense obviously but I have to inspect it further because it really looks like the similar rock around..

Very strange chunk of metal almost like half of a ball about 1.5” tall and about 2.5” around, with a rim around the bottom of it like 1/8”..
Looks just like a UFO, not really “rusty”, very black, rings really low like a -7 on the EQ..


Was laying the EQ down in the water while digging..
It got a touch of water under the screen..
Went to turn it on later and said “error 61” and shut back off..
Multiple times..
Would not work..
Couple hours later did a factory reset (after reading to do that) and it came back on..
CD error because I took the coil plug off..
Put the coil plug back on and it seems to work well again..
Still a drop of water under the screen..
Headphones successfully mated again..
Thinking about warrantying it, but want to use it again first..
Might as well..


Their is sooooo much iron out there, and it ground balanced very high..
Iron everywhere or falsing/mineralized ground I’m not sure..

I accepted that I’m not good enough with it yet to separate one signal from another trying to dig basically blind in the water with so many other signals..
Gave up..

Collected far too many Petoskey stones..

 

[cudamark]

If you have moisture inside the pod on the Equinox, I'd send it back if it's under warranty.

 

[eddie13]

If you have moisture inside the pod on the Equinox, I'd send it back if it's under warranty.

Yep I’ve contacted them already, answered their phone first call, only need serial number, great warranty experience so far..

Got the original invoice from the original purchaser and it’s 2021 so I’m in good shape..

Think I better be careful with this thing though.. I don’t think it’s very tough and rugged..

 

[eddie13]

Here is that UFO looking thing..

Think it’s lead..

 

[CoinShooter01]

Congratulations on the Equinox 800.
Im courious and concerned about the metal found in your girlfriends head.
Did you figure out why it is there?
Previous surgery?
Is it suppose to be there
Hope all is ok, and that you enjoy your new hobby together!

 

[tamrock]

A gal that wants to find rocks all the time sounds like a good catch to me. Where I am they'll be a box from Amazon delivered to my front porch every other day. Sometimes multiple boxes are dropped off at different times. That's when the dogs sound the alarm that the man in the van is again walking up to their front door.