Nox 600 settings.......help!

[tennessee digger]

I just bought an Equinox 600 and was wondering if anybody would mind sharing their settings for either coins or relics (which I do most of the time) with me? I would greatly appreciate any help that you could provide, thanks.

 

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[vferrari]

First, the PDF manual is really good, here's the link: https://www.minelab.com/__files/f/326548/EQUINOX 600 800 Instruction Manual EN

Pretty much just use the defaults at first they are pretty good.

Park 1 (5 tones)/Field 1 (2 tones) for coins as they are weighted for high conductors, though as Multifrequency they will still hit on mid-conductor like gold jewelry, Nickels, lead, and brass.

Park 2/Field 2 for Relics (default is 50 Tones for both but you can set it on 5 Tones if you desire). They are optimized for mid-conductors which holds for most relics but you will still hit high conductive coins too.

Other Tips:

Each mode is like a separate detector which means that you must separately EMI noise cancel and ground balance (if necessary) each mode separately if you use more than one mode at a site. (see the quick startup guide for the sequence of doing this). Recommend running an EMI noise cancel at the beginning of each hunt and if you start to encounter interference during the hunt.

Ground balance is not necessary for most modes unless the ground is somewhat mineralized or the ground phase varies a lot over the site you are detecting. Ground balancing is relatively easy, though, so I recommend spending the extra few seconds doing it. Defintiely do it if when you swing the coil in all metal mode you get a lot of jumpy high negative numbers (-9 to -7), that is ferrous ground noise and indicates that ground balance is needed. If the ground is mild to heavily mineralized you can just put GB in tracking mode and then not worry about it. No real downside to doing this. I just wouldn't do it at the beach were there is minimal to no mineralization since that can mess up the tracking algorithm which relies on the presence of a least a little mineralization to make ground phase adjustments.

The detector does not have a lot of modulation for shallow or large targets and the depth meter lacks accuracy. Use the pinpoint feature to get a bead on whether a target is shallow or large by the pinpoint volume and by sweeping over the target to determine its size boundaries.

The all metal pushbutton on the control panel is a great tool to instantly remove all discrimination or notches to listen as to whether you might be getting mixed ferrous and non-ferrous tones which indicate likely iron (though you can never be 100% sure unless you dig it all). Good way to ferret out things like rusty crowncaps that ring up right around nickels.

Listen to the tones - they give a lot more information about the nature of the target than just the target ID which is a single number. Flutey tones and variable target IDs are indicative of likely trash, for example, but some legitimate targets can also have slightly variable IDs and tones at depth.

Avoid the tendency to mode hop and switch settings. Pick a mode based on the desired target group (e.g., Field 2 for a relic site) and stick there until you get used to the machine. Don't change the default settings. Stick with the default recovery speed and iron bias. I don't really care for iron bias because it can mask keepers in thick iron but it does cut back on falsing a bit. Don't fall into the trap of trying to lower recovery speed to gain depth. This will introduce more ground noise because you will have to swing slower so going to extremes either way is not good. Maybe lower it perhaps one click from its default setting in each mode. BTW p. 62 of the online manual defines all the default settings for each mode.

Rough Target IDs:

Nickels are typically solid 13 with some variability if they are corroded. War nickels have more ID variability because of their variable silver content.

Zincolns are at 20/21 if not too corroded (then they might ring up lower)

Copper Pennies - 22 ish

Dimes mid-to-high 20's

Quarters low 30's

Pull tabs and can slaw hang out in low to mid teens.

Gold jewelry, anywhere from low single digits up to high teens or 20.

Minie balls are high teens

Brass Buttons are below minie balls mid to high teens.

Have fun, its a great detector if you are patient with it and learn what it is trying to tell you. Don't over think it and don't over tweak it.

HTH HH

 

[tennessee digger]

Thanks for your help man. It's a whole new learning curve for me. Been digging for 40 plus years but have never had a machine like this one!

 

[vferrari]

I added a bunch more info after I could get to a computer because I can't type all that on my stupid phone. Hope you can use the info. HH

 

[HighVDI]

There really isn't too much to tweak on a 600. The 800 is a whole different animal really.

Like V said. Pretty much the factory presets and roll with it.

 

[tennessee digger]

Thanks once again, you are very helpful.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

For the 600 I like Park 1 for any mowed lawn, recovery 2, keep 11 & 12 but disc 18 and under and also disc out 38 and up. Otherwise stock with auto GB and run power as high as possible. Runs nice and smooth (quiet) in parks, but let’s you sniff out the nickels and high tones.

For hunting around cellar holes, wooded areas I like Field2 for relics and coins. Pretty much stock and play with recovery speed and power setting depending on how much iron is around. This seems deeper and more sensitive than Park1, but lots more chatter and focus needed.

I would recommend Park1 with the notching I mentioned above when starting out with the 600. Eventually I would like to customize each of the modes for different situations, still learning. Good luck.

 

[cudamark]

I'd keep 13 too.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I'd keep 13 too.

Solid 12 is a V, Buff or clad nickel on my 600. Solid 11 is a Shield nic. Bouncing into 13 is a beaver tail on my machine. 15 is a War nic, but also full pull tab. This is not a dig it all program, but I like it for coin shooting and has helped me get better with the Nox.

 

[vferrari]

Most Nickels are solid 13 on both my 600 and 800. Regardless, I am sure machines have some variation so calibrate with test targets and notch accordingly. I seldom notch anything, though. I can deal with the noise to avoid missing the odd target that due to orientation, masking, or corrosion does not ring up as "expected".

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Most Nickels are solid 13 on both my 600 and 800. Regardless, I am sure machines have some variation so calibrate with test targets and notch accordingly. I seldom notch anything, though. I can deal with the noise to avoid missing the odd target that due to orientation, masking, or corrosion does not ring up as "expected".

Weird! I’ve not dug a nickel that went into 13 on my machine Park1 or Field2. Solid 12 both ways is a definite “I’m calling nickel” plug, especially if it is deep. Sounds like if you are starting out with a Nox to include 13 for most users.

 

[cudamark]

Nickels on mine are usually a solid 13. I've found over 200 of them since I got my 800 in April. Depending on where I'm hunting, sometimes a nickel will read 12 or even 11 if they're crusty. 14 to 17 are tabs, bottle caps, and unfortunately, some gold targets. As Vferrari mentioned, YMMV, as even the same model detectors aren't exact clones. That's why it's best to dig all targets when starting out, so, you know how your machine acts on various targets. After a couple hundred hours, you can start making adjustments to tweak the machine to your particular venue for top performance.

 

[tennessee digger]

Thanks guys, you all are a big help!

 

[Wild Colonial Boy]

anything these experienced guys say is gospel
especially.... vferrari

I am only detecting since May 2018

I was having frustration with nails falseing especially the hammered hand made ones

My only resolve is I search completely open in all metal
And the strong repeat tones I dig
I am in field 2, set to 5 tones and bias at 3 and recovery 5
I have found tiny bronze and copper items
That got discriminated in regular Park 2
I still get falsing but when doubt I drop down to 5khz
And if it blanks or mixed signal I walk
And or I check with
a user program set in park 2
Set at 2 tone, I adjusted tones where iron is at 1 and low volume
And tone 2 at 20 pitch and louder volume
If it is iffy and numbers and sound all over the place
I walk and don’t dig


To try and find items in heavy Iron i am trying

you can

After checking nail invested area with field 2
in shallow occupancy depth

lower sensitivity to 16-18 or lower and maybe cut to noise, iron falseing

you can run recovery speed at 8

you can combine both

put iron bias down to zero to cut out masking

try 2 tone with iron volume 0

set acept reject to 0 instead of 2 in field 2

run with all metal on all the time

do union jack over target to see if you get same or similar signal in 2 directions

try gold 2

also for nail bed

6" COIL
park 2
All metal mode on
2 tone
ferrous set to 0
sensitivity 15
recovery 7/8
IRon bias 1/2

Also

they advise to dig it all
use changes in Threshold to find faint or deeper targets
iffy but good signals should be jumpy but contain a constant repeat positive (not exact number)

jumpy signals that are good targets in Iron are jumping in a repeatable way in correlation with my swing. also you can switch over to 10 kh to check a signal and if it jump way higher in vdi it has a strong possibility of being iron. so say you are getting a jumpy 10-15 signal, in 10 kh it would jump to like 25 if it iron, most of the time.

 

[HighVDI]

Weird! I’ve not dug a nickel that went into 13 on my machine Park1 or Field2. Solid 12 both ways is a definite “I’m calling nickel” plug, especially if it is deep. Sounds like if you are starting out with a Nox to include 13 for most users.

Most of my deeper, older nickels are bouncy. Can hit 10, 11, 12 and 13. Or all in a few sweeps! lol.