pondering the minelab equinox please chime in multi freq mode

[Calabash Digger]

I was in the bed last night thinking about detecting as I do a lot and the equinox came into my mind. This is what I thought about , I use a deus which can change freq one at a time and not run multi at the same time, my coils will go 4kh, 8kh,11 kh, 14 kh, 17 kh, 28 kh, 56kh, 74 kh, That includes both new hf coils. Ok so I was thinking about changing freq because I have been doing so for a year or so and seeing the advantages on higher verse lower freq etc..

This is what I have discovered 8 kh to 14 kh are great for general relics , 17kh to 28 kh great for cleaning up a site BEHIND THE LOWER FREQ. 56 to 74 useless to me unless prospecting for gold. So the equinox is gonna run from 5 kh to 40 kh I think so correct me if I'm wrong don't remember the exact number of freq it will run at the same time. 4 or 5 I think but lets focus on the 20 kh and 40 kh it will run at the same time.. So when you crank the deus up to those higher freq what happens? It will smack bb ,s some of the tiniest stuff you ever saw. It will light aluminum foil up like you wouldn't believe and other small non ferrous garbage like no other. What I'm getting at is those higher freq will make hunting in a modern trash site VERY VERY difficult because it will make it smack foil and gum wrappers so hard and tiny objects. Now I hunt iron infested low MODERN trash sites sometime and 17 kh to 28kh will have you digging bb ,s all day if your not careful but if I'm cleaning up I don't care. For all who have experience with multi freq machines and have used higher freq in the field please chime in... how is the minelab gonna run at such high freq and do any different in the modern trash than the deus does?? Seems to me it will be a foil magnet too in the multi freq mode and I will bet and make a prediction A LOT will be hunting in single freq mode after they take it for a spin in modern trash... I'm excited about the minelab but that popped into my mind and triggered a red flag! Please chime in folks . btw imo 40 kh to 74 kh for relics or coin shooting useless imo and from what I can see from test. If your hunting gold rings or earrings then it might work but be prepared to dig A LOT gum wrappers, foils and bb ,s , btw I'm very excited about the equinox and will have one was just a little concerned about the higher end of the multi freq spectrum.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

You think WAY too much.

 

[relicmeister]

We will find out soon enough. In any case plenty of versatility without having
To change coils. As I don't expect to do
gold prospecting ( unless a trip takes
me to where you can) I would have ordered a 600 except for the fact that
the 800 has more settings like reactivity and audio breaks than the 600, and of course the cordless headphones. While I'm sure I'll try it
I don't expect to use the 40 KHz much
except when in multi

 

[Calabash Digger]

thinking to much is my game lol

You think WAY too much.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

I haven't paid a lot of attention to all the speculation/arguments over a machine that hasn't yet been finalized beyond the main specs, but I seem to recall that it wont use the 20 and 40 in the Multi. Correct me if I am wrong.
And just speculating based on how other ML multifreq machines work, I think running several freqs at the same time will greatly assist weeding out some of the trash you refer to.

But its all speculation until we get our hands on one! Hope it lives up to the hype. Heck I hope its 10x better than my CTX!!!

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

The CTX3030 runs multiple frequencies well. The higher frequency on the Equinox and XP Deus should be good for thin gold (Chains, earrings, studs). We should see more information soon.

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[toddbbq]

if it lives up to its hype it will fill in a niche that a lot of salt and fresh water detectorist have been looking for and that is a light weight waterproof machine that could find small to medium sized gold necklaces. I have been a beach water hunter for about 4 years and still have not found a gold necklace and that is not from a lack of trying lol.

 

[pulltabfelix]

since the Nox 600 does not use the 20 and 40 freqs maybe it won't get the operator side tracked with the small stuff. I know that I have been more than frustrated digging small piece of can slaw more than a few times on my 800. Maybe the 600 users got the better deal of the two detectors? You would think minelab would only turn on the 20 - 40 freqs in the gold 1 and gold 2 mode.

in the gold 1 or gold 2 mode the equinox 800 will hit gold even smaller than a bb sized nugget in my air test of about 2 inches. I guess they could fix this in a future update

 

[vferrari]

since the Nox 600 does not use the 20 and 40 freqs maybe it won't get the operator side tracked with the small stuff. I know that I have been more than frustrated digging small piece of can slaw more than a few times on my 800. Maybe the 600 users got the better deal of the two detectors? You would think minelab would only turn on the 20 - 40 freqs in the gold 1 and gold 2 mode.

in the gold 1 or gold 2 mode the equinox 800 will hit gold even smaller than a bb sized nugget in my air test of about 2 inches. I guess they could fix this in a future update

Way to dig up an old thread. I thought we put this misconception to bed months ago, lol.

The 600 and 800 use the IDENTICAL multi IQ frequency algorithms for the Park, Field, and Beach modes that include elements of ALL FIVE base frequencies - 5 through 40 khz. The only place where the 600 differs in this regard (beside the obvious absence of the Gold modes), is that you cannot select 20 and 40 khz as individual frequencies. So other than the limitations in non-ferrous tone break and pitch settings, recovery speed and iron bias setting range and increments, and the fact you cannot do a manual noise cancel, you should see practically no difference in performance (MultiIQ wise) between the 600 and 800 when using identical modes and defaults.

This is identified in the footnote to the Multi IQ diagram on p. 29 of the manual.

 

[nagant]

They both run the same freq's in multi, but the 600 lacks the single frequency option for 20, 40. Edit V, your a machine!

 

[pulltabfelix]

Way to dig up an old thread. I thought we put this misconception to bed months ago, lol.

The 600 and 800 use the IDENTICAL multi IQ frequency algorithms for the Park, Field, and Beach modes that include elements of ALL FIVE base frequencies - 5 through 40 khz. The only place where the 600 differs in this regard (beside the obvious absence of the Gold modes), is that you cannot select 20 and 40 khz as individual frequencies. So other than the limitations in non-ferrous tone break and pitch settings, recovery speed and iron bias setting range and increments, and the fact you cannot do a manual noise cancel, you should see practically no difference in performance (MultiIQ wise) between the 600 and 800 when using identical modes and defaults.

This is identified in the footnote to the Multi IQ diagram on p. 29 of the manual.

one of my problems is can slaw 15 - 17 and CW bullets 16-18 on the Nox 800. I guess this is why a lot of people say dig everything. If anyone knows any other way to determine a cw bullet from can slaw, please let me know.

 

[vferrari]

I can give you an unsatisfactory answer, but as you are a fan of Clive's book, the answer lies in the tonal sublties not the VDI. Can slaw will give you similar VDI's and "base" tones but to me it sounds more hollow or even distorted than a thick chunk of lead, even if we are talking a mangled, fired minie. The density and mass of the lead target dominates the similarities in specific conductivity between larger can slaw and lead.
The effect is subtle and you will dig can slaw occasionally, but with swing hours it will become quite obvious.

Problem is there is a lot more can slaw than minies out there and site selection is key. The plowed farm field sites that I frequent that have relatively plentiful minie balls because they were CW era encampments with firing ranges, are mostly devoid of can slaw, but the difference between that and a hit on a solid minie ball becomes pretty obvious. Keep at it and perhaps you can set up a test garden to help train your ear.

 

[HighVDI]

Hey V......You think software update could possibly get us up to 99 segments for visual I'd on the EQ? I mean do you think Minelab engineers could do this vs putting out a new machine or having to send back in if it ever became an option ? IMO the EQ would be incredible with a broader VDI scale.

 

[vferrari]

Off the top if my head, it will likely require a redesign of the display at least if folks are wanting to notch out individual VDI's as there are only 50 tics on the LCD display clock face. But that is minor compared to the other impacts such as tone bins and having to change from 50 to 99 tones etc. And having to redo documentation etc. Plus it will completely change up the way the machine behaves as ML intentionally decided to design for VDI stability vice precision (which I personally agree with based on my Deus experience where the numbers just bounce everywhere). Probably not worth trip as a backfit or even just a firmware fix from ML's perspective because I don't think a lot of folks are clamoring for it. But perhaps in a future Equinox iteration Equinox 1000).

I am probably a bad person to ask because besides not having any insider info, I am not a big proponent of 99 VDI. If I had my druthers, there would be even fewer VDI numbers because the key info resides in the audio. I would be more happy with 50 tones and 5 numbers rather than 5 tones and 50 numbers. In the end, I think ML got it just about right with the VDI on Equinox. That being said, I certainly would not complain if they provided 99, as long as they didn't jack up the audio in the process.

 

[CharlesUpstateNY]

Off the top if my head, it will likely require a redesign of the display at least if folks are wanting to notch out individual VDI's as there are only 50 tics on the LCD display clock face. But that is minor compared to the other impacts such as tone bins and having to change from 50 to 99 tones etc. And having to redo documentation etc. Plus it will completely change up the way the machine behaves as ML intentionally decided to design for VDI stability vice precision (which I personally agree with based on my Deus experience where the numbers just bounce everywhere). Probably not worth trip as a backfit or even just a firmware fix from ML's perspective because I don't think a lot of folks are clamoring for it. But perhaps in a future Equinox iteration Equinox 1000).

I am probably a bad person to ask because besides not having any insider info, I am not a big proponent of 99 VDI. If I had my druthers, there would be even fewer VDI numbers because the key info resides in the audio. I would be more happy with 50 tones and 5 numbers rather than 5 tones and 50 numbers. In the end, I think ML got it just about right with the VDI on Equinox. That being said, I certainly would not complain if they provided 99, as long as they didn't jack up the audio in the process.

The Explorer Smartfind screen and target cursor is still KING of TID imo. I find the digital TID utterly useless in comparison. ALSO on the Explorers Minelab successfully isolated and BANISHED crown caps, they cracked this problem 20+ years ago so why are we back to dealing with crown caps? Give me an Equinox with a Smartfind screen and 2 axis Ferrous/Conductive Smartfind display, that would be a killer machine.

 

[vferrari]

Dunno if you were responding to me Charles even though you quoted me, but first I don't deal with crown caps at all on the Equinox, in AM I hear them just fine for what they are and walk right over them. Pretty obvious IMO, don't need a fancy display to figure those out. Like I said, the display is only secondary to me with superior audio, so fancy visuals are just extraneous info. I have no dog in the hunt on TID, feel free to debate Smartfind Displays with those who want 99 TID resolution, I honestly have no opinion on that, as I said above. Take it or leave it, AFAIC as long as audio and price are unaffected.

 

[pulltabfelix]

I can tell you from the stand point of a programmer analyst for many years that would likely be a major change to go from 50 to 99. In software often the simple sounding change require the most rework of the code and some of the more complex sounding changes can often be resolved in one or two lines of code changed. But as V said this change would affect so much other good stuff that the Equinox offers especially the 800. I don't see that ever happening. The more you change code from an original design and code the more you degrade the original design and clean code. Other than bug fixes, it is best to leave the code alone.

 

[mcmich]

Are you the same Calabash digger with all the youtube videos?

I have been running the gold program on the 800. Picks out the VDI better then the other modes. Might be because I am used to running all metal 2 tone on my old machine. Seems to go deeper. Tones are not as distinctive so rely on VDI more now as opposed to my old machine. Just learning this machine. Picked out some nice keepers using gold. I am talking about a 10 square foot yard area that I have hit hard with my old machine. Barber quarter and a few nickels. Really surprised on nickels as my old machine excelled on those.

 

[mcmich]

** just realized the original post was Oct 2017 by Calabash Digger. Wondering why he was questioning multi frequency. Just need to use what works apparently.

 

[vferrari]

** just realized the original post was Oct 2017 by Calabash Digger. Wondering why he was questioning multi frequency. Just need to use what works apparently.

Yeah, the OP is old news. Calabash is way past that now and if you have seen his videos, you know I likes that Equinox Multi IQ.

BTW folks - Keep Calabash and his family in your thoughts and prayers - Florence went right through his town. He is out of harm's way and safe, but who knows what kind of cleanup he is facing.

Take care, CD. Hope you get through this unscathed.