Received my new Equinox 600 today

[CreakyDigger]

Put the machine together and am watching a few youtube vids on getting started. I have not spent much time detecting for many moons now and am planning to get back in as far as my creaky self allows. My property isn't all that old, 1940's, but there should be some silver around the acre of yard that we have. Also, I have permission for a site that I hunted 30 years ago with some success - mainly IHC's. New owner now, a developer, and we have clearance to hunt wherever and whenever. Was an amusement park 1890's, a college after that.

Any tips, advice, directions, helpful videos you know about please share. Thanks!

 

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[crashbandicoot]

I don,t have any advice,but I wish you well in your endeavors with your new 600!Creaky means slow,slow is good!

 

[LoyalistDigger]

Hopefully I can post this here.

Laurie has made some easy to follow videos for the Equinox user. While it mainly deals with the 800, when there are exceptions to certain settings that the 600 may not have, she will point it out. I don't think you can wrong by partaking in your favourite libation and see what the Equinox is all about.

Good luck!!!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpymZHu8sv5nwrk34ID53OxszE8fjuDFC

 

[KREQ600]

You are going to really enjoy your new Equinox 600!!! It will take a bit to get used to it but once you get out and detect with it, it will amaze you!! I have had mine for almost 3 years and still learn a few new things with it!! Download the owners manual from Minelab and look over it a lot!! It tells you everything you need to know about your new detector!! Then get out and use it!! Dig everything at first and make notes of the tones and ID numbers from what you find. I would recommend starting with 5 tones and learn what sounds correspond with each target ID. Dig everything over 20 for sure!! 11 to 12 is the range for nickles. 17-18 Minnie balls and lead musket balls. 19-21 is range for pennies. 23-25 dime. 26-27 Quarter. You mentioned watching videos, that will certainly help but some are over the top and not very helpful so, take some of them with a grain of salt. The main thing is, just get out and use it!!! You will learn so much more doing this!! Good luck and enjoy the Equinox!!!

 

[CreakyDigger]

Hopefully I can post this here.

Laurie has made some easy to follow videos for the Equinox user. While it mainly deals with the 800, when there are exceptions to certain settings that the 600 may not have, she will point it out. I don't think you can wrong by partaking in your favourite libation and see what the Equinox is all about.

Good luck!!!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpymZHu8sv5nwrk34ID53OxszE8fjuDFC

Thanks!

 

[CreakyDigger]

You are going to really enjoy your new Equinox 600!!! It will take a bit to get used to it but once you get out and detect with it, it will amaze you!! I have had mine for almost 3 years and still learn a few new things with it!! Download the owners manual from Minelab and look over it a lot!! It tells you everything you need to know about your new detector!! Then get out and use it!! Dig everything at first and make notes of the tones and ID numbers from what you find. I would recommend starting with 5 tones and learn what sounds correspond with each target ID. Dig everything over 20 for sure!! 11 to 12 is the range for nickles. 17-18 Minnie balls and lead musket balls. 19-21 is range for pennies. 23-25 dime. 26-27 Quarter. You mentioned watching videos, that will certainly help but some are over the top and not very helpful so, take some of them with a grain of salt. The main thing is, just get out and use it!!! You will learn so much more doing this!! Good luck and enjoy the Equinox!!!

Thank you! Found 3 cents in my front yard..2 are wheaties from the 40's. It's a start!

 

[crashbandicoot]

That,s doing it Creaky!

 

[KREQ600]

CreakyDigger: You are already learning the EQ 600!! Those were some good finds to start out with!!!
Just like you had to learn your White's machine, so too will you learn some of the intricate details of the Equinox. Stick with the standard factory settings for now on the different search modes. Since you have detected before, you should be familiar with ground balance, noise cancel, discrimination etc. and what they do to help with the functionality of the detector. Don't get too caught up in trying to peak and tweak the factory settings to try and find the perfect setting but some adjustments are certainly worth experimenting with depending on your soil conditions and for what and where you will be hunting. As stated before, download the user manual and study it. It will help you tremendously!! Go back through this forum and look through all the posts and there are a lot of them, because there is a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned from them. Good luck and good huntin'!!!

 

[cudamark]

I would recommend starting out in Park 1, Sensitivity up as high as you can, but, still stable and not falsing, Noise cancel if you encounter EMI, Ground Balance if you have highly mineralized ground, Iron Bias set on F2 @6, Threshold and Target volume to whatever is comfortable, and I prefer and recommend using 50 tones. I find it gives much more info on the target, and it helps keep you from getting "tone deaf" where you get fatigued hearing the same tones over and over. Go out and dig everything that beeps for a while, and once you get about 100 hours or so on the machine, hit the horseshoe button and start listening to the iron tones too! They can also give you lots of information about the site and the targets. At that point, you can also start experimenting with some of the other modes to see how they react in your hunting areas. Good Luck!

 

[CreakyDigger]

CreakyDigger: You are already learning the EQ 600!! Those were some good finds to start out with!!!
Just like you had to learn your White's machine, so too will you learn some of the intricate details of the Equinox. Stick with the standard factory settings for now on the different search modes. Since you have detected before, you should be familiar with ground balance, noise cancel, discrimination etc. and what they do to help with the functionality of the detector. Don't get too caught up in trying to peak and tweak the factory settings to try and find the perfect setting but some adjustments are certainly worth experimenting with depending on your soil conditions and for what and where you will be hunting. As stated before, download the user manual and study it. It will help you tremendously!! Go back through this forum and look through all the posts and there are a lot of them, because there is a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned from them. Good luck and good huntin'!!!

Thanks! Just got back from 3 hours of swinging it over what apparently is a fairly thoroughly hunted place. I thought I would get tired in my arm and shoulder, but it wasn't a problem. My problem is getting up and down. Anyhoo...did not find many coins and those I did find were recent. What I did find that surprised me was tiny brass gears, old .22 casings, very small round lead balls, and other small objects at 8 inches average. I figured if I was finding those I could be finding anything. Park 1 & auto ground balance, that's about it as far as adjustments at this point. I have a big palm blister from my hand digger - I need one of those shovel things.

 

[CreakyDigger]

I would recommend starting out in Park 1, Sensitivity up as high as you can, but, still stable and not falsing, Noise cancel if you encounter EMI, Ground Balance if you have highly mineralized ground, Iron Bias set on F2 @6, Threshold and Target volume to whatever is comfortable, and I prefer and recommend using 50 tones. I find it gives much more info on the target, and it helps keep you from getting "tone deaf" where you get fatigued hearing the same tones over and over. Go out and dig everything that beeps for a while, and once you get about 100 hours or so on the machine, hit the horseshoe button and start listening to the iron tones too! They can also give you lots of information about the site and the targets. At that point, you can also start experimenting with some of the other modes to see how they react in your hunting areas. Good Luck!

Thanks for the great tips!. I am staying with the KISS method starting out...I may try that 50 tone thing for the very reason you suggest.

 

[cudamark]

Get a good hand digger......such as a Lesche. If you use a standard garden spade, or, even the ones sold by detector companies for field use, you will draw attention to what you're doing. Believe me, you don't want that. You want to be as close to invisible as you can get.

 

[CreakyDigger]

Get a good hand digger......such as a Lesche. If you use a standard garden spade, or, even the ones sold by detector companies for field use, you will draw attention to what you're doing. Believe me, you don't want that. You want to be as close to invisible as you can get.

Here is what I have and what I like for a hand digger. I bought it about two years ago when I made an abortive attempt to get active again. There are no markings on it. It is one solid piece of what is probably steel with a fabric padded handle. I don't like the flashy poorly made diggers that are brand name. I tend to bend those.

I did just order a t handle shovel for the places where I can use it. I think it will also help me pull myself up off the ground.

.

 

[islamoradamark]

looks like it will do da job

 

[cudamark]

Here is what I have and what I like for a hand digger. I bought it about two years ago when I made an abortive attempt to get active again. There are no markings on it. It is one solid piece of what is probably steel with a fabric padded handle. I don't like the flashy poorly made diggers that are brand name. I tend to bend those.

I did just order a t handle shovel for the places where I can use it. I think it will also help me pull myself up off the ground.

.

That looks a bit like a Hori Hori knife. I used to use one like that too.......broke in two on me one day. Bought a Lesche and have never had a problem since. That was about 5 years ago.

 

[McKinney_5900]

Just keep it simple. Ground balancing, as Minelab states with the Equinox in multi frequency doesn't need doing. Besides that, have fun!

 

[CreakyDigger]

That looks a bit like a Hori Hori knife. I used to use one like that too.......broke in two on me one day. Bought a Lesche and have never had a problem since. That was about 5 years ago.

I'll check them out, thanks...always good to have a spare.

 

[vferrari]

Just keep it simple. Ground balancing, as Minelab states with the Equinox in multi frequency doesn't need doing. Besides that, have fun!

This has been understandibly misinterpreted because of ML's somewhat ambiguous guidance, but in fact the manual does not say GB is not needed in multi. Because people have misinterpreted what ML actually stated in the manual, this invariably leads to a lot of confusion and less than ideal advice especially for detecting in soil conditions that return a lot of ground noise.

In a nutshell, under most mild soil conditions (and especially in dry beach sand) you can probably get away with GB set at 0 as a GB setting starting point (but make sure it is truly set at zero because each mode permanently remembers the last GB reading even after the power is shut off), but it only takes a few seconds to do an auto ground grab by pumping so why not just get the GB set optimally for the site conditions where you are swinging - there is no down side other than the few seconds it takes to do the balance and then there is no question or guessing as to the degree of soil mineralization.

On the other hand, on Equinox, if GB is not set properly, the only way you would really notice it is in horseshoe mode (no disc) as it only manifests as ground noise (lots of iron grunts accompanied by continuous bouncy -8 and -9 TIDs). People often mistake this as iron underneath the coil and say it is impossible to find a "target free" patch of ground to do a GB. When the actual problem is that the detector is reacting to ground mineralization and just needs to be ground balanced to the soil they are standing on. Cracks me up.

Also note that each mode (Park 1&2, Field 1&2, single frequency, etc) will react with the ground differently because of the different multifrequency profiles associated with each mode as well as single frequency, so GB has to be set separately for each mode or single frequency setting.

Anyway, don't take my word for it, this is the actual guidance from the Equinox user guide:

"The default Ground Balance setting of 0 is recommended for Park, Field and Beach Modes because these locations typically have less mineralisation than goldfields. However, if the ground is generating many noise signals (and/ or the Sensitivity level is set very low), then using Auto Ground Balance is recommended. If the Auto Ground Balance process does not greatly reduce ground noise (due to highly mineralised ground or high salt levels), then repeat the Auto Ground Balance process by sweeping the coil from side-to-side, rather than the standard up-and-down motion."

Again, this is not that big a deal from a detector performance standpoint unless you really want to make use of horseshoe/no disc mode (often inaccurately referred to as all metal mode). Just wanted to set the record straight on the actual ML GB recommendation.

Other than that you have been given great advice - keep it simple, stick to a good general purpose mode for your detecting environment (Park 1 or Beach 1, as appropriate) and learn the detector's language and avoid deviating too much from the default user settings until you gain more confidence in what the Equinox is telling you regarding the targets under the coil and you better understand how adjusting the settings (especially # of tones, recovery speed and iron bias) affect target signal response.

Suggest getting Andy Sabisch's Equinox handbook and not just because my recommended relic detecting settings are featured in the book (lol), it is a good comprehensive guide to the settings. Clive's guides are great regarding the operational side of things including great guidance on coil control and interpreting the target audio signals.

GL and HH.

 

[McKinney_5900]

Literally, none of my ground balances in multi mode, on test garden tests of before and after, have made any difference what so ever, nor has the same tests done in the field after detection of targets. Nothing measurable anyway.

 

[vferrari]

Literally, none of my ground balances in multi mode, on test garden tests of before and after, have made any difference what so ever, nor has the same tests done in the field after detection of targets. Nothing measurable anyway.

I don't doubt what you are saying at all if your ground is mild. It doesn't really affect performance in disc mode, unlike with other detectors. I know that on dry sand on my beaches, GB balances to zero. However, in mineralized ground (basically where I do 90% of my detecting), if you do not GB then ground noise overwhelms horseshoe mode and makes it unusable. Even in mineralized ground, it is not something you would really notice if you never use no disc/horseshoe mode - but I use it often (to find iron concentrations indicative of old building sites and to reduce clipping of non-ferrous targets that have a ferrous signal component due to depth or corrosion).

Doing an Auto GB/ground grab is just part of my normal Equinox startup routine just as noise cancelling, regardless of the site. Like I said, there is no down side to doing an auto GB, even if the GB returns a zero. It only takes a few seconds.