Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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Tropical Storm Arthur.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov
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So we had the first named tropical storm of the year - Arthur. Unfortunately Arthur didn't do a lot for us and is heading north and away from us.
I was glad to recently put in a few hours of metal detecting time, even if it wasn't the most productive. My weak spot in recent years has been the amount of time I've spent on metal detecting.
As you probably know, the TreasureGuide formula for metal detecting success has several factors, and the one that I rank as the second most important is the time factor. The time factor is second only to the location factor.
I posted my most recent version of my formula in my 5/4/20 post. The formula is Amount of Success = L + T + Sk + E + D+ N + A. I won't go over all of the factors again now.
My time factor can be broken down into three factors: time scouting (Ts), time detecting (Td), and time gathering and assimilating information (Ti).
Not being able to spend a lot of time in the field, I haven't done much scouting around. When I was doing my most serious detecting, which was between my consulting and teaching jobs, I spent a lot of time detecting, but I also spent a lot of time scouting beaches. I closely monitored a lot of beaches along nearly a hundred miles of coastline. When I decided to detect a beach a few miles away, I would stop to take a look at some of the other beaches in between, and might detect beaches several miles apart on the same day.
If you are metal detecting during low tides, you can still do some scouting during high tides. Although you might not be able to see the lower beach at high tide, you will be able to see enough to give you a good idea if the beach is cutting or how it is developing.
I was glad I got to put in some good time metal detecting this week, but I am not sure I was at the best location because I had not been doing a lot of scouting. I didn't know what some of the other beaches were doing because I didn't spend hardly any time other than the time I spent metal detecting. I did take a look at one or two other beaches, but not many. I would have liked to have known what some of the other beaches were doing.
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The other day I mentioned using both the Equinox and ATX. One person essentially asked if one is better than the other. It is not that simple. It depends upon a variety of factors, including where you are working and what you are trying to accomplish. How well you use your detector is another important factor. Sometimes it is more about how you use a metal detector rather than the detector's capability.
To give a quick answer to the question, for doing a quick scan on a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach I'd choose the Equinox over the ATX, but if I was focusing in on a small area I might choose the ATX. I might also use more than one detector on the same hunt (See my post on 7/24/14 post, for example.).
The ATX is in my opinion a very good metal detector, but it is very heavy, and when I was having a lot of back trouble I decided to get a lighter detector with the thought that it might not put as much strain on my back. Well, this year my back has been doing fine and I'm glad about that, but the Equinox has proved to be a good detector. I've heard other people say that they didn't like the Equinox or that it wasn't very good, but I have no problem with it. As I've shown, I've found a variety of targets with it, including a very undersized half reale and other very small objects. I feel confident when using the Equinox, which is important. You have to feel confident with your metal detector. That, of course, means learning to use it well and using it enough to know what it can do.
I also like the ATX, but the ATX, besides being heavy, will respond to the smallest and deepest pieces of iron. You can turn the sensitivity down if you want to. It also has an iron check feature, which works, but takes a little extra time. The sensitivity to iron can actually be a good thing in some situations.
I found a lot of cobs before I ever found a shipwreck spike. I'm sure I went over them but never dug them up. Back when I was doing mostly jewelry hunting, I was usually using metal detectors that nulled over iron or were not very sensitive to iron. That didn't bother me much then, because of what I was doing. In fact most of the time it was a good thing. There are times, though, when I do not want to miss iron.
To sum it up, I like the Equinox, especially for covering a lot of ground and doing a fast scan. The ATX I might use when I tighten up and focusing in on a smaller area and certain types of targets. I might use it when targets are scarce. You will not be digging a lot of junk then anyhow.
Of the twenty or so metal detectors that I've used, they are all good for something, but not ideal for everything. They have their advantages and disadvantages, or as you might say, indications and contraindications.
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I think I mentioned that the COVID data is not much good. According to CNN, Birx agrees.
Specifically, Birx believes the way the CDC gathers data on the coronavirus is antiquated, causing inaccurate and delayed numbers on both virus cases and deaths...
Here is the link.
You can't do good science with bad data.
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net