Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Morning On The Treasure Coast. |
I've stressed the importance of getting to know your metal detector, and the importance of practicing. It takes a long time for me to really get to know a metal detector. When people test a metal detector after a few hours of use, it is not really a good test of the detector. It takes time to get to understand a metal detector and to learn to use it well.
The Minelab Equinox detectors seem to be very popular these days. I see a lot of them on the Treasure Coast. Although I often use an Equinox, there are a lot of adjustments that I've never really tested. I think most beach detectorists, perhaps unlike nugget shooters, tend to use mostly the default settings, perhaps with a few adjustments. Tell me if I'm wrong about that.
One reason I haven't spent a lot of time talking about specific settings, is that there are so many settings and combinations, and there are so many other factors that are important - for example research, reading the beach and even the operator's personality.
Personality is very important. Detectorists are different. Some detectorists are happy hunting coins and modern jewelry. Some are only interested in old Spanish shipwreck treasures. What you hunt and where you hunt it makes a big difference and so does you patience level and goals.
For a short list of important factors, see Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond): 5/4/20 Report - New Revised Formula For Metal Detecting Success. Gruesome Bit of Treasure Coast History. (tbr2020.blogspot.com).
Some people just like to simply turn on their metal detector and go. They'll use the default settings most of the time, making few additional adjustments. Other detectorists study the manual, try out everything and often customize their settings to the site.
One thing that will affect how you use your metal detector is your past experience. If you are not using your very first metal detector, you already have learned some things and have some habits that may help you, but you might also have to change some of your old habits. You can't use every detector the same, and the transition from one detector to another can be easy or difficult depending upon the similarities or differences.
There were some detectors that I did not give a fair chance. For example, when I tried a Garrett pulse detector (I forget the name of the model now), I didn't like it. That was partly because of its super sensitivity to iron and partly because I was accustomed to a smoother threshold sound. I didn't keep it very long. I probably should have given it a chance and taken the time to learn to use it better, but I was accustomed to a smoother threshold and didn't like the way it worked mostly because of my past experience. Your prior experience can help you when you can transfer the skills or hurt you when you need to do some unlearning and relearning.
Just to give a little history, my first good metal detector was a Whites - probably a Coin Master. It was something like that if that isn't what it was. Then a I got a Fisher 1280 and started doing a lot of water hunting. I had a few Tesoros, which I didn't use a whole lot, but were good for special situations. Tesoros, in my opinion, weren't great for detecting wet sand. I had others that I preferred for that. Then I got into my most productive gold jewelry detectors - the Steve Noga modified Nautilus detectors and the Herb MacDonald Aqua Sound detectors. The Noga and MacDonald detectors worked pretty much the same and were excellent power machines designed specifically for saltwater environments. They had no discrimination other than nulling on iron. After that I got into Minelab detectors, including the Excalibur, Sovereign, and Equinox detectors. I also had and still occasionally use an ATX, when I want capabilities similar to the Noga and MacDonald detectors, but the ATX is hot to iron and doesn't null out iron like the AquaSound. The ATX and Equinox detectors are VERY different kinds of detectors. I had a few others which I didn't mention, but I those are the ones I used the most.
The Equinox is the first detector that I use mostly in discrimination mode. Before that I used mostly all-metals modes. The Stingray, which was good on small gold and platinum, also, if I correctly recall, I used mostly in all-metals mode. I think most people used the Excalibur and Sovereigns in discrimination mode, but I used them almost always in all-metals mode.
If you are very accustomed to using discrimination mode, you might have difficulty using all-metals mode on a wet salt water beaches and in black sand
If you are accustomed to using a discrimination mode, will probably be bothered by noise caused by salt or black sand when using an all-metals mode. In an all-metals mode, you might hear mineralization but you can learn to distinguish the sound of mineralization as being distinct from real targets. When using an all-metals mode, I prefer to hear a little threshold sound and hear the changes in mineralization and have little difficulty distinguishing between ground mineralization and real targets. That is partly because of the large amount of time I spent working in all-metals modes. Of course, you don't want to hear so much ground noise that you can't identify signals from good small or deep targets, but with time you can learn to tell the difference. I find the threshold level very important when using an all-metals mode. It is very much like using discrimination. Turn the discrimination too high and you miss more good signals, and turn the discrimination down and you dig more bad targets. There is a fine line, and selecting the best level takes practice and skill. There is nothing wrong with hearing ground mineralization if you learn to tell the difference between ground mineralization and real targets.
The point I am trying to make here is that your past experience can help or hinder you when you are learning to use a new metal detector. Some things will be similar, but some differences can require you to relearn and change some habits. You will have to adapt your approach according to the detector. For example, if you are accustomed to using a discrimination mode, learning to use all-metals mode effectively can be difficult. You definitely have to relearn some things. The metal detectors circuity can do some of the work, but your own neural circuitry is even more powerful.
Since the Equinox has become so popular and since I've been using it a lot, In the near future I plan to discuss various some of the adjustments you might choose to make on the Equinox.
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The surf is small today and will remain small for a few days. The tides are getting smaller too.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net