The term signal balancing is not well understood.  Many think that it just  means turning a detector's sensitivity down.  This  may  be part of a signal balancing approach  but not usually.  Running a balanced signal means assessing what the conditons require to let...

Finally got hold  of this coil for the Minelab Manticore and had it out for a few spins .  You  could say that my experiences with the 15" NOX coil gave me the knowledge base  to begin  my comparisons with.  The NOX 15--was a good good, deep coil but chattered  in...

3 Minelab Manticore Tips 1/ Where you are having trouble stabilizing the  unit—go to one of  the modes  that has a  lower frequency weighting.  (A/T High Conductors, A/T Trash Reject, Beach General).  These are more stable. They also work well at bringing up targets ...

2/ “Fast Digital and Then Some...” The newest “crop” of detectors feature what’s termed “fast digital” processing. This processing was in effect--faster and more detailed than anything under the coil--ground, iron and targets.  It’s safe to say that these types of...

Minelab Manticore “Degraded” Responses Learning a new machine is probably easier if you start with your “ideal” signal and work backwards from there.  This way when you have something that is a poor response but has some of the elements of a good one—you are more...

The Minelab Manticore is a beach gold hunters dream.  It has great depth in both fresh and salt water and offers you a wide range of overall settings, audio options and frequency weightings to suit your beach hunting preferences.  It's important to learn what this...

Decided to take the Minelab Manticore out for a late season one hour hunt at a heavily worked beach. This was a land hunt and I focussed on those areas which were not the actual beachfront but back where beachgoers would be getting sorted for the walk to the parking....

Minelab Manticore Care and Feeding Charge System The Minelab Manticore has is a pretty solid charge system although the actual cables have a limited life. Oxidization is your worst enemy. Second are iron filings. When you see that the charge won’t start or complete,...

Recognizing Bottle Caps with the Nokta Legend No detector--even a sophisticated one like the Nokta / Makro Legend will take the place of basic skills and bottlecap responses are a good demonstration of why this is.  I see one prominent “YouTube” personality who hears...

Clive’s 20 kHz Nokta Legend Gold Settings. Here is an example of how using basic skills and an understanding of the various target types can improve  your success with the Nokta Legend at bottlecap and foil--laden sites. This is a setting that shows what the Nokta...

A Few Notes on the Nokta / Makro Legend by Clive James Clynick The first thing I noticed about the Legend was it’s processing. Like the Anfibio—this processing makes for super clean audio in iron or dense trash. With the Legend however, this processing is fast and...

Minelab Equinox Tips: Week 13: Understanding the Tone Settings Its safe to say that it’s worth getting some practice in with each of the Tone settings because they all do different things. Lets take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each. 2 Tone 2 Tone is a...

19/ Developing Your Accuracy and Conclusiveness with the Anfibio Multi Whenever I want to write some advanced material on any detector--I’m continually drawn back to basic skills and competencies. The material in this book on; audio signal types, target types, basic...

Minelab Equinox Tips of the Week # 9:Getting More Depth and Target Information by Using “Horseshoe” mode. The Minelab Equinox's “Horseshoe” All Metal setting is a handy feature that lets you get more depth—although it’s necessary to moderate the added noise. Running...

Minelab Equinox Tip of the Week # 8: “Resolution” One thing that makes the Minelab Equinox challenging to get used to for hunters that are coming from a simpler platform is the amount of detail that you hear and see on the meter.  In the manual this is termed...

5, 14 and 20 kHz Applications To really understand what the Anfibio Multi offers it’s a good idea to perform a simple demo of each frequency setting. Get some targets of different conductivities--for example a silver coin, some small gold or aluminum. Switch the...

Minelab Equinox "Tip of the Week" #5: "Micro" Targets and Ratchet Pinpointing." Use Pinpoint and the depth meter to establish the size and location of your targets. This will stop you from going after “micro” conductors that sound off loudly. To get a more accurate...

Selecting and Using Differently Weighted Modes 4/ Try alternating between both high and low weighted search modes. Each has a different way of responding to targets and the ground. High frequency weighted modes such as “Park 2” and “Beach 1” will have a “bitty” and...

Anfibio Dense Iron Methods (Excerpt) ... an important tool is to just slow the coil down as you make your ID’ing pass. What this does is it changes the ratio of the detector’s processing power versus the amount of data from the ground, iron and targets it needs to...

3/ Gain, Recovery Speed and Iron Bias all affect one another. Try and get a feel for how each changes the way target sounds come in. This takes time and practice. Running 2 Tone will help here too. Try running each one at full--then minimum--with the others at preset....

"Try running Two-Tone for starters. This will help you to get a feel for the Minelab Equinox’s signal tone and how quality responses sound. Remember--the more peaked a signal tone is—the more distinct from the ground your target is."  For more Minelab Equinox Tips,...

A high gain detector that includes high frequencies like the Equinox tends to sound off loudly on small targets. These may or may not be round and solid. A good way to check them is to use the cross sweep to test the consistency. Where you see a dramatic change in...

A Couple of Notes on Nokta Makro Anfibio Multi At any given time I have around fifteen detectors on hand. They all do different things. Of them them all however, one stands out. This is the Anfibio. Im continually impressed by what a well made, well designed great...

Book Excerpt: Equinox Operating Characteristics: Extreme High Gain. These detectors all have what borders on gold field capability--responding to very small targets.  Their modulated audio acts to make these small objects sound bigger.  As well, though some iron can...

Its gotten a lot harder to find gold at land detecting sites.  One thing that's helped me is testing.  I test every detector to determine: 1/ How they respond to foil / gold range targets. 2/ How some of the various targets read on the meter. While there will never be...

From top GQA2 and a CS6PI both in BHID cases boards shielded on all sides.  These are great cases rock solid and no condensation. cjc

Setting is 7.3 gr. 22K.  Spot where a nice band came up last year--it has the numbers--lots of high end cars in the parking, chest deep--still has the numbers but lost items are not so likely to be found. cjc

Please hold your hate mail and hear me out.... I like bottle caps because of what they teach. A normal signal--such as dime only teaches you the bare basics. You hear a tone, see a meter reading and dig. It would be great if that was all there was to success with a...

I see way too many new hunters who hope to find some gold but think it's the first thing they are going to find..sorry bad news--its not   In most conditions, random digging is not going to do much for you.  While its good to dig a lot of targets, the key is to...

My CTX had been in the shop for quite a while--it had the old config and leaked more than once.  One bulkhead, one set of clips and two lithium cells later she was still drinking brine.  Thanks to  Minelab I've just gotten a like new machine and am very excited and...

Anyone travelling to detect with the Equinox should bring the following: 1/ A very light emery cloth. (A pencil eraser has also been suggested to me although I've not tried this). 2/ A good quality contact spray. When I went to charge my machine--there was no green...

Proceeds of a brutal trip--sick half the time. Bracelet is 18k 34.9 gr--a lunker. Also a couple of small bands one 22k and some silver. Kept at it though and had some luck with the Minelab Equinox--running in my 2 Tone "Pulse" mode. Also--I run at "19" Sens--seems to...

I'm proud to announce my new 120 page book on developing your skills and accuracy with the Equinox. You could say that this is an advanced book about simple skills.  These small, basic skills, tricks and competencies add up to “more than the sum of the parts” in what...

Some of the better ones "little nickels" (a few Edward and Victoria) and some favorites including a Standing Liberty and my one Seated coin a half dime.  Holed or not I will take it.... cjc

Its unbelievable what these new super fast machines like the Equinox and Anfibio Multi can do at the old sites.   Anywhere you have old, original ground that's produced before is worth "having another crack at" with one of these machines.  I've had good results with...

My first few gold finds (around 1981 with the Eagle 2--later XLT and CZ5), The signet "C" no less was my first gold-- got with a buddy's Garrett Deepseeker --state of the art at the time.  Then I bought the 6DB. The big sparkly white one  on the right also started it...

Still learning with the Equinox but getting better and better results.   About 8 of these are Equinox finds.  The high frequencies in the mix bring up a lot of ground noises and small micro conductors.  It's a good consistency checker though especially when you learn...

Seeing so many horror stories (and pictures) of damaged coils these day thought I would post this.   Even the trunk of a car can be a dangerous place for a coil with stuff being knocked around.  This is a good way to protect your coil once and for all.  Take a length...

Not a bad haul--1.9 gr. pendant 14k, 8.3 gr. band 18k 4.2 gr. band 14k, and a 14k men's ring with a little rock 7 gr.   Using an "undertune" B2 system with 2 tone to search (very lively--almost like a pulse) and 50 tone to confirm some targets.  A tip: I have not...

It's about 7 pounds and represents a lot of water up the nose... cjc

Got a good question from a guy today:  "...wondering the best way to identify, conquer and quit digging  aluminum can slaw, its spread all over on some park sites near my home." This is a good question to illustrate the value of developing broad based target testing...

This is an excellent mode (G2) for using the Equinox's speed and bias to pick out clean metal amongst alloys and iron. I run it with some disc (to +6) to stabilize and use the cross sweep to determine how an object relates to the surrounding ground.  (This disc...

Some of my top pro buddy's recent finds. 19 gr. chain, 12.2 gr. 14k with stones, and a massive Cartier band... clivesgoldpage.com

...a few more Minelab Equinox Book Reviews... I’m so excited about this new Minelab metal detector, I’m a newbie, and your “An Advanced Guide”, Equinox series is filled with readable and understandable information and instructions, you’ve made my day!  KC Great 2nd...

IH is 1898 two Lincons 1919 and a 10 K GF with sterling band from down at the same level.  Quite a good hunt for a heavily worked site although some silver from that era would have been nice.  

The Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced” (Book Reviews) Reader Feedback “The Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced” by Clive James Clynick (2018) Received the book. Excellent information within! Great for beginning with the Nox, as well as advanced...

So this is not a find to shake the earth but where it's from makes it a biggie for me. We have a truck grove here that even Victorian stuff comes out of.   It's hunted to death but there's a lot of iron.   Ran Tadpole 4 with Ghost as a checker and right were I had...

I recently got a note from an AUS buddy who asked: " have been working a site for the last year, it's a  site that's had hundreds of people camping weekly from the 1850's to 1960's. I have managed to clean out hundreds of silver coins along with 40 silver rings. I...

Saw a new Equinox 800 user asking for some solid basics to get him started.  While these ideas are hardly specific to the Equinox--they apply much more to this type of a high-gain  low-conductor-sensitive machine like the EQ. -Listen for the more solid, centered...

Kind of old news but a good picture.  Cross is 14k 18.9 gr.  Whilte gold lunker is also 14k 18.5 gr.   Try my pre-hunt mantra--"big heavy gold--big heavy gold..." clivesgoldpage.com

In the Caribbean this week --really having to work for my gold here with a number of pros working the same sites.  I feel very lucky to have had some good teachers who showed me how important it is to be versatile.  Ive done some pulse hunting in the deep low...

I'v e been looking around for some really solid advice to put into a post and what seems to come to mind is to recognize that a detector does not "punch down" through the ground to detect metal.  What it does is to separate ground and interference from metal.  When...

The Minelab Equinox: An Advanced Guide Excerpts from JR'S full review... Both books in his Equinox series are in 110-120 page range and small standard format of 8 ½ x 5 ½ inches. Don’t be fooled by the small number of pages. A lot of very specific Equinox information...

Announcing: “The Minelab Equinox: An Advanced Guide.” By Clive James Clynick Our postal workers here in Toronto have been ordered back to work—clearing the way for me to begin a full-on book launch of the new one: ”The Minelab Equinox: An Advanced Guide.” Thanks to...

Here's the new one... Clive James Clynick is the author of some 22 previous detector “how-to” manuals, numerous articles and product reviews. In this detailed and informative book he explains the Minelab Equinox’s ground breaking technology and how it can help you to...

Artifacting and Surface Hunting I thought I would include an appendix with some information on surface hunting in order to impart some general “treasure awareness” to my readers.  Surface hunting is not (for most of us) about finding arrowheads although that may be...

While  my first Minelab Equinox book “…From Beginner to Advanced” suggests that you use a couple of tester to get the hang of looking for solid middle range signals, this same kind of testing is also valuable to teach “hand to eye to ear.”  By this I mean the ability...

“The Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced” (Readers Write…) Reader Feedback “The Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced” by Clive James Clynick (2018) Received the book. Excellent information within! Great for beginning with the Nox, as well as advanced...

Class ring up front 11 gr. 10k next to it 6.7 gr. 18 k back row some 2 point somethings 14 and 18k and assorted silver and glasses. Mostly with the CTX and some with the Equinox 800the conditions required both accuracy and coverage--Im normally a pulse hunter.  Did a...

2/ A Few Maxims--and the Wisdom Behind Them I recently asked a top local hunter for any tips that might go into my next book.  He replied: “Get yourself a big box of Q-Tips and clean all the wax out of your ears so you can hear the deep ones...”  Thanks--I wish it...

"The Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced" By Steve Herschbach (Detector Prospector Forum Administrator) "The Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced" by Clive Clynick is the first book available about the new Minelab Equinox metal detectors. The 8.5" x 5.5"...

Had some luck with the Minelab Equinox and Cuda last week. The Equinox is a great edge cherry picker--gets right in amongst the caps and pins. Trick is to recognise the junk first--especially those "cap patterns."  Cuda is a great workhorse deeper than any VLF. A tip...

Halfs all 1860's English shillings 1830 and 40--unbeliveable. ...found in Canada no less...by Bruce Campell, BC using the Minelab  Equinox 800--he's a hard worker. clivesgoldpage.com

When you go to the lower uSc ranges--its necessary to do certain thingss to mediate the micro conductors. This may involve coil control (determining the solidiy) using the cross sweep and multiple passes, or doing some "foot digging" to make sure the target is not a...

Scored a band today 18k 9.6 gr. with the  Minelab Equinox 800 using Gold 2 / confirming with Park 2 A/M. set as "User Mode" Qiite like this sytem G2 is super deep and tells the size well, P2A/M tells the consistency and also makes a nice search mode in iron or where...

Solid Target Bias As touched upon above, the Minelab Equinox has the built in feature of promoting round, solid, non-alloyed objects, while inhibiting responses from elongated, odd-shaped, corroded or alloyed metals--like tin for example.  These come in as rough or...

Some gold and silver from the last few hunts using the Minelab Equinox and the CTX 3030. Largest band is 14k 10.4 grams, a GoPro Hero 5 ($200 US resale), and a 3 oz. vermeil Russian chain. Getting good results with the Equinox on land (no w/p phones yet) on the small...

Best gold-optimized pulses ever made IMHO, 9v, stable, black sand beast.... All working-I'll be buried with them... cjc clivesgoldpage.com

The Minelab Equinox: “From Beginner to Advanced” (2018) I'm proud to announce my new book on the Minelab Equinox.   This is a very versatile and exciting detector.  It's of special interest to me because of its clean signal transmission, high gain "punch" and low...

Coverage As touched upon above--some sites just need to be covered.  The trade-off here is that the large coils which cover ground best, are usually heavy, and exhausting to drag though the water or swing.  With proper preparation (stretching beforehand, using a back...

II/ CTX 3030 “Trade-offs” As with any detector, getting the best performance from the CTX requires that the operator understand and mediate a number of “trade-offs”.  These consist of a choice and one or more ways (adjustments or method changes) that allow you to...

22/ CTX 3030 Big Coil Gold Hunting The first time I took the CTX 17” coil out was both a “rude awakening” and the beginning of an important learning process.  I jumped into a deep section with it, swished around for a while and heard absolutely nothing.  Later when I...

1/ Spuriousness and Distorted Responses In some ways the CTX is highly accurate--other not. a/ Target Size. The CTX’s high Gain circuitry acts to make all targets sound bigger.  This sometimes makes it hard to identify objects that are too small to be of value.  The...

27/ “Learning from Adversity” One thing that’s helped me to understand this detector is learning what it won’t do.  When you hope to acquire and identify the smallest, weakest signal out there –in the worst, most inconsistent environment, having this mental...

9/ Using Gold “Checkers” You could say that the preceding information about: -the target acquisition properties of Automatic Sensitivity. -how closed screen programs need a delicate sweep. …and… how not all target sounds on the CTX represent the total object that's...

The Minelab CTX 3030 Gold Hunter’s Guide Clive James Clynick is the author of some 19 previous metal detecting “how-to” books, numerus articles and product reviews.  In this advanced, information-packed guide he shares tips and secrets of his many years of successful...

8/ Discriminate Problems I find most of my stuff going in behind hunter who want to speed things up by relying on discriminate mode. The reason for this is because I’ve learned that any discriminate feature is basically at the mercy of conditions.  For example, there...

3/ Multiple Machines: “Matching the Hatch” The advantages of running multiple machines is a subject I've touched upon in previous books.  Since then I've learned a lot more about how matching the strongest features of a given detector can help you to act upon what you...

Trenches and Gullies Often where you have high general sand levels, the only productive  ground will be at the bottom of any trenches or gullies.  This can be only a six-step “swath”sometimes running along an entire beach.  As well, the actual shape of these trenches...

Thought I would dig this illustration out of the new book and post it for those who want to sharpen their shoreline observational skills.   These are the ways that a sidewall can change and when you know to watch for  them it's possible to predict strip-outs--when new...