These detectors all have what borders on gold field capability–responding to very small targets.\u00a0 Their modulated audio acts to make these small objects sound bigger.\u00a0 As well, though some iron can be brought up to sound like its non-ferrous–especially if it has a ferrous component–as do bottlecaps. \u00a0Many hunters who are new to this type of machine are confused as to how some of these caps may respond in various places in the conductive range.<\/p>\n

As well, these machines have so much \u201cSensitivity\u201d that they can produce unstable target ID\u2019s. This is why we see the Equinox with a narrow (-9 to +40) ID scale–to offset these \u201cwild\u201d readings.<\/p>\n

In looking for a way to illustrate just what high gain does to the operating characteristics of a detector, one telling demonstration comes to mind.\u00a0 With a less sensitive machine, when you hear a response and then go to the cross sweep\u2014it\u2019s usually more or less the same. With the extreme \u201cSensitivity\u201d of a high gain detector like the Equinox, it\u2019s possible to hear a response, go to the cross sweep and have it disappear completely–because the machine was responding to the difference between the ground and target or some configuration of the object\u2019s shape. <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0This high gain \u201cpunch\u201d needs special methods to be managed accurately.<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 You could say that with this \u201chopped up\u201d circuitry, the ground\u2019s signal plays a much bigger role in what you hear though\u00a0 the headphones.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard them termed \u201csparky\u201d–an accurate description.<\/p>\n

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Picture shows some of the author’s gold finds from the last year using the Equinox and several other Detectors.<\/p><\/div>\n
Precise Reporting <\/u><\/p>\n
While lots of older detectors have precise reporting, what\u2019s new with these machines is that they operate at such a high electronic standard and speed of processing that they actually report within<\/em> targets. \u00a0In the Minelab literature on the Equinox this is termed \u201cresolution\u201d– that is, the machine bases its identification upon a very large number of \u201cdata points.\u201d So an alloyed metal object will give readings that represent all of the metals that are present in it.\u00a0 Another way to put this is that the detector is so accurate that it actually \u201csplits\u201d targets.\u00a0 A ferrous \/ non-ferrous blend like a bottle cap may show only the non-ferrous portion, a scattered mix of both types of metal or a reading that represents how corroded it is–what\u2019s left<\/em> of the non-ferrous portion. \u00a0\u00a0In effect the detector is reading an interaction <\/em>between ground and metal.\u00a0 Understanding this point is the key to developing your accuracy with the Equinox.<\/p>\n
With the Equinox, some have called this an \u201cunstable\u201d meter.\u00a0 However this highly accurate reporting can also be used to advantage–pointing you to the best, \u201ccleanest\u201d signals in just about any trash-strewn conditions. More on this later.<\/p>\n
From: \u201cThe Minelab Equinox: From Beginner to Advanced\u201d<\/p>\n
by Clive James Clynick
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