50 vs 5 tones... I see no advantage to 5 tones.....

[sgoss66]

As a musician of over 50 years now 50 tones is just a natural choice. I can hear the variance in tones and it gives my cherry pickin a more pleasant experience than the 20 tone machines.

I agree with this, Southwind. I do think being "musically inclined" plays into it. I taught myself to play guitar by ear, when I was younger -- that "ear" (some have it, some don't) probably plays into a preference for more tones, vs. fewer. My wife, on the other hand, is literally "tone deaf;" she does not hear subtle variations in tones, can't tell when something is "out of tune," etc. So, I am almost certain she'd be someone arguing in favor of fewer tones, if she was detecting, not more. All the "extra" tones would do literally NOTHING for her, I would imagine, and might even make detecting for her MORE difficult. For me, though, someone who hears subtle changes in tone/pitch, hearing all the info I can (and only THEN looking at the screen) is just a natural way to hunt. I can see a time and place for fewer tones -- like if I want to "concentrate" less, and just "cherry pick." But otherwise, when hunting for deep/subtle targets especially, I want all the info I can get, and let my ears and brain decipher the language...

Steve

 

[dewcon4414]

Well you guys dont hunt in the water. Out there i use 2 tones..... one for iron and one for everything else....... however, i started out using 50 tone when 50 got just way to much music.... and it does use more batteries. I keep it simple...... 2 tones, NO threshold..... a short recovery of 4 so my targets arent to long. On the dry sand i have my bins set for target ranges that have the cut offs i need...... and i use 5 tones. You can teach yourself to hunt any ole way....... is there an advantage...... over time yes.

Dew

 

[Des D]

"It would've been really great if they included 3 and 4 Tones - as per X-Terra series! I'd prefer that Option over the 50 Tones!"

Des --

Can you accomplish what you want by adjusting tone bins, and setting tones? IN other words, you could effectively make two different tone bins to be "one," for instance, just by setting the pitch of the tone the same in those two bins...

Steve

Steve,
First, thanks for your idea.
Second, the 600 is only Ferrous adjustable.
Thirdly, I don't think it's even possible to do on the 800?
Why?
Equinox is putting up some pretty low TID's on lots of coins that produce much higher values on other Minelab's.
And during hunts the variety of metallic targets that surfaces is just too varied to properly 'load bins' for certain finds?
Don't we all find one or two 'whatsits' and 'partefacts', not found previously therefore no baseline information/knowledge to draw on?

Good Hunting
Des D

 

[sgoss66]

Des --

Gotcha, good points. I wasn't thinking about the specifics as to WHERE to make "bins," if you wanted a three-tone type of thing, just the "ability" to "sort of" do it, by setting more than one bin to the same volume -- i.e. can it "physically" be done. You are right, though; the TID values of various targets on the Equinox present OTHER challenges to a 3-tone type of setup, beyond just the "CAN it be done" question. Since I don't usually do "tone bins," I haven't thought it through as much as you obviously have. So, bottom line, I guess this might not be the best machine to try to hunt as a "3-tone" machine, for instance...

Steve

 

[sube]

I would prefer the 5 tone which gives a spread of 10 tones per bin okay . But now if they had a second screen like the ctx that would take your initial hit and ID to a expanded screen for say your bin 20 to 30 which would be bin 4 and then you had 50 tones for that bin say your hit was a zinc penny it would pick 21 and any variations either way and leave them on the screen . So how much accurate from 10 to 50 maybe a update .
Now we have 5 tones to remember but are using a spread of 250 .

Now on say a target that hit 3 screens at once you could tell because you only have to remember 5 tones each screen could be brought up and seen where the target #s hit . Maybe the new super equinox . As far as variations in tone you can see them in #s you will end up looking at that screen anyway before you dig . sube

 

[Favotti]

Multi tone on the fbs or fbs2 works very well for modern Aussie coins, but the equinox and I just can't gel in 50 tones, so it's 5 tones for me in my situation. I'd like to know if any Aussies are using 50 tones for modern coins though and how they are getting along? For me the impact 99 tones is still the best multi tone for our coins.

 

[Jason in Enid]

There is no difference in performance to using one set of tones over another. It's all in how it sounds best to your ear or works with your brain. SGOSS spent many years on the explorer so he's perfectly at home with that multi-tone language. Continuing with 50 tones on the EQX is natural to what he likes and is used to.

It worked OK for me on the E-Trac, but when I got the CTX I switched to the combined mode which cuts the conductives down into bin groups, similar to the EQX 5-tone. It works best for me, because I don't care about a "silver warble" or exactly how a wheaty sounds compared to a memorial copper. I know that in-ground conditions can skew numbers, so I think in terms of zones. If I hear a target in the coin zone or nickel zone (or whatever based on what I'm hunting that day) I am going to dig it. period. end of story.

 

[IDXMonster]

There is no difference in performance to using one set of tones over another. It's all in how it sounds best to your ear or works with your brain. SGOSS spent many years on the explorer so he's perfectly at home with that multi-tone language. Continuing with 50 tones on the EQX is natural to what he likes and is used to.

It worked OK for me on the E-Trac, but when I got the CTX I switched to the combined mode which cuts the conductives down into bin groups, similar to the EQX 5-tone. It works best for me, because I don't care about a "silver warble" or exactly how a wheaty sounds compared to a memorial copper. I know that in-ground conditions can skew numbers, so I think in terms of zones. If I hear a target in the coin zone or nickel zone (or whatever based on what I'm hunting that day) I am going to dig it. period. end of story.

What he said ^.....

 

[sgoss66]

There is no difference in performance to using one set of tones over another. It's all in how it sounds best to your ear or works with your brain. SGOSS spent many years on the explorer so he's perfectly at home with that multi-tone language. Continuing with 50 tones on the EQX is natural to what he likes and is used to.

It worked OK for me on the E-Trac, but when I got the CTX I switched to the combined mode which cuts the conductives down into bin groups, similar to the EQX 5-tone. It works best for me, because I don't care about a "silver warble" or exactly how a wheaty sounds compared to a memorial copper. I know that in-ground conditions can skew numbers, so I think in terms of zones. If I hear a target in the coin zone or nickel zone (or whatever based on what I'm hunting that day) I am going to dig it. period. end of story.

Good post, Jason. Can't disagree with you. It really is whatever works best for an individual's brain. No doubt running the Explorer for so many years plays a role in me being "used to" sorting through so many tones. But, what seems "natural" to me might be entirely foreign to someone else -- and that "someone else" might spank my rear end in a hunting situation, too.

Good post.

Steve

 

[dewcon4414]

I hunt the same way Jason. I did the same on the CTX as well..... set it up in bins that represented similar targets or metal groups. On the Nox to me for water hunting its also allowed me to reduce the NOISE...... no threshold..... 2 tones....... and lowering the volume on some target zones. For water hunting simple works......... you are first and for most just trying to find a target that aint iron. I spend little time figuring out if its a penny or dime.

 

[Southwind]

I ran a test while out hunting last night. I could easily here the difference between a Zinc & Copper penny in 50 tones. Of course I'd recovered either one, but I wouldn't have to look at the screen to know which I was about to recover. Zinc, it just gets tossed in the pouch. Copper, Could be a wheat deserves a closer look.

 

[Des D]

"It's that the Equinox interprets many coins with lower target ID's and subsequent lower tone responses than other Minelab detectors.

5 and 50 Tones are perfectly fine but it would have made easier listening if they had also included 3, and 4 Tone options.

3 Tone = Low, Medium, High
4 Tone = Low, Medium, Medium to Upper Medium, High

Makes for easy listening, interpretation"

 

[parkgt]

"It's that the Equinox interprets many coins with lower target ID's and subsequent lower tone responses than other Minelab detectors.

5 and 50 Tones are perfectly fine but it would have made easier listening if they had also included 3, and 4 Tone options.

3 Tone = Low, Medium, High
4 Tone = Low, Medium, Medium to Upper Medium, High

Makes for easy listening, interpretation"

At least with the 800 it is pretty easy to set up the bins to mimic 3 or 4 tones.

 

[Jason in Enid]

"It's that the Equinox interprets many coins with lower target ID's and subsequent lower tone responses than other Minelab detectors.

5 and 50 Tones are perfectly fine but it would have made easier listening if they had also included 3, and 4 Tone options.

3 Tone = Low, Medium, High
4 Tone = Low, Medium, Medium to Upper Medium, High

Makes for easy listening, interpretation"

Simply move your break points. Cluster the "extra" ones at the end, 40, 39, 38. Those are beyond any normal response and typically only show when you have big iron falses. Then set your tones for the wanted 3 bins to low, medium and high.

 

[TomNH]

Run a Safari now. Its -9 to 40, 50 tones only. It only took us a few hrs to get the hang of it & call them
out by sound only. When my squaw hit her first silver I was 20 feet away & said "what the hell is that ?".
A Merc at 6" in an old dirt road.
IMHO 5 tones is great for an intro before going 50. Gives a taste of hunting by sound before the full
50 tones are used. There are also some that can not wrap there heads around 50 tones & give up.
5 tones for them still gives good audio feed back without the 50 tone symphony.

HH Tom
LFOD !

 

[NormS]

I been using 50 tones for the past few days and beginning to love it. The quarters have a great hollow sound and I am beginning to learn the nickel and dime sounds I just haven't hit enough of them to really train my brain to automatically know what it is

 

[borntofli]

I have been hunting a real trashy park, and love the symphony as the coil moves... every 2 inches another target.... I just dime, quarter and copper penny hunt.... Dig almost 0 trash......most of the trash is a pulltabh in hole w/ dime... happens alot at this park

 

[ohiochris]

I really like the sound of the tones in 50 , however it is just too much sound for me and 5 tones is quieter

 

[dbado1]

I really like the sound of the tones in 50 , however it is just too much sound for me and 5 tones is quieter

The more that you use 50 tones the less "noisy" it becomes. You start to understand more of what the sounds are. 5 tones are certainly more quiet but just doesn't convey the information that multi tones does.

Dean

 

[ohiochris]

I really like the sound of the tones in 50 , however it is just too much sound for me and 5 tones is quieter

The more that you use 50 tones the less "noisy" it becomes. You start to understand more of what the sounds are. 5 tones are certainly more quiet but just doesn't convey the information that multi tones does.

Dean

I would not doubt that one bit , only being strictly after silver and high tone clad I dont need the barrage of audio that 50 tones provides.