Beach mode in All Metal?

[ARAWORN]

Just got my 600, and plan on using it mostly for saltwater beaches. Does anyone use All Metal in Beach mode or any mode for that matter. Is there any benefit to this, or just stick with the factory Beach with it's preset disc settings?

 

[lytle78]

There is no all metal mode on the Nox600. When you press the horseshoe button, it simply accepts all VDI numbers. A true all metal mode would bypass the discrimination features of the detector altogether.

Having said that, accepting all VDI numbers can help iD ferrous material like rusty beer caps as well as let you know how much small ferrous stuff is around. Mine worked fine on a wet salt beach yesterday.

 

[borntofli]

I hunt in all metal mode and 50 tones... the iron is a pleasant sound, and helps you identify other targets when you know iron is in hole...(here, iron is in every hole....)

 

[lowtide1]

I use it all the time, it helps me find the drop zones, where the waves leave coins, sinkers and hopefully gold.

 

[lytle78]

All VDI it is - All Metal it ain’t. All Metal has for decades been the term used to describe a detector which is not utilizing any electronic (hardware or software) discrimination channel.

A detector which is using it’s discrimination function and has that function set to accept all metal targets is not “all metal” it is “zero discrimination”.

Words mean stuff.

Of course others may choose to say whatever they want, but ignoring decades of usage in our hobby is a mistake IMHO.

 

[Ytcoinshooter]

For me the all metal mode has many benefits in and out of the water. So accessible is that lucky horseshoe button, a quick press toggles it to let me hear everything. Next water hunt in MX I'll be using my Equinox 800 instead of a PI. The Mexican lower denomination coins 1,2, 5 peso and 50 centavo read as iron on everything else I have. I've never been a fan of all metal hunting on my Excalibur so this is a sweet option. Just started trying my 800 on turf today, love that all metal feature. Cool detector.

 

[sgoss66]

All VDI it is - All Metal it ain’t. All Metal has for decades been the term used to describe a detector which is not utilizing any electronic (hardware or software) discrimination channel.

A detector which is using it’s discrimination function and has that function set to accept all metal targets is not “all metal” it is “zero discrimination”.

Words mean stuff.

Of course others may choose to say whatever they want, but ignoring decades of usage in our hobby is a mistake IMHO.

Rick --

For what it's worth, your point is well-taken. While some may consider it a "semantics" argument, to me I agree that "words matter." "No disc. mode" is more correct and precise, vs. all-metal mode.

We were talking about the Equinox gold mode, too, in another thread, and I've never used it yet. BUT -- if l recall, you get a VDI number in gold mode, as well -- right? So even in gold mode it's not a true "all-metal mode," no? The signal has to pass through an ID/disc process be able to offer the ID, so that, too, is not a true "all-metal" mode, right?

BUT, to add more confusion, yesterday Digger posted that Minelab Engineering says that the Equinox DOES incorporate a true "all-metal" mode. So, if that is indeed what Minelab says, I'm thoroughly confused...

Steve

 

[ARAWORN]

I appreciate everyone's input, however I confess I also am now more confused. I guess I'll use the preset Beach mode for now, and tinker later on.
Thanks to all.

 

[sgoss66]

ARAWORN --

Sorry you are confused. If you can clarify your question, it will help. I THINK what you are asking is, does anyone "hit the horseshoe button and turn off ALL discrimination" when hunting in beach mode?

IF I am correct, and if that's what you are asking, then you can ignore 90% of the posts in the thread, including my own, above, and read what borntofli, lowtide1, and Ytcoinshooter said. There are definitely benefits to "hearing all the targets, including the iron." Some like to hunt that way, some don't. To me, knowing if there is iron beneath the coil can be helpful in a number of different ways, in a number of different sites/settings. If you have iron "silenced," for instance, i.e. discriminated out, and you were searching an old field looking for a former home site, finding the concentration of nails (iron signals) could help you in that regard. If the nails were discriminated, it might be more difficult to figure out where the home used to sit. That's just one example. I personally also find it easier to figure out what is a high-tone "nail false," versus a non-ferrous target's high tone, if I can hear the iron in the background. Hearing LOTS of iron, and an occasional high-tone chirp, tells me more, personally, about what's going on under the coil, than hearing NOTHING (iron discriminated out) except for the occasional high-tone chirp.

Steve

 

[lytle78]

On another forum, Carl Moreland - Engineering Manager at First Texas - posting as Geotec, explained that modern digital signal precessing has made all this discussion irrelevant - call it whatever you want - there are one many different ways of processing the signal.

My dogmatic diatribe is hereby exposed as outmoded drivel!

When will I ever learn?? Lol

 

[ARAWORN]

Yes, that's what I was asking. I guess my concern is possibly missing a good Target due to discrimination blanking out over iron. I usually hunt saltwater beaches where there are lots of little iron targets.

 

[laplander]

Yes, that's what I was asking. I guess my concern is possibly missing a good Target due to discrimination blanking out over iron. I usually hunt saltwater beaches where there are lots of little iron targets.

A lot of this "discussion" has missed the point of your question araworn. I do not have a 600 but from what I have read you can adjust the volume of the ferrous bin. From my experience lowering the ferrous volume to just audible will be a great improvement while detecting in all metal mode. This will allow the good targets to jump out and grab your attention with more volume yet still hear iron in close proximity.
With the fast recovery speed of the Equinox especially in Beach 2 you may find it unnecessary to listen to all the ferrous tones, I have dug lots of good targets next to ferrous ones both ways so its really a matter of what works for you and your location.
I would also encourage you to play round with some targets you likely to find and see where they I.D. before hunting.
Let us know what you works best for you!!
Laplander

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I've hunted in "All Metal" mode a fair bit on the EQ800 at relic sites, it helps to hone in on where activity zones were. I find that the iron audio is pleasant and well integrated into their 50 tone mode, without the need to lower the iron audio as is helpful on other detectors that cause audio fatigue with their barrage of harsh audio (perhaps that was the answer all along, make the iron audio a pleasing, non-intrusive tone).

On the true all metal vs open discrimination, I've had this discussion with my hunt partner many, many times, and I think some old timers have a challenging time grasping that things change in the digital world. This isn't your grandfathers detector, but to be honest, only Minelab really knows if the horseshoe button truly invokes an all metals mode in the classic analog world sense.

IMO, at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter how Minelab implemented or didn't implement their digital signal processing algorithm, as it does what it's supposed to do.

 

[sgoss66]

Araworn -- you should not "miss" a target due to the threshold "blanking" due to iron (if you are discriminating iron). This machine resets SO FAST that you don't have to worry about the machine "blanking" due to iron and missing a nearby target. That's a big part of the point of a fast recovery speed unit -- FAST reset each time it detects a target, to be ready to detect the next target.


Rick -- LOL! It's all good! Sometimes things evolve so fast, that smart "veterans" like you can't keep up (and dumb, younger guys like me never knew it in the first place!)

Steve