How well does the Equinox do in pull tab infested sites?

[John in Nawth Carolina]

All I've heard is how well it does in iron infested sites.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Its awesome! I've never dug so many pulltabs in my life before I got an Equinox. Of course, I never dug so much gold either.

 

[maxxkatt]

If you are looking for rings, you must dig pull tabs.

If you are looking for coins, you can discrim pull tabs easily or on the 800 set the bins for different pitch/vol for pull tabs. That is what I do if not looking for rings.

 

[John in Nawth Carolina]

Looking for coins, not gold. Is the Nox 600 capable of discriminating out pulltabs as well as the 800?

 

[maxxkatt]

the discrimination function I am pretty sure is the same on 600 and 800.

On the 800 you have bins that you can assign different pitches and volumes to different ranges of TID numbers. So you could assign a bin range of 14-17 a low tone and volume. SO you could hear them, but not mistake them for a higher tone for coins.
Our course nickels are 13 and same for square tab. So you might dig some square tabs.

But maybe cross checking swing on pull tab might give a slightly different reading than the nickel if you switched to 10 khz freq to check the difference between nickel and pull tab.

Supposedly on the 800 if you use bins or breaks instead of discrimination you gain a little depth. Not sure if that is true or even worth the trouble. Most of your coins that are mixed in with tabs etc will be shallow so no need for extra depth.

So just discrim out 14-17 on the 600.

 

[IDXMonster]

Hunting high conductors in pulltabs is a breeze John, no worries. Trying to discern nickels from beaver tails and square tabs just isn’t worth it...IF you’re not hunting gold. Nickels are low value, you’re not going to find one that’s worth any more than 5c on a normal day. I’ve found every kind of nickel made, including the 3c version(a bit by accident, those actually read lower). If you’re just hunting Indians and above or wheats and above, yes....you’ll be fine. Set your high bin to 18 and run.

 

[jmaclen]

Looking for coins, not gold. Is the Nox 600 capable of discriminating out pulltabs as well as the 800?

Sorry this is kind of long but it is a great question at least to me....

I almost always am hunting for gold jewelry so I happily dig 10 to 20 pull tabs of some sort during every session.

If by coins you are including any kind of nickels........you will have to dig pull tabs. The good thing about the square pull tabs and more modern rounded pull tabs is that they often will read just on either side of the standard nickel reading if the nickel is positioned pretty well in the ground and there is no masking by some other target or ground conditions. Modern nickels will go back and forth between 12 and 13 which is their characteristic pattern. Occasionally they will give an 11 or 14 but that is not normal. Also if they are close to the surface you might hear a beep-beep instead of just one hard beep during a sweep. Square pull tabs can read 11,12, or 14,15. Depending on how they are positioned you may hear a triple beep as the coil passes over them. The most recent rounded pull tabs can also give a clear triple beep during a pass and if they are not bent or damaged they will give a very steady 13 to 14. Beaver tails or ring pulls if they are complete or bent can read 14,15,16,17 and even 18. If you hit the ring part they will double beep and sound just like a nice gold ring with a two number or less spread like 16 to 17.

If you don't want to dig nickels or zinc pennies you can reject up to 23. That will also take care of the small and large steel screw caps from shot bottles and liter sized alcohol and soda bottles that still had metal screw caps. They sound fantastic and usually read a steady alternating 22,23. If you are in an area where there are Indian Heads you might want to accept from 18 to 40.

The Nox 800 and 600 will completely silence aluminum targets that are up to silver dollar coin sized. Larger aluminum targets may break through the discrimination pattern if you are discriminating say up to 18. So large aluminum cans and can shards can hit in the high teens on up to 26 or so depending on depth and shape. They also create a huge target footprint on the Nox that is easy to recognize with practice.

US coins that are not too deep or tilted on edge hit really hard on the Equinox 600 and 800. With practice you will recognize the hard contours of the tone. Pull tabs will not sound quite as well defined usually, but there are always exceptions. Recent coin drops that are on the surface can make a weird, shrill elongated tone that you just have to get used to. Coin spills of different denominations are really fun in 5 or 50 tones

So if you really want to skip most small can shards, can slaw, pull tabs and beaver tail ring tabs and don't care about nickels reject everything up to 17 or so. You truly won't hear a thing from -9 to +17.

Since you want to hunt coins, what some people have complained about with the Nox is that US coins will not lock on to just one number. The problem is much worse up in Canada on their steel core modern coins!!!!! The Equinox was designed to be used all over the world and is not tailored specifically to US coins. So nickels will normally bounce back and forth between 12 and 13, zincs that are newer will bounce between 19, 20, 21. I've had badly corroded or damaged zincs hit every number between 19 and 30 in a few sweeps. Copper pennies will bounce between 25,26,27 and 28 in succession during sweeps, clad and silver dimes are usually 24, 25, and 26 if they are not too deep. If they are deep the can bounce between 27 and 30. Clad and silver quarters can bounce between 28 and 31. Two or more quarters stuck together can read as high as 39 which is why I don't notch out 39 and 40 like some people do. I've had a quarter and a Kennedy half or two Sacajawea or Presidential dollar coins in the same hole hit 39 easily. I haven't had the pleasure of finding a silver half or dollar yet. I did find a US Mint dollar sized copper/bronze medallion today that hit a rock solid 36. That was pretty exciting!

Jeff

 

[John in Nawth Carolina]

Thank you Jeff. That was very Informative. I'll probably go with a 600. Thanks to all that contributed.

 

[IDXMonster]

Looking for coins, not gold. Is the Nox 600 capable of discriminating out pulltabs as well as the 800?

Sorry this is kind of long but it is a great question at least to me....

I almost always am hunting for gold jewelry so I happily dig 10 to 20 pull tabs of some sort during every session.

If by coins you are including any kind of nickels........you will have to dig pull tabs. The good thing about the square pull tabs and more modern rounded pull tabs is that they often will read just on either side of the standard nickel reading if the nickel is positioned pretty well in the ground and there is no masking by some other target or ground conditions. Modern nickels will go back and forth between 12 and 13 which is their characteristic pattern. Occasionally they will give an 11 or 14 but that is not normal. Also if they are close to the surface you might hear a beep-beep instead of just one hard beep during a sweep. Square pull tabs can read 11,12, or 14,15. Depending on how they are positioned you may hear a triple beep as the coil passes over them. The most recent rounded pull tabs can also give a clear triple beep during a pass and if they are not bent or damaged they will give a very steady 13 to 14. Beaver tails or ring pulls if they are complete or bent can read 14,15,16,17 and even 18. If you hit the ring part they will double beep and sound just like a nice gold ring with a two number or less spread like 16 to 17.

If you don't want to dig nickels or zinc pennies you can reject up to 23. That will also take care of the small and large steel screw caps from shot bottles and liter sized alcohol and soda bottles that still had metal screw caps. They sound fantastic and usually read a steady alternating 22,23. If you are in an area where there are Indian Heads you might want to accept from 18 to 40.

The Nox 800 and 600 will completely silence aluminum targets that are up to silver dollar coin sized. Larger aluminum targets may break through the discrimination pattern if you are discriminating say up to 18. So large aluminum cans and can shards can hit in the high teens on up to 26 or so depending on depth and shape. They also create a huge target footprint on the Nox that is easy to recognize with practice.

US coins that are not too deep or tilted on edge hit really hard on the Equinox 600 and 800. With practice you will recognize the hard contours of the tone. Pull tabs will not sound quite as well defined usually, but there are always exceptions. Recent coin drops that are on the surface can make a weird, shrill elongated tone that you just have to get used to. Coin spills of different denominations are really fun in 5 or 50 tones

So if you really want to skip most small can shards, can slaw, pull tabs and beaver tail ring tabs and don't care about nickels reject everything up to 17 or so. You truly won't hear a thing from -9 to +17.

Since you want to hunt coins, what some people have complained about with the Nox is that US coins will not lock on to just one number. The problem is much worse up in Canada on their steel core modern coins!!!!! The Equinox was designed to be used all over the world and is not tailored specifically to US coins. So nickels will normally bounce back and forth between 12 and 13, zincs that are newer will bounce between 19, 20, 21. I've had badly corroded or damaged zincs hit every number between 19 and 30 in a few sweeps. Copper pennies will bounce between 25,26,27 and 28 in succession during sweeps, clad and silver dimes are usually 24, 25, and 26 if they are not too deep. If they are deep the can bounce between 27 and 30. Clad and silver quarters can bounce between 28 and 31. Two or more quarters stuck together can read as high as 39 which is why I don't notch out 39 and 40 like some people do. I've had a quarter and a Kennedy half or two Sacajawea or Presidential dollar coins in the same hole hit 39 easily. I haven't had the pleasure of finding a silver half or dollar yet. I did find a US Mint dollar sized copper/bronze medallion today that hit a rock solid 36. That was pretty exciting!

Jeff

My experiences so far exactly, awesome post Jeff!!

 

[BigTony]

Jeff, you are a true coin shooter for sure, terrific post!

Tony

 

[jmaclen]

Jeff, you are a true coin shooter for sure, terrific post!

Tony

Thanks Tony, it is great to be retired, have good health, have fairly decent weather in the Denver area, and as long as there is some ground that isn't frozen solid I am out detecting for at least two hours a day, everyday, so I get lots of practice!!!!!

I forgot to mention that coins right on the surface will triple beep too, just like pull tabs......

Jeff

 

[BigTony]

Thanks Jeff. And like you if I am not finding silver coins I try for gold items.
Great hobby, we just need some warmer weather.

Tony NJ

 

[Sweeping-4-junk]

It does great in the tabs i found about 100 so far..