Nox on Silver

[JaWi.]

Been hunting several home and old park sites for the past month. The 600 has performed great for nickels and copper for me. I've found around 30 nickels, one V and one war nickel. I have also found around 25 wheaties and one Indian. For silver just a Rosie. Most of the old coins have been 4 to 8 in deep. Mostly using Park 2 and some Park 1. `Beginning to wonder if it is not to good on Silver? Maybe I'm not doing something right? There is a lot to like about my Nox but bummed not to have gotten more silver.

 

[Silver_Stallion]

My guess is for some reason your coil is not going over much silver that is detectable. With over 200 hours on the Nox 800 I can say if a coin is detectable the Nox will find it. Keep going and try some different locations.

 

[ohiochris]

I agree with Silver_Stallion , your coil was just not over much silver. The equinox hits really good on silver , not so much that you could call it before digging but if its not super deep it often reports a numerical ID one or two above what a clad equivalent coin reports as. Silver definitely stands out from any lower conductor that may have masked it in the past.

 

[jas415]

I also have the same feeling sometimes. I use the 5 tones, sense usually about 22-23, Recovery about 5 or 6 and Iron at 0 or 1. I think I have t =o slow the sweep speed to really hear the high tones. On my machine the high tones are just not very long on deep targets, so I slow down.

 

[Nuke em]

Its fine on Silver . I have had over 20 Silver rings and chains with my 800 . Set the tone and sounds right and set Silver as high as possible .
But then you have to go over a Silver to find it.

 

[Foreverteachable]

No The Equinox does great on Silver since I've hit several areas where I either never found any silver or it dried up with the other detectors I was hunting with. I think I've already found more silver with it this year than I did in the last five years I detected. I think that with so many people metal detecting that a lot of the silver has been found. People probably Cherry Picked the areas of silver and although we still find a fair share of wheat pennies and nickels people have been metal detecting some of these areas since the 70s. It is still there because I found three silver dimes in a ball field where I never found silver before and three or four other people I know of haven't found any there either because it has been detected to death so I know that the nox is a silver machine. I also know that there's a good chance that you haven't gone over silver as was said by other people. I have found that you can go really slow with this machine which is nice and I do better with field 2 recovery 2 manual ground balance and run sensitivity 18 to 22. Sounds like you done pretty good so far. I have lucked out in several of the parks that have been hit by people with other Minelab for years but I find that hitting smaller town greens. And out of the way areas like the sides of tennis courts or bike paths in the middle of town have been producing silver.

 

[John 71]

I have hunted now for about 4 months with the 600 . Older homes and older parks. Only silver was a 1944d walking half. Found about 115.00 dollar in clad. And yes I don't think that I am not going over the silver. The parks here have had a lot of people hunting them in the past. You just have to keep trying.

 

[ewtaylor]

People, including myself, go to places and cherry pick the silver first.

 

[pasttom]

I too have hit more silver in the last two months than maybe the previous 4 years. Things run in streaks and all, but EQ is not weak on silver.

 

[swingman]

I've had the same experience. re. lots of deep Wheaties, NO silver! It's possible, though not likely, that I haven't been going over silver (see below). And of the 4 sites I'm going to mention (now fairly trash-free), I've detected them all within the past few months (after many hours before that) with the CTX. Pulled out dozens of silver coins at each over the past 2-3 years. Never saw another detectorist or signs of digging (though that's not foolproof re. cherry-picking) I've sent essentially the following to Minelab, and am awaiting their reply.

In giving my new Equinox 800 a test run, an unusual retrieval pattern has developed. I took it to 4 sites (2 schools, 2 parks) that I’ve ‘hunted out’- pulled dozens of silver coins from each in the past, and these past 3 weeks went over the same ground with my new Equinox, where the acre or less ‘hot spots’ were. The detector progression was: Explorer SE with 15-inch ‘butterfly’ coil, CTX 3030 (stock coil), and the 800.
Soil conditions varied from fairly dry to very moist. Equinox settings were: Park2 – Fe Bias 0, Recovery speed – 4-5, Multi-frequency, 5 tones. I set up the highest tone for copper Lincoln cents and above – 22-40, and dug only those signals for now. (Somehow one Indian cent snuck in there.)
Otherwise – I’ve retrieved 43 Wheat cents, more than half of which were at 6-9 inches deep (nice!). Most of the latter gave scratchy signals, which from experience I’ve long ago learned to dig. The huge surprise – not a single silver coin has come up! Any way you can help me explain this?
For my 20-year career detecting (I detect mostly public, oft-hunted ground), the ratio of Wheat cents to silver coins has been ~ 6-7 to 1. This has been repeatable on an annual basis. But 43 to zip? I gotta think that there's still some silver left, with the Equinox NOT outperforming the CTX for silver.
I can think of only two explanations for my recent experience: the 2 older Minelabs (especially the CTX) were HOT on silver coins and less so for Wheaties, leaving some of the latter behind. The other thought is, that the Equinox is HOT on copper coins, and much less so for silver coins. Perhaps someone at Minelab who knows more about detector performance and internal makeup (design engineers?), can comment on these results and my 2 possible explanations. Thanks. {End of note to Minelab.}
At other sites than these where the trash is also 'minimum', I'd like to feel confident in either the Equinox or the CTX for silver (I'm a silver junky!). [Since I wrote Minelab - spot I've been over many times - I got perhaps my deepest coin ever (with the 'nox) - a large brass token at a real 11+ inches.] Impressive, but I didn't buy the 'nox to dig copper coins. Right now, the Equinox has its place, but I'm not selling my CTX! (I think the above is the best test comparison I can make, other than having both machines running and comparing them live, for too many hours.)

 

[swingman]

Good for you (silver is sweet!). I'm sure that on trashy sites, I could come up with silver with the Equinox (the fast recovery speed is its real strength). My 4 test sites are not very trashy, which I think mitigates any advantage the 'nox has (though it's great for deep copper coins).

 

[JaWi.]

No, my nox is not leaving home for sure. Hope to find more silver soon. I like it so much that my other machines are collecting dust. Hope to add a 6 in. coil soon.

 

[mccrorysjewelry2]

I have had my Equinox 800 for 3 months and have found 56 silvers in sites I pounded with the CTX, Deus and Racer. Have also pulled 100’s of wheats, some IH’s and LC’s. The Equinox is the best coin detector for trashy and iron sites I have used.

 

[IDXMonster]

People, including myself, go to places and cherry pick the silver first.

Ta-Da! Problem explained. With my Explorer2 or CTX I can go dig nickels all day,I did it last Sunday. The previous night I went to a local old park and dug 3 Buffalos and a V nickel. Why? Because like the above states....silver was cherry picked first. You’re STILL looking for it. The majority of people through the years have been high conductor hunters. Why? Because it’s the easiest to find if it’s within range,it’s the most valuable face value-wise (besides penny against nickel) and there was a lot of it to find! There have been droves of people who are out of the hobby because they stopped finding silver and didn’t want to take the hobby any further...upgrading equipment,driving long distance,etc. I personally saw the 800 find a couple of 7-8” Mercs on Sunday,so it does find them. The biggest downfall for ME is the one dimensional readout. Not such a big deal for someone who has not used a Minelab with FECO 2D Smart Screen. Even more coins may come to light because those people coming from the Smart Screen will dig more,perhaps unveiling skewed signals they would NOT have dug with an FBS indication. But more junk will be dug as well,it’s the nature of the beast.
Like JAS said...dig faint,short duration signals that repeat at least 60% of the time and are somewhat close to copper/silver numbers. That’s what I would do anyway. Keep at it!

 

[Foreverteachable]

That is a great reply swingman and makes me want to get an older used minelab as well when I save up. I won't have $ for the ctx but I know that most of the old park veterans who find lots of silver swing or swung a minelab. A guy that used to hunt an area where I grew up used to pull out silver all the time with his white explorer detectors. The Equinox 600 is my first Minelab detector and I'm really impressed so makes me want to try out one of the older models as well now that you can find one for a reasonable price.

 

[IDXMonster]

Just want to add quickly...we’ve all gone back to our favorite place at one point or another and found yet more coins with the exact same machine,coil,type of conditions,etc...so comparing to other machines and getting it right is a tough deal. I personally like always having a “wild card” mixed in,whether it be conditions,machine used,time of day,etc. It makes me believe I ALWAYS have a chance at finding another. A “true hunter” will always hunt,no matter what. I think most here are some degree of that!

 

[Cal_Cobra]

My EQ800 has done a fantastic job on silver, both deep and masked, everything from a very deep 1838 seated liberty dime to mercs. That said, if it's not there, doesn't matter what machine you have.

 

[dewcon4414]

IDX........ i also hunt with a greater intensity with a new machine that i am learning. I had a heck of a foil ball, pull tabs, and tiny bits i most likely wouldnt have wasted my time with just to see what the machine is capable of. Some days im just more ON than others as well. Taking nothing away from the machine shes sure treating me well.

 

[ML]

I haven't read all of the others posts but if you put your coil over silver, it will find it. Much like most other detectors.

 

[JaWi.]

n/t