TID, what you ignore/notch out?

[FFX2]

One of the most frustrating things for me about the NOX is the amount of junk targets I'm finding in the 10-19 ID range and it's been A LOT! I know I'm not notching out a 12 or 13 because that's where my nickels and one ring have come in and I've dug some flat buttons that were a 10 but everything that is an 11,14,15,16,17 have been junk. Chewed up Lincolns have shown up as 18's and I'm pretty sure Indians will be a 19-20 so I'm definitely not ignoring those either. Pretty much everything from 20 on up is a must dig IMO. My CTX definitely has much better target ID numbers and better seperation of good/junk targets on the ID scale so I'm kind of struggling with this on my Nox.

Just curious what others are notching out or ignoring. Any input will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Greg (E.Tn)]

n/t

 

[sgoss66]

FFX2 -- I notch nothing; I listen to it all, including iron. I am trying to learn to "discriminate" with my ears/brain, using the machine's language, and not the notch function on the unit. YES, I agree that in the sub-nickel range, and in the range from just above nickel up to the Indian/Zinc area, are both ranges that are full of junk. BUT -- that's the same on any machine, from my perspective. While the numbers are more "bunched together" on the Equinox, I find that the sub-nickel range, and the just-above-nickel-to-Indian range is full of junk on the CTX, and on an Explorer...in other words, those ranges are where the junk is on ANY machine from my perspective.

Steve

 

[dewcon4414]

Ask yourself Steve....... would you ditch the current EQ...... if a new one came out with the CTX smartscreen? In a heart beat id say. I hunt the beaches and this is a very good machine for that...... but man i cant imagine hunting some of the old parks i used to use the Explorer in....... or in someones yard. To me the smart screen would have made this a huge crowd pleaser. So....i think back of what i was looking for in those parks and ask......can i notch 14 - 17 and what would i loose? BUT...... this machine has everyone seeing GOLD and looking MUCH harder than they ever did. Had they looked as hard for gold with the CTX would they have found the same thing? I think we have a different mind set with this machine being hot on gold items.

 

[smkunder]

I hear what you are saying but why does it seem like it really is better on gold than the CTX? I am in a quandary about what to do about purchasing a Nox. It sure looks good!

 

[sgoss66]

Dew --

A smartscreen? In a HEARTBEAT! LOL!

But, I will say that it's not as bad in parks as you think. Once you learn the machine, you can hunt parks fairly efficiently. Honestly, that's all I've hunted with it so far -- old, hunted-out parks (with the exception of one old home site). I am really not ending up with that much more trash than I would with the CTX...

BUT -- you are right. I'd LOVE an Equinox FE/CO smartscreen!

Steve

 

[Architex]

23 - aluminum screw caps. Saves a lot of wasted time.

 

[BarryL]

23 - aluminum screw caps. Saves a lot of wasted time.

Yep I have had my Nox 600 now for a month and after digging a lot of 22 - 23 targets after raising the coil slightly and they bounce to 21 to 23 I decided to stop digging them due to being twist caps and some deep rusted twist caps I found switching to all metal gave me a slightly lower tone as well or maybe just my old ears are hearing a tad lower . with that being said I hunted an area the other day that just gave me a solid 23 and crisp tone in Multi freq Field 1 tried to pinpoint it but seemed to be a large target so passed it up walked three steps and my mind said go back and dig it , turned out to be a nice 1939 NY Worlds fair Token so I guess what I am saying is maybe it really depends on the area and history of the location as this was in a trashy lot in Fort Worth from old houses from the 30s and 40s being torn Down for Condos . My main problem is I still have a hard time getting past some newer bottle caps but that's the nature of the Beast I guess .

 

[dbado1]

No way any machine can tell the difference between gold and other aluminum trash. It's a percentage game. What is the old " rule of thumb", you dig one piece of gold for every 100 pull tabs. That rule applied to the CTX as well and still applies today to all machine's.

I agree with Steve and the other poster's who said to not notch out anything unless you want to cherry pick. So far, there is no way to cherry pick for gold. Unfortunately, there is way more lower conductive trash that falls in to the same range as gold than there is higher conductive trash. There are many sites where a guy just has to say, " I'm not digging any gold today" due to all of the aluminum ( low conductive) trash. You would just dig trash all day. As to the OPs statement (and many others) that he is digging lots of trash with the Nox at those lower ID numbers...that's where lower conductive trash comes in. If you are gonna dig lower numbers ( in search of gold I'm guessing) you are gonna dig a lot of trash....with any machine! Notching or not is a site specific strategy. If your site has lots of modern low conductive trash then it may not be a bad idea to notch out everything below 18. If you are on an old site with little modern trash then don't notch out anything. It's all part of your " hunt strategy" based on your site and the time that you have to hunt.

Dean

 

[glabelle49]

I hear what you are saying but why does it seem like it really is better on gold than the CTX? I am in a quandary about what to do about purchasing a Nox. It sure looks good!

Judging by the waveforms and Minelab's vague descriptions, it appears to me that the transmitted signals in the high frequency range (20 & 40KHz, necessary for sensitivity to small gold) ) are stronger than on the BBS which relied on weaker harmonics of a fundamental square wave.

George

 

[Architex]

You're absolutely right but in the end my goal is enjoyment and digging one after the other alum screw caps kills that pretty quickly.

 

[Nuke em]

One of the most frustrating things for me about the NOX is the amount of junk targets I'm finding in the 10-19 ID range and it's been A LOT! I know I'm not notching out a 12 or 13 because that's where my nickels and one ring have come in and I've dug some flat buttons that were a 10 but everything that is an 11,14,15,16,17 have been junk. Chewed up Lincolns have shown up as 18's and I'm pretty sure Indians will be a 19-20 so I'm definitely not ignoring those either. Pretty much everything from 20 on up is a must dig IMO. My CTX definitely has much better target ID numbers and better seperation of good/junk targets on the ID scale so I'm kind of struggling with this on my Nox.

Just curious what others are notching out or ignoring. Any input will be greatly appreciated!

I dont notch anything , is a pain but you will miss good targets .

And dont forget the Nox is a mid range machine not a top end machine like the ET / CTX . The target info on the ET / CTX was always going to be better . The numbers above you quoted are Gold country , all of them.

 

[FFX2]

Nice to see that there are people on this forum that understand what this machine really is which is a very good mid range detector that's not designed to compete with high end machines. I do like my Nox and have found good things with it and it definitely had it's strengths but there's no way it will ever replace my CTX!! I bought this machine because I wanted something that will compliment my CTX and believe I made the right choice. My CTX and NOX working as a team are going to be tough to beat!!

 

[Ksdirt]

Nice to see that there are people on this forum that understand what this machine really is which is a very good mid range detector that's not designed to compete with high end machines. I do like my Nox and have found good things with it and it definitely had it's strengths but there's no way it will ever replace my CTX!! I bought this machine because I wanted something that will compliment my CTX and believe I made the right choice. My CTX and NOX working as a team are going to be tough to beat!!

I don’t know .......I sold my etrac after having the 800 for over a month now because it’s doing things the trac isn’t close to doin....once you get things set and learn what the machine is telling you..(just like you did for years learning the trac)...and for nolonger than the 800 has been out I’m already impressed...don’t no how many times I’ve thought to myself I can’t believe that was down there..deeep....just my experience....maybe not for everyone ....

 

[NormS]

I agree with you Ksdirt. I have the same feelings as you I can't believe I found that dime at 12" and I have found several quarters and dimes at 12" and I am not a deep seeker. The deepest I ever found on the Etrac or any other detector was 8"

I am selling my Etrac because the Equinox actually goes deeper and finds more and I like swinging a bit faster.

I had to send my Equinox in for repair because something went haywire in the circuit board so they replaced the control pod and it's awesome again. During the time my 800 was out for repair I used the Etrac at the same park I had been hunting with the E 800 and I did find a lot but I worked much harder with the Etrac. I have pulled out in excess of $115 in clad and a cpl of silver rings. Based on what I was finding and still am finding in that park the Equinox has done much better. It's also lighter.

I notch out everything to 13 and then everything to 22..

 

[Always Curious]

I've been using the Nox for almost two months. I hunt coins, and in most places, the Etrac does better for me--much more accurate ID and depth info, among other things. Where the Nox excels is in trashy sites with a lot of iron. There it separates and unmasks targets the Etrac misses; however, it does false more on rusty nails than with the Etrac. IMO, the machines compliment each other nicely, but the Nox is unlikely to replace the ET/CTX for most users.

 

[ohiochris]

The nox in multi mode is actually very good in trashy areas. Multi seems to handle iron very well and park 2 very stable. Sure there is mass amounts of signals from undesirable targets at times but you can train your ears to only pay attention to the tones you are interested in. All Ive been hunting with it so far is nightmare level trashy sites. Its quieter than my AT pro is in these areas because the better discrimination profile knocks out a lot of what I dont want to hear , yet there is a wider range of tones alerting to more individual target types , telling much more about the targets....which has been a benifit.

But for full disclosure , Ive been ignoring gold range and concentrating on silver. Just too much gold range junk in these areas. The nox is a great silver finding machine , but an average gold finding machine. Im just taking advantage of its strengths. If I were paying attention to gold range right now I would probably be wishing for a better filter too

 

[spellman]

I have to say the nox is the best minelab machine ive put my hands on and ive owned a few of the top end minelabs, but im still not impressed the vdi is so inconsistent coins come in everywhere except nickels are pretty solid at 12, pulltabs everywhere, i absolutely can't trust the vdi, and i dig more trash with the equinox then i even do with my vaquero wich has no vdi. I think the nox will make a great beach machine but for parks i have machines that do better at half the price. It makes me laugh how this was marketed as the machine that will obsolete all vlf machines when it doesn't even come close, my teknetics G2 isnt as deep but damn it is so much more accurate at identifying targets. Once again i jumped on the minelab bandwagon and once again im disappointed, maybe its cause ive been a jewelry hunter since i started metal detecting and other machines are better suited for that where most guys seem to hunt for silver and are usually suprised by the unusual gold find. I have found 4 gold rings in a day in the parks before and have multiple times found 2-3 gold per hunt in the park. And usually dont dig as much trash as ive been digging with the nox. O-well what works for some doesn't work for all the nox is going in the closet with my Pi machines to collect dust till i head to the beach where it will shine.

 

[FFX2]

I have to say the nox is the best minelab machine ive put my hands on and ive owned a few of the top end minelabs, but im still not impressed the vdi is so inconsistent coins come in everywhere except nickels are pretty solid at 12, pulltabs everywhere, i absolutely can't trust the vdi, and i dig more trash with the equinox then i even do with my vaquero wich has no vdi. I think the nox will make a great beach machine but for parks i have machines that do better at half the price. It makes me laugh how this was marketed as the machine that will obsolete all vlf machines when it doesn't even come close, my teknetics G2 isnt as deep but damn it is so much more accurate at identifying targets.

Have to agree worth most of your post except : It was never marketed as the machine that will obsolete all other VLF machines by Minelab, the only place that was being said was on detecting forums by ignorant people who bought into the ridiculous hype caused by other people on the same forum.

It is far from the best detector Minelab manufactures. This thing comes nowhere close to the all around performance of a CTX.

I'm with you as far as my Nox being nothing more than just another detector that I use in certain circumstances but will never be my go-to machine.

 

[padiggin]

.....I really like the Nox. I have a Nox 600, and it's very light and I enjoy using it, it is my first Minelab and so far I only have good things to say about it. Runs very stable and I find the tones are not that difficult to figure out. I love the pre-set programs. However, with that said, I own a White's TDI and MXT, as well as two Tesoros. I enjoy using them as well. I see how some guys are selling off their older model detectors now that they have a Nox. For me personally, I'm keeping ALL of my older model detectors. They are in great condition, they have served me well and I plan to still use them for certain applications that I feel I need them for. As a matter of fact, one of the things I enjoy doing is alternating the detectors I use on places I go detecting. One time I'll pull out the MXT. Another time I may pull out the Tesoro, and another I will take the Nox along with me. Sometimes I may take a couple of them along and use them at a site. I've found they each have a strong point and I try to use that to my advantage. That's just me though, your mileage may vary.