I’ve been detecting almost 4years now, about 3500hours, i love my equinox 800. Just turn it on and go, no need to mess with settings or anything, select your ground type and away you go. I detect everywhere, parks, bush, beach’s. Underwater, all depends on what I feel like at the time. I’ve found soo much treasure in 4years, Monetary value, about $35k nzd, 60 gold rings, lots of silver, thousands in spendies, hundreds in scrap metal recycling, and many rewards for finding lost rings for people,.. this is a great hobby, it has given me a reason to get out and explore, do my bit for the environment and get rewarded, But anyway, I’ve got a bucket list of things i want to find. A Gold coin is on the top of my list, others in New Zealand have been finding them occasionally, they are exceptionally rare, none has been found in my city that I know about. And I thought it was never going to happen. Metal detecting you can kinda guess what you will find in different areas, but gold normally turns up when you least expect it. I do a lot of research on sites i visit, looking at old aerial images, viewing old archive photos of the area. Reading old newspapers, and browsing the local council land maps, I probably spend just as much time researching than I do detecting. While browsing and comparing maps, I noticed there was a thin section of land fenced off, one side was a nice green sports park, the other side thick bush/scrub, previously I presumed this fence was the property border, but looking at council maps this was not the case, the fence was put up to stop balls going into the shrub and getting lost. A light bulb went off in my head, and I couldn’t wait to get over the fence to look, so the next day, I get over the fence, and it’s just the usual coins, found a few old silver coins, was just what I was hoping for, it was hard work, trying to swing,, battle the bush, and I got pretty scratched up, just as I was about to leave. We all know this scenario, good finds are usually the first or last find of the day. I get a 14/15 vdi number, I’m thinking this is going to be another ringpull, hahah, but nope, out pops a coin, I can see a goldy colour on the edge, I knew exactly what it was. But I didn’t want to get my hopes up just yet, If it was what I was thinking it was, then I needed to share with others, let my fellow detecting mates enjoy this moment with me, so out comes my phone. And I start live-streaming to my local detecting group, And would you believe it, a 1916s Gold 22ct half sovereign, in amazing condition, this is what dreams are made of, My hands were shaking, it shows you, if you put the hours in, you will be rewarded, I love my equinox 800… thankyou minelab.
