Why Finding Canadian Coins with the Minelab Equinox 800 Feels Like a Personal Attack

You’d think finding money in the ground would be easy, right? Wrong. You finally got your hands on a Minelab Equinox 800, fired it up, and went hunting, expecting to come home with pockets full of loonies and toonies. Instead, you’ve got a collection of bottle caps, pull-tabs, and what may or may not be an ancient piece of tinfoil.

Welcome to the wonderful world of metal detecting in Canada, where our coins are made of nickel-plated trickery, and your detector spends most of its time having a mental breakdown trying to tell the difference between cash and trash.

Why Canadian Coins Are Basically Metal Detecting Trolls

First of all, nickel is the worst. Unlike copper or silver, it’s terrible at conducting electricity, which means your detector struggles to get a clean, solid reading. Instead, the numbers on your Equinox 800’s screen bounce around like a squirrel on an energy drink, making it nearly impossible to tell if you’ve found a toonie or just a rusty bottle cap from 1987.

To make things worse, a lot of our coins have steel cores, which means they love pretending to be iron. If you’ve been running your detector with high iron discrimination, you might’ve been rejecting actual money this entire time. Painful, I know.

And the Target ID numbers? Oh, they’re a complete mess. Here’s what you’re dealing with:

Nickels → 9-13
Dimes → 12-14
Quarters → 29-31
Loonies → 21-23
Toonies → 14-16 (aka: "maybe a coin, maybe a pull-tab, good luck!")

So, yeah… if you’ve been skipping those weird, jumpy signals thinking they’re junk, you’ve probably been stepping right over free money. Regret intensifies.

How to Actually Find These Pesky Coins

First off, stop ignoring iron signals. Yes, it’s annoying digging up nails and scrap metal, but it’s either that or you miss every single nickel and toonie out there. The choice is yours.

Next, try switching to single 40 kHz frequency. The Equinox 800’s multi-frequency magic is great, but for low-conductivity coins like ours, 40 kHz actually gives you a better chance of picking them up. Especially those dimes that love to vanish into oblivion.

Also, slow down your swing. If you’re whipping your detector back and forth like you’re fencing with an invisible opponent, you’re going to miss weak signals. Take your time, listen for those jumpy but repeatable tones, and actually let your machine process what’s in the ground.

And yeah, boost your sensitivity, but don’t go full send unless you want your detector screaming at every single speck of metal within a 10-foot radius. Find a balance where you can pick up deeper coins without feeling like your detector is yelling at you for fun.

Final Thoughts (AKA: Don’t Throw Your Detector in a Lake Yet)

Canadian coins are a nightmare to detect, but once you figure out how to work with your Equinox 800 instead of against it, you’ll start pulling loonies and toonies like a pro. It just takes a little patience, some fine-tuning, and a willingness to dig up a whole lot of garbage before hitting paydirt.

And hey, even if you don’t get rich, at least you got outside, got some exercise, and spent the day digging like an over-caffeinated raccoon.

Happy hunting!

(And if you need more tips, gear, or just someone to rant to about how annoying Canadian coins are, check out @okjohnmetaldetectors—we’ve got the Minelab Equinox 800 in stock and ready to go!)

Product available at OK JOHN Store

Robin Paul Paré

Rob is a passionate metal detecting enthusiast with a deep love for uncovering lost history. But for Rob, it’s not just about the finds — it’s about the people. He thrives on connecting with fellow detectorists, sharing knowledge, and building a strong, supportive detecting community. Whether he’s out hunting solo, organizing group events, or helping someone new get started, Rob is always ready to dig in and make a difference — one signal at a time.

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