Running tracking ground balance

[Murphy]

Still learning my 600.. is there a reason not to continuously run tracking ground balance? I live upstate SC so mostly what I hunt in is highly mineralized red clay.

 

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[Tedyoh]

I see no reason unless you like running negative GB, which i dont.....why try to out think the technology or the speed of the processors?

 

[Happa54]

I never use it in my neck of the woods. My 600 always seems to run stable and I rarely run into static requiring a GB. I only noise cancel and off I go.

 

[vferrari]

Just don't run tracking where you don't need to like a dry sand beach. Tracking needs some level of mineralization to grab onto to adjust on the fly so if there is little to no mineralization in the ground, it doesn't make sense to use it there, especially since it can be inaccurate. Also, note that tracking is a gradual adjustment so that if you are in an area with severe changes in mineralization or ground phase (independent of mineralization) it may take some time for the tracking to catch up which can affect depth. For this reason, if you are going to use tracking, make sure you do an auto/manual ground balance first to get the ground phase number "in the ballpark" and let tracking take over from there.

Also note, mineralization has an affect on ground phase but is not the only thing that affects ground phase. The ground phase numbers displayed on the Equinox are somewhat meaningless and are just a reference point for the detectorist. A high ground balance number does not necessarily correlate to high levels of mineralization. You need a separate mineralization meter to be sure, something the Equinox lacks. Also, note that the ground phase reading is frequency dependent so you may get different ground balance points in different modes, therefore, you need to make sure that you run a ground balance for each mode you use at a site separately. Running in tracking mitigates this somewhat, but if there is a big difference in ground phase reading between say Park 1 and Field 2 then it makes sense to re-ground balance when you shift modes.

Finally, as far as running a manual/auto ground balance at the start of your session. I recommend it be done always unless your ground is very mild (and even then it can't hurt). It only takes a few seconds and you would be surprised by how much performance can suffer if you are not running with the machine properly balanced.