Truth
Gold Member
Why not use tracking ground balance? I can GB 4 different times in one field and I seems to be different each time. Is there something that being taken away when using it?
Why nox?
- Thread starter Truth
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Rookster
Gold Member
- Nov 24, 2013
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Truth,
We use different machines but on the Deus in my ground if the GB goes below 65, I try pumping again and it stays at 65, I go to tracking. My reason for doing that is that people I have spoken with find the same results. It is better to stay in the 72 and up range. At 65 the machine is unstable at least in my mild mineralization soil and I believe Deus has improved the tracking feature. But my first choice is manual GB. Have a good day.
Minelab Matt
Hero Member
- Oct 19, 2014
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I leave mine on zero in all conditions.
Soil, dry sand, wet sand and in the water
Matt.
Soil, dry sand, wet sand and in the water
Matt.
- Jul 19, 2015
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When using Multi IQ, I think the Equinox works pretty well with just the default GB settings in most cases. Multi IQ can compensate pretty well for ground noise. Note that ML only recommends ground balancing if you are getting a lot of ground feedback and the only way you can know is to run the machine with no disc (horseshoe button) and see if you are getting a lot of unstable high negative numbers (-7 through -9) and associated iron tone chatter. At that point a GB should be performed (manual or automatic, as preferred, or you can put the machine in tracking).
As far as tracking is concerned, as long as there is some level of mineralization for the machine to grab onto, tracking GB appears to work well (it looks for large changes in mineralization to determine when to take a GB reading during your swing) it seems to work pretty well. I have not seen any depth loss due to tracking errors (can't be any worse than not periodically rebalancing at a site with highly variable ground phase) and no tendency for it to lock on large ferrous in the ground which can cause the ground balance to shift during target interrogation causing the target signal to vanish. So if I am at a site with medium to high mineralization, highly variable ground phase, or salt surf, I will keep GB in tracking. Otherwise, I just take the 10 seconds to do an auto GB when I start out and be done with it. I think it is important to GB in single freq because you don't have the advantage of Multi IQ signal processing compensation (which explains the underline emphasis at the beginning of my post).
The only place I don't bother to do a GB is dry beach sand hunting.
Note that ML trusts its tracking algorithm enough to make it the default for the Gold modes which makes sense because natural gold typically resides in mineralized soils.
Finally, don't forget that each search mode (Park 1, Park 2, Field 1 etc.) is like a separate detector and should be separately Ground Balanced if GB is necessary at your site if you use multiple modes there.
As far as tracking is concerned, as long as there is some level of mineralization for the machine to grab onto, tracking GB appears to work well (it looks for large changes in mineralization to determine when to take a GB reading during your swing) it seems to work pretty well. I have not seen any depth loss due to tracking errors (can't be any worse than not periodically rebalancing at a site with highly variable ground phase) and no tendency for it to lock on large ferrous in the ground which can cause the ground balance to shift during target interrogation causing the target signal to vanish. So if I am at a site with medium to high mineralization, highly variable ground phase, or salt surf, I will keep GB in tracking. Otherwise, I just take the 10 seconds to do an auto GB when I start out and be done with it. I think it is important to GB in single freq because you don't have the advantage of Multi IQ signal processing compensation (which explains the underline emphasis at the beginning of my post).
The only place I don't bother to do a GB is dry beach sand hunting.
Note that ML trusts its tracking algorithm enough to make it the default for the Gold modes which makes sense because natural gold typically resides in mineralized soils.
Finally, don't forget that each search mode (Park 1, Park 2, Field 1 etc.) is like a separate detector and should be separately Ground Balanced if GB is necessary at your site if you use multiple modes there.
Last edited:
Rookster
Gold Member
- Nov 24, 2013
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You're speaking of the Nox on 0. Not a Deus.
Minelab Matt
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- Oct 19, 2014
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Yup...the Nox.
