Equinox Ground Balance Settings

[GB_Amateur]

In a recent thread regarding the soon-to-be-released (🤞) XP Deus 2, the value of the ML Eqinonox's adjustable ground setting (whether manual or automatic) was brought up.  (That was initiated by an XP video showing that multifrequency detector's ground balancing procedure.)

When the Equinox was released 3 1/2 years ago I specifically asked if the default setting of 0 had some special value, such as putting the detector into a custom balancing routine.  My recollection is that I was told 'no'.  My interpretation at that time resulted in the conclusion that 0 is just slightly different than its neighbors -1 and +1 as part of a m/l continuum of ground settings.  It's my understanding that multifrequency capability facilitates contrasting the ground signals from different frequencies to improve performance.  But does that render user ground balancing unnecessary/superfulous?

When I operate the Equinox it tells me when I'm out of balance, by making extraneous noise as my coil changes its height above the ground.  This is with the ground balance setting non-zero based upon previous (maybe one or more hunts ago!) settings.  I've never then reverted to Ground Balance = 0 to quiet it down but rather just do an automatic balance procedure (what many refer to as a "Ground Grab", wouldn't it be nice if every manufacturer resorted to this meaningful description & labeling!) to quiet the detector down.

My ground is moderate (2-3 bars on the Fisher Gold Bug Pro and also on the Fisher F75 which I think has a bit different scale).  Many detectorists have much more severe Fe3O4 content in their ground.  I'm wondering if those of you with different ground situations than mine have compared GB = 0 to custom GB settings.  Did you find one better than the other?

 

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

Video I did. Changing GB from actual ground balance to default zero setting.  Deep dime.

 

[CPT_GhostLight]

We really need the experts to weigh in here as I only have a little over a year and a half on my Equinox. But in my high iron mineralized soil I'm noticing a difference. When I started out, it was factory presets Park 1 and Park 2 with 0 Ground Balance all the way. I did okay with that, but as I detected more and in different locations, some ground was just too noisy so I started doing the Auto Ground Balance (ground grab) and it tamed the wild ground alot and I noticed more good signal coming through. Of couse each place has different amounts of good targets, so that is anectdotal at best. But I started using Auto GB more and more when iron tones from ground noise becomes unbearable and it quiets the noise down quite a bit. I even played around with Ground Tracking after doing an Auto GB and that makes the ground really quiet. So much so that I'm almost afraid to use it. Anyway, I figured out in the iron-hot Colorado soil, I pretty much have to use Ground Balance.  

[NCtoad]

Why wouldn’t you always ground balance (ground grab) before starting your hunt?   I always do.  The only time that ground balancing may be inaccurate is when you’re on a site with lots and lots of metal and it’s hard to find a “clean” spot to do a ground grab.  In areas like this I’ll walk to the nearest spot where I can find a clean spot to get an accurate ground balance.  Sometimes on sites I’ve hit many times and I’m familiar with the ground balance number, I’ll just manually set the ground balance instead of looking for a clean spot.  

[F350Platinum]

I have found I do much better with auto ground balance. I also have a fear of tracking balance, but more that it would probably eat battery faster. I have used tracking in the water.

I have tried going down to 0 a couple of times and it really didn't seem like I was getting to the deeper stuff, and particularly with the 10x5, not the masked stuff. At that point I do a quick auto, and sometimes check to see I'm still balanced. It feels like it gets me back on track.

I only have about a year on the Equinox but get out a lot.

[Chase Goldman]

It's simple, if you are hearing excessive ground noise (or in doubt if you have the ferrous bin discriminated), rebalance (pumping auto "ground grab"). There is nothing magic about zero and each mode may react with the ground differently meaning the balance number can vary depending on mode so the number, in and of itself is relatively meaningless and is not necessarily correlated to the degree of soil mineralization.  Multi is just a little more forgiving on a less than optimal balance setting, so ML only suggests GB if ground noise is present - to keep things simple for folks who disc out the ferrous bin (and therefore can't hear ground noise).  Don't overthink it. 

My motto:

"When in doubt, balance it out."

It can never make things worse...

[Jeff McClendon]

I think this all came from Minelab originally stressing (somewhat arrogantly if you ask me) that the Equinox in most places is good to go without ground balancing. As Hugh said above, anytime one is using their Equinox with the iron range rejected as it is in the default settings for Park, Field and Beach modes, there really is no need to ground balance since any ground noise is usually going to show up as -9, -8 and -7.  For the casual/occasional hunter, that arrangement is perfect in Minelab's scheme of things since they won't get complaints about overly noisy detectors and the internal adjustments due to Multi IQ's signal processing will take care of any minor ground balance issues.

For those who really use their Equinox often, with little to no iron rejection and optimized for performance, ground balancing every time before starting to hunt is a good idea and it is so easy to do. I don't get to hunt salt water beaches nearly enough to  see a pattern for what is a normal ground balance in salt. The times I have detected both East and West Coast USA beaches, I can only remember twice when the ground balance ended up being 0. The same goes for inland hunting. Only once has the actual ground balance where I often hunt ended up being 0. +1 to +7 is very common here. So is -1 to -3. What amazes me is that even between +1 and +2, just being off by one number can cause a ton of ground feedback here.......So I never just leave it on zero.

 

[rvpopeye]

I tried the different methods , just doing the grabs now seems to be working best for me.

(sometimes activate tracking at a beach) 

[midalake]

10 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

I don't get to hunt salt water beaches nearly enough to  see a pattern for what is a normal ground balance in salt. The times I have detected both East and West Coast USA beaches, I can only remember twice when the ground balance ended up being 0.

Well since I only hunt salt water/wet sand here is my take on GB for that.

I did lots of experimenting in the beginning, do it manually, auto, ran GB-0 and even someone's custom -9 GB program. 

For wet sand/water contact there is nothing better than Tracking GB

Sure, could go into a whole sermon why. But the end point is, the machine is much more stable and it should allow for higher sensitivity. [at least 1 position higher]  

[CPT_GhostLight]

While we're on the subject, is there any down-side to using ground tracking on land?

I usually hunt in all metal (no discrimination) mode with the 10x5" coil in highly mineralized parks with FE2=0-2, and have been trying ground tracking after doing an auto ground balance. It quiets my iron ground noise to almost nothing. I'm a little worried that it may be hampering target response in some way, but it seems like it's not. Both ferrous and non-ferrous targets come through loud and clear, but those tiny bits of iron soil noise are gone. 

The last couple of times out, I tested a few areas with tracking on and with tracking off, trying to cover the exact same ground, before and after removing targets, and both modes hit the same targets, with none missed in either mode. Both modes seem to get the same depth too, but tracking ground balance really makes the ground in most places silent. Has anyone else used tracking GB inland?