Equinox Ground Balance Settings

[Steve Herschbach]

1 hour ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

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?

As an old time nugget hunter I’ve always distrusted tracking, and prefer manual, unless needed to tame exceptionally variable ground. So inland hunting is tracking off for me.. unless the machine tells me it’s time to turn it on. And that is generally in mixed hot rock non-homogenous ground. But most newer Minelab nugget detectors only run in full time tracking, and work very well, so this just might be an old out of date habit of mine.

As Jeff notes being spot on with ground balance can be very important (not always), and for those times when it is, if a person is not on it at all times, then tracking is better for sure, than being constantly out of whack with the ground.

This tech article describes situations that can throw tracking systems off balance, and recent improvements in tracking technology that deal with those situations. These are good things to be aware of, as tracking can screw with you, especially older systems. Tight focusing on weak targets can track them out, and metal objects can throw the balance off for short periods, to name a couple. Well worth the read.

In general, with the latest machines, unless you are an expert at manual ground balance, then a good case can be made that tracking is better. Minelab believes that so much the SDC 2300, Gold Monster, GPZ 7000, and now GPX 6000, all top gold machines, only run in full time ground tracking.

Minelab tracking tech article

[CPT_GhostLight]

Awesome, thanks, Steve!

[midalake]

40 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

As an old time nugget hunter I’ve always distrusted tracking, and prefer manual, unless needed to tame exceptionally variable ground.

So I just returned from two weeks of beach working. Our area was hit with a hurricane 1 month ago.  The beach I hunt normally has a moderate black sand issue for about two blocks. Then for the next mile not so bad. 

After this hurricane, the black sand portion of the beach was worse, and concentrated deposits were found in numerous other locations. It was highly noticeable in Tracking GB.  

I guess my point is: not sure how I could of successfully do a manual GB on this?? 

My choice was to slow WAY down, and to alter sensitivity a point or two. Most of these concentrated areas of black sand were 10'X10' to triple that size.  

41 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

But most newer Minelab nugget detectors only run in full time tracking, and work very well, so this just might be an old out of date habit of mine.

I do have high confidence in the tracking GB mode on the Equinox. Some have alluded to the tracking GB ignoring/skipping/ or cancelling a deep target that is looked at repeatedly. Or miss it in the first place all together. I have found this not to be the case.

In my experience it is possible if one is too aggressive on swing and quick repeated engagement on a deep target.  The ability for one to determine what it is can be an issue. This is why coil control is so important with the Equinox.  

When this happens I usually back off, do a noise cancel and reengage the target. But again, this is only for the faintest of targets.    

[Steve Herschbach]

20 minutes ago, midalake said:

So I just returned from two weeks of beach working. Our area was hit with a hurricane 1 month ago.  The beach I hunt normally has a moderate black sand issue for about two blocks. Then for the next mile not so bad. 

After this hurricane, the black sand portion of the beach was worse, and concentrated deposits were found in numerous other locations. It was highly noticeable in Tracking GB.  

I guess my point is: not sure how I could of successfully do a manual GB on this?? 

My choice was to slow WAY down, and to alter sensitivity a point or two. Most of these concentrated areas of black sand were 10'X10' to triple that size.  

I do have high confidence in the tracking GB mode on the Equinox. Some have alluded to the tracking GB ignoring/skipping/ or cancelling a deep target that is looked at repeatedly. Or miss it in the first place all together. I have found this not to be the case.

In my experience it is possible if one is too aggressive on swing and quick repeated engagement on a deep target.  The ability for one to determine what it is can be an issue. This is why coil control is so important with the Equinox.  

When this happens I usually back off, do a noise cancel and reengage the target. But again, this is only for the faintest of targets.    

I was discussing inland detecting in response to CPT_GhostLight, nothing to do with beach. And referring to detecting 1/20th grain nuggets in highly mineralized ground - not a good idea with older tracking systems. Read the entire post plus reference material instead of a line out of context. I’d be the first to tell you to use tracking on a beach, by nature a highly variable environment. Only place for manual on the beach might be bone dry sand.

[midalake]

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

These are good things to be aware of, as tracking can screw with you, especially older systems.

 

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

and metal objects can throw the balance off for short periods, to name a couple. Well worth the read.

I have noticed that in any mode with Minelab's in general that large ferrous or surface ferrous hits can interrupt the detection ability briefly upon moving on. Does not seem to be an issue with non-ferrous hits of the same proportion. 

 It was very noticeable with the Sovereign BBS units. But only slightly noticeable with the Equinox platform.  I have an aluminum scoop and sometimes I swipe it at the coil to do a little reset, per say.

But yes, I do think constant banging iron has an effect. And one needs to know or slow down.  

[midalake]

1 minute ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I was discussing inland detecting, nothing to do with beach. And referring to detecting 1/20th grain nuggets in highly mineralized ground - not a good idea with tracking. Read the entire post plus reference material.

I know Steve! I was just kind of visualizing out loud.  I always try to stay out of dirt settings because I just don't know.

But it is nice to know what everyone does and why. Kind of where I was going. I am glad you posted that info of the difference and when I get a second will read it, probably twice.  

[scoopjohnb]

As a beach hunter, tracking is always ON on the Equinox 800.

Except when a deep target is aquired that gives audio, but doesn’t ID. Stay off the target, let the machine get a good and stable reading from the ground. Turn tracking off and swipe the signal again.

My beaches have tidal reaches of about 300-400 meters between Low and High tide.

Hunting these beaches is more about scoops than detectors. Due to the slow inclination, sand is always very saturated. Don’t see a lot of beach hunters because most try to cover an entire beach. They swipe the coil like lighting, run around like madmen, never to return again.

Dig a hole, learn where the layers are that can support the heavy targets. Then detect. Not the other way around.

An Excalibur BBS machine running on edge let’s you hear the ground. The CTX running on edge will start Donk, Donk ing. The Equinox is the first beach machine where you can adjust SAT speed with the recovery speed setting. It will hunt in GB mode.

The SDC 2300 has a great circuit because it let’s you hear the ground. Slow SAT speed but the 8” closed coil, simply sucks itself to the ground when hunting saturated ground. This detector needs to be developed into a beach PI.

As for the flavour of the month or year. The D2 fastest multi in the West. I’ve seen people waving handfulls of sand at it, inland detecting style. On edge for depth it’s like an old worn out record player. And it clearly identifies bottlecaps under a cardboard sheet with 4” air gap. The russians even had it shoveling snow and squeeking the shaft. Youtube,... why even bother??

[mh9162013]

I did a short hunt a few days ago with my 600 in a part of my backyard that I hadn't hunted yet. I ground balanced it and the reading was in the upper 20s or lower 30s, if I recall correctly. This was after a rain, the the soil was damp/wet. 

One target rang up as a dime or so (mid to upper 20s) and it was 4 or 5 arrows down. I dug a hole about 10-12 inches down and there was plenty of that dreaded sopping wet clay. This is the stuff that will make my F-Pulse false on medium sensitivity unless I turn it on with the tip touching the clay. Anyhoo, I swung the coil over the hole and it said that target was still in the hole. I dug some more...and more, but still no target and still the same signal from my Equinox and the F-Pulse said I was no closer to the "target." I then decided to ground balance my Equinox 600 over the hole. It went up more than 20 points and into the 50s. I then checked the hole with the 600 and got no signal.

For the rest of the hunt, I got no more deep, high tone signals, but still had no trouble finding a few pennies and other aluminum junk (I was hoping they'd be nickels).

Did I ground balance out a dime, quarter or other high tone? Maybe. Or maybe I better ground balanced my 600 to the more mineralized clay that's deeper in my ground? These are just my observations that may contribute to the discussion here. I'm also open the suggestions/thoughts, of course.

[midalake]

On 12/13/2021 at 10:49 AM, mh9162013 said:

Did I ground balance out a dime, quarter or other high tone? Maybe. Or maybe I better ground balanced my 600 to the more mineralized clay that's deeper in my ground? These are just my observations that may contribute to the discussion here. I'm also open the suggestions/thoughts, of course.

In the early days of the Equinox, I ran GB 0 at the beach. Because people said "you could".   In those early days I chased numerous ghost signals. I now rarely do I get a deep ghost running in Tracking GB.

Wish I could help more but I feel ghost signals with the Equinox just happen.

Possible it might be ferrous targets that are very degraded with large halo effect. Then when one digs the whole item just disappears? 

[mh9162013]

30 minutes ago, midalake said:

Possible it might be ferrous targets that are very degraded with large halo effect. Then when one digs the whole item just disappears? 

It's possible, although when I still had my Vanquish 540, it would chase ghost signals in my mineralized soil consistently, after it had rained. And these were good signals (a distinct high tone in perpendicular directions) and a VDI in the upper 20s to lower 30s. That's exactly what I had here.