Gold Mode 1 Versus 2 Very Interesting

[Bhogg]

I was out today had the Nox and the SDC and after getting a 2.56 gram nugget with the SDC I decided to run the Nox over it to see what number it was ringing up and to my surprise it wouldn’t pick it up on Gold mode 1 but would on Gold mode 2,  but even more unusual was it would pickup a .04 nugget on mode 1 and not the 2.56 nugget.

I found this a bit strange anyone have an explanation for this?.

I tried to load a video I took of me running the Nox over both nuggets but it said it was over the size limit allowed so not sure if there’s another way to load it up on here? The video only goes for a minute and twelve seconds.

 Cheers 

 

[dewcon4414]

I was reading just today someone testing a flake in park 2 and gold 2.  He was getting a flake in park 2 he couldnt in gold 2.   What made the differece he believes is the default IB setting in gold 2 of 6.   He changed that and could pick the flake up.

[Steve Herschbach]

The forum currently does not allow for videos to be uploaded directly - you have to use a video hosting site like YouTube then post the link on the forum.

Does not matter - we believe you. The question is what is up? There is no difference between Gold Mode 1 and Gold Mode 2 except that Gold Mode 2 has a slower Recovery Speed. This allows for more depth in lower mineral ground but it also accentuates false signals from the coil touching items at high sensitivity levels. You need more care with coil control and will generally need to move slower in Gold Mode 2.

That being the case Gold Mode 2 should detect anything you can find in Gold Mode 1. If anything Gold Mode 1 is slightly less sensitive due to the faster Recovery Speed setting. First thing I would do is a factory reset, then test again. Hit the Horseshoe button in both modes so that you have no discrimination engaged. Turn off ground tracking before testing any nuggets, as nuggets might track out. It is always best to use manual ground balance when testing, and be sure both modes have the same ground balance number. My guess here is that tracking has caused one mode to get significantly out of whack.

If you want, increase Recovery Speed in Gold Mode 2 to 6, at which point the settings will be identical in both modes. Or lower the setting in Gold Mode 1 - whichever.

[NSC]

Good answer Steve. 

I too think its important to test in All Metal or risk disc-ing little nuggets out

My ground is heavily mineralised and my testing shows Gold 1 a bit more usable than Gold2

[Steve Herschbach]

As far as I know Gold Mode 1 and Gold Mode 2 are identical except for default settings, unlike Park 1 and Park 2 for instance. In all the other modes there is a frequency weighting difference between mode 1 and mode 2. The modes have a built in inherent difference. Again, as far as I know, the frequency weighting between Gold Mode 1 and Gold Mode 2 is the same, the only difference being the setup default for recovery speed. The default recovery speed is lower in Gold Mode 2. That being the case, if you reduce the recovery speed in Gold Mode 1 to a setting of 4 you should have identical performance to Gold Mode 2.

The manual (see below) says Gold Mode 1 is suitable for milder ground, and that Gold Mode 2 is for “difficult” ground conditions. I believe this is backwards. Again, the only difference as far as I know is that Gold Mode 1 has a faster default recovery speed. This makes the machine less sensitive to ground noise and coil knock sensitivity. Therefore the detector will be easier to handle in bad ground using Gold Mode 1 defaults than Gold Mode 2 defaults.

My take is Gold Mode 1 is a default “standard” nugget hunting mode, while Gold Mode 2 with its lower recovery speed default is slightly more of an “expert” nugget hunting mode with slightly more depth possible but requiring more careful coil control. Personally I never use Gold Mode 2 - I use Gold Mode 1 and if I want a lower recovery speed, I simply reduce it while in Gold Mode 1.

Reducing recovery speed will definitely add to target signal strength in milder ground. I am however quite skeptical that reducing recovery speed in real bad ground will be beneficial. Increased coil knock sensitivity, more difficulty in obtaining a smooth ground balance, and hot rock masking could easily offset any theoretical gains that can be had. It is quite possible that reducing recovery speed will result in poorer performance in some extreme ground situations. As always, real results will be obtained via knowing how the controls interact and experimentation on the actual ground to be hunted, not using canned settings.

If you are wanting to maximize gold performance in either mode, reducing the default Iron Bias from 6 will reduce the chance of gold being misidentified as ferrous, but will also possibly result in more positive false signals from both ferrous items and I suspect even intense hot rocks. In milder trash free ground, I would definitely be experimenting with lower Recovery Speeds and reduced Iron Bias settings.

 

[Chase Goldman]

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I believe this is backwards.

I was wondering the same thing for all the reasons you cited.  The thumbnail descriptions in the manual seem reversed for the conditions discussed.