I noticed in the DVD under the advanced settings that the auto GB info was different than the manual. The gentleman held the coil steady 4 inches above the ground when he auto adjusted the GB. The manual says to bob the coil when adjusting in the auto mode. I noticed that the GB numbers were pretty close with either method. Which way do you use?
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Auto GB question on the XT70
- Thread starter khouse
- Start date
Horsesoldier
New member
I don't even bother with GB anymore. I just turn on tracking and sweep the coil a few times. HH
BarnacleBill
New member
n/t
Ronnero_design
New member
My response is JUST for Prospecting mode:
I keep a little piece of paper in my pocket so I remember to hit each button in the correct sequence when I start out Prospecting for the day. Forgive me for sounding like I have a poor memory but for some reason, I wasn't doing it right when I first got the X-70 and this turned out to be my problem... I'd always hit one of the buttons in the wrong sequence during the procedure. This is what I do NOW each time I go out:
1/ Auto Noise Cancel
2/ Auto Ground Balance
3/ Turn On Ground Tracking
I re-do the Ground Balance when my area soil changes dramatically to be sure that I am in the best condition to detect. For example, if I'm detecting a road and then head down from loose gravel to thicker clays near water. The difference between the moist clay and the gravel road means that the detector should adjust if in Tracking Mode but tends to get held up if the transition involves LOTS of different factors - such as Moist/Dry/Clay/Gravel/Water/Ironstone/Bedrock-Basalt/Sandstone/Mud/Slate etc
If I don't do a rebalance in new areas, the Auto Ground Tracking doesn't always help me and I end up getting held up by hotrocks etc. If I dig and can't find the target, I tend to rebalance and then discover the soil had too much iron there. A rebalance for me will almost always cancel out this iron. Usually the Auto Ground Tracking does this well... but it does get fooled occasionally if multiple soil variants are processed quickly.
Taking a wander along similar ground (say: Sandstone in red-iron soil) means the occasional low-iron hot rocks are usually balanced out as you cover the ground. But if I take a drive or turn off the detector to walk a fair distance, when i turn it on again the new soil can confuse the detector and whilst it appears to operate normally, some false targets may show since the machine probably needs to be rebalanced. On one walk, I found just two hotrocks that were triggering the detector and yet I was surrounded by them. By balancing the detector properly, only the largest ironstone rocks triggered a false target signal.
_____________________________________________
To answer your question more directly , I use the 'jump' method of bouncing the coil slightly when setting the Ground Balance because I feel it gives the coil a better average sampling of the soil below the surface... but it is very quick to lock on. Just a second or two.
When setting the Auto Noise Cancel, it's a 15 second process and i keep the coil perfectly still when auto-calibrating.
I keep a little piece of paper in my pocket so I remember to hit each button in the correct sequence when I start out Prospecting for the day. Forgive me for sounding like I have a poor memory but for some reason, I wasn't doing it right when I first got the X-70 and this turned out to be my problem... I'd always hit one of the buttons in the wrong sequence during the procedure. This is what I do NOW each time I go out:
1/ Auto Noise Cancel
2/ Auto Ground Balance
3/ Turn On Ground Tracking
I re-do the Ground Balance when my area soil changes dramatically to be sure that I am in the best condition to detect. For example, if I'm detecting a road and then head down from loose gravel to thicker clays near water. The difference between the moist clay and the gravel road means that the detector should adjust if in Tracking Mode but tends to get held up if the transition involves LOTS of different factors - such as Moist/Dry/Clay/Gravel/Water/Ironstone/Bedrock-Basalt/Sandstone/Mud/Slate etc
If I don't do a rebalance in new areas, the Auto Ground Tracking doesn't always help me and I end up getting held up by hotrocks etc. If I dig and can't find the target, I tend to rebalance and then discover the soil had too much iron there. A rebalance for me will almost always cancel out this iron. Usually the Auto Ground Tracking does this well... but it does get fooled occasionally if multiple soil variants are processed quickly.
Taking a wander along similar ground (say: Sandstone in red-iron soil) means the occasional low-iron hot rocks are usually balanced out as you cover the ground. But if I take a drive or turn off the detector to walk a fair distance, when i turn it on again the new soil can confuse the detector and whilst it appears to operate normally, some false targets may show since the machine probably needs to be rebalanced. On one walk, I found just two hotrocks that were triggering the detector and yet I was surrounded by them. By balancing the detector properly, only the largest ironstone rocks triggered a false target signal.
_____________________________________________
To answer your question more directly , I use the 'jump' method of bouncing the coil slightly when setting the Ground Balance because I feel it gives the coil a better average sampling of the soil below the surface... but it is very quick to lock on. Just a second or two.
When setting the Auto Noise Cancel, it's a 15 second process and i keep the coil perfectly still when auto-calibrating.
robert roy
New member
Memory?
Believe me, I have to take notes with me as well. At age 63
my memory has demished wa well. Nothing to be sorry about.
coursafter a couple of beers, who cares!!!
Robert R
Believe me, I have to take notes with me as well. At age 63
my memory has demished wa well. Nothing to be sorry about.
coursafter a couple of beers, who cares!!!Robert R
nero_design
New member
[size=small]Tracking Ground Balanced was used here because the road (yes, that's a 150 year old road there in front of the camera) is composed of logs, dry soil
and rocks and yet as the hill slopes down, it is composed of small ironstone, clay, bedrock and creek water. I can't possibly reset the GB every now
and then so TGB is handy.[/size]
[size=small]Tracking Ground Balanced NOT used here. I want to pick up anything standing out like a sore thumb in this flat area which has a fairly
consistent soil density. Any small iron particle clumps trapped in clay might trigger a masking effect for me with TGB on.[/size]
Ah. I don't always use the Tracking Ground Balance feature. I only use it when the type of soils I am crossing are varied.
I set up the Detector for the soil I'm on first and then when I'm ready to detect, I activate tracking so that as I move about, the detector will adjust to the soil as it changes. I find the Tracking Ground Balance can be fooled by iron particles in concentrated areas or in pockets of clay under the ground. The detector will automatically adjust to these faint pockets and even phase them out of the target range which means you could pass a nugget in the area with a little iron attached to it and the detector might ignore it since it's balanced itself to ignore the mineralized iron patches you've just passed over.
If I understand the technology correctly, the Ground Tracking detects changes beneath the surface soil as well. You could be walking on dry ground all day long with patches of moisture just a few inches down and this will affect the tracking. That's why the X-70 will even acclimatise to a faint target if you stand over it whilst waving the coil for a couple of seconds too long. This is also why the Tracking Ground Balance is an optional built-in feature.... because some people might want to hunt their target without having the detector mask it out accidentally.
If an X-70 owner just turns on Tracking when they begin detecting a new patch of ground, the detector will probably still be set to the last soil type you were on when you last used it. The X-70 with GBT on will slowly adjust to the new soil type but will do so faster if you quickly turn the GBT off and then back on. It takes about two seconds for it to do this because it does a really rapid scan of the soil when it's first activated. I prefer to reset the machine when I start out on a new area. Just my preference mind you. You could be right in that Auto Ground Balance calibration is not necessarily needed if GBT is to be used. But I'm not having any problems with hot soils & hotrocks so much since I've been doing it this way.
It is also recommended on page 42 of the X-Terra 70 manual that the Tracking Ground Balance is turned off when a target is detected. Ground balance is also automatically disabled when 'Pinpointing' is activated. I also have to crouch down and dig occasionally and that means that my detector coil comes off the ground from time to time - and TGB will do all sorts of weird things when the coil is in the air.
Jackpine Savage
Active member
"angels on the head of a pin" deal 
Seriously, whether its a "comfort thing" or forces you to start out over a clean patch of ground or whatever your logic happens to be... to each his own.
It can't hurt and I was guilty of doing it at times when I had the X70.
Turnng the tracking off and then back on when changing locations during a hunt is a good idea due to the faster initial track in when turned back on.
Tom
Seriously, whether its a "comfort thing" or forces you to start out over a clean patch of ground or whatever your logic happens to be... to each his own.
It can't hurt and I was guilty of doing it at times when I had the X70.
Turnng the tracking off and then back on when changing locations during a hunt is a good idea due to the faster initial track in when turned back on.
Tom
The manual says that when you activate the auto track feature it tracks fast at first then slows the tracking down. Each time you go in and out of auto track it adjusts fast then slow again. It's like the auto track starts over fresh every time you activate it. This is the way I understand it?
BarnacleBill
New member
so that targets won't be tracked out. However Beach Tracking is much faster than Standard Tracking. So it is strongly recommended that you turn Tracking off once a target is located in Beach GB mode.
HH
BarnacleBill
HH
BarnacleBill
BarnacleBill
New member
The detector never reverts. The only way you're going to revert to anything is to do a Factory Reset. If you auto GB and get a 27 that's where it's going to stay. If you go to manually GB it, it will be at 27 and adjust up or down from there. If you auto GB over the exact same spot as initially it will be at 27 again or close, maybe 26 or 28 etc.
If you put Tracking ON and then take it OFF, same deal if you go to manually adjust it, it will be at the value when you took it out of Tracking. So if it was Tracking at 36 when you pushed Tracking OFF, you will start at 36 when you go to manually adjust it. Tracking can be a great tool to learn how variable your ground is. Go to the GB function, then turn Tracking ON and just walk around, you can see how often and how much the ground changes in your area.
HH
BarnacleBill
If you put Tracking ON and then take it OFF, same deal if you go to manually adjust it, it will be at the value when you took it out of Tracking. So if it was Tracking at 36 when you pushed Tracking OFF, you will start at 36 when you go to manually adjust it. Tracking can be a great tool to learn how variable your ground is. Go to the GB function, then turn Tracking ON and just walk around, you can see how often and how much the ground changes in your area.
HH
BarnacleBill