Do You Ground Balance

[historyrevisited]

 

[rick in mi]

I ground balance when ever possible. I believe it does make a difference. I'm running the F75 with fast grab . If the ground has to much trash I manually ground balance. Knowing from experience the numbers I'm used to seeing in the area I hunt the most. Yes I do ground balance!!. The vid is interesting but can't understand the guy from across the pond lol. Nothing against are brothers in Europe... hhricknmi

 

[MuddyMo]

Yes

 

[oldkoot]

Ground balance is one thing I do with out hesitation when I go out to detect, I am one that has never bought into this zero ground balance crap, I want to give what ever detector I am using at the time the best chance at seeing a target, I have tried that zero GB on the ground I detect and could not distinguish a target from ground noise, so yes I ground balance every time I go out to detect and I may re ground balance several times per hunt

 

[jim tn]

Yeah, I believe in ground balancing. HH jim tn

 

[Southwind]

Yes. before every hunt, with no exceptions. Sometimes I'll GB several times at the same location if I hear a change in ground conditions.

 

[still looking 52]

Yeah, definitely ground balance, I need every edge I can get trying to hear those deep faint targets.

 

[Odanscoils]

Always. And then again as I'm going along.

 

[Mark kus]

No I don't most of the time never had much of a problem finding unless i'm have a hard time with the area I'm in
Mark

 

[fwcrawford]

On my single frequency detectors I do, but on my 800 while in multi operation, I don’t usually, but have on occasion tried it without seeing any improvement.

 

[fwcrawford]

On my single frequency detectors I do, but on my 800 while in multi operation, I don’t usually, but have on occasion tried it without seeing any improvement.
At a patch of woods a few months ago it started finding civil war bullets.
As time went on the signals got more iffy, so I tried different modes, single frequencies, and even ground balancing, but did not see and improvement.
The last one I found there was while using a PI detector ( Sand Shark).

 

[Ism]

I always GB slightly positive. It reduces iron falsing caused by rapid movement over the ground while detecting.
If you move slow, then you probably better off zeroing your GB.

 

[IDXMonster]

Yes. In most every case, if not every case, an accurate GB will improve the meter reading if you’re using a meter. I rely heavily on meter accuracy. It is well known that a slightly positive GB will reduce noise and provide more stability at the expense of extreme depth, while a negative GB will improve the ability to see the deepest of targets at the expense of instability and an unreliable meter. Doing a GB is a double edged sword…you must do it right or it can compromise performance, done right it makes for a more stable and accurate hunt with good performance. Todays machines work really well with ground tracking on, there are only a handful of types of places it doesn’t do great. Remember…those old turd Explorers, and perhaps machines older than that, had NO GB option, they track all the time. Bottom line is for most people….unless your GB is WAY off, you’ll likely be just fine.

 

[Ronstar]

On the Legend I have tried the channel search and the GB and tried GB and the channel search. The channel does change so Im not really sure why. GB does make it run quieter in the long run plus Im set so it changes as I get into different soils.

 

[Melbeta]

Yeah, definitely ground balance, I need every edge I can get trying to hear those deep faint targets.

Ahhhh! A man like myself, who searches for the small faint deep targets. I call it searching below the trash layer myself.
It may be a coin, jewelry, old small relics, of old trash, but one thing for sure, it is usually, but not always, old trash if it is trash items.
But since, I am from the old car days, it is nice to see what I used to see every day back in the old days...

Yes, Still Looking 52, we need an edge. My edge is an audio enhancement unit, which is of my own making, I seach with audio amplification, hit the target, switch into BYPASS MODE, if faint, down I go and dig it up. If still loud audio, on i walk to the next target. I have had my share of the old digging up of trash items, not more of
that for this searcher now days... Yes, I love to find old things, even if it is old junk, it brings remembrance to my mind of days gone past......... Enjoy the finds below! Most of them are from the Cripple Creek Mining Days up in the mountains in times past And some from older areas in town, before they passed laws making it a crime to metal detect public property areas... One has to get written permission today to save our machines from law seizures!
Melbeta

 

[sube]

Yes. In most every case, if not every case, an accurate GB will improve the meter reading if you’re using a meter. I rely heavily on meter accuracy. It is well known that a slightly positive GB will reduce noise and provide more stability at the expense of extreme depth, while a negative GB will improve the ability to see the deepest of targets at the expense of instability and an unreliable meter. Doing a GB is a double edged sword…you must do it right or it can compromise performance, done right it makes for a more stable and accurate hunt with good performance. Todays machines work really well with ground tracking on, there are only a handful of types of places it doesn’t do great. Remember…those old turd Explorers, and perhaps machines older than that, had NO GB option, they track all the time. Bottom line is for most people….unless your GB is WAY off, you’ll likely be just fine.

IDX said Remember…those old turd Explorers, and perhaps machines older than that, had NO GB option, they track all the time. Bottom line is for most people….unless your GB is WAY off, you’ll likely be just fine.
This is what I thought was the best way to GB . People said you could track out a target well then why did they have tracking I would think the only target you could track out was a target on ground that the detector had nothing to track.
Maybe on a super deep non-ferrous target that has almost gone to ferrous because of depth .
So you set your ground balance in one place move a foot and now it has changed could be iron bottle caps that had rusted away and now the ground is red with rust but no solid metal pieces left . You just moved into more mineralized soil and you don't know if your - or + to the ground you can never be right unless your tracking.
I think they came up with 0 as a center for GB meaning it could vary from - to + and you would still be close enough to still hit most targets.
As far as tracking out targets using auto tracking maybe on a piece of soil that was the same from one place to another . Hunting in a park fairgrounds or other public place there is plenty of rust halos and different levels of mineral all in the same place . (something to track)
I don't ever recall tracking out a target if the ground is changing with each sweep the machine is tracking the soil meaning it is changing all the time .
As to being on a piece of soil that it has nothing to track then I would say sweeping over and over the same target you could track it out because it is only tracking the target and not the ground . Another words getting rid of the noise target . sube

 

[Nauti]

Looking at a lot of videos,a lot of detectorists spend more time f***ing around with settings,programs and ground balance than actually detecting...........I bet most of them haven't got a scooby doo about the effects all those setting changes are having on their ability to find decent targets......its hilarious.

 

[Rick(ND)]

Looking at a lot of videos,a lot of detectorists spend more time f***ing around with settings,programs and ground balance than actually detecting...........I bet most of them haven't got a scooby doo about the effects all those setting changes are having on their ability to find decent targets......its hilarious.

Nauti you said it like most of us would say as many time when you start messing with all the different setting you are spending your detecting time messing around setting that probably makes the detector worst than if you would have left it alone. This why I like my Sovereigns as less adjustments and a turn on a go detector and find more of actually digging than adjusting.

 

[Nauti]

100% Rick......im off out with mine tomorrow,love the GT.I"m quite glad the newer machines have so many settings as it means more left in the ground.

 

[BigTony]

I stopped worrying about GB on the Deus 2. One day detecting I was doing well, good signals and good accuracy plus depth. For whatever reason, I GB and the machine wasn’t good as before. I shut it down and back on, then the machine was good to go.
So now I only do it if I start getting strange signals, could be the dirt, silent EMI who knows., or internal computer storage needs a clean out.