Is the manual ground balance really worth the $80?

[Anonymous]

I have detected with high end white's and minelab machines. I recently tried a cheap tesoro amigo II and it blew me away. First time out, in a little over two hours at a park, I found among other things 14 pieces of jewelry including 6 rings, 1 gold, 1 silver, 4 costume; 2 chains, 1 large gold, 1 costume; and 4 charms, 1 heavy gold, 3 costume. Ever since I couldn't put the thing down, next day I went to a park with a horse arena. In the arena I found a nice large silver bridle jewelry piece, and a very unique white indian head penny dated 1903 (unfortunately it is not real of course). yesterday I went to a large sand playground where I was at 3 months ago with a minelab. Three months ago I picked up a long but light 10 kt. gold chain. I went over the same spot with the tesoro and sure enough, I found the smaller rest of the chain with the heavier clasp part. At that park, I also found a nice woman's watch, a costume ring, an earring, a cross, and a beaded bracelet. This has been an impressive showing for me to say the least. I like the tesoro's simplicity, and sensitivity to small items, especially jewelry. Iam planning on getting a machine for my father and I am going to choose either the cibola or a vaquero. I just have to ask about the manual ground balance knob on the vaquero. Is it worth the extra $80 over the cibola? With it, does it give the Vaquero any advantages over the cibola? If so, then how? I am selling my old white's machine to buy the new tesoro so I will have the money. But like most people, I don't want to spend extra money if it is not that important. We hunt for anything cool, but mostly for jewelry, old coins, and sometimes relics. Recreational, not really nugget hunters. We want depth for dry sand beaches and bare lots. we mostly hunt in local parks but we do frequent the beaches in the summer. Hopefully you experts can help. I now know a secret that many do not, that Tesoro makes great machines. Hopefully this new one will be all that and a bag of chips.
Thanks,
Justin

 

[Anonymous]

Justin,
After reading contradicting posts about the difference in performance between the fixed GB on the Cibola and the manual GB on the Vaquero, I decided to give Tesoro a call for the real scoop.
According to Vince Gifford who is Tesoro's main engineer, in typical soil conditions found in most parts of the country the Vaquero has no advantage over the Cibola. The all metal mode and manual GB of the Vaquero does give it a definite edge in "hotter" ground according to him. So, unless you are an all metal relic hunter or chasing gold nuggets in Arizona the Cibola should do just fine.
Tom

 

[Anonymous]

I feel that the manual ground balance will give you precise tuning of your detector if done properly, if not, you will probably lose some depth. It will also be of advantage if you use different size coils.
We have good soil conditions in my area, and a non manual ground balance detector will do just find. However, in some areas of the U.S. that has bad ground, you would be wise to buy a manual ground balance detector. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Anonymous]

Several years back I was hunting one summer primarily with a Cortes. The model isn't as important as the fact that it's a fixed GB detector. That year we were hunting a 16 square block area of a local town. The city was in the process of demolishing all the homes in this area for a new high school. This area was the oldest part of town and dates back to the early 1830's. The Cortes did quite well SEEMINGLY a lot of the time. I was making nice finds and never dreamed I might be losing out on finds with the Cortes. However, I'll never forget when we got into this one area, the other guys that had manual GB and or auto-trackers were nailing old coins that I couldn't even hear. It got ugly. The coins very everywhere and only 6" to 7" deep on the average but that particular soil was such that fixed GB rendered the Cortes all but useless. That day I swore I'd NEVER hunt an area that had the potential of giving up serious old coins and relics with a fixed GB detector. Better safe than sorry? You be the judge. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">

 

[Anonymous]

As the other guys mentioned, soil conditions can make manual, or auto, ground balance a necessity, and it doesn't have to be severe mineralization to make having the ability to ground balance important. The ground here is virtually mineral free, in fact it borders on saline, and except for one every preset ground balanced detector I've had (many since I dealt in used detectors for almost 13 years) were preset too positive and required removing the case and balancing with the internal pot, at least on the ones that had an internal pot. Some were so positive it resulted a substantial loss of depth, especially on higher conductive targets. Of the six detectors I currently have, three have manual balance and two allows either manual or auto balance. The other is an old 100 khz Compass TR for use in iron laden sites. I would pay the extra $80 to get manual ground balance without hesitation if I were choosing between the Vaquero and Cibola.
JB

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

{ read my post above on i have had my sidewinder modded.}
also if you have the manual G/B you can ground balance it positive then leave it and use it in this set way,THE RESULT BEING YOU ARE USEING IT IN THE SAME MANNER AS THE FIXED GROUND BALANCE MACHINES.
however it is not very hard to learn to ground balance a machine ,once you understand the basics.
and having done so you can be assured you will be attaining the maximum depth and capabilities of your machine. with the added bonus of being able to use it in just about any type of ground. i hope the following will be of assistance to all in ground balancing there machines.
GROUND BALANCING
The volume of the "threshold sound" should be set to the level that enables the user to faintly hear the consistent sound.
Once the metal detector has been placed in the "all metal" mode of operation, and the "threshold sound" level has been adjusted to be able to steadily, but faintly, hear the threshold audio sound, raise the metal detector coil above the ground about one and a half or two feet. From this point on, until the metal detector has successfully been ground balanced, it will be most important to focus on the audio level of the threshold sound.
lower the coil towards the ground,listening to the audio sound,then raise the coil again listening to the audio sound.
This can be in a slow continual "pumping motion" of raising and lowering the coil, and then adjusting the ground balance control until the audio level of the threshold sound is steady or unchanging.
Remember, if the threshold volume level gets louder when the coil is being lowered to the ground, turn the ground adjustment down. If the threshold volume decreases as the coil is lowered to the ground, increase the ground balance control.
Once you have the metal detector adjusted so the threshold sound level is the same while pumping the detector up and down to the ground, the metal detector is PROPERLY GROUND BALANCED.
Some metal detector users prefer to have the ground balance adjustment set slightly on the POSITIVE side
Adjusting the ground balance in this slightly positive level will enable a little more depth in areas which have ideal ground conditions,and little to no trash targets present.
REMEMBER
POSITIVE=( the threshold audio level faintly increases as the coil is lowered to the ground.)
NEGATIVE=( the threshold audio level DECREASES OR [NULLS goes silent] as the coil is RAISED FROM the ground.)
Setting Your Detector A Little Positve Will Also Achieve The Advantage Of Having to Adjust The Ground Balance Less Frequently.
IT MUST BE STRESSED THOUGH HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO CHECK YOUR GROUND BALANCE OFTEN,AS THE GROUND TYPE CAN ALTER IN A MATTER OF FEET IN ANY DIRECTION.
best regards ken+marg

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Tom, That is basically the same response I got from James Gifford via email today. He said in my part of the Country, with moderately mineralized soil, the Cibloa would perform fine for coin hunting. HH Randy