Omega 8000 on the beach

[walla]

Hello!

New to the hobby and thanks in part to this forum I purchased an Omega 8000 and am very pleased with my decision. Thanks to all who participate here and help with the great tips and advice.

I live in Southern California, on the beach, and I am curious to hear any tips / advice / feedback you may have in regards to using the Omega in wet sand. I've found ground balancing on the wet has proved problematic at best, and had to resort to manual -- resulting in the setting to be close to 0 at all times before the bars balance out (this seems a bit odd, but I'm not sure?). As I don't have a great scoop (yet), and am so new to the hobby, I've moved away from the water and have limited myself to the dry to learn and practice. I do, however, have a great desire to go back to the wet and try to find the "good stuff" (so much garbage in the dry!) and I would appreciate any tips or feedback any of you may have to give. Any GB tips? Am I right in learning that VLF's have some issues with salt water in general, and I wont receive optimum results? Is it best to just stick to dry with the Omega or should I keep trying it out and assume it can work well enough in what I am hoping to do -- maybe find a ring or two in that shallow water.

Best,

Matt

p.s. if you don't have an Omega I would still appreciate any feedback you may have and what you believe I can expect with using this kind of detector on wet sand and shallow water. thanks.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Matt a GB of 0 on the wet salt sand is about right. How did it do with a GB of 0 in the wet salt sand?

HH,
Brian

 

[Monte]

In my 46th year of detecting I have read many Owner's Manuals and I don't recall ever seeing one that was totally correct. I have been working on my own set of Operator's Manuals for ALL Teknetics models to try and correct a few oversights. If I recall, the following is in the Gamma 6000 manual but not in the Omega's. Simply and oversight, unless it's there and I missed it.

Anyway, they share similar Ground Grab and manual Ground Balance circuitry options. Also, when hunting an ocean beach that includes salts, and wet salts to be sure, you're dealing with not just any iron mineralization present but also the low-conductive wet salts. here is a cut-and-paste from the Gamma 6000 Owner's Manual that should assist.:

"Note: GROUND GRAB will not automatically balance over highly conductive
soils, such as a wet salt water beach. Automatic balancing is not possible
in soils with gound values less than 40. The screen will display​

 

[Old Katz]

Monte:
Does this apply to most detectors like my MXT or
is this specific to the Omega 8000?
Katz

 

[walla]

Thank you for your replies, I feel more confident knowing that the method I tried was correct for wet sand and that a GB setting ~0 is appropriate and considered normal. The text Monte posted was not in my Omega 8000 manual and it is an oversight.

I haven't done much wet sand hunting until I get the appropriate scoop (not much fun with a small hand scoop and the water fills up the hole, making things a mess), but I will be sure to follow up with my results and post the settings as you suggested. Thanks and happy hunting! I'm going out right now, hoping for some greater luck than I've had these last few days

Walla

 

[Monte]

Does this apply to most detectors like my MXT or is this specific to the Omega 8000?

With the MXT you have somewhat the same condition. You can toggle to the Beach setting and that should help you a bit when you auto-balance. One thing to remember is to establish a working GB for your area and Lock the toggle. I am not thrilled with continuous Auto-Tracking most of the time.

As you know, I DO like certain White's models through the years, like the XLT, XL Pro, IDX Pro, M6 and MXT and a few others. I switched over from my MXT's this past spring for a couple of reasons. One healthy reason is my declining general health and bad back so I favor a lighter-weight detector. There was another reason or two, however, that I found even more important and that was due to a difference in detector design.

I like to have more control over my detector and that especially applies to the Ground Balance. The Teknetics Omega and Gamma have a very quick automated Ground Balance using the Ground Grab function. By very quick I mean fast, like your MXT. Very similar. However, once you Ground Grab and establish a functional GB at a site, it is done and you do not have to reach down and toggle to 'Lock' like on the MXT/M6. Equally, the Omega and Gamma have the tracking circuitry so they are tracking and reading the ground changes as you're searching, just like the MXT & M6. With them, however, you have to pause, hold the coil steady and reach down to toggle to Ground and then back to Lock to update and then lock in the new changed GB setting. With the Omega is is especially quick as you simply pause the coil, press the Ground Grab touch-pad, then release and continue searching.

When it comes to beach conditions where you need or want better Ground Balance control, such as on the wet salt beaches that are conductive rather than the iron mineralized sites, the Gamma and Omega provide what you don't have with the MXT or M6. That is MANUAL Ground Balance, and there is one of the main reasons I opted to switch over to the Omega.

I liked that feature on my T2, the Fast Grab (Ground Grab) as well as manual GB, but the Omega (like the Gamma) are lighter and the TID display and overall functions just appeal to me more for day-to-day coin hunting applications. So, to answer your question, the MXT and M6 do have a "beach" setting to help the auto-mated Ground Balance get established, but while it works, it's not quite the same. Beach conditions can change, as most hunters know, especially if working out and back rather than with the wet-zone.

But the adjustments necessary as stated are not "specific" with the Omega. The lower-cost Gamma and the top-end T2 all feature both Ground Grab/Fast Grab as well as manual GB so the operator is provided greater hands-on versatility. Also, in my subject heading I stated "if they have the adjustment range" and perhaps even that needs to be clarified. Many detectors that provide manual Ground Balance are quite 'touchy.' For example, the Tesoro models with a 3