vaquero ground balancing

[kansa54]

Let me see if I understand this correctly, if I balance the vaquero on the negative side it will pick up coins better and on the positive side it will hit on the gold better? Can't I have both with this detector? Don't get me wrong, so far I really like the vaquero, just trying to get the hang of ground balancing. I have another brand detector that has preset ground balance and I've never had issues with it in any of the soil here in Ks. Just curious why you would need a manual ground balance?
Clint

 

[BarryL]

The Vaquero is a great machine a little iffy in some soils thus the Manual ground Balance is a Plus I did find on mine Ground balancing the Stock coil is easy but when I tried to GB a 5.75 coil I bought it would just not quite get where I wanted it and depth and falsing was a big problem . I traded it for a older coil of which I can not find any info on but is a four pin connector coil and works extreamly well on the Vaquero and Ground balances very nice and here in Texas in my area the soil is not too minerilized where I live but farther west I go sometimes the soil is different . This is where when I get my gound balance setting close to even I then go slightly Neg which seems to give me a bout 2 inchs more in Depth when I supertune it

 

[MarkCZ]

Let me see if I understand this correctly, if I balance the vaquero on the negative side it will pick up coins better and on the positive side it will hit on the gold better? Can't I have both with this detector? Don't get me wrong, so far I really like the vaquero, just trying to get the hang of ground balancing. I have another brand detector that has preset ground balance and I've never had issues with it in any of the soil here in Ks. Just curious why you would need a manual ground balance?
Clint

The best all round performance with the Vaquero is to just ground balance it correctly, but pay attention to the manual as it reads "As You Lower The Coil" meaning as the coil is on its way down, not, not when you stop, as its going down (the downward motion)

Now, there is some beyond the normal settings that can be done, BUT! some of them has a negative effect, like.
Super tuning, boy its HOT! and deep! but it also gets a LOVE for iron, so, for coin hunting people get frustrated with digging all the iron, great for relic hunting.
Next, is "Power Balance" now this is one I've not experimented with. But its a way to ground balance in discrimination mode. If your interested in this you would have to do a search on the forum for more information, its still a little vague to me?

Ground balancing a little positive or a little negative seems to be more of what people have figured out on their own that seems to work a tad better for their style of hunting.

Mark

 

[mike5853]

From what I can see with my "V", if I GB neutral, it's slightly positive in Disc mode. GB a bit negative and it,s seems to be neutral in Disc mode. I found Power GB'ing doesn't really do much, for my "V", so I stick to the above methods and it works just fine.

 

[kansa54]

Mike, does that mean I should run it slightly negative in discriminate mode for best overall performance?
Clint

 

[Hombre]

kansa54,
I live in Kansas too, mild soil in my area south of Wichita, I have several older models with manual ground balance with the Bandido ll

 

[tvr]

if I balance the vaquero on the negative side it will pick up coins better and on the positive side it will hit on the gold better?

No, but if it is set way too positive, it will start to not see the high conductive range (like silver and copper). Optimal performance for all targets is when the detector is ground balanced to the ground you are hunting. So, start by ground balancing as the manual states or see one of Mike's videos to help get it set up.

With the Vaquero (and several other detectors too), there is a slight offset to the ground balance when it is switched from the all-metal mod to the discriminate mode. Since it is ground balanced in the all metal mode, that slight offset is what Mike is talking about compensating for when he says "From what I can see with my "V", if I GB neutral, it's slightly positive in Disc mode. GB a bit negative and it,s seems to be neutral in Disc mode. I found Power GB'ing doesn't really do much, for my "V", so I stick to the above methods and it works just fine."

The more mineralized ground you hunt in the more important it is to compensate for the slight offset to get maximum performance. The ground types in New Jersey, where Mike hunts, and in Kansas, are mostly pretty mild, so getting exactly spot on for ground balance is probably not as critical as it is in places such as central Virginia and the red clay areas of the south / south east or in the north west part of the country. The relatively mild ground condition is why you got good results with your fixed ground balanced detector.

Personally, I wouldn't get too wrapped up in getting the Vaquero set perfectly all the time. Set the ground balance and go hunting and see how you do. I'd guess that you will find targets at good depth.

As Hombre notes, the soil is fairly mild in Kansas. Hombre has found a lot of good stuff with his Tesoros!
Cheers,
tvr

 

[mike5853]

if I balance the vaquero on the negative side it will pick up coins better and on the positive side it will hit on the gold better?

No, but if it is set way too positive, it will start to not see the high conductive range (like silver and copper). Optimal performance for all targets is when the detector is ground balanced to the ground you are hunting. So, start by ground balancing as the manual states or see one of Mike's videos to help get it set up.

With the Vaquero (and several other detectors too), there is a slight offset to the ground balance when it is switched from the all-metal mod to the discriminate mode. Since it is ground balanced in the all metal mode, that slight offset is what Mike is talking about compensating for when he says "From what I can see with my "V", if I GB neutral, it's slightly positive in Disc mode. GB a bit negative and it,s seems to be neutral in Disc mode. I found Power GB'ing doesn't really do much, for my "V", so I stick to the above methods and it works just fine."

The more mineralized ground you hunt in the more important it is to compensate for the slight offset to get maximum performance. The ground types in New Jersey, where Mike hunts, and in Kansas, are mostly pretty mild, so getting exactly spot on for ground balance is probably not as critical as it is in places such as central Virginia and the red clay areas of the south / south east or in the north west part of the country. The relatively mild ground condition is why you got good results with your fixed ground balanced detector.

Personally, I wouldn't get too wrapped up in getting the Vaquero set perfectly all the time. Set the ground balance and go hunting and see how you do. I'd guess that you will find targets at good depth.

As Hombre notes, the soil is fairly mild in Kansas. Hombre has found a lot of good stuff with his Tesoros!
Cheers,
tvr

Well said tvr - In fact I spend maybe 15 seconds checking / setting my GB. Remember 90% of all your targets in parks and rec areas will be within 5 inches or so. Even if your GB is not set perfect you'll have no problem hitt targets to 5 inches or more with your Vaquero.