Big Boys Hobbies

Nox-0 GB vs. Auto GB

longbow62

longbow62

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I am wondering how many people leave their Nox GB setting sitting on zero versus auto ground balancing to actual ground condition? I have always ground balanced myself and had good luck doing it that way. Another buddy says he leaves his on 0.

I might add depending on the site in Park2 my ground can balance anywhere number wise from the 40's to the 60's.
 
WyoTom said:
I run mine just like GroundSweeper....
Click to expand...

You run with ground tracking on? It appears everybody is running the Nox different. I was under the impression not to run with ground tracking on. Especially true if your in heavy iron. I was also under the impression a coil pump auto GB was the best way to go. You don't have to GB and can keep on 0 if you like, but you get better results if you do a auto GB in medium to hot ground.
 
I manual GB as i just have never trusted a machine to do it for me. I have had what i consider very nice results and have always wondered why so many people say they find so much iron and have no positive results and sell their machines basically brand new or slightly used. I am in no way saying it is because they did not GB manually but since this was brought up, i have wondered many times if there actually is a big difference. I hunt red clay mostly here.
 
Trashfinder said:
I manual GB as i just have never trusted a machine to do it for me. I have had what i consider very nice results and have always wondered why so many people say they find so much iron and have no positive results and sell their machines basically brand new or slightly used. I am in no way saying it is because they did not GB manually but since this was brought up, i have wondered many times if there actually is a big difference. I hunt red clay mostly here.
Click to expand...

What is your average GB number in your area? I have red clay here where I live also. GB numbers can go into the 60's hunting in Park2 in some places I hunt. Average is probably low to mid 50's.

jl1252, I don't see in the manual where ground tracking is preferred other than gold prospecting and beach hunting. May not matter one way or the other. If you start out at 0 with ground tracking on have you looked to see what it ends up at?

When I have better weather I guess I need to test at 0 GB then auto GB and test again with in the ground targets.
 
Auto tracking on is basically for gold settings.
Auto tracking on it is continuously ground balancing to the minerals in the ground.
A target is a mineral. So if you pass over a target too much it could null the target out.
If that happen swing the coil over something like a digger or something then go back over the target ., (just my opinion ) it can null the target out.
Also I think we all have used the Pin pointer and the volume was low and that is because the pin pointer was activated to.close and over the target. So turn on pin pointer away from the target.

Doug
 
I just read that leaving tracking ground balance on can cause a deep signal to be lost as mineralization. If I manually ground balance I get low numbers but leaving it in tracking it goes up into the 40’s because it’s interpreting the iron as ground.
 
3856A053-9436-4804-A237-11E04585844D.jpgThis is what I read on a Equinox group. Not sure where the information came from?
 
longbow62 said:
What is your average GB number in your area? I have red clay here where I live also. GB numbers can go into the 60's hunting in Park2 in some places I hunt. Average is probably low to mid 50's.

jl1252, I don't see in the manual where ground tracking is preferred other than gold prospecting and beach hunting. May not matter one way or the other. If you start out at 0 with ground tracking on have you looked to see what it ends up at?

When I have better weather I guess I need to test at 0 GB then auto GB and test again with in the ground targets.
Click to expand...

I usually end up somewhere between 50-70's . I think maybe all those that do not think the NOX is good are having GB failure issues. Probably why they sell them so quickly, it is a failure to understand how to operate it properly.
 
CarsonChris said:
I just read that leaving tracking ground balance on can cause a deep signal to be lost as mineralization. If I manually ground balance I get low numbers but leaving it in tracking it goes up into the 40’s because it’s interpreting the iron as ground.
Click to expand...

I think this is why so many sell the NOX so quickly. They do not operate the machine properly.
 
I have auto ground balance on the 705 and always used it. It recalculates as you sweep off the target in seconds. As long as you're going the slow swing speed MY machine, the Minelab Xterra 705 is recommended to swing it works fine. The NOX auto GB tracking should be operating the same or better. Experienced detectorists on here taught me about this auto GB issue back in 2014.
 
I do the auto ground balance, do not run tracking mode. I thought tracking was for gold modes. Have only had the NOX 800 for a couple months.
Finding a quiet spot with no iron or non ferrous targets so I can ground balance is a big problem. Sometimes it is impossible. In those cases I will turn sensitivity way down so the machine will not read any iron but I wonder if I'm getting a proper GB that way. My understanding is that iron and non-ferrous targets will screw up a GB attempt.
With my ATPRO I would do the same thing, find as quiet a spot as possible, turn down sensitivity by half at least and then ground balance.
 
CarsonChris said:
I just read that leaving tracking ground balance on can cause a deep signal to be lost as mineralization. If I manually ground balance I get low numbers but leaving it in tracking it goes up into the 40’s because it’s interpreting the iron as ground.
Click to expand...

+1

My ground balance here is usually single digits as well, and if I leave tracking on I get similar results: finding the g.b. has migrated into the 30s-40s. If I would do a manual g.b. at that point it always would be low single digits. It is a rare occurence for me to find any spot where g.b. is above 20.

I did manual g.b. for awhile and decided that I get the best results if I just leave it at zero as per factory recommendations.
 
I think depending on how neutral or mineralized your soil is might have a bearing on how important it is to GB. Obviously different things are working for different people in this discussion. My whole point in asking was to figure out the best way to approach GBing or not GBing the Equinox. I think I do okay GBing at every site and keeping ground tracking turned off as is, but I am open to trying new setup options.
 
There’s a video on a Facebook group where the user is running auto tracking. He puts a silver dollar in the ground at 8” does air testing and it won’t read it. He sent the video in to minelab and they said the auto tracking was the issue.
 
Hmmm, ive run tracking GB all year and ended up with 73 silver coins including some really deep dimes, halves, and a half dime.

I honestly havent checked to see how much the GB number changes during the course of a day, i just let the tracking GB do its thing and dont worry about it.

i will be hunting tomorrow and will test the difference between setting GB at "0", using the auto GB/pumping method, and tracking GB and see what happens.
 
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