Good Morning Guys!
I recently purchased a new Beach Hunter ID from Tony, who is just a super nice guy, as you all know!
I'm a newbie, and trying this hobby out with good equipment for the first season, and had my first chance to fool around with the Beach Hunter a couple weeks ago, for a few hours in Ocean City, NJ. My son, (9 years old, and loving this new hobby with Dad) and I found about 95 cents in small change, in very shallow dry sand, (one dime in wet sand at water's edge), but while I know I have a LOT to learn about swing techniques, and where to best look, etc, my major concern right now is I just CAN'T seem to get the ground balance right!
I have tried reading the instructions, (usually my LAST resort at solving ANY problem!), and tried blindly spinning the knobs, and tried really concentrating on following the advice of the forum's pointers to the letter, but I just can't seem to get the unit to do what I THINK it is supposed to do when adjusting the ground balance, which is to start at a low hum which will increase or decrease as the coil is "pumped" up and down, which then forms the base line from which to adjust the controls to arrive at the proper balance. It just seems to stay at a low "buzz", not a "hum", unless I turn the controls way up, and then I do get a non-stop LOUD hum, regardless of the coil position.
I got so frustrated last time out, which was our first time with the new toy, that I gave up on the balancing act and just set the control somewhere in the middle, and off we went. We found a few coins, but it was quite obvious that our new $700 toy wasn't performing any better than the vintage yard sale White's that we paid $20 for on our way to the beach last year, which still successfully finds loose change in shallow dry sand, and all you have to do is turn it on and set the controls to the little pointers for "default" settings.
Now, let me make this clear...I am CERTAIN the only thing wrong with this Beach Hunter ID is the nut that holds the unit and swings it around, if you catch my drift!
But it absolutely does NOT "hum", it "buzzes", when the controls are set low, and no amount of fiddling with the ground balance knob seems to have any effect, no matter where I set the threshold, which when turned up does eventually cause a loud and constant hum, but when set low doesn't seem to have any effect. I have tried altering the sensitivity from the default pointer as well, but I think that is only making the situation harder to understand and manage. I can NOT get this thing to hum louder when pumped down, or up, so that I can then adjust the control to eliminate that hum change, as I understand I am supposed to do to achieve a proper ground balance.
If it sounds like I have NO idea what I am talking about...well boys, it's because I DON'T! I'm frustrated and feeling really stupid about not being able to set up a piece of equipment that only has THREE dials, for crying out loud!
I know it's my failure to understand what I am doing wrong, and I can't understand why the thing doesn't change it's "humming" sound as it is pumped up and down as the manual says it should.
I want to find "stuff" deeper than an inch or two down! I'd like to work with this thing in the wet sand, the water, and find items buried as deep as this thing is supposed to detect in the dry sand as well, and am I correct that until I can achieve a proper ground balance, that those things are just NOT going to happen?
We are leaving for Ocean City later today, and weather permitting will stay about 3 or 4 days. I am REALLY hoping you guys will take pity on this fool and help me figure out what I am doing wrong!!
I'll check back during the course of the day before we leave, and fortunately, we have a computer at our condo in Ocean City so I can sign onto the forum once we are there too.
Thanks in advance for your anticipated assistance, if you guys can stop laughing long enough to type the responses! What I mean is, I realize how incredibly stupid I sound here, so I don't blame you experienced pros if you ARE laughing at my inability to do the most basic set-up of this new machine!
Please help!!!
Warm Regards,
Richard, the Inept Newbie
I recently purchased a new Beach Hunter ID from Tony, who is just a super nice guy, as you all know!
I'm a newbie, and trying this hobby out with good equipment for the first season, and had my first chance to fool around with the Beach Hunter a couple weeks ago, for a few hours in Ocean City, NJ. My son, (9 years old, and loving this new hobby with Dad) and I found about 95 cents in small change, in very shallow dry sand, (one dime in wet sand at water's edge), but while I know I have a LOT to learn about swing techniques, and where to best look, etc, my major concern right now is I just CAN'T seem to get the ground balance right!
I have tried reading the instructions, (usually my LAST resort at solving ANY problem!), and tried blindly spinning the knobs, and tried really concentrating on following the advice of the forum's pointers to the letter, but I just can't seem to get the unit to do what I THINK it is supposed to do when adjusting the ground balance, which is to start at a low hum which will increase or decrease as the coil is "pumped" up and down, which then forms the base line from which to adjust the controls to arrive at the proper balance. It just seems to stay at a low "buzz", not a "hum", unless I turn the controls way up, and then I do get a non-stop LOUD hum, regardless of the coil position.
I got so frustrated last time out, which was our first time with the new toy, that I gave up on the balancing act and just set the control somewhere in the middle, and off we went. We found a few coins, but it was quite obvious that our new $700 toy wasn't performing any better than the vintage yard sale White's that we paid $20 for on our way to the beach last year, which still successfully finds loose change in shallow dry sand, and all you have to do is turn it on and set the controls to the little pointers for "default" settings.
Now, let me make this clear...I am CERTAIN the only thing wrong with this Beach Hunter ID is the nut that holds the unit and swings it around, if you catch my drift!
But it absolutely does NOT "hum", it "buzzes", when the controls are set low, and no amount of fiddling with the ground balance knob seems to have any effect, no matter where I set the threshold, which when turned up does eventually cause a loud and constant hum, but when set low doesn't seem to have any effect. I have tried altering the sensitivity from the default pointer as well, but I think that is only making the situation harder to understand and manage. I can NOT get this thing to hum louder when pumped down, or up, so that I can then adjust the control to eliminate that hum change, as I understand I am supposed to do to achieve a proper ground balance.
If it sounds like I have NO idea what I am talking about...well boys, it's because I DON'T! I'm frustrated and feeling really stupid about not being able to set up a piece of equipment that only has THREE dials, for crying out loud!
I know it's my failure to understand what I am doing wrong, and I can't understand why the thing doesn't change it's "humming" sound as it is pumped up and down as the manual says it should.
I want to find "stuff" deeper than an inch or two down! I'd like to work with this thing in the wet sand, the water, and find items buried as deep as this thing is supposed to detect in the dry sand as well, and am I correct that until I can achieve a proper ground balance, that those things are just NOT going to happen?
We are leaving for Ocean City later today, and weather permitting will stay about 3 or 4 days. I am REALLY hoping you guys will take pity on this fool and help me figure out what I am doing wrong!!
I'll check back during the course of the day before we leave, and fortunately, we have a computer at our condo in Ocean City so I can sign onto the forum once we are there too.
Thanks in advance for your anticipated assistance, if you guys can stop laughing long enough to type the responses! What I mean is, I realize how incredibly stupid I sound here, so I don't blame you experienced pros if you ARE laughing at my inability to do the most basic set-up of this new machine!
Please help!!!
Warm Regards,
Richard, the Inept Newbie
