Depth and ground balancing in mild-moderate soil conditions?

Ground balance is needed on any detector. Most have at least an auto GB, some a manual on top of an auto Gb to help tweak it. Without GB you couldn't get down beneath the trace iron and other elements in the soil. Some auto GB detectors are better at balancing than others, and the manual GB after helps fine tune out the falsing auto GB can leave behind.

Meant manual, sorry

tvg1231 said:

Meant manual, sorry

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Where are you hunting (location) and are you planning to spread out to other type soil areas?

In the north part of the east coast is where 99 percent of my hunts take place.

Im looking for a good candidate for a new detector and want to know how truly valuable manual ground balance is if the soil isn't too bad. I dont care if I cant hunt wet sand.

Because I know that wet sand will mess with most, if not all vlfs.

tvg1231 said:

Because I know that wet sand will mess with most, if not all vlfs.

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I believe it's just wet salt sand that's hard on vlfs.

my soil is moderate , a proper ground balance on my machine a deus is key to getting the most out of it.

Ground Balance or Ground Elimination Balance as Whites calls it is the ability to measure the response of the ground minerals and then ignore them at a level within the machine below discrimination. Yes it is important to have a good ground balance and the more adjustable and automated it is the better. If you don't have a good GB and the machine is responding to iron minerals in it is not going to be able to respond to a good target.. especially one in the middlr of those minerals..
Hope that helps!

Another point to keep in mind...with a manual or auto GB unit you have the capability of having a more accurate GB setting when changing out coils to a different size or type!

airscapes said:

Ground Balance or Ground Elimination Balance as Whites calls it is the ability to measure the response of the ground minerals and then ignore them at a level within the machine below discrimination. Yes it is important to have a good ground balance and the more adjustable and automated it is the better. If you don't have a good GB and the machine is responding to iron minerals in it is not going to be able to respond to a good target.. especially one in the middlr of those minerals..
Hope that helps!

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Very well said, The word "fixed " not only means that the ground balance is set to work on some soils, so that also means that you are fixed in your choice of where you effectively hunt. Makes very little sense to buy a detector that has a fixed ground balance when in a lot of cases there is a manufacture in that same price range that has good ground balancing. Just shop the spec's.

is there a machine in the ace series price range that ground balances? do the new aces ground balance 200,300,400 etc

A few comments.

Can you get away with a detector with no ground balance in certain areas of USA??
Yep

Can depth be affected overall??
Yep

Even on some detectors,,,that actually have GB,,,some are more forgiving than others,,,meaning having a real good ground balance not as critical vs others-- for detecting deep,,fringe depth targets.

Thanks for the help, guys.

I have hunted in soil that is considered very mild to dirt that is a bit more mineralized to soil all the way up to what I hunt in now which we call devil dirt for a reason.
I have used several detectors, some with ground balance and some without and have been successful with all of them...everywhere.
Can GB be advantageous, of course, for optimum hunting in problem dirt for sure but in mild dirt I don't believe it so much.
It will range from hardly any difference at all to maybe a slight difference but a huge difference, don't think so, not in my experience.
The proof is in the numbers.
One of the biggest sellers of all time has been the Ace 250, a unit that helped bring this hobby to the masses because of the low price and had no GB feature.
Literally hundreds of posts from owners that started with this one that found plenty of treasure over the years despite lacking that and in areas of milder soil they could go deep and find targets without ID problems at all.
I have much experience with an F2 as have many others that have seen the same and in decent soil depth never seemed to be much of a problem and no GB on that one either.
I read many forums and posts about Tesoros too, can't tell you how many have been surprised on the depth they got using some of their units without and GB adjustability...especially the Cibola which can be shockingly deep in good soil without it.
To get the deepest, best ID's the standard smaller coils work well but adding a larger coil to the mix seemed to help.
I have read a huge amount of posts from hunters reaching the 8-10" area and even sometimes further in many areas of the country using both standard and especially good size coils on units lacking GB adjustability like 250's, F2's, Euro Tek Pros and more...even though the bulk of the targets most of us find don't seem to be much deeper than the 6" depth area.
Not all but most.
If these types of lower end machines were so bad at this that they could not ID targets decently in any kind of dirt they would never have sold units in the numbers they have over the years and owners would not have talked about them so positively as they have done.
They all do have GB capabilities, even the cheaper ones, it is just that many are pre-set at a specific area by the factories which is in area that they choose to and assume will work the most optimally in the largest amount of states possible and in my mind that would lean to the milder stuff.
More expensive units added adjustability of this feature and many modern lower price units have started to do this also.
Will units without it be useless in a large part of the country...hardly.
In the difficult areas will it help and a lot...sometimes.
In my extremely difficult dirt I usually opt for units that have it to get the deepest with the best ID's and data to give me a shot at the most targets possible but I also have used and still use a couple with a pre-set GB from time to time and you know what...still find plenty.
Maybe not as deep as my primes, maybe not as optimum in the data I can get as my upper end units that were much more expensive but did have more features but they still work, I still have a blast using them and they still find metal...sometimes some shockingly great metal.
When I hunted in mild dirt I never worried about it, if I did I wouldn't have used that F2 or a Compadre for literally hundreds of hours and found so much...I would have opted for manual GB units right away and never looked at the ones without but this was not the case...probably 90% or more of what I found in dirt like yours could have been found with any of them.
I started hunting in the horrible stuff with units without GB, still found plenty and never worried about what I couldn't find.
Moved back to it after 3 years hunting in heavenly soil and learned that GB does help me some but still don't worry about it and still pull out units without it from time to time and still manage to find treasure.

This is my opinion to the answer to your question about GB capabilities in mild dirt...
Is GB a must have in every situation...not really, especially in milder soil.
It is nice to have, recommended if you can get it for hunting everywhere for the most optimal hunting possible but will it make such a huge difference in the mild stuff you need to worry about it if you don't have it...no.
If it was there would have been a huge amount of lower end and even higher end units without it that would have never been sold, used or enjoyed by the masses.
You can still find treasure and get great data even on deeper targets without it if you are lucky enough to live in parts of the country with better dirt.
Not everyone has had the experience of hunting in soil that ranges from heaven to hell...but I have.
A car without air conditioning or an automatic transmission will drive you to your destination just as a car without them can...both features are nice to have but absolutely necessary for all situations, I don't think so.
So say the numbers and logic.

calabash digger said:

is there a machine in the ace series price range that ground balances? do the new aces ground balance 200,300,400 etc

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The Ace series are fixed. the Bounty Hunter LRP has adjustable ground balance and is cheaper. A good bang for the buck.

I have witnessed what tn sharpshooter said about some detectors being more forgiving than others with there ground balances. To the above post about ground balance I have a different take on it. Its called playing the odds if I can buy a machine with ground balance and lets say it gives me 1 to 2 inchs extra depth im gonna go for it because there are not gonna be any more 1750s coins dropped anymore so whatever increases the odds of me finding them im going to go for it. I hear the argument about the ace from others too,its true alot has been found with them but its because so many people use them thus alot of things are found with them odds thing and a money thing. A big majority of the relics in my area are deep 6 inchs and beyond just beyond the range of the ace series would ground balance help the ace on depth I dont know but it would be nice to have that option to try. Metal detectors are TOOLS and anybody whos ever done manual labor knows the better your tools normaly it makes the job easier and also you can do a better job too. So if ground balance increases the odds by say 5% because you get an extra inch on depth in my philosophy ive got to go for it. We all have different takes on things so maybe im wrong.

bowwinkles said:

The Ace series are fixed. the Bounty Hunter LRP has adjustable ground balance and is cheaper. A good bang for the buck.

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are you getting any more depth with the bounty hunter or are you just able to use it in more different conditions?