Is your Garrett Propointer falsing?

Rattlehead

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I see a lot of people on the forums and on my YT channel comments complaining that their Garrett Propointer has falsing issues. What really surprised me is how many of those people didn't know about the ground balancing feature.

If you turn on your pinpointer while holding it in the air, it will pick up ground mineralization when you're trying to locate your target. I think this is what a lot of people refer to as falsing. To make the pinpointer ignore the ground, or "ground balance", simply hold your pinpointer tip to the dirt in the side of the hole (but away from the target) when turning it on. After doing this, the pinpointer will still pick up the target while ignoring the ground. Try it! :cheers:
 
Sounds reasonable since the DIY pin pointer I use 'auto-cals' upon turn on and will false if turned on in the air then moved to soil.

I use the method you described, turn on and keep the tip on the soil until cal finishes, sound stops.

If there is variable mineralization in the soil, old rust, then it can false when moving it around in the hole.
 
Good point. Even Garrett's official product video shows the people turning it on in the air before using it.

Only at one point is the balancing mentioned, 3:12 in the video, and I doubt many watched and remember it. Much less think to try it out when there is a problem. I do wonder though how many people experience a actual fault with the carrot as it is bound to happen regardless of balancing.

If I run into any issues when my new carrot arrives from Bart I will try out balancing first, before giving Garrett a call. :waytogo:
 
Ground balancing mine causes it to do worse more often than not so I always turn mine on pointed in the air away from anything metal. Otherwise...often...it will just not give any signal at all even when I touch it directly to metal.
 
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If you turn on your pinpointer while holding it in the air, it will pick up ground mineralization when you're trying to locate your target. I think this is what a lot of people refer to as falsing...........

The poinpointer will also "false" signals if you push the tip into the dirt too hard.

"Retune"--whether it's when you turn it on or when you press the button when it is near a metal object--is simply setting a new threshold for what will cause it to signal a target. The new threshold is barely above the intensity of the signal that was present (or would have been present) when you pressed the button. As I understand it, if the pinpointer is not detecting anything when you retune, then retuning is pointless.

In fact, if you turn it on or retune when it is detecting something as strong or stronger than the target you're trying to hone in on, then you'll lose that target completely. I've done this when I've turned it on near my digging tool, finds pouch, detector, or a piece of trash in the hole with a signal stronger than what can come from the target without removing more dirt. Confused, I wave the pinpointer around the hole and hear nothing, but know I should at least hear a hint of the target. Realizing what I've likely done, I hold the pinpointer away from anything, press the button, and the target appears in the hole.

So, I always turn mine on away from anything, as shown in the video. If I need to retune, then I find a spot in the hole where I'm getting a signal, back off (not touching any walls) while still getting a signal, and press the retune button. Then, I can move the pinpointer in different directions and know the direction of the target. That's super helpful to know if I need to go deeper or into a wall.
 
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Ground balancing mine causes it to do worse more often than not so I always turn mine on pointed in the air away from anything metal. Otherwise...often...it will just not give any signal at all even when I touch it directly to metal.

Exactly. See my post above. It's setting a higher threshold for what will cause it to signal. This narrows down the search, but you have to make sure you don't turn it on or retune while holding it in the vicinity of something that is giving a stronger signal than what you can get from the target at that point.
 
Exactly guys. The pinpointer narrows down or retunes the detection field enough to ignore anything it’s touching or very close to when you turn it on. Retuning can be used to help hone in on a target, or in this case, ignore the ground it self. That’s why I mentioned doing it away from the target if you’re doing a ground balance. I’m sure some people really are having legit falsing issues with their pinpointer but I’d be willing to bet that quite a few are just dealing with highly mineralized ground like mine, where the pinpointer goes nuts as soon as you poke it in the hole regardless if you’re near the target or not. In that case, ground balancing, retuning or whatever you want to call it works wonders.

Here’s a good explanation by Aquachigger:
https://youtu.be/JOHMxjAT1TI


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