MINELAB EQUINOX 800 VERSE THE VISTA GOLD GAIN

I've had two Vista models and numerous Minelab FBS and BBS models and they are all great....if used on specific sites. The Vista models have a wide range Disc in the lower level.....it forces one to dig every non-ferrous target and unmasks wonderfully, but it really needs a third tone or even a dual disc like the old Garrett Freedom III, to be practical. Yes I've dug good targets behind Minelab but at the cost of digging lots of trash. Think about the trash vs good target ratio. Work vs Fun. Most dont have two weeks or more to work a site....really some sites, one day. I think if I lived in Europe or near an known Colonial site the Vista's would be King.....where most iron targets are trash and thats all you are eliminating. Offsetting the GB can help detect deeper, eliminate iron falsing and help with unmasking...I have past used this trick. Thanks Ziggy and Calabash

Good work mate. With the analog machine, you need to work a little bit harder... but the sound never fouls your brain. Simple test. G

Good target audio, but bad jumpy ID... and you never dig it... This is the issue with digital VDI machines. You should learn more and longer to understand it. You need to spend more time to interpret graph data connected with sound... and always to remember: SOUND FIRST, VDI - ID NEXT.

I have many videos about it. Right sound, jumpy ID and I don't want to dig it. Big mistake. Why? Two targets together. You should always to dig little-broken sounds... items.

Yesterday, the big battlefield of World War II. Hundreds of tanks, bunkers etc. One hole two items... but I was looking on graph first... probably iron... NOT audio show two targets. But for brain eyes are the first main organ...

Thank you Arkansas and welcone.

Your sure right about altering then the GB to grab deeper targets, it's just getting the balance right and understanding the outcome of doing so, as I think Keith southern calls it, power balancing, you can get away with it more in shallow iron searching to help the iron from high spiking as the soil is not being registered so to say unless highly mineralised, I only ever use this method when the iron is intense, equivalent to the nail board test under the soil and once cleared the patch its back to optimal GB settings.

New Video here...... [youtu.be]

Did another video Friday and elaborated maybe a little more, also threw some Hammered Coins finds footage in for good measures.... hope your all having a good weekend

Man Zig, them are some nice finds! I haven't taken the super 6 off since I got it. The performance and depth in carpet of nails is outstanding. Hope they release the 5in fir the Gain soon, can only imagine it.

Great video Ziggy. Lots of info. Sensitivity setting is an important point. When you are in heavy iron you wont get depth at high Sensitivity setting.... Only masking. Videos from Ziggy and Keith Southern (relics1864) have tons of info. As far as Minelab or Pulse....see author DetectorComparisons videos. Live digs, I like DirtFishing. Some videos have become advertisments so be careful not to jump too soon when new machines come out. Question::: How important is manual ground balance?? Videos show it to be very important. Even modern things like ground-grab or tracking......better have manual over-ride. Learn to tweak manually ground balance, this will determine your success. Your settings and coil choice will make a good machine better (or worse). Thanks again to the video makers. Wish I knew how....LOL

Hey Ziggy am I correct that the Vista Gold Gain doesnt have a Disc adj going into the very low iron range? Does the Disc adj move the tone break when in two tone?? Thanks

Doesn't the power balance technique make these detectors lose their discrim on deeper iron? That's the down fall of doing that with a Tesoro too correct?
I guess that's where I will stick with my fancy pants detectors.... I have tried that negative ground balance with the deus too....it makes it deeper but you will chase false signals all day. What are the negatives of tweaking the machines like that ?




Ziggy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Arkansas and welcone.
>
> Your sure right about altering then the GB to grab
> deeper targets, it's just getting the balance righ
> t and understanding the outcome of doing so, as I
> think Keith southern calls it, power balancing, yo
> u can get away with it more in shallow iron search
> ing to help the iron from high spiking as the soil
> is not being registered so to say unless highly mi
> neralised, I only ever use this method when the ir
> on is intense, equivalent to the nail board test u
> nder the soil and once cleared the patch its back
> to optimal GB settings.

I have been power balancing my a tesoros for years and have noticed no problems at all with discrimination. I only use enough disc to knock out square nails at the site I am at though. Using a slight negative GB significantly increase the depth on a Vaquero also. I have never seen any advantage on manipulating the GB on digital machines though. You tested a Vaquero where you slightly adjusted the GB to the negative, did you notice any falsing or disc issues? I tested the VGG I my test garden which has square nails, iron railroad spikes, flat iron and some buttons and suspender clips co mingled in with them at varying depths and found it to run smooth with proper sounding off low tone high tone on the targets. Running the GB at 9o lock and the disc at about 1 1\2 mark does seem to light up the non ferrous in the heavy iron down to the 5 to 6 in range though extremely well. The machine is just at home in the iron and I love the audio the machine conveys.

I dont currently have a Tesoro with GB adj. Perhaps it has to do with Tesoro silent search models (dont hear Threshold in Disc mode). Does this keep the ground noise at bay?? I might start a new thread asking others to purposely offset GB (negative) and see what the results are. I have had amazing results with the Nokta models. I dig zero iron and unmasks wonderfully....all at 50 Sensitivity. All detector models will react diffrently. The variables of frequency, coil choice (shape, size, concentric or DD), and range of GB adjustment will change results....have to see what works. Not really sure why Nokta and Makro does better at beach hunting than some VLF metal detectors (except simultaneously multi frequency models).

Would like to hear more on your method of how you set gb negative to a site and the benifits you see with the nokta units if you would go further in detail please

Pedlar.... I was considering selling my Nokta because I enjoy testing others models out. However I will check the last settings I used. I dont want to ruin this Thread and so will try and message you direct. Thanks

Of course Calabash, altering GB can effect many things, weakened audio on good deep targets can be seen as iron even without altering the GB on many a machine, but having the GB correct can help with this so would it be worth going on such on a field that has many iron targets ?.... no unless you like digging a lot.

But on a clean field altering the BG in favour for finding deep targets you can grab 3 inches or more depending on target size, on bad iron ground forget about it though.... don't alter GB to find deep targets.

We all know there are many crazy scenarios that can throw a machine as I may of mentioned in the last video..... if your on a field where the iron is hob nails or spiking even with a fair amount of disc would I use the GB to lower in order to get the disc lower ???... I would try and see the results and if no good resort to the GB level of the soil and run true.

It's all about experimenting, unless your a coin shooter and going for the nailed on ID's your never going to be sure what is next to that targets that's altering the signal quality, but with good use of the GB you can eliminate certain ghost target audio to help you decide whether you walk on or not.

It's trial and error, settings are personal but more importantly the ground conditions determines what settings are optimal...... sure as hell altering the GB can help and hinder in many situations.... what work for some and not for others due to ground conditions solely.

It's all about trial and error and an understanding of the machine to sync it with the ground be it clean soil or full of shallow or deep iron.

Arkansas....... I would rather only use manual GB, I did a video showing the outcome of keeping the GB at preset and altering to be in sync with the ground, also followed a friend with a very popular beginner machine and saw what can be missed if ground is heavy on minerals, you will miss deep targets for sure and it will alter target audio if you not running the GB true for general searching.
You take a preset non adjustable GB machine on a site that don't favour the preset GB point that's set normally around ferrite and you can be walking over targets all day long unless within half of the detection depth range.

Thanks for the answer. I been so busy I have not had time to do any detecting and before long it will be 90 degrees here so I might be shut down till after summer.

Calabash..... it's getting seriously hard work over here also, when the soil turns to concrete and makes a 5 minute dig into a 30 minute recovery in some cases, finds rate reallly can drop..... bring on spring and autumn