Being it's fresh in my head from the last few outings I thought I would answer for the people it may help and who have asked.
Ground Balance....
Ground balancing the Vistas machines are easy and allows you to do this forgivingly if you make some errors, you can help yourself by utilising the ground balance to the ground conditions that your searching in.
So say like you want max depth, it's always best to set the ground balance spot on then adjust slightly until you get a slight high tone whilst bobbing the coil up and down, the Vista may become a little more edgy this way but you will gain a little more depth, also you may start to dig a little more iron.
If you want more of positive ID's and stability from your Vista then after setting a correct ground balance adjust the machine so you get a low tone whilst bobbing the coil up and down.
Start messing around too much with the ground balance whilst trying to get depth can be detrimental with false signals and wrong ID's also a decrease in depth.
Once again it's all down to soil conditions and trial and error, don't be afraid to learn the machine and dig a little iron in the process.
If you working around busy iron on neutral ground so your correct ground balance is at 12 o'clock I suggest to place your Vista's ground balance around the 1-2 o'clock position, this will give better ID on targets as mentioned above and help separate the audio between good and bad targets and also help detect large iron at depth.
If your correct ground balance is other, say like the 11 o'clock then set your ground balance around 1 o'clock to achieve the same effect to separate targets/audio around iron easier.
Identifying big iron.....
A few ways you can do this like raising the coil above the target whilst still sweeping left and right, how high can you still get the signal ? if high followed by the following suggestions then it may be big iron.
Whilst sweeping the coil off the suspected big iron do you get a low tone when your at the edge of the detection point ?
Does it give a huge whacking good signal over the centre of the suspected big iron.
You can also bounce the coil around the target to get the same effect but if in doubt then dig it out.
Direct 50/50 signals......
Now these can be hit and miss but a few ways can you can help yourself understand what's going on under the surface.
Say you get a good tone on the left and iron tone on the right, now stand 90 degrees so you bad signal is directly at the top end of your coil.
Sweep the coil over the target and back towards your feet, if you get a constant low tone then stand on the opposite side of the target and repeat.
Now if you get a good tone and no low tone whilst sweeping the coil and drawing it to your feet it's well worth digging.
But once again if in doubt dig it out, this will be the only way you will learn what the machine is telling you.
Discrimination levels......
Hmmm interesting one this, another strong attribute for the Vistas, being these machines have mainly iron rejection it's to know much do you want to disc out, Big nails ? Small nails or all iron.
As a rule of thumb the less disc you can get away with the better off you'll be, it really is beneficial to initially reducing the discrimination say from twelve o'clock and dig everything with a good signal, keep reducing this until you start to dig rusty nails with a predominate high tone, but once again all depends on soil condition and your ground balance can play a roll in what's going on, personally I run the Vista no lower than around the 9 o'clock position.
Safe settings if in doubt or getting frustrated.
Place the sensitivity to at the 4 o'clock mark
Place the Disc at the 12 o'clock mark
Place the ground balance at the 3 o'clock mark
Boost off and switch on only to check weak signals.
Run Two Tone mode
These settings should do you fine on neutral ground.
Good luck and happy Hunting.
Ground Balance....
Ground balancing the Vistas machines are easy and allows you to do this forgivingly if you make some errors, you can help yourself by utilising the ground balance to the ground conditions that your searching in.
So say like you want max depth, it's always best to set the ground balance spot on then adjust slightly until you get a slight high tone whilst bobbing the coil up and down, the Vista may become a little more edgy this way but you will gain a little more depth, also you may start to dig a little more iron.
If you want more of positive ID's and stability from your Vista then after setting a correct ground balance adjust the machine so you get a low tone whilst bobbing the coil up and down.
Start messing around too much with the ground balance whilst trying to get depth can be detrimental with false signals and wrong ID's also a decrease in depth.
Once again it's all down to soil conditions and trial and error, don't be afraid to learn the machine and dig a little iron in the process.
If you working around busy iron on neutral ground so your correct ground balance is at 12 o'clock I suggest to place your Vista's ground balance around the 1-2 o'clock position, this will give better ID on targets as mentioned above and help separate the audio between good and bad targets and also help detect large iron at depth.
If your correct ground balance is other, say like the 11 o'clock then set your ground balance around 1 o'clock to achieve the same effect to separate targets/audio around iron easier.
Identifying big iron.....
A few ways you can do this like raising the coil above the target whilst still sweeping left and right, how high can you still get the signal ? if high followed by the following suggestions then it may be big iron.
Whilst sweeping the coil off the suspected big iron do you get a low tone when your at the edge of the detection point ?
Does it give a huge whacking good signal over the centre of the suspected big iron.
You can also bounce the coil around the target to get the same effect but if in doubt then dig it out.
Direct 50/50 signals......
Now these can be hit and miss but a few ways can you can help yourself understand what's going on under the surface.
Say you get a good tone on the left and iron tone on the right, now stand 90 degrees so you bad signal is directly at the top end of your coil.
Sweep the coil over the target and back towards your feet, if you get a constant low tone then stand on the opposite side of the target and repeat.
Now if you get a good tone and no low tone whilst sweeping the coil and drawing it to your feet it's well worth digging.
But once again if in doubt dig it out, this will be the only way you will learn what the machine is telling you.
Discrimination levels......
Hmmm interesting one this, another strong attribute for the Vistas, being these machines have mainly iron rejection it's to know much do you want to disc out, Big nails ? Small nails or all iron.
As a rule of thumb the less disc you can get away with the better off you'll be, it really is beneficial to initially reducing the discrimination say from twelve o'clock and dig everything with a good signal, keep reducing this until you start to dig rusty nails with a predominate high tone, but once again all depends on soil condition and your ground balance can play a roll in what's going on, personally I run the Vista no lower than around the 9 o'clock position.
Safe settings if in doubt or getting frustrated.
Place the sensitivity to at the 4 o'clock mark
Place the Disc at the 12 o'clock mark
Place the ground balance at the 3 o'clock mark
Boost off and switch on only to check weak signals.
Run Two Tone mode
These settings should do you fine on neutral ground.
Good luck and happy Hunting.